GTA Nostalgia

[Vercetti27]

I remember playing GTA for the first time when III came out. all I did was drive around running over peds listening too flashback. It was about a year later that I managed complete "turismo" lol. I remember loving El Burro's missions . My favourite memory was killing triads with the flamethrower. great times

[TOMERAKA]

Good times, I played GTA for the first time on 2000, it was GTA 2

[MessedUpPro]

I also started playing GTA when GTA 3 came out. I was only 5 at the time so I really have no memories of missions. All I did was drive around and do stunts and kill peds. Vice City was the first one I actually beat.

[Rucke]

I was 7 when GTA 2 came out. I loved it, but it wasn't until GTA III that I really became a GTA fan.

[Kwandilibro]

I remember playing GTA 3 at my cousin's house and being totally amazed at the fact that you could drive around and kill people with tanks, shoot people, and blow sh*t up. I believe it was in 2001.

[Tyla]

I remember being about nine when Vice City came out, and laughing nervously every time Tommy Vercetti would spin one of his death pending put-downs in front of my parents. Good times.

[MikeWh]

I remember playing GTA (as in GTA 1) in 1998 and London in 1999ish on an ancient 486 running 95. I was amazed by it. I used to enjoy making the cops go on the train lines and watch them fry. Fun times.

[TommyMufc-Champs]

GTA brings back good memories

[Mokrie Dela]

I hated GTA 1, L and 2 with a passion when they were around.

 

with III me and my mate were obsessed by drawing maps of fictional cities out.

I still do it sometimes now, but not as much.

I didnt have a console back then, but i eventually got III on the PC, probably about 2002/3. Then i started modding. LOADS of mods, lots of crashes. I still have one on gtagarage actually.

Then came the hours spent in IT class looking at VC screenshots, my mind full of wonder and intrigue. My map drawing became more "exotic" designing tropical places.

VC came and like III i played that to death, also on PC.

Being too young to remember the 80s, apart from in films etc, the "nostalgia" theme was lost on me, but the style of the game kind of created enough of a vibe to FEEL nostalgic, if that makes sense. USed to mess around on a sanchez, stunting and crashing with my mate, back in 2003.

 

Then SA blew it all out of the water. I can not describe the feel when i played III VC or SA for the first time. It was like being in another world, complete absorbtion and immersion followed, which led to my former profile being very active on these forums. I came up with an idea for a mod, and someone made that mode, and called it Neo (many of you may know the mod).

San an was the strongest of the "wow" factors for me - i had waited untill christmas to get the game and when i finally did, it was awesome (i actually owned 4 copies of it, 2 pc (as one broke) and 2 on ps2 (no idea why).

Further modded ensued but i begun to fall away from that scene.

 

Sorry for my blabbering on, but when i look back on GTA the thing i miss most is that feeling, loading the game up for the first time, playing it, still high with excitement.

 

I felt the same with IV too, and i feel that less and less these days. After a while the games get stale (still good, just stale), and after not playing them for long enough they're awesome again

 

Now i look back at III, still a great game, and realise how far games have come, we so rarely appreciate that. I look at RDR and IV now and compare them to III and RDRevolver, and the progress is astounding.

Now you have games with stupid challenges, "do this in 2 minutes" and the lack of style. III and VC , althought they had their moments, in most of the time avoided that. They gave you the game and you played it.

 

I( tell you what i do every year though - when it gets hot i feel the pull of VICE! due to the weather i break out the shirts, even wore a red/white suit once. But mostly i load VC back up and relive those memories from the game.

 

 

But i think the best "nostalgia" i have for GTA is getting lost in the game - you've no idea where to go, you're exloring, stealing cars and finding things.

 

Oh and the music! HOW COULD I FORGET THAT!

 

certain tunes (billy jean, cum on feel the noise, and a myriad of others i cant remember atm) take me back there

Faith no more, Rage against the machine,

Cruising around LC with Coldplay and more tunes i cant remember on the mp3 player (pc) too....

 

just one note from them songs and i'm back there....

 

And then there's the cheat/mod i used alot: "liberty city survivor"

In III, enabling all peds have weapons and everyone hates everyone cheats caused for a huge epic deathmatch with the AI, that with my custom skins were truely good times!

Edited December 19, 2010 by Mokrie Dela

[Pushrp]

I've played 1&2 when they came out I played it didn't really get into it. It wasn't until III came out when I was about 14 that are started really getting into the series.

[AlexGTAGamer]

My brother got me into playing GTA when he let me play GTA III when I was 10, I've been a fan of the franchise ever since.

[Germaniac_84]

 

My favourite memory was killing triads with the flamethrower.

 

My favorite memory was killing firefighters with the flamethrower. Ah, I just love irony.

[san andreas state]

I remember playing my brothers vice city, it was the best fun I ever had playing a game.

[CryptReaperDorian]

I believe I was either nine or ten when I first played GTA VC at my neighbor's house (in 2002 or 2003). I was simply blown by the visuals and the gameplay that allowed you to do nearly anything. Even though I barely knew how to play the game (I knew it was the circle button to attack, but didn't know that R1 was to aim) as I barely ever played a PS2 before it was released, it was still a huge blast. Pissing people off in the North Point Mall, the Malibu, the police station and the mall with the parking ramps and pools were my favorite locations to f*ck around. However, it wasn't until 2006 that I actually owned a GTA (my brother actually owns it). It was GTA SA, and that was definately the best game ever at the time (it still is one of the best). I just loved every single thing about it from the driving bikes and beaters, to driving sports cars, and all the way to flying a wide array of aircraft. Well, it's not limited to vehicles as everything was completely superb! If GTA VC wasn't full of nostalgia, then I would think GTA SA would be better in nearly every area (GTA VC is close to GTA SA mainly because of nostalgia).

[.Ryan.]

I first played GTA in 1998 when I was 12. At the time I was at mate's house, and his brother rented this game called "Grand Theft Auto". So when his brother wasn't playing we snuck it in, and put it into the PS1, and played it for hours.

 

From there I was inspired enough to get my own copy (It was pirated. I know I'm bad ), and it was a similar story with GTA 2.

 

It wasn't until GTA III that I became a true "fan". Originally the game came out over here in late 2001, but it was temporarily banned, and it came out a few months later in early 2002. I still remember that day. I was still in high school, and my parents promised me they would buy it. So as you could imagine I was quite distracted that day at school, and what made it fitting is it was a dark, and gloomy day just like the general atmosphere in GTA III.

 

I came inside after getting off the school bus, and my eyes lit up as soon as I saw the brand spanking new copy of GTA III sitting on top of my PS2. I spent weeks playing it, and later that year the announcement of VC grabbed my excitement again. Rather than go on the rest is basically history. Sometimes I can't believe it's been 12 years since I first got a taste for GTA. It's changed so much.

 

I've still kept all my PS2 GTAs. GTA III despite being 8 years old is in pristine condition, and it's the same thing with VC, and SA. I don't think I'll ever part with them as long as my PS2 is up, and running. Even if it wasn't I would track down another PS2 so I could still play them.

 

I know they're only games, but I feel as if they've been a big part of my life (As far as gaming goes) for the 12 years I've been a fan of the series.

[Sanjeem]

I first Played LCS, then it was VCS and then it was VC and then SA and then it was III and then IV.

[gta9414]

I remember being a little kid and playing gta III at my cousins house, greatest times...

[Little William]

I am a latecomer to GTA. I first heard about GTA in 1997 from some Playstation magazine (it was still PS1 back then) but I don't know much about it then. Only until I bought my first PS2 in 2007, I have played my first GTA game. It was a PS2 port of VCS. From the moment I first run down some peds and did my first carjack, I have fallen in love with GTA and followed it ever since.

 

Later some of my friends were giving away the old PS2 games, I got to play III, LCS and SA. I have a bit of bad experience with SA because of a mission by OG Loc where I have to dance to get some DJ equipment. I failed miserably at it and moaned "WTF does dancing has to do with crime? Wouldn't be easier to jack the bloody van to begin with" Since then I hate any type of dancing missions in GTA. I wasn't even into it in TBOGT, which is improved but I suck at the Bus Stop.

 

I played IV at a internet cafe who also has PS3. Not until I bought my X360 at 2010 I have played the EFLC. I wish I could have a chance to get GTA 1 and 2 and try it out, but it means getting it on PC or buying the old PS1 to play them. Oh I download VC on BitTorrent with my laptop. I can see why this game is somewhat better than VCS. It is my favourite GTA ever.

[D- Ice]

I remember playing GTA 3 at my cousin's house and being totally amazed at the fact that you could drive around and kill people with tanks, shoot people, and blow sh*t up. I believe it was in 2001.

Haha the exact same here - except for it being a friend's house.

 

I only had the PS1 back then and a few games, and I was absolutely amazed that you can drive and hijack cars like in Driver 2 which I had at te time, and kill people like in Die Hard Trilogy, but all in the very same game.

I remember being incredibly impressed that you can bump into people, and the hobos/weak ones fall over, the fact that you can collect weapons and money from every person you kill and then there wasthe wanted levels!

 

I played GTA 2 in someone else's house before and the fact that you can piss the law off so much you get chased by black fed cars fascinated me - like what you get in the very last mission of Driver 1 - but in GTA3 you can do that anytime, and you can even get the Army on your ass. The fact you can do that but in 3D made me go save up and buy it for PC as soon as I can, then Vice City, then force my dad to buy me a PS2 as my PC specs were low and the game played really choppy.

 

Ah memories...

I guess it is the sheer variety and incredible detail in GTA's freeroam which made it stand out from all the other games. You can initiate the kind of very varied and detailed mechanics most games at the time only offer in scripted missions, but in GTA you can do that and much more anytime you want during free-roam.

It is just a shame how they now lost that, and GTA free-roam is now no more special than other games - even sometimes sub-par with other free-roaming games in terms of variety and detail.

[Sanjeem]

Memories were great, better than the memories of GTA IV probably but who knows maybe not yet.

 

I loved it aswell or was actually quite nervous when much younger playing infront of my parents and the character would swear and all the prostitutes would walk by, my mum looked at me funny i had to sort of say "It's not what it seems".

[Hodgey.]

I remeber playing GTA 1 on the Playstation and liking it alot but i wouldnt say i became a true fan until i played Vice City for the first time, then i went back to GTA III (as i plaved VC before III) and after that i was a GTA fan for life.

[Dnero]

First GTA was GTA III, and I was probably at 2nd grade at that time. I didn't even know there was missions, I just drove around running over people after the bridge exploded. Then I started to look on the map and managed to drive there and change Claude's clothes.

 

I played it everyday after school with my older brother, exchanging the controller everytime we beat a mission, good times.

 

 

[Finn 7 five 11]

I have like no reminiscing moments in IV, the magic is gone for some reason.

I really loved strolling alongside the Mafia in GTA III until they ran into some triads or diablos and got into a fight, i would even try and walk the same (lol).