A better idea for girlfriends.

[IJM]

We had Girlfriends in GTA:SA. We have them in GTA:IV. You go out with them. You get your girlfriend percentage up and you might get a little reward, sometimes useful, sometimes lame. I was thinking, that unless it's part of the story, or if you need it for 100% (if you're bothered about 100%), there's not a lot of point.

 

But then I found out about the random characters in GTA:IV and I thought. What a brilliant little idea. Just little mini stories. GTA:IV has improved the quality of the stories and the depth of the characters in general. The stories they manage to tell with the random characters are amazing given that Niko only encounters each of them once or twice. It occurred to me that perhaps that is what the girlfriend system is missing.

 

Yes, still have the girlfriend system. You still have to socialise and so forth. Still have your little mini rewards with the odd car or favour. BUT! Why not wrap little stories around them? I'm not suggesting Mills and Boon type romance garbage. I mean little stories in the vein of GTA. The Marnie story would be a good example if you imagine that you expanded upon it. As you up the like percentage, it triggers the next development in the story. You get cut scenes, scripted conversations in the car and little mini missions.

 

Probably a much more rewarding system to be gifted the next bit of storyline.

 

There you are. Opinions?

[Rhoda]

If girlfriends were to be added, a comprehensive system to make it beneficial and fun would have to be implemented; I'm sure I'm not alone when I found even the most basic task of "burger, sex" to be boring.

 

I like your idea of combining the random pedestrian missions with the girlfriend aspect. It suggests a more loose concept where the player feels less forced to participate. Who knows, maybe it was the mandatory element that put people off.

 

And if I'm reading this right, are you suggesting we do missions with our love interests? Because that's also a breath of fresh air. Certainly beats Burger Shot. I can see it now; you're driving home from a bar with your woman and you hit someone, so you and her move the body into your car, she phones a girlfriend and you all help get rid of the body. Maybe that's a bit far (taking too much of the player's time up) but if these missions are few and far between, I don't see a problem.

 

Also, the girlfriends need to match your personality and be at least somewhat bearable. Rockstar deliberately made girlfriends for Niko that not only contrasted his views and beliefs, but their personalities were dire. If we're going to make them drink, kill and have sex with one another, we may as well make them like each other.

[mkey82]

IMO they can leave random pedestrians (just make them a bit more believable - I mean, you are walking down the streets of NY and some guy asks you to spy on his wife, just like that - come on!) and the girlfriends/friends but make it optional. That is, when you see the random ped, if you want you can walk away. If you have some friends cool, let ME call THEM if I need o want to see them.

 

Or at least let us blow their f*cking heads off if we would like to eliminate the friendship option.

 

It's all good, just make the goddamn phone stop ringing. You can ignore it, but then the guy get's upset, so he sends you a message (= more hassle) ... tedious to say the least.

[IJM]

I was thinking more along the lines of each girl you meet has a story associated with her, so let's think of a simple example.

 

Say you meet a girl. She's a nice enough girl. She arrived in the city (whereever the story is based) seeking the usual fame and fortune. But instead found despicable criminals who forced her into the hooker racket. She wants out, so you help her, initially beating up and scaring off her pimp. You help her find a regular job. She asks you to help her friends who were being pimped by the same guy which you do. For a while things are alright, but then he comes back and beats on her. You find him and kill him. But later you find out he was part of a small crime organisation who are not best pleased that you 'took' their girls and killed their guy. They kidnap your girl, their plan being to draw you out and kill you. Of course you have different plans.

 

So this obviously yields several missions in the GTA vein with cutscenes and in-car conversations. This is just an example. It would be possible to come up with a better story than this that gives a better variety of missions and adds more depth to the characters involved.

Edited January 23, 2009 by IJM

[GTASIX]

No girlfriends in gta next. I just want to run around and shoot people and do stunts on bikes when not on missions.

[IJM]

Something else that could possibly be done would be to be able to pick up peds. I'm not sure how this would be initiated, but the idea is that any suitable female ped you like can be picked as a girlfriend. The game assigns her one of the remaining available storylines suited to the ped class and contructs a more detailed likeness so she can be included in cutscenes.

 

Furthermore, as peds in GTA:IV are made up by combining components (to give hundreds of different peds), your girlfriend's particular combination is noted and excluded from the generated peds, so you don't spookily see your girlfriend as a ped wandering around the place.

 

Actually, I think someone already suggested this, but it's a brilliant idea.

[Mainland Marauder]

No girlfriends in gta next. I just want to run around and shoot people and do stunts on bikes when not on missions.

I'm not big on the idea of forcing the girlfriends on to you, but as a side thing to do with perhaps some benefits, why not? You can not bother with it at all if you don't want to do any of that. You can stick to the bike stunts or killing random peds or whatever flies your flag.

[IJM]

I do agree that the way GTA:IV forces your friends and girlfriends on you can be a bit much. There needs to be a happy medium struck, so that it's a bit more optional, doesn't nag you (at least not quite as much) and doesn't penalise your stats if you don't.

 

But I was after a way to make the girlfriend thing more entertaining and more rewarding to do.

[Omnia sunt Communia]

As much as I like this idea, I can't help but think it would distract from the main storyline. I'm all for subplots but is this just taking it too far? I think girlfriends are fine just the way there are, the only thing that really needs to be changed is there "don't call me, I'll call you" policy.

[Drunk Russian 9]

Here's what I want of a side-story:

 

1. You meet her in a bar, have a small conversation and get her number.

 

2. She calls to say she wants you to come along with her and her friend(female) to a nightclub.

2.5. Get high and get laid with two chicks/get drunk and get laid with one/stay sober and don't get laid(all up to you).

 

3. You call her to talk and you end up taking her out to dinner(like dating is now).

 

4. She calls you to go to a rough metal-head club . . . you agree/disagree.

4.5. At the club she see's her ex and he picks a fight with you. You can stab/shoot/punch him, all have diff. effect on your GF.

5. She apologizes/freaks out and you take her home.

 

6. (normal date . . . nightclub, metal-club, dinner, w/e)

 

7. She calls crying to dump you on the phone (are you ok?/ fine we're over)

7.1 She tells you there's nothing you can do but you insist on finding out . . . you come over she says she got raped by a guy she knew at a club she went to with her friend.

7.2 You ask for his name . . . she hesitates then gives it to you . . . you say don't worry everything will be OK.

7.3 You go find a police car, search up his name . . . find out his location(jazz club).

7.4 Wait for him to leave . . . follow him to his car parked in the parking lot and whip out a silenced pistol, put it to his head and tell him "Your life for her misery" and kill him on the spot. Get rid the body . . .

 

8. She finds out next week he's dead, and gives you hints that she knows you killed him. She says her brother does that often . . . that you might prove a valuable asset to him. You get his number(a whole diff. side story)

 

9. (you buy her a gift . . . she give you a perk)

 

10. (continue dating and random occurrences and have company from now and then)

Edited January 24, 2009 by Drunk Russian 9

[Tommy Dickfingers]

Scrap the girlfriends completely. It was crap in San Andreas and crap in GTA IV.

You want relationships and pointless gameplay, go play Sims.

[Girish]

 

Scrap the girlfriends completely. It was crap in San Andreas and crap in GTA IV.

You want relationships and pointless gameplay, go play Sims.

You see, it's very easy to bring something like Sims into the picture when we talk about girlfriends and such. But if we're talking about realism and for a sandbox game like GTA where you interact with people in an open world, I can't help but think that relationships do have to play a certain part in the game. Definitely not a significant part of the main storyline, but the player should have an option to forge relationships as and how they wish to. I enjoy the feeling of completeness with such small things in a game. Once again, it should just be an option though. Anyone hardly complained about girlfriends in SA and that's because they were completely optional and had nothing to do with the storyline or achieving 100%. That's what I'm talking about.

[Kenster1025]

I have a better Idea for GF's, allowing for you to have them served and claim their money and apartments. There should also be a way of getting some sort of income from them.

[fishermanGTA]

I have never been a fan of GTA girlfriends, usually opting to ignore them, but I can

see myself starting to "date" them if something like this were implemented.

[bigmike72]

if you want a girlfriend go outside and get a life

[kailomonkey]

I like the idea of mini-storylines although I'd like them to overlap alittle with the main plot, enough to keep everything tidy and give the sideplot alittle more credability. This doesn't have to use the existing girlfriend building systems but whatever can keep the experience fun.

 

Having them overflow into the plot yet having them optional could serve to enhance the main storyline, with small differences in the main storyline occuring. Other optional areas of the game could have effects of a similar nature on the plot too, to really allow the player to shape their game whilst still moving the story along.

 

Actual romance stories should probably be avoided, hassle and hard work should be minimised and some believable yet funny incidents should occur for the not very thoughtful polygamist.

 

 

Adressing the ideas of picking up random women and such, I have thought about that myself in the past. The freedom and realism being the drive, although now I think some pushes for realism might not serve to making a more enjoyable game. If this were the case though, there could be one-night stands (I want those atleast as some sub-reward for dancing well at the clubs) who you will take back to one of your appartments.

 

The longer-term relationships will want to know where you live as you get more involved, and eventually want to share keys and spend more and more time hanging at your house (the one they know), although you could get access to their house at the same time. So the more appartments you have, the more girlfriends you can safely string along. Telling two girlfriends about the same house would be very risky, as they will likely bump into eachother eventually and not be happy.

 

Now, having picked up a fling in the night-club you will have to take her back to one of your appartments, if you are silly enough to take her to one that has a girlfriend visiting, that would cause similar confrontations, although the fling won't care that much ofcourse.

 

Now all this already sounds alittle fanciful and fiddley, so if such a thing was included there should definately be advantages to having a girlfriend, even if it is as little as having a companion riding with you with different looks and skills (abit like the vehicles). The skills should be well balanced if you want to encourage polygomy and expansion of safehouses. The way you earn relationship progress should be more open/optional, less repetitive, faster (simply having a girl around should bring you both closer). The missions/storylines that do come from the girlfriend alone should be fun/funny/enjoyable with good dialogue, such as each girlfriend's revenge mission. If you do have certain things girlfriends like to do just once in a while, they should be only once except if chosen by the player. The same goes for friends, infact most of it should apply to friends. They should be easy/enjoyable not all consuming, and give worthwhile rewards (including access to extra appartments)...

Edited January 28, 2009 by kailomonkey

[IJM]

 

I like the idea of mini-storylines although I'd like them to overlap alittle with the main plot, enough to keep everything tidy and give the sideplot alittle more credability. This doesn't have to use the existing girlfriend building systems but whatever can keep the experience fun.

 

Having them overflow into the plot yet having them optional could serve to enhance the main storyline, with small differences in the main storyline occuring. Other optional areas of the game could have effects of a similar nature on the plot too, to really allow the player to shape their game whilst still moving the story along.

 

Actual romance stories should probably be avoided, hassle and hard work should be minimised and some believable yet funny incidents should occur for the not very thoughtful polygamist.

 

 

Adressing the ideas of picking up random women and such, I have thought about that myself in the past. The freedom and realism being the drive, although now I think some pushes for realism might not serve to making a more enjoyable game. If this were the case though, there could be one-night stands (I want those atleast as some sub-reward for dancing well at the clubs) who you will take back to one of your appartments.

 

The longer-term relationships will want to know where you live as you get more involved, and eventually want to share keys and spend more and more time hanging at your house (the one they know), although you could get access to their house at the same time. So the more appartments you have, the more girlfriends you can safely string along. Telling two girlfriends about the same house would be very risky, as they will likely bump into eachother eventually and not be happy.

 

Now, having picked up a fling in the night-club you will have to take her back to one of your appartments, if you are silly enough to take her to one that has a girlfriend visiting, that would cause similar confrontations, although the fling won't care that much ofcourse.

 

Now all this already sounds alittle fanciful and fiddley, so if such a thing was included there should definately be advantages to having a girlfriend, even if it is as little as having a companion riding with you with different looks and skills (abit like the vehicles). The skills should be well balanced if you want to encourage polygomy and expansion of safehouses. The way you earn relationship progress should be more open/optional, less repetitive, faster (simply having a girl around should bring you both closer). The missions/storylines that do come from the girlfriend alone should be fun/funny/enjoyable with good dialogue, such as each girlfriend's revenge mission. If you do have certain things girlfriends like to do just once in a while, they should be only once except if chosen by the player. The same goes for friends, infact most of it should apply to friends. They should be easy/enjoyable not all consuming, and give worthwhile rewards (including access to extra appartments)...

I like these ideas.

 

Your first point about the side plots: I think you'll find that in both the GTAs that have had this feature, they have always had two girlfriends integrated with the plot in some way or other. We had Denise whom we rescued in San Andreas and Millie whom we needed for the Casino Heist. In GTA:IV we have Michelle who we meet via Malorie and turns out to be undercover and Kate who we meet via Packie and plays a key part in one of the endings. These are in part set up to introduce the girlfriend system and then play a part in the plot. I don't think this will change if they choose to include girlfriends in future GTAs. Some will be part of the main plot, some a subplot and other just have nothing to do with any element of the any other plot.

 

I like the idea about the picking up girls in clubs, one night stands, different apartments and trying to operate numerous relationships. It wasn't quite what I meant by picking up any suitable ped as a girlfriend, but it's another nice element to introduce.

 

I'm not sure how easy it would be to implement something in which you involve a girlfriend in your plot and missions on a dynamic basis. In fact, working out a workable mechanism might be quite difficult. It's a cool idea, but it would need a lot of work to devise a decent way of doing it that is code-able.

[El Zilcho]

All these ideas sound really cool. I think they would add some well needed depth to the next game, and it's always good to ahve something to do after ther game is voer or during it, and these seem like good distractions that deepen the story and keep you entertained.

[NMDanny]

IMO they can leave random pedestrians (just make them a bit more believable - I mean, you are walking down the streets of NY and some guy asks you to spy on his wife, just like that - come on!) and the girlfriends/friends but make it optional. That is, when you see the random ped, if you want you can walk away. If you have some friends cool, let ME call THEM if I need o want to see them.

i don't think that random ped will see an stranger, come to him and ask him to spy on his wife..

 

but girlfriend stories is ok, but normal friends are better cause they probably got more interesting stories

[kailomonkey]

Don't forget Catalina in SA. I know she wasn't a regular girlfriend but then she wasn't a regular girl. A shame CJ loses her, she might be crazy but I think she was probably the love of his life lol. Just my impression In a way she's a better example of the kind of girlfriend I'd like to see (one-off missions, fun and character specific, overlaps into the plot kinda).

 

Apologies if 've over-used the spoiler tags, hope they're alright.

[NCIS-guy]

Girlfriends in SA was okay, because i like the clothes you got from them, but in GTA IV i chose to kill them ALL!!! there was no clothes, and the benefits goes away when you kill them

[problem_child2099]

i like where you were going wit youe idea but how about after you reach a ceartin point in the relationship your able to use their place as a safehouse ( i mean what guy doesnt spend the night at his girls place or vice versa) but thats jus my opinion

[Dragonex100]

No girlfriends in gta next. I just want to run around and shoot people and do stunts on bikes when not on missions.

Those where the days.....Of vice city. Things have changed.

[Leo Colt]

I do prefer the idea of just having some plot related and some not at all. But they should all be more "Catalina-like," because it's women like her that I can imagine hanging around people like Carl and Niko. You should be able to take them on a run-around and crime-sprees, integrating them into the gameplay much more, and also get more perks for investing time into the relationship. Like the keys to their houses to use as safehouses, or specially modded cars with better performance that are exclusive to them. But little sidestories for each one would be interesting. Or random missions for them; like "take me shopping" which ends up with her shoplifting and a police chase; or "take me to the beach" where a crazy stalker starts harassing her and you have to beat him up. Obviously, the more criminal girlfriends could have more interesting missions similar to Catalina's.

 

I didn't mind the girlfriend feature in SA because you got a few perks from each one. I hated it in GTA IV because you only get one little bonus for each one, and they hardly ever work for me. Makes the whole thing seem quite pointless. At least in SA it was less so.

Edited February 22, 2009 by Leo Colt

[Dragonex100]

You could do drive-by's with denise

[Rhoda]

 

I do prefer the idea of just having some plot related and some not at all. But they should all be more "Catalina-like," because it's women like her that I can imagine hanging around people like Carl and Niko. You should be able to take them on a run-around and crime-sprees, integrating them into the gameplay much more, and also get more perks for investing time into the relationship.

I loved the missions involved Catalina, though I used to be rather on the fence. I think this new opinion is based on just how poor the other romantic interests have been. Not just in San Andreas, but other installments too. In a way, I wish there would have been more than 4, they were a nice change from the hustle and bustle of the big city. Robbing tankers is something I certainly want from my in-game girl.

 

And the perks idea would just sweeten the deal. I'd put up with piss-poor fast food restaurant visits for more health, weapons and a special vehicle to show off.