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

[The Demon Pimp of Razgriz]

The map in SA into the countryside was mainly dead space. IV had more interiors.

The lack of interiors was a major let down for me. You didn't really interact with most businesses really, which was a real letdown.

It arguably fit the tone with Niko with having a lack of customization. Why on Earth would Niko splurge on cars like Brucie? I do wish there was more to spend in IV than just guns and clothes. Although, I remember talking about the value of money in IV.

Even GTA V's customization was something of a let down. This probably had to do with the fact that they had to split the customization between three different characters. I mean, each character only had like six haircuts! Its amazing to me that, even like 15 to 20 years later, no game has yet to surpass the shear level of customization that Saints Row 2 had. Hell, you could do a lot of shit in Saints Row that you still can't do in GTA games, like go through restaurant drive-thru's. Hell, GTA V removed restaurants entirely from the game. Saints Row 2 had a fully modeled shopping mall. There hasn't been one of those in GTA since Vice City, and you blew that mall up. The Beverly Center has a look-a-like completely modeled inside GTA V and you can't even go inside it.

 

[Would]

You still might get GTA V flashbacks, though, there's a whole part where you become a government agent showing that this garbage was in their heads that far back.

James Woods' Mike Toreno was great, take that back.

Disagree. IV had a great story that intertwines between the main game and its episodes.

GTA IV's story is a rewritten GTA Vice City Stories, err, story.
The potential is there but the chaotic nature of GTA does not lend itself to an emo slav whose entire personality is snark and sarcasm.Tee-hee look how outsiders view the so-called American dream! Yeah but that outsider is an illegal alien who's a criminal who keeps being a criminal while moping about he's had it worse than anybody. Spare me your views on then-contemporary America. His story sucked and the preachiness is surreal.
III did not have this problem.
VC revels in being the bad guy. You are a career criminal who is not here to preach about the state of the world or how Tommy's life was screwed over despite being a good boy who dindu nuffin. You are here to kill other crooks, fuck bitches, make money, and live large.
SA is mostly the same way, except CJ despite being a hardened gangbanger for some reason has more of a soft spot than the other two and allows a crazy spic to pussywhip him around, developing slight bitch-dependency along the way.

TLAD suffers from much of the same issues of IV in that Johnny is a whiny bitch who won't stop pitying himself and thinks cynicism is a personality.
TBOGT is much better in this regard as Luis' main motif is to just get him and Tony out of the gutter. R*'s tired snark is still there but it's backpeddled a bit and helped by the fact Luis isn't trying to moralfag as hard as the other two.

If Niko had been as "Yeah I've had it rough but I'm also a sick fuck who murders for hire, deals drugs, and kidnaps for personal gain" like Vic, then maybe he wouldn't be so unbearable to listen to half the time. Not the Houser's best writing.

 

[Friendly Primarina]

SA is mostly the same way, except CJ despite being a hardened gangbanger for some reason has more of a soft spot than the other two and allows a crazy spic to pussywhip him around, developing slight bitch-dependency along the way.

I honestly thought you were talking about Cesar at first

 

[TVB]

I honestly thought you were talking about Cesar at first

I'd say Niko is a bit more of a chad than Cesar

 

[Psyduck]

Dark story ≠ Good story. While i did enjoy GTA 4 overall, i keep hearing people praise the story as "the darkest story told in a GTA" which is true, but to hold that up as an improvement over the rest and not just an stylistic choice ain't right to me

 

[The Last Stand]

I can see why people would dislike IV from the 3D era due to the radical shift in tone and missing features from previous entries.

Saints Row 1+2 provided a great alternative for those looking for that era in gaming back.

 

[TVB]

Dark story ≠ Good story. While i did enjoy GTA 4 overall, i keep hearing people praise the story as "the darkest story told in a GTA" which is true, but to hold that up as an improvement over the rest and not just an stylistic choice ain't right to me

Most of writing in most of modern media is either dark or self-aware that "journos" would write off anything with these two terms as "good." No, they are not.

 

[The Last Stand]

Most of writing in most of modern media is either dark or self-aware that "journos" would write off anything with these two terms as "good." No, they are not.

IV has better writing and storytelling than GTA V. Of course, that's telling of R*'s priority now.

I loved The Beat 102.7 in the Episodes.

 

[xXx: State of the Union]

IV has better writing and storytelling than GTA V. Of course, that's telling of R*'s priority now.

Not really?

They're both pretty meandering/take for-fucking-ever to get to the point.

GTA V at least has some decent set pieces, I guess.

GTA IV would have benefited a lot from being a straight up shooter IMO

 

[TVB]

IV has better writing and storytelling than GTA V. Of course, that's telling of R*'s priority now.

Gonna have to disagree with you on that, chief. I'll say the music choices in that game is great, but the story is all over the place with some good ideas here or there.

 

[The Last Stand]

Gonna have to disagree with you on that, chief. I'll say the music choices in that game is great, but the story is all over the place with some good ideas here or there.

I'd say the general plot is easy to get through. Niko is looking for the men that betrayed his platoon. Meanwhile, Roman is going through a gambling addiction among Niko's past haunting him as fodder. Of course, to each their own.

I found LCS's plot confusing. You're basically errand boy for Salvatore (of course, you're Salvatore's right hand man trying to earn his favor) by running around working with devious, bizarre people. That said, I like LCS better than IV with the mature setting being supplemented, not downplayed, with the humor through the characters, NPCs, and radio ads.

 

[fartsnstuf]

Dark story ≠ Good story. While i did enjoy GTA 4 overall, i keep hearing people praise the story as "the darkest story told in a GTA" which is true, but to hold that up as an improvement over the rest and not just an stylistic choice ain't right to me

imo, the game's stories from before GTA IV, both from the gta series and the other game series; were just as dark, if not darker, than GTA IV

 

[xXx: State of the Union]

Hot Take

None of the GTA's have great stories or writing.

Some GTA's stories are more fun than others, though.

 

[wakaran]

Nu-Rockstar would never

 

[Jonah Hill poster]

Hot Take

None of the GTA's have great stories or writing.

Some GTA's stories are more fun than others, though.

Counterpoint: Vice City Stories and Liberty City Stories were very underrated when it came to story writing, whereas Episodes From Liberty City was ironic in that it had two great stories. (Granted, Lost and the Damned was a slightly better story than The Ballad of Gay Tony, but the latter was a lot more fun than the former.)

 

[The Last Stand]

Hot Take

None of the GTA's have great stories or writing.

Some GTA's stories are more fun than others, though.

Hotter take:

I recommend playing the HD era of GTA as crime free as possible. Causing mayhem in the 3D era (and Chinatown Wars) feels more fulfilling.

 

[xXx: State of the Union]

Hotter take:

I recommend playing the HD era of GTA as crime free as possible. Causing mayhem in the 3D era (and Chinatown Wars) feels more fulfilling.

I already do this for exactly that reason.

 

[The Last Stand]

I already do this for exactly that reason.

I can disassociate myself from the carnage because it's clear you're playing an exaggerated crime game where its motif revolves around American crime and freedom. The realistic visuals and grounded approach with IV can be discouraging to just raise hell. Not disturbing, just pointless. If that makes sense.

Don't even get me started on the cops in V. So much as LOOK at them the wrong way, you're getting hunted down unfairly. It stops being fun.

 

[TVB]

Hotter take:

I recommend playing the HD era of GTA as crime free as possible. Causing mayhem in the 3D era (and Chinatown Wars) feels more fulfilling.

It's pretty much the same with me

 

[The Last Stand]

I know the decade has just started, but I personally feel that GTA: The Trilogy: The DEFINITIVE Edition is one of the worst games released this decade yet.

You had games like Cyberpunk 2077 released in a broken state with review embargos, Warcraft: Reforged that disrespect its original source material, Madden 23 that wiped players' franchise progress, Forspoken that had average gameplay with terrible writing; yet GTA: DE managed to achieve all those failures in one package.

Where to begin? Threatening modders by ordering C&D for reverse engineering, rereleasing mobile ports on consoles for full price, revoking access from consumers on PC, removing the originals from digital marketplaces, outsourcing such a monster task to incompetent hacks, neglecting ANY oversight during development.

Add insult to injury, Zelnick had the nerve to downplay its numerous issues as a "glitch" during an interview. It's an insult to the franchise and the million of fans that grew up with GTA over the years. There wouldn't BE GTA Online without these games' cultural influence and commercial success. Modern gaming has transformed beloved classics into a quick cash grab.