GTA V

[Frenetic Pony]

Bigger and Better is good enough for me. As long as its more coherent in things like its setting and comedy then I'll probably enjoy the hell out of it. I played hours and hours of Vice City, completely ignoring the missions and instead driving around the airport, listening to the hilarious talk radio shows and going off jumps.

Not that the story missions were bad either. There was a whole lot of ridiculous 80's stuff and Tommy Vercetti is by far my favorite GTA (or even GTA alike) protagonist. Every other protagonist in any of these games ends up being highly conflicted (which doesn't work with random violence) or mostly mute, or generic and annoying (Saints Row 2). Tommy Vercetti was the only guy that felt like he belonged as the guy that was chasing around random people on the street with a machete. Heck, one of the first things he says is "Pricks, I'm surrounded by pricks".

If they can bring that back, the attitude and just the right amount of bizareness, as if you're guy is the only one that recognizes how ridiculous everything is, then I'll probably love it. Saints Row 3 was just way too over the top for me, I didn't really get any kicks out of messing with a world that was already incredibly messed up.

[toblix]

If they decide to go with the tried and true formula, I'm not going to be surprised, and I'll definitely play it, and probably love it. Rumour has it you'll be playing as a former criminal, which probably means it'll probably be yet another story of being dragged into crime and then up through the ranks with an explosive finale. That's fine. If it has more of the big, beautiful, detailed environments with a thousand million little details, I'll be a happy camper, and I'll do every side mission and get every achievement.

Still, it would be interesting if they decided to take things in a different direction. Oh, and rumour also has it it'll have a more involved multiplayer, with persistent elements, etc.

[Twig]

My two favorite Open World Games in the vein of or at least inspired by GTA are Saints Row: The Third and Red Faction: Guerilla. Both from Volition, I suddenly realize.

Saints Row: The Third + Red Faction: Guerilla + 0.5 * Crackdown = My Ideal Open-World Game-Game. This is completely ignoring story (but not world).

For GTA, I definitely preferred GTA:VC to anything else I've played in the series. I never played San Andreas. But GTAIV's world was amazingly realized. I wouldn't be opposed to further progress in that regard. SR is a completely nonserious venture. Its world is nowhere near as, um, believable, even though everything makes "sense" in the context of the gameplay.

[Erkki]

About GTA being a genre -- I guess so, but I've never personally been interested in that genre. I think it's because I fear that the other games are all just "GTA with a twist" and if I were a fan of the genre I would probably go for that. But GTA itself is more than another game in that genre (trivially, being the one that started it), it has some of that "quality without a name" or whatever and I've always liked it for that, not only because of the elements it has that form that specific genre.

The only other games of the genre I've played are Mafia and Red Dead Redemption. Mafia was quite different from GTA actually and had it's own charm. RDR because I'm a sucker for westerns (as long as they're not dumb-seeming games like the previous Red Dead R...) and probably also a little bit because it was from Rockstar.

Anyway, I can see other people would like different games from the genre (Saints Row, Sleeping Dogs, and whatever the others are) but even though the genre is not very populated any game other than GTA has to really make me notice something else about it that I find interesting besides simply being a "GTA genre game".

Not that the story missions were bad either. There was a whole lot of ridiculous 80's stuff and Tommy Vercetti is by far my favorite GTA (or even GTA alike) protagonist. Every other protagonist in any of these games ends up being highly conflicted (which doesn't work with random violence) or mostly mute, or generic and annoying (Saints Row 2). Tommy Vercetti was the only guy that felt like he belonged as the guy that was chasing around random people on the street with a machete. Heck, one of the first things he says is "Pricks, I'm surrounded by pricks".

Word.

[edit]PS. Oh, I just remembered that Just Cause 2 also seemed interesting, just for the totally crazy tricks you could pull. But I didn't play it due to lack of time (messed around with the demo, though). I don't know if it's even in the same genre with these other games? Maybe not.

[ThunderPeel2001]

If they decide to go with the tried and true formula, I'm not going to be surprised, and I'll definitely play it, and probably love it. Rumour has it you'll be playing as a former criminal, which probably means it'll probably be yet another story of being dragged into crime and then up through the ranks with an explosive finale. That's fine. If it has more of the big, beautiful, detailed environments with a thousand million little details, I'll be a happy camper, and I'll do every side mission and get every achievement.

Still, it would be interesting if they decided to take things in a different direction. Oh, and rumour also has it it'll have a more involved multiplayer, with persistent elements, etc.

My problem is that Dan Houser's writing is all over the place... and unbelievably predictable (especially when he tries to do "twists"). It just fills me with frustration that a brilliant script could be added to this engine and make everyone happy. Especially me. The gameplay works, as far as I'm concerned.

[Frenetic Pony]

My problem is that Dan Houser's writing is all over the place... and unbelievably predictable (especially when he tries to do "twists"). It just fills me with frustration that a brilliant script could be added to this engine and make everyone happy. Especially me. The gameplay works, as far as I'm concerned.

Yep, I'd love to see the inevitable continuation of Red Dead be written by someone else. I'm not a terrible fan of westerns, but Red Dead Redemption is in my top about, 15 games, of all time. And "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly" is in my top 10 movies. So there's definitely some sort of room there for me to enjoy something story wise. Just as long as it's not Dan Houser and his "I'm a good man that hates violence, now excuse me while I murder about a hundred people in a row." schtick.

[Murdoc]

They had more than one writer on Red Dead, the problem that people have that won't be rectified anytime soon with Rockstar is the fact that Houser will have his hand in every script as a writing director, so yeah, just have to take the good with the bad.

[melmer]

I was playing sleeping dogs last night. The street races and just generally speeding around the streets weaving in and out of traffic is really fun, but crashing at high speed has no consequence

i'd love it if GTA V gave a more realistic approach to crashing, the cars should become right offs and when you exit the vehicle with next to no life you should stubble around in 'drunken mode' trying to navigate your way out of on coming traffic

obviously they have to balance it right, as the game could get very tedious if you're constantly stuck without a car, but i think driving fast would be more exciting if there was a higher risk involved

[I_smell]

A giant landslide of information on this game came out today in GameInformer. Three playable characters that you can Quantum Leap in and out of at any time.

My first response was "and they're all fuckin rock-hard thugs who tried to get out, put they kept pullin me back in, right?"

but the information that came along with it is actually kind of surprising, and very self-aware in some ways.

I don't know where this forum's ethics lie on if I just posted the scans of the GameInformer issue... Is that something I should not do? ...I'm gonna not do it. but yo they've modelled the sea-floor in this one. It's bonkers.

[ThunderPeel2001]

I don't know where this forum's ethics lie on if I just posted the scans of the GameInformer issue... Is that something I should not do? ...I'm gonna not do it. but yo they've modelled the sea-floor in this one. It's bonkers.

Well here's what the internet says....

Edit: Well damn. I posted a hoax. My bad.

Game map size:

[I_smell]

...No that's 100% incorrect. Look up TODAY'S news, from GameInformer.

EDIT-- Alright here:

• GTA V "evolves nearly every mechanic, features the biggest world in series history and introduces a new technology that radically changes the way players control the game."
  
• The game's three main characters are called Michael, Trevor and Franklin
  
• Michael is retired, early 40s, a highly successful former bank robber. He retired in luxury after making a deal with the FIB. He's in the witness protection program, he hates his wife who spends his money and hates him too. He doesn't understand his two teenage kids Tracy and Jimmy, and is forced back into the game as his money is about to run out.
  
• Trevor is a career criminal, early 40s, drug user governed by his desires, prone to violent outbursts and destructive rampages, a loose cannon, former military pilot, used to work a bank job with Michael back in the day, always up for a heist.
  
• Franklin, repo man, mid 20s, a young and ambitious hustler, works for an Armenian luxury car dealership that sells cars to those who can't afford them, and when they can't pay up he plays repo man. He stumbles into Michael while looking for a hustle.
  
• A quick menu can be called up to switch characters, the camera pulls away into a Google Earth-style vantage point and then drops into wherever the chosen character is.
  
• Rockstar's playtester pours a trail of gas away from a vehicle and drops a zippo lighter on it, the flame travels back and causes a huge explosion.
  
• Each character has his own personality motivation and skillset.
  
• The three characters go about their daily business when you're not in control, so you might find them in surprising situations when you take control of them again.
  
• Each character has a fleshed out story arc.
  
• Complicated, multitiered heist missions inspired by GTA IV's Three Leaf Clover are "peppered" into the game. Heists are a big theme.
  
• Rockstar is addressing mission diversity in pairing characters. It showed off a mission involving all three characters. The trio need to perform a snatch-and-grab to get the FIB off their backs. Trevor berates the security agent guarding a chopper, Michael urges him to calm down but he keeps running his mouth. He only agreed to do the mission in exchange for help springing his friend Brad out of jail. Franklin isn't to comfortable with Trevor.
  
• They extract the target by holding him hostage with one arm while pointing a gun at interrogators with the other, at that point an icon appears giving the player the option to switch character.
  
• You can stay as Michael and try and pick off the enemies or select franklin, switch to his perspective and snipe them from afar. Transition is smooth and camera angle helps you adjust
  
• During the chase through Los Santos the player can switch to Trevor to pilot the getaway, snipe the other pilots as Franklin, or fire an assault rifle out the back of a chopper as Michael.
  
• Rockstar is leveraging cinematic tricks learned from Max Payne 3.
  
• Rockstar thinks GTA V is its strongest plotted game yet.
  
• Cars "hold better to the ground".Rockstar thought they were a bit "boat like" in GTA 4. It "feels more like a racing game".
  
• R* chose one large city over three small ones to create the best possible experience and realise its proper version of LA. The world is 'bigger than RDR, San Andreas and GTA4 combined'.
  
• The ocean floor is fully detailed and can be explored
  
• Each character will have unique hobbies only they can do.
  
• No RPG-style customisation as the three characters have specific skills and traits.
  
• No weight loss and gain as they pose a technical challenge pertaining to scale of the character. It was easer in San Andreas becasue standard def visuals were forgiving.
  
• Entertainment inside intertainment is back in GTAV, so expect more cartoons and other forms of in-game media.
  
• Houser doesn't think there will be romances as 'it wouldn't work'.
  
• Each protagonist has a set of friends to interact with.
  
  • Lamar: Franklin's friend, a good sort of crazy. He's very funny.
    
  • Jimmy: Michael's friend, lazy pot smoking 20 year old, they have a confused father-son relationship.
    
  • Ron: Trevor's best friend, paranoiac conspiracy theorist living in a trailer.
    
  • Amanda: Michael's wife, he's been awful to her, she's a strong personality, bound to him but they can't stand each other
    

  [*]Familiar faces from GTAIV and Episodes from Liberty City may resurface, just not major ones like Niko or anyone from PS2 era. PS2 era characters are in their own universe, GTAV takes place in a 'HD universe', they don't co-exist.

  [*]CJ and Tommy are more like mythical characters in the GTAV world

  [*]Mobile phone concept is back, but you won't be getting calls all the time, it's mainly used for activities.

  [*]Random encounters with citizens are coming back in a big way.

  [*]The dynamic mission system is similar to that of RDR, examples given include helping broken down motorists, figuring out the cause of a pile of dead bodies, being opportunistic and ripping off cash vans, or being a nice guy and catching muggers.

  [*]There won't be any "major" celebrity names cast as main protagonists.

There's a bunch more details, but these are the big ones.

[ThunderPeel2001]

Random encounters with citizens are coming back in a big way.

Hurrah, the worst parts of GTAIV!

So someone else is writing it this time, right? Or maybe at least someone, you know, funny and talented writing the radio bits? Right?

[I_smell]

I loved random encounters with citizens!

Speaking of writers, "Lazlow" is a character in GTA, and also a real person. Incase anyone didn't know, he has a podcast at Lazlow.com, and he IS a Grand Theft Auto character come to life. They talk about weed and retards and foreigners and gays.

[Thrik]

I think they mean more along the lines of Red Dead Redemption's genuinely random encounters rather than GTA 4's, which were essentially just regular missions that're more difficult to trigger than usual — there was nothing particularly random about them. I imagine some of them will be taken wholesale, such as witnessing muggings (or knowing GTA, rapes) and it being down to you whether or not you want to defend the lady's honour.

[ThunderPeel2001]

Bah, they got pretty tiresome after a while, too. Sometimes you just wanted to be able get somewhere without having to prevent a murder.

[Tundra]

I loved random encounters with citizens!

Speaking of writers, "Lazlow" is a character in GTA, and also a real person. Incase anyone didn't know, he has a podcast at Lazlow.com, and he IS a Grand Theft Auto character come to life. They talk about weed and retards and foreigners and gays.

Yeah, i heard him on BBC Radio 1 when Max Payne 3 was coming out.

His Twitter is pretty humerous too:

[ThunderPeel2001]

He sounds like a dick to me.

[ThunderPeel2001]

I know GTAIV wanted to be a satire a lot of the time, but this sort of stuff just comes across as juvenile to me:

[ThunderPeel2001]

This is a much smarter example of someone having fun with a "serious" radio format, if you ask me:

[Tundra]

was that before or after 911 actually happened. i remember the TV show being on in the early 1990s.

[ThunderPeel2001]

was that before or after 911 actually happened. i remember the TV show being on in the early 1990s.

I removed the 9/11 one because apparently you can only have one video per post, but here it is again.

[brkl]

I really loved the Lazlow stuff back in GTA3 and San Andreas when I actually was juvenile

[Nappi]

"Rockstar is leveraging cinematic tricks learned from Max Payne 3."

[I_smell]

It's a good job this 9/11 sketch is hilarious, otherwise it'd be in rather poor taste!

[ThunderPeel2001]

Plus, it doesn't make fun of the atrocities, it just makes fun of a really bad news reporter