In a way I felt like I was playing some sort of big-budget, high production GTA knockoff rather than the real thing, it definitely lacked the character and style that made the series what it is.SuperEnemyCrab said:I stopped playing after I opened the 3rd island in the story missions. I forced myself to finish it about 7 months later so I could bitch about it here with some credibility. The last 3rd of the game just drags on and the missions get so silly. I really can't take anyone seriously who thinks GTA4 had some kind of groundbreaking, and well thought out plot or story.
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Take-Two Frustrated By GTA Expansion Sales
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Neuromancer
Member
I beat it, which was an uphill struggle. Eventually it became kind of a grudge match between me and the game. I never went back and did everything though.szhred said:
BravoSuperStar
Member
HiResDes said:
It's definitely missing the charm the previous gen games had when it comes to characters and storylines. They took themselves to seriously with the plot and story and it just doesn't "jive" with the lighthearted gameplay, IMO.
Brucie is a great character, but really is there anyone else as memorable in the whole game?
szhred said:
I don't recall the percent, but I beat the story, most if not all sidequests, and just didn't finish the pigeons and I think the last 10 stuntjumps. However, I got 100% on the last gen GTA games, and even after doing it with SA I still felt like playing it again, and did multiple times. I never feel like touching IV, ever. And for a mental comparison, I play some fucked up stuff to 100%. The most tedious was likely Assassin's Creed--I went for all 440 flags or whatever, but the pigeons in GTAIV were even more tedious.
SuperEnemyCrab said:
The thing is, it seems completely against their point to have Brucie end up as the fan favorite. He was basically the closest character there was to old GTA, and all the new people tried for a deep story that took itself seriously but ended up failing as a serious story. Even the forced character interaction did nothing but show all these characters were just as shallow as ever.
Neuromancer
Member
Little Jacob was alright, all the bumba clots and everything. Other than that, no one.SuperEnemyCrab said:
szhred said:
I got 100% and I'm not even interested in the DLC at all. I've done everything there is to do in the game, all the missions, side-missions, pigeons, stunt jumps and the rest of it. The idea of going back to the exact same city with a bunch of different missions isn't appealing at all, especially as I didn't care much for the original story anyway. I, and I assume a lot of other people, wanted completely new islands, settings, stories, guns and cars, the kind of stuff that would be in a sequel like GTA IV: Vice City and not a DLC mission pack.
Foliorum Viridum
Banned
I got to mid 90s before I got sick of the pidgeons :lol
Love everything GTA4, always have.
Love everything GTA4, always have.
Count of Monte Sawed-Off
un33dab@dpu$$y
SuperEnemyCrab said:
Phil! What an awesome fucking character!
What happened with GTA4 here? GTA3, VC, SA are all full of awesome characters. GTA4 really does just have Brucie, and even then he doesn't come close to the characters of the previous games. The expansions aren't much better than 4 in this regard either, although they tried.
Fox Mulder
Member
szhred said:
I got the full 100% in the campaign, and some of the multiplayer achievements. By the time I got credit for the 100% Club thing Rockstar did, I didn't care to play the game ever again really. The new stories sounded interesting, but I've only played Gay Tony for a couple of hours. It just isn't drawing me in anymore, and it would probably take a new GTA game to do that.
I don't think it was worth the time investment to get 100%. I really enjoyed getting 100% in Oblivion and Fallout 3 though.
akilshohen
Member
I just came to the realization that I don't like liberty city. When I got GTA 3 and 4 I couldn't play either more than a few hours.
Now watch Vice City come out and I get addicted all over :lol
Now watch Vice City come out and I get addicted all over :lol
gutter_trash
Banned
GTAIV was the worst GTA game for ditching cars.
I did about 75% of GTA3 with my favorite Banshee
but the same cannot be said about GTA4; too much car ditching happening...
''Niko, let's take my car!'' ''Nico, pick up my car''
I got so tired of ditching my car in GTA4 that I did the 2nd half of the game by Taxi.
Grand Taxi Auto IV... there I said it. got fed up of ditching my best sports cars so blarh Taxi it is
I did about 75% of GTA3 with my favorite Banshee
but the same cannot be said about GTA4; too much car ditching happening...
''Niko, let's take my car!'' ''Nico, pick up my car''
I got so tired of ditching my car in GTA4 that I did the 2nd half of the game by Taxi.
Grand Taxi Auto IV... there I said it. got fed up of ditching my best sports cars so blarh Taxi it is
OldJadedGamer
Banned
If it wasn't for the cheat codes, I would have never finished the game and come to think of it... I'm not sure if any of my friends list finished the story. Maybe one or two people.
Foliorum Viridum
Banned
See this is the complete opposite for me. About halfway through the game I realised that the story was extremely contradictory and just got sucked in by the atmosphere. I have wasted God knows how many hours just walking around, listening and watching people. It boggles my mind how they created such a world.akilshohen said:
Neuromancer
Member
^Actually the funny thing is once they made the decision to go 'realistic', I don't think they took went far enough. They didn't commit to it. In the average mission you still end up running around killing 100's of dudes like in the previous GTA's, I think it would have been more interesting if instead of "drug deal goes south and ends in city-wide shootout", missions could have been more tense and maybe you end up killing 1 or 2 people, tops. Or maybe if you handled the situation right, none at all.
Foliorum Viridum said:
They nailed some elements, but the moment I tried calling one of the numbers plastered around the game and getting nothing was a pretty big eye opener. It really confuses me how they lied about so many elements, because the game GTAIV was supposed to be sounded interesting. I really can't help but recall the hype thread, specifically the gameplay features section of that. Where did those go? A couple were used once or twice, but you were supposed to be able to run through a house and go out the fire escape, call EVERY number in the game, get mugged in bad districts at night, etc. Not everything there sounded great, but it would have added a ton to the world they clearly aimed for.
Foliorum Viridum
Banned
I think they got so close to realism we'd never seen before that the flaws were emphasised, though. It wasn't perfect, but it was a much more believable world than any other open-world game has got close to. I can load up that game right now and have a nearly completely unique experience.
BenjaminBirdie
Banned
I finished IV and TLAD, which shouldn't surprise anyone. I'm oddly less compelled to steamroll through TBOGT, but I do still play it and look forward to finishing it, mainly just to see the credits, which were fantastically well done in the first two.
But, you know, different strokes, etc. Barely any of the complaints people have lodged against the game have ever occurred to me while I was playing. I still think it's one of the best crafted worlds and narratives I've ever played.
But, you know, different strokes, etc. Barely any of the complaints people have lodged against the game have ever occurred to me while I was playing. I still think it's one of the best crafted worlds and narratives I've ever played.
Neuromancer
Member
I don't know how much of this was run-away hype or Rockstar actually saying this stuff, but here are some things from the hype thread that caught my eye. If they were in the game I sure don't really remember, other than maybe one-off missions or scripted sequences.
"Many interiors are fully decorated and have been given a much bigger emphasis and importance."
"Car trunks are now usable. Supposedly you can put bodies and weapons into car trunks."
"Missions have been completely retooled. Now, you do not have a giant arrow over someone's head if they are your target. Let's say you have to kill a target, but he's surrounded by a group of people. You do not know who is who. You can handle this in multiple ways. You can find out his phone number, call him up, see if he responds, and kill him; or you can simply go up to the entire group and kill all of them. The choice is up to you."
"Depending on how well and what you do during missions, you can form relationships with your bosses and clients. If you do good, kill your targets discreetly, you will have a good relationship. If you do things in plain sight, without using your brains, your boss will most likely hate you and break all contact. It sounds like a great evolution on GTA2's fun, but not exactly deep, respect system."
"As the third trailer hinted, before you gain any sort of weapon, you're going to be using your fists. More emphasis on hand to hand combat will be in GTAIV."
"Beware night time in certain Burroughs, as you may get jumped by random gangsters and the freaks of Liberty. You can get robbed."
"The days where you carry millions of cash on you are over. You can now use atms or go to the bank to deposit or withdraw funds. Sounds pretty similar to Dragon Quest. Maybe when you die or get busted, you lose half of your funds or something. Can't imagine what will happen when you get robbed."
"It seems getting busted may have bigger consequences than simply losing your money and a lil cash this time. Many people think this means you may end up going to jail every time you get busted, but that's just mindless speculation at this point. Honestly, that wouldn't be very fun."
"Pedestrians have a memory. They remember your face when they saw you doing a criminal act and run away in terror whenever they see you again."
'When I first jumped into the game, I shot one of the cab drivers through the windshield and thought it was cool that he just slumped over in his car. But what I didnt realize was that all of his dead weight would press down on the gas pedal, which caused the cab to barrel down on me and slam me into a wall.'
"Ped are able to phone you by mistake"
"Phone bills are payable"
"If you rob a bank or murder someone people will find out about it by news tickers around the city. The news tickers will also give your description."
"Many interiors are fully decorated and have been given a much bigger emphasis and importance."
"Car trunks are now usable. Supposedly you can put bodies and weapons into car trunks."
"Missions have been completely retooled. Now, you do not have a giant arrow over someone's head if they are your target. Let's say you have to kill a target, but he's surrounded by a group of people. You do not know who is who. You can handle this in multiple ways. You can find out his phone number, call him up, see if he responds, and kill him; or you can simply go up to the entire group and kill all of them. The choice is up to you."
"Depending on how well and what you do during missions, you can form relationships with your bosses and clients. If you do good, kill your targets discreetly, you will have a good relationship. If you do things in plain sight, without using your brains, your boss will most likely hate you and break all contact. It sounds like a great evolution on GTA2's fun, but not exactly deep, respect system."
"As the third trailer hinted, before you gain any sort of weapon, you're going to be using your fists. More emphasis on hand to hand combat will be in GTAIV."
"Beware night time in certain Burroughs, as you may get jumped by random gangsters and the freaks of Liberty. You can get robbed."
"The days where you carry millions of cash on you are over. You can now use atms or go to the bank to deposit or withdraw funds. Sounds pretty similar to Dragon Quest. Maybe when you die or get busted, you lose half of your funds or something. Can't imagine what will happen when you get robbed."
"It seems getting busted may have bigger consequences than simply losing your money and a lil cash this time. Many people think this means you may end up going to jail every time you get busted, but that's just mindless speculation at this point. Honestly, that wouldn't be very fun."
"Pedestrians have a memory. They remember your face when they saw you doing a criminal act and run away in terror whenever they see you again."
'When I first jumped into the game, I shot one of the cab drivers through the windshield and thought it was cool that he just slumped over in his car. But what I didnt realize was that all of his dead weight would press down on the gas pedal, which caused the cab to barrel down on me and slam me into a wall.'
"Ped are able to phone you by mistake"
"Phone bills are payable"
"If you rob a bank or murder someone people will find out about it by news tickers around the city. The news tickers will also give your description."
Well I'm glad you enjoyed it so much, really I am. I was just bitterly disappointed, which is why a year and a half later I feel the need to vent about it. :lolBenjaminBirdie said:
Foliorum Viridum
Banned
Sources for those would be interesting to see how much was Rockstar PR hype and how much is unreliable obscure European sources. :lol
A lot of them would have been cool additions to the game, regardless.
A lot of them would have been cool additions to the game, regardless.
Kai Dracon
Writing a dinosaur space opera symphony
Papercuts said:
Yeah, this zeroes in on my biggest beef with the game - how dead its world is. I know some people are amazed at the construction and like to walk around looking at it. But I just got depressed by it. There was nothing to actually do; no point to so many little detailed nooks and crannies. In the end the city felt no less fake than GTA3; just prettier.
I got to about 70% in the game before giving up and just recently went back to finish the story out of principle. It was largely joyless though. That's how I would describe GTAIV as an experience: joyless. It exists to masturbate to its own alleged brilliance but forgets to entertain the person playing the game. (Much of my excitement drained away earlier on when I realized how ruthlessly scripted the missions where, and the batshit insane lack of checkpoints in many of the longest, most annoying scripted scenarios.)
I want to like the game, really. I like its mood and atmosphere. I like the construction of the city. Perversely I even like the driving physics. But it still comes off as feeling like a testament to a developer's ego run amok, the Metal Gear Solid 4 of sandbox games. Something made so the designers can feel "brilliant" and like great artists, but with no consideration to making something resembling a great video game.
Zoso
It's been a long time, been a long time, been a long lonely lonely lonely lonely lonely time.
Since when has GTA games had terrific characters? I mean from GTA3 I remember Catalina, Maria, Salvatore, Luigi, 8-Ball, and some of the others, but I didn't find any of them to be very interesting. They were all pretty two dimensional.
GTAVC had a few good characters, mainly Tommy, Lance, and Sonny. Everyone else was meaningless. VC probably had one of the better stories in the series too, but I would not call it great.
GTASA I seriously remember no one except for Carl and his neighborhood. I didn't like any of the characters in SA to be honest.
GTA IV the characters I actually enjoyed were Brucie, Packie, Yusif(from Gay Tony), and Johnny(From L&D). IV actually had some of the most enjoyable characters in the series for me, but even that isn't saying a whole lot. The plot was hit & miss but I can at least respect what they attempted. It was better than what some of the past games offered.
I think the problem is that they make every character batshit insane except for the main character and it's just completely ridiculous. Why would I want to take missions from people that are completely annoying and whacked out on drugs. I get it that the world is fucked up but they're really limiting the amount of interesting characters in their games because of how intentionally annoying they make them.
So to me GTA has never fully succeeded in bringing chracters, story, and gameplay together in a fantastic manner. The only thing I can say that they 100% knocked out of the park is the feeling of living in a real world. The lights of Vice City, the countryside of San Andreas, and the intricate details of GTA4's Liberty City have all been fantastic. The worlds are the best parts of each of the games and have been by far my source of most enjoyment from each of the games. And I'm not talking about getting six stars and fighting the cops - that shit is lame. I'm talking about exploring the world, being creative and figuring out how to get places and do things you didn't think you could do. So I don't know what R* should do for the next GTA, but perhaps they should realize where their strengths lie and focus more and those, instead of delivering the average gameplay, story, and characters that they usually dish out.
GTAVC had a few good characters, mainly Tommy, Lance, and Sonny. Everyone else was meaningless. VC probably had one of the better stories in the series too, but I would not call it great.
GTASA I seriously remember no one except for Carl and his neighborhood. I didn't like any of the characters in SA to be honest.
GTA IV the characters I actually enjoyed were Brucie, Packie, Yusif(from Gay Tony), and Johnny(From L&D). IV actually had some of the most enjoyable characters in the series for me, but even that isn't saying a whole lot. The plot was hit & miss but I can at least respect what they attempted. It was better than what some of the past games offered.
I think the problem is that they make every character batshit insane except for the main character and it's just completely ridiculous. Why would I want to take missions from people that are completely annoying and whacked out on drugs. I get it that the world is fucked up but they're really limiting the amount of interesting characters in their games because of how intentionally annoying they make them.
So to me GTA has never fully succeeded in bringing chracters, story, and gameplay together in a fantastic manner. The only thing I can say that they 100% knocked out of the park is the feeling of living in a real world. The lights of Vice City, the countryside of San Andreas, and the intricate details of GTA4's Liberty City have all been fantastic. The worlds are the best parts of each of the games and have been by far my source of most enjoyment from each of the games. And I'm not talking about getting six stars and fighting the cops - that shit is lame. I'm talking about exploring the world, being creative and figuring out how to get places and do things you didn't think you could do. So I don't know what R* should do for the next GTA, but perhaps they should realize where their strengths lie and focus more and those, instead of delivering the average gameplay, story, and characters that they usually dish out.
Goldrusher
Member
There are many.Neuromancer said:
It's a mission.Neuromancer said:
Again, a mission.Neuromancer said:
Didn't encounter this. Then again, I always focused on the targets.Neuromancer said:
Fighting was improved over previous games, with mo-cap by Bas Rutten.Neuromancer said:
No robberies. Freaks and weird people, yes.Neuromancer said:
Not in the game. There are ATMs though, which show your balance, but other than that, they're useless.Neuromancer said:
No jail.Neuromancer said:
No idea. Probably not in.Neuromancer said:
I think that's in the game. Also, car horns and stuff.Neuromancer said:
Not in.Neuromancer said:
No bills.Neuromancer said:
News updates as you progress the story missions. Same as in previous games.Neuromancer said:
The longer it takes to release the DLC, the more likely that DLC has to compete against new full games/experiences. We had plenty of new games who had their own DLC. Add the fact, that most people probably didn't finish the game before a new wave of games/DLC arrive, and its likely no one cared.
I'm not a big fan of GTA4, but I'm thinking it was more timing.
I'm not a big fan of GTA4, but I'm thinking it was more timing.
No garage and dissapearing cars was a major issue for me. I did not like the mission design aside from a few exceptions and the lack of checkpoints was maddening. I loved the story in the first island but for me it fell apart shortly after that and never recovered. This was the also the first GTA game in which I did not actually care to drive most places and instead just took a taxi. That's pretty crazy.
And man the hand to hand fighting sucked. The tutorial mission where they forced you to do it was extremely clunky and off putting.
And man the hand to hand fighting sucked. The tutorial mission where they forced you to do it was extremely clunky and off putting.
JumpJeff84
Member
Personally, I liked GTA4. I enjoyed it for about 20 hours, but I never finished it.
Characters and setting were great in my opinion, and although the shooting was a bit better than previous games, it still fell way behind the competition.
The main thing for me was that I hated being interrupted all the time to go out and bowl or shoot darts or whatever. I know it was mostly optional, but I felt bad about turning people down, especially since I knew I could unlock rewards if I kept up with the 'social engagements'.
I remember distinctly- I picked up the game after having not played it for a couple of months. I was determined to finish it once and for all. The second I left the apartment my cell phone went off, and I just found it really annoying for soem reason.
Then I started a story mission: Drove to a location to do a warehouse shootout or something of that nature, and then fell off a roof and died due to the buggy controls.
At that point I realized that I'd have to start all the way back at the beginning of the mission, said 'fuck this' and turned off the game.
In some ways R* reminds me of Tim Shaffer- incredibly creative storytellers who sometimes release games where the gameplay isn't as good as it could be- (Disclaimer- Psychonauts is one of my favorite games ever!) I wish they'd stick to their strengths- cutscenes, voice direction, dark humor- and farm out the gameply to someone else.
Having said that, I did enjoy Bully and The Warriors quite a bit- I'd be in favor of R* scaling back GTA a fair bit and focussing on making the moment to moment gameplay a bit tighter.
Characters and setting were great in my opinion, and although the shooting was a bit better than previous games, it still fell way behind the competition.
The main thing for me was that I hated being interrupted all the time to go out and bowl or shoot darts or whatever. I know it was mostly optional, but I felt bad about turning people down, especially since I knew I could unlock rewards if I kept up with the 'social engagements'.
I remember distinctly- I picked up the game after having not played it for a couple of months. I was determined to finish it once and for all. The second I left the apartment my cell phone went off, and I just found it really annoying for soem reason.
Then I started a story mission: Drove to a location to do a warehouse shootout or something of that nature, and then fell off a roof and died due to the buggy controls.
At that point I realized that I'd have to start all the way back at the beginning of the mission, said 'fuck this' and turned off the game.
In some ways R* reminds me of Tim Shaffer- incredibly creative storytellers who sometimes release games where the gameplay isn't as good as it could be- (Disclaimer- Psychonauts is one of my favorite games ever!) I wish they'd stick to their strengths- cutscenes, voice direction, dark humor- and farm out the gameply to someone else.
Having said that, I did enjoy Bully and The Warriors quite a bit- I'd be in favor of R* scaling back GTA a fair bit and focussing on making the moment to moment gameplay a bit tighter.
WickedCobra03
Member
Exact same situation and feeling on my part. GTA's are usually a very very slow burn for me, as in they take like a year for me to finish if not a bit more just because I enjoy playing them slowly just knocking out like a mission every few days.Neuromancer said:
BTW, did anyone feel as if GTAIII was not in the least bit too long? I have played that game 2 times now, once on the PS2 and once on the Xbox and that game didn't really get boring nor stale. Vice City was way too short and almost felt like a glorified expansion pack but it was fun nontheless. And San Andreas for me was just too long and I had trouble beating that one as well.
I think it might have been how ADHD San Andreas as well as GTAIV felt. I was not a fan of the whole turf wars in SA where you always were getting called back to come defend it when you had other stuff that needed to be taken care of. In GTAIV I never liked how people kept calling you every 5 minutes asking to go out to eat, to go on a date, to help settle a drug war... I have that in real life...sans the drug war conflict, I don't want to have to manage this crap in a game as well.
speculawyer
Member
I finished GTA and both DLC add-ons. I like the way they tied together the three games with the story about the diamonds.
I think they need to adjust the car physics . . . it is a bit too hard to drive.
And make it more funny and less gritty. The two DLC packs were pretty good.
They do need to adjust the control scheme . . . hitting A to run is annoying. And the cover system is a bit wonky.
I think they need to adjust the car physics . . . it is a bit too hard to drive.
And make it more funny and less gritty. The two DLC packs were pretty good.
They do need to adjust the control scheme . . . hitting A to run is annoying. And the cover system is a bit wonky.
Shadowlink
Member
I'm hoping they sell more in the future because these expansions were more enjoyable than GTA IV.
The main GTA4 campaign was so long and overly wrought that they probably would've been better off splitting up their efforts into the campaigns found in TLAD and Ballad from the get go and putting that up as the game.
So... the next GTA comes out; gives you a city and 3 campaigns. Expansions come out and give you a new campaign, more cars and maybe features like gangs, garages and business ownership.
So... the next GTA comes out; gives you a city and 3 campaigns. Expansions come out and give you a new campaign, more cars and maybe features like gangs, garages and business ownership.
Pristine_Condition
Member
I think the original story/characters failed to connect to a lot of people quickly enough, and they never finished it. It makes it really hard to sell more content to people who still have all that original content unfinished.
Gay Tony, for me, was the most intriguing of all the games so far, so it's a shame that more people didn't pick up on it, but I can see why it would be a hard sell, on many levels. It's really fun, at least, with the more outrageous missions and style, so I enjoyed it.
I think the thing I wanted the most and never got from GTA IV was the sense of building a criminal empire that the previous two major games gave us. It was an interesting and brave idea for Rockstar to take that progression away in an attempt to keep the stories more realistic and intimate, but for me, ultimately, it was like they left some of their best ideas and a lot of the reward of the previous games behind. I hope GTA V expands more on the ideas from Vice City and San Andreas. Give me the ability to go from nobody to running the city again.
Gay Tony, for me, was the most intriguing of all the games so far, so it's a shame that more people didn't pick up on it, but I can see why it would be a hard sell, on many levels. It's really fun, at least, with the more outrageous missions and style, so I enjoyed it.
I think the thing I wanted the most and never got from GTA IV was the sense of building a criminal empire that the previous two major games gave us. It was an interesting and brave idea for Rockstar to take that progression away in an attempt to keep the stories more realistic and intimate, but for me, ultimately, it was like they left some of their best ideas and a lot of the reward of the previous games behind. I hope GTA V expands more on the ideas from Vice City and San Andreas. Give me the ability to go from nobody to running the city again.
Count of Monte Sawed-Off
un33dab@dpu$$y
Pristine_Condition said:
It could have worked, had the story of GTA4 been any good.
Haunted
Member
Could be cool. The way the diamond story appeared in all entries showed that it could work.Mindlog said:
In that regard? There was nothing funny about TLAD, it's grittier and more serious than the main game, even.speculawyer said:
TBoGT was a step in the right direction, though. Yusuf Amir is by far the best and funniest character Rockstar has created in their GTAIV universe.
ToyMachine228
Member
I could care less about GTA. GTA4 was a huge disappointment. I'm really not interested in the series whatsoever anymore.
Philanthropist
Banned
Slavik81 said:
Yeah, that's reasonable. I usually finish all my games, and I find it funny that I know more people who just fooled around in previous GTA games than ever caring for doing missions. Some don't even seem to know there's a storyline.
Messypandas
Member
Mindlog said:
The Getaway kind of did this. Two perspectives; one a cop and the other the criminal. Was one of the few things in the game that actually worked well.
I think for GTA5 they need to take a step back. Scale back the size of the city. Theres detailed and tight and theres expansive and tedious. GTA4 bordered on the later. I became so pissed off with driving to the other Islands i just took taxi's all the time.
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