GTA V

[Nel]

Nice job driving straight into the military base while trying to escape the cops, Nel. 

They blew me up with a god damn tank. 

[Chino]

Just read up on the special edition, and that's a bunch of bullshit. Giving away trinkets, and non game effecting stuff like tattoos or character mods is fine and dandy. Having to pay $20 extra for game effecting abilities and weapons isn't right, though.

That shit pisses me off to no end.

[MetalJunkie]

Holy shit! 

[semi-spoiler]
The mission I just did... Truck + wench + stilted house = Lethal Weapon awesomeness!

[Dark Castle]

Just got a transfer of my free spending funds that are for the next few weeks from my mom (she handles my money for me since I've got so much other shit to worry about at the moment heh)

So tempted to go and impulse buy this. Probably shouldn't though.

[Nel]

I just fought frickin' hallucinogenic aliens. Holy fuck. I'm loving how nuts this game is.

[Azyiu]

There are a total of 50 letter scraps to be collected... oh no, another one of those "hidden packages" thing... I love and hate that. 

[BlobVanDam]

There are a total of 50 letter scraps to be collected... oh no, another one of those "hidden packages" thing... I love and hate that. 

I'm all "love" on that kind of stuff. Vice City's hidden packages were fun busy work.

I want to get a console soon just to play this game (and GTA IV).

[Azyiu]

I want to get a console soon just to play this game (and GTA IV).

After just one day playing GTA V, I doubt I will ever touch GTA IV again.

[Nel]

I want to get a console soon just to play this game (and GTA IV).

After just one day playing GTA V, I doubt I will ever touch GTA IV again.

Same here. This is insanely superior.

[BlobVanDam]

I want to get a console soon just to play this game (and GTA IV).

After just one day playing GTA V, I doubt I will ever touch GTA IV again.

Same here. This is insanely superior.

Great. Maybe you guys can send me your copy of GTA IV then?

Glad to hear the new game is as good as it looks!

[Bolsters]

Fuck, when are they going to release the PC version, they haven't even told us that much. I'm trying not to watch videos of this game but I can't help myself.

Holy shit that fuel can...I will set fire to everything. Some men just want to watch the world burn.

Also is it me, or do you die much faster in this one?

[Nel]

Nah, blob. Don't have mine anymore. 

If you're getting IV as well, you should play that one first, man. I really see it being a step down if you do it second (still a good game in it's own right, though.). Just seems like V clipped off a lot of unnecessary clutter and brought back the zanier attitude. Not Saints Row levels, mind you, but still. GTA4's serious tone combined with the still-crazy radio stuff just kind of clashed.

And I do agree, Bol, characters seem to die way faster/easier in this one. Hell, run too long and you use health. Maybe upping each characters' stats will make it better.

[MetalJunkie]

I dislike IV immensely and find it boring as hell.

[BlobVanDam]

I dislike IV immensely and find it boring as hell.

I've only played part of that game, but to me it was a huge improvement over SA, which was everything done wrong to the extreme. After a week trying to play SA, I gave up and got rid of it. Awful.

[Bolsters]

I hated SA for literally years. Then one day I decided to give it another chance almost at random, and it clicked, and this was so long after its release that I went and got GTA IV almost immediately after I was finished with it. I will admit though, I liked GTA IV a LOT more than SA. It's more refined in a lot of areas, removes some of the more annoying traits from SA, and is a much smoother and tighter gameplay experience overall. Though you would expect all these kinds of improvements that given the four years and generational gap between the games.

[MetalJunkie]

I dislike IV immensely and find it boring as hell.

I've only played part of that game, but to me it was a huge improvement over SA, which was everything done wrong to the extreme. After a week trying to play SA, I gave up and got rid of it. Awful.

The mechanics were much better in IV, but SA had variety. Cities, beaches, towns, wilderness, more activities, and more to do in general. Much like GTA V but on a smaller scale. IV was just... everything was the same and there was nothing to do apart from story/side missions. And bowling with Roman.

[BlobVanDam]

I dislike IV immensely and find it boring as hell.

I've only played part of that game, but to me it was a huge improvement over SA, which was everything done wrong to the extreme. After a week trying to play SA, I gave up and got rid of it. Awful.

The mechanics were much better in IV, but SA had variety. Cities, beaches, towns, wilderness, more activities, and more to do in general. Much like GTA V but on a smaller scale. IV was just... everything was the same and there was nothing to do apart from story/side missions. And bowling with Roman.

For me the attempt at variety is what killed SA. I just wanted to do missions, not menial crap like sitting in a gym tapping the buttons because my player apparently atrophied all of his muscles running around, or being warned that my girlfriend is sad because I wanted to actually play the game instead of carefully driving her to a restaurant and back, or some pointless turf war that I'm going to die in because the game has given me hardly any weapons. I know you didn't need to do all of that, but it nagged you constantly with that crap, and I was getting no payoff from the missions either.

Gah, just thinking about that game makes me mad. They tried too hard to add something to the game, and went completely the wrong way about it, and ended up just bogging the game down with stuff I don't want to do that completely detracted from what makes those games fun.

[soundgarden]

The "legalize weed" guy mission 

goddamit, i'm having a blast with this game!, so amazing

[Bolsters]

For me the attempt at variety is what killed SA. I just wanted to do missions, not menial crap like sitting in a gym tapping the buttons because my player apparently atrophied all of his muscles running around, or being warned that my girlfriend is sad because I wanted to actually play the game instead of carefully driving her to a restaurant and back, or some pointless turf war that I'm going to die in because the game has given me hardly any weapons. I know you didn't need to do all of that, but it nagged you constantly with that crap, and I was getting no payoff from the missions either.

Gah, just thinking about that game makes me mad. They tried too hard to add something to the game, and went completely the wrong way about it, and ended up just bogging the game down with stuff I don't want to do that completely detracted from what makes those games fun.

The fact that the muscle and stamina skills took so long to get up, and then could actually decrease, greatly annoyed me aswell and was probably my biggest gripe with the game. That is, until I applied a mod that prevented either skill from ever decreasing again. PC master race.

The girlfriend thing, I don't remember being annoyed by it, though my memory is probably foggy. After being introduced to those mechanics in a story mission I don't remember ever having to do that stuff ever again, because you didn't actually need to do that unless you wanted 100%, but why bother going for 100% if you can't stand half the things you need to do to get there? I certainly don't bother. The dating game doesn't appear as part of the story again until one mission later on where you had a choice of dating a girl over and over to get something from her, or killing her and taking it. You can probably guess which direction I went in.

You don't get nagged about turf wars either once you leave Los Santos, and you don't have to worry about it again until the last part of the game when you return there. By that point you have so many weapons and so much ammunition that they become fairly trivial to do. And, IIRC you didn't even need to take over every neighbourhood to unlock the final mission, just a certain percentage of them.

Though if you're playing on a console, the muscle/stamina thing could very well be reason enough alone to not ever play it.

[BlobVanDam]

I was playing on PC, but that doesn't matter. If a game needs mods or cheats to be enjoyed, then it's a poorly designed game.

I didn't even get to the point of unlocking any other areas, and I recall having fuck-all for weapons at the time I just gave up on the game. Eventually I just cheated and messed around with weapons and jetpacks and flying to the other areas I hadn't unlocked, and was still bored of it after a day.
I'll never bother playing it again given that they've released far better newer games that make it obsolete. Man, I really need GTA V. And I don't even game at all.

[Bolsters]

I was playing on PC, but that doesn't matter. If a game needs mods or cheats to be enjoyed, then it's a poorly designed game.

I'd never deny that it's poor design, but what I was saying is that it can be circumvented in order to enjoy the game.

I'll never bother playing it again given that they've released far better newer games that make it obsolete. Man, I really need GTA V. And I don't even game at all.

That's a good point. You very well could forget about SA and just play IV. It is by far the better game.

[BlobVanDam]

I was playing on PC, but that doesn't matter. If a game needs mods or cheats to be enjoyed, then it's a poorly designed game.

I'd never deny that it's poor design, but what I was saying is that it can be circumvented in order to enjoy the game.

It would have to circumvent a whole lot more than that for me to enjoy the game, but it's the thought that counts.

In regards to the stats in the new game, do they go down like in SA, or is it more like an RPG sort of thing where it only builds? I have a feeling it's the latter, which would be preferable.

[El Barto]

I put SA far over IV. CJ had both personality and he changed with the times. In IV you just fucking Nicko who was just miserable all the time. SA had SLJackson, Chris Penn, and Peter Fonda. SA had Roman. SA was fun and funny. The only thing remotely comical about IV was the radio, and even that was hit or miss. The only way IV was better was with the engine; specifically the Euphoria physics middleware.

As for V, spent an hour or so dicking around. Killed a bunch of cops. Porked a titty dancer. Certainly seems to be an improvement over IV. That said, I haven't been impressed with the graphics, and the new and livelier city hasn't really appeared yet. To be fair, I haven't gotten very far from Franklin's neighborhood, so I suppose that might change. I won't let me change off of Franklin, for some reason. I suspect I have to complete a few more missions before I can play as Trevor or the other guy.

And I have noticed you seem to die a whole lot quicker. Perhaps armor will improve that.

[MetalJunkie]

Yeah, the other two guys are unlocked throughout their stories. Keep doing the main missions and you'll get there. I was actually surprised how soon you unlock Michael. Trevor is fucking awesome. He reminds me of a white trash version of Mel Gibson going apeshit in Lethal Weapon 1.

@ Blob - Thankfully the tedious stats are gone; those annoyed me as well. There are stats this time around, but they're all useful ones. Stamina, strength, driving, shooting, stuff like that.

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

I played the hell out of SA and loved every second of it. IV did click with me more when they released the episode content. TboGT was really fun to play.

I also wanna add that GTA IV MP was alot of fun with friends and I still play that from time to time. Can't wait for the MP part of V.

[cramx3]

The best part about IV was the ballad of gay tony. That put all other GTA games to shame even though it was only an expansion pack

[Fiery Winds]

The physics engine is great, and I REALLY wish I was playing on a PS4 because that 15 minute recording buffer would have come in handy!

I had just picked up Chop, and was playing fetch with a baseball.  I had an idea, hoped it would work, and threw the ball across the street.  Chop dutifully bolted after it and started his way back across the street when (with perfect timing) he was suddenly flung 20 feet from being hit by a car.   

[Chino]

This game is amazing. My only complaint is that I am forced to use triggers for gas and brake. I prefer buttons for that for some reason. This the first GTA were that's not an option. As others have said.... I don't see me ever playing IV again.

[El Barto]

Yeah, TBoGT beat the hell out of the rest of IV. It was the tone that made all the differnce. IV was just depressing as hell. The biker DLC was gritty and dirty, which was an improvement over "depressing as hell," but still not a great use of the engine. TBoGT had a luster to it that really made it more enjoyable. The exploding shotgun rounds didn't hurt, either.

[Sir GuitarCozmo]

Tried re-installing GTA 4 on the new HDD the other day.  Then spent an hour or two trying to research why it kept crashing on startup because of some xlive.dll fault.  Even more frustrating was moving the xlive.dll from every directory associated with the game and STILL having the problem.  Grrrr....

[TioJorge]

Interesting, Cozmo. I'm having the same exact problem. Every time I start it up, it almost always (I've only seen it not fail once) crashes, but then starts back up and I can play. Recently, Games For Windows Live crashes 9 out of 10 times, then let's me keep playing GTAIV....except for recently, when it gets to the character collage loading screen, it'll crash before the actual game starts. Very odd. I'm gonna have to look into this after work... Fucking Games For Windows is ridiculous.

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

GfW Live is the most annoying software ever buildt on this earth.

[adace]

Played this game all day yesterday, absolutely love it. Definitely better than GTA IV. And it's pretty surreal to see how accurately they've portrayed some of the sites I've been to many times (I live in the LA area).

[El Barto]

And it's pretty surreal to see how accurately they've portrayed some of the sites I've been to many times (I live in the LA area).

Yeah, I immediately recognized an intersection of Hwy 1 I drove on just 2 months ago. Even the same crappy-ass traffic.

[SomeoneLikeHim]

So, I played this pretty much all day today. Petty amazing game, I haven't been this absorbed in a game since Skyrim!