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

[CWCissey]

Just downloaded the GTA 1 Max Pack.

Fired up London to check it's working and the nostalgia is delicious.

 

[Milwaukee Macho Man]

The reasoning behind this was especially a slap in the face

This is a point I don't see enough people make.

I remember after GTA IV came out and people were rightly upset with just how grounded and depressing the story was, people would make all kinds of dumb excuses that basically boiled down to "realism" or "Niko wouldn't do that."

WTF? I don't give a fuck what some fictional character would or would not do. I want to play the game the way I want to.

And I remember everyone being like "Well, Niko *couldn't* reach the top. That's just not realistic." and almost finding it offensive. Realism? In Mah GTA!? Like I have enough realism in my real life where I'm not going to reach the top of the crime ladder, I don't need it in my fucking GTA games.

Like it or not, this is actually a major reason for GTA Onlines success and the reason Rockstar can make so much damn money off of it. Probably the single most important thing about GTA is when you feel like the "king" at the end, and GTA Online despite having horrible fucking gameplay and practices is pretty much based all around this.

Anyways, for all the talk about GTA IV's great story, I still feel like it would have been far more impactful if at the end Niko did have all the shit Roman promised him at the expense of either his best friend or an innocent woman he loved. The line "So this is what the dream feels like. This is the victory we longed for." probably would have had a lot more impact if Niko actually did achieve the "dream" and didn't just wake up in a shitty apartment with absolutely nothing.

 

[Captain Syrup]

Fired up London to check it's working and the nostalgia is delicious.

 

[capitalBBustard]

Agreed. Still a better GTA than GTA IV.

GTA IV isn't a bad game (although it's certainly flawed I think even if you take away GTA aspect) but it is simply a horrible GTA. The friend activities were a poor substitute for the many modes and missions that were featured in other GTA games. The vehicle physics were an absolute chore to deal with and "learn". The grounding of the open world (aka not taking the time to implement beloved vehicles and features) was a dumb idea and continues to be one of the worst cases of Hollywood-ing up a game. The reasoning behind this was especially a slap in the face (Niko is an immigrant, he wouldn't care about flying planes, using military weaponry and equipment, using parachutes, upgrading and customizing vehicles, etc. etc. after San Andreas had CJ doing all that shit). The mission structure, scripting and variety was abysmal.

"da fren activitiy replace da gameplay"
They didn't replace shit. They were an expanded version of that shit from San Andreas with the gilfriends. SA literally had the same thing, right down to playing billiards at dates and shit.

Ambulance and all the other crap got cut because they were fucking terrible. 10 'levels' of the same 30 second gameplay loop to waste your time for half an hour. Only reason you would ever play that shit in the old games is to get infinite sprint or the hp boost, or whatever other bonus they gave. It's how you can insta disregard someone as a blind nostalgiafag, when they start talking about how great the diversions (like getting 100 taxi fares) were. Vigilante got turned into an actually fun diversion in IV instead of the old crap one.

The "mission structure scripting and variety", is just the biggest horseshit argument too. IV has the same mission design as San Andreas.
- Missions that are based around/introduce a mechanic
- Gimmick mission
- Steal a thing mission
- Shootout mission
- Carchase mission
- Any permutation of the above three in a single mission
Just cause you repeat "mission structure bad" like a fundie at church doesn't make it real. It's as bad as the games prior. The big brained faggot take would be how missions structure is ackshually super outdated, going even into GTA5.

Why can't anyone shit on 4 for what it is instead of regurgitating fraudulent fanboy faggotry from 2008. People are still blindly seething near 13 years later.

 

[Vault Boy]

And here I am enjoying both San Andreas and GTA IV, am I an outlier in the GTA community?

 

[CWCissey]

And here I am enjoying both San Andreas and GTA IV, am I an outlier in the GTA community?

Nah I like both too, for differing reasons.

 

[Captain Syrup]

Ambulance and all the other crap got cut because they were fucking terrible.

I have 'Nam flashbacks of driving that rickety ambulance through Portland. Luckily it got easier in Staunton, but I was close to giving up.

 

[CWCissey]

I have 'Nam flashbacks of driving that rickety ambulance through Portland. Luckily it got easier in Staunton, but I was close to giving up.

I remember just cheesing the ambulance missions in San Andreas. Angel Pine was a goddamn blessing!

 

[Syaoran Li]

Honestly, I think Liberty City Stories is probably my favorite of the PS2 era GTA games, with San Andreas and Vice City tied for a close second.

I dunno why, I just liked LCS a lot since Toni Cipriani was one of my favorite characters in GTA III

 

[Captain Syrup]

I remember just cheesing the ambulance missions in San Andreas. Angel Pine was a goddamn blessing!

On that note: The Hunter having an R1 option. I think I sexually identified as an attack helicopter in that moment.

Honestly, I think Liberty City Stories is probably my favorite of the PS2 era GTA

Hard to go wrong with "mob missions, but more of them."

Bravo for the creative use of locations from 3. The jogging path in the park, the cathedral, Liberty Tree, City Hall, the casino, the crest of Cochrane Dam, the lighthouse, plus others I've forgotten. And a new neighborhood in Fort Staunton to keep you busy.

The most memorable part of VCS was the trailer park. I like my wrestlers and my women trashy.

 

[X Pac Heat]

They didn't replace shit. They were an expanded version of that shit from San Andreas with the gilfriends. SA literally had the same thing, right down to playing billiards at dates and shit.

Yeah, and they were fucking boring. More boring than the R3 missions you seem to hate. Definitely not the thing to make the main focus of the open world about.

The "mission structure scripting and variety", is just the biggest horseshit argument too. IV has the same mission design as San Andreas.

GTA IV is clearly far more scripted and boring to anyone that isn't massive retard and/or faggot.

Go live a real life instead of ruining fun games plz.

The big brained faggot take would be how missions structure is ackshually super outdated, going even into GTA5.

I actually pointed out GTA V is just as bad and it's only redeeming factor is brining back more fun vehicles. Calm down and actually read my full post sped.

People are still blindly seething near 13 years later.

He says as he seethes over my post lmfao

 

[Captain Syrup]

Did someone activate Riot Mode in this thread? It's getting spicy.

 

[MirrorNoir]

so regarding the PSP games, if I just want to fuck around and kill people and break shit while putting no real time into the game like back in the day in GTA3 what's the best choice?

I would go with Vice City Stories; the radio stations are great and it distills the basics of why Vice City was so awesome given it's limitations and gives some decent lore which adds to the main VC lore.

 

[X Pac Heat]

Did someone activate Riot Mode in this thread? It's getting spicy.

It's to be expected. GTA IV was a lot of zoomers and faggots first GTA so they have some special connection to it like Nintendo fags with Ocarina of Time.

Notice he didn't go into my main point about how boring the fucking open world was. I'm sure he'll come back with "but Euphoria physics!1!1!" like some sort of autistic Valve fanboy.

 

[capitalBBustard]

It's to be expected. GTA IV was a lot of zoomers and faggots first GTA so they have some special connection to it like Nintendo fags with Ocarina of Time.

Notice he didn't go into my main point about how boring the fucking open world was. I'm sure he'll come back with "but Euphoria physics!1!1!" like some sort of autistic Valve fanboy.

Complains about nostalgiafagging while he actively nostalgiafags hisself. Peak schizo hours.

I love you jumping to the conclusion that everyone that played the old games first has to be as retarded as you.

 

[The Last Stand]

We're talking about GTA IV vs. 3D era now? Alrighty then.

The reasoning behind this was especially a slap in the face (Niko is an immigrant, he wouldn't care about flying planes, using military weaponry and equipment, using parachutes, upgrading and customizing vehicles, etc. etc. after San Andreas had CJ doing all that shit).

While you're objectively right about IV being drastically different than previous GTAs (and I agree), I feel with R*'s intent for the next generation and scope, it was a necessary decision. R* stated that they originally wanted to be ambitious with IV, but technological limitations with the new engine and hardware had them scale things back a bit.

The only problem with the story is that it doesn't make sense at all when taken into context of the open world, a problem that only matters because they were so god damn serious about making the open world grounded for the sake of the story.

Personally, I felt IV's Liberty City matched the tone of Niko's story. Although I will say that many locations felt similar to one another save for a few landmarks.

"da fren activitiy replace da gameplay"
They didn't replace shit. They were an expanded version of that shit from San Andreas with the gilfriends. SA literally had the same thing, right down to playing billiards at dates and shit.

Correct. IV expanded on the girlfriends mechanic from San Andreas and made it better. I never cared much about the girlfriends in SA, but an underrated aspect with the friends/girlfriend system is the character development between Niko and them. Characters exist outside of being mission givers; they have actual character.

Ambulance and all the other crap got cut because they were fucking terrible. 10 'levels' of the same 30 second gameplay loop to waste your time for half an hour. Only reason you would ever play that shit in the old games is to get infinite sprint or the hp boost, or whatever other bonus they gave.

Agreed, I despised the gameplay loop of Ambulance more than Taxi and Firefighter. Driving to, picking up and dropping off peds on a time and damage limit isn't the best use of your time. Especially with GTA SA being so vast with dead space in between hospitals.

Vigilante got turned into an actually fun diversion in IV instead of the old crap one.

You could leave the car when you get to the mission marker AND call for backup. I found them a nice replacement to Rampages with a purpose. One, you could do as many as you wish thanks to procedural generation with the side mission.

The "mission structure scripting and variety", is just the biggest horseshit argument too. IV has the same mission design as San Andreas.
- Missions that are based around/introduce a mechanic
- Gimmick mission

I recall three gimmicks with GTA IV's mission structure: the cell phone, tailing and those "choices" at the end of missions.

Anyways, for all the talk about GTA IV's great story, I still feel like it would have been far more impactful if at the end Niko did have all the shit Roman promised him at the expense of either his best friend or an innocent woman he loved. The line "So this is what the dream feels like. This is the victory we longed for." probably would have had a lot more impact if Niko actually did achieve the "dream" and didn't just wake up in a shitty apartment with absolutely nothing.

The "dream" for Niko was to leave behind the past in Liberty City. But his past kept creeping up behind him at the expense of him and the people around him.

And here I am enjoying both San Andreas and GTA IV, am I an outlier in the GTA community?

I enjoyed both. San Andreas for the gang environment and IV for the story. But neither have aged well as time progressed and similar games outdid both in mechanics and execution.

Notice he didn't go into my main point about how boring the fucking open world was. I'm sure he'll come back with "but Euphoria physics!1!1!" like some sort of autistic Valve fanboy.

One big gripe with IV is after you're finished with the story, what's left to do? It leaves you thinking all Niko did was for nothing. You can't do much with your money. The city is too claustrophobic. The game doesn't even reward you for going to 100% completion. An achievement and "limitless ammo," wow thanks. I shot these hard to reach birds only for you to give me an achievement? Thanks Ubisoft, I mean R*.

Somebody mentioned that GTA IV is a competent third person shooter. Causing mayhem in IV feels like a survival game with the cover system, heavy driving, weapon mechanic and search function of the LCPD. It's not "fun," just a challenging chore.

 

[X Pac Heat]

Somebody mentioned that GTA IV is a competent third person shooter.

I said it COULD have been a great third person shooter. For that to work though the mechanics would have to be improved greatly. They feel like they are held back because of trying to make it work within the open world, or because of also needing to worry about vehicles, or something.

I imagine the world of GTA IV, but with better level design and the mechanics of Max Payne 3. That would have been a great game IMO.

 

[The Last Stand]

I said it COULD have been a great third person shooter. For that to work though the mechanics would have to be improved greatly. They feel like they are held back because of trying to make it work within the open world, or because of also needing to worry about vehicles, or something.

Again, the Eurphobia physics and then newly developed RAGE engine took time for R* to refine. IV was a mechanically sound third person shooter. You could shoot guns from enemies with a well placed shot. I didn't even know that. Auto-aim made it trivial.

 

[Captain Syrup]

You could shoot guns from enemies with a well placed shot.

Wow. I don't think even Hitman lets you do that.

 

[X Pac Heat]

Again, the Eurphobia physics and then newly developed RAGE engine took time for R* to refine. IV was a mechanically sound third person shooter. You could shoot guns from enemies with a well placed shot. I didn't even know that. Auto-aim made it trivial.

Sorry I thought you were criticizing me for saying that. I should clarify that I mean the mechanics of movement would need to be improved as well as the hud moreso the actual physics or anything.