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Have been lurking for some time, so decided to make an account to share my 2 cents, as someone who has worked in the industry for a long time (and in no way affiliated with this franchise - just a fan). In order, here are some thoughts: 1) I think this was mentioned a few pages ago here and there, but for games this big, and especially where a third party is working with a main publisher, screenshots are usually never up to date. The screenshots that you are seeing now are likely from a summer build, and we are in November. That is because, generally, not only there are approval processes to get a screenshot finalized at the actual developer making the game, but in this case, I am sure that all the screenshots also have to go through Rockstar, so the process is much, much slower. And if you have issues with the screenshots found online, and wonder "why would they not upload more recent ones", the simple answer is that these things take time, especially when the publisher is this big. Simply put, you will not have a look at last week's build 5 days away from launch. Not saying the game will completely change, but be aware that the last 2 months of development are typically pretty important, and that is often when things come together, especially in a 2 plus year dev cycle. 2) On the models; I personally think they look great, and before you kill me, I think you also have to look at the current gaming landscape. These remasters are targeting today's market, not 2001's market, and cartoony graphics have literally become a staple. Just go look at Twitch and see how games such as VALORANT, Fortnite, League of Legends, Minecraft, etc. are dominating charts. No, you are not gonna get 1999's Unreal Tournament gritty graphics in 2021, and simple, cartoony, stylized models are simply what is hot in the industry, for good or bad. Logistically, it is also the smartest choice the developer could make. There is no way in hell Rockstar is gonna fund a full blown remake of 3 different titles, because that could take 6 plus years of development and a team of 1000 plus developers. San Andreas alone is huge, even when compared to some of today's open world games. The Mafia remake comparisons are incredibly unfair (and I say this as a Mafia fanboy who has finished the game 3 times), because Mafia is a very small title (20 missions, small map, no side missions, recycled gameplay shooting from Mafia 3, which can feel very stiff at times). 3) The way this remaster should be taken is "oh cool, I can play the games I loved with better graphics, better frame rate, quality of life improvements and much better controls (along lots of other features)", not "hell yeah where is my 3-games remake for $60 that would probably take 2000 developers to create and 6 years????". Unrealistic expectations lead to people hating on things that often are actually pretty damn cool. I think it is awesome that we are even getting this, and it is undeniable that the developer put a ton of love into the project. What are people fussed about? 2-3 models out of thousands of assets? Anyone can think anything they want, but, the graphics in the original Vice City were pretty terrible (even for 2002 standards, when Mafia was a thing), so any new take on the characters is HIGHLY subjective. It's hard to compare models to the originals when they originals where a bunch of textures thrown together (for god's sake, most faces were block-city). I just think that nostalgia is playing a mind-game on many people here, and people are not looking at the big picture, and realize that any interpretation of a 2002 game with blocky pixels serving as models will make some happy and some not so much. Hell, I have seen people in here idolize a take on Tommy from a fellow modder, which I thought was not that good myself, so bias can play a big role in this type of things. 4) On the marketing: guys, this is Rockstar Games. This game will sell millions of copies on day one just for existing. We will likely get a launch trailer, but that is it. They don't need to market themselves, and as appreciated forums like this are, this is a bubble. The millions casual gamers that are gonna play this could give two coconuts about Lance Vance's eyes or Tommy's bulge in a tracksuit. Like seriously, lol

Me waiting like

We're getting closer and closer to release my perros. On a scale of 1-7, how are you currently feeling about Definitive Edition?

- LOD: I don't know how they really created the LOD's but for me it looks like a simple AI LOD convert software that uses the full HighDef Map and automatically lowers the polygon count and makes everything look like mud and warps the models to hell. Sure, the details are much better as in the vanilla game, but at the cost of having low distance objects that just looks awful. Some people said that you have to zoom in to see these flaws and that it doesn't matter, but no, in the days of 4K and even higher screens, you'll notice it right away. Just look at the right screenshot, you can clearly see Madd Dogg's crib, but on the left.... well, I don't even know what that is, so i'll call it mud. Here you can cleary see how the LOD system fails and warps buildings. Not only is Mt. Chilliad now visible in Ganton, which shouldn't actually happen since it's part of the badlands level and isn't unlocked before completing "The Green Sabre" but it looks like a 2D sprite, something you would use in Tony Hawk's Underground to make the map feel more open, but in GTA you wouldn't use something like this because, well, the game is open and has no boundries like The Getaway, which used fake construction sites to block the out of bounds roads. - Still using AI upscaled textures in 2021 Sure, the best way to make a low-resolution image look more HD-like is to use AI, which not only increases the resolution, but also restores or fakes details that weren't present in the original texture. The problem with this is, if the texture is too low and lacks detail, how in the world are you supposed to get better detail by upscaling it using AI? It doesn't work. You either have to recreate it from scratch or find the original master texture, hence the word "Remaster" because you release a game using the original untouched textures. The badge is upscaled and unreadable because the original textures had no detail to beginn with. The XBOX version had better details and I wonder why they didn't use that instead? They used XBOX models for vehicles but slapped on PS2 textures. All of these problems could have been fixed with far less effort and time by simply using XBOX textures. The texture of CJ's jeans is obviously AI upscaled and looks like garbage compared to all the other clothes in this screenshot. Is it so bad to nitpick about this? Do i make myself look dumb by actually mentioning these flaws? I don't know. I'm just a longtime R* fan and got used to play their games which were all amazingy well crafted and had good attention to detail. It's just something you wouldn't expect from a game that has the R* and GTA logo branding on it. Do I think the GTA: DE release completely sucks? No, of course not. It's an improvement over the original, for sure, but it's not something that should replace the original version and make T2 hunt down the GTA modding community.

My two cents: this is sketchy as f*ck. Not showin gameplay footage for 20 years old games that by now you could get in bundle with corn flakes is questionable to say the least. Pics released are inconsistent. Some things look ok, most dont. Any screeshot that is not a wide panoramic view is filled with glitches and problems. The fact that they outsourced the work to a studio known for bad ports in the past makes me even less confident. Please guys, wait for reviews and dont pre-order. They will not run out of digital codes and im sure you are smart enough to be able to wait some hour to download the thing.

Just 5 days away and we barely have a single clue what to even expect in terms of gameplay, music licencing, how the new UI looks, etc. How can people think it's fine for Rockstar to take people's money without answering this? These are important key questions that people deserve to know. I'm a shill when it comes to this remaster, literally a shill but this marketing strategy is god awful. If Hanger 13 can communicate better with fans with the changes for the Mafia Remakes, then I think Rockstar should be doing the same.

Totally remodelled tower next to the Bank of San Andreas (aka next to the Maze Bank tower): Before: After:

Not going to lie, I'm growing tired of this discussion thread. It seemed pretty cool before with the icon leaks and other stuff but once it actually dropped... Oof. (Yeah, yeah I can just leave bear w me) Uhm, I was thinking of elaborating more... Oh... It reminds me of how much time I spent here back when GTA V for PC wasn't announced yet. It was one of the most unhealthy things I done to myself in regards to mental health. Really, it's not good. (I had other issues) In the end it turned out to be such a massive waste of my time and I deeply regret it. Yet here I am, wasting my time again. I'm also realizing how draining it is to read the buttloads of pointless arguing about things that can be subjective or objective about what in the end of the day is still mostly subjective (and also depends on people's money which well, why would you care about someone else's finances?) Anyway, I just scrolled past the last pages, barely read anything, I don't think I can handle it anymore. I'll be gladly waiting for the game but I'll stick to other outlets for information. This here is sometimes comparable to a political debate. (Then there's the folk with superiority complex, inferiority complex, victim complex, the folk who blow things out of proportion, the ones who dismiss everything thinking it's alright, etc, etc, etc.) Yes, I can just leave, it's that what I'm talking about. I wish this place wasn't so messy but I can't even blame anyone really, that's the internet for you. It's in most part a waste of time tool to sell products and spam ads in your face (while collecting your data, spying on you and attempting to manipulate your opinions with algorithms that work like a black box) Oh, mega tangent... Bring on the bruhs. Have fun everyone, with the game, with the thread, whatever works.

Huh, says here, I pre-ordered The " Gabagool Edition." " This pre-ordered comes with the following: - A Grilled Cheese cooked on A Radiator. - $87 cents in Shark Cards. - A Sun tan of my choosing any where in Florida. - A Book titled " do you wanna intimidate a child? " By Ken Rosenberg. - A week vacation at shady acres - A tour of " go get some sleep. " And they seems to be some small print here Let me see... Dan Houser Did 20 f*cking years and not a f*cking peep. Idk guys, they seem to be really spoiling me here. I don't feel right taking such a gift really.

Are you serious? Vice City models have more details than the thing you posted here (mainly faces). Trilogy games were always going for stylized, realistic look, not cartoony. This is cartoony This is not

Tbh I think the biggest misstep of all is going with this cartoony style choice over realism. When the original trilogy came out never did I pick up on this "cartoonyness". For me and everyone else at the time the games looked incredibly realistic. it's only when you try to update the models to a higher definition that you start to notice the exaggerated shapes of some vehicles and characters skin tones. I'm firmly in the camp that believes this was because of graphical limitations of the time rather than a style choice by rockstar. Look at the original half life for example, another game that was praised for its realism at the time. Look at this mutherfocker. Now can you imagine if the whole of the black mesa mod had been created with the idea of being "true to the original style of half life" i.e. super high quality models with a cartoonish styling? It would totally change the game and destroy the feeling the original developers were trying to convey with their limited technology. It would look pretty retarded. And that's what the definitive edition looks like to me. Kind of.. Retarded. Thanks for coming to my Ted talk.

GTA: San Andreas vs GTA V (Los Santos) - GTA V - GTA: San Andreas -

Screenshot analysis: - First off, it looks like the classic, hazy, orange sky we all know and love has returned. It looks good; it's obvious that the devs have played around with the timecyc quite a lot, and I'm happy with the way it looks. Admittedly, I hoped they would have a slightly less exaggerated approach, but it still looks great. - The moon! Look at how fantastic it looks! What an upgrade! - CJ's pants look better in this shot and have a decent texture - I hope those upscaled jeans were just a placceholder - The baseball bats appear to have a steel look and look a lot better. - CJ's facial expressions are a bit awkward; Ryder on the other hand looks good. - Transparent trash bag! It looks amazing! - The telephone lines got a bit of an overhaul, they look less jagged. - Car reflections look really good! - Sweet's facial expressions look good, and so far throughout the images we've gotten, Sweet has looked pretty good. He still has his muggy angry look but it's nothing too crazy. - Fire arm models coming through as usual. - Again, I'm liking how the time cycle is looking here; you get that classic "sunset" vibe that made San Andreas so iconic. - The particle effects of the guns firing looks amazing as well! - Some texture mapping issues need to be resolved; Sweet's cap is still overstretched, and that window in the apartments look weird. - Gotta give credit where it's due though; that apartment complex has been remodeled, and the windows are no longer just flat textures. The Bahamas sign looks better too. The building by it got an overhaul too. - The car door handles look good too. - Glen Park looks beautiful with those trees! - Las Colinas, from a distance, also looks like it had quite a lot of work put into it. - Holy crap. The lighting at night looks fantastic. Wow. - Draw distance is greatly improved! - The palm trees in this shot are a bit different from the ones in Vice City; they look a little more like Washingtonia robusta trees you would see in LA. - A very, very minor nitpick, but I'm a little disappointed the highway signs are going to stay the same; I would have preferred if they made them like in GTA 5 (the Interstate signs), but eh, I'm going too far. - Those stars doe. - Chiliad looks awkward from the distance; though the map should look good from the ground level. - A lot of work has been done on the roads and they look a hell of a lot smoother. - The Watts Towers got a massive re-design and they look so much better in this version. - I'm going to say this again, holy crap, this looks great! - I love what they've done with the timecyc here; Los Santos in broad daylight always looked slightly unappealing, so much that it was always one of the first things I modded in the game. Here, Los Santos looks beautifully and bright sunny. I much prefer it over the original colors, it's not even close! - Them clouds sexy as f*ck though. - Again, that vegetation, oh man, it looks sexy. - Much of Downtown Los Santos' buildings have gotten an overhaul; in particular, the Gas Company Tower (let's call it the AmCo Building) next to the US Bank Tower (let's call it the Bank of San Andreas Tower) looks the best re-design. The texture is a lot more reflective too, so it'll be a lot more noticeable from the distance. - Many other buildings got a re-design, and a lot of windows no longer appear as flat textures, but as actual shapes. - The Atrium building to the lower right near City Hall got a texture change; not better or worse, just different... interesting.

Now that the topic is calmer and someone came along with an opinion some may not agree with, I hope people start realising that the way this debate is going right now is the way they all should be, and that we literally only crack down on the people who insist on being so angry that all that comes out of their mouth (well fingers) is memes, insults, "fanboys", "copium" and what not lol. It's not about opinions, it's about attitudes. Let's have a discussion like this, not a sh*t-slinging contest or trying to make everyone else miserable.

* Ignoring all the bad character design that you call cartoony look like it is not part of the experience.

I noticed that Rocksar Games became kinda soft in recent time, they are not what they used to be before. Old GTA games made fun of everything and everyone, R* was a company that didn't give a f*ck about opinions of critics, they were focused on making games that turned out to be masterpieces, even 15-20 years later there's still a LOT of people playing them. Nowdays, they seem kinda more focused on making money the easiest way possible (shark-cards) and censorship of older titles suggest their approach changed, it also doesn't help that Dan Houser and Lazlow Jones left, considering they worked on almost all GTA games.

Some people are still really insisting that aged graphics were meant to be cartoony huh? I get that this forums has blind defenders of R* but are you guys really going to throw older games of the series under the bus just to excuse DE's complete lack of consistency and glaring problems?

Before the screenshots, everyone had the same hope about this product. I'm sorry if it upsets people but pointing out basic things which shouldn't be broken isn't being a hater, you mention the thumbnail thing, well yes, there's no reason for it to be badly modelled that way and even worse, used as a promo screenshot. The way some people are acting Rockstar could be showing you Big Rigs and a lot of you would be cheering it on and calling it great and that's just as bad as the blind hating.

I'll say it again: while the game does not look bad, improvements are appreciated and I'm looking forward to play it, most of you are being WAY TOO acquiescent with it. Character models is not the only thing that looks weird. Environment is also very poorly done. Take this screen for example. All the assets (building, cars, light posts, etc), the roads, etc, look literally like they're made of play dough. It's an issue with their lighting system. And of course it's easy to say: "but hey, they look better than the originals!" No sh*t. I once read someone here saying: "this looks incredibly good for a 2002 game". The problem here is that these aren't 2001-2004 games, these games are being published in 2021. You should demand more from it. Saying that it's acceptable to look like that because they look superior (in some ways) than the originals and because "give it a rest, it's a remaster, not a remake" (which, btw, isn't, as Violet said, and they clearly could've done much more with better resources and qualifications) it's nothing but an absolute cheap excuse. If you're going to put some early 2000s game into the 2021 market, then you better do a full remake and not this. It's like saying that you should've been happy if they released a thing like this (1) for Mafia, when in reality we got that (2): GTA Trilogy deserved more. At least, it deserved that treatment. I mean, both francises are from Take Two, and one of them is far more popular than the other, plus these three games are the gems of the industry.

You guys should be happy though, instead of mindless praising we know GSG are looking at the forums, so at the very least if the things people are pointing out are things that somehow slipped by QA then it encourages them to fix things in a patch post launch instead. Which in the end benefits everyone.

Ah yes, the circle jerk of "pointing out lack of attention to detail when one of their only jobs was to add more detail to what was there"

You forgot the fact that you can now see San Fierro from f*cking ganton now, completely breaking the illusion that the game is supposed to take place in a whole state. Can you see San Francisco from Los Angeles? No? Then why on earth did they make it like this? ' it's easier to make a whole new game in Unreal Engine than actually mod a game on the Unreal Engine.

Sure, its fiiiine. Its not a big deal, just every single character in the game looks worse than they looked before Thats kinda like saying "there was a fire in your house, but don't worry its not that bad. I mean every person in the house died but the building seems alright" edit: also, not only character models and textures, but also cars seem halfassed

Just wanna say, I think its a little big annoying to see so many complaints here. Of course, you all have your reasons and I agree with a lot of things, but before, this place was a place of hype and we had fun together but now all I see is people complaining and zooming in on f*cking fingernails like come one guys. There is a complaints and criticism thread, do your thing there, but let this place also be a good place for people to be hyped. I kinda miss the way this these threads were before the screenshots. Y'all probably dont agree with me but I just wanted this to be off my chest

Seeing as one of the songs on the list is a reference in an achievement for the release. yeahhhhh no

20 minutes in The SIms 3: Still better than Tommy from GTA The Trilogy: DE. Not to mention that model from 2009 is much more detailed than the one made in 2021.

Damn so if the release times are like this Release Times The collection will unlock at 10am ET on all platforms; click here to view a countdown with worldwide conversions, plus some select cities below. A timer is also live across our Trilogy areas on GTAForums! Los Angeles: 7am Brasilia: 12pm Lisbon: 3pm Edinburgh: 3pm Berlin: 4pm Moscow: 6pm Cairo: 4pm Cape Town: 5pm Mumbai: 8:30pm Beijing: 11pm Sydney: 2am (Friday) It means it will release 11 nov 18:00 in Latvia (Europe)... jesus effing christ... now im sad

Viceport Boatyard: Before: After:

Graphics cards heist when https://www.ign.com/articles/rtx-30-series-graphics-cards-stolen-truck-heist?taid=6185c8e68440b90001af319a&utm_campaign=trueAnthem:+Manual&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=facebook

How they couldn't surpass the visuals of a game from 2002 is beyond me. Look how more consistent and natural this is.

mrbossftw today - "THE DAY HAS COME - GTA TRILOGY DEFINITIVE EDITION BIG LEAK | CJ IN VICE CITY CONFIRMED????? | PRELOAD"

Great post, this is the kind of discussion we deserve, so thanks for taking the time to put your thoughts out there so succinctly.

Wow these new screenshots look really bad. I don’t understand why they couldnt do the whole character models more realistically and not so plasticy. Vice city looks weird, ken rosenbergs new mouth looks like a butthole. Lance looks weird, tommy looks like a different person.

Guys I went digging around the pre-load files on my modded Switch and found some unused character models that appear to indicate that GSG are working on GTA IV: Definitive Edition

I've been taking some comparison screenshots throughout the day and sharing them in the topics in the individual game forums. I'm not sure which of the recent comparisons have been posted here but to share some of the most recent: GTA III Screenshot 1 Released Screenshot: PC Version Comparison: Screenshot 2 Released Screenshot: PC Version Comparison: Screenshot 3 Released Screenshot: PC Version Comparison: GTA Vice City Screenshot 1 Released Screenshot: PC Version Comparison: Screenshot 2 Released Screenshot: PC Version Comparison: Screenshot 3 Released Screenshot: PC Version Comparison: Screenshot 4 Released Screenshot: PC Version Comparison: GTA San Andreas Screenshot 1 Released Screenshot: PC Version Comparison: Screenshot 2 Released Screenshot: PC Version Screenshot: Screenshot 3 Released Screenshot: PC Version Comparison: Wanted to make them because I really think these kind of comparison shots show the amount of work that has gone into these games. There are a lot of small details that have been touched up and I personally think the team behind them have been doing a pretty great job. Thanks to @SquoniX, @Spider-Vice and others for sharing these around!

Looking at Grove Street Games website they focus more on being woke and diverse than actually working hard. They f*cked up the mobile port of SA and now the "definitive" version of the Trilogy. f*cking hacks I blame Rockstar the most, they should have handled this themselves considering how important these games are but they are just greedy f*ckers with a hard on for Online

You missing out

Am I the only person around here who thinks GTA IV was the last great GTA game they made? I love the map of V but I much prefer the atmosphere, weighty vehicle mechanics, music, and 'edginess' it has that V lacks imo. They did a great job of creating a vertical map rather than horizontal. There's also more layers to it like the underground tunnel network for trains, and more interiors. Actual interiors of Cluckin Bell etc. I feel like it's truer to Rockstar's original vision of the GTA series, and V was sort of just designed around Shark cards and Online.

Lmao, some people here actually taking the bait, bet 4chan leaker is having a field day reading this thread. That's without a doubt the sh*ttiest, most illogical leak ever, purely made to enrage the fanbase. And believe me I've seen lots of sh*tty fakes.

Screenshot Analysis! - Again, wow. Leaf Links looks more beautiful than ever. - Downtown Vice City... the buildings here have had a massive overhaul, it's amazing. - A lot of mesh smoothing was done for those hills which is a great touch. - The water... it looks so damn crisp. - The blimp looks good too. - I love how the sunset looks here; it reminds me a lot of the 2005 Scarface game. - This draw distance reminds me of something you would see during the broadcast of a sports event, where they do panoramic shots of the city; it looks amazing! - Them waves though, look at how fantastic they look. - Mesh smoothing has made this are look a lot better - I don't think there's too much to say otherwise; Vice City looks gorgeous, and a number of buildings got an overhaul. - I think enough has been said of the characters so I won't say much at all but they are infinitely better than the 2002 models. - They've done a REALLY good job re-modeling Tommy's house, and the texture work is phenomenal - Again, that water and them sunset colors! - The neon lights look really good too, they are nice and vibrant! - The roofs have a lot of detail too - The dock area looks pretty good too, even though we've gotten few looks into the Mainland. - Phil Cassidy's model had a lot of work done. - Tommy looks good here as well, even with the slight wax feel to his skin. - I appreciate the small details around the table, bottles, etc. - The texture on that chair, look at how detailed it is! - That metal ceiling needs a re-model, though. - Carpet textures look really good! - Whoa, the lighting definitely throws me off here, it's a bit too cartoony even for my taste. - i can appreciate the re-modeling and texture work done here, though. It looks fantastic. - Tommy's model looks pretty good overall though. - Traffic density looks good here - It's a shame we haven't seen too many of GTA VC's peds, though, I'm curious with the work done to them. And with that, we are done!

Once again sorry if it deeply upsets you that other people have higher standards for a company which defined higher standards.

If only there was some way these people could change the game to their liking, I believe there's a word for it, it's pretty well accepted in other franchises.