The Liberty City Appreciation Thread

[.Ryan.]

 

In April 2008 R* unleashed arguably one of the greatest cities ever created in a video game. This thread is basically to discuss what are some of your favorite parts of the city.

 

For me I absolutely love walking through the streets. I like the feeling of grit and grime in the rougher neighborhoods such as Hove Beach, Beechwood City etc and in contrast the business feeling of Algonquin and the residential feeling of North Alderney. Like OMG I could bust a nut thinking about it.

 

It makes you feel really small being surrounded by all these tall buildings. You really feel like a bottom feeder trying to get by and Liberty City is the judge, jury and executioner for anyone who dare go against her dark beauty.

 

The greys, browns, gothic architecture etc really set the sombre mood present in GTA IV. It really is like an evil queen ruling over everyone and we're all peasants to her.

 

Sorry if I sound weird and all.

Edited September 27, 2012 by Miamivicecity

[Linki]

 

Like OMG I could bust a nut thinking about it.

 

I know exactly what you're on about when you say how Liberty feels like some "evil queen" and we're all her slaves trying to get by. It has an almost supernatural trait, made evident by the beating heart in the Statue of Happiness. I guess it's just a play on the capitalist world of America and it's ladder of success.

 

 

The first week in Hove Beach, Broker, is always a treat. Had a real exciting feel it. I also love immersing myself in the big public areas like Star Junction and Columbus Avenue, with all the traffic and people rushing by, then looking up at the gigantic skyscrapers - total New York.

[.Ryan.]

I agree my man. I think the start is epic too. Getting off the boat in this strange new place. Even after 4 1/2 years it feels as epic as the first time.

 

It makes me feel how Niko would. Also if I recall this only the only game in recent times to actually portray NYC's boroughs rather than just Manhattan.

 

Personally I play with all the colours drawn out to capture the dullness of the city streets. Most people don't like the depressing nature of it, but I love it.

[Linki]

 

I agree my man. I think the start is epic too. Getting off the boat in this strange new place. Even after 4 1/2 years it feels as epic as the first time.

 

It makes me feel how Niko would. Also if I recall this only the only game in recent time to actually portray NYC's boroughs rather than just Manhattan.

Yeah I think it might be. True Crime: NYC only had Manhattan, and Spider-man 2 had only Manhattan and Staten Island I think...

 

So in a way, it really is the only true interpretation of NYC in a video game.

 

 

I LOVE 1:54 to 2:25. The feeling of the intro is always epic, knowing it's the first GTA of the new generation and all.

[Gtaghost22]

 

I agree my man. I think the start is epic too. Getting off the boat in this strange new place. Even after 4 1/2 years it feels as epic as the first time.

Exactly.

I just can't get enough of this game, i never felt so immersed in any game world like i did in IV's Liberty City, really can't understand the hate for this game.

Edited September 28, 2012 by Gtaghost22

[rotnude]

liberty city love

[Staten]

IV is the first GTA where I could spend hours just walking around with not particular destination, taking in the scenery. In every other GTA, I ran or drove to wherever I was going. SA may've had the scale, but IV has the detail, the feeling that the place is lived in and not just a model town made of painted cereal boxes.

[Prometheus]

I agree my man. I think the start is epic too. Getting off the boat in this strange new place. Even after 4 1/2 years it feels as epic as the first time.

Unfortunately it's not the same case for me. I miss the excitement of cruising through Hove Beach.

[Guest]

Whenever I do a realistic playtrhough, I always spend as long as I can in the hove beach area.. I just love the small area you know anmd being a taxi driver.. chilling out in the apartment watching TV and stuff...

[Patrizio]

I'd definitley consider myself a critic of GTA IV. But, one of the things I cannot fault is the city. It is breathtaking. The painstaking levels of detail Rockstar went to is astonishing. 4 years later I am STILL discovering streets/areas that feel new and distinct.

 

Driving through is not the same. You really need to walk to appreciate it's majesty. Its a superb achievement.

[.Ryan.]

 

I'd definitley consider myself a critic of GTA IV. But, one of the things I cannot fault is the city. It is breathtaking. The painstaking levels of detail Rockstar went to is astonishing. 4 years later I am STILL discovering streets/areas that feel new and distinct.

 

Driving through is not the same. You really need to walk to appreciate it's majesty. Its a superb achievement.

I've being doing this a lot lately and it's amazing how much you actually miss by ignoring everything.

 

I also feel when you walk around the ped and traffic density really pick up aswell. It was only a couple of months ago I discovered there are drug dealers in the game. I love standing near by as they deal. Some peds will buy off them while others wont. The best thing about this game is each ped feels like they have their own personality.

 

This also relates to my "Ped stalking made easy" thread, but I love listening to what the peds have to say.

 

It really is a great city that I think a lot of people tend to overlook. The only game I've played recently that I think rivals Liberty City for detail is Hong Kong in Sleeping Dogs, but even that doesn't have the character and mystique that Liberty City has IMO. Another thing I LOVE is when it rains it feels like you can actually feel it.

 

Seeings peds go for their umbrellas and standing under cover trying to get warm, titling the camera up so water splashes on the screen, the mist blowing through the air, the wind howling etc Oh man. It feels like you're there.

Edited September 28, 2012 by Miamivicecity

[blowtorchrepair]

great topic. good comments as well...

 

One of my favorite events in L.C. is sunrise. I've watched the sunrise many times either while in a boat or on the west coast of Alderny, or from any place where I can see the horizon. On a 97-inch HD projection a sunrise in L.C. is a magnificent site, and I almost go for my sunglasses every time, it's that bright. The game is like a simulator at this screen size. I wish everyone could see the game at this size.

 

I owned Midnight Club L.A. for a while and it was a nice game, but it got old quick. I never finished the game and found myself back in Liberty City for my video game driving needs. Even though the graphics of GTA IV are of yesterday, the overall presentation of L.C. still is one of the best simulations out there, whether driving, riding a motorcycle, or especially riding in a cab and watching the city go by while in that back seat view.

 

Viewing the city skyline at night from a boat is one of my favs as well. Looking backward, while in windshield cam view, out the back of a speed boat looks almost real as the boat lightly porpoises and the water sprays up from the sides. Then I'll turn my head and look to at the skyline of Algonquin and it looks so convincingly real as it passes by in the frigid night. Another cool sight is a foggy night while in the air and flying by the suspension bridges. The lights on the bridges have a fuzzy glow that looks like real fog.

 

GTA IV blew my mind back in the summer of 08'. My projector was brand new so I was already in shock still over that change, and then I got GTA IV, my first GTA game, and it was like the f'n matrix almost. No other game has had the staying power IV has. The game is a masterpiece and I am happy to have discovered it.

Edited September 28, 2012 by blowtorchrepair

[Fisciletti]

I'd definitley consider myself a critic of GTA IV. But, one of the things I cannot fault is the city. It is breathtaking. The painstaking levels of detail Rockstar went to is astonishing. 4 years later I am STILL discovering streets/areas that feel new and distinct.

 

Driving through is not the same. You really need to walk to appreciate it's majesty. Its a superb achievement.

I agree 100% with you.

[MikeMyth]

To those who will not leave LC when GTA V comes out!

I love LC, and how you actually feel as if you are in New York, I love driving down to Hove Beach, going to Firefly Projects and admiring the Screamer. This is clearly one of the best interpetations of NY. I wish I could actually live in LC, I often dream about living there. How there is just that feeling, that let's you know, GTA IV is THAT type of game. The kind you could play for hours just admiring Liberty and her scenery.

I hate how some people complained about the size. “Oh, it only takes ten minutes to go from corner to corner of the map by car”

It isn't just ten minutes if you actually slow down and admire one of the best free-roam games in history. You don't get the feeling while just speeding around LC. I <3 LC.

 

[.Ryan.]

To those who will not leave LC when GTA V comes out!

I love LC, and how you actually feel as if you are in New York, I love driving down to Hove Beach, going to Firefly Projects and admiring the Screamer. This is clearly one of the best interpetations of NY. I wish I could actually live in LC, I often dream about living there. How there is just that feeling, that let's you know, GTA IV is THAT type of game. The kind you could play for hours just admiring Liberty and her scenery.

I hate how some people complained about the size. “Oh, it only takes ten minutes to go from corner to corner of the map by car”

It isn't just ten minutes if you actually slow down and admire one of the best free-roam games in history. You don't get the feeling while just speeding around LC. I <3 LC.

Speaking of which I think it's huge when you actually walk around. It feels like it takes forever to walk from Hove Beach up Steinway or Meadow Hills then you realize there's still Bohan, Algonquin and Alderney.

 

Often I find myself just doing that rather than driving a car.

[AlexGTAGamer]

I adore L.C.

 

The one thing I always do whenever I replay through the storyline is I always walk around Hove Beach before I do "It's Your Call".

 

Well what I do is I come out of the safehouse, cross over to Comrades Bar, walk up the street to the Tw@ internet cafe and then read the in-game news on the computer. Then I'll walk all the way back down the same way I came from only on the other side of the street now, go into the diner, Perestroika, the Russian clothes shop, then take the road past Legal Marine co. inc., stand on the street corner outfront of the cab depot, then eventually start the mission. Every time I do this something different happens - pedestrians fighting drivers, drug dealers making deals, homeless asking for money, peds getting knocked over, and drivers suffering whiplash after violent crashes.

 

Hove Beach and Algonquin are my favourite stomping grounds.

 

Also a question to pose, do any of you ever read storefront signs, billboards, etc. in the game? There's quite a few references, easter eggs, and silly things on signs etc. scattered around L.C.

8-balls' cafe in Steinway, and a lawyer's firm in Hove Beach with the last digits of their contact number being 666 are two favourites of mine.

[.Ryan.]

I adore L.C.

 

The one thing I always do whenever I replay through the storyline is I always walk around Hove Beach before I do "It's Your Call".

 

Well what I do is I come out of the safehouse, cross over to Comrades Bar, walk up the street to the Tw@ internet cafe and then read the in-game news on the computer. Then I'll walk all the way back down the same way I came from only on the other side of the street now, go into the diner, Perestroika, the Russian clothes shop, then take the road past Legal Marine co. inc., stand on the street corner outfront of the cab depot, then eventually start the mission. Every time I do this something different happens - pedestrians fighting drivers, drug dealers making deals, homeless asking for money, peds getting knocked over, and drivers suffering whiplash after violent crashes.

 

Hove Beach and Algonquin are my favourite stomping grounds.

 

Also a question to pose, do any of you ever read storefront signs, billboards, etc. in the game? There's quite a few references, easter eggs, and silly things on signs etc. scattered around L.C.

8-balls' cafe in Steinway, and a lawyer's firm in Hove Beach with the last digits of their contact number being 666 are two favourites of mine.

We think a like my friend.

 

Yeah I like reading the store names too. I like the funeral home up near Schottler with one of the lights blown called "Graves".

 

What I love about this game is there's almost no repetition at all when it comes to buildings/store fronts. Every store you see is likely to be different to the last.

[Official General]

I just have this big fascination with Broker, just like I do with it's real-life counterpart, Brooklyn, NYC. I absolutely love that part of Liberty City, everything about it, the buildings, architecture, the people living there, the very rough and dangerous look of it's worst parts - just everything. Pretty much just about every gang or criminal organization in GTA IV has some kind of a presence in Broker, save a few. The M.O.B. gangs, the Jamaican Hillside Posse gangs, Northwood Dominican Drug gangs, the Russian Mob, The Lost MC gang and the Spanish Lords are all to be found in Broker. The borough of Broker is just one big dangerous concrete mish-mash, and I love that representation. I wish Broker was much bigger in the game than it is now.

 

Algonquin is a bit of a waste, it was considerably much bigger than the other boroughs, but yet had very little within it for it's size. Rockstar should have made Algonquin smaller, but crammed with much more stuff than it has now.

Edited October 2, 2012 by Official General

[.Ryan.]

I just have this big fascination with Broker, just like I do with it's real-life counterpart, Brooklyn, NYC. I absolutely love that part of Liberty City, everything about it, the buildings, architecture, the people living there, the very rough and dangerous look of it's worst parts - just everything. Pretty much just about every gang or criminal organization in GTA IV has some kind of a presence in Broker, save a few. The M.O.B. gangs, the Jamaican Hillside Posse gangs, Northwood Dominican Drug gangs, the Russian Mob, The Lost MC gang and the Spanish Lords are all to be found in Broker. The borough of Broker is just one big dangerous concrete mish-mash, and I love that representation. I wish Broker was much bigger in the game than it is now. A

 

Algonquin is a bit of a waste, it was considerably much bigger than the other boroughs, but yet had very little within it for it's size. Rockstar should have made Algonquin smaller, but crammed with much more stuff than it has now.

I agree General. Broker is awesome. Just the grit and grime I mean wow. I sometimes wonder why people think everywhere feels the same though. Broker has that run down sort of feeling and when you go to Dukes say Meadow Hills for example it feels "homely". Broker and Bohan are easily the most ghetto parts of the city.

 

Fair point on Algonquin. I only really like it for Star Junction to be honest. Seriously sometimes I just play to walk around. It has me excited thinking of GTA V's LS with all the diversity LA has.

[WF the Hobgoblin]

Today I revisited my favourite video game world.

 

After loading up my most recent save I promptly hailed a taxi and skipped the journey to Francis International. It was still dark upon arrival so I waited for a few minutes for the sun to come up and then hailed another cab and just sat back and enjoyed the incar ride all the way to the majestic hotel.

 

Far from my first taxi ride around town and even after hundreds of hours spent in Liberty City, I was surprised at how at how much I still enjoyed it. Looking out the passenger window as we drove over the Algonquin bridge and have the distant skyscrapers gradually tower over us was awe-inspiring. I enjoyed it so much that I kept changing the destination, travelling up through Middle Park to Varsity Heights then back down through Star Junction before getting off at the Rotterdam Tower.

[Dragonjack]

 

"Algonquin - Self-proclaimed center of everything. Cultural center of the world, commercial center of the world, financial center of the world. If Algonquin residents could have it their way, the region would also be considered the epicenter of everything in the known universe. A word of warning to the inquisitive traveler: questioning the integrity of Algonquin's self-righteous and artificially-sweetened natives will likely get you shot."

 

Found at GTA Wiki.

 

Algonquin is like my most visited game world ever in the series and i'm being very honest.

[Mak]

Finished, IV a few months back, still am finding myself lost in the city at times.

 

What sets this game apart for me, is The whole City skyline, I have always loved being able to fly, piloting a aircraft is the main reason I buy Open World games, the feeling I get flying low over the streets of Algonquin, or any other borough, I see the diversity, at times you could see how much detail there is from a birds eye view, one neighborhood is seedy and poor while the one opposite is clean and rich. I got Just Cause 2 and Saints Row The Third, but the idea of flying over a real city, I never experienced that in those games, they felt artificial especially SR3 but Liberty City is different, whenever I start up EFLC usually I go for a heli ride admiring this living, breathing jungle.

[woggleman]

The only thing I wish they would have included is the lower east side. It would have been funny to see all the hippies and punks walking around though some sections of Algonquin are similiar. Having a take on the Jersey Shore area in Alderney would have been good as well but I admit I live there so I am biased. I spent nearly a decade living in New York and I currently live in NJ and they got both places down pat.

[The Quench]

It's just something about Hove Beach. The storyline is great before you unlock Algonquin because you (or at least I did) feel like a new immigrant trying to find your way around. All of LC is beautiful in its own way but the city always felt different at the end of the storyline (as compared to the very beginning).

[WF the Hobgoblin]

 

It's just something about Hove Beach. The storyline is great before you unlock Algonquin because you (or at least I did) feel like a new immigrant trying to find your way around. All of LC is beautiful in its own way but the city always felt different at the end of the storyline (as compared to the very beginning).

It is pretty good. Not too long ago I started a new game and just did the first few missions to get going but then spent all day role-playing as Niko the taxi driver, living my life in Hove Beach. You just feel so small, especially when looking across the Humbolt at the Algonquin skyline.

 

I think it's the same for all GTA's. Nothing beats the first time you visit a new city.

[MikeMyth]

Figured I'd check how long I've played GTA IV.

About 110 hours.

Longest non-stop game? 10 hours. I just love LC there will ALWAYS be something to do.

[WF the Hobgoblin]

Figured I'd check how long I've played GTA IV.

About 110 hours.

Longest non-stop game? 10 hours. I just love LC there will ALWAYS be something to do.

My clock broke on 298 hours.

[DaWiesel]

For me the city is one of the best parts of GTA IV. The imense detail put in the layout and the peds walking around, bringing the city to life, doing different things... yeah, it's also my first GTA game, where I can just stop killing people, crashing into cars and doing that "mainstream" things but take a walk through the streets of LC, especially at night.

 

I also like to drive around the city. You have such an amazing view of the Algonquin Skyline from the Plumber's Skyway. Or when you're heading to Algonquin at the Algonquin-Dukes Expressway. IMO it's a living breathing city, R* created the best Liberty City so far no doubt.

[.Ryan.]

It's just something about Hove Beach. The storyline is great before you unlock Algonquin because you (or at least I did) feel like a new immigrant trying to find your way around. All of LC is beautiful in its own way but the city always felt different at the end of the storyline (as compared to the very beginning).

It is pretty good. Not too long ago I started a new game and just did the first few missions to get going but then spent all day role-playing as Niko the taxi driver, living my life in Hove Beach. You just feel so small, especially when looking across the Humbolt at the Algonquin skyline.

 

I think it's the same for all GTA's. Nothing beats the first time you visit a new city.

This is probably my favourite part of the game.

[B Dawg]

Took a long slow drive around the city in MP freeroam. No HUD or radar, drove slow like the AI. Suprisingly, wasn't attacked in a crowded ff on game.

Edited October 19, 2012 by DarkKingBernard