Well it wasn't cliche.  Remember, Phelps entire mission through this game was to do something for himself.  In Machiavellian terms, pride and glory was the ultimate good for Phelps.  So the ending was a resolution to that as he finally did something not for himself but for others, namely saving his "friend", Jack Kelso.  It is also a good foil to what happened at Okinawa which we saw in the flashback that his service medal he obtained wasn't something to be proud of as all his men died as he cowered on the hill.  A lot of his ambition we see in the game is due to his wanting to make up for that.  It wasn't until the end that he realized if he wanted to face his demons, he needed to do something not for himself but for others which he accomplished by taking the ultimate sacrifice, something he should have done on Okinawa.

Well he wasn't put there thinking he was going to do that, he was a fall guy to keep all the attention away from them and on Phelps.  And also, Phelps being on arson didn't expose the scheme.  Actually, Phelps was unable to do it due to the LAPD having such a tight grip on the matter.  This is where Jack Kelso entered and it was actually Kelso who was able to expose it, not Phelps.  Phelps motivation is what started it, but Phelps alone on arson couldn't have done it.  From the crooked cops and housing scheme people point of view, I'd say that was pretty tight control, especially considering Kelso worked for the insurance company that was behind it too.  This shows the kind of character Kelso is, who unlike Phelps, when he saw something was wrong he was willing to give up his job, image, and maybe his life to do what was right... which in turned got a politican on his side for different reasons of course haha.

That was my favorite part, and the story was repetitive until then, it was when phelps was exposed that everything got interesting and jack is an awesome guy.

Due to the demands on the developers, to do more than just make fun games, I feel the industry is asking for trouble trying to think they have to top Hollywood, out of a need to feel respected more, envy or whatever.   It isn't ok for people to just do fun games, they have to top in production value and so on.  There has to be some degree of envy on the part of the videogame industry that they can't have an award show that matches the Oscars and Emmys and having people talk about who is tops in their industry, and care about what they do, like they care about Hollywood.  No amount of money now seems to garner the desired respect.

Once I realized the victims had all visited bars before they died, I immediately figured out who the killer was. :p

And Rusty was definitely the best partner! He needs to return for the sequel ( and you know there will be a sequel...).

Hmm the post I just tried to make didn't register.......that kinda sucks.

To your previous reply: The protagonist sacrificing their life at the climax of the story is pretty cliche to me in terms of him instantly becoming a "tragic hero." To me, his deaht would've had more significance if it inspired Kelso to finish his investigation, but as you stated Kelso was alkready willing to risk everything to uncover the conspiracy. His death just felt empty to the overall scope of the game since it was only used to make up for his past mistakes. It didn't really have a positive impact on anyone else imo.

It's not logical for the Police Chief, who is aware how great of a detective Phelps is to to allow him to be assigned to the Arson desk when the housing scheme he's tied to invlves arson. Though Phelps didn't completely uncover the conspiracy, him being assigned to the Arson desk is the single reason Kelso got involved in the investigation, which lead to the downfall of the scheme and two of the conspirators.

In hindsight, yes, it was clear. But it never really 'clicked'

And yes, if Rusty doesn't return for the (inevitible) sequel I will RAGE! And they'd better be some DLC involving the homocide desk! So far there's 2 Vice cases, 1 traffic and 2 arson (I think). Where's the love for Rusty? :/

Just finished the game.

I'm having mixed feelings about the ending. I was pretty annoyed at first because I see the credits roll without any closure to all the buildup to the endgame.

On the other hand, perhaps it also says something about corruption. The assistant DA came off as being interested in bringing down the 'corrupt' leaders, but it looks like he simply used the GI housing fund to put himself into a position of wealth (as seen when the police chief asks him to make an offer and when he shakes Roy's hand at the end).

I found Cole cheating on his wife interesting because in one of the earlier missions during a conversation when you drive to a crime scene location, Cole mentions that he loves his wife and family and is faithful.

Still, I suppose I'm still going to be annoyed that the whole system didn't come down on the heads of the GI funding guys as how it was building up to be in the last hours of the game.