284 replies to this topic

[Mister Pink]

QUOTE (boschram @ Friday, Feb 22 2013, 02:11)

Great idea PinkFloyd. I posted on some other thread that we should be able to invest in film productions...it's Vinewood after all. Some might take off and give us a big chunk of percentage in return while others may bomb. Also, in order to secure our investment certain production investments might have some missions connected to them: like black mailing a big star into playing a key role, or sabotaging a rival production who rented a specific studio facility that we need for ourselves. It's like gambling, but more location-releted.

That's cool man, I like it. I like the idea of bribing production companies to take on a lead role. Reminds me of The Godfather with Johnny Fontaine. I don't think it would be too far-fetched either. Money and violence talks.

Also, there could be satire in investing in film productions. For example. You unlock missions for a dodgy studio. They say they have 5 scripts. You read the treatment/sypnosis for the 5 films. You can chose one film to get made. The company only has half the funds for one film. You must invest the rest. As a 'producer' you'll have to chose the right film. A film you feel will make money.

The satire will be the ones that have the sh*ttest, most overused theme or idea will make money in the box office, a satire on current Hollywood. Remakes are safe bets as are sequels. They'll guarantee you cash back, most of the time but they're expensive to make. All special effects, no substance - that kind of thing. However, in each 5 or so scripts the company gives you will be the hidden-gem. It will be a indie sort of film, with a low budget but will go on to make millions. For example Napoleon Dynamite was made for about $450,000 and it went on to gross about $45,000,000. The names of the scripts' sequels can be parodies of real-life films.

Or.. something more GTAish could be befriending a cheesy, sleazy porn producer. He's looking for cash investment to make porn films. He'll email you a treatment of each film he wants to make. You make an 'educated' guess/gamble on what films you invest in. You might discover that the more outrageous and ridiculous films make more money. I don't know, I'm coming up with this as I write. I'm sure if I was getting paid by Rockstar and had some organisation I could think of viable ways to actually make it work.

[Peck R. Wood]

I like the way you talking...
That wouldn't be not that hard to implement/design.

[Cyfa]

@PinkFloyd, great idea, not going to be in the game.

[GTA-King]

QUOTE (Cyfa @ Monday, Feb 25 2013, 01:20)

@PinkFloyd, great idea, not going to be in the game.

No need to be a dick. All of this is just honest speculation anyway.

[PSN-Blackhawk_1989]

FOR THE LOVE OF MONEY, JUST KILL HER ALREADY! FRANKLIN! MICHAEL!...

If you want something done right, you got to do it yourself.

[Cyfa]

QUOTE (GTA-King @ Sunday, Feb 24 2013, 19:47)

QUOTE (Cyfa @ Monday, Feb 25 2013, 01:20) @PinkFloyd, great idea, not going to be in the game. No need to be a dick. All of this is just honest speculation anyway.

I'm not being a dick, I said it was a great idea, but Rockstar isn't going to add it into the game because the game is already done and there's no way in hell they would actually take advice of fans and do something that we want. Stop being a dick yourself, bruh.

[GTA-King]

QUOTE (Cyfa @ Thursday, Feb 28 2013, 23:56)

QUOTE (GTA-King @ Sunday, Feb 24 2013, 19:47) QUOTE (Cyfa @ Monday, Feb 25 2013, 01:20) @PinkFloyd, great idea, not going to be in the game. No need to be a dick. All of this is just honest speculation anyway. I'm not being a dick, I said it was a great idea, but Rockstar isn't going to add it into the game because the game is already done and there's no way in hell they would actually take advice of fans and do something that we want. Stop being a dick yourself, bruh.

You would be surprised how much R* actually listens to their fans...

By the way, it was the way you said it that made you look like a dick.

[Cyfa]

QUOTE (GTA-King @ Thursday, Feb 28 2013, 18:15)

QUOTE (Cyfa @ Thursday, Feb 28 2013, 23:56) QUOTE (GTA-King @ Sunday, Feb 24 2013, 19:47) QUOTE (Cyfa @ Monday, Feb 25 2013, 01:20) @PinkFloyd, great idea, not going to be in the game. No need to be a dick. All of this is just honest speculation anyway. I'm not being a dick, I said it was a great idea, but Rockstar isn't going to add it into the game because the game is already done and there's no way in hell they would actually take advice of fans and do something that we want. Stop being a dick yourself, bruh. You would be surprised how much R* actually listens to their fans... By the way, it was the way you said it that made you look like a dick.

We'll see how surprised we all are whenever we actually learn more about the game other than the yoga feature.

[Supernutz40]

All the way to 11 pages before the inevitable...

Anyways, I do hope that (maybe)((just maybe))(((MAYBE))) R* will take the time to add something from here. In fact I have a pretty good hunch that they've been reading this thread all along... Here's hoping.

[saintsrow]

QUOTE (Cyfa @ Friday, Mar 1 2013, 04:52)

QUOTE (GTA-King @ Thursday, Feb 28 2013, 18:15) QUOTE (Cyfa @ Thursday, Feb 28 2013, 23:56) QUOTE (GTA-King @ Sunday, Feb 24 2013, 19:47) QUOTE (Cyfa @ Monday, Feb 25 2013, 01:20) @PinkFloyd, great idea, not going to be in the game. No need to be a dick. All of this is just honest speculation anyway. I'm not being a dick, I said it was a great idea, but Rockstar isn't going to add it into the game because the game is already done and there's no way in hell they would actually take advice of fans and do something that we want. Stop being a dick yourself, bruh. You would be surprised how much R* actually listens to their fans... By the way, it was the way you said it that made you look like a dick. We'll see how surprised we all are whenever we actually learn more about the game other than the yoga feature.

Good thing Rockstar listened to the fans and put in yoga. So very many players in GTA IV were bummed that they couldn't do t'ai chi ...

[WHAT!?]

QUOTE (saintsrow @ Friday, Mar 1 2013, 00:07)

QUOTE (Cyfa @ Friday, Mar 1 2013, 04:52) QUOTE (GTA-King @ Thursday, Feb 28 2013, 18:15) QUOTE (Cyfa @ Thursday, Feb 28 2013, 23:56) QUOTE (GTA-King @ Sunday, Feb 24 2013, 19:47) QUOTE (Cyfa @ Monday, Feb 25 2013, 01:20) @PinkFloyd, great idea, not going to be in the game. No need to be a dick. All of this is just honest speculation anyway. I'm not being a dick, I said it was a great idea, but Rockstar isn't going to add it into the game because the game is already done and there's no way in hell they would actually take advice of fans and do something that we want. Stop being a dick yourself, bruh. You would be surprised how much R* actually listens to their fans... By the way, it was the way you said it that made you look like a dick. We'll see how surprised we all are whenever we actually learn more about the game other than the yoga feature. Good thing Rockstar listened to the fans and put in yoga. So very many players in GTA IV were bummed that they couldn't do t'ai chi ...

I know what you mean. I don't want to do real life yoga... why the hell would I want to do video game yoga when I could be out stealing cars and shooting things?

Still its pretty apparent they are paying attention to this topic and I think that's great. They are likely far more active in our various communities then we give them credit for.

[meta187]

QUOTE (ThePinkFloydSound @ Friday, Feb 22 2013, 12:39)

investing

That could be something very interesting as an idea. As much as I spoke on being heavily involved in a business being the most rewarding aspect of GTA in the past, having a slightly hands off approach where you simply have to decide who's best to handle your excess funds and you have to take the risk of trusting them to make that investment grow could be a very cool approach to making money in the future. It seems very elaborate but definitely worth putting a pin in for future installments.

iFruit Apps continued..Say Cheese.

An additional feature of iFruit that would certainly be worth spending money on would be a decent built in Screen Cap option. San Andreas has a portable camera which I personally spent hours taking pictures of boobs with. More recently, games like Halo have really utilized the screen cap feature to allow us to take some amazing action shots in game of action as it happens. I can say something that intensive might be a little much for filming GTA in it's current capacity but at the very least being able to take a moving screen shot of you farting around in the free roam lobby with friends or doing something in game would be an absolute blast and give us something interesting and fun to upload to Rockstar Social Club.

Are you already ahead of us on this one, Rockstar?

Pay to Play

So with the 10th anniversary of Vice City hitting us this last month I've been replaying it from scratch and really enjoying revisiting an old friend who holds up surprisingly well after 10 years. One thing that I didn't recall that happens in this game about halfway through the storyline is that the narrative simply stops. Once you complete Copland and unlock the asset purchase option across the map and complete all side missions. The game does nothing to direct you on what to do next. No mission markers, no hand holding. If you did nothing else at this point but hang out at the Vercetti Mansion and drink margarita's you would be led to believe that you essentially beat the game.



It is not until you actually start purchasing the available properties such as the Malibu and Cherry Poppers that storyline missions resume and you become engaged with story progress again.

How interesting would it be to not only work to reach a certain amount of money to progress forward in the storyline but also having to work a bit at learning what that money has to be spent on in order to do the next big thing?

Any ideas on that front, readers?

[Matty]

QUOTE (meta187 @ Sunday, Mar 3 2013, 14:56)

Once you complete Copland and unlock the asset purchase option across the map and complete all side missions. The game does nothing to direct you on what to do next. No mission markers, no hand holding. If you did nothing else at this point but hang out at the Vercetti Mansion and drink margarita's you would be led to believe that you essentially beat the game.

It really is at this point of the game, in GTA: Vice City, that Tommy Vercetti is actually his own boss or mission giver. That was really his intention; to take over Vice City and have no opposition or hickups in doing so - so really, this particular step in GTA: Vice City's storyline is really a step from being dependent on a group of people to being pretty much independent and in control of what you, the player, want to do (to a certain extent).

As such, I am really not too sure as to whether GTA V will be the same in this case. It's impossible for any one protagonist to have complete control of the city in the fashion that Tommy Vercetti did as each protagonist in GTA V will be following the same storyline. With that being said, I remember reading in previews that some missions will only be able to be accessed after obtaining a certain amount of money. It would be very interesting to see how this will work as purchasing property is nothing but out of the question - so a Vice City style acquisition of various properties across Los Santos will likely not be implemented into the storyline. Perhaps you have to pay certain characters a certain amount of money before accessing their missions? Or perhaps the Epsilon cult will have something to do with it all? Or maybe various items need to be purchased before being able to access the next mission strand?

Back to the point I made about the protagonists being their own boss/the boss - I can see with almost certainty that many missions will involve one protagonist meeting up with one or both of the other protagonists to begin them which in essence, not only makes the other two protagonists the "mission giver" for these missions; but it also makes the protagonist initiating the said missions their own "mission giver" too and gives them the essence of being the boss as they are the ones that initiated the mission.

[Honest Bill]

That point in VC was where the game got good imo. You started working to further your own interests and the player's goals were perfectly aligned with those of the protagonist.

Not enough games allow you to ground yourself in the game world in such a way by allowing you to actually feel part of the world and feel that your actions and goals are what are driving you and also affecting the world itself.

It felt really good when you were at the mansion and had the meeting with your little 'crew'. It felt as though they were your guys, this was your gang, and this story now belonged to you. It was now time to furher your business interests and grow your businesses.. Best part of any GTA imo.

[epoxi]

Speaking as myself today I would welcome an open-ended 'hiatus' of the storyline in the middle a la Vice City.

However, speaking as 14 year old me I didn't realise I hadn't completed the story and didn't do so until several years later when I realised my mistake.

The essence of what I'm saying is: pause in the storyline is good, but many people won't get the worth out of the game if they don't take initiative. One might say "Oh, well that's their problem" but if a large section of GTA's consumers (casual gamers, not die-hard GTA fans) mistakenly think the game wasn't concluded properly they may not buy the next GTA, which would lower the profitability of the game and hence affect Take II/R*'s investment into it and its overall quality.

There should probably still be at least a few hints dropped to the player as to what to do next.

[Honest Bill]

QUOTE (epoxi @ Sunday, Mar 3 2013, 17:05)

Speaking as myself today I would welcome an open-ended 'hiatus' of the storyline in the middle a la Vice City. However, speaking as 14 year old me I didn't realise I hadn't completed the story and didn't do so until several years later when I realised my mistake. The essence of what I'm saying is: pause in the storyline is good, but many people won't get the worth out of the game if they don't take initiative. One might say "Oh, well that's their problem" but if a large section of GTA's consumers (casual gamers, not die-hard GTA fans) mistakenly think the game wasn't concluded properly they may not buy the next GTA, which would lower the profitability of the game and hence affect Take II/R*'s investment into it and its overall quality. There should probably still be at least a few hints dropped to the player as to what to do next.

Personally i didn't feel it was the actual 'pause' which was significant, it was the change of emphasis on the character's goal.

[N0Xaeris]

I like Meta's observation very much, but we have to remember, they said V was all about the "all mighty dollar", whereas VC may have been about money, but it was more about taking control. Taking control would actually be good for Liberty city, not so much for Los Santos. If we visit Vice again, I'm not sure which direction R* would take it, we've already had the immigrant story, we're about to have three different stories(and now that I think about it, Trevor holds some of the "taking control" characteristics). I think we're going to see multiple goals fall under this "pursuit for the almighty dollar" premise, and it's going to be interesting to see how each character approaches it. Regarding that pause, I never noticed before Meta pointed it out, I knew what I had to do, I think the so called "pause" actually set the ending up better, made it more dramatic.

[GreatGig]

QUOTE (epoxi @ Sunday, Mar 3 2013, 18:05)

The essence of what I'm saying is: pause in the storyline is good, but many people won't get the worth out of the game if they don't take initiative. One might say "Oh, well that's their problem" but if a large section of GTA's consumers (casual gamers, not die-hard GTA fans) mistakenly think the game wasn't concluded properly they may not buy the next GTA, which would lower the profitability of the game and hence affect Take II/R*'s investment into it and its overall quality. There should probably still be at least a few hints dropped to the player as to what to do next.

Fully agree with this. It's not a technique that's often used so when people are so used to being told "do X to get to Y" they'll either be stumped and get frustrated or simply not care enough to persevere when the games says "do X...and we'll call you back in a few days". Although, as it's been suggested above, there could be a small nudge in the right direction. Perhaps after a certain amount of time, say, 3 in-game days you receive a phone call from either one of the other protagonists or a mission-giver giving you a time and a place to meet.

Personally, I've induced these kind of breaks myself as I think in a game that's as story driven and quite intense, a few moments of reflection is needed just to get some clarity and some perspective. Two moments I can think of where this has been done by the devs themselves is in Batman: Arkham Asylum and Red Dead.
*Spoilers Ahead*
The former happens when you are transported into one of Scarecrow's nightmares and you play the role of a very young Bruce Wayne. This is perhaps one of the greatest gaming moments I've ever come across. The narrative in the back is haunting and heart-breaking, and while it gives you a break from all the full-on action it keeps you completely immersed in the story and gameplay. The second is from Red Dead and is when John crosses into Mexico. In the background, slowly fading to a more noticeable level, is Jose Gonzales' "Far Away". In an almost 180-degree flip from Batman, this part is incredibly inspiring and fills the player with hope. Again, the serenity of the moment keeps you in the gaming mindset, yet allowing you to take a breather.

My point is this, I think something like the above works out well for everyone. The full-steam-ahead players get a nice moment of calm before they run head first into the storm, and folks like myself who like a small break in narrative and like to really soak it in can do just that.

Anyway, more on the point of money being earned before one can continue. I like the idea of that as it accomplishes the simple idea of money being a driving force and a necessary component instead of just some thing that you get to spend on goodies. Also, I think it could help persuade players to do things they normally wouldn't, taxi missions, for example. Not everyone likes them and some folk have never tried them, well now they have a reason. If they don't like it, that's fine, there are other ways to earn money. If they enjoy it, great, Rockstar's work has paid off. Either way, the earning of money is what's important.

Also, perhaps they could include some sort of system in which depending on how well you complete the mission, maybe hitting certain criteria, the player can leave with either the full amount or be penalized, if you will, by having some of the money taken off them. I've worded that awkwardly so I hope my point comes across. Anyway, I think this would help things flow quite nicely. Say the amount that can possibly stolen is $150,00, split it 3 ways and your cut is $50,000. Now, during the course of the mission, you put too many explosives on the door and end up burning a pile of money close to the door (quite specific, I know, but roll with it). You weren't paying attention and you f*cked up, so now the total amount is lowered by, say, $900. That's $300 (after the cuts) extra you have to earn to get to the next mission. It's not steep enough to make you spend ages trying to earn it back, and it's significant enough to motivate you to do better. Personally, I'm quite sh*t at gaming and would probably leave with the minimal amount, but it'd give me an incentive to play harder. If that doesn't pay off, I can always suck it up and simply go and start being an ambulance driver for a while.

Side note: I ended up blabbering more than I thought I would. The answer to the original question is the last two paragraphs. The first bit just talks about the breaks in story-line.

[meta187]

QUOTE (DTUMan @ Sunday, Mar 3 2013, 14:30)

As such, I am really not too sure as to whether GTA V will be the same in this case. It's impossible for any one protagonist to have complete control of the city in the fashion that Tommy Vercetti did as each protagonist in GTA V will be following the same storyline. With that being said, I remember reading in previews that some missions will only be able to be accessed after obtaining a certain amount of money. It would be very interesting to see how this will work as purchasing property is nothing but out of the question - so a Vice City style acquisition of various properties across Los Santos will likely not be implemented into the storyline. Perhaps you have to pay certain characters a certain amount of money before accessing their missions? Or perhaps the Epsilon cult will have something to do with it all? Or maybe various items need to be purchased before being able to access the next mission strand?

I could certainly see mission specific purchases for items to progress forward being a solid catalyst for breaks in the storyline while you find other means to acquire the funds to pay for tools and gear for a specific type of heist or security clearance from a security guard who's willing to look the other way for the right price.

QUOTE (DT)

Back to the point I made about the protagonists being their own boss/the boss - I can see with almost certainty that many missions will involve one protagonist meeting up with one or both of the other protagonists to begin them which in essence, not only makes the other two protagonists the "mission giver" for these missions; but it also makes the protagonist initiating the said missions their own "mission giver" too and gives them the essence of being the boss as they are the ones that initiated the mission.

It would certainly be interesting to see a sort of contest of wills play out through the game as two characters are always looking to one to progress forward and for that dynamic to change dramatically throughout the course of the story.

QUOTE (Honest Bill)

That point in VC was where the game got good imo. You started working to further your own interests and the player's goals were perfectly aligned with those of the protagonist. Not enough games allow you to ground yourself in the game world in such a way by allowing you to actually feel part of the world and feel that your actions and goals are what are driving you and also affecting the world itself.

I think you really narrowed it down with that simple sentence my friend. So many games, even open world games are rife with, go here, do that hand holding or overt agenda that very seldom do you feel like you're character is simply free to live their life for a while. It might be a radical concept but imagine an open world game where you literally had to live and perform your daily routines for a set amount of time before the option for storyline progression even presented itself, similar to Animal Crossing with the change of the Seasons present and happening in a sort of "real time" progression logged by your own actual game hours.

QUOTE (epoxi)

Speaking as myself today I would welcome an open-ended 'hiatus' of the storyline in the middle a la Vice City. However, speaking as 14 year old me I didn't realise I hadn't completed the story and didn't do so until several years later when I realised my mistake. The essence of what I'm saying is: pause in the storyline is good, but many people won't get the worth out of the game if they don't take initiative. One might say "Oh, well that's their problem" but if a large section of GTA's consumers (casual gamers, not die-hard GTA fans) mistakenly think the game wasn't concluded properly they may not buy the next GTA, which would lower the profitability of the game and hence affect Take II/R*'s investment into it and its overall quality. There should probably still be at least a few hints dropped to the player as to what to do next.

I don't think that's unreasonable it could really be something as simple as you go to a guy to who you're wanting to take the next mission from and he says something like, "come back later, buddy we're not quite ready for you yet" or "I'm going to need a little more funding than that if you want these C-4 triggers to go off without a hitch". Just a little stumbling block to give you pause and perhaps send you off in another direction to explore the map and the options within the world which is big part of fun found within the game at the end of the day.

If that were to happen, it would be the game devs effectively saying to the consumer:

"Slow down there, cowboy.

Stop trying to be the first idiot spoiler to post the ending online. Instead, stop and smell the digital roses already. That's why we f*cking made them in the first place, asshole."

QUOTE (NOXaeris)

I think we're going to see multiple goals fall under this "pursuit for the almighty dollar" premise, and it's going to be interesting to see how each character approaches it.

I'd say that's a likely hope to be sure. It would feel terribly generic if each protagonist valued money for the same reasons at the end of the day.

QUOTE (Gig)

Anyway, more on the point of money being earned before one can continue. I like the idea of that as it accomplishes the simple idea of money being a driving force and a necessary component instead of just some thing that you get to spend on goodies. Also, I think it could help persuade players to do things they normally wouldn't , taxi missions, for example. Not everyone likes them and some folk have never tried them, well now they have a reason. If they don't like it, that's fine, there are other ways to earn money. If they enjoy it, great, Rockstar's work has paid off. Either way, the earning of money is what's important.

Exactly.

Fostering a bit of responsibility to have a player actually earn progression rather than simply bully their way through storyline missions ultimately lends the game depth, quality and a more well rounded experience by the end of the game. I think if you look at Bully they did that remarkably well, nearly every side activity was worked into some applicable bit of the storyline and free to do after the fact, which made it feel like less of a chore and more like something that made sense for the character to be doing.

[Maggot899]

So I was thinking, what if you wanted to use your physical money to buy a minigun for example, but you can only carry so much so you pack 10 grand into your suitcase and load it into your car BUT! What if on the way to Ammu-Nation(or underground heavy weapons dealer in the trailercourt) you get carjacked and your money is still in the car? If you don't catch your previously owned car then you should lose that money right? Imagine having 100,000 grand in a duffel bag and losing it to some run of the mill meth-head? I think that would bring the notion of clinging to your cash that much more appealing! It wouldn't happen enough to be annoying or too much but it would always keep you on your toes...maybe have a friend go with you to feel safer? Just a concept that I think would be interesting.

[GreatGig]

QUOTE (Maggot899 @ Sunday, Mar 10 2013, 07:41)

So I was thinking, what if you wanted to use your physical money to buy a minigun for example, but you can only carry so much so you pack 10 grand into your suitcase and load it into your car BUT! What if on the way to Ammu-Nation(or underground heavy weapons dealer in the trailercourt) you get carjacked and your money is still in the car? If you don't catch your previously owned car then you should lose that money right? Imagine having 100,000 grand in a duffel bag and losing it to some run of the mill meth-head? I think that would bring the notion of clinging to your cash that much more appealing! It wouldn't happen enough to be annoying or too much but it would always keep you on your toes...maybe have a friend go with you to feel safer? Just a concept that I think would be interesting.

I like the idea of this. Of course, half the fun in it would be chasing the guy down, catching him and finally dealing out whatever punishment you feel necessary. Taking your example of using it to purchase a weapon from an underground dealer, this could really become something. We know about one random encounter in which you might stumble across two parked cars surrounded by dead bodies. For all we know, the criminals behind this could be the same people we're buying our weaponry from. We phone them to arrange a meet-up so we can buy our weapons, the boot of our car carries our duffel bag in which we have, say, $100,000. We turn up, walk over, and then without any warning shots start coming in our direction. The gun dealers knew you'd have that money and now they want it. In this instance, having one of the three protagonists accompany you will pay off massively as he'll have your back and cover you while you get to safety or a better position to retaliate. You can take them out or you can drive off. If you haven't blown up their car by this point, they might give chase.

There are so many circumstance I can think of where having physical money can instantly make the game more interesting. The hitchhiker might try to attack you while you're driving, making you crash and then running off with your money. I think the important thing with this is to assure those who aren't keen on it is that, as stated, it's not something that happens too often but enough to make you think that there's always the possibility that it can happen. Another safety net for this feature would be that the player is always given the chance to get their money back. Whether it's via a firefight, a chase, or a good ol' fashioned beat-down with nothing but your fists.

[Maggot899]

QUOTE (TheGreatGig23 @ Sunday, Mar 10 2013, 21:29)

QUOTE (Maggot899 @ Sunday, Mar 10 2013, 07:41) So I was thinking, what if you wanted to use your physical money to buy a minigun for example, but you can only carry so much so you pack 10 grand into your suitcase and load it into your car BUT! What if on the way to Ammu-Nation(or underground heavy weapons dealer in the trailercourt) you get carjacked and your money is still in the car? If you don't catch your previously owned car then you should lose that money right? Imagine having 100,000 grand in a duffel bag and losing it to some run of the mill meth-head? I think that would bring the notion of clinging to your cash that much more appealing! It wouldn't happen enough to be annoying or too much but it would always keep you on your toes...maybe have a friend go with you to feel safer? Just a concept that I think would be interesting. I like the idea of this. Of course, half the fun in it would be chasing the guy down, catching him and finally dealing out whatever punishment you feel necessary. Taking your example of using it to purchase a weapon from an underground dealer, this could really become something. We know about one random encounter in which you might stumble across two parked cars surrounded by dead bodies. For all we know, the criminals behind this could be the same people we're buying our weaponry from. We phone them to arrange a meet-up so we can buy our weapons, the boot of our car carries our duffel bag in which we have, say, $100,000. We turn up, walk over, and then without any warning shots start coming in our direction. The gun dealers knew you'd have that money and now they want it. In this instance, having one of the three protagonists accompany you will pay off massively as he'll have your back and cover you while you get to safety or a better position to retaliate. You can take them out or you can drive off. If you haven't blown up their car by this point, they might give chase. There are so many circumstance I can think of where having physical money can instantly make the game more. The hitchhiker might try to attack you while you're driving, making you crash and then running off with your money. I think the important thing with this is to assure those who aren't keen on it is that, as stated, it's not something that happens too often but enough to make you think that there's always the possibility it can happen. Another safety net for this feature would be that the player is always given the chance to get their money back. Whether it's via a firefight, a chase, or a good ol' fashioned beat-down with nothing but your fists.

The idea of the people you think you can trust setting you up sounds amazing to me. I think physical money really would bring something new to the series. Always having your money that can only be touched by you takes away from how much you should care about your money. Knowing that it can be taken from you just as easy as you got it brings some new intensity to the game and makes me appreciate having it more.

[meta187]

QUOTE (Maggot899 @ Monday, Mar 11 2013, 21:19)

I think physical money really would bring something new to the series. Always having your money that can only be touched by you takes away from how much you should care about your money. Knowing that it can be taken from you just as easy as you got it brings some new intensity to the game and makes me appreciate having it more.

We've touched on the idea of money, particularly large portions of it being a physical thing many times in this thread so much so that I think I should really make a properly expanded block for it in the intro.

Blood and a Four Leaf Clover, arguably one of the main catalysts for the theme and feel going into GTA V really nailed down that notion. You're going to rob a bank. That money shoudn't magically dissappear into your pockets, you should have to cradle it like an infant and fight like hell to carry it out of there.

I think/hope people will really enjoy this upcoming video segment as we do touch on that quite a bit. We just finished cutting a few of the final scenes last night, from there we have some drop ins, sound mixing and credits to write up so anyone who's been a fan of the things talked about in this thread know you have something very fun to look forward to coming out this weekend or early next week.

[Fuzzknuckles]

OK, so this thread is now big as a house and I haven't been able to read through it all... but I've got a few ideas that would work for side missions, all a result of accruing that mighty $$$.

They may have already been covered, apologies if so.

1. DRUGS

Well, first off, they're bad, m'kay? FACT. Nothing good ever came from people taking drugs, apart from all music and art that's worth a damn.

In GTA:CTW, you had a very basic drug running side mission. It was pretty good, very simple and actually useful.

So let's get that back. Let's expand it. You start out picking up small quantities from local dealers, and eventually, when you've built the contacts and, more importantly, the funds, you start moving up the food chain and mixing with the bigger kids. So that little packet of dirt weed you scored eventually becomes a truck full of high grade sinsinsinsemilla. You can only buy into this mission if you have the capital.

- Level 1 - Dat Stash! - You meet Dealer X on the corner and pick up. You take it to Dealer Y on the other corner and sell it on. Profit!
...
- Level 10 - OMGDRUQGZ - You buy into a big time deal with Dealer A who gives you the stuff to pile into your truck and sell on.

I won't iron out all the details, but each level can only be accessed once you've got enough cash to 'buy in'.

2. Cars and Racing

Much like the drugs thing, cars are bad... wait, I mean it would work the same. You can only access certain races with certain cars - and they are expensive cars. Not just cars you've stolen - cars that are bought to order. And, as with the drug missions, you have to set your stake in the race to take part.

Again, this would move up from level 1, beaters and $500, to level 10, beamers and $500,000.

Having such a high stake means the player actually has some incentive to win. You're racing 7 other guys and stand to win $3.5million. But you had to lay out $65,000 on a gleaming new wagon to get there in the first place.

3. Other Gambling

Who loves poker? I love poker. I'm sh*t at it.

RDR had a great poker minigame, but the stakes were low, no matter where you went. With a surplus of money in your virtua-bank, you could again buy your way into higher stakes games. Build it up until you're finally playing in some horrible little basement, flanked by apemen in beautifully cut suits, watching as you lay down everything you've got at the table. You stand to lose a lot of money, so again, the incentive to win is more than just a tiny payoff and an on screen fist pump.


--

There are so many other things here that could be accessed in this way. Better health care, triggered by reaching a certain amount of money - so maybe at first, you can only afford a back-street surgeon who'll gladly reset that dislocated shoulder for you, but it'll only restore half your health. For a full refill, you have to get private treatment... and so on.

[GreatGig]

Whilst I love the idea of putting money on a race or investing in the drug business, I have to ask; where does it end?

For example, we reach level 10 of the proposed drug dealing business, everything goes swimmingly and you are now in the possession of, say, $2 million. Can we continue with the drug dealing, or any other money-making side missions, until we accumulate a vast amount of money? If so, when does it become too much (in terms of what we can do with it)? As we learned from IV, that happened all too quickly. We completed the game, bought a new hat, and that was pretty much the end of it. Given that Rockstar has told us that V will be money-centric and that what we know so far suggests we'll be able to actually spend it this time, is it safe to assume that $2 million isn't actually all that much?

Obviously, I don't expect concrete answers on this seeing as though no one really knows what's in store for us, but I thought it'd be interesting to stir the discussion a bit.

[Fuzzknuckles]

QUOTE (TheGreatGig23 @ Thursday, Mar 14 2013, 18:44)

Whilst I love the idea of putting money on a race or investing in the drug business, I have to ask; where does it end?

When you hit $150,000,000, the IRS swoop in and shut you down for failing to pay taxes.

At this point, the game disc or installed file ceases to work and you are OUT OF THE GAME FOREVER.

[Sef]

Love this thread so much.

[Fuzzknuckles]

QUOTE (Fuzzknuckles @ Thursday, Mar 14 2013, 18:50)

QUOTE (TheGreatGig23 @ Thursday, Mar 14 2013, 18:44) Whilst I love the idea of putting money on a race or investing in the drug business, I have to ask; where does it end? When you hit $150,000,000, the IRS swoop in and shut you down for failing to pay taxes. At this point, the game disc or installed file ceases to work and you are OUT OF THE GAME FOREVER.

Having had a little while to think about this...

Perhaps, once you've reached that top level in the Drugs chain, you start to receive different missions - you're hooking up the dealers with their little trucks, and you're now dealing at a Cartel level. You have to negotiate with the Cartel to get product (could work like LA Noire's interrogations?) and the stakes are even higher. Failure to connect the mission results on a penalty from the Cartel.

If this were handled in the same way as, say, Skyrim's radiant quest system, where a set of characters can continue to give you similar missions with different NPCs, there's potentially no end. But then we're back at square 1 - what do I do with all this damn money?

The answer?

[Maggot899]

I think a solution to getting too much money too fast is that drugs aren't a low risk business. Say you invest a million dollars into a huge deal and the truck with the drugs get pulled over by the cops or even ambushed and stolen by some other gang? That is one million dollars gone and maybe all you get is a phone call to tell you what happened...maybe even the guys you sent are trying to pull a fast one on you. There are also many ways of how you would deal with these actions as well. Maybe get your friends and ambush a competitors truck? Buyout the competitions buyers to work with you. Narc out their drug lab if you find out about it somehow? I want to be able to make tons of cash and be able to spend it all on stupid sh*t or even have it taken from me just as easy as I made it. I don't want to feel like I am the source of the economies money in the game.

[meta187]

QUOTE (Fuzzknuckles @ Thursday, Mar 14 2013, 16:43)

- Level 1 - Dat Stash!

Chicken & Roffles. ^

We actually did touch on a lot of the things you mentioned here and the CTW dynamic in the Flipping The Script section of the intro but I think anyone who played that game def saw how that ended up being one of the most fun side activities to get into so we'll just say on this one, great minds ride a bike..munch a dyke..grab a pike?..er..however it goes.

QUOTE

2. Cars and Racing Much like the drugs thing, cars are bad... wait, I mean it would work the same. You can only access certain races with certain cars - and they are expensive cars. Not just cars you've stolen - cars that are bought to order. And, as with the drug missions, you have to set your stake in the race to take part. Again, this would move up from level 1, beaters and $500, to level 10, beamers and $500,000. Having such a high stake means the player actually has some incentive to win. You're racing 7 other guys and stand to win $3.5million. But you had to lay out $65,000 on a gleaming new wagon to get there in the first place.

We've talked about racing a bit but one thing that hasn't been mentioned is the idea of Pink Slip races. Say you have a unique set of vehicles only availble to acquire through this exclusive activity. As you said there's a progression on the vehicles quality and you have to move up from there winning a certain ammount of races to get the parts or money needed to get your next tiered vehicle and graduate to the next set of races. If you lose the race, some chump laughs and drives away with your car and you have to start the process over again at the previous race class. This would definitely add tangible risk to the whole process and give you a reason to take racing and the money invested in it seriously.

Make it Rain

QUOTE (Fuzzknuckles)

Make it rain.

Nothing to add.

I concur.