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

[Captain Syrup]

I loved Lance Vance in VCS.

It almost seems like R* intended these games to be more downbeat. Toni gets shafted by Sal; he doesn't even get the girl in the end. She takes a high-dive out a window.

Vic keeps trying to go straight, but the universe is conspiring to make him a drug kingpin. His love interest got violently murdered, as well.

 

[The Last Stand]

Toni gets shafted by Sal; he doesn't even get the girl in the end. She takes a high-dive out a window.

That was a business, beneficial relationship. I don't think Toni was attracted to her.

It almost seems like R* intended these games to be more downbeat.

Crime pays. The only upbeat conclusion I recall with GTA would be The Ballad of Gay Tony. Oh, and San Andreas.

 

[The Last Stand]

Yeah, it pays so well that you get shot by Luis Guzman

Crime pays. Meaning you pay the price somehow. Loss of family, wealth, respect, etc.

 

[Fuck Y'all]

I don't think R* could make something that technically awful even if they tried. R* Leeds and R* Vancouver are pretty good in the technical aspects like graphical quality and optimization (see Max Payne 3 and V's PC release/port respectively). And while the people who made it happen probably don't work there anymore, R* San Diego were the ones who made the N64 port of RE:2, which is a marvel in of itself.
R* North learned their lesson after they tried to port IV themselves instead of using their PC-experienced studio to handle it.

I don't have doubts VI will look and perform well. My doubts lie with everything else.
The story will be just as bland if not worse than V, and the gameplay will remain as stagnant as ever (No, I will not celebrate them bringing back clothing and car mods as if they hadn't done that in 2004). Fun will be sacrificed for microtransactions and technological prowess.

However, mainstream doesn't give a shit about bland stories and gameplay that gets old quick. As long as it runs and plays well enough, they'll sell.
It'll only be after the hype dies down and people finish their 2nd or so playthroughs and fiddle with the new online that people realize what a mehburger they've been given, and realize R* have given us their Fallout 4.

I stand by what I said; GTA will sell well purely out of brand name. The amount of pre-orders + current gen console owners desperate for a new title from a once-respected franchise will be through the roof. It is only after we get the game that will probably be mediocre in everything but visuals that people will reconsider if GTA still means what it did 18 years ago.

still you missed the point

the thing is, Kike Zelnick is surely pushing to make next GTA agressively woke

 

[Ita Mori]

still you missed the point

the thing is, Kike Zelnick is surely pushing to make next GTA agressively woke

So?
Wokeness didn't stop TLOU2 from selling. It doesn't matter to these companies if you hate the product so long as you bought it. So what if some people didn't like it for it's wokeness or even how it shat on it's lore? They have their brown shirts at resetera and twitter to run damage control and sing it's praises enough that the MSM thinks it's the majority opinion.
And a majority of normies don't have one iota to care about the woke cold wars. If the gameplay is the same as ever it'll sell. I can almost guarantee the majority of kiwis in this thread hate woke culture and yet would still buy VI just to know how bad/meh/ok it is.

I understand your point, but I discard it because it's irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. Wokeness isn't killing any company right now no matter how hard conservative-leaning grifters want to make you pretend it is. Nike, Apple, Microsoft, Bank Of America, etc. are all doing dandy praising niggers, illegals, and trannies.

...Did Vic have a gang in that game? Actual street toughs protecting his property? Sorry, it's been years since I played it.

Yes. You start by taking over the remnants of Marty's gang and business and eventually have an army of generic goons.

Toni gets shafted by Sal; he doesn't even get the girl in the end. She takes a high-dive out a window.

- Toni doesn't care in the end. He can resent the boss but Leone is still the boss of a family Toni invested his whole being into. It's implied he considers murdering Sal but is interrupted by Uncle Leone making his presence.
- Toshiko Kasen and Toni are not interested in each other romantically. Kasen hires Toni as her vehicle in which to ruin and humiliate her husband for choosing his Yakuza family over her. However, she realizes at the end that her revenge brought her nothing, so she commits suicide as both atonement and a release from her depression.

 

[Fuck Y'all]

So?
Wokeness didn't stop TLOU2 from selling. It doesn't matter to these companies if you hate the product so long as you bought it. So what if some people didn't like it for it's wokeness or even how it shat on it's lore? They have their brown shirts at resetera and twitter to run damage control and sing it's praises enough that the MSM thinks it's the majority opinion.
And a majority of normies don't have one iota to care about the woke cold wars. If the gameplay is the same as ever it'll sell. I can almost guarantee the majority of kiwis in this thread hate woke culture and yet would still buy VI just to know how bad/meh/ok it is.

I understand your point, but I discard it because it's irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. Wokeness isn't killing any company right now no matter how hard conservative-leaning grifters want to make you pretend it is. Nike, Apple, Microsoft, Bank Of America, etc. are all doing dandy praising niggers, illegals, and trannies.

still missed the point

I DON'T WANT PLAY AS TRANNY
I DON'T WANT HEAR AMERIMUTT NONSENSE HOW I AM BORN RACIST
I DON'T WANT BE CALLED MISOGYNIST BECAUSE I PLAY VIDEO GAMES

capiche?

 

[Long Tongue Silver]

So?
Wokeness didn't stop TLOU2 from selling. It doesn't matter to these companies if you hate the product so long as you bought it. So what if some people didn't like it for it's wokeness or even how it shat on it's lore? They have their brown shirts at resetera and twitter to run damage control and sing it's praises enough that the MSM thinks it's the majority opinion.
And a majority of normies don't have one iota to care about the woke cold wars. If the gameplay is the same as ever it'll sell. I can almost guarantee the majority of kiwis in this thread hate woke culture and yet would still buy VI just to know how bad/meh/ok it is.

I understand your point, but I discard it because it's irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. Wokeness isn't killing any company right now no matter how hard conservative-leaning grifters want to make you pretend it is. Nike, Apple, Microsoft, Bank Of America, etc. are all doing dandy praising niggers, illegals, and trannies.

Just because it's making companies money hand over fist doesn't mean I have to lie back and consoom the hell out of it. And there are a growing number of people thinking the same thing. Who says wokeness is gonna be in vogue forever?

 

[Ita Mori]

Just because it's making companies money hand over fist doesn't mean I have to lie back and consoom the hell out of it. And there are a growing number of people thinking the same thing. Who says wokeness is gonna be in vogue forever?

- It'll be en vogue when VI hits. Assuming it's in development right now, the current socio-political climate will be felt in the next GTA.
- I never said you had to consoom. I said an overwhelming majority will based on brand name alone. GTA is a normie game and normies don't really care about wokeness one way or the other; they're there to play GTA 2 or raise hell in SP. If you don't want to buy it because you disagree with the probable politics the game will spew, don't.

 

[Fuck Y'all]

GTA is a normie game and normies don't really care about wokeness one way or the other; they're there to play GTA 2 or raise hell in SP.

>implying that normies would play as a tranny

ok bootlicker

 

[Ita Mori]

>implying that normies would play as a tranny

ok bootlicker

- You already play as one in GTA Online if you pick "woman".
- They played that tranny dude in TLOU2 with no qualms.

Bootlicker for what, not acting like the sky is falling because a game with brand recognition is going to sell and that hurts your feefees? Lol, seethe, incel.

 

[TVStactic]

- You already play as one in GTA Online if you pick "woman".
- They played that tranny dude in TLOU2 with no qualms.

Bootlicker for what, not acting like the sky is falling because a game with brand recognition is going to sell and that hurts your feefees? Lol, seethe, incel.

you'll only make a tranny "woman" in GTAO if you pick badly the other mothers, if you pick misty it's guaranteed you character looking like a junkie.

 

[Captain Syrup]

>implying that normies would play as a tranny

A female protagonist might be interesting, but then again, I can easily get my jollies with a Catalina skin.

 

[Milwaukee Macho Man]

It almost seems like R* intended these games to be more downbeat. Toni gets shafted by Sal; he doesn't even get the girl in the end. She takes a high-dive out a window. Similarly, Vic keeps trying to go straight, but the universe is conspiring to make him a drug kingpin. Pretty sure his love interest got violently murdered, as well. It's weird.

It felt like a clear sign of where Housers mind was at creatively. He wanted to create protagonists that were tragic.

Niko follows a similar path as Vic, always saying he wants out but always needing to keep going for a mysterious need for money, and basically losing someone he loves at the end and being mopey about where his life went.

It's kind of funny how much of a course correction there was with GTA V where none of the characters have redeeming qualities to make them feel particularly tragic.

Crime pays. The only upbeat conclusion I recall with GTA would be The Ballad of Gay Tony. Oh, and San Andreas.

Vice City was pretty upbeat with Tommy rubbing shoulders with Ken at the end saying it's all down south. I wouldn't call GTA III "upbeat" but it certainly wasn't a downer as Claude got his revenge and got to shoot Maria for being an annoying cunt, which is retroactively upbeat given all of her appearances in the 3D universe.

 

[Captain Syrup]

Claude got his revenge and got to shoot Maria

There was a big whoop of laughter at my house when she ate lead, let me tell you. Well justified.

Debi Mazar is a treasure, though. Kind of surprised she hasn't turned up in Mafia, yet. She has a great 'character' voice but not a lot of voice credits.

 

[The Last Stand]

There was a big whoop of laughter at my house when she ate lead, let me tell you. Well justified.

Debi Mazar is a national treasure, though. Kind of surprised she hasn't turned up in Mafia, yet. She has a great 'character' voice but not a lot of voice credits.

View attachment 2249944

You said she's known for voice acting? What examples?

 

[Captain Syrup]

You said she's known for voice acting? What examples?

That's just the thing. A couple cartoons here or there. I coulda sworn I heard her in the first Godfather game for PS2 (the PC's mama appealing to Vito for help), but she's not credited.

She married a celebrity cook and doesn't need the money. My guess is there are cheaper alternatives.

 

[Syaoran Li]

I'm like the Armond White of vidya, so I have to disagree with you there.

It almost seems like R* intended these games to be more downbeat. Toni gets shafted by Sal; he doesn't even get the girl in the end. She takes a high-dive out a window. Similarly, Vic keeps trying to go straight, but the universe is conspiring to make him a drug kingpin. Pretty sure his love interest got violently murdered, as well. It's weird.

I've seen people theorize that the reason why LCS and VCS were more dark and tragic compared to Vice City and San Andreas was because the Housers wanted to help condition the fanbase for the more decidedly grimdark direction GTA IV went.

 

[Dom Cruise]

The Housers were the first "get into games because I can't get into Hollywood" guys.

They never actually made a secret of it, they just gave so few interviews that a lot of people didn't notice or care at the time because the games were fun. But the Housers have always said it was their dream to get into music and movies I believe.

IIRC Sam Houser is actually getting into music now, and Dan basically kept making the games more and more like movies as the technology improved because like all modern AAA rejects that was the actual dream.

I'd bet good money Dan leaving had something to do with Take Two prioritizing GTA Online so much. I'm no game analyst or anything but I've seen some people make a compelling case that RDR2's entire story has a lot of subtext in Rockstar Games being taken over more and more by Take Two.

Interestingly enough Rockstar did produce a movie, 2004's The Football Factory, about British soccer hooligans, no I haven't seen it either.

I have no idea whether it had a theatrical release in the UK, but it certainly didn't in the US, I don't know if it got a release in the US at all, even direct to video.

I really, really hate to think the good days of Rockstar are already done, especially because they went from releasing so many different games in the 2000s to a grand total of... 5 in the 2010s.

The Rockstar branding was first used for GTA2 in 1999, last Rockstar game to have the Housers involved was RDR2 in 2018, so it didn't even make it to 20 years, which is sad.

But if the Housers are gone then it's over, they are Rockstar games, I just wish we could have gotten just one last game after RDR2 though, for me a big missed opportunity is a Bully 2, I would have loved to see that.

Here's a fun fact for you, you can see the Houser's mom naked, she's actress Geraldine Moffat and appeared in a nude scene alongside Michael Caine in the movie Get Carter, that might be embarrassing, but if your mum has to be naked then being naked with Michael Caine has got to instead be an honor.

 

[Maurice Caine]

Interestingly enough Rockstar did produce a movie, 2004's The Football Factory, about British soccer hooligans, no I haven't seen it either.

I have no idea whether it had a theatrical release in the UK, but it certainly didn't in the US, I don't know if it got a release in the US at all, even direct to video.

I really, really hate to think the good days of Rockstar are already done, especially because they went from releasing so many different games in the 2000s to a grand total of... 5 in the 2010s.

The Rockstar branding was first used for GTA2 in 1999, last Rockstar game to have the Housers involved was RDR2 in 2018, so it didn't even make it to 20 years, which is sad.

But if the Housers are gone then it's over, they are Rockstar games, I just wish we could have gotten just one last game after RDR2 though, for me a big missed opportunity is a Bully 2, I would have loved to see that.

Here's a fun fact for you, you can see the Houser's mom naked, she's actress Geraldine Moffat and appeared in a nude scene alongside Michael Caine in the movie Get Carter, that might be embarrassing, but if your mum has to be naked then being naked with Michael Caine has got to instead be an honor.

Houser's mom is in Get Carter? What the fuck...?

 

[Syaoran Li]

For what it's worth, Sam Houser is still technically part of Rockstar last I checked. As long as he's still with Rockstar, I won't completely rule out GTA VI.

Granted, if he's getting more into music then there's a good chance he's been reduced to a figurehead position by the Take-Two suits.