I think they've could done more with the desert.

[RememberToTaper]

I didn't mind it. It had a different feel from the rest of the game and some easter eggs (alien worshiping community, guy who triggers UFO parts mission, radio station on a hill, bounty hunter missions, Mexican drop missions).

 

I also loved that vehicle - I forget the name but it's like an open off-road, low bodied type of vehicle. That thing was so fun to drive around the desert, and I'm glad the physics wasn't too floaty. It was fun tearing across at top speed in that thing, crashing through fence posts and getting major airtime from jumps.

[DaRkL3AD3R]

Seeing as it was suppose to be slightly based on Palm Deserts, yeah, it was a huge let down for me, I'm pretty positive about GTAV overall, but the desert was just pathetic, was at least expecting some homage to Sky Valley.

 

Nothing more or less needs to be said. This is perfectly well said.

[qfs]

Robada=Nevada=Las Venturas=GTA Las Venturas confirmed

Lol,i am only joking but tbh i think the Grand Senora Desert is great and it so detailed.

There's a name for that, GTA Paradise City.

[codename_duchess]

For those who don't know, or keep bringing up Las Venturas, there's a desert area in SoCal, Palm Deserts and Sky Valley, it's supposed to be based on these:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That picture that says "Welcome to Sky Valley" was used for one of my favourite albums, from one one of my favourite bands

 

 

 

http://factmag-images.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/nineties-kyuss.jpg

Edited January 20, 2014 by codename_duchess

[darkwar854]

"the desert feels a bit lifeless" ........

[hulkhogan1]

I agree that they could have done more with the desert to make it a bit more exciting, but personally I feel like the size is just right. It doesn't feel way too big, but it feels big enough that you really feel like you're out in the middle of nowhere. They did a good job of making it feel bigger than it looks on the map, which really just shows how huge this map is.

 

What I don't understand is how people think it would have been easy for Rockstar to build another town in the desert. They obviously pushed this game and these consoles to the limits. If they could have done more they would have, or it would have resulted in an even bigger delay. I never understand why people act like spoiled brats and can't just be satisfied with what we have.

[BLOOD]

I agree that they could have done more with the desert to make it a bit more exciting, but personally I feel like the size is just right. It doesn't feel way too big, but it feels big enough that you really feel like you're out in the middle of nowhere. They did a good job of making it feel bigger than it looks on the map, which really just shows how huge this map is.

 

What I don't understand is how people think it would have been easy for Rockstar to build another town in the desert. They obviously pushed this game and these consoles to the limits. If they could have done more they would have, or it would have resulted in an even bigger delay. I never understand why people act like spoiled brats and can't just be satisfied with what we have.

Lol people are just bitchin'g,for a Game just on two consoles with Old hardwares it has sold a whopping 30.5ml copies and the LOD(Level of Details) are just Great.I really really think it only half of the 30ml people that bought GTA 5 that is just bitchin'g and hatin'g and most of them are in this forums.

Desert=Robada=Nevada=Las Venturas=GTA:City of Paradised confirmed

[GTASuspectOnFoot]

Did anyone else think this was a screen shot at first? lol

 

For those who don't know, or keep bringing up Las Venturas, there's a desert area in SoCal, Palm Deserts and Sky Valley, it's supposed to be based on these:

 

 

 

Edited January 20, 2014 by GTASuspectOnFoot

[DaRkL3AD3R]

My baby brother in the Marines right now is out at 29 Palms. When I showed him the desert area in GTA V, he was honestly expecting to see more of the desert he's so familiar with, especially after seeing how well done LA was. When we went out into the Senora desert and saw that it was pathetically small, able to see the edges of the desert from the middle of it, and the Marine Corps base was actually off in the middle of nowhere at Zancudo river, well it was just a disappointment to him.

 

So yeah, I'm really hoping either Rockstar or some brilliant PC gamers are able to add a much larger desert with 29 Palms and other local areas out there. It's funny how they said they were going to have so much more country side, and compared to IV yeah that's right. But compared to SA? It's weak. The forest areas are pathetic next to the ones in SA, and the desert? Holy f*ck. You felt like you were in the middle of nowhere in SA, draw distance or not. I expected at LEAST RDR-Mexico like desert, and all I got was some small trailer park next to 2 feet tall sand dunes.

 

Desert = biggest overall disappointment in V for me.

[SmoothGetaway]

 

The desert felt just a bit lifeless to me

 

It being a desert might have something to do with that.

 

Yeah this.

 

I was up in Barstow (about an hour drive from LA) this weekend offroading, exploring mines and shooting guns and the scope of an area even that small wouldn't fit into the game. What I'm saying is that the entire map could have been a desert and it still wouldn't be big enough to convey the stuff people think about most ie; mirages, oasises, ruins, etc.

 

Someone up thread mentioned they might be saving that for LV and I agree.

 

We're gonna need a much much bigger map though if it's gonna convey the lonely desolate nature of a desert.

Edited January 20, 2014 by SmoothGetaway

[ViceCityStalker]

Thanks man now you got me craving [email protected][email protected]

[Shade04rek]

The desert felt just a bit lifeless to me, but that's maybe because I loved San Andreas, Tierra Robada with all its ghost towns felt cooler to me.

 

With that said, I think the desert should be a bit bigger and with more (ghost) towns.

Well I agree with you for the very opposite reason.. To me it never felt lifeless, like there were always somebody with a car to steal within 50 yards. The "Grand Senora Desert" wasn't there. In lore it is, but after all the mountains stop at the chillad side of the alamo, its all Sandy Shores with a big airstrip next to it, then a prison across another road from that, then mountains to hills, then LS.

 

There was an in game commercial that I felt they advertised the senora desert from GTA lore, but nothing that vast and lifeless was in the map. I know a desert that is vast and empty would seem pointless, but that is what would make the world convincing and make the distance of being "hours" away from LS and Sandy believable. I even think it would be less of a waste than the fully detailed ocean that most dont even take a boat over it much less a sub underneath.

 

I was at the bottom of the ocean once and I thought "hey if all this water was gone, this would seem like messas and desert terrain". It looks loads of fun too, the fun of being in the ocean was being teased with what could have been, but its all just wasted. Im going to guess by looking at my map that the under water terrain pushed together or raised could add like at least 1/3 more land to the map, which it could have been desert or something.

Edited January 20, 2014 by Shade04rek

[Luuk']

Didn't mean to say lifeless, small mistake.

 

The desert is a bit too small for me, and less mysterious, because once you drove through there for the first time, you pretty much know the whole layout. Even at night it isn't really mysterious, because there was always that highway by the prison nearby, which eliminates any sense of mystery. Bone County and Tierra Robada where a bit more mysterious, being huge and with that purple sky. It also had a lot more towns and secrets, like the Mass Grave.

 

That said, I think they should add more secrets or easter eggs in the desert.

 

And get rid of the underwater world, so they can add more land to the desert.

Edited January 20, 2014 by DutchGangsta

[Shade04rek]

Didn't mean to say lifeless, small mistake.

 

The desert is a bit too small for me, and less mysterious, because once you drove through there for the first time, you pretty much know the whole layout. Even at night it isn't really mysterious, because there was always that highway by the prison nearby, which eliminates any sense of mystery. Bone County and Tierra Robada where a bit more mysterious, being huge and with that purple sky. It also had a lot more towns and secrets, like the Mass Grave.

 

That said, I think they should add more secrets or easter eggs in the desert.

 

And get rid of the underwater world, so they can add more land to the desert.

 

Oh, sorry then. The truth is though that this is what we have this time around. There is no use fantasizing lol. I know I get carried away imagining it all.

 

*edit*

 

I was curious on how much detailed underwater land there is so i made an extremely crude depiction in mspaint. not too bad though. I cut the map in two then put the ocean pieces up above the alamo sea:

 

 

http://i774.photobucket.com/albums/yy22/shade04rek/Untitled2_zps7d345b2e.png

 

 

Its just a general idea of how much the map is under water. I lost a lot of ocean moving pieces, and there is still some I left over.

Edited January 20, 2014 by Shade04rek

[Official General]

Didn't mean to say lifeless, small mistake.

 

The desert is a bit too small for me, and less mysterious, because once you drove through there for the first time, you pretty much know the whole layout. Even at night it isn't really mysterious, because there was always that highway by the prison nearby, which eliminates any sense of mystery. Bone County and Tierra Robada where a bit more mysterious, being huge and with that purple sky. It also had a lot more towns and secrets, like the Mass Grave.

 

That said, I think they should add more secrets or easter eggs in the desert.

 

And get rid of the underwater world, so they can add more land to the desert.

 

 

That's what I just don't understand about failed aspect of GTA V's map. How is it possible that San Andreas can still do certain things on the map better than V can ? The wilderness areas of SA's map really felt remote, mysterious, and in some cases, downright eerie in places like the dark, lonely, hilly forests of Back 'O Beyond. In those parts of SA, you really felt detached from modern civilization like you were in a totally different realm. V's map had every opportunity to give us that feeling, but even better and it just did not happen. The desert still felt inhabited, the 'forest' was not really a forest, and too much of the wilderness was dominated by relatively inaccessible or hard to access mountainous areas.

[..GhosT]

Id love a long, flat desert area with nothing but some sand hills and bumps...

[ColdHearted]

Their map designer is an idiot, he clearly thinks he's some sort of smartass but he's just a f*cking clown, practically every area in the game has been done wrong to varying degrees, for example theres no suburbs out in the valley, it's just a bunch of giant hills and small bushes with sh*t textures, the forest area has about 5 trees in it and all 5 trees are right next to a highway, I could go on for a year about how poorly executed the map design was. R* if you're reading this PM me, I'll design GTA 6 so that you don't f*ck it up again like a bunch of f*cking clowns.

[Jenia]

Their map designer is an idiot, he clearly thinks he's some sort of smartass but he's just a f*cking clown, practically every area in the game has been done wrong to varying degrees, for example theres no suburbs out in the valley, it's just a bunch of giant hills and small bushes with sh*t textures, the forest area has about 5 trees in it and all 5 trees are right next to a highway, I could go on for a year about how poorly executed the map design was. R* if you're reading this PM me, I'll design GTA 6 so that you don't f*ck it up again like a bunch of f*cking clowns.

lol

[Giles Flaggot 1]

The thing with RDR is that standing in the middle of the desert, you could look around you 360 degrees and see nothing but desert.

 

V is nothing more than a detailed remixed version of LA and the areas around it. I was let down with the desert, this was going to be my favorite area.

 

But for what V became, I'm more than happy

[SingularSoul]

I don't really have an issue with the "desert" area itself; I just wish I had a reason to go there post-story mode....

Edited January 20, 2014 by SingularSoul

[InfernoV]

Their map designer is an idiot, he clearly thinks he's some sort of smartass but he's just a f*cking clown, practically every area in the game has been done wrong to varying degrees, for example theres no suburbs out in the valley, it's just a bunch of giant hills and small bushes with sh*t textures, the forest area has about 5 trees in it and all 5 trees are right next to a highway, I could go on for a year about how poorly executed the map design was. R* if you're reading this PM me, I'll design GTA 6 so that you don't f*ck it up again like a bunch of f*cking clowns.

Kinda true

 

Sad after how awsome the rdr map was! Tall trees felt huge!

 

In gta I wouldnt consider it a forest, its ridiculous!

[SmoothGetaway]

@Coldhearted

 

He who laughs last, laughs best amirite?

 

@Official General:

 

SA had a really low draw distance which makes the map 'feel' big even though you are always technically right around the corner from a major city. Also question...when was the last time you sat down and played SA, for an hour or more?

[SingularSoul]

SA had a really low draw distance which makes the map 'feel' big even though you are always technically right around the corner from a major city. Also question...when was the last time you sat down and played SA, for an hour or more?

 

True, but there were some locations that, regardless of draw distance, were very secluded and remote. The vast majority of land north of LS in GTA V feels like it's contained within a ring of mountains, like a giant crater. Whilst this gives some areas of Sandy Shores a "desert" feel, it does mean that, wherever you are, you'll always be in the open when near the Alamo sea. San Andreas was smaller, yes, but the map design allowed for more "closed off" areas, tucked away behind valleys etc. Sure, there's secluded areas in V, but it seems there's less of them.

It's hard to explain/ visualise, but it's something I picked up on.

EDIT: A quick search on google illustrates my point.

 

.

 

Obviously not a fair comparison, but it's as best as I can do.

Edited January 20, 2014 by SingularSoul

[SmoothGetaway]

^^

 

Yeah I definitely agree with you as far as the map being a 'ring of mountains'. I feel that most of that had to do with giving LS the proper backdrop than actually contributing, although the eastern side of the map is pretty remote especially those deep blue waters around the coast.

 

As far as your comparisons go, how long has it been since you've played SA? Because how we remember things feeling and how they actually are are usually worlds apart.

 

It's possible that SA's countryside felt that way because it was literally dead out there. There was nothing except the wind, no wildlife, no bigfoot, etc

[SingularSoul]

^^

 

Yeah I definitely agree with you as far as the map being a 'ring of mountains'. I feel that most of that had to do with giving LS the proper backdrop than actually contributing, although the eastern side of the map is pretty remote especially those deep blue waters around the coast.

 

As far as your comparisons go, how long has it been since you've played SA? Because how we remember things feeling and how they actually are are usually worlds apart.

 

It's possible that SA's countryside felt that way because it was literally dead out there. There was nothing except the wind, no wildlife, no bigfoot, etc

Played it last night actually! (PSN download version with the weird lines over it. God, it ruins the game)

Love the North east coast. It's certainly a redeeming feature for me.

I know what you mean about the countryside being dead too. The complete still nature of San andreas's countryside would indeed make the player feel more remote and isolated.

Edited January 20, 2014 by SingularSoul

[Cutter De Blanc]

Wildlife? The coyotes aren't what make the areas feel not remote, it's their immediate proximity to civilization.

[Bonnano]

What made San Andreas forest so downright disturbing where those wrecked classic cars rolling down the hills with no one inside to drive them, it was never given a proper context, and it's not a bug because on the game files, both cars have a "totaled" model along with their normal models, these are the models rolling down the hills.

 

Now if only the Paleto forest had a more eerie rendition of this...

Edited January 20, 2014 by Bonnano

[SmoothGetaway]

@SingularSoul

 

It's nice to talk to someone who's played it recently rather than using cop out terms like 'I remember it being...' and the like. You get it and I appreciate that.

 

I actually just walked that nature trail in the upper northeast area of the map. Started at the light house and went counter clockwise. Walking, it took almost an entire day/night cycle.

 

I also got attacked by 3 separate mountain lions, it made it feel like civilization was a long long way away. And in terms of the map I was right. In terms of actually replicating the sprawl of a desert, like I said before the entirety of the map wasn't big enough to do that.

 

We'd need a map with at least 50 sq miles to approach that kind of feeling. Hopefully in GTAVI.

Edited January 20, 2014 by SmoothGetaway

[SingularSoul]

@SingularSoul

 

It's nice to talk to someone who's played it recently rather than using cop out terms like 'I remember it being...' and the like. You get it and I appreciate that.

 

I actually just walked that nature trail in the upper northeast area of the map. Started at the light house and went counter clockwise. Walking, it took almost an entire day/night cycle.

 

I also got attacked by 3 separate mountain lions, it made feel like civilization was a long long way away. And in terms of the map I was right. In terms of actually replicating the sprawl of a desert, like I said before the entirety of the map wasn't big enough to do that.

 

We'd need a map with at least 50 sq miles to approach that kind of feeling. Hopefully in GTAVI.

Indeed!

+ The entire North East coast replicates the feeling of being remote VERY well. It's just a shame that the rest of the map isn't consistently varied in this respect.

+ One day, I hope!

[sukmieazz]

I initially didn't mind it, but after replaying Red Dead Redemption, I have to agree that the desert could have been better. Maybe add some snakes and stuff, you know?