Shady Creeks, Back O' Beyond, Flint County

[Mintal]

Hello users from GTAforums! Please apologize for my English, I am from Germany (Bavaria, Nuremberg).

I've been reading here for a very long time (since GTA IV I think) and now I decided to join this community. Love all these threads where you discuss every single detail about this wonderful game.

 

First I want to say, I think GTA V is a masterpiece. It's not the game of the decade to me, but it's great and worth every single dollar/euro/etc you pay. It's not flawless, but I still love it. Especially the graphics are breathtaking to me, I mean... for the size and detail-richness of GTA V... it's amazing. The sunsets in the desert, wow.

 

But in my first post/thread I want to criticize one thing: The map. Although it is very big with tons of details, I personally miss that "wilderness" and "isolated" feeling in the countryside. I've seen a lot of threads like that here, but they don't mention the places I miss.

 

I miss areas like Shady Creeks, Back O' Beyond and whole Flint County. Those big forest and farm areas like you had them in San Andreas. San Andreas itself was small, I know, I just want to talk about those specific areas.

 

Those dense and mysterious areas. I think you don't have them in V. You never feel lost, I think that's kinda sad. Don't get me wrong, not a SA fanboy or something like that. But when R* promised us a large and diverse map, I thought we get isolated areas like that back.

 

When I was in Angel Pine the first time I played the game, I felt lost and alone. And after I travelled through Back o Beyond, Shady Creeks and all those "creepy" areas (especially at night), I really thought I'm in the middle of nowhere.

 

GTA V's map shape does not allow that. It's sorrounded by huge mountains and a flat, big desert + a lake in the middle. You can see nearly every area by turning around in the middle of the map. You never feel lost or isolated, neither on Mount Chiliad, nor in Paleto Forest, which is not a forest at all to me. More some kind of.. woods on a hill.. or so.

 

Still a great map of course! But it lacks variety and.. isolation in my opinion. Like this:

 

 

 

I would have loved to get areas like that back in GTA V, but - like I said - I'm still happy with the game. It's not SA 2.0.

 

What's your opinion guys? Do/did you feel the same sometimes?

 

Greetings

Mintal

Edited December 4, 2013 by Mintal

[Tilemaxx]

That's just an illusion. First, the feeling of "isolation", SA had very little draw distance which gave the impression of being huge. Second, there are plenty of areas in GTA like the 2nd photo you posted.

In fact, would you still feel creepy if you realised that:

Edited December 4, 2013 by Tilemaxx

[Cutter De Blanc]

Yeah, no way to get lost. Too many landmarks. Try to get lost. That giant f*cking mountain will always show you where north is.

[Jack0711]

That's just an illusion. First, the feeling of "isolation", SA had very little draw distance which gave the impression of being huge. Second, there are plenty of areas in GTA like the 2nd photo you posted.

 

In fact, would you still feel creepy if you realised that:

 

 

 

 

 

Now THAT'S creepy. It looks tiny!

[Mintal]

I've seen tons of videos and all different draw distance mods that show how small SA actually is.

 

But I still feel lost when I'm playing SA. It matters how you feel while playing the game in my opinion. R* used dozents of tricks to make SA feel big. And I loved it.

[El Zodape]

I'm not a SA fanboy, but SA's forest is waaay more intimidating and creepier than V's, even if in V there are those mountain cats that one-hit kill you.

[Tilemaxx]

I'm getting that feeling only in PS2 version. SA PC has already a much bigger draw distance and clearer textures you can see from far away (they also removed plenty effects from PC ver). It takes away all the atmosphere.

[Gnocchi Flip Flops]

I have to agree with you. The map literally has nowhere that makes you feel isolated, even if you turn the minimap off you will know where you are at all times.

[Mintal]

I want to repeat: I don't think GTA SA had more "isolated" areas because I think it'ts bigger than V. GTA V is WAY bigger of course, I know that.

 

I'm talking about the general idea of having areas like Shady Creeks, Back O' Beyond or even whole Flint County back. Those places where you felt far away from everything. I just loved it, and I would have loved to get an improved and bigger version of that in GTA V... but you can't get everything. ^^

Edited December 4, 2013 by Mintal

[Tilemaxx]

A GTA V with heavy fog effect would do the trick.

[Mintal]

No that wouldn't work. GTA V has another map layout than SA.

 

Imagine V with that heavy fog. Driving on the Palomino Highway from Los Santos towards Chiliad. With sh*tty draw distance. That wouldn't work and it would be ugly has hell, because in the middle of the map there is 90 % flat land. And Chiliad spawning in pieces the more you move towards it? No way. It wouldn't give you that illusion of having a massive map.

 

Again, I know that V had a better draw distance. I just think it's layout is not made to give you an isolated feeling. There are no areas like Shady Creeks or Back o Beyond.

Edited December 4, 2013 by Mintal

[Red XIII]

If GTAV had the draw distance of san andreas the map would feel massive and you would get that isolated feel.

[Shah Sam]

R* nailed it with RDR. That forest was really creppy. It had a really isolated feeling, probably because of the bears, the creepy score and the lack of vehichles and roads.

[Fuzzknuckles]

I never felt like the south west side of the San An map made any sense. It didn't seem like countryside, it was just a massive lump in the map with a few oversized trees dotted about it. The little towns were pretty well designed, but they felt way too small, these strange little square outposts.

 

Chiliad was more of a stone tit than a mountain. It didn't look very good - limitations of the console or not, it looked rubbish.

[boxmonster]

It just looks like there are no potential shortcuts on the map to get lost in. That's what always happened to me in SA because the highways unnecessarily wrapped around the map. I'd always get lost trying to find a shortcut in Back O Beyond. The way roads are done is more realistic in that it gets you from place to place by the quickest path but it takes away from the crazy adventures of getting lost in the woods.

[El Zodape]

R* nailed it with RDR. That forest was really creppy. It had a really isolated feeling, probably because of the bears, the creepy score and the lack of vehichles and roads.

Undead Nightmare was worse.

 

Those undead bears. They gave me nightmares.

 

[Gnocchi Flip Flops]

I'm sorry but adding fog would not do the trick. V's map is so easy to memorize.

[StJimmy]

You know as much as I hate any thing to do with "V is not like San Andreas" as many know from my posts in other topics, I strangely agree with you

[MAKAVELlil]

Undead Nightmare Is The Best

[Empty World]

That's one of the biggest things I was missing in GTA V. No creepy forest to pretend that I'm hunting for serial killer or bigfoot.

[EncryptedReality]

Everything about the past seems better and more euphoric than the present and future will bring. Besides the tech

 

And Rockstar cut many many trees and object placements... probably for memory maangement for those sh*t consoles in V

Edited December 4, 2013 by GTARandom

[JustOneMonth]

I think they should put some ''hunters'' from that low used altruist cult, and they should not use fire weapons, maybe only chainsaws and such, with pig mask and whatnot.

 

But GTA has more of a gunplay, still i think people would like to vary.

Plus, how easy would it be to shoot a ''hunter'' or just a ''serial killer'' in a headshot.

 

I think they tried it with the altruist cult, wich is a fun place to visit.

Shame they spawn so quick.

[dave4242]

I've seen tons of videos and all different draw distance mods that show how small SA actually is.

 

But I still feel lost when I'm playing SA. It matters how you feel while playing the game in my opinion. R* used dozents of tricks to make SA feel big. And I loved it.

I absolutely agree with you. It is irrelevant how big a map is 'technically', because if it feels massive then that is what you experience.

[fac316]

another thread about SA praising how much of a better game RDR is then V. What V really suffers from is the lack of another main city.

[ShadowDog94]

Yeah I agree. GTA V doesn't really have any places where you feel completely lost, and even though Mount Chilliad is bigger in V, it doesn't really feel like it, since the one in SA was more detailed for the time, with a forest and a cabin on the trail up.

 

I also wish they'd made the desert bigger. The desert in SA felt huge to me, especially with the mountains. There's no mountains in the desert in V, which is disappointing.

[Gutslab]

Everything about the past seems better and more euphoric than the present and future will bring.

 

yeah, this is also a factor. I've played some old games that I had great childhood memories with, only to end up asking myself wtf is this or wtf am I doing. And it applies to real life too. I visited a place where I grew up at and saw that in it's current state it was a horrible dump that looked rundown, compared to the vibrant memories I have of it.

[AtomicPunk]

Hello users from GTAforums! Please apologize for my English, I am from Germany (Bavaria, Nuremberg).

I've been reading here for a very long time (since GTA IV I think) and now I decided to join this community. Love all these threads where you discuss every single detail about this wonderful game.

 

First I want to say, I think GTA V is a masterpiece. It's not the game of the decade to me, but it's great and worth every single dollar/euro/etc you pay. It's not flawless, but I still love it. Especially the graphics are breathtaking to me, I mean... for the size and detail-richness of GTA V... it's amazing. The sunsets in the desert, wow.

 

But in my first post/thread I want to criticize one thing: The map. Although it is very big with tons of details, I personally miss that "wilderness" and "isolated" feeling in the countryside. I've seen a lot of threads like that here, but they don't mention the places I miss.

 

I miss areas like Shady Creeks, Back O' Beyond and whole Flint County. Those big forest and farm areas like you had them in San Andreas. San Andreas itself was small, I know, I just want to talk about those specific areas.

 

Those dense and mysterious areas. I think you don't have them in V. You never feel lost, I think that's kinda sad. Don't get me wrong, not a SA fanboy or something like that. But when R* promised us a large and diverse map, I thought we get isolated areas like that back.

 

When I was in Angel Pine the first time I played the game, I felt lost and alone. And after I travelled through Back o Beyond, Shady Creeks and all those "creepy" areas (especially at night), I really thought I'm in the middle of nowhere.

 

GTA V's map shape does not allow that. It's sorrounded by huge mountains and a flat, big desert + a lake in the middle. You can see nearly every area by turning around in the middle of the map. You never feel lost or isolated, neither on Mount Chiliad, nor in Paleto Forest, which is not a forest at all to me. More some kind of.. woods on a hill.. or so.

 

Still a great map of course! But it lacks variety and.. isolation in my opinion. Like this:

 

 

 

I would have loved to get areas like that back in GTA V, but - like I said - I'm still happy with the game. It's not SA 2.0.

 

What's your opinion guys? Do/did you feel the same sometimes?

 

Greetings

Mintal

You are right. Why weren't there any cabins or little farm houses and barns and stuff out in the country areas? I don't understand that decision either. V's map just isn't right, IMO. R* can't make a big wilderness and leave the stuff out that should be in that wilderness.

[Hodor Hodor]

Honestly I expected a place like shady creeks before launch.

[jonkoroken420]

If the problem is the "Draw Distance" to make a place creepy & lonely, They should've made some of those creepy spots where mist is hanging around most of the time.

[dyz]

If the problem is the "Draw Distance" to make a place creepy & lonely, They should've made some of those creepy spots where mist is hanging around most of the time.

I agree!!