Grand Theft Auto Grieving Thread - Yep, I've been drinkin' again...

[TheArtilleryman]

No, I have not. I've never played GTA on PC. From what I hear about GTA on PC, it's the Wild West with griefing, hacking and booting players for their own pleasure.

If you're a straight player it's awful as most servers are at least 50% modders. Surprisingly though, most of them are responsible and don't mess with straight players (You can see exactly who is modding and who isn't with most mod menus). Some are assholes and love griefing straight players. They'll often get their comeuppance from friendly modders afterwards, but at that point it no longer matters to the straight player who just lost all that time and money and probably left.

The hard truth is that the modders have more fun at less cost and get to stick a middle finger toward Rockstar's shitty MTX/grinding fueled ecosystem with it. Best just to join 'em if you can.

 

[The Last Stand]

If you're a straight player it's awful as most servers are at least 50% modders. Surprisingly though, most of them are responsible and don't mess with straight players (You can see exactly who is modding and who isn't with most mod menus). Some are assholes and love griefing straight players. They'll often get their comeuppance from friendly modders afterwards, but at that point it no longer matters to the straight player who just lost all that time and money and probably left.

The hard truth is that the modders have more fun at less cost and get to stick a middle finger toward Rockstar's shitty MTX/grinding fueled ecosystem with it. Best just to join 'em if you can.

It's a double edged sword. You have an unstable economy from R*'s doing that requires hours upon hours of grinding to access, while somebody with a mod menu can access the same content in the same playing field in seconds. Modding gets a bad rep because of malicious actors ruining others' experience. The compromise would be to join unofficial GTA V servers or mod your single player to play those gatekept toys. That's not even getting into the performance issues or security vulnerabilities from their servers.

You'd have to ask yourself if it's even worth all that hassle.

 

[TheArtilleryman]

The compromise would be to join unofficial GTA V servers or mod your single player to play those gatekept toys. That's not even getting into the performance issues or security vulnerabilities from their servers.

You'd have to ask yourself if it's even worth all that hassle.

I agree, custom servers that allow the same enhancements as mod menus but for everyone would be fantastic. I'm unsure where custom servers will fall soon though, Rockstar did acquire the FiveM team not that long ago..

 

[xXx: State of the Union]

Did anyone mention Lazlow was on Dan Soders podcast?

It's kind of funny hearing Lazlow complain about modern game shit that was in GTA V.

 

[The Last Stand]

https://youtube.com/watch?v=2JGmLsmUmz4
Did anyone mention Lazlow was on Dan Soders podcast?

It's kind of funny hearing Lazlow complain about modern game shit that was in GTA V.

I have found to appreciate Chatterbox FM from GTA III. I would think: who would go on the radio to TALK? Now, I can just play games while listening to videos through some headphones.

 

[Sneed (formerly ﷽)]

LEAKED TREVOR 2024 DLC:

Spoiler: 🙀

 

[Xarpho's Return]

I never really got into GTA, I know I bought Grand Theft Auto III at some point, but who is the audience for modern GTA? There was some Reddit comment I saw recently where they lamented that what the core audience really wants is just "The Sims with guns" (a good base to work off, I suppose, we all know how Palworld took off).

That makes sense, there's always complaints about the story, complaints about how vehicles handle, complaints about how strict the missions are...it's almost as if people don't actually the enjoy the "main" game.

 

[Nguyen Van Phuoc]

I never really got into GTA, I know I bought Grand Theft Auto III at some point, but who is the audience for modern GTA?

Nu-GTA/Online is built for children who want to waste their parents money on gay futuristic vehicles and weapons and for niggers who want to larp as gangbangers after a long hard day of gangbanging.

That makes sense, there's always complaints about the story, complaints about how vehicles handle, complaints about how strict the missions are...it's almost as if people don't actually the enjoy the "main" game.

A lot of these complaints mainly apply to only the HD-Universe games, so GTA IV and newer. GTA IV took the games in a darker, more serious direction with a more realistic and physics driven driving model to boot. This ended up being very divisive, with some people standing by this new direction while others felt the driving model was unfun and the tone unfitting for such a game. GTA V ended up dialing these elements back, the story was less serious and the driving became more arcadey. There’s also a good amount of people who don’t like either direction the games went into.

 

[William Murderface]

https://youtube.com/watch?v=2JGmLsmUmz4
Did anyone mention Lazlow was on Dan Soders podcast?

It's kind of funny hearing Lazlow complain about modern game shit that was in GTA V.

I need to sit down and listen to this later, but I will say the 3D games were a lot more tongue-in-cheek funny than the HD ones were. Like they were, as our friends across the Pond might say, taking the piss out of the world. Stuff like the Maurice Chavez asking if the poor kids know it's the Fourth of July (a reference to a song in the 80s Do They Know It's Christmas) or the DJ in SA on the K-DST was Axel Rose and he would poke subtle fun at Grunge music with remarks like "we're rockstars people, not lumberjacks" because so many of the Grunge guys came from Seattle and wore flannel. Even stuff like there a mission in SA where CJ and Ryder go out to do something and CJ even asks where the truck they're getting in came from because it wasn't there when he started the mission and Ryder just tells him not to worry about it. In the HD games, it seems like while there is very subtle humor, so much of the game is played seriously. It's just a different tone.

 

[Xarpho's Return]

I need to sit down and listen to this later, but I will say the 3D games were a lot more tongue-in-cheek funny than the HD ones were. Like they were, as our friends across the Pond might say, taking the piss out of the world. Stuff like the Maurice Chavez asking if the poor kids know it's the Fourth of July (a reference to a song in the 80s Do They Know It's Christmas) or the DJ in SA on the K-DST was Axel Rose and he would poke subtle fun at Grunge music with remarks like "we're rockstars people, not lumberjacks" because so many of the Grunge guys came from Seattle and wore flannel. Even stuff like there a mission in SA where CJ and Ryder go out to do something and CJ even asks where the truck they're getting in came from because it wasn't there when he started the mission and Ryder just tells him not to worry about it. In the HD games, it seems like while there is very subtle humor, so much of the game is played seriously. It's just a different tone.

At this point in time it's very hard to make good satire without coming off like you have some ideological bent, and you know that you can't play "well you can play both sides" because that's not going to be allowed. Hearing chirping smoke detectors in black 'hoods would be funny but that won't work because no fun allowed.

Even some of the non-political things that will still resonate with people like HR being useless wastes of oxygen, will somehow get overlooked and all we'll continue to get is crude sexual puns and everything anti-conservative/anti-straight male/anti-white without any bigger point behind it.

 

[Nameless One]

GTA IV remains my favorite HD universe GTA. GTA VI likely won't change that, they even have the opportunity to make the GTA IV hobo that got rich and started a gun store in Vice City part of the game or story but it's unlikely. With the way they ruined IV characters in V, I'd honestly prefer the absence. GTA V could have pulled a IV with Los Santos as a cool new take on San Andreas but console limitations likely held the game back sadly (though the car destruction was better than next gen ironically). I'm hoping VI is a worthy successor to Vice City but its seeming like more of V which I find lame and gay. Give IV all the shit you want for its physics and such, but the game storywise was a very worthy followup to the gritty nature of Liberty City that III established. Where in V do you see worthy HD Universe sunsets that rival San Andreas tone-wise? The only part of SA that V had was butchered potential with Franklin and Lamar, they needed more content early but it just ain't there sadly. Lamarr down could have been a good mission if you didn't have to drive all the way up there and they should have done San Andreas mission design where you do missions WITHIN areas to familiarize players with the map. V's story focused on the Hollywood aspect which I can see the appeal of, but the story is shorter and arcadier and neuters itself as a result and cuts out potential character developments, and even cut out cool DLCs like Agent Trevor for Online. GTA V had good steps of having elements from San Andreas thrown into the gameplay, but I think they could have done more with the content itself like gang wars, more arcadey stuff. Online sorta proves that they can but they're too lazy.

 

[Foltest]

GTA IV is still my second favorite in the series.
The more serious tone and Niko Belic create a very convincing narrative and the best main story in the series.
The controls have aged so and so (the helicopter sucks ass) but it is still fun.
I just wish there was more to do in Alderney, as it is pretty barren. Not even a clothing store?
Also, fuck you Rockstar for what you did to Johnny.

 

[ChunkyKong]

GTA IV is my favorite of the series once it switched to third person. Something about Liberty City the color scheme and everything about it just felt good? I still go back to it regularly and just did a play through not too long ago. I really hope they are working backwards in a way going to Los Santos > Vice City > Liberty City for 7.

New England has some great locations having New York to Jersey even upstate where its more country would be a nice mix. You can have tweakers from Maine and Connecticut mix in some Boston Southie schmucks and boom. A lot of diversity and with the snow improvements from RDR2 it would be nice to see it build up while hiding out in a cabin on a frozen lake due to some shit in the city.

Even Bully and I believe Manhunt were both very distinct with their New England locations. The mix of dirty grimey city life and suburban yuppie gated communities would be a great contrast.

 

[The Last Stand]

I need to sit down and listen to this later, but I will say the 3D games were a lot more tongue-in-cheek funny than the HD ones were.

In the HD games, it seems like while there is very subtle humor, so much of the game is played seriously. It's just a different tone.

There's a thread about what makes a "comedy" game. You're correct about the 3D era games. R* knew first and foremost they were making a video game where freedom was paramount to the criminality aspect of GTA. Clearly, it took steps from their previous game, Body Harvest, while evolving the medium that video games can be enjoyed by adults as well.

I don't believe that IV is worse than the 3D era because of its tonal shift in storytelling and gameplay, just different.

 

[William Murderface]

There's a thread about what makes a "comedy" game. You're correct about the 3D era games. R* knew first and foremost they were making a video game where freedom was paramount to the criminality aspect of GTA. Clearly, it took steps from their previous game, Body Harvest, while evolving the medium that video games can be enjoyed by adults as well.

I don't believe that IV is worse than the 3D era because of its tonal shift in storytelling and gameplay, just different.

I wouldn't necessarily say 4 or 5 were better or worse than the 3D era games, just different in tone, that the graphics and side abilities (stuff like golfing or getting a submarine) was the trade off for the tongue-and-cheek satire the 3D games were full of. There is, of course, some of that stuff in the HD era games, but not the sheer amount and just how pervasive it was in the 3D era. I don't know what changed because the Housers and Lazlow were still in charge of the writing things like radio banter and signage and peds.

 

[The Last Stand]

I wouldn't necessarily say 4 or 5 were better or worse than the 3D era games, just different in tone, that the graphics and side abilities (stuff like golfing or getting a submarine) was the trade off for the tongue-and-cheek satire the 3D games were full of.

I think IV was R*'s best storytelling yet in a video game. I would gladly accept that trade off with grounded "realism."

 

[William Murderface]

I think IV was R*'s best storytelling yet in a video game. I would gladly accept that trade off with grounded "realism."

If I had to pick a best storytelling in a game I would from R* I would have to go with RDR1/RDR2, if for no other reason than I actually cared about John and Arthur and the rest. I enjoyed Trevor and Tommy and CJ and Niko, but their stories just didn't mean as much to me. GTA basically has the moral of "crime does pay." RDR1 has "nobody forgets and nothing gets forgiven" while RDR2 has "you can't change what's done; you can only move forward" as their key takeaways.

That said, I do love both franchises, and Bully. I just wish they didn't take so long between releases. I don't think they should come out on a preset schedule or anything, but a decade and a half between GTAs is kind of ridiculous.

 

[The Last Stand]

Almost forgot, since the BattlEye cheat detector rolled out, I'm seeing a fair bit of videos of people getting suspended/banned from GTA Online for mod menus and artificial money gains. I'm guessing it's doing SOMETHING, but why wait 11 years to upgrade security?

 

[Scream Aim Fire]

So, against all logic, I was planning on picking GTA5/Online back up. I had played a bit of both back in the day, was looking to both finish off V's main story and start making some actual progress in Online. If I might ask; anyone have any suggestions for making progress on Online these days? I was basically just looking for a decent, reliable way to make some cash; any suggestions? That, and I know that there are some weapons that are better than others; got any suggestions?

 

[xXx: State of the Union]