Grand Theft Auto IV

I like to be at least a few years behind the rest of the world so I'm gonna be playing GTA 4 when i get my PS 3. (borrowing it from a family member)

I've watched a few Let's Play sof it and it doesn't look nearly as bad as everyone seems to say it is... Is it just a case of They Changed It, Now It Sucks!? Because to me, smashing into people with a car is fun whether they fly around like a cartoon or it's realistic.

That and the fact it actually seems to have something resembling a cohesive story helps make it at least worth trying for me.

edited 20th Mar '11 11:41:15 PM by Nikkolas

That is all.

That's just...that is the greatest.

Against all tyrants.

2:08, Niko is trying to HAIL that cab.

2:53. I hate Otis.

edited 21st Mar '11 10:30:10 AM by JAF1970

Jonah Falcon

I've been playing GTA since age seven (the old ones on school computers). Being a pretty big fan of the series to this day, I can say that GTA IV is quite okay. The gameplay changed a bit - changes necessary for retaining the series' relevance - and the new physics give depth and weight to the player's actions (or new ground for shenanigans, as seen in the hilarious video above).

I don't see how San Andreas's story wasn't cohesive. But back to IV: its story is much more serious and the Only Sane Man-ity of the previous games is toned down. For me it was nice to see something else for a change, even though it meant that the humor became more shallow as a result.

Exploration is possible, but I think it's not as interesting as it was in the previous games.

All in all, I think IV deserves the GTA name, even though it's not as good as Vice City or San Andreas (the latter being the ultimate GTA game for me). Give it a try.

edited 22nd Mar '11 6:32:24 AM by Litis

GTA IV is far more serious than earlier installments - if you like that sort of thing, i quite recommend it. On the other hand, if you want silliness, go for Saints Row.

Just picked it up via a nice Steam sale.

I'm liking the Wide Open Sandbox appeal. Since I coudln't save my game via Windows Live yesterday, I had a TON of fun working out all sorts of crazy driving skills on the streets.

I'll be nicer now that I can actually save the game.

Happiness is zero-gee with a sinus cold.

I find it interesting that critics talked about this game using the same terms they used to describe City Of God. Is this the video game equivalent of Oscar Bait? (It would certainly explain why non-critics had a less positive reaction to the game.)

That's Feo . . . He's a disgusting, mysoginistic, paedophilic asshat who moonlights as a shitty writer—Something Awful

Good waste of an hour?

Driving around town aimlessly. It's surprisingly fun.

Happiness is zero-gee with a sinus cold.

So I'm curious, of the people who have played the game, who are your favorite characters?

From what I've seen Brucie looks like a lot of fun. With regards to teh more serious characters, Packie seems cool.

Personally I think Brucie is the most annoying character in the game, because he's is so over the top in a bad way. Actually I think that while they tried to make the game more serious they did make some of the characters a lot more extreme when it comes to "quirks". In San Andreas everyone was slightly odd or knowingly a stereotype while in GTA 4 they have a few "normal" characters and the "quirky" ones are rather extreme, so while both games average out at roughly the same level of "quirky-ness" GTA 4 does so at the cost of you*

disliking the "quirky" ones and are disinterested in the others.

edited 26th Apr '11 8:01:19 AM by mahel042

In the quiet of the night, the Neocount of Merentha mused: How long does evolution take, among the damned?

I like Brucie, mainly because he provides a window into what I could have become had my brother been slightly more of a dick.

"It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open one’s mouth and remove all doubt." - Some guy with a snazzy hat.

My biggest gripe with this game is the friendship system. It becomes an incredible pain the ass when you start accumulating friends because they won't stop calling you on a regular basis. Setting the phone on silent mode doesn't help either (as calls still come in anyway), and I only realized later in that it was in fact possible to avoid all that using an undocumented exploit. Other than that, while undeserving of near perfect review scores, GTA IV is still a pretty solid GTA title.

And the OP has a point. The They Changed It, Now It Sucks! complaint is just too short sighted when you consider how the series was developed as a whole. Every development process of a GTA game seemed to concentrate on specific aspects of gameplay, storytelling or level design:

• GTA1 focused on its core gameplay elements;
• GTA2 focused on retro-futuristic gang warfare;
• GTA3 focused on its drastically improved immersion courtesy of a new 3D game engine;
• Vice City focused on recreating the atmosphere of the 1980s;
• San Andreas focused on the shear number of the things to do and places to go;
• The handheld console titles demonstrated the ability of new Sixth Generation handhelds to support game data originally intended for Fifth Generation and Sixth Generation consoles.
• GTA4 focused on detail and realism.
• Chinatown War was initially developed to demonstrate the use of the DS touch screen for specific gameplay elements

edited 26th Apr '11 11:46:11 AM by MalagasyParrot

There was a way to shut off all calls which unfortunately included plot-related ones, the only problem with it was that it turned itself off after every mission. Or at least I remember my brother doing that on the PS 3 version.

In the quiet of the night, the Neocount of Merentha mused: How long does evolution take, among the damned?

People do realize that accepting and then rejecting appointments is explicitly mentioned early in the game? I don't remember the mission, but I do recall one of those tip boxes saying that friends would like to be warned that you're not gonna take them out rather than not showing up.

"It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open one’s mouth and remove all doubt." - Some guy with a snazzy hat.

You need to specifically wait until they call you, accept their offer, then select "Cancel Plans" after the call. It doesn't work if you call them first or if you outright reject their offer when they call you.

If this tip was indeed mentioned in game, it sure hell wasn't presented clearly to players.

It was mentioned. It's not Rockstar's fault most people don't pay attention to those tip boxes. Granted, it would have made more sense to just reject these appointments outright as to avoid falsely raising their hopes. Yeah, I kinda picture Dwayne calling Niko up to go eat, finally having someone his depressed ass can talk to and as soon as he gets dressed, the meal's been canceled.

Besides, friends calling you at inopportune moments is not as big a deal as everyone makes it out to considering you can off the phone, especially when there are other, more substantial reasons to bitch about the game, such as the stripped down gameplay compared to San Andreas.

edited 26th Apr '11 10:37:14 PM by KitsuneInferno

"It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open one’s mouth and remove all doubt." - Some guy with a snazzy hat.

Don't have much to say about the prevalence of phone tip.

But the stripped down gameplay can be argued to be the result of Rockstar North paying more attention designing a realistic Liberty City, making GTA4 more of an exploration game rather than a wide open sandbox game.

Granted, the game had less freedom, but the result is a city that is generally more likable than artificial Stilwater or bland Panau, even though latter two are generally more fun to play around in.

The Ballad Of Gay Tony was apparently an attempt to address GTA4's inadequacies in gameplay while building over its existing strength, so that indicates Rockstar North is at least aware that it needs to balance aesthetics with gameplay.

edited 28th Apr '11 8:04:01 PM by MalagasyParrot

Big fan of the series here.

I love GTAIV just as much as any other game in the series. I must admit though that the game's greatest strength doesn't really show its full colours (literally) until you've actively exhausted the story and its offspring. When you inevitably head over to Game FA Qs to check out where the flying rats are, that's when it really shows up. As someone who's never been to New York but experienced lots of media presenting it, it's really quite neat.

For the record, I don't consider the characterisation the best ever in the series, but Niko's my favourite ever lead. Regardless of the, erm, pronunciation issues and so forth. So forth clearly meaning IM LEAVING HERE WITH RAMEN.

I can understand the annoyance of the friend system, though the only one I really cared about 'hurting' myself gameplay-wise was Little Jacob. The rest can make nice time-burners once you're finished, and I understand that those trips make up little character building scenes that just wouldn't have fit into the story. But is there a point to caring after the story's over? I don't know, maybe they're relying on you having nothing to do, real life-wise. That said, Packie in particular has some fun things to say. Get him drunk as quickly as possible.

Of course, the best (worst?) part is the lampshading. Just like with The Driver in Vice City, Rockstar knew people would hate the friend system.

Check out this mod.

Holy Shit.

The mod not only brings high resolution textures, car models, and diverse new visual effects, but introduces a zombie survival mode as well. If that weren't enough, the AI has been improved as well, allowing NP Cs to commit crimes and give them the ability to carry bodies.

Jonah Falcon

Holy crap. Totally reinstalling the game for this. And a zombie mode? Badass. Every game needs one of those.

edited 5th Jul '11 1:17:17 PM by Talby

^ Totally! We get the joy from playing the same tired scenario in a different universe, developers get a tax break! It's a win-win situation!

Does killing Michelle when revealed she ratted Niko out considered a CMOA?

You can do that? I thought she just disappeared after the first mission briefing with her boss

A. No it doesn't, because that's quite petty.
B. That doesn't happen and the player can't do that without the help of a glitch.

edited 8th Aug '11 1:18:29 PM by Litis