GTA V

[Yegolev]

Fortunately for you all, I'm dead inside and not exited about much of anything.  I can be trusted to give an accurate analysis.

[Miasma]

I look forward to your review.  Call in sick and use it as the grand opening of the f13 redesign.

[Nightblade]

I feel better about never having been interested in this title now.

I assume the positive reviews are part of the "block-buster" mentality. The actual content of the game is secondary to the excitement the event of its release has generated, and the industry supports and feeds it being a big event you must buy into. The negative comments on the game, if any, will come out later.

Eugh, big name titles have become your typical MMO launch.

[Sky]

Is it just nostalgia or was there a time when we actually discussed games we liked rather than spend the entire time bitching about how much we hate a game in its thread?

[Rendakor]

Nostalgia.

[Reg]

It's not just games. F13 automatically hates anything popular.

[Velorath]

Very minor spoilers for thr first few hours (vague mission details and minor character stuff).

Been having fun with the game so far, although I haven't had a huge amount of time to play it yet. Did the first heist, which is the one that was shown the most in the first trailer so there was nothing too surprising there. Also done the first few missions involving the third character who doesn't get introduced until well after the other two.

The driving is good, and in particular had a fun time riding an ATV off-road up in the hills. There's some random event stuff that spawns similarly to how it did in RDR, which ranges from repetitive to pretty cool (had a No Country for Old Men moment in one of them).

At the point I'm at they're already starting to vary the mission activities a bit. I feel like in 4 I would maybe have just gotten out of the first area. Here I've already done a heist and then not long after that a sniper mission that led into flying a plane. The checkpointing during missions seems good also and I don't think I've had to redo more than 2-3 minutes of a section.

Character-wise, Michael is the most interesting and out of the three of them really seems like the "main" character. You can optionally stop by his therapist from time to time which gives you some insight into his character. Franklin... my biggest problem with him is that the game forces him to have some pretty bad judgment early on. I'm sorry but when your fuckup best friend who constantly gets you into trouble asks you to pick up a shotgun before going on his latest get rich quick scheme, that's when it's time to politely decline. Trevor is the last one introduced, and is the psycho of the group and while a lot of his antics are played for laughs, from his introduction they make it pretty clear that this is not a character you are going to be sympathizing with.

Some of the minor characters you meet can also be brought along with you on the heists and will increase their skills each time you use them. More skilled NPC's like this take a bigger cut, but lesser skilled ones can end up fucking up and costing you money. For instance a bad hacker won't be able to keep an alarm off as long or a bad driver might crash a car with part of the take in it.

So yeah, overall having fun with it and I feel like I have only touched a fraction of the side stuff so far. I did already have to shoot a cougar though after I drove my car off a cliff at one point and had to run through a bit of the wilderness.

[UnSub]

but now I'm wary of fucking cougars.

 

For me it was the bears. You'd swing the camera the wrong way and suddenly you'd find a bear rushing you from behind with intent.

[Yegolev]

I did already have to shoot a cougar though after I drove my car off a cliff at one point and had to run through a bit of the wilderness.

[Venkman]

I feel better about never having been interested in this title now.

I assume the positive reviews are part of the "block-buster" mentality. The actual content of the game is secondary to the excitement the event of its release has generated, and the industry supports and feeds it being a big event you must buy into. The negative comments on the game, if any, will come out later.

I'm in the same boat. This is the biggest launch I've cared the least about. It recently replaced whatever-the-hell the last CoD launch was. Not surprised really of course. There's whole genres I don't care about (sports, Mobas, digital CCGs). And maybe I'd cave if it was on PC and I wasn't stretching to 100% SR4. But yea, I've never cared about the GT world itself, so none of it appeals.

[Velorath]

The cougars are pretty much exactly the same as they were in RDR Yeg. Think they even use the same sound file. Was doing one of the hunting activities earlier and they spawn in the area occasionally while you're hunting and will pretty much one hit kill you. Since it sends you to the hospital, ending the hunting mission without credit, when I went back to try again one could probably see panic on my face every time a cougar showed up and I had to rapidly try to switch to the shotgun to kill it since it's a tad harder using the sniper rifle you hunt with.

[Tannhauser]

I fucking LOVED RDR.  It really affected me in a surprisingly deep way.  GTAIV, however, left me numb and I only played about four hours.  I think it was the driving and the stupid car chases.  Or maybe the non-sympathetic hero?  Either way, GTAV looks really cool, but I have no problem sitting back and reading the honest reviews after the shiny wears off. 

A sequel to RDR wouldn't upset me either.

[Ingmar]

Would probably have to be a prequel in the case of RDR, as RDR is set at the very, very end of the "Wild West" period.

[Sky]

Fuck RDR. Worst Rockstar game ever published on the PC. 

I continue to be fascinated about self-confessed 'not interested' people that are still interested in posting in a thread about the game. I should post more about Diablo and WoW.

[Selby]

I continue to be fascinated about self-confessed 'not interested' people that are still interested in posting in a thread about the game.

I find the discussion fascinating.  I've never played any of these games and enjoy reading interesting threads regardless of their subject matter (who knows, I might even learn something).  And now apparently posting to the thread about said game I'm not interested in nor have played...

[Ingmar]

Now that the game's out and I'm not playing it, I don't really have anything more to say about it - I've said my piece. But if you prefer, Sky, I could instead stop posting when I hit the same number of posts you made about FFH in the Civ V thread. 

[Malakili]

Fuck RDR. Worst Rockstar game ever published on the PC. 

I continue to be fascinated about self-confessed 'not interested' people that are still interested in posting in a thread about the game. I should post more about Diablo and WoW.

I like discussing games at least as much as I like playing them at this point, either way. 

[Venkman]

I continue to be fascinated about self-confessed 'not interested' people that are still interested in posting in a thread about the game.

Shit what? I thought that was axiom.

[Shrike]

Would probably have to be a prequel in the case of RDR, as RDR is set at the very, very end of the "Wild West" period.

They could go all Wild Bunch and get their Peckinpah on with a sequel. Hell, I'd buy that.

Set it in Pershing expedition era Mexico? Yeah, I'd be all over that. Give me a 1911, an '03 Springfield, and a Benet-Mercie LMG and turn me loose!

[Jeff Kelly]

I've been playing GTA for three or four hours now.

Yes graphically it is a lot better and it looks - on the surface - rather spectacular. Unfortunately it's only 720p, it feels like it's only running at 30 fps and it suffers from very annoying aliasing and pop-in effects and occasional drops frames. I have to get closer to my TV because from my normal viewing distance it all looks like a blurry mess (even with my glasses on ;) ) because they use motion blur and other effects to cover it up. It has the same problems most other GTAs had, namely that you can't drive anywhere at high speeds because the way the engine is set up terrain and other vehicles 'pop' into existence so late, that you're simply crashing into shit that wasn't there five seconds ago.

It also still uses the same annoying default camera angle while driving that makes it so you can't really see what's going on in the distance. The driving itself seems somewhat better but I've already failed a few tutorial missions because of crashing - either into traffic or into obstacles - or because I managed to drop from overpasses or because I got stuck in terrain and couldn't move anymore. It's basically still GTA so if you hated the driving in the last games you'll probably still hate it here. I know that I already do.

Then there's the fact that GTA is a proponent of the long ass tutorial. I've basically played three to four hours and have already done the first two Michael missions and I'm still at the tutorial phase of the game. The tutorial phase is also as badly implemented as it was if all the previous GTAs. You get a lot of text pop-ups explaining shit to you and I mean a shitton of them. GTA texts you as if it was your slightly stalkery ex-girlfriend. Usually there are so many that pop-ups don't stay on long enough for you to actually read them before the next one pops up. They are also displayed at the most inconvenient times like in the middle of a firefight or while you're high-speed chasing guys through rush hour traffic.

The tutorial phase of the game isn't even finished yet.

The control scheme is completely overloaded and cluttered with functions and feels awkward. GTA uses all - and I mean literally all - of the functions on my PS3 controller and it manages to place two or even three different functions on certain buttons depending on context. Not only does it use all of the functions it even manages to use them in an awkward manner. Activating the specials of the characters for example requires you to press L3 and R3 - basically pushing down both analog sticks. Try this while you are running and gunning or driving and you'll know exactly why that is a shitty way to do it. GTA uses both triggers, both bumpers, all four buttons, both analog sticks, L3 and R3 and the d-pad and start and select. Several of those buttons have different functions depending on context. There's also lock on targeting but no convenient way to switch targets. Don't even get me started about shooting while driving. You have to press the right bumper and aim with the camera controls while you are driving. So you basically have to manage both analog sticks, both bumpers and both triggers at the same time, without crashing into traffic or hitting people you don't want to hit.

The control scheme is so cluttered that I managed to kill myself a few times simply because I pressed the wrong buttons or was so confused by the need to manage so many controls at once that I crashed into things. I really really don't like it because they've basically kept the controls as they where in previous games but added even more stuff and cruft to it.

There are a lot of minor annoyances in the gameplay as well. For example: They've managed to place the activation zones for missions directly on the entrance of safe houses so you can't enter your safe house and save the game any longer if there's a mission connected to it. The random missions also don't work as well as they do in RDR because when you are driving through Los Santos at 90 mph the mission will already be gone by the time you even noticed it.

Then there's the story so far. The only person in the game I even remotely care about is Michael. Franklin is such an idiot that I sincerely wonder how he managed to survive until now. He's a naive pushover that does whatever his low life (and even dumber) friends tell him - even though he knows it will get him in trouble or killed. He's talking constantly about being 'legit' and 'earning paper' in a legal way even though he participates in credit frauds and has already killed half the gang population of LA by the time he meets Michael. He should have reconsidered his opinion about the legality of the business he repos for by the time his boss asks him to break into a house and basically steal a car. He's such a dumb fuck that I wanted to shoot him myself not play him.

Trevor on the other hand has no redeeming quality whatsoever, if I could play the game without him I would. He's a mean-spirited, profanity spouting maniacal psychopath whose social skills only include cursing at, punching or shooting people while being pretty much an absolutely unlikeable appaling bastard. I don't want to know people who like him.

If Michael were the only character I could play and if Rockstar had managed to fix or redesign most of the annoyances of previous games then this would be probably pretty great. As it stands I cannot imagine me finishing the game. I could stand the clunky controls or the annoying driving mechanic but even the story is set up in a way that I have to play long stretches of the game with characters I not only don't like or care about but that I really really hate. If I could simply ignore or even better shoot Trevor and Franklin and continue with just Michael I would in an instant.

[Velorath]

I feel like we're playing completely different games (aside for agreeing that shooting while driving sucks, and that Franklin does some stupid shit). Haven't had any issues with the controls or with driving. I hit top speed fairly frequently, and generally only sharp turns or my own impatience trying to cut through a lot of traffic cause me to crash.

Also thought that the "tutorial" phase of the game was shorter and more fun than GTA 4.

[Cyrrex]

Yeah, I haven't played far enough to draw a conclusion on the whole game, but the driving is super easy compared to the last one.  Like, not even close.  Trying to shoot someone while driving?  That is ass.  Easier to run them off the road.

[Jeff Kelly]

OK take combat for example.

You move with the left analog stick, you control the camera with the right stick. Going to cover is right bumper, switching weapons is left bumper. Both bumpers behave differently if I press them or if I hold them (LB switches between the last two weapons when pressed and gives you the weapon wheel when held). Targeting is left trigger, shooting is right trigger. Switching targets is done by moving the left analog stick. Running uses X, climbing uses Square.

So in the first mission before the credits, the bank heist, I have to hold the left trigger to target, while pushing right trigger to shoot or move the target reticule with the analog stick while shooting to free target enemies or switch targets, while running which requires me to repeatedly press (not hold) X and climbing over stuff with square before crouching to cover with right bumper. I then have to switch guys by pressing and holding d-pad down and then selecting the correct guy with left analog stick. None of those commands stops time so you do this while the heist is still going and people keep shooting at you and your posse.

And this is not even the most complex example of controls because it is the first tutorial mission. When you are at the train yard for example they add d-pad left to open the train cars and so on.

Shooting while driving is:

Press and hold RB for your guy to break the window and keep shooting. Control the cars speed with right trigger, control the cars brakes with left trigger, direction and camera control is both analog sticks and you aim by controlling the camera view that includes the target reticule and activating the special ability is pressing both L3 and R3.

You do this while alternatively looking at the screen and the mini map to both know where you are going at the moment and where you should be going next and then a car literally pops into existence a few yards down the street and you crash into it.

During the tutorial phase you also get bombarded with pop up notices telling you what to do and which button to press. It's at least confusing and in my case infuriating.

If GTAs controls were a piano piece it would certainly be for advanced players.

[Amarr HM]

I fucking LOVED RDR.  It really affected me in a surprisingly deep way.  GTAIV, however, left me numb and I only played about four hours. 

With you on this one.

[Bunk]

Yeah, I haven't played far enough to draw a conclusion on the whole game, but the driving is super easy compared to the last one.  Like, not even close.  Trying to shoot someone while driving?  That is ass.  Easier to run them off the road.

Same here. I'm wondering if there's some performance difference between PS and XBox, as I haven't found any pop-in issues driving on the XBox so far. Yea, there is certainly some motion blur and poor antialiasing, but I haven't had any issues with random obstacles popping in.

The angle for the driving is a bit annoying, but I'm getting used to it. The feel for the driving though is pretty good. The ebrake actually acts like an ebrake - none of the silly SR3/4 "drifting" around corners. Yes, its a huge pain to try to aim and shoot while driving, but I think that may be design intentional.

I'm only a few hours in but the controls are starting to feel pretty intuitive to me. I like that Franklin's special is triggered on the two thumbsticks - that's exactly where my thumbs are when I'm driving, and its typically something you need to activate very suddenly. The only controls I currently have to stop and think about is which direction on the dpad does what.

As to the safehouse saving issue - they added a quicksave feature to your phone - save anytime you like.

As for the story - yes, I agree, so far I'd rather it had just been the Micheal game. Franklin seems like an ok guy, but the stupid shit he puts up with is hard to take.
I like some of the little details, like that the support characters actually exist outside the cutscenes. I dropped a car off at Michael's as I headed to the house to change clothes, out walks his son who tells me he's going out - and promptly jumps in the car I brought and takes off in it.

Haven't got to the psycho yet, and I am dreading it a little, but honestly - it's a video game. I'm more dreading that I might actually soil myself (me, not the game characters) in later missions if I encounter a shark in the water.

[Jeff Kelly]

It's not entirely Rockstar's fault. The drawing distance on the XBox and the PS3 is short. Objects that are farther away are drawn with little detail or just 'appear' out of nowhere and there is lots of aliasing and motion blur as a consequence or to cover the trickery up.

My vision is nowhere near perfect and all of that graphical trickery interacts rather badly with my already sub-par ability to see shit clearly. So I either move very closely to my 46 inch TV or I might see (and react to) objects later than someone with 20/20 vision.

This brings me to a major gripe I have with game development. A lot of developers don't seem to test if their UI still works on a TV when you sit a few yards away from the screen. If you sit at your developer desk and design shit on your dual 27 inch LCD layout then everything is fine and dandy but when I'm on the couch and don't have a perfect 20/20 vision things usually are not that great.

There are games I rather play on the PC simply because the UI is designed so badly that elements or text is too tiny for me to read unless I'm real close to the TV and the game plays much better just because I'm really close to the LCD monitor. The PC version also almost always has ways to change or optimize certain things either through settings in game or modability. Yet no console game I know even has the ability to change the font size or even contrast or gamma values.

[Cyrrex]

I haven't tried it myself, but I remember one of those billion popup messages said something about driving camera angle in the options.  For those of you having problem with that, I guess you should check it out.

My favorite camera angle in virtually all driving games is the top-of-the-hood camera.  Greater sense of speed and, for me, at better feel for the road.  Unfortunately, they seem to have made a bit of a design choice with this game that I don't care for.  Namely, when you use one of the other camera angles, you have a camera that never jumps around, because it better mimics the human eye in that it is able to refocus so quickly.  With the hood camera, they seem to have ignored it...so it does not refocus quickly enough, and you are bounced around like a motherfucker.  Annoying, not sure if I will adapt to it, especially when the stuff in the distance is already a tad out of focus.  Probably doesn't help that I am playing on the projector and the big screen.  Oh well. 

[MisterNoisy]

I haven't tried it myself, but I remember one of those billion popup messages said something about driving camera angle in the options.  For those of you having problem with that, I guess you should check it out.

Back/Select toggles between hood and 3 different chase cams on the fly.

[Sky]

Now that the game's out and I'm not playing it, I don't really have anything more to say about it - I've said my piece. But if you prefer, Sky, I could instead stop posting when I hit the same number of posts you made about FFH in the Civ V thread. 

Burn!

[schild]

Had no intention whatsoever of buying this, but someone found a zombie (yea yea whatever) in GTAV and then someone else mentioned what about a Halloween event - and now I uh, I kind of want to get GTAV. I don't even like Grand Theft Auto. Ugh.

[Yegolev]

Don't buy it for the zombie, just youtube him.

[Sophismata]

I'm willing to buy the game, but not for $100. I loved San Andreas and hated GTAIV, so I will eventually want to give this a shot, I think.

[Cyrrex]

Just wanted to add a few more thoughts, now that I have put a few more hours into the game.  I have been farting around for the most part, doing a bunch of the side missions, so I am probably not technically real far in, despite having played for at least 5 hours.  I basically just finished the first real heist and have met Trevor.  

- Some of the side missions (labeled with the ? on your map), are quite fun and/or funny.  For one, I picked up some famous starlet and had to outrun the paparazzi.  On another, I actually rode the bike for a paparazzi while he snapped photos of another starlet riding along in a limo.  Another had me randomly come across two dudes who were holding up a store and needed a getaway car, so I stole a hummer and had to outrun the cops.  Come to think of it, a couple of these weren't even missions, they were the random encounters that pop up here and there on your radar.

- The street racing, for the first fucking time in this series, was actually fun.  Because your car doesn't control like ass.

- Even one of the goddamn Tow Truck missions was fun.  The one where the car is stalled on the tracks.

- Speaking of outrunning the cops, I prefer this iteration of that system quite a bit more than any of the other games in this series.  It always seemed before that you had to outrun the cops, and the best approach was to just find the straightest line you could and keep it floored.  Here, they cast a wider net, so first you have to outrun them and then you have to keep an eye on the searches (on your radar) to make sure you stay hidden.  Seems a bit more realistic, and was definitely more enjoyable.  

- I got Franklin thrown out of the strip club.  I am not supposed to think this is funny, but I cannot help that I do.

- The heists are clever as shit.  Way more fun than any of the shit you had to do in 4.  I like that there are options as to how to pull it off, and who to hire for your crew.  And then the switcheroo between characters, it really works nicely in this context.

- Trevor is a dick.  I am wondering if there will be any part of him that I will like, or at least not dread having to play as him.  


This game is a huge leap better than GTA 4.  Even the simple act of driving around the city is a pleasure, and that is no small thing, because you are going to do a lot of it.  It will be hard in my mind to supplant Last of Us as GOTY, but to be honest this is a better actual game (where LoU is the more interactive movie kind of deal, or something).  I was prepared to be all negative on this title.  I feared it was going to be the same re-treaded sandboxy shit that should be fun but actually isn't because of certain fatal flaws.  But I can't do it.  I think it is fantastic.  They fixed everything that was wrong, in my opinion.  This is possibly even better than Red Dead (even if it lacks a John Marsden), which is probably the best praise I can give it.

[Hawkbit]

As someone who is terribad at the shooting portions of these games, the firing range challenges are a boon.  If only there were driving & firing ranges!

[jakonovski]

Trevor does some incredibly heinous shit in this game, and I'm not even at the second heist yet.