Did you like GTA V's story?

[richard1997jones]

I liked the story as much as I liked Vice City stories, San Andreas and Ballad of gay tony or IV's. In other words it's up there. What I really liked is the fact we play three story modes at once. In IV we saw this evolution through meeting all three characters in different missions and the fact rockstar leaped from that to V's where we play all of the characters in the same game kind of makes up for any flaws in the story. My favorite story was and will always be San Andreas just because it was my childhood game and I've completed it roughly 5 times. But I liked the fact we could do robberies ect.... The only problem I had was that we couldn't do our own robberies again in single player without a mission. I like the fact we can rob shops but it would have been nice to rob banks and steal millions phoning characters and robbing places at random.

[Ixnay]

More than storytelling... hmm... isn't that generally the driving force of a game? I think I get what you're saying, that the game should be analyzed on all aspects - but then again, there really is no should.

 

I'm not as thrilled with the game as I thought I would be, and it mostly comes down to story and character development for me. I just don't find the storyline all that great, so it's hard to get sucked into it.

 

It looks great, and the character movements have gotten much better. It's nice to have quick-save. For car physics, I would have preferred a middle ground between IV and V.

 

I don't like having vendor carts around that you can't use. I don't like that you have to watch where you stand if you don't want pedestrians calling the cops for no reason. There should have been a middle ground between "too many phone calls" and "barely any at all".

 

Those are a few gameplay things, and for me they probably would have been easier to ignore if the story was a lot more gripping. I guess if storytelling isn't everything, there's always GTA Online! :-)

[Captain Arthur]

 

 

 

 

 

But, I feel that even if it had mission variety and a good story, people would still find something to complain about.

The only thing I'd complain about is lesser, but important stuff like more interiors, lack of random gang wars in the streets, and decent crime-related side missions. Now if that stuff was added to what you have stated, I'd be saying the game was damn near perfect.

 

Yeah, I wish the day would come where a Gta game has all that so that less people would complain.

 

 

And there are GTA IV fanboys too (not SOL or Official General ) but guys like Fluttershy Pony/Bert, his posts speak for itself.

 

I might disagree with you on that. I believe that SoL is the biggest Gta IV fanboy on earth and I am getting sick and tired of reading his sh*t-filled posts.

 

 

 

 

 

*User warned for this post.

 

I disagree. I think that his love towards IV isn't annoying in the slightest and I see why he likes such an extraordinary game.

 

 

 

 

*user was commended for this post

 

Bro, have you been living under a rock? He is extremely annoying and I can't stand him.

 

 

*User was stabbed with a sword by SoL.

 

 

 

 

 

P.S Odyssey you might wanna check the awards discussion topic.

Edited January 19, 2014 by Gta_V_Fan_101

[Captain Arthur]

Btw, SoL, I have a message for you

 

[Algonquin Assassin]

 

I think we can agree if GTA VI has GTA IV like story telling with GTA V mission variety it'll be a shining jewel.

 

I don't think that it would be possible. GTA IV's story is the reason that the missions lack variety as Niko's life never involved him stealing huge planes mid flight, sinking container ships or crashing trains into each other. That is why I said that GTA V's story is the best we are going to get while still retaining mission variety.I don't know if I could agree with that. Most of the repetitiveness boils down to environment and a lack of vehicle variety and because GTA IV was the first open world game R* developed for 360/PS3.

 

A lot's changed since then. I think it could be done.

[Secura]

Yes and no, I really did appreciate the social commentary that the game constantly throws at you, the player, but by removing a character like, say Niko or John from the equation, you have no Gulliver to explore Gulliver's Land, and so that role is filled by the player, the problem being that there's only ever so much that the player can do compared to a character who's part of the game's narrative and game world. Niko's questioning of North-American society, its flaws and its benefits are what made the game so interesting, he commented on things due to his lack of understanding, the player though is never once presented with an opportunity to truly understand the North-American reality that GTA V tries so hard to emulate.

 

Niko's very presence as an outsider leads him to have to make friends, forces him into a life of crime that was there far before either he or Roman got involved and he's just become the central piece of a very large puzzle. GTA IV's story spirals all over the place, giving us a grand sense of scale, seeing as even minor characters from the story are somewhat important, they play a role and Niko's moral compass as it were is defined by the actions he makes towards them, both big and small. Not only that, but they really help GTA IV's Liberty City feel much larger than GTA V's SanAndreas, making it feel like it was home to a million characters, big and small, all of which influenced how GTA IV's narrative played out, and the EFLC only served to personify this further.

 

While GTA V was constantly trying to instil a sense of spectacular scale and size in nearly everything it did, the story's lack of interesting diverse characters, antagonists and plot-twists make it feel much smaller than GTA IV's and as a result the entirety of SanAndreas feels like it's lacking something. It's almost as if the scale of the narrative that's meant to weave the game-world together never really did, and what should've been a crime epic encompassing the personal journeys of three interesting, diverse and mostly separate main characters across the sprawling state of SanAndreas, became a series of poorly constructed, disconnected side-stories and events that never really amounted to anything significant.

 

In GTA IV however we had the presence of Darko Brevic as the driving force behind Niko's arrival to Liberty City, Bulgarin's crime syndicate being the thing that forced him from his homeland and a feeling of being unable to escape the old world despite having moved a thousand miles away, ala Hove Beach. All of this information was there at the start, of all these goals were things that both the player and Niko could get behind and this helped them form a stronger relationship than with the characters of GTA V.

 

While GTA IV's story focuses on morals, ethics and what truly constitutes the so-called American Dream it never once forgets that it's hear to tell a sweeping, grand, interwoven crime epic and that is what gives GTA IV the size and stature that it has, it's gameworld is built by its story. As I drive along the bridge that connects Broker to Bohan, darting between cars and motorcycles, desperately trying to avoid the Liberty City traffic I hear Roman yelling down his mobile phone at Mallorie begging her for a place to stay, in the distance I can see the sun setting over the dozens of skyscrapers that dot Algonquin's skyline, foreshadowing the rise and fall of the Bellics. Never before has an open-world game invoked such emotion, and foreboded so much as to what lie ahead, than that dark-red sun setting over the darkening metallic giants that pierce the decaying sky above our heads.

 

In GTA V the closest we ever come to this is Trevor looking out over Los Santos from the hills of Vinewood, the only problem is everything is confronted and finished so quickly that the scene there might never well have happened at all, there was no setting up to meet Michael, or his impersonator, no getting established in Los Santos, no anything. Just another comedy relief mission where nothing is achieved other then a less than spectacular cameo by Lazlow, another one of GTA V's would-be antagonists. I guess what I'm getting at here is that GTA IV's storytelling has a much grander purpose and scope than I think GTA V's ever aspired to be.

Edited January 19, 2014 by Secura

[Official General]

 

 

 

 

But, I feel that even if it had mission variety and a good story, people would still find something to complain about.

The only thing I'd complain about is lesser, but important stuff like more interiors, lack of random gang wars in the streets, and decent crime-related side missions. Now if that stuff was added to what you have stated, I'd be saying the game was damn near perfect.

Yeah, I wish the day would come where a Gta game has all that so that less people would complain.

I hate to say it but that will never happen. SA fanboys will make sure of that. Even if a HD remake of SA is made they'll still be ranting about how it isn't great as the first.And there are GTA IV fanboys too (not SOL or Official General ) but guys like Fluttershy Pony/Bert, his posts speak for itself.

It's ok Ace. You can call me a GTA IV fanboy. I don't mind.

 

I'm not sure about General. I think you'll find he's more into Hawaiian shirts and palm trees.

 

 

I'm more of a Vice City fan yeah. But I've grown to like GTA IV+EFLC a lot when I initially used to be very critical of it (IV by itself). EFLC changed that a lot, as well as me discovering new ways to play IV. SoL is definitely a IV fanatic, there is no question about that lol.

Edited January 19, 2014 by Official General

[Detective Phelps]

I liked the story, but there should have been less FIB missions and more heists.

 

Oh, and Franklin could have had 2 houses, instead of just 1, so he could have more interesting switch scenarios.

[Charles Phipps]

I liked the story, but there should have been less FIB missions and more heists.

 

Oh, and Franklin could have had 2 houses, instead of just 1, so he could have more interesting switch scenarios.

 

Three of the heists were FIB missions.

 

Also, I disagree with "three separate stories" because that's the problem with the game. There's too many damn plot threads. Trevor and Floyd, Trevor and the Chinese, Trevor and the Lost.

 

As stated, it's like a TV show running for 4 seasons.

Edited January 19, 2014 by Charles Phipps

[cp1dell]

Here's is the problem:

 

I think we can all agree that IV has the best story in the series. So, coming out of IV and its excellent storywriting, people expected similar, if not better, storywriting in V. So, after finishing V's story, people were disappointed that the storywriting has been downgraded from IV.

 

People need to realize that V's story wasn't bad but that when compared to IV's, it's awful.

 

But, we should always give the devil his due, V's missions had variety. Something that IV's missions didn't have. So, V wins there.

Yeah but then we got Red Dead Redemption which was another great story.

 

Then we got Max Payne 3 which like the previous two games (though they were by Remedy) had a great story.

 

Then comes along V, that feels like the typical summer blockbuster of GTA.stories. Yeah the missions were great, I loved that. But the story wasn't as good.

 

Sure it's going to seem bad when you compare it to something like GTA IV, RDR, or MP3 - but that's not the point. It's not that it didn't have a great story like those games, it's that it didn't have a story that met Rockstar's usual standards for a story.

 

It's like they came up with the missions and fun gameplay first, then made a story for it.

[Captain Arthur]

 

Here's is the problem:

 

I think we can all agree that IV has the best story in the series. So, coming out of IV and its excellent storywriting, people expected similar, if not better, storywriting in V. So, after finishing V's story, people were disappointed that the storywriting has been downgraded from IV.

 

People need to realize that V's story wasn't bad but that when compared to IV's, it's awful.

 

But, we should always give the devil his due, V's missions had variety. Something that IV's missions didn't have. So, V wins there.

Yeah but then we got Red Dead Redemption which was another great story.

 

Then we got Max Payne 3 which like the previous two games (though they were by Remedy) had a great story.

 

Then comes along V, that feels like the typical summer blockbuster of GTA.stories. Yeah the missions were great, I loved that. But the story wasn't as good.

 

Sure it's going to seem bad when you compare it to something like GTA IV, RDR, or MP3 - but that's not the point. It's not that it didn't have a great story like those games, it's that it didn't have a story that met Rockstar's usual standards for a story.

 

It's like they came up with the missions and fun gameplay first, then made a story for it.

 

Yeah. Maybe they rehired the team which wrote SA's story to write V's story. Or maybe they were smoking crack or something. Who knows?

[Charles Phipps]

I think all of the character development was fun and the missions were great.

There was just no "overall" story.

[Detective Phelps]

 

I liked the story, but there should have been less FIB missions and more heists.

Oh, and Franklin could have had 2 houses, instead of just 1, so he could have more interesting switch scenarios.

 

Three of the heists were FIB missions.

 

Also, I disagree with "three separate stories" because that's the problem with the game. There's too many damn plot threads. Trevor and Floyd, Trevor and the Chinese, Trevor and the Lost.

As stated, it's like a TV show running for 4 seasons.

By heists, I meant non FIB ones, where the protags have more to do.

 

Madrazo should have pressured M more, and, after getting some thrills, M would do more heists with the crew.

 

I liked Mike's and Trevor's story, but F became dull after moving house. This is why I would prefer F to have both houses.

[HOW'S ANNIE?]

In all honesty I don't see what people have against the idea of multiple protagonists in the one story, I think it just wasn't done right due to the small number of missions not giving enough time for it to be told correctly. Look at most great films and TV shows (bar Pulp Fiction), pretty much every character has a contribution to the main plot, and also allows for significant events to happen without the one character being their all the time.

 

That said however, if R* decides to go back to the IV + EFLC route I won't complain. The connection between Niko, Johnny and Luis's stories shows exactly how somebody you've never met, or only met a few times, can have a significant impact on the events of your life.

[BLOOD]

OP and Everyone should know that GTA is one of very few Franchises that does Stand-alone Storylines (either it a Spin-off or Main Game) instead of Direct-Sequel which continues the stories.Since the Original Game in 1997 till now every GTA games are always having different Story Themes.and a great Example of that was GTA 4 vs EFLC,despite the Main Game,TLAD and TBoGT sharing the same cities the Stories were totally different,GTA 4 was about American Dream and an Immigrant.TLAD was about Outlaw Bikers and TBoGT was Drugs and Family/Friends.GTA 5 is the first game in the series to do the 3 Protags Element and also the first in the Openworld Genre to tell a story from 3 Perspective in one game plus it mainly focused around Heists(which were great).but if with the 3 Protags Element the Possibilities are endless.

Plus it was universally acclaimed and just in 4 months the game has sold a Whopping 30.5ml copies (Scratch that),it got Great Reviews and multiple Awards including VGX GoTY 2013 and Golden Joystick Award 2013.

Edited January 19, 2014 by Blood-Is-in-Diamond

[wiizardii]

GTA V

 

The Pursue of the Almighty dollar..... Doesn't that tell you big skulled people anything about GTA V's story?

[DeafMetal]

People here just have no sense of anything in between "sucking" and "omg goty." I loved the story.. Could have been longer.

[El Zodape]

They went gameplay over story, which is how it should be. The story is good enough, though the antagonists and the ending are really "eh...?", even for my standards.

 

Hopefully they won't screw up those two things in the next GTA.

[Xerukal]

I did. It was fun and ending C left me feeling complete.

 

It had its problems. But it didn't bother me too much, in the end.

[killahmatic]

I like the story more than most do. Sure, it was absolutely rushed. Its hard to tell any story in 69 missions, let alone three protag's stories. Many details seemed to be left out, and some of it just didn't make sense.

 

The reason I liked it is because it led to a lot of interesting scenarios and a lot of interesting missions. Along with strangers and freaks missions, it led to a lot of variety, and thats something that can't be said about IV.

[woggleman]

I like it. It's much deeper than people think and if you really look under the layers it says a lot about modern society. I know I like V alot but I am not just fanboying. Really pay attention and make the three characters hang out with each other which goes even deeper.

[Aexra]

I liked it, it was very entertaining. The side missions were cool to!

[CantThinkOfOne2013]

 

 

I think we can agree if GTA VI has GTA IV like story telling with GTA V mission variety it'll be a shining jewel.

I don't think that it would be possible. GTA IV's story is the reason that the missions lack variety as Niko's life never involved him stealing huge planes mid flight, sinking container ships or crashing trains into each other. That is why I said that GTA V's story is the best we are going to get while still retaining mission variety.

I don't know if I could agree with that. Most of the repetitiveness boils down to environment and a lack of vehicle variety and because GTA IV was the first open world game R* developed for 360/PS3.

 

A lot's changed since then. I think it could be done.

Possibly, but i'm still not sure as varied missions as I struggle to see where varied missions would fit the story, but then again, i'm no writer.

 

 

Btw, SoL, I have a message for you

 

Time to change my sig

 

 

It's like they came up with the missions and fun gameplay first, then made a story for it.

 

That is how I feel it should be done all the time, otherwise the gameplay ends up suffering, and what is a game without gameplay?

This issue affects more than just GTA, have a look at Metal Gear Solid 4 for example, that focused on story far too much to the point where you only spend 4 hours actually playing the game.

Mass Effect 2 is another example, they focused on story so much and put absolutely no effort into the gameplay.

Edited January 20, 2014 by CantThinkOfOne2013

[Charles Phipps]

Notably, I think Michael's betrayal of Trevor and the gang is the only storyline which has a beginning, middle, and end.

 

Everything else just sort of peters out.

Edited January 20, 2014 by Charles Phipps

[Officer Ronson]

Bumpity bump.

 

I did like the story and I wasn't really bothered by the FIB missions, in all honesty you were never working for the actual FIB but rather Steve and Dave.

 

It was a fresh start from the whole Rags to riches or Mr. Nobody to sucessfull crook.

[AustinN]

I think there are many excellent moments in the story. But taken as a whole, the story falters at numerous points, and certain characters and plot threads are underdeveloped. I'm not hugely disappointed by it though.

[Captain Arthur]

People here just have no sense of anything in between "sucking" and "omg goty." I loved the story.. Could have been longer.

Are you insulting us, DM? But, but, but..... We love you.

[Algonquin Assassin]

I think there are many excellent moments in the story. But taken as a whole, the story falters at numerous points, and certain characters and plot threads are underdeveloped. I'm not hugely disappointed by it though.

Agreed. I think it's ignorant to ignore some of GTA V's higher moments such as "Bury The Hatchet" which I'd consider to be one of the most stylish and creative techniques of a mission in the series.

 

However I think the story doesn't pull together that well in general. Especially the ending. I feel every GTA (well the ones I've finished anyway) have had a nice lead up to their respective conclusions, but GTA V's feels like it was an afterthought like literally someone forgot there was an ending and it was written in 5 minutes.

 

The story has its moments, but for me it's not long enough to accommodate 3 protagonists despite having some top notch story telling techniques.

[SCOOBASTEEB]

The things you do in the story are great. The actual point of the story doesn't seem good to me though, i mean there is no insentive on what you are working towards. Even though like 4 you are out for revenge (eventually...) it never seems like you are really wanting to do it. 4 had a the best ending to a GTA game imo as V lacked the sense of achievement. The heists and stranger missions really are enjoyable though.

[El Zodape]

It was good, but it could have been better. It didn't seem to know if it wanted to be dark with black humor, or goofy and over the top. Bury The Hatchet in my opinion was the perfect tone.

 

My problem with the story is that Rockstar was trying to tell one story with three characters. IV/EFLC ("The Possible Trinity") did this so much better. What GTA V should have been was three stories, with three protagonists, crossing over a couple of times. Like in IV/EFLC.

 

Franklin's main story would be him and Lamar doing sh*t for their two-man, knock-off street gang.

Michael's main story could be him dealing with his family, and trying to wrap up his FIB ties.

Trevor's main story could be him trying to develop Trevor Phillips Industries.

 

The story we have now, could be a sub-plot. We would still have a couple missions scattered inbetween with the three working together. Whether it's heists, the three doing stuff for the FIB, Trevor bumping into Franklin in his neighborhood etc.

 

But we would have three main stories each separately focusing on each main character, allowing all three to be developed equally with the story we have just being a sub-plot.

 

That would have been infinitely better.

I loved the story. It's better than any other GTA I played (I didn't play IV). I have to agree with this, though. Franklin needed more protagonism and I got sick of seeing Trevor and Michael constantly whining like a married couple "You betrayed meeeh!", "But I'm a better person than you!", over and over again.

I found the characters more interesting at the beginning, before they all met up: Michael dealing with his family, Franklin dealing with Lamar, and Trevor expanding TPI.

 

And yeah, the antagonists. Oh boy, they sucked. I don't know how they could have failed here.

Edited January 31, 2014 by Zodape