L.A Noire Ending (obvious spoiler)

[GiantDouche]

Why do so many hate the ending?

Noir films never have happy endings. Cole had to die for the advancement of the plot and so Kelso could finally have closure. Why would a game that shocks and depresses constantly have a happy ending. It seems like people are so sheltered by some films and works of contemporary literature that they just aren't willing to accept an ending where MAYBE everything doesn't work out. It isn't like there was much emotional investment in Cole anyways, definitely not enough to justify the backlash by fans against the ending.

[BananaBreadMuffin]

i think people didnt like that roy earle got off scott free

[Gobblemeister]

I didn't like the ending because it didn't involve shooting everyone and taking cover behind barrels and racking up killstreaks so I could call in a chopper gunner.

[Jackho]

Because Cole's death was thrown in at the last second just for the sake of it.

[GiantDouche]

At 6/28/11 01:02 PM, Jackho wrote: Because Cole's death was thrown in at the last second just for the sake of it.

I'm pretty sure it was planned

[Makeshift]

At 6/28/11 12:42 PM, GiantDouche wrote: It isn't like there was much emotional investment in Cole anyways

That's one of the reasons why. It was just so stupid and pointless and I didn't give a shit about his death. It was so unexpected and random I just sat there with my mouth open wondering what the fuck just happened. The cinematic leading up to his death are so dry. It's just like, "OK, we're leaving the sewer now" and then it cuts to Cole lifting that bitch to safety and then it shows some gushing water, then Kelso comes and Cole saves him, then it's just like "Come on Cole, you can jump 3 feet to grab our hands" and he gets swept away. Maybe if it hadn't forced me into the shoes of Kelso right before it would have been better. I was just so bored of the ending and I feel like the writers thought they were being brilliant when they decided the main character would die.

At 6/28/11 01:02 PM, Jackho wrote: Because Cole's death was thrown in at the last second just for the sake of it.

That's what it felt like. The writers were like, "oh, we have to make the ending have a twist!" So some genius decides to just kill off the main character.

Think of this ending compared to Red Dead Redemption. I actually gave a shit at the end when John Marston died. That ending was incredible and full of action... this was like, "the main character drowned in a fucking sewer, wh wh whaaaat?"

[SpiderTaco]

It wasn't 'bad' in the sense that it was sad, it was 'bad' in the sense that it was silly.
To me it felt like they were trying to recreate the impact of Red Dead Redemption's ending. Sure, it was unexpected, but it had no weight, no impact. I didn't give a shit that Cole was dead. It just seemed like they wanted to throw in a twist, but instead of spending time and coming up with a clever one, they just said ''Let's kill him at the end'' and thought they were geniuses for doing so. You know you're doing something wrong when a run of the mill happily ever after would have been ten times better.

[Makeshift]

SpiderTaco just repeated my post but made it shorter, wtf

[ImaSmartass2]

At 6/28/11 07:17 PM, Makeshift wrote: SpiderTaco just repeated my post but made it shorter, wtf

I didn't really care about Cole like I did about John Marston in Red Dead Redemption, and it seemed to me that the writers just wanted to put in a twist ending.

[MarutaAdrian]

I kinda felt sorry for him but I think he deserved it.. cheating your wife with 2 kids for an another girl? .. Okay maybe he didn't deserved to DIE because of that but still I wanted him to beat the shit out of Roy Earle.

[SpiderTaco]

At 6/28/11 07:17 PM, Makeshift wrote: SpiderTaco just repeated my post but made it shorter, wtf

Deal with it.

[SneakyGameBoy]

I didn't even care that Cole died and for all the things he have been through. Which kinda makes the ending disappointing. If you're gonna kill off the character atleast make it look like he/she life was worth something. Everyone saying John Marston death was better because it kinda added emotion and what he has been through and I agree. Cole's death was just quick and out of nowhere. Which kinda shows how the writers were thinking about the main character or didn't know how to end it. I can imagine them sitting in a room making the idea: "I GOT IT! Cole couldn't make it out on time so he drowns! Great idea right? Because I don't have other ideas!" Plus the game's story is like a Noir film. Some noir films never have happy endings from what I've seen.

[Gagsy]

I thought the ending was excellent to be honest. Had great drama, exciting plot ending, the funeral controversy. I think it tied up quite well, especially with the corrupt police force still at large. It was kinda bittersweet.

[Gobblemeister]

I've not actually played this game so I might be overstepping here but I think these kind of 'twists' are more effective when it's played more tragically.

I mean tragic in the traditional sense of there being some flaw or oversight that causes the character's death.

Like, drowning in a sewer is a sad, random act of nature and is effective in its own way

But I feel it would be more effective if, over the course of the story, there was some detail that Cole overlooked or someone Cole didn't look into enough and in the end that laxity, that oversight, caused his death.

It makes the player feel almost guilty because it's like they could've stopped it and that also works to make it more affecting.

[Lost-Chances]

The ending just felt overly-climatic and anti-climatic at the same time. The sewer part felt like "what? Seriously?" while the funeral part felt like "...That's it...".

[GiantDouche]

Maybe if Cole was killed in a shootout people would be more okay with it? I kind of get how it might be disappointing to go through so much with that character to have him die by drowning. I mean I liked it but I can see how some people might not.

[AbstractFlow]

At 6/28/11 12:42 PM, GiantDouche wrote: It seems like people are so sheltered by some films and works of contemporary literature that they just aren't willing to accept an ending where MAYBE everything doesn't work out.

You misunderstand. People aren't pissed just because the main character died, but because it was so poorly executed. Look at Red Dead Redemption, Marston dies at the end but the vast majority of players didn't have a problem with it (other than having to play as his gay son) because it was done well and felt like it actually had some thought put into it. Cole's death on the other hand, felt like it was just thrown in as an afterthought because they couldn't come up with a decent way to end it.
Hell, they just did the same ending but in a different way it could have turned out much better. For example, Cole just stood there for several seconds and pretty much just let himself be swept away, if they had done it so Cole actually looked like he wanted to live and maybe jumped for Kelso's hand, but was washed away at the last second, it could have had much more impact.

[Drony]

Didn't care about Cole's death either, but Jack Kelso lives so I'm happy.

[Maverick-Alex]

At 6/28/11 01:02 PM, Jackho wrote: Because Cole's death was thrown in at the last second just for the sake of it.

Cole was doomed to failure from the very beginning.

One of the few cops that are not corrupt?
Veteran that only survived because of cowardice, added that he was a glory hound?
Cheated on his wife?
Constantly trying to fiddle with shit beyond him?

Yeah, pretty remarkable he was allowed to live that long.

[King-Rat]

It's not that it's sad it's that it's FUCKING OUT OF NO WHERE. THERE'S NO BUILD UP AT ALL. No suspense, no dramatic effect. it was half-assed.

I really think they could have worked harder on the ending so that it actually made you feel like you were watching a noir, so SAD.

I laughed.

[Jerkapotamus]

I'm not really sure what you all are on about with the ending being thrown in haphazardly. That's the way deaths normally are. They happen and they disrupt the normal flow of things. Doing something exaggerated like in Red Dead wouldn't fit the Noire-style.

The ending was the least of my problems with the game. I found the rest to be pretty humdrum and dull.

[Valjylmyr]

Personally I think Cole's death was really shitty.

[drknes]

I thought the ending was obvious when I got to the sewer entrance the moment I entered I said the ending is either I'm gonna die by the flooding water or I'm going to be killed by the other guy(no kelso).

[SevenSeize]

At 6/28/11 12:53 PM, BananaBreadMuffin wrote: i think people didnt like that roy earle got off scott free

Yeah this. I don't really "hate" the ending. I get a lot of it, and I totally agree about the Noire genre.
It was an ending that pissed me off because it just seemed poorly constructed, there could've been more.

But I just really hate Roy Earle.

I am hoping a sequel will be made and I can shoot him. In the balls.

At 6/28/11 06:24 PM, Makeshift wrote:

At 6/28/11 12:42 PM, GiantDouche wrote: It isn't like there was much emotional investment in Cole anyways

That's one of the reasons why. It was just so stupid and pointless and I didn't give a shit about his death. It was so unexpected and random I just sat there with my mouth open wondering what the fuck just happened. The cinematic leading up to his death are so dry. It's just like, "OK, we're leaving the sewer now" and then it cuts to Cole lifting that bitch to safety and then it shows some gushing water, then Kelso comes and Cole saves him, then it's just like "Come on Cole, you can jump 3 feet to grab our hands" and he gets swept away. Maybe if it hadn't forced me into the shoes of Kelso right before it would have been better. I was just so bored of the ending and I feel like the writers thought they were being brilliant when they decided the main character would die.

Ditto. It's just not the climax you were hoping for.

At 6/28/11 01:02 PM, Jackho wrote: Because Cole's death was thrown in at the last second just for the sake of it.

That's what it felt like. The writers were like, "oh, we have to make the ending have a twist!" So some genius decides to just kill off the main character.

Think of this ending compared to Red Dead Redemption. I actually gave a shit at the end when John Marston died. That ending was incredible and full of action... this was like, "the main character drowned in a fucking sewer, wh wh whaaaat?"

Yep, and I've talked to 3 or 4 other people who said the same thing. Oh, this is Red Dead Redemption, only this character sucks and so did his death.

At 6/29/11 06:08 PM, Jerkapotamus wrote:

The ending was the least of my problems with the game. I found the rest to be pretty humdrum and dull.

I was pretty sick of investigating naked lady cases.
I stopped several times and just drove around running people over and totaling other people's cars.

At 6/29/11 12:20 AM, Gagsy wrote: I thought the ending was excellent to be honest. Had great drama, exciting plot ending, the funeral controversy. I think it tied up quite well, especially with the corrupt police force still at large. It was kinda bittersweet.

But you'd also shoot Earle in the balls if given a sequel right?

Gagsy and I are in an agreement that Earle may have had a gay crush on Cole and that's why he was so angry. Couldn't you just see the heartbreak on his face when Cole went to spend the night with the German broad??

[GiantDouche]

I'll admit that Cole was a pretty shitty character. The only depth he showed was when he decided to cheat on his wife. But then again, JC Denton from Deus Ex had very little depth and he was a great character. I think because the majority of the dialogue is actually part of the gameplay and not cutscenes or whatever the characters don't get much room to deviate and develop. If anything it's just an intrinsic flaw with the game mechanics.

[Gagsy]

At 7/4/11 11:04 AM, SevenSeize wrote:

But you'd also shoot Earle in the balls if given a sequel right?

If he stopped being the funny politically incorrect partner.

Gagsy and I are in an agreement that Earle may have had a gay crush on Cole and that's why he was so angry. Couldn't you just see the heartbreak on his face when Cole went to spend the night with the German broad??

There are a few lines from Earle that got my gaydar going. Frankly though I just seem to look for that kind of stuff.

You're breaking my heart Cole

[seel]

Too many butthurt mainstream Hollywood movie fanboys in here. The protagonist doesn't always have to live, deal with it.

[Jackho]

At 7/4/11 05:53 PM, seel wrote: Too many butthurt mainstream Hollywood movie fanboys in here. The protagonist doesn't always have to live, deal with it.

*facedesk*