R* should have left the biker story for this game

[INEEDVNOW]

No

[ChrisMathers3501]

I'm just glad that GTAV is continuing my two favorite gang wars - the Families vs Ballas and TLMC vs AOD.

[Braindawg]

Band "Lost", bakers is extremely dumb group of people with very dumb ideology. And I wasn't interested in the whole story and their problems.

Band "Lost", bakers. I just had to repeat that one more time.

"extremely dumb"

 

Do you even see the irony here?

[Triple Vacuum Seal]

 

TBoGT had a good story? I thought it was a hot mess. Most of the characters were pointless in the scheme of the story; Yusuf did nothing to expand the plot, and the same can be said for Mori. Neither were particularly funny or well written, they were just loud and obnoxious and I've always found those to be the most annoying characters in GTA (it's ok if you liked them, though you can't deny their overall unimportance). I've actually been replaying it recently (some of the cars/weapons added make it worth it), but I can't help but think it could have been so much better with a bit more focus - if Luis was actually torn between a life as a drug dealers and a life as a club owner, could have added so much substance to proceedings. Instead, he did a whole set of missions (and side-missions) for those guys that really had no bearing on the story being told.

 

The thing about The Lost and Damned, is it had the focus that The Ballad lacked. It was centred around a group of misfits, and the one in particular who was trying with all his might to hold them all together as his leader pushed them further and further apart. It's a pretty dramatic tale. And it's a story I'm glad was told. It's fine that you prefer the theme and vibe of The Ballad of Gay Tony over that of The Lost and Damned. Bikers aren't for everyone, though neither are dancers and clubs. I guess that's all I'm trying to say.

Could not agree more. TBOGT felt tragically dumbed-down and lazy.

 

- For one, it became very clear half way into the game that R* was just trying to build a story around a handful of common sense high-demand features - more helicopters, decent weapon variety, decent car variety, parachutes, etc.- that should've been in IV to begin with. Minus all clothing variety. Then they could throw it all together and re-brand it as GTA The Ballad Of Gay Tony. I see right through that merchandising bs. It was really just GTAIV + The Features You Wanted. They then use big explosions and fast cars to keep everyone distracted from this reality.

 

 

- The characters were weak as well. I went through Luis' phone contacts one day and realized how pathetic the character development was compared to IV's. Yusuf was nothing more than an awkwardly silly playboy. Anyone who has seen the movie The Devil's Double, knows that Yusuf's character had some serious potential. Armando and Henrique virtually said the same thing every time they appeared in the game. Mori was just an older and douchier version of Brucie.

 

 

- Luis was a bitch with no ambition. Easily the worst GTA protag of all time. What the hell is he bitchin' for? He complained about everything from how stupid his friends are that he chose to being in prison. At least Niko's cynicism was rooted in his witnessing of war and genocide. Luis ought just be lucky he's not back on the corner slangin' rocks like his friends or getting his ass worn out in some prison shower. Luis was never out to get his. His only problems were other people's problems. He was just a lap dog for others the whole damned game. This is exactly why he works as a security guard at his own club (part-owner).

 

 

...the only good to come out of that game were the drug wars and cage fighting (though the fighting mechanics sucked).

 

 

[coach_wargo]

TLaD had the strongest story out of the LC trilogy. TLaD had more depth in both story and characters, whereas TBoGT was just one note, over the top rich people getting the rocks off and f*cking up their lives along the way. TBoGT was fun in an outrageous sort of way, but it felt more like a GTA parody than a serious GTA game.

 

I sincerely hope the writing team from TLaD hand a strong hand in the story for V. If so we should be in for a hell of a treat.

 

[ChrisMathers3501]

TBoGT had a good story? I thought it was a hot mess. Most of the characters were pointless in the scheme of the story; Yusuf did nothing to expand the plot, and the same can be said for Mori. Neither were particularly funny or well written, they were just loud and obnoxious and I've always found those to be the most annoying characters in GTA (it's ok if you liked them, though you can't deny their overall unimportance). I've actually been replaying it recently (some of the cars/weapons added make it worth it), but I can't help but think it could have been so much better with a bit more focus - if Luis was actually torn between a life as a drug dealers and a life as a club owner, could have added so much substance to proceedings. Instead, he did a whole set of missions (and side-missions) for those guys that really had no bearing on the story being told.

 

The thing about The Lost and Damned, is it had the focus that The Ballad lacked. It was centred around a group of misfits, and the one in particular who was trying with all his might to hold them all together as his leader pushed them further and further apart. It's a pretty dramatic tale. And it's a story I'm glad was told. It's fine that you prefer the theme and vibe of The Ballad of Gay Tony over that of The Lost and Damned. Bikers aren't for everyone, though neither are dancers and clubs. I guess that's all I'm trying to say.

Could not agree more. TBOGT felt tragically dumbed-down and lazy.

 

- For one, it became very clear half way into the game that R* was just trying to build a story around a handful of common sense high-demand features - more helicopters, decent weapon variety, decent car variety, parachutes, etc.- that should've been in IV to begin with. Minus all clothing variety. Then they could throw it all together and re-brand it as GTA The Ballad Of Gay Tony. I see right through that merchandising bs. It was really just GTAIV + The Features You Wanted. They then use big explosions and fast cars to keep everyone distracted from this reality.

 

 

- The characters were weak as well. I went through Luis' phone contacts one day and realized how pathetic the character development was compared to IV's. Yusuf was nothing more than an awkwardly silly playboy. Anyone who has seen the movie The Devil's Double, knows that Yusuf's character had some serious potential. Armando and Henrique virtually said the same thing every time they appeared in the game. Mori was just an older and douchier version of Brucie.

 

 

- Luis was a bitch with no ambition. Easily the worst GTA protag of all time. What the hell is he bitchin' for? He complained about everything from how stupid his friends are that he chose to being in prison. At least Niko's cynicism was rooted in his witnessing of war and genocide. Luis ought just be lucky he's not back on the corner slangin' rocks like his friends or getting his ass worn out in some prison shower. Luis was never out to get his. His only problems were other people's problems. He was just a lap dog for others the whole damned game. This is exactly why he works as a security guard at his own club (part-owner).

 

 

...the only good to come out of that game were the drug wars and cage fighting (though the fighting mechanics sucked).

If you ask me, GTAIV and all its era's games compliment each other well. Niko arrives in Liberty City with a haunted past but for all his cynicism he really saw the place as it was for all its grays and browns, the rich and the poor, and even as he complained about American excess he strove to get himself and his cousin to the top of the pile, only to learn things about himself and pay a terrible cost. Throughout his story, a couple of other players interweaved through it. Johnny lived on the outskirts of the city all his life with his gang brothers, saw everything that was wrong with the life, and even though they had their freedom and their code there was nothing they could do to keep their lives and their chapter from falling apart. Luis might complain from time to time but it was plain to see that he seeing or starting to see things through rose colored lenses from the ivory towers of the rich and famous and he became wrapped up in the affairs of his business partner, protecting him from both the most dangerous crime kingpins the city had to offer as well as himself. And as the story of one immigrant and two locals ended, and the heroin and the diamonds found their way home, another immigrant came to Liberty bearing a red herring (or is it a McGuffin?) of his own - Huang was an annoying rich kid bringing his recently murdered father's sword to his uncle, and arriving in Liberty, something even worse than catching crabs from a Swiss tourist happened on his second visit - getting shot in the head, left for dead, and forced to hunt down the sword while learning the tragic truth behind what happened to his father.

 

Whereas the 3 era games had a recurring rags-to-riches theme, the 4 era seemed to have a theme of human sadness. Niko's story was depressing, Johnny's story was angily sad, Luis' story was empty and Huang's story was tragic. In the end, I have to say that Rockstar did a wonderful job on ALL FRONTS. And now I can't wait to see what themes Five will explore.

[L1337]

nooo god no, never again either please, at least not if they're gonna be as retarded as the loud-mouth idiots calling themselves 'The Lost'. I personally just want a game with focus on drugs, think breaking bad.

[BigMouthPrick]

 

I didn't like TLAD at all.

 

So no. Maybe confront them only

 

I didn't like to play as  dumb f*ck. As well I wasn't interested in the story of dumb, ignorant f*cks - band "LOST".

 

Plus music is horrible.

 

At the same time, TBOGT was amazing - with good, pretty smart protagonist, excellent story, excellent missions, excellent vibe and excellent music - much better than original GTA IV.

I hope you're trolling, because if that's your opinion then you have one hell of a sh*tty opinion.

 

 

TBoGT story sucked multiple dicks. while i liked Luis, he can't be compared to the ultimate baddass, Johnny.

And TLAD Had one of the best stories in the GTA series, IMO only second to IV.

All these things (music, characters, story) are personal preference. There really isn't one better than the other.

Personally, I think Luis is pretty forgettable and generic. But overall that DLC was far superior.

TLAD was just meh, plus the city looked like garbage thanks to the filter they used.

Yes, the case not only in personal preferences.

 

TLAD was much weaker than TBOGT in many aspects, including missions and story

Get out of here man, TBOGT storyline was written for whint GTA Kids who can't keep their attention so every mission had to be all crazy and blockbuster like, the fact that Rockstar changed their original planned story is proof of that, TBOGT was suppose to end on a dark note to with the clubs being closed, Tony vanishing from the city, etc.

 

TLAD follows the original story arc, that's why there's more connecting points to GTA IV, most of that was ditched in TBOGT in favoring of pleasing fans who kept saying the game was too boring and being all wah wah wah where's my huge weapons and gold pimp cars? In turn it affected the story which is why Tony is the only character who make a lasting impression, everyone else feels retconned and shoehorned in to work around the new story.

Sorry man, you picked the worst possible example when mentioning characters.

There's zero character development for most of the biker gang.

 

This one alone in TBOGT is more memorable than Johnny's gang:

 

I've never really understood what people see in Yusuf. Am I the only one who thinks he's an overrated douchebag like 95% of TBOGT's cast?

Yes! I mean he was somewhat amusing at times but most of the time I found him to ott and quite irritating the only character I really liked was tony the rest were either alright or sucked.

[Triple Vacuum Seal]

 

TBoGT had a good story? I thought it was a hot mess. Most of the characters were pointless in the scheme of the story; Yusuf did nothing to expand the plot, and the same can be said for Mori. Neither were particularly funny or well written, they were just loud and obnoxious and I've always found those to be the most annoying characters in GTA (it's ok if you liked them, though you can't deny their overall unimportance). I've actually been replaying it recently (some of the cars/weapons added make it worth it), but I can't help but think it could have been so much better with a bit more focus - if Luis was actually torn between a life as a drug dealers and a life as a club owner, could have added so much substance to proceedings. Instead, he did a whole set of missions (and side-missions) for those guys that really had no bearing on the story being told.

 

The thing about The Lost and Damned, is it had the focus that The Ballad lacked. It was centred around a group of misfits, and the one in particular who was trying with all his might to hold them all together as his leader pushed them further and further apart. It's a pretty dramatic tale. And it's a story I'm glad was told. It's fine that you prefer the theme and vibe of The Ballad of Gay Tony over that of The Lost and Damned. Bikers aren't for everyone, though neither are dancers and clubs. I guess that's all I'm trying to say.

Could not agree more. TBOGT felt tragically dumbed-down and lazy.

 

- For one, it became very clear half way into the game that R* was just trying to build a story around a handful of common sense high-demand features - more helicopters, decent weapon variety, decent car variety, parachutes, etc.- that should've been in IV to begin with. Minus all clothing variety. Then they could throw it all together and re-brand it as GTA The Ballad Of Gay Tony. I see right through that merchandising bs. It was really just GTAIV + The Features You Wanted. They then use big explosions and fast cars to keep everyone distracted from this reality.

 

 

- The characters were weak as well. I went through Luis' phone contacts one day and realized how pathetic the character development was compared to IV's. Yusuf was nothing more than an awkwardly silly playboy. Anyone who has seen the movie The Devil's Double, knows that Yusuf's character had some serious potential. Armando and Henrique virtually said the same thing every time they appeared in the game. Mori was just an older and douchier version of Brucie.

 

 

- Luis was a bitch with no ambition. Easily the worst GTA protag of all time. What the hell is he bitchin' for? He complained about everything from how stupid his friends are that he chose to being in prison. At least Niko's cynicism was rooted in his witnessing of war and genocide. Luis ought just be lucky he's not back on the corner slangin' rocks like his friends or getting his ass worn out in some prison shower. Luis was never out to get his. His only problems were other people's problems. He was just a lap dog for others the whole damned game. This is exactly why he works as a security guard at his own club (part-owner).

 

 

...the only good to come out of that game were the drug wars and cage fighting (though the fighting mechanics sucked).

If you ask me, GTAIV and all its era's games compliment each other well. Niko arrives in Liberty City with a haunted past but for all his cynicism he really saw the place as it was for all its grays and browns, the rich and the poor, and even as he complained about American excess he strove to get himself and his cousin to the top of the pile, only to learn things about himself and pay a terrible cost. Throughout his story, a couple of other players interweaved through it. Johnny lived on the outskirts of the city all his life with his gang brothers, saw everything that was wrong with the life, and even though they had their freedom and their code there was nothing they could do to keep their lives and their chapter from falling apart. Luis might complain from time to time but it was plain to see that he seeing or starting to see things through rose colored lenses from the ivory towers of the rich and famous and he became wrapped up in the affairs of his business partner, protecting him from both the most dangerous crime kingpins the city had to offer as well as himself. And as the story of one immigrant and two locals ended, and the heroin and the diamonds found their way home, another immigrant came to Liberty bearing a red herring (or is it a McGuffin?) of his own - Huang was an annoying rich kid bringing his recently murdered father's sword to his uncle, and arriving in Liberty, something even worse than catching crabs from a Swiss tourist happened on his second visit - getting shot in the head, left for dead, and forced to hunt down the sword while learning the tragic truth behind what happened to his father.

 

Whereas the 3 era games had a recurring rags-to-riches theme, the 4 era seemed to have a theme of human sadness. Niko's story was depressing, Johnny's story was angily sad, Luis' story was empty and Huang's story was tragic. In the end, I have to say that Rockstar did a wonderful job on ALL FRONTS. And now I can't wait to see what themes Five will explore.

I agree that each of these themes had a diverse and creative integrity behind them. The stories do compliment each other well. But what good are these stories without a fun and entertaining gaming substance?

 

These stories are useless on their own without a re-playable and fun gaming experience. If R* just wants to be deep and tell a good story, then they can write a book. In reality, GTA is a video game. Furthermore, freedom has been the emphasis since the revolutionary III-era. There wasn't a problem with the themes at all. They just lacked the freedom and features to support the gameplay experience.

[ChrisMathers3501]

Okay seriously, if you did not have fun with ANY of the GTA IV games then GTA V is literally going to do nothing for you. Just trust me on that. Even as the base, "stripped down" version if you will, of the entire IV experience, GTA IV had so much cool sh*t going for it. Aside from the graphics resembling real life for the first time on account of the console generation leap (one which I'm pretty sure we won't even notice as we transition to an even sh*ttier Xbox) the vehicles themselves got such a tune up.

 

At the time IV came out, I had just learned how to drive. The handling was so much more true to life, especially when in first person mode. Shooting was more fun too - I could take cover like in Gears of War, and it was nothing like that clunky Ghost Recon cover system because I could also aim and shoot accurately. Getting headshots in GTA IV is fun, easy, and satisfying. And those physics! Push a man off a building. Bounce off a hood. Drive a motorcycle through a crowd. Get drunk and fall down the stairs. And the missions? Okay, there were some repetitive fetch quests, but those are only completionist challenges. Every GTA game teaches you how to play it.

 

TLAD took GTA IV's biggest weakness and made it its strongest point. Johnny's big slow ass, when firmly planted on his Hexer, would blaze down the city streets at high speed, maneuver through gaps nobody else could drive through, and stay gripped during crashes which honestly SHOULD have thrown him, but I was glad they didn't. The shotguns were damn cool too - the sawed-off was made for blowing up cars while on a bike and the automatic was my new favorite way to set boundaries and establish personal space.

 

Rockstar knew that as fun as GTAIV would be, that people would still bitch about missing features. So they saved all the gimmicks from their bag of tricks in reserve in order to release at an appropriate time. If there were two things which added more to the fun than anything, it was the parachute, and the AA-12. The parachute was a throwback to San Andreas, and the AA-12 made you forget how fun TLAD's street sweeper was. It wasn't as good at first - but when you loaded frag rounds you start to get wood.

 

And Chinatown Wars? Fun game. Full of little repeating and one-off minigames. I kind of hesitate to call them minigames, however, as if CW was a console game instead of a handheld, they'd have been called Quicktime events. But still, they DID make excellent use of the touchpad (or in the PSP's case, the thumbstick). Drug dealing was a good way to pass the time. All in all they wrung as much fun as anybody realistically could out of the handhelds.

 

I don't know where you've been but GTA has never wanted for new features, and as for freedom, the only barriers are the bridge closings, the gun store inventories, and the ever-present LCPD. For a player who's well into the game, the sky's the limit.

[Triple Vacuum Seal]

^ It's not that I didn't have fun. IV just suffered from a severe lack of replay value. Once the graphics, physics, and other cosmetic elements are seen as satisfactory, people desensitize quickly to them. Somewhere down the line, a game has to actually have activities and substance beneath its performance upgrades to keep the replay value up. What exactly does one do with IV after beating the story multiple times in the first year of playing it? The EFLC took even shorter to beat.

 

 

Things like a rewarding 100% incentive, vehicle customization, gun customization, roads that are actually enjoyable to navigate, drug dealing, arms dealing, business owning, decent map size, aircraft, purchasable marinas, purchasable airstrips, decent clothing variety, decent gun variety, decent car variety, improved heist side missions, heist crew building, decent vehicle storage space, underwater exploration, wilderness, multiple protags in one game, hunting, and wildlife are all things that V will have that IV didn't; and that's just what's been revealed. So I don't see how one wouldn't enjoy V just because they thought IV was boring after a year or so. That logic just doesn't line up.

 

I still think highly of IV. It just fell short of the replay value expectations that GTA is known for. As for the DLC features, anyone who thinks that those shouldn't have been in the original IV are lying to themselves. Additional weapons, a parachute, and a handful of cars hardly take any dev resources to make compared to the entire game itself.

[ImbetterThanYou]

3 words - Sons Of Anarchy

3 words - TLAD was sh*t