Episodic Content

[Above]

Should we expect episodic content to follow in the aftermath of Grand Theft Auto V? It was nice how the Grand Theft Auto IV "era" mixed three perspectives into one story and I hope Grand Theft Auto V will take a similar approach to story writing and DLC. Episodes From San Andreas sounds rather nice and it would be a suitable title considering how we never got handheld stories from San Andreas. Alternatively they could release Episodes From Los Santos but somehow it sounds dull and limited in comparison and probably won't appeal to consumers with the same nostalgic impact. What do you expect and want?

Edited April 27, 2012 by Above

[WedgeAntilles]

Yeh great except I felt like I only got Liberty Citys full potential after TBOGT. Surely (an I know I'm not alone) we should be getting the full potential of games upon purchase.

I appreciate that this is maybe a little naive and am fully aware that 'episodic' content is here to stay across all platforms and genres but really?!! When we have to pay £40 for a brand new game only to be told months later 'Wait there's more, just another £20 please' I feel a little ripped off.

If this episodic content was to provide more environments I wouldn't be so pissed but generally it seems to just be more guns, missions, activities characters etc.

[Rauland]

Unless Microsoft pays for them again which I doubt because of the lacklustre sales they received then I doubt we will see any Episodic content.

[Buffalo Soldier]

I'd rather they stuck to doing actual games again within the era like they did in the GTA III Era - I mean heck, that gave us Vice City and San Andreas - two superior games to GTA 3 anyway, that stand on their own - and of course then we had LCS and VCS.

 

The IV Era ended far too fast, and I don't get why they didn't expand on it, go to different cities etc

 

So in a way I hope we get 'Stories from San Andreas' [that sounds better than Episodes from SA IMO] but I'd also hope for one or two other games - maybe one based in Las Venturas and the other somewhere else, to expand on the V Era.

 

Instead of releasing two short ass f**king DLCs and calling it a day again.

[Slamman]

Unless Microsoft, er, Sony pays for them, no dice?!? RIGHT!

[Sneakerhead.]

Um unlees my mind is deceiving me, I thought R* said that they were not going to do episodic content for V.

[Magic_Al]

RDR Undead Nightmare was done without anybody paying a big advance for an exclusive, and technically it was a very similar kind of expansion as TLAD or TBOGT. It was a lot shorter, but that could be on account of less money or less development time. UN was released only 5 months after RDR, while TLAD was 10 months after GTA IV and TBOGT was 8 months after TLAD. UN is pretty impressive when you consider that constraint. And according to John Marston's voice actor UN was a completely separate project he was asked to come back for after he'd completed acting for RDR, so it's not like it was all done at the same time with UN held back the way some conspiracy theorists like to complain about DLC in general.

 

If you look at the huge investment in creating the open world map itself, Rockstar has good reason to try to squeeze all the fun they can out of it. Most of their maps are used more than once in some way. GTA III's map was adapted for LCS and Advance, GTA VC's map was adapted for VCS, and GTA IV's map was used in TLAD and TBOGT and adapted for CW. RDR's map was reused by UN. Games that have multiplayer also get more use out of their maps. Only GTA SA's map is experienced by only one protagonist. Odds are we'll get to visit GTA V's rendition of Los Santos in more than one game.

Edited April 27, 2012 by Magic_Al

[Colonel Dre]

Well I was hoping that after the game, I could get free DLC where I could play as a Reaper destroying all the building and then harvesting humans.....

 

Wait, wrong game.

[Slamman]

My point is the fair weather fans have a distinct idea that the DLC was a cheat of them from their hard earned money. We GTA faithful, me certainly among them, we grasp the bigger picture here, there have been surprises to even us long time fans, BUT the ideas behind the game's evolution isn't so hidden that the bigger picture doesn't point out there is method to the perceived madness.

Magic Al, where was that interview sourced? I missed it, but I didn't miss a magazine interview with Sam Houser talking about the DLC at it's very inception, the idea before MS picked these up for exclusive content bids was that the MAJOR / MAIN game would be supported via additional content for YEARS TO COME, this was truncated to 2 only, and several smaller ones for Red Dead

As MA mentioned, Undead Nightmare is a speedy masterpiece given how long we've been waiting for GTA now!!?? That's why we're all equally flustered and confused

Edited April 27, 2012 by Slamman

[Magic_Al]

Magic Al, where was that interview sourced? I missed it, but I didn't miss a magazine interview with Sam Houser talking about the DLC at it's very inception, the idea before MS picked these up for exclusive content bids was that the MAJOR / MAIN game would be supported via additional content for YEARS TO COME, this was truncated to 2 only, and several smaller ones for Red Dead

Link below. Likewise, can you source the Houser interview about ongoing DLC? The fact of two episodes being financed by Microsoft was announced at the same time as GTA IV. The chosen structure of intersecting the three stories isn't open-ended and adding more stories than planned would require a new set of characters and a different time setting like CW has. If Houser was talking about a concept before GTA IV was announced, I do recall something about references to mission packs being found in GTA SA's files, an idea that was dropped obviously.

 

http://thegamingliberty.com/index.php/2011...h-rob-wiethoff/

 

 

Not only did we have some time between shooting Red Dead Redemption and Undead Nightmare, we also had a bit of a curve ball thrown in with all the zombie stuff.

[GTAknowledge]

Firstly, if the game is good enough and gives the feeling to want to continue to play after the story is over (like the original San Andreas), then i will buy any DLC.

 

 

I would like to see DLC where you play as Carl Johnson in modern times, with many of the old characters being there as well. That would be a very interesting game and i am sure it would sell great because a lot of people have been wanting a remake of San Andreas with modern graphics, so this would be it! .

[Phrill]

How about a Protag who "wants to get out of that line of work, be a good guy for once, a family man..." and for the DLC can be cruel protags and cool hip people like Luis

[Durden]

My gut feeling tells me there won't be any DLC for GTAV. I hope I'm wrong!

 

I would love DLC though. I just can't imagine it for V.

[Da_Lurker]

I'd love to experience GTA V as a complete package from the get-go. While I liked the different perspectives that TLAD and TBOGT provided, it took just too damn long (specially on Pcs) to get there and being able to play those games. The stories were really tied to each other, so it felt kind weird to wait an entire year to continue (and see a more complete finale).

 

GTA V should be just one game, with no DLC (or no big story-DLC) random stuff it's fine.

[Slamman]

Do you want more discs that way, or one disc with two DLC per issue? There is THAT

 

I refer you to complaint threads about DVD ROM on Xbox 360 constraints

[kudoboi]

why not? big DLCs like EFLC expands the game content

[Shreddy Krueger]

Yeh great except I felt like I only got Liberty Citys full potential after TBOGT. Surely (an I know I'm not alone) we should be getting the full potential of games upon purchase.

I appreciate that this is maybe a little naive and am fully aware that 'episodic' content is here to stay across all platforms and genres but really?!! When we have to pay £40 for a brand new game only to be told months later 'Wait there's more, just another £20 please' I feel a little ripped off.

If this episodic content was to provide more environments I wouldn't be so pissed but generally it seems to just be more guns, missions, activities characters etc.

Agreed 100%. There have been a few games in which the data for the "extra content" was already copied onto the original game disc, and what you actually pay for is a piece of coding that allows the console (console in my case) to be able to read the data on the disc and therefore access the stored content. That is a pure ripoff in my opinion, having to pay extra for something that's already come with the disc you paid $70+ for.

 

In the cases of TLAD and TBOGT, I'd love to see something similar happen with GTAV, but again I agree it felt with the EFLC they purposely left out some game mechanics, weapons, etc etc in order to up sales of the DLC. Smart business decision and I agree with it, BUT, what would've made more sense to me is if those new weapons/vehicles/mechanics (like parachutes) became available and usable in the other stories, that would've upped the replay value of the both the DLCs and the original game. I would love to replay some missions in Niko's story with the explosive round auto-shotgun, but I can't. I would love to drive off a cliff as Johnny on his bike and parachute down on some enemies, but I can't, etc etc.

[DeafMetal]

I really hope the episodic contents are Las Venturas and San Fierro.

[Dick Valor]

 

In the cases of TLAD and TBOGT, I'd love to see something similar happen with GTAV, but again I agree it felt with the EFLC they purposely left out some game mechanics, weapons, etc etc in order to up sales of the DLC. Smart business decision and I agree with it, BUT, what would've made more sense to me is if those new weapons/vehicles/mechanics (like parachutes) became available and usable in the other stories, that would've upped the replay value of the both the DLCs and the original game. I would love to replay some missions in Niko's story with the explosive round auto-shotgun, but I can't. I would love to drive off a cliff as Johnny on his bike and parachute down on some enemies, but I can't, etc etc.

This is exactly why EFLC was a fail. The stories/protagonists were lackluster in every way. The parachute, APC, and third weapons tier (like that in TBOGT) should have been made available to Niko.