MovieChat Forums > L.A. Noire (2011) Discussion > Why Jack Kelso? (Spoilers)

Why Jack Kelso? (Spoilers)

posted 13 years ago by Bneidl
10 replies | jump to latest

I finished L.A. Noire yesterday. Overall I really liked it. But I'm kind of scratching my head over why the emphasis of the game shifted from Cole Phelps to Jack Kelso 3/4 of the way through.

We're invested in Phelps. We grow up with him from Patrol Desk to Traffic to Homicide to Vice. And then all of a sudden he becomes a non-player character for most of the final quarter of the game, as we step into the shoes of this Jack Kelso guy instead. Weird choice by Rockstar.

Also, I thought Kelso was boring. I don't like the look or sound of him. I enjoyed playing as Phelps rather a lot, so the shift was definitely a matter of trading down for me.

Anyone care to offer a rationale as to why Rockstar would take such a weird left turn like this in the endgame of what was otherwise a terrific experience?

Maybe they were going for an "L.A. Confidential" type vibe - as in, having multiple protagonists converge on the same case and then work together in the end. But if that's what they were going for, they didn't really pull it off in my opinion. In "L.A. Confidential," you follow each of the protagonists equally from the beginning to the end. In this, Phelps is the only protagonist that you know and use for the first 75% to 80% of the game, so it's pretty jarring and arbitrary when you suddenly have to be Kelso. And then once the transition is made, it's almost like Phelps only cameos from there on out. I think you only get to play him in two or three scenes after that.

Very, very odd.

[–] Navy_Woodchuck 13 years ago

I kind of agree. I liked Kelso myself, but I felt it was odd that he becomes the main character and we never go back to Phelps. At first it seemed like a refreshing change of pace, but especially since a lot of Kelso's investigations were gun fights it felt like playing a different game.

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We've met before, haven't we?

[–] capt-lunatic 13 years ago

I think it was done to show that Kelso was the real hero of the game. He never waivered in what he believed and was the one charactor that truly lived up to his own moral code.

Keith David>David Keith

[–] Bneidl 13 years ago

But where was he for the first 75% to 80% of the story? It isn't very good storytelling to introduce the "real hero" near the very end. I think he was glimpsed in some of the war flashbacks and maybe in one or two of the newspaper interludes earlier in the game, but he didn't stand out in those at all. He certainly was presented in those sections in any way that developed him as a character.

[–] darkcarnivalscrub 13 years ago

He's not the real hero he is just another protagonist. I think it was used like a platform to get you use to another character for a sequel. As opposed to a same setting same support but now a whole new protagonist out of no where you never heard of. Plus as you follow cases dialogue in AD Vice and Arson his name come up a few times. As it looks Arson cases serve as a prologue for a second L.A. Noire.

[–] rzeznik1085 13 years ago

I agree that it could lead into the sequel, which Team Bondi has already expressed interest in creating. In the game Roy Earle basically threatens Cole and tells him to stay off the case. He needs help and that's when he gets Kelso to help investigate. As far as why Kelso, I would assume it's because he was one of Cole's squad members, he lived in the city, he was an investigator, and he wasn't corrupt. Also, Rockstar didn't make the game, they only published it. So those creative decisions were Team Bondi's.

[–] barricade 13 years ago

If you think Team Bondi is going to make a sequel, you might want to Google; "game developer Team Bondi shuts down"

What is up homie?

[–] rzeznik1085 13 years ago

This is what I was going by: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Noire#Possible_sequel

I actually hadn't heard about Team Bondi shutting down, but you're correct. Thanks for bringing that up. Maybe Take Two will pick up a sequel someday, or perhaps Rockstar themselves...but that's just me thinking aloud (so to speak)

[–] barricade 13 years ago

This sounds interesting. Good to see the IP went to a good home. Team Bondi seemed a bit 'chaotic'.

http://au.gamespot.com/news/la-noire-sequel-a-possibility-6350294

What is up homie?

[–] sponix 13 years ago

yeah I wanted to play as Phelps all the way through.

[–] gilknut 13 years ago

I agree 100 percent; it basically made the last week seem like a waste of time to me. I played this game and enjoyed it for the hope of seeing Phelps' struggle through to the end. When they changed to Kelso I thought "WTF?!" and basically just rushed through it to get over with something I expected to be a brief curiosity where you got to see the case from a different angle.

When it turned out they had basically just yanked the rug out from under my feet by making the first 90 percent of the game pointless, my view of the game changed from "great" to "garbage". This has to be THE dumbest decision ever made in a computer game, and that's saying something. It's supposed to be a game, not a movie, and when you play one protagonist through a whole, lengthy game, that character becomes the "extension" of yourself, so to speak. No-one is interested in this fúcking Kelso idiot, while "you" (i.e. Phelps) is parked on the sideline only to finally die.

If I had had even a slight inkling that something like this would happen, I wouldn't have wasted a minute playing the game.