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[Fjordson]

The Yakuza games are fantastic. But I put them separate from GTA. Since technically you're running around an open world but it's not really just do anything you want like GTA. There aren't any vehicles or anything.

I put Yakuza separate from everything really, haha. Literally unlike anything else I've ever played. So weird and charming, but a lot of fun with great stories and characters.

 

[Buckethead]

What is really exciting is they've shown virtually nothing from the story.

They've shown the "Blitz Play" heist, the diamond heist, and the FIB breakout mission.

I also wonder how many more side missions/activities there are.
For some reason I think they're still holding a lot close to the chest.

 

[Avon Barksdale]

Let's be real, nobody actually plays Grand Theft Auto for the story.

 

[Fjordson]

Let's be real, nobody actually plays Grand Theft Auto for the story.

I do. Enjoyed every one of them.

 

[Buckethead]

I do. Enjoyed every one of them.

Same. Although we may be in the minority.

 

[Screaming Meat]

Same. Although we may be in the minority.

You have my sword.

 

[Madness]

Let's be real, nobody actually plays Grand Theft Auto for the story.

Maybe not so much at first. I still remember some mission and story from GTA III to San Andreas, but it was starting with GTA IV, where I cared about the story more than just dicking around. With the addition of Red Dead Redemption and the storyline and presentation as well, I think it'll be more important than ever in GTA V.

With games like Sleeping Dogs, Saints Row IV and Watch Dogs scratching a lot of open world sandbox itch, it's the zany stories, missions, progression of GTA I really like now.

I wanted to see what happened with Niko, with Roman, with those irish brothers etc. And I'm pretty sure with GTA V while I will spend over a hundred hours just screwing around I'm going to want to know who these guys are, what they're doing, why etc.

 

[Screaming Meat]

Yo, GAF; help me out:

Why is it that so many people think there was no humour/comedy in GTA IV? They can't possibly mean it literally, but that is all anyone seems to say about it. Sure, it gets pretty dark in places, but I think back to GTA III and I cannot for the life of me remember any particularly zany characters; all I remember is turning people into dog food, which is pretty dark itself.

Is my tumor acting up? Was I just laughing at thin air whenever Roman opened his gob or Packie argued with his brothers or Brucie tried it on with women who were clearly uninterested...?

Guide me, GAF-Pigs.

EDIT: To be clear, GAF-Pigs is a term of endearment.

 

[Fjordson]

Yo, GAF; help me out:

Why is it that so many people think there was no humour/comedy in GTA IV? They can't possibly mean it literally, but that is all anyone seems to say about it. Sure, it gets pretty dark in places, but I think back to GTA III and I cannot for the life of me remember any particularly zany characters; all I remember is turning people into dog food, which is pretty dark itself.

Is my tumor acting up? Was I just laughing at thin air whenever Roman opened his gob or Packie argued with his brothers or Brucie tried it on with women who were clearly uninterested...?

Guide me, GAF-Pigs.

EDIT: To be clear, GAF-Pigs is a term of endearment.

Yeah, no clue. Never got that complaint. I mean the tone shifted, but it wasn't "super serious" as I've seen people claim.

But whatever, I don't understand the majority of things people bitch about on here when it comes to GTA/R*.

 

[Screaming Meat]

Yeah, no clue. Never got that complaint. I mean the tone shifted, but it wasn't "super serious" as I've seen people claim.

But whatever, I don't understand the majority of things people bitch about on here when it comes to GTA/R*.

Ditto. How can anything that opens with "Daddy's back, you bitches" being screamed by a half-naked Russian as he is being whipped be considered "super serious"? I dare you to imagine Schindler's List or Lincoln or Porky's opening like that. I DARE YOU.

 

[Count of Monte Sawed-Off]

Let's be real, nobody actually plays Grand Theft Auto for the story.

I have since 3. The stories aren't necessarily deep. But they're all pretty entertaining.

 

[Loxley]

Let's be real, nobody actually plays Grand Theft Auto for the story.

Speak for yourself?

 

[D-Stubbs]

Yeah I never understood how some people thought GTA IV had no humor. I thought Brucie was funny as shit and Republican Space Rangers was hilarious. The game still had that classic GTA satire too, with how they named products and places in the game. Plenty of humor to be found in GTA IV.

 

[Loxley]

Yeah I never understood how some people thought GTA IV had no humor. I thought Brucie was funny as shit and Republican Space Rangers was hilarious. The game still had that classic GTA satire too, with how they named products and places in the game. Plenty of humor to be found in GTA IV.

Yeah, I don't get it either. I mean, I understand that GTA 3/Vice City/San Andreas were basically cartoons compared to GTA IV, but a lot of that simply came with the vast improvement in visuals thanks to the generation leap.

I mean, the fucking internet cafe in GTA IV was called "tw@". Yeah, that game took itself way too seriously.

 

[unknownhero]

so, i started to replay gta3(xbox version) and I now remember why I hated the bomb the base mission. man, it took me 8 tries to beat that this time and the last try I just got lucky.

 

[Count of Monte Sawed-Off]

so, i started to replay gta3(xbox version) and I now remember why I hated the bomb the base mission. man, it took me 8 tries to beat that this time and the last try I just got lucky.

A bit late now, but if anyone else has trouble with this mission there's an adrenaline pill nearby that will slow things down.

 

[The Albatross]

I think the "no humor" line is more of a "no fun" line which is more a criticism of the very basic mission structure of IV. I'm replaying it now and there are very very few missions that are anything other than "drive here -> shoot guy." The mission variety in vanilla GTAIV is really, really lacking. This was not the case in San Andreas and Vice City. When I went back to play SA I was shocked at how great the mission variety was, after playing GTAIV.

Let's be real, nobody actually plays Grand Theft Auto for the story.

Definitely played VC and SA for the story. Played GTAIV for the story but was pretty disappointed by it. I liked the story of Lost and the Damned.

Maybe I'm in the minority, but I don't play the games only to get wanted stars. Although I do really enjoy the sandbox elements too when I want to screw around in the world.

 

[Raptomex]

Let's be real, nobody actually plays Grand Theft Auto for the story.

Tell me this is a troll post. I love the stories. Fuck the haters, I've always enjoyed Houser writing.

 

[Avon Barksdale]

Tell me this is a troll post. I love the stories. Fuck the haters, I've always enjoyed Houser writing.

I don't hate the stories at all.

I liken playing GTA for the plot to watching a sitcom for the plot. It's nice that it's there but you just want the laughs.

 

[Raptomex]

I love the stories and they are comical. The voice acting is usually superb as well. I always play through the story first, then 100% the game, then do whatever.

 

[TheAbsolution]

I love the stories and they are comical. The voice acting is usually superb as well. I always play through the story first, then 100% the game, then do whatever.

Same. Brucie and his brother were hilarious in TBOGT. I almost want that super rich guy to return too. He was too funny.

 

[Raptomex]

Same. Brucie and his brother were hilarious in TBOGT. I almost want that super rich guy to return too. He was too funny.

Ysuf Amir? He was one of my favorite characters.

 

[D-Stubbs]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ja3dt3wSeW4

We built the pyramids baby! Yusuf was great.

 

[TheAbsolution]

Ysuf Amir? He was one of my favorite characters.

Yes! I loved his character. I would be none to surprised if he returned in this game buying a building or something. I don't know. I just want him back.

 

[Stat!]

Anyone with episodes of Liberty City want to play some Cops N Crooks tonight? Kinda looking to maybe get back into it.

 

[Madness]

I can understand the 'no fun' complaint but this was their first big title on such improved hardware. The added realism just removes a lot of the zanyness in missions.

But they weren't all, drive here, shoot this guy etc. Another problem is, the added realism and the connection with story means it has to flow naturally.

So what they did was remove a lot of the funny elements and make them side missions or part of the overall sandbox. But go back and read the mission descriptions of each mission in San Andreas and then compare them with GTA IV you'll see a lot of similar stuff.

I think coming off of Red Dead now and the new setting which has three different characters, they can really switch it up. Can't wait to spend hundreds of hours in GTA V. What a way to basically end the generation.

 

[The Albatross]

I don't hate the stories at all.

I liken playing GTA for the plot to watching a sitcom for the plot. It's nice that it's there but you just want the laughs.

In this medium, though, the GTA story/plot/narrative is as good as any other. I really disliked GTAIV, but the VC and SA core plot are pretty strong. And they throw in zany extras (ie, "The Truth" or "OG Loc" in San Andreas, the Jamaican palm reader in Vice City) to give some more interesting gameplay missions.

I think that R* dropped the ball with GTAIV's plot, but VC and SA had as strong a core plot as any other games in the medium. Much of this is a testament to how bad most videogame plots are, but I wouldn't put GTA in the "sitcom" category compared to other games.

But they weren't all, drive here, shoot this guy etc. Another problem is, the added realism and the connection with story means it has to flow naturally.

Not all of them, but I'm about ~60% of the way through the game if I can remember (Just about to do 4-leaf clover) and the overwhelming majority are either:

• Steal car
• Follow objective / drive car w/ passenger
• Go to location and shoot people
• Pick up something and bring it to someone
• Some mix of these four

If you go through the mission list in GTAIV, almost all of them follow this: http://gta.wikia.com/Missions_in_GTA_IV

The missions that are a little varied are very quick and few and far between. There's one mission early on where throw a brick through a shop window to collect money for your employer, that's different, and another where you threaten guys at a sex shop -- but even that mission is the same as "go to location and shoot people" except you just don't shoot the people, you aim at them, and then don't shoot them.

This was my impression of GTAIV after finishing it four-ish years ago, and I always thought maybe I was wrong. So I went back and played through Vice City, then San Andreas, and now GTAIV again. I'm most of the way through vanilla (non-DLC) GTAIV and the lack of variety is worse than I remember. Plus, almost every mission that doesn't fit that mold is done worse than in previous GTA's -- there's a mission where you need to take a truck packed with explosives and park it in a garage and blow it up. All the player does is drive to a location, get in the rid, and park the rig somewhere, and nothing else. This is a mission that is taken from previous GTA's, but all of them did it better than GTAIV... It's such a huge thing you're doing, but all it amounts to is driving a truck.. Even GTAIII did it better, with the original 8-Ball mission early on. If you had your sound turned off in GTAIV you would think that this was a truck delivery mission.

 

[Screaming Meat]

Anyone with episodes of Liberty City want to play some Cops N Crooks tonight? Kinda looking to maybe get back into it.

Where you at and what system, my man?

 

[Buckethead]

I saw this the other day:

So now we have:

- NightRide FM
- Non Stop Pop 100.7
- Los Santos Rock Radio

Confirmed tracks:

"Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake" by The Small Faces
"Radar Love" by Golden Earring
"Skeletons" by Stevie Wonder
"Give It To Me Baby" by Rick James
"Radio Ga Ga" by Queen
"Hood Gone Love It" by Jay Rock (ft. Kendrick Lamar)
"Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way" by Waylon Jennings
"Glamorous" by Fergie (ft. Ludacris)
"I Like It" by Enrique Iglesias
"Regulate" by Warren G (ft. Nate Dogg)
"187 Proof" by Spice 1
"Straight Up Menace" by MC Eiht

I can understand the 'no fun' complaint but this was their first big title on such improved hardware. The added realism just removes a lot of the zanyness in missions.

I don't know why you're apologizing for Rockstar being stupid.
You can balance tone and realism.

My go-to example is them saying in the press that they fucked up with Vice City in a way because all the terrain was flat.
As a result, in San Andreas you saw a lot hill-y areas in the map that made for fun, diverse driving.

There are a lot of dumb things in IV that shouldn't have been in there and they should have known better.

"Reuniting The Families" in San Andreas was a brilliant set-piece mission, full of diverse moments, and was a lot of fun.
Most of the scripted missions in IV were purely for the sake of exposition or getting the player across map.

Yes they bit off a lot with IV and yes it's a good game but they should have made some better decisions. Of course, hindsight is 20/20 but I still think they fucked up.

 

[The Albatross]

"Reuniting The Families" in San Andreas was a brilliant set-piece mission, full of diverse moments, and was a lot of fun.

Aye, for fucks sake, like 3 hours into GTA:SA, you get that mission with Big Smoke where you're robbing the Russian mafia, which brings you on that awesome motorcycle battle with the Russian mob and Los Santos police flying through the LA River overflow basin. Best of all, after this insane battle it outputs you right next to your hood in Los Santos, so you've now just been given this awesome tour of shortcuts around the city.

Two missions later you have the train robbery with Ryder.

A mission or two later you have the mission where you burn down the Vago hideout and then rescue that girl, with fire extinguisher and all.

A mission or two after that you have the train chase mission with Big Smoke... which, while annoying because you fail it due to Big Smoke's inability to shoot, is more awesome than anything that GTAIV gave you in the first 10 - 15 hours.

Mixed into these you have a few standard missions (saving Sweet while he's pinned up in that apartment complex), but then also a handful of very different missions for GTA -- the low rider challenge, house robbery (which may be shortly after those), breaking into Madd Dogg's mansion in the Hollywood hills (which, sure, it had some half-baked stealth mechanics, but it was different), the 'House Party' mission where your hood is under attack from Ballas descending from every angle, and then of course the gang territory take overs which had a tangible impact on the city.

This segment finally ends with Reuniting the Families, one of the most intense GTA missions in any game, with an awesome cinematic end (for it's time).

The next mission (green sabre) introduces you to the rest of the world and the whole focus of the game changes.

And this is all in the first 20-30% of the game. The variety of missions even inspite of a very cohesive storyline for that chapter of the game was just incredible.

 

[Buckethead]

And this is all in the first 20-30% of the game. The variety of missions even inspite of a very cohesive storyline for that chapter of the game was just incredible.

Seriously.

I read everything about San Andreas that I could. I imported mags from across the pond, looked at scans everywhere I could find them, and the mission where you go save the girl from the burning building was still just mind-blowing to me back when. So much variety and great content.

The countryside transition to Fiero was a great reprieve from the action, too. The entire game has this arc to it.
As a result not only do you feel like you're traveling across a giant state with a passage of time but you feel emotionally, like you've been through some shit.

I really hope that's we get near as much variety with GTA V. The heist theme looks great but has me a bit worried at the same time.

 

[The Albatross]

Totally with you on that. Every time I replay San Andreas, when you get brought out into the countryside and all of your weapons and everything you have to deal with in Los Santos is stripped away, I really feel like a sense of loss but also relief. The environment, lighting, and everything else is totally different too. Instead of walking out of your house to see the LA skyline, you walk around your little shack and see Mt. Chiliad in the distance.

Also the game does a good job of when you do go back to Los Santos (either by exploring or when a mission brings you there like the -- admittedly very annoying -- mission in San Fierro where you have to follow a train and then kill a journalist) all of your gang territories are lost, the Ballas are much more aggressive, and they even group together within Grove Street, so as soon as you walk out of your house you get shot at. It's a good way of indicating that you're not supposed to be there.

The missions you get out in the countryside are also just so different from what you get everywhere else. The intense Catalina missions which end up in countryside races, the very bizarre missions from the Truth (like stealing that harvest tractor and running over a bunch of right-wing survivalists, haha)... There's just a tremendous variety. And then it brings you back into San Fierro which has more "normal" missions but still a few things totally new for a GTA game.

I think that GTAV will have a ton more variety than IV, that's a given, but I doubt it'll have quite as much as GTA:SA. The heists will be fun, but I hope they're not as clearly staged and set like 3-Leaf Clover. 3 Leaf clover is a good mission, but it's an Uncharted 3-esque set piece fight, everything you do is planned and there isn't any room for deviation. When I died the first time, I tried to set up a car the second time out to use to my advantage and the game just removed it after the cut scene. I'm worried that GTAV will give you the perception of choice, but it will really only be a few choices you can make -- go in loud or go in smart, and then it's all staged from there. Even so, that's still an improvement, and they will hopefully mix in enough variation through Trevor or Franklin, and the ton of side stuff, to keep it fresh throughout. It's tough to match the variation of San Andreas, though.

 

[Stat!]

Where you at and what system, my man?

My GT is ACES11, and I play on 360.

I had some ridiculous times last night. Joined a game with two other people. They kept killing me. Finally, they got a helicopter and started to kill me and this new guy who joined the game.

So we raced to the heli pad in Algonquin, but they blew up the other heli. So we grabbed cars and raced to the airport in 2 cars. They were chasing us. in a heli, with rockets, the entire way, The force from the rockets was pushing us, they were so close. Finally, my friend says "uh-oh", and gets rocketed.

I shed a tear. But I must get to the airport and avenge him. I'm barely avoiding death, as I try to head through any underpass. I get to the airport, and just as I race towards the helicopter, I see it explode. I quickly hit the handbrake and turn around to start heading the other way - when I when I hear over the mic: "Die ********" and the heli puls aways as he is being shot to head back to the main island.
These guys leave me as my friend and I manage to secure helicopters.We're now in a dog fight. My friend is being shot and dives out of his helicopter as it blows uo. I come up, and shoot my machine gun right into their helicopter, finally taking out their air superiority and returning the favour for all of those kills. Then I pick up my friend, take him to another helicopter, and return the favour to these guys while they are on foot, and we have giant helicopters.

It was awesome.

 

[Fjordson]

re: stories in the GTA games

I always enjoy the stories and they're my main motivation to play through the games.

And it's not that I think the GTA stories are the greatest plots ever. They're crime stories we've all seen before, save for some twists and tweaks. For me it's more about the characters you meet and the dialogue. Some gaffers will disagree with me here, but I think R* writes a lot of good dialogue. I enjoy just listening to characters going back and forth in conversation in their games.

 

[TheAbsolution]

Totally with you on that. Every time I replay San Andreas, when you get brought out into the countryside and all of your weapons and everything you have to deal with in Los Santos is stripped away, I really feel like a sense of loss but also relief. The environment, lighting, and everything else is totally different too. Instead of walking out of your house to see the LA skyline, you walk around your little shack and see Mt. Chiliad in the distance.

Also the game does a good job of when you do go back to Los Santos (either by exploring or when a mission brings you there like the -- admittedly very annoying -- mission in San Fierro where you have to follow a train and then kill a journalist) all of your gang territories are lost, the Ballas are much more aggressive, and they even group together within Grove Street, so as soon as you walk out of your house you get shot at. It's a good way of indicating that you're not supposed to be there.

The missions you get out in the countryside are also just so different from what you get everywhere else. The intense Catalina missions which end up in countryside races, the very bizarre missions from the Truth (like stealing that harvest tractor and running over a bunch of right-wing survivalists, haha)... There's just a tremendous variety. And then it brings you back into San Fierro which has more "normal" missions but still a few things totally new for a GTA game.

I think that GTAV will have a ton more variety than IV, that's a given, but I doubt it'll have quite as much as GTA:SA. The heists will be fun, but I hope they're not as clearly staged and set like 3-Leaf Clover. 3 Leaf clover is a good mission, but it's an Uncharted 3-esque set piece fight, everything you do is planned and there isn't any room for deviation. When I died the first time, I tried to set up a car the second time out to use to my advantage and the game just removed it after the cut scene. I'm worried that GTAV will give you the perception of choice, but it will really only be a few choices you can make -- go in loud or go in smart, and then it's all staged from there. Even so, that's still an improvement, and they will hopefully mix in enough variation through Trevor or Franklin, and the ton of side stuff, to keep it fresh throughout. It's tough to match the variation of San Andreas, though.

I mean as much I love 4's dramatic story and the whole thing about Niko. I have to agree with you. The whole mission variety of SA was so incredible to me back then and I didn't really feel that in 4. I hope it returns in 5 because as realistic as the world can be, I need the variety to return as well.

 

[theAntagonist]

I too enjoy the stories of the Grand Theft Auto games, and I've never really understood people complaining about Dan Houser's writing. I feel like his writing, for the most part, fits pretty well for the tone that the games are trying to convey.

Also, I think that if someone watches that gameplay video and isn't excited to play GTAV, is absolutely insane lol.

 

[Net_Wrecker]

Totally with you on that. Every time I replay San Andreas, when you get brought out into the countryside and all of your weapons and everything you have to deal with in Los Santos is stripped away, I really feel like a sense of loss but also relief. The environment, lighting, and everything else is totally different too. Instead of walking out of your house to see the LA skyline, you walk around your little shack and see Mt. Chiliad in the distance.

Also the game does a good job of when you do go back to Los Santos (either by exploring or when a mission brings you there like the -- admittedly very annoying -- mission in San Fierro where you have to follow a train and then kill a journalist) all of your gang territories are lost, the Ballas are much more aggressive, and they even group together within Grove Street, so as soon as you walk out of your house you get shot at. It's a good way of indicating that you're not supposed to be there.

The missions you get out in the countryside are also just so different from what you get everywhere else. The intense Catalina missions which end up in countryside races, the very bizarre missions from the Truth (like stealing that harvest tractor and running over a bunch of right-wing survivalists, haha)... There's just a tremendous variety. And then it brings you back into San Fierro which has more "normal" missions but still a few things totally new for a GTA game.

I think that GTAV will have a ton more variety than IV, that's a given, but I doubt it'll have quite as much as GTA:SA. The heists will be fun, but I hope they're not as clearly staged and set like 3-Leaf Clover. 3 Leaf clover is a good mission, but it's an Uncharted 3-esque set piece fight, everything you do is planned and there isn't any room for deviation. When I died the first time, I tried to set up a car the second time out to use to my advantage and the game just removed it after the cut scene. I'm worried that GTAV will give you the perception of choice, but it will really only be a few choices you can make -- go in loud or go in smart, and then it's all staged from there. Even so, that's still an improvement, and they will hopefully mix in enough variation through Trevor or Franklin, and the ton of side stuff, to keep it fresh throughout. It's tough to match the variation of San Andreas, though.

Yes to all of this. Yes. That arc, not only narrative wise, but the environmental arc as you get tossed out of Los Santos into the countryside/wilderness and start experiencing different kind of missions and characters is my favorite portion of GTA ever. The sense of progression in that game was unbelievable at the time, and there's simply no way GTAV will match it due to having 3 protagonists and an open map from the start. Note that those aren't necessarily bad design choices, but they just won't be able to top CJ's journey.

That's why my 1 hope for GTAV is to give me the same sense of open space and wonder that San Andreas gave me. I've already accepted that they likely won't be able to have the same kind of narrative arc, but if they're properly able to utilize the huge countryside/mountainous areas that GTAIV didn't offer, it'll be great. Of course, having more mission variety is very important as well because vanilla GTAIV was totally poor in that regard. Again, here's hoping that will be remedied by the map variety and strange characters/vehicles/missions you'll encounter outside of the city, likely with Trevor.

 

[Fjordson]

I too enjoy the stories of the Grand Theft Auto games, and I've never really understood people complaining about Dan Houser's writing. I feel like his writing, for the most part, fits pretty well for the tone that the games are trying to convey.

Also, I think that if someone watches that gameplay video and isn't excited to play GTAV, is absolutely insane lol.

Agreed on all counts.

And some of the GAF rage towards Dan Houser is slightly misguided anyways since it's not like he's locks himself in a room and comes out with a script. He always has co-writers, he always works with Lazlow on the radio stations and fake brands, and it's even been suggested that Sam Houser does some uncredited writing.

 

[UrbanRats]

There are apparently a couple of new screens from Famitsu floating around.
One of them looks particularly cool, with Fanklin chased by the cops on a river in the countryside, at night.

 

[bidguy]

I saw this the other day:



So now we have:

- NightRide FM
- Non Stop Pop 100.7
- Los Santos Rock Radio

Confirmed tracks:

"Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake" by The Small Faces
"Radar Love" by Golden Earring
"Skeletons" by Stevie Wonder
"Give It To Me Baby" by Rick James
"Radio Ga Ga" by Queen
"Hood Gone Love It" by Jay Rock (ft. Kendrick Lamar)
"Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way" by Waylon Jennings
"Glamorous" by Fergie (ft. Ludacris)
"I Like It" by Enrique Iglesias
"Regulate" by Warren G (ft. Nate Dogg)
"187 Proof" by Spice 1
"Straight Up Menace" by MC Eiht


I don't know why you're apologizing for Rockstar being stupid.
You can balance tone and realism.

My go-to example is them saying in the press that they fucked up with Vice City in a way because all the terrain was flat.
As a result, in San Andreas you saw a lot hill-y areas in the map that made for fun, diverse driving.

There are a lot of dumb things in IV that shouldn't have been in there and they should have known better.

"Reuniting The Families" in San Andreas was a brilliant set-piece mission, full of diverse moments, and was a lot of fun.
Most of the scripted missions in IV were purely for the sake of exposition or getting the player across map.

Yes they bit off a lot with IV and yes it's a good game but they should have made some better decisions. Of course, hindsight is 20/20 but I still think they fucked up.

i have found a reason to pre order this game thanks

 

[Zep]

Night time looks phenomenal. Even in the new (shitty) scans. Wonder if the sky changes depending on how far from the city you are.

 

[dejay]

How did I miss these images?

 

[The Albatross]

Dug posted this pic in another thread which was related to a new "screen" (not a screen but something blurry from a leak probbaly).. But it's San Andreas:

IT's a great example of how San Andreas rewarded you for exploration. You have this famous locale in Los Santos and it is difficult to get up, either requiring some exploration or getting the jetpack in the game... And it rewards you by hiding body armor (easy to come by by the end, but still kind of difficult early on) at the top of it, giving you some reward for exploration.

Other things in the game, like the parachute on the roof of the tallest building, numerous guns and other collectibles hidden in not-often-trodden locations, and even the silly "there is nothing up here" easter egg on the Golden Gate Bridge, made the world more fun to explore.

This is somethign that was really lost from IV. Climb up a flight of 6 or 7 stairs, only to get to the roof and find nothing up there and have to walk back down. Near the UN in Dukes, there's that radio structure (I'm not sure what it is actually), and you can climb up 3 or 4 very long ladders to reach the top.. Probably takes 2 minutes and it's really out of the way. ANd you climb up there, and there's nothing there... you just have to climb back down. In past GTAs, it would have been unfathomable to have a land mark, have you go out of your way to get there and climb it, only to have absolutely nothing at the top of it.

Maybe it's not realistic to have a sniper rifle laying on the top of a building in NYC, but it added a lot to the game to have some reward for doing something that required exploration. This also ties into the pidgeons, which IMO, penalized exploration because when you shot them, you often alerted police and had to flee the area.

So, I'm hoping that GTAV re-introduces this reward mechanism. RDR had it pretty well: If you went out of your way to explore, you were usually rewarded with a treasure chest (even if the contents were meek), rarer weapons, or rare foliage/animals that you could sell.

 

[Raptomex]

New artwork and there's a pre-order bonus when pre-ordering the guide at GameStop.

 

[Fjordson]

Artwork is dope, but I doubt I'll get the guide. Don't think I've bought a single strategy guide since Metal Gear Solid 2.

 

[Raptomex]

Lol I'm getting 3. One online. I wonder if I can get 2 lithographs then.

 

[Screaming Meat]

Artwork is dope, but I doubt I'll get the guide. Don't think I've bought a single strategy guide since Metal Gear Solid 2.

That was a tasty guide. Those damned dog tags...

 

[Fjordson]

Lol I'm getting 3. One online. I wonder if I can get 2 lithographs then.

Haha, damn, you're hardcore Rapto.

That was a tasty guide. Those damned dog tags...

Totally. That guide (and game) was amazing. I actually have a special edition hardcover edition of it.

But now that I think about it, I also have the Vice City guide, so that might have been the last one I bought.

 

[Raptomex]

Haha, damn, you're hardcore Rapto.

Well of course. Got to have at least one limited edition and regular guide unopened. Actually this is the first time I'm getting multiple guides to keep some unopened.

Forgive my ignorance but what exactly is a lithograph? I've probably seen one, I may even have one but I have no idea. Is it like a poster? Or am I way off?

 

[Marleyman]

Let's be real, nobody actually plays Grand Theft Auto for the story.

Nonsense.