Is it The Game or Me?

[thatsoccerguy]

Like everyone else I was ecstatic about getting my hands on VCS and once again delving into 80's Vice City but here I am a month plus after its release and the farthest I got was when you get introduced to Empires and I haven't touched it since. I just don't feel any incentive or reason to play on. There's nothing I can really pinpoint why I feel this way, its GTA alright but eh its like there's something missing. Is it just the PSP format or is it that what GTA is, has become stale and its getting tiresome?

 

I have to admit towards the end of LCS I was feeling the same way and as such I never finished the storyline and it too hasn't been touched in a long time. Has GTA outgrown us? I am just too old to appreciate it? Do small screens make a difference?

 

exactly how i feel......

[scalliano]

I've played them all (with the exception of VCS) about four or five times over and still get a kick from them. Even just to sit down and piss about with the cops for an hour or so still gets me going. I still think San An is the single greatest achievement in gaming history and if there ever is a SAS I'll be the first in line. There was so much of that map that was untouched and even then the game was huge. And I also think that the Stories games are still head and shoulders above the endless GTA knock-offs we've seen recently (The Getaway, Saint's Row, True Crime, etc.)

 

Take heart, people. I don't think GTA is done yet, but after jacking a harrier jump jet, downing a few others, taking a hit, parachuting from the flaming wreck just before it wraps itself around a building, massacring a few hundred cops, federal agents and soldiers coming at me in tanks, bringing an entire urban traffic system to a standstill by taking down a passing plane in a high-speed minigun-led motorway bloodbath while standing on the back of a flatbed truck pursued by an entire fleet of police cars and successfully escaping on a BMX, it's difficult to imagine just what direction GTA4 will take.

[VCNMaverick]

People, please think. Rockstar never meant for the GTA Stories series to be revolutionary like III, VC, and SA. Like another poster said, they're simply little side games meant to tide us over and give us short GTA fixes until GTA IV comes out (which I'm sure will trump any free-roam game we've ever played). If you don't like playing them on PSP, wait for the PS2 port, and if you just don't like the Stories games, don't play them!

 

This puzzles me also, because no one ever gave Super Mario 64 DS any crap, and that was a port of an 8 year old game, yet people still praised it like it was 1996. I believe VCS deserves that same respect, and people tend to forget how amazing it is that they crammed all of this into a portable system, with only a few (folks, there really aren't that many) glitches. If anything, Rockstar might also be wanting to keep us thinking about GTA, because I know if it weren't for the Stories series, I might have lost interest in GTA during the three years of waiting.

[jarjar]

Age doesn't have much to do with it, I think it's more the fact that we aren't seeing anything NEW. GTA3 was a new genre and a new type of gaming, since, we have only seen it built upon. My father once asked me, "Why do you both buying each game, it's just the same as the last?". He has a point, sadly, Rockstar have been falling behind in the 'NEW' side of things. Yes, new features are awesome and all. But thats not all it takes to make a game great, you need new types of game plays and a new type of way of playing the game. As of yet, we haven't seen any of them since GTA3. Grand Theft Auto is fun, but it is not changing or growing with other similar games.

[vint_cool]

People, please think. Rockstar never meant for the GTA Stories series to be revolutionary like III, VC, and SA. Like another poster said, they're simply little side games meant to tide us over and give us short GTA fixes until GTA IV comes out (which I'm sure will trump any free-roam game we've ever played).

When u r paying $50 for a game, dont you expect some quality out of it ? why should we, as the customers care, what R* intends the game to be....we want value for the money we spend....thats the bottomline !

[jarjar]

People, please think. Rockstar never meant for the GTA Stories series to be revolutionary like III, VC, and SA. Like another poster said, they're simply little side games meant to tide us over and give us short GTA fixes until GTA IV comes out (which I'm sure will trump any free-roam game we've ever played).

When u r paying $50 for a game, dont you expect some quality out of it ? why should we, as the customers care, what R* intends the game to be....we want value for the money we spend....thats the bottomline !

Correct. How many people do you think played VCS and went 'Wow, this blows'? Probably a lot. Now not to criticis, since I don't really mind the game. It's the fact that they are not upgrading the GTA gaming experience. We are basically playing the same game, with different models, a few new kinds of missions and a different player model.

[Soloudithertz]

i have trouble getting into VCS because san andreas was so damn good. vcs doesnt even compare.

[xrk]

 

Yeah I am 22 so you could be right, having seen GTA from the start I may just be over the whole thing. I have noticed at least in this community that many what I'd consider old skool fans are leaving the GTA scene or are going into hiding. That is until GTA4 comes out and hype for something new in GTA will arise. Well I hope so anyway

I dont think its age, I'm older than you and have also played them since the first, but (at least around here) things seem to have drastically changed since hot coffee happened imo and like jarjar said the psp games are really nothing new in the same cities.

 

Edit

and as said in the post above, Sa changed the standard a bit too.

[Rob.]

I too was looking forward to the games release, I think though in the end i enjoyed the hype more than the game itself.

 

I didn't even complete the story mode, i just downloaded a 100% save file.

 

R* need to boost the gameplay in GTA4 to full make the love of GTA come back into us fans.

[Makkarakunkku]

Like everyone else I was ecstatic about getting my hands on VCS and once again delving into 80's Vice City but here I am a month plus after its release and the farthest I got was when you get introduced to Empires and I haven't touched it since. I just don't feel any incentive or reason to play on. There's nothing I can really pinpoint why I feel this way, its GTA alright but eh its like there's something missing. Is it just the PSP format or is it that what GTA is, has become stale and its getting tiresome?

 

I have to admit towards the end of LCS I was feeling the same way and as such I never finished the storyline and it too hasn't been touched in a long time. Has GTA outgrown us? I am just too old to appreciate it? Do small screens make a difference?

I have just the same.. I just made to the East island and im like: AAhh i dont want to play that anymore..

[AngelDude]

People, please think. Rockstar never meant for the GTA Stories series to be revolutionary like III, VC, and SA. Like another poster said, they're simply little side games meant to tide us over and give us short GTA fixes until GTA IV comes out (which I'm sure will trump any free-roam game we've ever played).

When u r paying $50 for a game, dont you expect some quality out of it ? why should we, as the customers care, what R* intends the game to be....we want value for the money we spend....thats the bottomline !

$50? Thats nothing compared to England? We pay up to £50 ($90 + ) and we think thats a reasonable price!

I really want to get this game, I played my friends VCS for half an hour and I dunno, maybe i'm addicted to GTA because I could have played that for hours.

[kingvercetti]

To be honest I don't think it's the formula, it's just the game, as any day I could just turn on 3, VC or SA and have tons and tons of fun...I personally haven't touched VCS in a few months though...

 

I think it's party due to the fact that there's no really new features, and the same cities just give the "been there, done it" impression.

[Starion]

 

Like everyone else I was ecstatic about getting my hands on VCS and once again delving into 80's Vice City but here I am a month plus after its release and the farthest I got was when you get introduced to Empires and I haven't touched it since. I just don't feel any incentive or reason to play on. There's nothing I can really pinpoint why I feel this way, its GTA alright but eh its like there's something missing. Is it just the PSP format or is it that what GTA is, has become stale and its getting tiresome?

 

I have to admit towards the end of LCS I was feeling the same way and as such I never finished the storyline and it too hasn't been touched in a long time. Has GTA outgrown us? I am just too old to appreciate it? Do small screens make a difference?

I know what you mean. I think its a exellent game and all but it isnt what it should be. I think now im just too used to san andreas with its really improved physics, huge huge map, eating and player customisation ive forgotton what gta once was and still should be. Just like xrk said.

I asked a freind at school once who usually plays gta if he was going to get vcs and he said that sa still rocks and why would he play a game thats more expensive and has less features than sa.

Its the psp too as well, if the psp never existed probably would of made this new series especially for the ps2 with the san andreas engine and they would of made them to perfection. But becuase its for the psp you can see that everything is scaled down and detail has been took away. On the cars in particular you can see that the have made them as light on polygons and possible. Its not the same...

Its definetly got the right formuler to be a great gta..but ive gotton too used to sa now.

San andreas storys is our last hope. But even that would be on the old vice engine (becuase its already been modded for the psp) and would have to be really really rushed too.

Edited December 9, 2006 by starion

[creative madman]

i disagree, i dont think if there was a PSP the Stories Series would exist at all..

 

the selling point IS the PSP...otherwise no one but GTA Fans would be overwhelmed by playing the same map with an outdated game code...

[Rashon.]

 

I know what you mean. I think its a exellent game and all but it isnt what it should be. I think now im just too used to san andreas with its really improved physics, huge huge map, eating and player customisation ive forgotton what gta once was and still should be. Just like xrk said.

I asked a freind at school once who usually plays gta if he was going to get vcs and he said that sa still rocks and why would he play a game thats more expensive and has less features than sa.

Well, I think you and your friend still too used to San Andreas.

 

 

 

Its the psp too as well, if the psp never existed  probably would of made this new series especially for the ps2 with the san andreas engine and they would of made them to perfection. But becuase its for the psp you can see that everything is scaled down and detail has been took away. On the cars in particular you can see that the have made them as light on polygons and possible. Its not the same...

Its definetly got the right formuler to be a great gta..but ive gotton too used to sa now.

I disagree. Do you really think if Liberty and Vice City Stories were only on the PS2, that it'd be on the San Andreas engine? GTA3 and Vice City weren't so what makes you think that would happen and also you have to remember that Liberty City and Vice City aren't as big in landmass as San Andreas.

 

 

San andreas storys is our last hope. But even that would be on the old vice engine (becuase its already been modded for the psp) and would have to be really really rushed too.

 

How would you know that San Andreas Stories would be using the Vice City engine??? Rockstar should know that they made Vice City Stories with a lot of glitches (and overrated glitches I might add) so San Andreas Stories shouldn't be rushed. We know that there are good and bad glitches in every GTA game so you should talk about the glitches so much. Now San Andreas really spoiled a lot of GTA gamers. You cannot compare the PSP GTA titles to San Andreas in particular because it doesn't use the same goddamn engine.

[DarthSlurpee]

I've recently been given a PSP by a friend (only borrowing, of course) with GTA: LCS, and while it's fun, I must say it's nowhere near as fun or as exciting as a GTA is for a console/PC. It's been really cool to be able to hold GTA in my hands (it's weird for me), but it's just not the same. The controls get me annoyed sometimes, and it's really hard to see details most of the time. It's near impossible to play while moving (in a car or just walking)- if I'm driving a car (in the game), it's a guarantee that I'm going to total the car I'm in before I reach my destination.

[edisoncarter]

It's getting boring because there's not enough new. The main fun in GTA (besides hacking it) is exploring a new city.

 

VCS is basically the same game as Vice City except for the story which is pretty lame. Actually, some of my favorite things were taken out. No RC toys, no stores you can rob, no Tooled Up, Screw This or Bunch of Tools, no buildings you can enter without teleporting, and no cars fly cheat!

 

LCS had a little more that was new. It was LC running on the VC engine with motorcycles and helicopters for the first time in Liberty City, and the whole idea of GTA on a PSP was new. It had a whole corner of the middle island rebuilt. The story in LCS was well written and a different style from past GTAs.

 

If they did SAS, the map is so huge there are whole sections that were barely used. If they put new missions in underused areas like the west downtown part of LS, Mt Chiliad and rural areas, and the west side of SF in the Hashbury district it would feel pretty new.

 

Edit:

After the underwhelming response to VCS, I don't know if they'll do another Stories game. Also, after the improvements in GTA 4 it'll be hard to go back to the old engine.

Edited December 10, 2006 by edisoncarter

[RDK9390]

To an extend, I agree it was a bit of a disappointment

 

I can't explain it, but for some reason when I think of the first Vice City i think of great memories of the 80s miami atmosphere, the soundtrack, characters, etc

 

With VCS, all of those were present, but not nearly to the same extend...

 

I did complete storyline...and the game definetely had good meaning to me by the end (especially the phil collins performance), but it wasnt quite what i hoped for...

 

i kinda think if rockstar puts it out on ps2 it will slightly better it...

[palaric8]

i want my 50$ back ...i could be playing a good game with that money..

 

dont buy vcs..is not reall worth it.

 

and gtafreak3 i think you're old thats why you dont like games like you did before

[vicecitymayor]

Playing VCS has made my opinion on LCS rise.

 

None of VCS' new features have been great.

 

Empire Building: Very boring after a while

More Interiors: Boring Clothes and convenience stores with no purpose

Theme Park: One rideable ferris wheel which sucks

Size: Twice as big as LCS?: No for both play area, and missions

Golf Mini Game: No, boring

 

No new weapons, vechiles pretty much the same.

 

There is one thing which i like: Water, the physics are much improved, and the ability to swim in vice citys waters.

 

Comapre this game to 2002's release - Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. Is it any better? No way. Compare it to GTA3, is it any better? Probably not.

 

 

 

[Gantons Most Wanted]

hey everyone i've not played VCS yet and i know alot of peepz have been saying the glitches are bad etc and that the storys too short well thing that sort of annoys me is that they make a big hype about it and then it turns out to be a dissapointment i mean i've been playing gta since III came out and i've always liked it even when LCS came out yyeah it was a big step back from SA but i thought it was a great game and VCS does look like it in a way only thing thats annoyed me a lil with the stories titles is after you do everything theres nothing to do no new perks for when you complete the game or do it 100% and the fact that in the final missions there always easy or the fact all the people you've helped aren't a key part in the finale unless there the antagonist you have to kill or whos screwed you over etc i just hope if they do make an SAS game they make the story more in depth more new things that will be fun and not bore the crap out of you but maybe if they made empire mode have some more perks that are acctually decent maybe more vehicles and since they brought property development into it with empire mode that built after a few days maybe some places in the next game to be just flat land that builds into a mansion over a few days

[InvertedShadow]

I really loved LCS. I really did. I played through it to the end. VCS really seems to be lacking and unpolished. I haven't played it since the day I got it :S.

I played LCS all the time. VCS just isn't as fun for me.

[Pat]

Simply put, Leeds f*cked up.

 

I can remember playing VC for the first time. Getting on a motercycle. Flying a helicopter. Hearing the main character talk (Imo). Changing clothes. INTERIORS! Eighties music!

 

But then I play VCS and it's almost the same. But it's missing something. I haven't played VCS in about a week, and I sometimes play it on roadtrips and such. Rarely though. If they make SAS, I don't think I'll even buy it. Like Christmas, the waiting was more fun then when you acctually got it.

 

I miss my CheatDevice. That's one of the main reasons LCS was almost always in my hands/pocket.

[edisoncarter]

I've been thinking about finishing the PRX version of LCS CheatDevice. Either that or I need to get FW 2.6 emulation set up in my DevHook. It's a tribute to the construction of Liberty City that it's such a classic it's still interesting to play with.

 

 

I can't explain it, but for some reason when I think of the first Vice City i think of great memories of the 80s miami atmosphere, the soundtrack, characters, etc

 

With VCS, all of those were present, but not nearly to the same extend...

Maybe because the VCS missions are mainly on the west island in trailer parks and more gritty parts of town. Most of the neon and 80's atmosphere is on the east island.

[palaric8]

 

If they make SAS, I don't think I'll even buy it. Like Christmas, the waiting was more fun then when you acctually got it. 

 

 

 

you toke the words out of my @mouth

 

the waiting full of hell

when i got the game ....boring as hell

 

im not buying SAS.

[GTA3Freak-2001]

I can't explain it, but for some reason when I think of the first Vice City i think of great memories of the 80s miami atmosphere, the soundtrack, characters, etc

 

With VCS, all of those were present, but not nearly to the same extend...

Maybe because the VCS missions are mainly on the west island in trailer parks and more gritty parts of town. Most of the neon and 80's atmosphere is on the east island.

Ah that's what it is, I haven't even played far enough to even unlock the other island and you are right the East island captured Miami in the 80's better. So most missions are all on the west side? That's a bit disappointing as I felt the northern parts of the East Island was underused in Vice City.

[WILLY1]

hey man it is just the psp. i tried gta lcs on the psp and it was terrible. the ps2 version is great. everyone says how much the game stinks.

 

one thing about its touch is that the radio isnt that funny anymore, and none of the music is any good. Think of sanandreas's or even better vice citys.

 

im also gettin sick of the cusing, i mean in vice city and they at least made it funny, now it is gettin to serious. i liked when they tried to make it funny.

 

let me no if you have the same dislikes i have

[silencio]

i personally havent played gta LCS or VCS yet...but wif all the critics around say things like "ewww...same tiring storyline" or "sh*t....nothing interesting...wasted my 30 bucks" i can guess tat the story line for all the stories version of GTA is very boring...but wat can u expect frm a hand held game....it is so small yet pple expect great things frm it...i mean...cmon...think realistically...psp has its limits like the PS1 and PS2...so we cant really blame R* for such a sucky game and all...if the psp had the technological ability of a xbox 360 then R* is to be blamed if they would to continue to producing games as sucky as current ver of LCS and VCS...well gta has opened doors to new idea like free roaming and all...so i would say it is an exceptional game despite the fact tat it has the same boring missions and all.....I still havent lost the spark yet..so i say...ROCK ON ROCKSTAR!!!!!

[Gantons Most Wanted]

well am not going to judge until i've played the game itself but i think its funny how palaric8 used absolutly worship VCS funny how times change but if you think its so bad why don't you get a job at R* an get some changes made if you hate it so much

[Stuch]

I can't agree more. A few hours into VCS and it kinda hit me. Its the same thing, again. Its just been recycled, and unfortunately took four recyclings for us to realise. I don't think it's the PSP, they could have acheived alot on the PSP and i certainly didn't feel this way about LCS.

I think the reason most people are a bit tired of the series, is because rockstar really haven't taken their time. Sure, making a game is hard work, compressing it all onto a UMD is hard work but the least they could have done is spice the story up a bit, added some great new features and fixed the bugs. 5 years of the same thing has taken it's tole, and i hate to say it, but IMO, Rockstar Killed The GTA we all loved to play.

 

Lets just hope GTA4 brings something new, fresh and exiting. And hopefully the change in graphics and the removal of the same flaws that have dragged the series will create a whole new game style. Finally, i think, one of the most important aspects is that Rockstar re-establish the contact with us, the fans. The one thing I would hate to see, above all others, is Rockstar becoming the same-old, run-of-your-mill corporate giant who has no time or money for anyone but themselves. And, I believe it's this lack of contact that ultimately is killing the series.