It's sad that we will never get a GTA game like GTA IV again in terms of tone

[ForeverIV]

I think the new GTA VI trailer is fun but sadly it looks like V 2.0 instead of something more darker and gritty like GTA IV.

 

I think its clear that Rockstar has permanently pushed the darker tone to the Red Dead Redemption Series and GTA will only be over the top and goofy. 

 

Kind of a shame.

[DOUGL4S1]

It has more to do with setting as well.

 

Liberty City mirrors New York City, so it always had this darker, grittier look, so it's used both in GTAs III and IV for darker and heavier plots.

 

Los Santos mirrors Los Angeles, so it always had this sunnier, brighter, lighter mood, and it's used that way in both San Andreas and V for more epic plots focused in gangs, heists and Hollywood (music/movie production).

 

Vice City mirrors Miami, a sunny tropical place known for drug trafficking, its night life, and wealth. Vice City's story focuses a lot on these themes, so it's only natural VI's plots will also focus on these as a byproduct of their settings. A plot set in Miami/Vice City wouldn't look right with a dark and gritty tone like GTA IV's, as even "dark" stories set in Miami (ie Scarface) still focus a lot on those themes I previously mentioned.

 

If Rockstar ever decides to make another game set in Liberty City or another city known for its dark atmosphere (ie Detroit, Boston, Chicago), the plot will refrect that. It doesn't help that Rockstar's game development times have gone thru the roof and we can't even begin to speculate on when (if) GTA VII will happen.

[44Orca]

4 hours ago, ForeverIV said:

I think the new GTA VI trailer is fun but sadly it looks like V 2.0 instead of something more darker and gritty like GTA IV.

 

I think its clear that Rockstar has permanently pushed the darker tone to the Red Dead Redemption Series and GTA will only be over the top and goofy. 

 

Kind of a shame.

GTA IV wasn't as dark as people throw it around to be at least to me, ever since I first played it in 2009, it had its comedy moments too. Even up to now recently after replaying it for 20th time I disagree with that part that I have seen everywhere, is it because of the less colorful setting/graphics tone that makes everyone think it was "dark and gritty"? Sure the story was a bit more serious but not as much as people say. GTA VI isn't out yet too it might meet your expectations on that part with the story.

GTA VI still seems to have more of a realistic/serious vibe than GTA V did and overall seems like classic GTA stuff from way before GTA IV, It is a GTA title, nowhere near "goofy" as you make it sound, it isn't saints row is it? (you played the older ones right? What about GTA III's tone?). 

We can always go back to something way more serious (as you think it), it all depends on what story and setting they go for, it can always happen. Like think of a story that has to do with cartels in Mexico or South America, a less serious vibe wouldn't fit those I think. But again, GTA VI isn't even out yet, the trailers at least to me showed a vibe somewhere between, we don't know what happens with the story.

Edited May 10 by 44Orca

[Agent Edward]

VI may not be similar to GTA4, but it doesn't look like GTA5 AT ALL.

 

VI is its very own thing, the story, the characters, the location... everything is much more interesting than GTA5.

[TaylorSwiftDies2038]

I think the era that GTA IV took place in had as much to do with the vibe as did Liberty City.

 

Grand Theft Auto IV takes place in the autumn of 2008, right when the late 2000s recession was hitting its peak. It was a really sh*tty time and if you were old enough to remember what was going on, GTA IV captured the vibe of this era quite well.

[Aquamaniac]

You might try the Mafia Franchise, the lighter tone suits GTA better I think. It was the concrete jungle that made IV somewhat depressive but I favor large rural landscapes.

[Krymefull]

10 hours ago, ForeverIV said:

I think the new GTA VI trailer is fun but sadly it looks like V 2.0 instead of something more darker and gritty like GTA IV.

 

I think its clear that Rockstar has permanently pushed the darker tone to the Red Dead Redemption Series and GTA will only be over the top and goofy. 

 

Kind of a shame.

everytime i see these types of threads, i get reminded of this photo:

[TaylorSwiftDies2038]

1 hour ago, Krymefull said:

everytime i see these types of threads, i get reminded of this photo:

 

I understand that everyone's tired of GTA V at this point, but come on lol. GTA VI is NOTHING like GTA V in terms of vibe other than "sunny city".

[ForeverIV]

16 hours ago, 44Orca said:

GTA IV wasn't as dark as people throw it around to be at least to me, ever since I first played it in 2009, it had its comedy moments too. Even up to now recently after replaying it for 20th time I disagree with that part that I have seen everywhere, is it because of the less colorful setting/graphics tone that makes everyone think it was "dark and gritty"? Sure the story was a bit more serious but not as much as people say. GTA VI isn't out yet too it might meet your expectations on that part with the story.

GTA VI still seems to have more of a realistic/serious vibe than GTA V did and overall seems like classic GTA stuff from way before GTA IV, It is a GTA title, nowhere near "goofy" as you make it sound, it isn't saints row is it? (you played the older ones right? What about GTA III's tone?). 

We can always go back to something way more serious (as you think it), it all depends on what story and setting they go for, it can always happen. Like think of a story that has to do with cartels in Mexico or South America, a less serious vibe wouldn't fit those I think. But again, GTA VI isn't even out yet, the trailers at least to me showed a vibe somewhere between, we don't know what happens with the story.

Obviously GTA IV alo had lots of humor, I actually think it had a fine balance but overall its much darker than any other GTA game.

 

I don't see how GTA VI has a more realistic/serious vibe than GTA V..the trailers promise a goofy over the top story. Nothing really "heavy". Also the obvious inspiration from Fast & Furious doesn't help things. But we will see I guess

[Officer Ronson]

These kind of topics reminds me of Obbe Vermeij's departure because he found IV too depressing, kind of like how Andre Royo said playing Bubbles in The Wire got too depressing, the audience might enjoy it to a certain degree, but the people working on it would rather do fun stuff. 

[KonradGM]

I kinda feel 4 was on waay to on the nose when replaying it now. It was dark, but it wasn't a natural dark, it's the everything is sh*t so let's add 5 unnececeary layers of darkness to everything, instead of more toned darkness in later games R* made.

[The-Ghost]

On 5/10/2025 at 10:30 PM, DOUGL4S1 said:

 

I was going to comment and stay on topic but what the hell is happening in your signature dude am I seeing Roman lagging for a second behind the car before his EYEs caught up to him?

[franloradr]

the game sacrifice too much for the sake of realism and the dark tone

 

even characteres like roman the merely purpose of existence is to put some balance on the tone

 

but I can agree with Edward when he says VI is not V-2 in terms of tone, at least from what we have seen

 

they will probably recycle some concepts and ideas from rdr2 but adjusted to a couple instead of outlaws band

[.Ryan.]

To be honest I don’t mind because it what makes GTA IV special IMO.

 

It had all the right ingredients at the time to make it stand out and I don’t think it would be easy to replicate nor should it be attempted.

 

 

[TaylorSwiftDies2038]

4 hours ago, .Ryan. said:

To be honest I don’t mind because it what makes GTA IV special IMO.

 

It had all the right ingredients at the time to make it stand out and I don’t think it would be easy to replicate nor should it be attempted.

 

 

 

Yeah.

 

The late 2000s were the perfect time to release Grand Theft Auto IV. As I said in a previous post, the late 2000s recession hit its peak just a few months after Grand Theft Auto IV released, and Grand Theft Auto IV takes place in the autumn of 2008, so the tone that Grand Theft Auto IV goes for perfectly aligns with how it felt to live around that time; the malaise, the economic shitshow, the uncertainty and despair. It was also the immediate post 9/11 era when that was still relatively fresh on people's minds, and the game wasn't too far removed from the 2005 London attacks either, alongside the War on Terror and a bunch of other things.

 

It helped that there were other movies, games, and shows that captured that type of vibe at the time. Spider-Man 3 which released in 2007 had a very similar "orange, gritty New York" type of vibe. Kind of a coincidence, but the now cult favorite TV cartoon Chowder debuted during this time, and that also has a big city urban dense vibe that kinda reminds me of GTA IV. That type of style was en vogue at the time.

[cant remember]

I'm the stereotypical IV amazing V bad kinda person but I'm quite excited for VI. It's more vibrant and colorful but so far I don't get the impression that most of the characters are going to be goofballs. There's still a lot of potential for deeply written lore (even if it isn't enveloped in a depressing tone and setting).

The only thing about the trailers I didn't like is the obsession with 80's pop GTAVC throwbacks but beside that everything seems to be a okay. I'm hoping the game will also still be visceral in the open world, letting you gun down anyone you like and more engaging driving physics.

[TheKiwiBoy]

The thing is that (almost) every GTA game was ahead of its time. GTA SA, VC, and VI were all amazing games with there own unique stuff. SA had stamina/fitness things and VI had - for that time - the best physics. And yes, the story was quite dark with the time and location it was based. The world was in a weird time back in '08 so a 'dark' story fit well. The hype was the same at the release of GTA V and it will be the same thing with the release of GTA VI.

 

Not to mention that alot were younger and there were midnight releases back when these GTA's released so every hype was - in my oppinion - bigger. 

 

I do hope R* will make a simulair GTA in the future. It does not have to be a GTA VII, but a between-release like SA or VC is good to. Sometimes you have to take one step back to go two steps forward.

[KonradGM]

I mean V was direct response to how people said 4 was too dark soo lol. 
(Also GTA V story is META-satire, where as previous gtas althouhg being satires themselves, were mostly still based around regular story)

TBH i think 6 might be the best in tone maaaybe (we will see), since i feel the tone when it get's real it's real in like regular way and not the melo-dramatic way? As much as i love 4 i still think the biggest flaw of it was very often being dark for the sake of being dark very often (the classical rockstar writing of something not being subtle but if they want something to be bad they make it extra extra extremely bad etc), and has too much non consequential missions (although that can be said as general flaw in all their games to some extend, rdr2 is kinda random until like chapter 3).

Also i don't like how they handeled the Francis and Derrick and this might be the biggest issue i have with the story. There is something really f*cking morbid about killing a brother of both your friend and love interest, but generally again going back to rockstar not knowing when to be subtle, gta 4 moral choices are very often VERY CLEARLY stirred in one direction or the other, with only exception being the ending choice. With derrick it would be very interesting if they pin pointed more to the fact that he was indeed a rat/snake that sould out his crew from the "struggle" (something niko should find at least somewhat bothersome considering how one of his characteristic is the fact that he hates liars, and how he was sold out in the war causing him ptsd) but instead game kind of clearly steers towards killing francis as being the "better" choice and leaves derrick almost completely off the hook which is like wtf.

Like i get the idea that they wanted to build Niko as being hypocrite, considering the fact that not only does he lie to a lot of ppl in the story, very often does the same bad sh*t to people which he defends his closests from (i think the fact that after first missions of defending roman from loan sharks, Niko is doing loan sharking himself albeit on the orders of Vlad is very clever), gets mad at michelle for lying to him while he was also constantly lying to her about not being a criminal, kidnaps gracie (also what was the point of that plotline?) and is also a paid killer which ruined a bunch of lives through the story, something which dark directly calls him out for. buuuut i don't feel like the story really adresses that part of Niko if i have to be honest? Again darko calls himt out for it once (and i am actually glad this is one rare occassion where they don't put too much dialogue into it, but what they put works very well) but outside of it? The ending is mostly about how him leading violent life doens't automatically allow him to just leave it all behind, but very little i feel is done to handle the hypocricity aspect of him. 

Again i feel like all the issues i have with the story are caused by the fact it was kind of first R* game where they put more effort into story, and it had that issue of a lot of 2008 games of grit for the sake of grit where people didn't realise that they can write serious story for games. I actually would love to see them tell this story with experience  of tonality of RDR2 but oh well

[Mister Pink]

I know it's way too early to be talking about GTA Next (GTA VII) but I would love a return to more gritty east coast city. I wouldn't mind if Rockstar did some spin-offs, perhaps non-numerical GTA - a bit like Vice City and San Andreas. Something more themed and stylised, like Boston in the 1990's. The graphics for something like that don't have a leap in fidelity. Just reuse assets from GTA VI. The goal being getting a new GTA quicker and a new location for us to feast on. 

 

But so far I'm loving GTA VI's look and vibe. I was sceptical of another bright and sunny GTA. But the look and style to me 10 times better than GTA V already. We'll see though. I thought V looked amazing but let down after a while by the story and map. 

[TaylorSwiftDies2038]

On 5/27/2025 at 10:59 AM, Mister Pink said:

I know it's way too early to be talking about GTA Next (GTA VII) but I would love a return to more gritty east coast city. I wouldn't mind if Rockstar did some spin-offs, perhaps non-numerical GTA - a bit like Vice City and San Andreas. Something more themed and stylised, like Boston in the 1990's. The graphics for something like that don't have a leap in fidelity. Just reuse assets from GTA VI. The goal being getting a new GTA quicker and a new location for us to feast on. 

 

But so far I'm loving GTA VI's look and vibe. I was sceptical of another bright and sunny GTA. But the look and style to me 10 times better than GTA V already. We'll see though. I thought V looked amazing but let down after a while by the story and map. 

 

I think a Chicago parody is the next logical GTA location, as it's the largest American city to not have been parodied in the GTA Universe.

[The Made Man]

I made a thread similar to this years ago, and its quite sad. 

[Cluckin Bell CEO]

17 hours ago, TaylorSwiftDies2038 said:

 

I think a Chicago parody is the next logical GTA location, as it's the largest American city to not have been parodied in the GTA Universe.

 

They might return to LC for the next one I feel. The time gap will be big enough since IV's LC will be more than 20 years old by the time gta 7 comes out

[KonradGM]

On 5/27/2025 at 7:59 PM, Mister Pink said:

I know it's way too early to be talking about GTA Next (GTA VII) but I would love a return to more gritty east coast city. I wouldn't mind if Rockstar did some spin-offs, perhaps non-numerical GTA - a bit like Vice City and San Andreas. Something more themed and stylised, like Boston in the 1990's. The graphics for something like that don't have a leap in fidelity. Just reuse assets from GTA VI. The goal being getting a new GTA quicker and a new location for us to feast on. 

 

But so far I'm loving GTA VI's look and vibe. I was sceptical of another bright and sunny GTA. But the look and style to me 10 times better than GTA V already. We'll see though. I thought V looked amazing but let down after a while by the story and map. 

For GTA V its mostly the difference between what was showed in advertising / trailers and what was in the game. GTA V took meta narrative stance on the story, where each protagonist was some sort of commentary about gta game itself, where as other games even more silly ones still had a story.

They could keep 90% of gta v even with corrupt fib stuff, just make it more serious and less meta satire, and michel himself would carry soo much of it. Instead you get interesting ex gta protag with family, but we get rid of family after like 6 missions lmao

[ForeverIV]

Apparently Dan Houser also wanted a darker story but his ideas were declined and he left....GTA VI will likely suck ass in terms of writing