DaveM Posted January 18, 2009 Share Posted January 18, 2009 Quick question for those who know more about gaming than me (i.e. everyone on this forum!)... Never played games until my wife got me an XBOX and GTA4 for Christmas. Let me just say that GTA4 is fantastic and I've just finished the "Revenge" ending and only have the "Deal" ending left. The question is what to play next? Had messed around playing San Andreas and Vice City on a mate's PS2 a few years ago but can't really remember much about them apart from being unable to drive more than 5 yards without crashing the car. In saying that I really enjoyed my (very brief) experience of them. My question is if I started playing San Andreas (or Vice City) after GTA4 would they be a let down seeing as they are the previous generation of GTA games? Or are they still good enough to enjoy after playing the latest version? As I said I know almost nothing about gaming... would I be better off getting something like Gears of War 2 or Halo 3 (know nothing about them but they seem to be well liked by those in the know). Before anyone suggests it I do plan on getting The Lost and the Damned (although I'll also need to get broadband... yes, I am a complete dinosaur when it comes to technology) but I'd like to get something a bit more lasting seeing as this will probably be a lot shorter than GTA4. Over to you folks... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Girish Posted January 18, 2009 Share Posted January 18, 2009 I think you need to know just one thing - San Andreas is an awesome game but the graphics are nowhere near as good as IV. So, if you don't really care about the graphics part, I would highly recommend you to get SA. Moreover, it has more replay value than IV and considering that the SA map is so huge, there are endless possibilities of having fun! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lioshenka Posted January 18, 2009 Share Posted January 18, 2009 Personally I like GTA3. It has a great setting and pretty good storyline and characters. Although, the map is rather small. I find Vice boring. SA is great, there is whole lot of countryside to explore; there are tons of characters and diverse missions. But the graphics obvisouly aren't as good as GTA4. If you force yourself to play SA for a week you'll get used to it I think If you want realistic city and missions and medium level graphics get Mafia 1. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magic_Al Posted January 18, 2009 Share Posted January 18, 2009 I love San Andreas but it's hard to get back into after playing IV. Not just the graphics but the way everything handles is hard to take seriously. If you played IV in HD then SA looks even cruder. Let's say it takes some commitment to get used to SA's retro style. It's worth it to explore the map and features though. It's still one of the best game worlds ever built and offers the most different things to do of any game I know. Some cool features that didn't make it into IV make you anticipate future IV-generation GTA games when hopefully they put that stuff back in at IV's quality. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
!!GC!! Posted January 19, 2009 Share Posted January 19, 2009 My question is if I started playing San Andreas (or Vice City) after GTA4 would they be a let down seeing as they are the previous generation of GTA games? Absolutely not. The graphics aren't as good as IV, but the gameplay is better. Plus, after wandering around the dark, gloomy streets of New York, you'll be amazed at the amount of open area and color brought into the game as substitute for amazing graphics. In short, get SA, you'll love it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zmoonchild Posted January 19, 2009 Share Posted January 19, 2009 (edited) I still don’t understand the comments about San Andreas having "cruder" looking graphics… San Andreas has never looked bad to me; I do play it on PC though, with full anti-aliasing (level 3) and the graphics set at 1680 x 1050 x 32, and the frame-limiter turned off. GTA IV doesn’t have great graphics; it’s graphics are about the same as the PC version of Driver Parallel Lines, which came out a couple of years ago in 2007; that’s my opinion. GTA IV is the first game I've played since the earlier 1980's that's actually in Black & White (at least it is for about half of the time that I'm playing it)... I remember arcade game such as Asteroids, Space Invaders, and Pong being in Black & White, but that's because they used monochrome monitors. In my opinion, it's ridiculous to play a modern game in Black & White.... where's the color? When I got GTA IV, I was expecting to be blown away by these "great graphics" that the console owners were talking about… I wasn’t impressed with what I saw, and my PC is top-end with a GTX 280 video card. To answer the original question: should you get San Andreas? The answer is absolutely Yes… There are a couple of things better about GTA IV: 1) GTA IV has better driving and handling for the ground-based vehicles… aircraft & boats handle the same as San Andreas (for the most part) 2) GTA IV gives you a 6-Star Wanted Level for going into locked areas… San Andreas only gives you a 4-Star Wanted Level, which is way too easy. Edited January 19, 2009 by zmoonchild Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike0 Posted January 19, 2009 Share Posted January 19, 2009 Get GTASA for PC if you can and buy a PC joypad. GTASA has a huge world and an awesome soundtrack, you get lost in the game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lil weasel Posted January 19, 2009 Share Posted January 19, 2009 my 2 pence... IV is nice, but it's too much. Pretty it is. I think San Andreas is a much more playable game. Replayable also. Maybe it's not so pretty but it is somewhere I go back to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vercetti27 Posted January 19, 2009 Share Posted January 19, 2009 If your a gta fan, get both games, if you just want to get another game life GTA 4, get GOW or something Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mainland Marauder Posted January 20, 2009 Share Posted January 20, 2009 The wide expanses of territory that you can explore in SA seems boundless even today. After over four years I'd like to say I've seen everything but I can't really say that I have. I've played through it a number of times and may do it again soon after finishing this replay of Vice. Or maybe even before, who knows. Definitely pick it up. Should be cheap now. "You tell me exactly what you want, and I'll explain to you very carefully why it cannot be." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reform Posted January 20, 2009 Share Posted January 20, 2009 (edited) I recently went back to San Andreas after spending some quality time with IV. The gameplay of gta4 is alot better than San Andreas, but the sheer scope, freedom and diversity in San Andreas mean I can go back to that game time and time again, wheras after 100%ing IV I felt like my accomplishments were in vain, and I had little inclination to return to the streets of Liberty City. So I'd say as long as you can get used to the outdated combat system, having to eat and excersize from time to time, and the highly responsive vehicles that you whould enjoy San Andreas a lot. Edited January 20, 2009 by reform Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dingdongs Posted January 21, 2009 Share Posted January 21, 2009 I recently went back to San Andreas after spending some quality time with IV. The gameplay of gta4 is alot better than San Andreas, but the sheer scope, freedom and diversity in San Andreas mean I can go back to that game time and time again, wheras after 100%ing IV I felt like my accomplishments were in vain, and I had little inclination to return to the streets of Liberty City. So I'd say as long as you can get used to the outdated combat system, having to eat and excersize from time to time, and the highly responsive vehicles that you whould enjoy San Andreas a lot. The first GTA I ever played was Vice City at a friends house years ago, I hardly recall it. When I got into GTA, the first I purchased for myself was VC, I liked VC a lot, and about 2 weeks after getting VC I got SA. I loved SA, I kinda felt it was a bit overdone, but it was still one of the best games I ever played. I was playing VC and SA at the same time, and since I played SA a lot more I ended up completing the story lines around the same time. After that, I purchased GTA IV, and completed the storyline a couple times, then decided what the hell and got GTA 3. It is annoying for the first 15 minutes or so seeing such bad graphics compared to playing IV for such a long time and the really outdated combat system, etc. What pisses me off the most about GTA 3 is no ingame map. But after 15-20 mins I got into it and it just became another GTA for me. If I were you man, I would get GTA 3 first, play it for a half hour and get used to it, but do not go back to IV while your playing, when you beat 3 get VC, then after completing get SA, I messed up and played it out of the order it should have been. Its cool seeing the large improvements each game, but still, I had fun with all of them. I am debating finding a cheap PSP for LCS and VCS, and playing all the III era games in chronological order over again ( just the story ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel_B Posted January 21, 2009 Share Posted January 21, 2009 Probably depends on how highly you prize graphics and how good everything looks. If that's not as important to you as good gameplay, then you should still enjoy SA. YouTube has plenty of vids of it (just search for "gta san andreas"), so you could always go watch a few, see what you think of how it looks, and decide whether or not you can live with the previous-gen graphics. Hell, I still occasionally play some of the old NES games from the late-'80s that I grew up on! The great games are truly timeless... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Zilcho Posted January 21, 2009 Share Posted January 21, 2009 GTA IV is a beautiful game, with great graphics and an amazing storyline (my faovurite for any game!) but San Andreas is 100x more fun! I enjoy just jacking a PCJ and tearing around the countryside jumps, flying aronud and driving off cliffs. The deserts and cities are fanatastic and it just much more fun and replayable. Afer I completed IV 100%, I had nothing left to do. Absolutely nothing (exept for multiplayer) maybe the od chase, but that's it. Now when I paly IV, I only replay missions I realy like and saved before. But on San Andreas the possiblities of fun are endless. Buy it! U R B A N I T A S Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BallinLikeJordan Posted January 22, 2009 Share Posted January 22, 2009 GTA: SA just has way more replay value than GTA4. After I beat GTA4 I downloaded GTA:SA on my xbox 360 to play, and I'm still playing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ayushisrocking Posted January 23, 2009 Share Posted January 23, 2009 SA is a great game, even though it's not better than IV. IV has realism SA has Fun. So, you choose. Your way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lioshenka Posted January 24, 2009 Share Posted January 24, 2009 SA is a great game, even though it's not better than IV. IV has realism SA has Fun. So, you choose. Your way. I disagree. SA is much better than IV. IV seems boring to me, I am on second island ATM maybe it gets any better after a while. It is good looking and thought through, but it lacks the mood and the fun bits, which SA has. They give us all that physics and then the only place where we can go offroad are the sea defences on Hove beach. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mainland Marauder Posted January 24, 2009 Share Posted January 24, 2009 If you like off-roading, SA is the best GTA for you. Lots of open space and lots of great vehicles to do it, as well as some not-so-great ones (Cesar's Savana lowrider ) When it comes to all the open sandbox stuff to do, no GTA title touches SA. For now anyway... "You tell me exactly what you want, and I'll explain to you very carefully why it cannot be." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kailomonkey Posted January 24, 2009 Share Posted January 24, 2009 I don't have anything constructive to say really, except that I played San Andreas before GTA III and Vice City (apart from some random street crawling on someone elses console). When I came to play the earlier games I found them very hard to enjoy due to their less homed controls and city limitations, I think. If you reeeally loved GTA IV like I reeeally loved SA, I'd say your first will be your favourite. But there's only one way really to find out. I am still enjoying SA for the third play through, although I began by wishing for a cheat to complete the game, since my first completion when loaded a year later (I waited for a good price to buy it myself, since I had completed it already) would only let me start from scratch, then the second time I gave up on a tightly time-limited mission on the third city And eventually deleted this save game for card space. The third time I really know all this stuff extremely well, but to explore it anew as you might soon do, wow. You'll hopefully have alot of fun. </lifestory> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
igloo Posted January 25, 2009 Share Posted January 25, 2009 My personal fave is VC. Even after you've done everything in the game you can download mods or make them for moar fun Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ayushisrocking Posted January 25, 2009 Share Posted January 25, 2009 fun bits, which SA has. When did i not say that SA has fun???? you quoted my post, and in mu post ITSELF i've written : IV has Realism, SA has 'fun'. My personal fave is VC. Even after you've done everything in the game you can download mods or make them for moar fun , as if we can't download mods for GTA San Andreas.. weird.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flesh-n-Bone Posted January 25, 2009 Share Posted January 25, 2009 I don't have anything constructive to say really, except that I played San Andreas before GTA III and Vice City (apart from some random street crawling on someone elses console). When I came to play the earlier games I found them very hard to enjoy due to their less homed controls and city limitations, I think. It's kind of the same for me. I played SA first of all GTA's but had free roamed and messed around on an internet cafe before with VC. Not only does SA have it's storyline centered around my favorite plot (the hood) but it has so much fun which is an important aspect for me. I was bored of GTA4 the moment I finished the last mission. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Algonquin Assassin Posted January 25, 2009 Share Posted January 25, 2009 (edited) I don't see how anyone could think SA is let down after playing IV, unless they're a graphics whore. In saying that I still prefer IV over SA. I know SA has more in game content, but I feel more connected with IV. The story in IV IMO is way better than SA's. It felt more believable, and not as overdone like SA's. Not just that, but things like the driving, cover system, details, etc make IV just that bit better for me. kailomonkey- Not really sure if I agree with you that your first GTA would be your favourite. My first GTA was GTA 1 back in 1998, but my favourite jumps around like a bloody pogo stick. lol Edited January 25, 2009 by Miamivicecity Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kailomonkey Posted January 30, 2009 Share Posted January 30, 2009 kailomonkey- Not really sure if I agree with you that your first GTA would be your favourite. My first GTA was GTA 1 back in 1998, but my favourite jumps around like a bloody pogo stick. lol Heh, true. Me too. I meant when working backwards through the series really. I have GTA and GTA:London on PS and GTA:SA on PS2. I do still love the original but it's not quite the same anymore is it ^^ I've have played most the others but haven't found the balance swing towards motivation to buy any yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Algonquin Assassin Posted January 30, 2009 Share Posted January 30, 2009 kailomonkey- Not really sure if I agree with you that your first GTA would be your favourite. My first GTA was GTA 1 back in 1998, but my favourite jumps around like a bloody pogo stick. lol Heh, true. Me too. I meant when working backwards through the series really. I have GTA and GTA:London on PS and GTA:SA on PS2. I do still love the original but it's not quite the same anymore is it ^^ I've have played most the others but haven't found the balance swing towards motivation to buy any yet. I know what you're saying. I played the originals a while back, and it's just hard to believe how far GTA has come. Alot of people would most likely laugh at the original GTAs, but without them GTA, and possibly the sandbox genre would cease to exist. Still my current favourite is VC, but I've been warming up to SA alot lately. Don't be surprised if you see SA as my favourite GTA in my profile in the near future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flesh-n-Bone Posted January 30, 2009 Share Posted January 30, 2009 Still my current favourite is VC, but I've been warming up to SA alot lately. Don't be surprised if you see SA as my favourite GTA in my profile in the near future. I hope so, lol. So is SA your second fav GTA now or what? Since it seems to come up in ranks considerably by this comment. And maybe your limited interests towards the ghetto should cease to exist as well, lol. You like everything else, why not just this one? I for one enjoy anything fun. All the GTA's have their own amount of fun including the originals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Algonquin Assassin Posted January 31, 2009 Share Posted January 31, 2009 (edited) Still my current favourite is VC, but I've been warming up to SA alot lately. Don't be surprised if you see SA as my favourite GTA in my profile in the near future. I hope so, lol. So is SA your second fav GTA now or what? Since it seems to come up in ranks considerably by this comment. And maybe your limited interests towards the ghetto should cease to exist as well, lol. You like everything else, why not just this one? I for one enjoy anything fun. All the GTA's have their own amount of fun including the originals. Nah not really. I had it ranked 4th before, but ever since playing it again it has jumped right up. I think before it was because of my dislike for the ghetto. I find myself enjoying it alot more now that I'm out of LS. Really though I like all GTAs, so it's kind of hard to pick one favourite. Edited January 31, 2009 by Miamivicecity Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mz. Hazey Posted February 9, 2009 Share Posted February 9, 2009 I have always had a fascination with the Los Angeles gang culture and early 90's G-Funk theme. My favorite artists are DJ Quik, Snoop Dogg, 2Pac, Tha Dogg Pound, etc and my favorite movies are Boyz N The Hood, Menace II Society, and Friday to name a few. So you can IMAGINE when San Andreas came out I was on the verge of having a heart attack out of joy. They took my all time favorite scenario and dubbed it GTA style. I'm very biased so of course I'll say San Andreas is the best game of all time. I've played other GTAs and loved them, but nah, nothing is as good as San Andreas to me. I can sort of understand where you come from if your a graphics person, when I went back to Vice City the graphics irritated me compared to San Andreas so I imagine a lot of people feel the same going from IV to San Andreas...but trust me, other than that, this game is a gem. 100 percent. The graphics in San Andreas don't bug me like the earlier clunky graphics of past GTA's, but I do agree IV looks a lot better in terms of realism. Your choice though. I've had San Andreas for years and I'm still having fun with it daily. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragonex100 Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 I first played VC when it came out in 2002 at a friends house, and for many years later never even touched a GTA game until SA came out. I played SA at my cousins house for like 20 minutes and at that time I still like VC better. 4 years later My friend got all 3 PS2 GTA games, And I went over to his house every day JUST to play SA. Thats when I started liking it. Then I tried out GTA3 and didn't really like it, and ended up buying SA and beating the story, then losing the disk, and then I bought GTA: The trilogy, and beat all 3 games storys over and over again. Then, probably 2 years later I got GTA4 for christmas. I beat the story twice, and really like it, but the replay value is not quite as good as SA, but heres why: When Rockstar made GTA3 they had to start from scratch, which is why has little variety of things to do. Rockstar used Gta3's system to make Vice city, which is why its so much better than 3. By the time they made San andreas, they had A whole butt load of content that they already made, right at their finger tips. Thats why, and how, SA is so huge. Grand theft auto 4 is a completly new system, they had to make it the same way they made 3. We just need to be patient for the next Gta game, which is coming out Holiday 2009. It will have alot more content and variety than 4. So stop saying 4 sucks, becuase its kick-ass just like the rest of them, if not even more kick ass. All in all, get the whole trilogy. You'll understand what i'm talking about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zmoonchild Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 (edited) Grand theft auto 4 is a completly new system, they had to make it the same way they made 3. We just need to be patient for the next Gta game You’re always entitled to your opinion, but no, we shouldn’t need to wait for another release just to catch up to San Andreas, which came out almost 5 years ago. GTA IV should have included everything now, and it shouldn't be so easy that even 2-year-old could finish it; GTA IV is not challenging, it's way too easy. We just need to be patient for the next Gta game, which is coming out Holiday 2009. Really? And where did you hear that from, that it’s coming out Holiday 2009? You must really have some good inside information to know that, since no one else had heard this. Please share some of that insight with the rest of us; I’d like to hear where you heard that from... and if you choose to repond to me, please don’t reference Chinatown Wars, that can’t be compared to any of the last four PC GTA’s. It will have alot more content and variety than 4. Again, where are you getting this information from? Fabrication and wishful thinking are not going to make this a reality. So stop saying 4 sucks, becuase its kick-ass just like the rest of them, if not even more kick ass. All in all, get the whole trilogy. You'll understand what i'm talking about. Nobody in this topic said that GTA IV “sucks”… absolutely nobody. Are you sure you’re responding to the correct topic? Edited February 14, 2009 by zmoonchild Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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