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

[The Valeyard]

Here is the Memology 101 video on this shitshow.

 

[WULULULULU]

I played the Mafia remaster earlier this year, other than an issue where it would crash every so often on PC, it was awesome.

It felt weird as hell though playing something that was recognizably 2002 in a lot of it's design ways but had modern graphics, it was also weird to see something relatively obscure get that treatment, I liked it though and hope we see more of that sort of thing.

Point is if Mafia 1 could get a good remaster there's zero excuse for the GTAs not getting the same treatment.

Remakes, if done right, can help bring an old game into the spotlight. The thread has mentioned a lot of good examples but for those wondering why remakes even exist, the original intention, was not out of greed or the CEO's intention of filling up their pockets, rather it was because the source code for the original game might either be impossible to redo with or lost with all the hard drive data and whatnot, as with the nature of videogames that almost every game runs on confusing code that it somehow works. I remember watching Appabend's video on remakes and it makes sense (I also have a feeling Appabend is one of us on the Farms, just a gut feeling). Why bother looking for hundreds of what is essentially cobbled up code when you can recreate it from the ground up with new technology and mechanics. Of course, this is the good intention.

The bad intention of a remake is the one you would see now, a half-assed version of a game that you once loved, only to be tainted by the developers and CEO out of a quick buck. Sad thing is that most see it that way and I cannot blame them. If the original purpose of a remake is to reintroduce the audience to an old game, then something like this feels like it is rewriting the original product, and seeing how *R is really bending to the knee, one can assume this might be one of several reasons for the unnecessary changes, apart from the reasons such as milking nostalgia of many old gamers who once had the OG consoles.

tl;dr = Remakes are not inherently bad by purpose, but it is tainted by shit ones. This included.

 

[SolidZone 26]

You know you fucked up when you leak the source code for a switch game.

 

[UzumakiLeaf]

Remakes, if done right, can help bring an old game into the spotlight. The thread has mentioned a lot of good examples but for those wondering why remakes even exist, the original intention, was not out of greed or the CEO's intention of filling up their pockets, rather it was because the source code for the original game might either be impossible to redo with or lost with all the hard drive data and whatnot, as with the nature of videogames that almost every game runs on confusing code that it somehow works. I remember watching Appabend's video on remakes and it makes sense (I also have a feeling Appabend is one of us on the Farms, just a gut feeling). Why bother looking for hundreds of what is essentially cobbled up code when you can recreate it from the ground up with new technology and mechanics. Of course, this is the good intention.

The bad intention of a remake is the one you would see now, a half-assed version of a game that you once loved, only to be tainted by the developers and CEO out of a quick buck. Sad thing is that most see it that way and I cannot blame them. If the original purpose of a remake is to reintroduce the audience to an old game, then something like this feels like it is rewriting the original product, and seeing how *R is really bending to the knee, one can assume this might be one of several reasons for the unnecessary changes, apart from the reasons such as milking nostalgia of many old gamers who once had the OG consoles.

tl;dr = Remakes are not inherently bad by purpose, but it is tainted by shit ones. This included.

I would love to see Legend of Dragoon get a remaster or remake. There are so many old games that could use a little TLC. You already have the foundation, just give it a new coat of paint with maybe some QOL improvements thrown in. It should not be that hard compared to making a brand new game from scratch.

 

[Kulee Baba]

Are we totally sure these games were ever 'good'?

I remember thinking at the time they were formless jankfests that only thick people liked...is the reaction to these 'remasters' even if you ignore the shit state of these ports, simply a case of the games not aging well at all? Chinatown wars was the only 'recent' GTA that I would say resembled a proper game and that is forgotten completely by the idiots that laud these games as something special when they aren't and never were.

Yes, they were. For a large swath of gamers GTA3 or it's immediate superior sequel Vice City was their introduction to the concept of Open World game design.

The Sandbox, the idea that instead of the game level being a linear obstacle course but instead a simulation of an environment still is fun and just neat to explore. I remember being so impressed to see an Emergency Vehicle come by to revive an NPC I ran over. The thrill of escaping the police by speeding past them or finding a convenient Pay n' Spray is just fun. The games offered a ton of variety, you could race, play as a taxi, get a cop car and do vigilante mission, the list goes on.

The atmosphere carried in Vice City & San Andreas 15+ years later are simply some of my strongest memories or gaming period. The 80s Music (besides Michael Jackson of course) were not even remotely popular when I was a child. So I first heard songs like "Tempted" via Vice City. When I hear that song I think about GTA. The characters weren't deep by any means but they were fun to see in cutscenes. It was also just cool to have a game with Hollywood caliber actors doing VA. Officer Tenpenny is a memorably antagonist because it's Samuel L Jackson.

The only thing that was sort of janky in the original trilogy was the on foot shooting mechanics. And since with most of the game you were in vehicles or just used lock on it wasn't a big deal.

Yes GTAIV and V are definitely superior games. But there's still inherent charm in the 3 Trilogy. You are right though that Chinatown Wars was dope and until this mess came out I'd be clamoring for it to be rereleased.

 

[Asdfgunman81]

You know you fucked up when you leak the source code for a switch game.

Did that really happen?

 

[Ahriman]

Digital Foundry weighs in

 

[Caped Baldman]

Are we totally sure these games were ever 'good'?

I remember thinking at the time they were formless jankfests that only thick people liked...is the reaction to these 'remasters' even if you ignore the shit state of these ports, simply a case of the games not aging well at all? Chinatown wars was the only 'recent' GTA that I would say resembled a proper game and that is forgotten completely by the idiots that laud these games as something special when they aren't and never were.

I agree on Chinatown wars being underrated, nothing else like drug dealing on a Nintendo DS.

 

[Idiot Doom Spiral]

Are we totally sure these games were ever 'good'?

I remember thinking at the time they were formless jankfests that only thick people liked...is the reaction to these 'remasters' even if you ignore the shit state of these ports, simply a case of the games not aging well at all? Chinatown wars was the only 'recent' GTA that I would say resembled a proper game and that is forgotten completely by the idiots that laud these games as something special when they aren't and never were.

Yes. III/VC/SA were incredible games; III and to a lesser extent SA were groundbreaking games. These are games which are 17-20 years old and belong to an era way before many QoL game mechanics which we now take for granted.

Perhaps you just don’t like those PS2 classics, it could be as simple as that. I think it isn’t unreasonable to suggest that people who put Chinatown Wars above III/VC/SA will be in the distinct minority.

I’m power-levelling my age here, but I first played GTA III when it was first released. It was an absolute revelation at the time and as cliched as it sounds, you had to have been familiar with what came before to understand what a quantum leap GTA III was. And IMHO, the PC port (as in the one Rockstar just buried), with a few minor controls and restoration mods which add missing PS2 features, still holds up as a great game today.

 

[Eric Clapton]

I'm late to the "Joke about TDE Party", but here i am none the less

 

[WULULULULU]

You know, with GSG getting some mods and glossing it into a "Definitive Edition", I'm surprised they didn't get ragdoll mods.

 

[Cod of War]

 

[The Last Stand]

Sam Houser is in charge of one of the most respected media companies in the world that just prints money. How could he approve this, why would he condone them treating the games that put R* on the map as if they were just garbage game?

I think Sam Houser is a figurehead at this point. The real charge is Take Two and Strauss Zelnick. They have the investors, financial backing and influence with the parent companies. Creative input is probably nil at this point.

2K Games (Rockstar's parent company) approved a full blown remake of Mafia 1 and the fanbase which is a fraction of the GTA series welcomed it quite positively.

Do not forget that Mafia II: Definitive Edition was crap compared to the original. And that Take 2 screwed Hanger 13 with deadlines by plopping them into an already developed product as Mafia III.

 

[Maurice Caine]

R* fanboys are in for a rough time... goodwill towards the company is totally depleted.

 

[The Last Stand]

R* fanboys are in for a rough time... goodwill towards the company is totally depleted.

They'll still buy GTA V E&E.

 

[Dom Cruise]

Are we totally sure these games were ever 'good'?

I remember thinking at the time they were formless jankfests that only thick people liked...is the reaction to these 'remasters' even if you ignore the shit state of these ports, simply a case of the games not aging well at all? Chinatown wars was the only 'recent' GTA that I would say resembled a proper game and that is forgotten completely by the idiots that laud these games as something special when they aren't and never were.

There was always some jank but the games offered a new level of freedom that had literally never been seen before, you really can't understate how mind blowing it was to go from the PS1/N64 era of gaming to a game with a full 3D open world city with pedestrians and traffic and the like, younger generations will probably never know as big a quantum leap in gaming until we get Matrix style VR maybe.

I think Sam Houser is a figurehead at this point. The real charge is Take Two and Strauss Zelnick. They have the investors, financial backing and influence with the parent companies. Creative input is probably nil at this point.

Do not forget that Mafia II: Definitive Edition was crap compared to the original. And that Take 2 screwed Hanger 13 with deadlines by plopping them into an already developed product as Mafia III.

I remember when it was announced that Dan Houser was leaving I knew we were in for some trouble, but I still wanted to believe that somehow the soul of Rockstar would live on, but nope.

 

[Recycle Bin]

Guys! I think I found a super rare vehicle in San Andreas! I never seen it before and I don't have any mods installed... Has anyone seen this car yet?

 

[Dumpster dived waifu]

Bethesda, at least, announced a couple new games. Starfield and TES:6 come to mind.

And the soy filled redditors saw those JPEG title names, and preordered instantly.

 

[Jonah Hill poster]

I’m guessing Muta’s not too happy.

Also, it’s pretty insane how there’s more people online talking about bugs and glitches that are unintentionally hilarious than the actual remastered trilogy.

I don’t think I’ve seen a community come together as of this recent to voice their disillusion with how downgraded GTA has become over the last decade and a half.

 

[Milwaukee Macho Man]