History Videogame / GrandTheftAutoIVTheBalladOfGayTony

! Due to this game's plot coinciding with both ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIV'' and ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIVTheLostAndDamned'', all spoilers for the two games are unmarked. Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned!

As with ''The Lost and Damned'', you can get it either online through Xbox Live or PSN, or at retail in the ''Episodes from Liberty City'' two-pack that includes ''TLAD''. The {{UsefulNotes/Steam}} version was also part of the standalone ''EFLC'' pack, but both the vanilla game and the ''Episodes'' were combined into one single game as the ''Complete Edition'' in 2020.

* PreviousPlayerCharacterCameo: Niko Bellic and Johnny Klebitz make a cameo appearance in the opening cutscene and some of the missions.

* SatchelCharge: : The Sticky Bomb given to Luis is pretty much a purpose-built satchel charge that can be remote-detonated and planted onto any surface.

* TheNapoleon: Mori.

** [[https://gtaforums.com/topic/430301-the-possible-trinity Attempts]] to make clear a chronological order for the missions in GTA IV as well as the episodes (using in-game news reports as references) proved ''extremely'' hard once ''Gay Tony'' was released. The cutscene for ''TBoGT'' "Chinese Takeout" shows Billy Grey telling the Triads to kill Johnny Klebitz in the ''TLAD'' "This Shit's Cursed", meaning "Chinese Takeout" takes place before "This Shit's Cursed". However, the introduction mission for ''TBoGT'' takes place right after "Three Leaf Clover". This is a problem because Elizabeta tells Niko after "Have a Heart" (which is a prerequisite for "Three Leaf Clover") that the cops are about to take her down, the same thing she tells Johnny after ''TLAD'' "Shifting Weight" (which is unlocked ''after'' "This Shit's Cursed"), which implies they happen at more or less the same time. The only way for this to work is to get rid of the assumption that Niko and Johnny's missions for Elizabeta happen parallel to each other, although with her telling both Niko and Johnny that she needs to stop working with them due to the cops closing in on her at the end of her last mission for both of them, it's doubtful she'd tell Niko several days before she told Johnny.
** Averted otherwise in regards in areas being unlocked. Unlike ''TLAD'', which broke continuity from GTA IV by allowing the player to free-roam all of Liberty City at a time when, in the main game, the bridges connecting the boroughs should be closed, ''TBoGT'' starts after the events of the GTA IV mission that open up all the bridges.

** Yusuf doesn't understand the concept of NWordPrivileges--as far as he knows, ''nigga'''s just something cool people like rappers call each other. Basically, he's [[PrettyFlyForAWhiteGuy Pretty Fly for an Arabic Guy.]]
*** Ironically, this is somewhat TruthInTelevision; while its use is still very subjective, various AmbiguouslyBrown hip-hop figures like DJ Khaled and Pitbull have said "nigga" on record for years. The outrage really only kicks off if the offending party is white.

* PreviousPlayerCharacterCameo: Niko Bellic and Johnny Klebitz make a cameo appearance in the opening cutscene and some of the missions.

* RippedFromTheHeadlines: BigBad Ray Bulgarin develops a sudden, intense need to own the Liberty City Rampage ice hockey team, requiring Luis to make them AnOfferYouCantRefuse. This appears to be an amalgam of two major stories (though with murder added; it '''is''' ''GTA''): mysterious Russian billionaires purchasing the New Jersey Nets basketball team and Chelsea soccer team.

* ContinuitySnarl: Averted for the most part. Unlike ''The Lost and Damned'', which broke continuity from GTA IV by allowing the player to free-roam all of Liberty City at a time when, in the main game, the bridges connecting the boroughs should be closed, ''Gay Tony'' starts after the events of the GTA IV mission that open up all the bridges.

* ForegoneConclusion: In ''The Lost And Damned'', [[PlayerCharacter Johnny]] bungles a diamond deal involving Gay Tony, and steals [[MacGuffin the gems]] off of the corpse of an associate of Tony's: a [[DarkSkinnedBlond tanned, blond]], [[MachoCamp muscular gay man]] who attempted to escape via limousine. [[spoiler: This pretty much describes Evan Moss.]] When you play the mission from Luis' perspective, and [[spoiler: Evan]] decides to tag along, you know what he's gonna be in for.

** In addition, the final mission contains another bookend for the GTA IV trilogy. In the second or third mission (depending on whether you date Michelle first or save Roman from the loan sharks first) of Niko's campaign, Niko attempts to take Michelle to the "funfair" only to find it closed. [[spoiler: The final mission of ''Ballad'' has Luis go to the same carnival in order to hunt down Ray Bulgarian and Timur, and in the process, destroys the Russians' heroin, which was also smuggled aboard the Platypus.]]

* AmoralAfrikaner: Frickie Van Hardenburg is a South African businessman who is secretly an arms dealer responsible for selling weaponry to brutal regimes and conflicts and who's also a drug trafficker and human trafficker. [[spoiler: Luis kills him and his men to steal his attack helicopter and give it to Yusuf Amir.]]

* CampGay: Evan Moss, Gay Tony's boyfriend.
** The Celebinator as well. He's not explicitly stated to be gay, but he's clearly a parody of the openly gay Perez Hilton and is '''EXTREMELY''' camp.

* AmoralAfrikaner: Frickie Van Hardenburg is a South African businessman who is secretly an arms dealer responsible for selling weaponry to brutal regimes and conflicts and who's also a drug trafficker and human trafficker. [[spoiler: Luis kills him and his men to steal his attack helicopter and give it to Yusuf Amir.]]
* AmusementParkOfDoom: [[spoiler: The final mission]] begins at Funland.

** In additio, the final mission contains another bookend for the GTA IV trilogy. In the second or third mission (depending on whether you date Michelle first or save Roman from the loan sharks first) of Niko's campaign, Niko attempts to take Michelle to the "funfair" only to find it closed. [[spoiler: The final mission of ''Ballad'' has Luis go to the same carnival in order to hunt down Ray Bulgarian and Timur, and in the process, destroys the Russians' heroin, which was also smuggled aboard the Platypus.]]

** In additional, the final mission contains another bookend for the GTA IV trilogy. In the second or third mission (depending on whether you date Michelle first or save Roman from the loan sharks first) of Niko's campaign, Niko attempts to take Michelle to the "funfair" only to find it closed. [[spoiler: The final mission of ''Ballad'' has Luis go to the same carnival in order to hunt down Ray Bulgarian and Timur, and in the process, destroys the Russians' heroin, which was also smuggled abord the Platypus.]]

The protagonist this time around is Luis Fernando Lopez, a part-time hoodlum from Northwood (Liberty City's version of Inwood) who works as a body guard for "Gay Tony" Prince, one of Liberty City's top club entrepreneurs with a drug habit. However Tony is indebted to the following people and a newcomer who threatens the fragile situation:

As opposed to the slums and poverty-stricken protagonists of ''IV'' and ''The Lost and Damned'', ''The Ballad of Gay Tony'' focuses on Liberty City's upper-class nightclub culture. However as debts rack up and the collectors comes looking for their cut from a debt ridden club owner, Luis must decide if sticking around with the king of Liberty City's nightlife is a good idea or will it kill him faster than the debauchery of the nightclub life.

** Like in ''The Lost and Damned'', you can hang out with all your friends at once instead of one at the time.

* AwesomeButImpractical: The [[MoreDakka Advanced MG]]; while it has an incredible firing rate and magazine size it's stopping power is low, effective range is limited, accuracy is pretty bad for something in the assault rifle slot and because there isn't an ammo limit increase with this weapon you can't really go crazy with it and spray an area with bullets without running out of ammo very fast. The [[DeathFromAbove Buzzard]] is also one since unlike the hunter of previous games you have to manually aim every weapon which thanks to clumsy helicopter physics and controls is a lot more trouble than it's worth. In addition, it lacks the weapon-switching mechanics brought in in ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV'', with the two-button weapon controls annoyingly clunky to work with when you're trying to maneuver the helicopter into position.

* AxCrazy: Ray Bulgarin. He's extremely impulsive, violent, aggressive and paranoid, to the point of shooting his own sister unprovoked, possibly killing her. [[spoiler: Later, he beheads the cook who stole his diamonds and presents the disembodied head as a [[DecapitationPresentation death threat to Luis.]]]]
* BackseatDriver: One club management side mission has Luis drive Cloe Parker back to her mansion, while she grabs the steering wheel from time to time as she sexually advances on Luis.

* ColorWash: Not overdone, but noticeable if one plays this DLC after GTA IV and ''definitely'' after the other DLC, ''The Lost and Damned'' where the colors of everything are muted (especially with an optional grain filter applied). In keeping with its lighter tone, ''Ballad of Gay Tony'' has a more vivid color palate, extending right down to the map screen. As with the other games, the player can optionally crank up the color saturation level, too, but the effects of doing so are more, pardon the pun, vivid in this DLC.
* ConspiracyTheorist: Parodied with a [[Radio/GTARadio radio show]] called ''Conspire'' hosted by "John Smith", a parody of Alex Jones and similar right-wing/libertarian conspiracy theorists. "John" entertains, and often voices, every single crazy conspiracy theory and bit of paranoia and racism his listeners phone in with.

* EarnYourHappyEnding: [[spoiler: Despite ultimately losing the diamonds and nearly killing each other, both Luis and Gay Tony manage to survive, kill Bulgarin, get the Ancelottis off their backs and (presumably) gain new funding from newfound rich friend Yusuf Amir to reopen their clubs.]] Also, [[spoiler: the bum finds the diamonds in the trash at the end]].
* EducationMama: Luis' mother. However, [[{{Hypocrite}} while she constantly berates Luis for choosing the lifestyle he currently leads, and keeps urging him to go back to school, she always accepts the heaping wads of cash Luis produces from his pockets every time he visits]]. Luis gets angry about it at one point.

* FightClubbing: Luis can bet on or fight in underground fighting tournament pretty early in the game.

* GratuitousDiscoSequence: The Hercules club plays disco and you can dance there, and performing an organised dance routine to The Fatback Band's "(Are You Ready) Do The Bus Stop" is a requirement for 100% completion.

* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler: Rocco gets away scot-free at the end, despite being a racist jerk throughout the game.]] And there are no more expansion packs to find out if he gets his comuppance.

* LighterAndSofter: While ''The Ballad of Gay Tony'' retains the darker edge of ''GTA IV'', the story is generally lighter in tone while returning to some of the wacky fun from ''San Andreas''. Golf cart chases, dancing and parachutes are back, baby! Not to mention [[spoiler: the fairly happy ending]].

* MacrossMissileMassacre: The [[http://gta.wikia.com/Buzzard Buzzard]] is a stealth-attack helicopter loaded with rocket pods that never run out of ammo. If there were any doubt to its ability, in the mission it's introduced, you use it to sink a yacht. The boat needs about a couple dozen shots to go down in a blaze of ImpressivePyrotechnics, but that won't take you too long.

* PercussivePrevention: Tony has to plant a series of bombs around the city as yet another favor to Rocco but is clearly too irrational and under the influence of drugs to pull it off. Luis has to punch his lights out to prevent him leaving.
* {{Plunder}}: The whole point of the Drug Wars minigame. Luis helps Armando and Henrique acquire capital for their drug-dealing operation by raiding drug stashes, deals and transports belonging [[MobWar to other gangs]].
* PowerTrio: Luis is the super ego, Armando is the id, and Henrique is the ego.

* PreviousPlayerCharacterCameo: Niko Bellic and Johnny Klebitz make an cameo appearance in the opening cutscene and some of the missions.
* PsychoExGirlfriend: One string of random encounters has Luis meeting up with Margot, one of his past flings, who had become obsessed with him. When Luis rejects her two more times, she [[SpurnedIntoSuicide attempts to kill herself]]. The first instance ends with a potentially fatal dose of sleeping pills [[InterruptedSuicide being pumped out of her stomach]]. The second instance which involves jumping off a pier? [[spoiler: She gets it right this time.]]

* ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney: Most of billionaire construction magnate Yusuf Amir's missions invovle elaborate and spectacular thefts of items, such as a military helicopter, a [[TankGoodness NOOSE APC]] or a Liberty City subway car. Luis repeatedly points out how much easier it would be to just ''buy'' these things using his [[{{Fiction 500}} deep pockets]], to no avail (later on, one of Yusuf's associates mentions that, despite his wealth, Yusuf is obsessed with what he ''can't'' buy). However, this does come in handy [[spoiler: during the final mission, where Amir shows up in his [[BlingBlingBang golden attack helicopter]] to [[IGotYouCovered destroy the cars full of Russians]] standing between you and the airport.]]

** Rocco also applies within TheMafia's sphere of influence. He talks a big game and threatens Luis and Tony a lot, but when Luis finally responds with force, [[spoiler: he ends up skipping town and]] no mafiosi are to be found imposing his will. Seems he wasn't as high up the chain of command as he would have them believe.

* ThrowingTheFight: Luis is told to take one to get his mother out of a debt to a local thug. A debt she only owes because she refuses Luis' money. In a fight you only enter for her sake. If you take the dive, she calls you up to call you a loser afterwards. Gee thanks, Mom.

* SkyHeist: One of the missions for Yusuf Amir involves stealing a subway train car with help of a transport helicopter.

* BrickJoke: When Yusuf sees the helicopter that's transporting the Noose APC over the city, he says he must have it. Luis begs him to buy it legally to which Yusuf says he will consider it. In the mission to steal the subway car, Yusuf retrieves it with the same model of helicopter, having listened to Luis' advice.

As with ''The Lost and Damned'', you can get it either online through Xbox Live or PSN, or at retail in the ''Episodes from Liberty City'' two-pack that includes ''TLAD''.