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[SJRB]

I'm replaying GTAV story mode for the first time in quite some years. I never did think back fondly on GTAV's missions, I consider them ranging from kinda okay to straight up terrible. I love the city, the incredible attention to detail, the music, the overall design but there's almost no legit great, memorable mission and what really gets to me is how much non-crime related bullshit is packed in this game.

How does this game have so many terrible missions? Almost none of these missions feel good to do. Unrewarding, waste of time. I don't know where Leslie Benz and Laslow and I don't know who wrote this shit back then's heads were at, but it wasn't in the right spot.

"O no Michael, stop your daughter from being an underage whore on this porn boat"
"O shit Michael, your son smokes pot, better go on a bike ride to bond with him"
"O fuck Michael, your wife got caught shoplifting!"
"O hell nah Michael, your daughter is going on some tv show, better stop her before she makes an ass of herself by absolutely trainwrecking the entire situation and killing like 19 people in the process"
"O damn Michael, your wife fucked her tennis coach and probably fucks her yoga teacher, isn't this a shit situation to be in?"
"O crap Michael, your entire family hates you and you all argue all the time but you're rich and live in a mansion, isn't this some amazing spoof on the American Dream??"

FUCK OFF

Doing a bunch of these missions back to back will straight up ruin your day. Seriously I just did the yoga mission and it is insane how disrespectful this is to the player. One of the worst missions ever. Almost all of these missions feel like mini tv episodes where everything goed back to default at the end like nothing happened and none of them feel good to do or as if you achieved something.

GTAV's story is such a bizarre outlier in Rockstar's track record. The difference in writing and overall tone between GTAIV and GTAV is crazy.

 

[BennyBlanco]

You’re right. Even at the time i thought the writing stunk. Thankfully RDR2 is wayyyy better.

 

[MrTroubleMaker]

GTAV story is they lost it, I'm sure the same type of stupidity will be in 6

 

[MiguelItUp]

Yeah, V's writing really paled in comparison to IV IMO. But RDR's writing in both 1 and 2 were vastly superior. I hope VI is more along the lines of RDR 1/2, but I have a feeling it won't, at all.

 

[Sebastian1295]

I'm excited for GTA 6 for the world and environments, but i'd honestly be more excited for bully 2 at this juncture. I feel like GTA 6 is going to have a terrible story that consists of 'edgy' and dumb humor that feels immature in the worst way possible.

 

[March Climber]

It was unfortunate early game padding that didn't need to exist, because narratively the plot picks up the minute Michael does the jewelry heist and Trevor finds out.

I could imagine a much better paced, 20-30 hour GTA V experience with most of the family stuff and other side character stuff being relegated to side content only.

Edit:

At the same time OP, I think people are being too kind and nostalgic to GTA 4, which you've also brought up. That game also had pretty bad early game padding in pacing. Arguably the only two mainline games I felt that were paced perfectly were GTA 3 and Vice City.

 

[FalconPunch]

I'm excited for GTA 6 for the world and environments, but i'd honestly be more excited for bully 2 at this juncture. I feel like GTA 6 is going to have a terrible story that consists of 'edgy' and dumb humor that feels immature in the worst way possible.

In this sawft era, they'd probably make Bully 2 about how bullying can negatively affect one's life and why you shouldn't partake in it. Would be proper shite.

 

[Guilty_AI]

I feel like GTAV coasted off a lot more on the actors performances rather than plot or writing.

 

[bender]

IV has a ton of issues too but mostly because of tonal inconsistencies. It's just too thin of a line to walk trying to be serious while still being juxtaposed with sophomoric dick and ball jokes everywhere. Nico's characterization was pretty good but his motivations weren't believable and he was flanked by a cast of character that were far too cartoonish. That's not a defense of V which I don't think has many redeeming qualities.

 

[b0uncyfr0]

I honestly liked it

It reminded me how f**ked up some western kids can be. Utterly entitled, spoilt with no morals and no respect for their parents. That cheating 'wife' was atrocious as well.

 

[Aesius]

Franklin was the only remotely likable playable character in GTA V, but even then, he was a lesser version of CJ.

The best GTA protagonist is still Tommy Vercetti. His personality and motivations actually matched what GTA is all about. And of course, it helped that he was played by Ray Liotta.

 

[Griffon]

GTA is just an irreverent spoof of America, it's not high art and doesn't pretend to be so.
The plots are dumb and are just excuses to show you different aspects of how screwed up America is. Sprinkled with pop culture references.

It's not that deep, nor should it be.

 

[ShadyAcshuns]

San Andreas's family drama takes the cake for cringe. From CJ's brother to his sister and Cesar. That writing makes every other game an academy award winner.

Despite all that, SA is still my favorite GTA game. It's always been about the cringe, but I just can't picture GTA VI being politically correct. That would be the worst.

 

[IAmRei]

yeah, IMO GTA V is kind of weird and kind of suck. GTASA and IV have better story.

 

[rofif]

IV is much better and got better story

 

[joeygreco1985]

The story was never great, but at the same time it was written in like 2011-2012 and a product of its time.

 

[YuLY]

Thats why 4 with Niko Bellic is goated if you want to experience an actually story. All the rest are a joke in that regard, sure they are fun sandboxes, especially Vice City, but story-wise eh...some have the fun/wacky factor at least (the ps2 ones).

But I agree, 5 is trash, 5 is fun just to go whack around the city or play coop multy with friends.

Unfortunately I expect even worse from 6, considering Houser left and there are leaks that they will go softer and not "punch down" lol.

 

[SportsFan581]

Jerry Springer looking at that list and going:

 

[Woggleman]

People hated on IV until V came out so this is what we got.

 

[simpatico]

Product of its time. That stuff was still novel when it came out. That was peak Deadpool-loudly vulgar-poop joke era. The crown jewel of early 21st century shit mountain culture. A lot of people are noticing the logical conclusions of this culture and pushing back.

 

[dreamcastluvr]

Still better than 90% of current 'modern audience' shite.

 

[Kenneth Haight]

It’s meant to be ironic is it not?

The drudgery of everyday life?

Edit: I wouldn’t say it’s ahead of its time, but looking at the way GTA6 is embracing social media in its first trailer.

Art imitates life, we are living in absurdity

 

[adamsapple]

It’s meant to be ironic is it not?

The drudgery of everyday life?

Yeah, it's a very clear / deliberate exaggeration of the Jerry Springer / Geraldo kind of people.

 

[El Muerto]

Sam Houser can't write for shit. He only got the job because his brother is the president for Rockstar. He's the reason why the story was awful in GTA 5 and RDR2.

 

[Puscifer]

I'm excited for GTA 6 for the world and environments, but i'd honestly be more excited for bully 2 at this juncture. I feel like GTA 6 is going to have a terrible story that consists of 'edgy' and dumb humor that feels immature in the worst way possible.

I wonder whatever happened to Bully 2 to fall apart. They hired the composer back and everything

 

[drotahorror]

The story was never great, but at the same time it was written in like 2011-2012 and a product of its time.

Yea people forgettin this was nearly 15 years ago. Story was a good one and done thing for me.

 

[Humdinger]

Yeah, I've tried to get into GTA V several times and failed. I just find the missions dull and the characters unlikeable. Occasionally I would chuckle at a line, but that's about it. There was the lousy shooting controls and checkpointing system, too, but I would've persisted had the story been good. I just didn't connect with it.

 

[Dorfdad]

I’m hearing Rockstar hired in a bunch of the saint rows team they will be heading up storyline and inclusionary expanding the games reach beyond dude bros…

 

[Singular7]

Still better than 90% of current 'modern audience' shite.

It IS modern audience, just the older version of it.

Horrible people that couldn't possibly sustain a society == "modern audience"

4th turning end of empire is basically "woke" "modern audience".

This has happened many times in history. Look at Roman decadence, its the EXACT same themes to the proverbial T.

 

[Quasicat]

I love how you go through the endings and when you kill Michael…

Spoiler: Spoiler for Michael’s death

His family all of a sudden loves him unconditionally and cuts Franklin out completely. I thought I was doing you and him a favor, but apparently not.

 

[MrRibeye]

Dan Houser left Rockstar to produce more of Michael's family drama. He might've been the driving force behind that. I enjoyed those parts actually, because Michael's family drama reminds me of Shakespeare in that his wife and kids are about as loyal as King Lear's daughters. I also wonder if the mission design is influenced by the newspaper headlines from the years prior to the release of GTA 5, which told of Palmer Lucky inventing virtual reality and people dreaming of living in digital worlds in the future, a continuation of headlines about WoW addicts "living in the digital world". It was the zeitgeist at the time, and maybe letting you chase after Yoga instructors and going for a bike ride with your son is Rockstar letting you "live a virtual life" beyond being a criminal gangster.

.

 

[StereoVsn]

IMO, Vice City and IV (especially DLC) were the only GTA games with good story. And partially that’s also do to the location and atmosphere which played a huge part in that.

 

[Oppoi]

With Michael you start with the character that made it big GTA style... and moved to LA... Pure satire like the Osbournes.

 

[Hawk The Slayer]

Didn't like the story that much in V.

GTA games on the PS2 > GTA IV > V when it comes to how entertaining the story was. GTA VI should be more interesting than V at least which isn't a high bar anyway.

 

[IntentionalPun]

It’s meant to be ironic is it not?

The drudgery of everyday life?

Yeah he quit crime to end up a bored rich guy who hates his life.

I'm not a huge GTA V fan, and I never finished it.. but I got farther than IV. That was just cliche with annoying accents.

 

[Gaiff]

Whole game is like this. I recall watching my buddy play and he was doing the longshoreman mission with Trevor that consisted of moving cargo with a crane. I asked him how the hell was he having fun with that.

GTA V is a terrible game and so is RDR2. Those games are straight-up unfun.

 

[CLW]

Hot Take Alert —- GTA has NEVER been a good single player story experience

 

[Sushi_Combo]

GtaV is the worst in the series by far., just from a SP and replayability perspective, I haven't gone back to it when I finished, which sucks because I always have the urge to go back to earlier entries of the series, not this one.

 

[Oppoi]

Hot Take Alert —- GTA has NEVER been a good single player story experience

I ripped my shirt and fled my country when Roman died.

 

[PauloRoberto]

i tried to play gta v at least 3 times… i simply cannot stomach how BAD the story is and how uncharismatic the protagonists are… sorry, michael and trevor DO NOT deserve any sort of happy ending.

 

[calistan]

Thats why 4 with Niko Bellic is goated if you want to experience an actually story.

Been a while since I played it, but what I remember from 4 was:

- I'm escaping a life of crime in some Slavic country. In America things will be different.
- Steal me some cars! Be genetically different!
- No, I don't do that shit any more, but since you asked nicely I'll rob the mafia and kill hundreds of people along the way.
- Hey Niko, want to go bowling?

 

[EN250]

People do really have rose tinted glasses when it comes to GTAIV story, sure it's not bizarre as V, but everyone talks like it's some really serious™ and mature™ story and I don't see it, even less when you 100% and do all the random character interactions in the whole map

GTAV is over the top crazy and bizarre but it's consistent throughout the whole game, well except for the torture part which was way somber and not needed at all

Also every character has this loser-mundane life they're stuck to and use any excuse to escape from, except maybe for Trevor who looks comfortable, but that also changes when he realizes Michael is alive

 

[mrqs]

The narrative and mission design on GTA V is really, really bad. I finished the game for the first time last year. It got extremely old.

But, RDR2 is one of the best narratives ever made. So I would expect GTA 6 to do that really well.

 

[Jinzo Prime]

The narrative and mission design on GTA V is really, really bad. I finished the game for the first time last year. It got extremely old.

But, RDR2 is one of the best narratives ever made. So I would expect GTA 6 to do that really well.

The lead writer of both games is no longer at Rockstar. So it's up in the air how the story will go in GTA6.

 

[Fahdis]

This some amazing spoof on the American Dream??"

I used to think this kind of stuff was satire until I got married into an American family 10 years ago. My ex brother and mother in law were just like these motherfuckers.

 

[Kerotan]

I thought they're were a lot of great missions. The heists were top class. The epsilom side quest was insane. The cargo plane mission was so cool etc.

 

[ValiantInstance]

It's the game that has aged the most poorly out of all of them. It's so heavily centrered around that post global financial crisis era and many of the jokes have since gone stale.

 

[Pandawan]

GTA V's campaign is truly terrible. The characters are all well written, the world is ultra detailed yes, but the story is terrible. The villains are a joke. Not threatening at all. There is no interesting story in the game at all.

But GTA V's story is not the worst part of its campaign.

The worst part is how damn slow, handholdy, and drawn out the missions are. I recently played a few hours of GTA V's campaign and a few hours of GTA SA in one day, and I was amazed at how much more dynamic the GTA SA campaign is. It's much less scripted, less on rails, and the missions go by much faster. You can complete a mission in GTASA in 5 minutes, whereas in GTA V one mission can take 15-20 minutes, and it is not exciting 20 minutes of walking, talking, and following scripted orders.

I also really hate this race for the largest scale of game worlds. GTA SA had the perfect scale. GTASA had only a few missions that were boring with long drives, like the mission that made you drive from San Ferrio County to Los Santos. But that drive from San Fierro to Los Santos in GTASA is like a typical drive in GTAV, all the driving in GTAV takes THAT long. GTAV's world is so big that the drive times in missions where you have to drive from Los Santos to Blaine County are as boring as the real life drives.

Even the characters reflect on that! There's a mission where you have to drive to Blaine County, and Franklin is like, "WTF? I don't want to drive that much," and Trevor starts talking about how lazy this generation is. And during another long trip, Franklin just straight up sleeps..But I (THE PLAYER) am not at work! I'm not in Franklin's situation. This drive IS boring, like he says! And is makes me wanna sleep, like it made him. But he's doing it to get money, and I'm playing this damn game to be entertained.

 

[thefool]

Rockstar died in 2010.

 

[EviLore]

The worst part is how damn slow, handholdy, and drawn out the missions are. I recently played a few hours of GTA V's campaign and a few hours of GTA SA in one day, and I was amazed at how much more dynamic the GTA SA campaign is. It's much less scripted, less on rails, and the missions go by much faster. You can complete a mission in GTASA in 5 minutes, whereas in GTA V one mission can take 15-20 minutes, and it is not exciting 20 minutes of walking, talking, and following scripted orders.

I and many other people on GAF decried this trend from GTA4 onward. The open ended nature of missions in 3/VC/SA allowed you to be creative and resulted in emergent gameplay situations. 4 ditched that in favor of fully scripted missions where you chase a guy for a set amount of time while he’s invulnerable until a scripted finale. Was a huge downgrade.