My Vague GTA V Prediction

[Mister Pink]

Skip the the bold part if you want to cut to the chase.

 

Inspired by greenrocks topic. Franklin is the least popular. Of course he is. Rockstar haven't marketed him to us yet. Also a forum of about 95% white kids are going to identify with Trevor and Franklin over a black guy we no nothing about. If you chose Franklin as a favourite, you are not going on much other than what you might think he is.

 

Hopefully this topic will shed some light on why Franklin isn't so popular. At the moment, I've no favourite. They are all equal to me right now.

 

In this topic I just want to quickly touch on some subjects relating to the marketing of GTA V via the info Rockstar is letting us see.

 

As we all know, Michael has been the first character we've been introduced to. He's like a staple for Trevor and Franklin. Michael resides in GTA's version of Beverly Hills but we know about his criminal past. He's white, middle-aged just like a poster boy for all the great things we watched in the cinema or TV growing up. He's a Robert D'Niro-like character, he's Tony Soprano, he's Henry Hill, he fits a familiar bill we'e all seen in the movies and TV. He's perfect for GTA.

 

Trevor is our trailer trash country/desert type. We're familiar with these types too. For fans of his, he represents our love for wanton destruction in GTA. He's our sociopath and schadenfruede personified in a game.

 

And lastly we have Franklin. Franklin is our afro-American friend from GTA's South Central LA, presumably. We know he's a gangbanger on the rise. He has bigger plans. He doesn't want to be slinging dope and throwing up gang signs for the rest of his days.

 

 

So far Rockstar has shown us info on Michael we accompanying photos. Also, Trevor. There are loads of photos of Trevor in his environment and doing things he likes best, like setting sh*t on fire. But what do we know about Franklin?

 

Rockstar have a definitie marketing plan for this game. They show us Michael first. He's like the all-rounder. He's the hook. Incidentally, he's the character that mostly comes out of on top of the polls. He's a fan favourite so far. Trevor is very popular too, i know that but we know Michael the brains of the bunch here. He's the experienced one. He's living in the mansion.

 

So come second trailer and wave of news we learn about Trevor. People get excited. That's cool. I've not much more to say as I want to move on to Franklin.

 

There's a definite reason why Franklin is being last be featured. I'm not saying it's "save the best until last" but I reckon Rockstar want to show us a huge side of San Andreas/Los Santos we haven't imagined. Something exciting.

 

Trailer one we have Michael narrating reflectively. He even says "Why did I move here?" It was a rhetorical question. Almost like someone was interviewing him and asked him..."Why did you move here?" (Could that be a plot point in the future of the game?) It's a trailer that reveals the location. So at the start is almost cut like a "Come to Los Santos" promo movie for middle-aged people and senior citizens or a "Come to Los Santos" promo by a property developer to entice people to certain new neighbourhood or something. "Look, there's palm trees, there's lovely weather, there's golf, there's hillwalking!" etc etc. We hear Michael speak.

 

Then we have second trailer which goes in to Michaels personal life. We also get introduced to Trevor and for the first time in the game we see Michael, Trevor and Franklin interact. In this trailer we get some insight in to Michaels personal life > who Trevor is and what he does for a living > Franklin and is aspirations (but we know little more about Franklin).

 

My prediction is Trailer 3 and last major push of into and marketing will feature Franklin more. We will finally see some action from Ganton/South Central. We'll see gang banging, car modification and some new features.

 

Rockstar are going to use the 3rd trailer to entice us with the action. The 3rd trailer will appeal to a more casual gamer when they see some gang banging action in the 'hood. No doubt the 3rd trailer will have some G-Funk music or some sort of Epic Hip Hop track. So this will be a new dimension of GTA V we've not yet seen. For us hardcore fans or more hardcore gamers that would have view the trailers a few times already, we've been shown mostly...

 

Michael, Beverly Hills, nice scenery, Los Santos is nice but had it's dark sides but it's got nice things in the first trailer > then Trevor we got desety territory and country. This guy lives there and deals drugs out that way > Then 3rd trailer.... Franklin, guns, gangbanging, car modding etc.

 

So you see, our 3 characters come from different backgrounds and they each almost represent the 3 major and obvious parts of the map.

 

Michael (rich, Hollywood, Beverly Hills, security), Trevor (countryside/desert) and Franklin (South Central, poverty and violence)

 

It's probably all pretty obvious for anyone to make my "my prediction" but I just thought I'd put it out there and then check back in July or when ever trailer 3 is out and see if I was close.

 

I think Franklin is definitely being held off for marketing purposes because to show so much as Franklin would be showing South Central and Rockstar seem to be keeping that for us later and we'll see his popularity soar eventually.

 

I also had an idea that to show Franklin at the start gangbanging, people might think we're getting San Andreas 2, which I'm sure Rockstar wanted to avoid.

Edited March 23, 2013 by ThePinkFloydSound

[Patrizio]

Interesting theory. We know very little about Franklin and have certainly seen little of South/East Los Santos yet. What may throw this however is that I feel we may get a Trailer 4, like GTA IV did, due to the long delay.

[Mister Pink]

Interesting theory. We know very little about Franklin and have certainly seen little of South/East Los Santos yet. What may throw this however is that I feel we may get a Trailer 4, like GTA IV did, due to the long delay.

Thanks for reading, I know it's a long post.

 

Yes, I never factored in a 4th trailer. Had there been no delay, i'd say my above post is how it would have went down. It still may happen and then we may get a more story focussed or feature focussed trailer as a fourth one.

[meta187]

EDIT: I'll be back to give this a proper read.

[Andreas]

That is certainly an interesting theory and that's actually what I was thinking as well. We know enough about Michael and Trevor to at least imagine how they are going to be but we cannot say the same thing about Franklin, we don't know much about him. The third trailer would be the best moment to show who Franklin actually is and it would be also good to show South- and East Los Santos since we haven't seen much yet from that area, which likely includes Compton, known as Ganton in GTA: San Andreas.

[Guest]

Good read.

 

I agree with pretty much everything you posted, and hopefully Trailer 3 shows some more Franklin and especially the vehicle side of things. I imagine the layout of the -possibly four- trailers would be

 

Trailer 1 - Atmosphere, "Welcome to LS"

 

Trailer 2 - Shooting, Action

 

Trailer 3 - Vehicles, racing

 

Trailer 4 - The trio (a bit of background info on the three characters and their lives)

[AuSsIeThUnDeR36]

Interesting read. I doubt we will get two more trailers with six months to go.

I have April, Monday, 22nd down for Trailer 3.

My theory is they will release it at that time.

[Deffpony]

I actually disagree a bit. I think that Franklin being the forefront of trailer 3 is a possibility but not likely. Here is why.

 

Trailer 1 was a vague introduction to LS. It had very little to do with any of the protagonists. Even though Michael is narrating, hes really just speaking about the Los Santos lifestyle, "that magic" that enticed him to move there. In trailer 1 we see about equal amounts of Franklin and Michael and none of Trevor(at least as we know him)

 

As far as screen shots go, Michael is by far the least featured protagonist. There are alot of Trevor and Franklin Screens, but not many of Michael.

 

Trailer 2 was definitely a Trevor trailer, but maybe not intentionally. He definitely stole the show, but if you look at the trailer objectively it was more an overview of the three protagonists coming together and how they each contribute to the game. It displays how Michael meets Franklin, and even how the 3 of them meet. It shows Franklin stealing numerous cars, a motorcycle, and even doing drive bys. It features Trevor lighting buildings on fire, crashing trains, beating up drug dealers, and jumping out of cargo planes. And Michael is shown living his Vinewood life, his family and therapist relations, breaking into buildings, and how he glues the other two protagonists together. All in all trailer two shows us our three protags, how they met, and what kind of motives they may have.

 

So with all that said I think its clear to see that no one protagonist has really been featured more than the other. Trevor being so prominent in trailer two might actualy be a compensation for his absence in trailer 1. I think Rockstar wants to avoid giving too much exposure to one individual because they are stressing the importance of the necessity for multiple protagonists that work together, not picking your favorite and sticking to him.

 

My prediction for trailer 3 is that it will be more geared toward the heists. We also have yet to see what the major conflict of the game is. I have a feeling we will meet a few antagonists in trailer 3 or at least see what the protags are up against. We might also see alot more of the urban areas of Los Santos and you stated PFS. My two cents

[meta187]

I can certainly see Franklin getting more of a spotlight in a future trailer what I could also see is actually seeing a first glimpse of the antagonist assuming there's a central figure in this story they are collectively working against. Then again, maybe's there's no one other than the various authorities and people stopping them from reaching their goals and their biggest enemy at the end of the game ends up being themselves. From there you'd have to sort out who you favor. That would certainly be an original spin on things.

 

EDIT: Looks like deFf and I were kinda on the same page on this one.

Edited March 23, 2013 by meta187

[Deffpony]

 

I can certainly see Franklin getting more of a spotlight in a future trailer what I could also see is actually seeing a first glimpse of the antagonist assuming there's a central figure in this story they are collectively working against. Then again, maybe's there's no one other than the various authorities  and people stopping them from reaching their goals and their biggest enemy at the end of the game ends up being themselves. From there you'd have to sort out who you favor. That would certainly be an original spin on things.

That would be original, but usually when the police/fbi are the main threat in a story, there is a figure head agent that appears responsible for all the heat. I would def be down with that approach though

[Patrizio]

This all depends on how Rockstar does the website when it officially launches, especially if the return the character videos from IV.

[DryJohnson45]

Love this post. I agree with your theory. I hope the third trailer does show some more of LS 'hood'. I don't really want to hear some G-funk tho, thats kinda plaiyed out in the whole Compton G-funk type thing. Its a little too far behind this LS time period, considering that the other trailer had some old music but it fit somehow. IF there is gonna be old music let it be, MC Eight and have the trailer be like watching the original movies "Menac II Society" or some other sh*t like that. If its gonna music from time period the best type of music would be Hip Hop, Not no mainstream bullsh*t that isn't really 'hood' type music but some Kendrick, SchoolBoy Q, Ab Soul or Jay Rock. some examples is a song there all on is "Say Wassup" (by all them A.K.A Black Hippy) , M.A.A.D. City by Kendrick Lamar Ft. MC Eight (Either the First part of it or the second part) (Second part would fit more but the first part is more modern music) , Track Two by Ab Soul , Pineal Gland by Ab Soul , ILLuminate by Ab Soul Ft. Kendrick , A Rebellion by Ab Soul (the trailer would have to feature the sun rising, and chill scenes of the streets, people giving each other dap or handshakes, or police patrolling) , Showin' Love by Ab Soul (this one would need to show people doing drugs, and doing sh*t in the streets) ,Nothing's Something by Ab Soul , Beautiful Death by Ab Soul , Black Lip Bastard(Remix) by Black Hippy (this one is good for that type scene) , Birds and The Beez by SchoolBoy Q Ft. Kendrick (MUST show people throwing up gang signs, greeting eachother, slanging dope, and riding around the ghetto in slowmo) , Ronald Reagan Era by Kendrick Lamar (Talks about compton) , Backstreet Freestyle by Kendrick, Art of Peer Pressure by Kendrick Lamar (First Part must show young black people doing drugs and doing illegal sh*t, second part needs to show that stuff but in a depressing mood) , Good Kid by Kendrick Lamar, Dying Of Thirst by Kendrick (Song is actual called Sing About Me, Dying Of Thirst, the song is like 12 minutes and it has 2 songs in one. this song has to showvarious scenes of people surviving in streets) , Compton by Kendrick ft. Dr. Dre (real song for the trailer GOES HARD)

[jamieleng]

Wasn't Franklin & Chop in the first artwork that was leaked?

 

I agree that there's more to Franklin than meets the eye & thinking about it he should be the one we identify with most. He's probably closer to the age of the average GTA player, he's an outsider in the friendship & history that already exists between Michael & Trevor. One of Franklin's biggest draws is Chop & with the interaction & bond that will exist between them (I bet R* pulls it off better than Peter Molyneux could ever dream possible). It will be good to see a trailer focusing more on Franklin, but I still think we saw quite a bit of him in the last trailer.

 

My favourite so far is Trevor, but that's solely due to the fact that he's the most unlikely protagonist I've seen in a long time. It's like anything is possible with him.

 

 

[meta187]

 

I can certainly see Franklin getting more of a spotlight in a future trailer what I could also see is actually seeing a first glimpse of the antagonist assuming there's a central figure in this story they are collectively working against. Then again, maybe's there's no one other than the various authorities  and people stopping them from reaching their goals and their biggest enemy at the end of the game ends up being themselves. From there you'd have to sort out who you favor. That would certainly be an original spin on things.

That would be original, but usually when the police/fbi are the main threat in a story, there is a figure head agent that appears responsible for all the heat. I would def be down with that approach though

Well of course you'll have a character or two heading up the operations within the local authorities but they could downplay them a bit in the end to not equal out to someone as notorious or hateable as say Officer Tenpenny or Dimitri Rascalov, someone who despite their efforts to hinder the three protags, never really breaks into the final showdown of the game in any consequential way and honestly may just be doing their job. That would allow for them to shift the final conflict to something that happens between the characters on a personal level most likely over greed rather than having a common foe for them to unite against.

[Rockbottomsville]

I have complete faith rockstar will do franklin justice, i just hope they make his home just as good. I mean if rockstar screws up the hood then all this delay was for nothing.

[DarkDayz]

Wasn't Franklin & Chop in the first artwork that was leaked?

I think this is the answer.

 

Because when you get Franklin, it isn't just Franklin, it's Chop as well. I don't think they want to show us the dog yet, I can imagine it's something they will be working on until the end if Franklin interacts with chop which no doubt will happen. Man and his dog is such a good theme and can add an amazing character story that no game has delved into before and I don't think they will miss out on that. The animation is another territory because of the psychical build of a dog and how the human avatars can interact. Think of how long it took them to perfect the humans holding something in cutscenes, convincing looking cups of drink etc. I think they dont want to show us something in fear that it may change further down the line, when thinking of how the physics of Chop looks, I can imagine it's really hard not to not make look bad, can't think of a game that involved good looking animal/human interaction before, the animals are no longer just walking around in games anymore.

 

So yeah, I think Chop is the answer for not much Franklin as of yet because of development being not that easy.

[EvilFuture]

I don't really have a favorite to be honest, I like them all, and will definitely play as them equally. I feel like in GTA IV with the EFLC, I didn't feel the same. Yes, I liked all of them, but not the same like I do with GTAV.

 

Anywho, back on topic, I counted all the screenshots that clearly showed the protagonists in them, and interestingly, it seems that Franklin was actually showed the most, yet we don't have much information. Here are my results:

 

Michael - 14 screenshots

 

Trevor - 20 screenshots

 

Franklin - 25 screenshots.

 

In my opinion, I think that Franklin will be a laid back kind of guy, who wants to get away from all the gang sh*t. As you can see in the second trailer, he doesn't sound too happy with Lamar. "Cool what?! Slingin' dope and throwin' up gang signs?!" From the screenshots we have seen, he isn't doing anything too crazy like Trevor would, he definitely don't seem like the kind of person to go around and mindlessly slaughter innocent human beings In most of his screens, he is just doing SOMETHING with some kind of vehicle. We have seen him in nice cars, motorcycles, boats, pretty much everything except planes. So, Franklin is the car guy, Trevor is the plane guy, and Michael... well he's the rich guy I guess, or the brains of the group.

 

As for your prediction, I really hope it is true. I think that we have enough information on Trevor or Michael to get the general idea of how they are. We barely have anything on Franklin, we kinda just have to guess what he is like. It sounds like a perfect Trailer, hip hop music, Franklin cruising down the streets of Los Santos, show us some more about him! We have already seen 2 trailers of Michael! If it weren't so close to release, it would be nice to have 2 trailers of Michael, 2 of Trevor, and 2 of Franklin. Anyway, I could go on all day with this but I'm sure most of you haven't even read this far!

[Snake Without a Tongue]

I only read the bold part, but I agree. I think there'll be sort of a brief segue between Michael and Trevor and then more Franklin. Then a final fourth trailer meant for TV blending the three equally.