What were the false/scrapped promises for this

[IllnessGTA]

Apparently they were going to make GTA IV vertical city but scrapped it and I don't even know what they mean by vertical city.

 

Is there any more?

[Ash_735]

Apparently they were going to make GTA IV vertical city but scrapped it and I don't even know what they mean by vertical city.

 

Is there any more?

Haha, apparently it was scrapped but you don't know what it means, they've near enough stuck to it, it just means they've designed the city to go upwards, lots of tall buildings that you have access to, towering over the city. Which is true, standing on top of Rotterdam tower is obviously more visually impressive compared to standing on top of the sky scrapers in San Andreas.

[AnotherDave]

The vertical city term meant that the city would be interactive at more than ground level. So the window cleaning lifts, climbable telephone poles (which were cut), stairwells to the rooftops of buildings, fire escapes etc. etc. are all examples of how IV's Liberty City is a 'vertical' city.

[Mokrie Dela]

"Any more"

 

Well the ability to follow any given ped as they go about their day, follow them home and they go to work etc. Would have made Algonquin assassins evern more awesome.

 

I have to say this too...

Fingerless gloves! Seriously, when u have good solid game, you have to throw a wobbly over the lack of gloves....

[MC.]

Storing weapons in the trunk of your vehicle and Pay N Sprays were not supposed to be in the game.

[Magic_Al]

There is some impressive verticality in the game. I think the bridges get taken for granted, the Broker bridge having different levels for cars, pedestrians, and trains is pretty elaborate. There's also the train system running under Algonquin and over Broker/Dukes/Bohan, which is much more complex than in previous GTAs. And there are some tall buildings with accessible stairwells going to the roof and a few apartment buildings with accessible corridors on every floor.

 

Unfortunately, without giving Niko more Lara Croft-like abilities, and before the addition of parachutes in TBoGT, the vertical stuff doesn't add much excitement to gameplay. Running up and down 10 flights of stairs is as tedious as it is in real life.

 

At least it was finally possible to use ladders. By San Andreas it was getting ridiculous that ladders were not usable.

 

What I'd like to see to make the 3D space seem more 3D would be street-to-roof access of every building, manholes and sewers running under the streets, working elevator lifts inside buildings (not teleporters that are only on when the script allows it), windows above street level that can be opened and climbed through, a firetruck with a very high climbable ladder, and door and window access from inside buildings to fire escapes and balconies.

Edited November 19, 2009 by Magic_Al

[visionist]

What I'd like to see to make the 3D space seem more 3D would be street-to-roof access of every building, manholes and sewers running under the streets, working elevator lifts inside buildings (not teleporters that are only on when the script allows it), windows above street level that can be opened and climbed through, a firetruck with a very high climbable ladder, and door and window access from inside buildings to fire escapes and balconies.

Ditto. I'd also like to see a lot more detail in rooftops. Ventilators, chimneys, skylights etc. These are sketchy in IV. Some buildings have them, some do not. Especially the big tall scyscrapers can be very elaborate in reaLl life at roof level; as of now the game does not reflect this. TV antennas, damagable watertanks, working fans etc, all little details which would add immensely to the fun of exploration.

[gtathebest4ever]

What I'd like to see to make the 3D space seem more 3D would be street-to-roof access of every building, manholes and sewers running under the streets, working elevator lifts inside buildings (not teleporters that are only on when the script allows it), windows above street level that can be opened and climbed through, a firetruck with a very high climbable ladder, and door and window access from inside buildings to fire escapes and balconies.

I think something is wrong with me, but I love sewers in video games. There could be some awesome missions in the sewers.

[Restelo94]

What I'd like to see to make the 3D space seem more 3D would be street-to-roof access of every building, manholes and sewers running under the streets, working elevator lifts inside buildings (not teleporters that are only on when the script allows it), windows above street level that can be opened and climbed through, a firetruck with a very high climbable ladder, and door and window access from inside buildings to fire escapes and balconies.

I think something is wrong with me, but I love sewers in video games. There could be some awesome missions in the sewers.

The Subway will do I guess...

and damnit! @ your sig

[DHoff]

I think something is wrong with me, but I love sewers in video games. There could be some awesome missions in the sewers.

Nothing wrong with that. Ever since III I wanted them to be accessible.

[Nillus]

 

There is some impressive verticality in the game. I think the bridges get taken for granted, the Broker bridge having different levels for cars, pedestrians, and trains is pretty elaborate.  There's also the train system running under Algonquin and over Broker/Dukes/Bohan, which is much more complex than in previous GTAs.  And there are some tall buildings with accessible stairwells going to the roof and a few apartment buildings with accessible corridors on every floor.

 

Unfortunately, without giving Niko more Lara Croft-like abilities, and before the addition of parachutes in TBoGT, the vertical stuff doesn't add much excitement to gameplay.  Running up and down 10 flights of stairs is as tedious as it is in real life.

 

At least it was finally possible to use ladders.  By San Andreas it was getting ridiculous that ladders were not usable.

 

What I'd like to see to make the 3D space seem more 3D would be street-to-roof access of every building, manholes and sewers running under the streets, working elevator lifts inside buildings (not teleporters that are only on when the script allows it), windows above street level that can be opened and climbed through, a firetruck with a very high climbable ladder, and door and window access from inside buildings to fire escapes and balconies.

It would be epic to have sewerages running under the city yeah, with pigeons & beggars in them for you to track and hunt down. Don't forget about Ratman, too.

[Mokrie Dela]

not to mention getting away form cops would be easier. Perhaps too easy? Mind you the subway method of losing the cops is pretty easy.

Hmm...

perhaps the hidden packages would be rats in the sewers? and no wanted level for shooting them!

[supermortalhuman]

It meant that you would sense the verticality more so than you had in previous games. Some could and have argued that it meant the lifts, poles, etc, but it didn't. It meant how when you drove around in the old games, especially GTA III, the camera angle completely prohibited you from taking in the sights. This made the hieght of liberty pretty useless in that game - here, you have a lower, much more advanced camera angle which gives you a literal sense of the vertical nature of Liberty City.

[Slamman]

Sam Houser talked about this idea in the press, his comments were basically that Aaron Garbut had designed this vast map, and he compared it to the Catskills (Mt. Scary Lodge??) and that his experience would be driving around all day in this likeness. I forget if he's talking the game or the real locations, but I think he was comparing the two for sure. That they decided to actually scrap Aarons work at that point and go with a more vertical DEPTH perspective, DEPTH entails details within the city limits.

 

SO, in a nut shell, nothing was forsaken, except all you COULD be doing within the city. Interiors were certainly Ho-hum, and things like stairways tend to only lend themselves to usefullness during missions. STILL, all that design came beforehand in the creation process anyway.

 

I remember Sam Houser saying his favorite GTA pasttime in the finished game was to sit with "friends" in his car within the GTA world, and I assume, like me, it's just watching how well the AI acts on it's own when you let Niko sit or stand in one place.

[AnotherDave]

It meant that you would sense the verticality more so than you had in previous games. Some could and have argued that it meant the lifts, poles, etc, but it didn't. It meant how when you drove around in the old games, especially GTA III, the camera angle completely prohibited you from taking in the sights. This made the hieght of liberty pretty useless in that game - here, you have a lower, much more advanced camera angle which gives you a literal sense of the vertical nature of Liberty City.

So when R* said there would be more verticality in IV, they actually meant 'you can look up'? No. They wanted the city to be more interactive than just at street level. The subway system was even mentioned in the same breath as the whole vertical city thing in previews.

[johnny_zoo]

I always wondered about that it said in previews Niko could climb trees and telephone poles open boots but now in the game it isnt possible.

 

A case of excited journalists being inefficient with the truth.

 

Or maybe they just cut it fom the game.

[AZAZEL]

Or maybe they just cut it fom the game.

It's more likely a case of misinformed journalists, I think. Niko did open the trunk of a car, but that was in a cutscene. I've never read anywhere that he could climb trees, though, and I believe that it is actually possible to climb telephone poles, but only in one, or a few particular missions.

[foohy]

Or maybe they just cut it fom the game.

It's more likely a case of misinformed journalists, I think. Niko did open the trunk of a car, but that was in a cutscene. I've never read anywhere that he could climb trees, though, and I believe that it is actually possible to climb telephone poles, but only in one, or a few particular missions.

One of the reporters actually said that when they walked Niko by the trunk that a prompt appeared saying to "Press X to open boot". I don't see how they could have gotten that from a cutscene. Either way, we know that some stuff was cut. But, from what I've read, nothing very big.

 

Only thing that peeved me is when R* said that some missions would take place 'at the top of sky scrapers'. Quite a misleading statement IMO.

[Ash_735]

Or maybe they just cut it fom the game.

It's more likely a case of misinformed journalists, I think. Niko did open the trunk of a car, but that was in a cutscene. I've never read anywhere that he could climb trees, though, and I believe that it is actually possible to climb telephone poles, but only in one, or a few particular missions.

One of the reporters actually said that when they walked Niko by the trunk that a prompt appeared saying to "Press X to open boot". I don't see how they could have gotten that from a cutscene. Either way, we know that some stuff was cut. But, from what I've read, nothing very big.

 

Only thing that peeved me is when R* said that some missions would take place 'at the top of sky scrapers'. Quite a misleading statement IMO.

"Have a Heart", during that mission if you bump open the trunks, you can get out and walk to the back to get "Press LB to Close Trunk" which is what the magazine articles quoted.

[supermortalhuman]

 

It meant that you would sense the verticality more so than you had in previous games. Some could and have argued that it meant the lifts, poles, etc, but it didn't. It meant how when you drove around in the old games, especially GTA III, the camera angle completely prohibited you from taking in the sights. This made the hieght of liberty pretty useless in that game - here, you have a lower, much more advanced camera angle which gives you a literal sense of the vertical nature of Liberty City.

So when R* said there would be more verticality in IV, they actually meant 'you can look up'? No. They wanted the city to be more interactive than just at street level. The subway system was even mentioned in the same breath as the whole vertical city thing in previews.

Well, what I said goes along with your point.

 

The verticality was just as I said it was - chasing helicopters, following trains, etc, that wasn't in GTA III, mainly because you couldn't see them

 

The verticality (which is not even a proper 'real' word) of this city is greatly enhanced over III. You can go on rooftops, go up several stories in many buildings (more than most think, I'm sure - was more than I thought), and more.

 

The verticality they talked about was the player's new sense of surrounding in a tall city, up and down.

 

So, you're right, our posts basically compliment each others', but they only had the option to do it from the new angle of view in most cases where it is exploited for gameplay.

 

On the Boot:

The trunk of the car is used for Elizibeta's mission with Manny, which is also where they got the screen shot:

 

http://www.breakitdownblog.com/wp-content/...runk-sunset.jpg

Edited November 24, 2009 by supermortalhuman

[Restelo94]

On the Boot:

The trunk of the car is used for Elizibeta's mission with Manny, which is also where they got the screen shot:

 

http://www.breakitdownblog.com/wp-content/...runk-sunset.jpg

Wow, what a lazy screenshot

[supermortalhuman]

What do you mean by that? You know that's one of the PC's pre-release screenshot and was really popular one, right?

[Slamman]

I would say he means the graphics are poor, and that's typical of a cheap camera and a non-sized pic, at least properly. I disregard such crap-shots. I deal in digital photos mostly, and that is just a poor cap, to be honest. The image of Niko hardly looks like him at all. You don't drive out on a dock, so it's staged, for another.