Los Santos & What could've been done better...

[Gnocchi Flip Flops]

I'm starting this topic to discuss what could have been done better within the city of Los Santos.

 

Los Santos is a beautiful and extremely diverse city dripping with detail and intriguing vibes, but it does have it's faults. That is what I want to discuss, and I want nothing interior related to be discussed within this thread as I've already made a thread for that. There are some neighborhoods within Los Santos of which I feel could have been executed better.

 

The affluent neighborhoods of northern Los Santos are, for the most part, fine and lovely. So is the western coast of the city, but something is seems lacking when it comes to the south-side. Los Angeles, as most of you are aware of, has a large-rundown and dangerous section to the city yet Los Santos' depiction of it just appears too cramped and not very intimidating. Yes there is a gang presence with members scattered all around, not to mention the detail is gritty, yet I could drive an Oracle II through such areas and feel just as safe as I would in Richman. When night falls, nothing changes. It still feels too safe. And unlike the real version of the Los Angeles ghettos, it doesn't take forever long to wander out of the ghettos. It just seems a bit dull, but maybe that is just me.

 

Thoughts on Los Santos?

[gevans81]

 

• White water rafting

   

• larger forest areas

 

Longer stronger river systems

 

[Cutter De Blanc]

Just like the rest of the map, there is no transition between areas. Suddenly you're in the hood, now you're downtown. Directly across the freeway is Rockford hills. Due east is Vinewood, north is the Vinewood hills. You just hit all these locations, Bam bam bam, and there's no segway, no downtown turning into the hood, it's just right across the way from the gun club. Vinewood abruptly stops at the CNT building, and the city ends at the Casino/Racetrack.

 

It all feels unnaturally condensed.

Edited March 26, 2014 by Cutter De Blanc

[lana_del_rey]

I agree with the ghetto feeling too safe. The least they could do would be an automatic spawn of red blips on the map if you're stopped in the ghetto in a nice car.

 

As for the city being unnaturally condensed - that's the point. R* said they wanted to only show areas closely associated with Los Angeles and SoCal. I think they should have added more suburbs, but that would be useless.

 

As for my take on a what they did wrong... I think they should have make vehicle spawning more random and when you're not speeding down the streets I think it should be more congested. I know they do that already (when you're stopped) but it could have been done better.

 

I think there should have been random glamorous LA events that would spawn at night that have photographers at them, etc. More clubs and restaurants you could enter would've been nice.

Edited March 26, 2014 by lana_del_rey

[Gnocchi Flip Flops]

Great points, guys.

 

Something I didn't mention in my post was freeways. They were decent within the Los Santos Metro but once they drifted off into the countryside, they just got shoddy. I mean they could have kept the freeways at 6 lanes so that the traffic would be less of a pain, and they could have had another major highway in the countryside. Instead of that narrow road that exits northwestern Los Santos, there could have been a scenic freeway with cliffs boarding it. That would have been a bit badass to say the least. I'm the type of guy that just likes freeways in a game. No stoplights, no delays most of the time, just constant and steady driving all around the map. I was a little disappointed.

[AlexisMichas]

I wish they could add more layers to a certain part of the map (Paleto Bay, the hood etc). Either by special Npc's or by Club or shows.

For instance organized hood fights or redneck dances(kind of). Anyway i think you get my point. If every "unique" area had this things then i think we would spent more time to appreciate them.

[GTA-Biker]

About Los Santos I think there should have been more suburban neighbourhoods(or at least bigger Mirror Park)and larger ghettos.It´s a little unrealistic that a gang controls only one or two streets.Also,it would be cool if the gangs would confront the protagonist if they are wearing the enemy gang colors in their turf(for example the Ballas asking the protagonist is he from the Families if he is wearing a green shirt or pants),criminals stealing the protagonists car or bike(unless it´s a personal vehicle)in the dangerous areas and gangs having fistfights and gunfights if they would meet on the border of their turfs.In Blaine county there should have been more biker gangs(California has almost a dozen outlaw motorcycle clubs according to wikipedia,and probably more),so Angels of death,Uptown riders and maybe some other competing with The Lost would make it more realistic.I also think that Harmony should have been made into a real town(similar to Paleto Bay or towns from GTA SA like Fort Carson and Palomino Creek),and not just a trailer park,two motels and a few houses and stores by the road.Having a town on Route 68 would be great in my opinion.

[I will pwn you newbs]

Great points, guys.

 

Something I didn't mention in my post was freeways. They were decent within the Los Santos Metro but once they drifted off into the countryside, they just got shoddy. I mean they could have kept the freeways at 6 lanes so that the traffic would be less of a pain, and they could have had another major highway in the countryside. Instead of that narrow road that exits northwestern Los Santos, there could have been a scenic freeway with cliffs boarding it. That would have been a bit badass to say the least. I'm the type of guy that just likes freeways in a game. No stoplights, no delays most of the time, just constant and steady driving all around the map. I was a little disappointed.

Yes I love the freeways too! I was also very disappointed when I found that's its only 2 lanes around Blaine county. I just love that highway that runs through the city because I like to roleplay where speeding is the only traffic law ill break so the 6 lane freeway is great for that. Edited March 27, 2014 by I will pwn you newbs

[Harwood Butch3r]

Just like the rest of the map, there is no transition between areas. Suddenly you're in the hood, now you're downtown. Directly across the freeway is Rockford hills. Due east is Vinewood, north is the Vinewood hills. You just hit all these locations, Bam bam bam, and there's no segway, no downtown turning into the hood, it's just right across the way from the gun club. Vinewood abruptly stops at the CNT building, and the city ends at the Casino/Racetrack.

 

It all feels unnaturally condensed.

 

Agreed. LC was so much better in this regard IMO. Even though it was condensed itself driving from say Broker to Dukes felt natural.

 

In ways I think LS in SA had more believable transitioning. Things didn't just felt like they ended and all of a sudden you were in a different area like in GTA V.

Edited March 27, 2014 by SonOfLiberty

[Gnocchi Flip Flops]

I agree @LeopardGecko that there either should have been more suburbs or a bigger Mirror Park. What the area surrounding Los Angeles is best known for is the suburbs. There are tons and tons of suburban neighborhoods all up in the hills and north of Hollywood. Yet, we just got some countryside... and to be honest I'd rather have more city than countryside seeing that the countryside just lacks that precious secluded feel that it should've had.

 

Mirror Park could have been bigger, yeah. They could have expanded upon the new suburbs and made them as big as that suburban section of Las Venturas in San Andreas. It also would've been cool to purchase one of those houses since all of them were supposedly for sell.

[Fuzzknuckles]

I agree with the ghetto feeling too safe. The least they could do would be an automatic spawn of red blips on the map if you're stopped in the ghetto in a nice car.

 

 

Personally I think that would get pretty tedious pretty quickly. Getting attacked EVERY time you're in the ghetto? I thought we moved on from the annoying ultra-aggressive gangs of III and VC.

[kasa]

for me also the ghetto/gang life could have been better developed

[Gnocchi Flip Flops]

 

I agree with the ghetto feeling too safe. The least they could do would be an automatic spawn of red blips on the map if you're stopped in the ghetto in a nice car.

 

Personally I think that would get pretty tedious pretty quickly. Getting attacked EVERY time you're in the ghetto? I thought we moved on from the annoying ultra-aggressive gangs of III and VC.

 

I don't think that if it were implemented that it would happen every single time, man. Edited March 27, 2014 by StingrayX

[gevans81]

The Grand Senora desert should have been 10X the size, everything seems compact in V, there is always a road/dirt road nearby, It never feels as I'm truly out in the sticks.

Edited March 27, 2014 by gevans81

[universetwisters]

What happened to the suburban sprawl that's in real life Los Angeles?

 

[Gnocchi Flip Flops]

What happened to the suburban sprawl that's in real life Los Angeles?

 

I wanted at least a taste of suburbs like that, not a tease like Mirror Park. A suburb like this up in the Tatavian Mountains would have been lovely and very Los Angeles-esque.

[Diehxrds]

 

• Better use of "useless" terrain e.g mountains. I understand IRL mountains are bare as hell but c'mon least have some purpose other than to stand out, fill room and look pretty.

 

Distance between areas. LA turns into a desert within 3 seconds, Forest areas have roads directly beside them. Only area I feel it right is the distance between the hood and downtown LS.

 

ENVIRONMENTAL NPC EVENTS! Haven't seen this much but imagine forest fires engulfing the mountains with casualties, planes losing their sh*t, crashing then hearing about it on Westcoast Radio, thunder killing pedestrians or flooding in certain areas

 

Interiors. No explaining needed, been discussed to death

 

[universetwisters]

 

What happened to the suburban sprawl that's in real life Los Angeles?

 

I wanted at least a taste of suburbs like that, not a tease like Mirror Park. A suburb like this up in the Tatavian Mountains would have been lovely and very Los Angeles-esque.

 

 

Mirror Park was a good start for suburbs in the GTA series, what with all the mass produced houses and all. It's a shame they didn't expand on the idea. Looking at this map of Los Santos on my wall, they easily could've stuck suburbs from the casino down to where the oil field is, maybe even replacing the oil field with suburbs. How many oil fields do you see in real life cities? None. Unless you happen to live in Alaska or the middle east where oil starts splurging out of the ground if you step on it the right way.

 

This is exactly why I'm making my own game set in the suburbs. Rockstar doesn't seem to know much about them to begin with.

[M22]

What happened to the suburban sprawl that's in real life Los Angeles?

 

Holy Crap, is that really surburbia, i'm glad i don't live there, anyway i think just it being livelier, like in Rockford hills, they should make it a bloody mess to try and find a park, there should be Baller 2's parked stupidly on the sidewalk and celebrities, with cameras every occasion, the ghetto should be really horrible, driving a bright orange comet should nearly get stolen all the time, as annoying as that is it should, Paleto Bay should have as people have stated, dances and festivals, more places open like there fish market every sunday should have cars and people packed, even third street promenade doesn't feel like 3rd street promenade, it should be livelier with more restaurants open and people talking with waiters , there should be more references to fashion, not once have i seen that Louis Vuitton looking bag like in the artwork, even if you can't eat at the Cafe or restaurant waiters say to you, would you like a cup of coffee as Michael, it just feels dead even more so than GTA IV, i think because of the Traffic in GTA IV, i loved going from luis place to downtown the back way along that small freeway near the golf club, that always made me feel like business man going to work with all the traffic, there should be the same thing in GTA V, there also should be on occasions, car accidents, with 3 pile traffic, there should be more to do with TV's at your house and Weazel and CNT news about the traffic every night and day, just overall GTA V feels dead, your there but not actually there.

[Gnocchi Flip Flops]

I would have loved a stereotypical gated community where the Baller v2, Rocoto, Oracle, Oracle II, Schafter, Schwortzer, Sentinel, Zion Cabrio, and Comet spawned all of the time. You know upper middle class neighborhoods like this where most of the houses do have at least one European car with Top Gear's definition of a "cock" driving them and a scenic view of the hills from their backyards:

 

[universetwisters]

^ You know, even though they're common as hell here in America, they have a disturbing lack of gated communities in GTA 5.

[gtamann123]

Yeah I would have liked to see some middle and working class sprawl to the east of the city. And some affluent gated communities to the northeast. And maybe the San Fernando valley where it would be in RL. Instead of empty hills immediately surrounding the city.

[SingularSoul]

Add:

 

-San Fernando Valley style area behind Vinewood.

-MASSIVELY scale the ghetto up.

-Massively scale suburbs up (Come on, this is supposed to be a spoof of Los Angeles, suburb-capital of the world...)

 

 

Remove:

-The Alamo Sea

-At least 1 mountain