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[oji-san]

Yes, it was great, the story and cases especially, not much to do in the open-world but they can add more, but doesn't seem like it will ever happen.

 

[VulcanRaven]

What we actually needed to happen was Whore of the Orient, headed by the same visionary writer and director behind L.A. Noire and The Getaway: Brendan McNamara.

Big shame that the cowards over at Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment pulled the funding from the project.

I really wanted that game. Gameplay looked a lot like L.A. Noire:

 

[Randall365]

Great game - reminded me of Police Quest Sierra games - bit of a mess at times but what a vision and the story was very good.

 

[EverydayBeast]

Would love another rockstar game that isn’t GTA.

 

[Raven117]

I loved the setting and the story telling in the game but I thought the gameplay was just meh. 1930’s noir stories set in Los Angeles is a guilty pleasure of mine.

The gameplay in LA noire was weird in some places, mediocre in others and downright boring in other aspects.

Pretty much this.

The vibe was good enough to carry me through the end.... I dug it. And that soundtrack..</chefskiss>

 

[Dr. Wilkinson]

Didn’t the game lose money and the developer went under around the same time it came out?

Never gonna happen

 

[violence]

Phelps was a great detective... but an even better artist!

 

[Fuz]

 

[Giallo Corsa]

Good luck getting Rockstar to do anything other than GTA and RDR. Team Bondi doesn’t exist anymore, either.

Unfortunately, this.

Shame since it really was something different/tried to do something new.

One of the best ps360 games

 

[UltimaKilo]

A spiritual successor wouldn't be a terrible idea, but that game is not old enough. I'm still waiting for SOCOM.

 

[SF Kosmo]

I remember hearing that McNamara wasn't the easiest to deal with so that could've contributed WB pulling the plug.

He was pretty famously abusive to his staff, and also not a great project manager, and created a lot of redundant work for people. Many say if it wasn't for Rockstar stepping in and taking control LA Noire would have never been finished.

 

[Red Crayon Aristocrat]

One missed opportunity for never getting a sequel is being able to see more of 40s LA, like Miracle Mile, I remember being disappointed when I realized the whole city wasn't in the game.

LA Noire was a hit wasn't it? So it is odd a sequel never happened.

 

[ResurrectedContrarian]

Amazing game, sad that it simply won't ever get a follow-up.

Games like L.A. Noire can't exist today. There's content in it that game which would be deemed offensive or too extreme nowadays. Modern Rockstar has been neutered anyway.

True. The game depicted its era faithfully without trying to apply todays' sensibilities. It also didn't overly judge the characters for belonging to their time... they simply are what they are. In today's games--even Rockstar which is as HR-bullshit-led as anyone now, sadly--if you have a character who is out of step with today's morality, you have to lace every moment with heavy-handed moralizing against that character. Or have him get shot by a Strong Female Character or something to set the record straight.

 

[EDMIX]

What we actually needed to happen was Whore of the Orient, headed by the same visionary writer and director behind L.A. Noire and The Getaway: Brendan McNamara.

Big shame that the cowards over at Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment pulled the funding from the project.

nahhh I can't blame them. This team went from Sony funding The Getaway to fund LA Noire, to then selling the publishing and IP to Rockstar, to Rockstar themselves not continuing work with this team to WB no longer funding their next project.

I'm willing to ignore issues with 1 publisher, but holy shit 3? Nahhh this is a massive THEM problem at this point. I don't fault Sony, Rockstar or WB regarding this, the team has proven that they are the issue regarding this thing and an LA Noire 2 or NY Noire etc sounds like it would be in better hands at Rockstar internally tbh.

The concept is already laid out and I believe a lot of better established teams can continue this IP much better.

Even with me wanting a Getaway 3 or remake or reboot, I also want this team to stay the fuck away from it too lol


So I do hope we get some sequel, but its likely the game didn't do well enough to support one, Rockstar likely don't have a team that is free to handle it so we are sorta stuck in limbo on this one.

 

[Werewolf Jones]

Is the Switch version of the game worth getting or nah?

 

[HoodWinked]

What an experience. One aspect that made it so incredible was how unapologetically they made the game for a mature audience. The game could have been more videogamey to appeal to casuals but they deliberately chose the game's pacing, sparse action pieces, the non-linear story telling and many aspects of the narrative not directly shown and respected the audience to think and figure out the story.

 

[March Climber]

What an experience. One aspect that made it so incredible was how unapologetically they made the game for a mature audience. The game could have been more videogamey to appeal to casuals but they deliberately chose the game's pacing, sparse action pieces, the non-linear story telling and many aspects of the narrative not directly shown and respected the audience to think and figure out the story.

I liked it for what it was. It felt like an open world version of what David Cage and Quantic Dream attempts to accomplish.

 

[Perrott]

nahhh I can't blame them. This team went from Sony funding The Getaway to fund LA Noire, to then selling the publishing and IP to Rockstar, to Rockstar themselves not continuing work with this team to WB no longer funding their next project.

I'm willing to ignore issues with 1 publisher, but holy shit 3? Nahhh this is a massive THEM problem at this point. I don't fault Sony, Rockstar or WB regarding this, the team has proven that they are the issue regarding this thing and an LA Noire 2 or NY Noire etc sounds like it would be in better hands at Rockstar internally tbh.

The concept is already laid out and I believe a lot of better established teams can continue this IP much better.

Even with me wanting a Getaway 3 or remake or reboot, I also want this team to stay the fuck away from it too lol


So I do hope we get some sequel, but its likely the game didn't do well enough to support one, Rockstar likely don't have a team that is free to handle it so we are sorta stuck in limbo on this one.

More than his team being some extraordinary pain in the ass to the publisher, I simply believe it were the reports about crunch at the studio that killed their future, because of how unusual was to read about those things in 2011 on the press whereas nowadays its the bread and butter of the industry, with pretty much every major publisher/developer out there having had an article from Jason Schreier or other journalist exposing some sort of bad workplace practice.

And the evidence of that to me resides in the fact that, once the L.A. Noire drama cooled down, Rockstar resumed his partnership with McNamara and his core crew, with 2023 being the 10th anniversary of their renewed relationship. During this new era, the team made L.A. Noire: The VR Case Files for Rockstar, then ported the game to PSVR and now find themselves working in what seems to be Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas VR for Oculus (their job listings talk about a "AAA open world VR game" being made for Rockstar).

Its a shame that Take-Two/Rockstar didn't seem to show any interest in resuming development on Whore of the Orient though, given that all parties have continued to work together for a decade now.

 

[VulcanRaven]

Didn’t the game lose money and the developer went under around the same time it came out?

Never gonna happen

I don't think it lost money. They even released an remastered version and L.A. Noire: The VR Case Files in 2017. It was made by Brendan McNamara's new studio at the time.

 

[Paasei]

My only issue with the game was the serial killer case where you had to accuse someone every time only to progress further into it. And then later you get a huge scripted chase and shootout with the actual killer.

Had really good set pieces, like the bowling alley, ice factory and film studio’s. Even that modern architect building with the insta-heater case or whatever it was.

 

[VulcanRaven]

nahhh I can't blame them. This team went from Sony funding The Getaway to fund LA Noire, to then selling the publishing and IP to Rockstar, to Rockstar themselves not continuing work with this team to WB no longer funding their next project.

I'm willing to ignore issues with 1 publisher, but holy shit 3? Nahhh this is a massive THEM problem at this point. I don't fault Sony, Rockstar or WB regarding this, the team has proven that they are the issue regarding this thing and an LA Noire 2 or NY Noire etc sounds like it would be in better hands at Rockstar internally tbh.

The concept is already laid out and I believe a lot of better established teams can continue this IP much better.

Even with me wanting a Getaway 3 or remake or reboot, I also want this team to stay the fuck away from it too lol


So I do hope we get some sequel, but its likely the game didn't do well enough to support one, Rockstar likely don't have a team that is free to handle it so we are sorta stuck in limbo on this one.

Rockstar did work for McNamara again when making the VR version. He has a new studio. Few years ago it was announced that they were working on San Andreas VR but don't know what happened with that:

Video Games Deluxe Will Be Developing GTA San Andreas VR

This is the same team that has brought us L.A. Noire: The VR Case Files.

80.lv

 

[Drizzlehell]

It doesn't.

It's perfectly fine for a video game to NOT have a sequel and be its own unique thing forever.

 

[Drizzlehell]

I need VR goggles just to try this:

Oh man, this was the video that first got me to seriously consider buying a VR headset.

Although, funnily enough, despite owning Quest 2 for over a year now, and even buying PSVR 2 back in February, I still haven't played this version of L.A. Noire, lol.

 

[VulcanRaven]

Oh man, this was the video that first got me to seriously consider buying a VR headset.

Although, funnily enough, despite owning Quest 2 for over a year now, and even buying PSVR 2 back in February, I still haven't played this version of L.A. Noire, lol.

Its not the whole game. It has only 8 cases.

 

[Hypereides]

More than his team being some extraordinary pain in the ass to the publisher, I simply believe it were the reports about crunch at the studio that killed their future, because of how unusual was to read about those things in 2011 on the press whereas nowadays its the bread and butter of the industry, with pretty much every major publisher/developer out there having had an article from Jason Schreier or other journalist exposing some sort of bad workplace practice.

And the evidence of that to me resides in the fact that, once the L.A. Noire drama cooled down, Rockstar resumed his partnership with McNamara and his core crew, with 2023 being the 10th anniversary of their renewed relationship. During this new era, the team made L.A. Noire: The VR Case Files for Rockstar, then ported the game to PSVR and now find themselves working in what seems to be Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas VR for Oculus (their job listings talk about a "AAA open world VR game" being made for Rockstar).

Its a shame that Take-Two/Rockstar didn't seem to show any interest in resuming development on Whore of the Orient though, given that all parties have continued to work together for a decade now.

What did you expect? You're talking about Strauss Zelnick here. Guy did a hostile takeover of 2K back in 2007. That guy is as risk-averse as possible and is purely in it for the money. Not the creative endeavors. There's no way he'd ever agree to publish something titled "Whore of the orient" under his label. Rockstar doesn't have the same "raw" spirit and attitude anymore either.

 

[Drizzlehell]

Its not the whole game. It has only 8 cases.

 

[ShadowNate]

The game has great visuals, good atmosphere, many cool ideas. Their implementation was underwhelming though.

Searching the 3d open space for tiny clues quickly became no fun. Same with wonky chasing after suspects.

And the interrogation system was confusing and annoying as hell. Especially when choosing Doubt (yes another meme post opportunity!), the respective action was not really what you'd expect. I think this was due to them changing the names of the actions from Coax to Truth, Force to Doubt and Accuse to Lie, at the last moment, while the gameplay remained largely unchanged. There's a mod that restores the original names and maybe it makes the experience less frustrating.

I sort of gave up soon after the first interrogation.

 

[LordCBH]

Loved LA Noire. Was sad Team Bondi’s next title, Whore of the Orient, never came out. It was also fun watching games media collectively shit themselves to virtue signal over the word Orient in the title.

 

[Dr. Wilkinson]

I don't think it lost money. They even released an remastered version and L.A. Noire: The VR Case Files in 2017. It was made by Brendan McNamara's new studio at the time.

Yeah. People keep mentioning the remaster as if it happened because the original release was so popular. But it was really the opposite. The publisher had this game in their catalogue just sitting there that no one really played when it came out. Hence the remaster, giving the game another shot to a new generation of platforms that are far more popular.

 

[VulcanRaven]

Yeah. People keep mentioning the remaster as if it happened because the original release was so popular. But it was really the opposite. The publisher had this game in their catalogue just sitting there that no one really played when it came out. Hence the remaster, giving the game another shot to a new generation of platforms that are far more popular.

It shipped 4 million copies in the first month and 7.5 million by September 2017. That doesn't sound bad.

 

[ResurrectedContrarian]

 

[Freeman76]

This Rockstar is long gone.....you are correct though a sequel would be great. The game was really well made and offered something different for a change.

 

[Chuck Berry]

That's the dad from Bill & Ted