Disconnects, Your Information is Incorrect and The Storyline is Everything

August 16, 2012 at 1:54 PM (Newsletters)

DISCONNECTS

Currently my life is full of Real Life busy. Today I got a change to hubby’s flight that made my heart go into my throat since it said CALL IMMEDIATELY. The number listed on the email, of course, immediately disconnected me when I got as as far as “You show a trip booked, let me connect you to an agent.” After several tries (at least 4), I clicked on the online link and surprisingly found another number that took me right to where I wanted to go and to a very helpful agent. Though, upon checking the information, I was told there was nothing wrong with the change even though the notice said, “Your flight connecting time is not valid and must be changed.” The issue seems to be with the connecting flight and the change in the flight number. The time between landing and catching the connecting flight seems OK according to the agent, actually the flight lands 10 minutes earlier and the layover is 20 minutes shorter but still within the guidelines for Hubby to make the connecting flight. Hubby is now on alert to check this again before he heads out. I will be already nearly a week into my Great Adventure and incommunicado because of my remote location and the tech I am not taking with me because of the physical conditions where I will be at the end of this month. Hubby will have the info he needs for contacts in case I am delayed coming back to meet him, though, my expectations are that I should be able to meet up with him the day after he lands if the weather holds and we keep to our schedule coming back and Mother Nature decides to cooperate.

Disconnects are part of our life. For a week I will be disconnected with my life partner. I think I will find it a bit disconcerting which I have not been for some time in my adult life. Definitely absence will make the heart grow fonder. By the end of the week I will be eagerly looking forward to seeing this person I have promised my life to. But I also think I will be liberated by being on my own, being self sufficient, being responsible only for myself for this week. I look to the meeting as a renewal of myself and of getting to know someone again that I have seen day in and day out for years all over again because we have been separated. I see it as yet another adventure.

Your Information is Incorrect!

It is time to renew my antivirus. I tend to be a bit anal about this and renew as soon as they notify me. I clicked on the link the email provided, entered the information and wham….your purchase has not gone through. I check, rechecked my entry. I really, really wanted to renew, you understand…two years even. Three tries and two credit cards later I gave up and called the support number. Even though the person talking had a fairly good accent, I was dealing with a second language… Turns out First Name Field….if you have a middle initial…gee….you have to add space and then that middle initial and a period to the first line. Very intuitive that is (so NOT). Anyway done and done and good for two years now when I get to do the drill all over again because I forgot First Name space Middle Initial period….

The Storyline is Everything

I have a Steam account mainly because if you play Skyrim you are forced to using that to play the game and a lot of other games these days. I look at the games they advertise when logging in but I am not generally a shoot em up gal which is what most games are these days, sadly, so I usually click right through the adverts that show up. I am all about the adventure and the storyline ala URUstyle.  But one game I have been keeping an  eye on for some time finally came up on sale and I bit…bit mightily, lol.

LA Noire.

Not your average game.

Surprisingly brought to you by the Grand Theft Auto folk. They do know their stuff, though. Interface for PC…major sucky at least through the Steam client. After a LOT of tweaks, pokes, cursing and I do not know what. I did find after defragging, tweaking settings, obligatory expletives, etc. that if I ran the LA Launcher from the Steam folder on my computer as an admin it ran without trouble (!) and I was able to complete the cases which by this time I really, really wanted to do.

Storyline, it was wow, wow, wow. In spite of the tech issues I found myself very caught up in the story of a flawed war hero who survives World War II and becomes a police officer in a corrupt Los Angeles police department in 1947. The need for a ‘golden boy’ to polish the tarnished image is imperative so they hire our hero who does perform brilliantly yet has his own failings as the story progresses.  In keeping with 1947, obviously there are no female detectives at that time, so you have play the main character, Cole Phelps. Along the way you more than experience the morals and ethics of post war 1947 Los Angeles with Cole and his partners. I found myself on edge right to the end of the game which for me is what makes this a great game. For some it is ‘beating’ the game, getting all the rewards etc. For me it is the getting there, being involved with the protagonist, trying to think how he would think and react and taking the consequences of his actions to the end of the story. I won’t spoil the ending of the game, but sadly I am not sure of any sequels. You can at least replay cases and there are achievement awards such as 95 fabulous (extremely!) vintage vehicles to find and drive along with some Gold Film awards, Badge Awards and Street Crimes to round out your experiences.

The power of this story makes me think of Myst, the books, MOUL and what they represented to us emotionally. In MOUL we had a powerful storyline that sadly did not continue. While an aging MOUL isn’t physically what LA Noire is – a tale that travels over a very large area in incredible historical detail, moving environment and realistic avatar movements; both have a strong storyline that impels one to feel deeply about the characters or remnants of a lost civilization one encounters while progressing through the story. The idea that strong storyline really does have a large impact in a game is important to those of us who value that in adventure games. If LA Noire had no storyline and was just a shoot em up, I think I would have quickly left being totally bored despite the realistic detail block after city block. One thing that has not changed is that player interaction is limited to within the storyline with little or no deviation.

I can only wish MOUL had been able to fulfill the same deep emotional promise that LA Noire gave in pushing emotions and story forward to a conclusion. LA Noire, sadly, has an ending, but MOUL has left us hanging and wishing for more. Both stories have incredible depth and promise. To see the vision realized by the makers both excites me yet saddens me because such things have to have an ending or a continuing. LA Noire gave an ending, while we are still waiting for the story to continue in MOUL.