The Concept Creators' Lounge

June 25

On 10/23/2021 at 5:42 PM, Akaviri said:

Before GTA V came out, I was writing a concept for Carcer City based in Philadelphia. Had a really dope box art logo by the great CCPD, god I wish I still had it. Got into LC78 with Tyla around the same time. Had some pretty neat ideas for it, a real GTAIV epilogue. It's a shame GTA V kind of ruined a lot of my plot points. I'm still irate about how they ruined Johnny Klebitz. He could have at least been a badass gunman to hire onto some heists.

Even outside of Johnny's undeserved death, I can fathom how much true is this.

There was a point when I had a hard time to decide which character can appear in Vice City in 2017 without breaking the canon. Not that I want lot of familiar faces ( having too much will eclipse the original cast ofc), but some characters would be a match in heaven to the environment and theme I'm going for .. that is, until GTA V decides which ending/stranger's outcome is canon, and GTA Online decides that our old characters (Tony, Brucie) move to Los Santos for the sake of their updates.

Now I genuinely hope Yusuf Amir don't return in Online. If we get the same old' flamboyant Yusuf, it basically breaks my hope of seeing Yusuf as more mature individual like what Playboy said. Perhaps it's better to ignore the 2013-onward poor canon that Rockstar establishes.

June 27

On 6/25/2022 at 6:47 AM, wise_man said:

Even outside of Johnny's undeserved death, I can fathom how much true is this.

There was a point when I had a hard time to decide which character can appear in Vice City in 2017 without breaking the canon. Not that I want lot of familiar faces ( having too much will eclipse the original cast ofc), but some characters would be a match in heaven to the environment and theme I'm going for .. that is, until GTA V decides which ending/stranger's outcome is canon, and GTA Online decides that our old characters (Tony, Brucie) move to Los Santos for the sake of their updates.

Now I genuinely hope Yusuf Amir don't return in Online. If we get the same old' flamboyant Yusuf, it basically breaks my hope of seeing Yusuf as more mature individual like what Playboy said. Perhaps it's better to ignore the 2013-onward poor canon that Rockstar establishes.

I mean sh*t, I'm ignoring Rockstar's new trife myself for my own concepts, even if I end up using V to do 'em.

I say go for it, I want to see Mature Yusef, talking respectfully about the plight of the black man and chocking to himself when he remembers him screaming the N word in Middle park.

June 27

On 6/25/2022 at 12:47 AM, wise_man said:

If we get the same old' flamboyant Yusuf, it basically breaks my hope of seeing Yusuf as more mature individual like what Playboy said.

tbh I don't think Playboy really met Yusuf, he just wants to fix the problems he heard that Yusuf has just to get it fixed and potentially be part of Yusuf's circle as a problem solver or some sh*t idk. He thinks he's busy and all professional and overworked etc just from what he hears about other real estate developers and never met him firsthand to know what he's really like.

Either that or, after the construction site massacre, Yusuf was like "f*ck it" and started getting all flamboyant as a coping mechanism.

June 27

Honestly Yusuf being an immature spoiled rich kid was part of his whole charm, and I kind of preferred if he stayed that way. I mean, makes sense considering how absurd his ambitions are, he had Luis steal a train car for an underwater hotel, dammit.

Turning him mature is a bit like Volition turning Shaundi into a pissed off character in Saints Row 3 for some reason.

Edited June 27 by sabitsuki

June 28

9 hours ago, sabitsuki said:

Honestly Yusuf being an immature spoiled rich kid was part of his whole charm, and I kind of preferred if he stayed that way. I mean, makes sense considering how absurd his ambitions are, he had Luis steal a train car for an underwater hotel, dammit.

Turning him mature is a bit like Volition turning Shaundi into a pissed off character in Saints Row 3 for some reason.

It can be done without Shaundificating someone, as long as it's still within character. Volsh*tion's mistake was that they was dumb. They had all of this character and potential development and threw it out the window to make space for Reddit Humor. Yusuf can be made mature, as long as you show that this was character development from his end. He grew up, or something akin to that.

June 28

One thing for sure, I wouldn't go overboard by making Yusuf dead-end serious like his dad, just toning down his playfulness. He still has arcade machines in his Brickell penthouse, flies golden buzzard to construction sites, and runs ambitious real estate projects. He's just not into drugs, hookers, too-much partying anymore, no matter how distracting Vice City is. More careful when speaking too.

Part of this is inspired by a comment in a video about him: "You have to admire Yusuf's father. He's patient enough to deal with his flamboyant son yet he teaches him about humility by making Yusuf craft the skyscraper project with his bare hands and show him how much work and sacrifice is needed to build such projects." In the end, I can see Yusuf slowly understand the right attitude to "run the entire city" as more projects done within nine years.

I can think of scenarios where Yusuf almost slipped to say N-word when greeting people like Deshea Marshall (bad habit die hard eh); or cutscene of he talking to Thomas about how he has changed. Not sure about conveying this through dialogues, however, it's one area I'm not really mastering as of now tbh.

The TBOGT's version of Yusuf is one of my favorites actually. I find him naturally hilarious and wholesome. But I understand why for some he's a disappointment, and I really prefer to see a character development the next time he appears.

Edited June 28 by wise_man

July 5

@wise_man Is it too late to add some stolen valor cons into your concept? I saw this documentary and I instantly thought "wow what a good conman".

And if yall havent watched it already, please do. It's very amazing how far you can run with a lie just because you're confident

July 5

I Think about making a GTA Concept, set in Atlanta maybe set in Modern times. Peachwood City is a fictional southern city. and its located in State, and capital of Octavia or Matlock. It will include eCola Factory, Traphouses and Small Towns.

The Radio Stations will have Trap, Atlanta Hip Hop, EDM, and 80s Sophisti-pop and Southern rock

Jazz.

Edited July 5 by VanHostell97

July 6

10 hours ago, VanHostell97 said:

I Think about making a GTA Concept, set in Atlanta maybe set in Modern times. Peachwood City is a fictional southern city. and its located in State, and capital of Octavia or Matlock. It will include eCola Factory, Traphouses and Small Towns.

The Radio Stations will have Trap, Atlanta Hip Hop, EDM, and 80s Sophisti-pop and Southern rock

Jazz.

Keep us posted, can’t wait to see the 2nd city from midnight club 3 in a gta concept :shillkek:

July 6

8 hours ago, universetwisters said:

Keep us posted, can’t wait to see the 2nd city from midnight club 3 in a gta concept

Thank you do you think Detroit Techno Radio Station will work in Atlanta.

July 6

20 minutes ago, VanHostell97 said:

Thank you do you think Detroit Techno Radio Station will work in Atlanta.

No. Southern crunk or nothin

July 6

19 hours ago, VanHostell97 said:

I Think about making a GTA Concept, set in Atlanta maybe set in Modern times. Peachwood City is a fictional southern city. and its located in State, and capital of Octavia or Matlock. It will include eCola Factory, Traphouses and Small Towns.

The Radio Stations will have Trap, Atlanta Hip Hop, EDM, and 80s Sophisti-pop and Southern rock

Jazz.

My man's gonna do concepts on all major US cities at this rate. Keep it up brother .

Edited July 6 by sabitsuki

July 6

4 hours ago, sabitsuki said:

My man's gonna do concepts on all major US cities at this rate. Keep it up brother .

Thank you and I am also making another one, in Memphis Tennessee. Known as Pyramid City, I am setting it in the 90s. To include Memphis Rap, Crunk, and Horrorcore, and also Phonk.

July 6

4 hours ago, VanHostell97 said:

Thank you and I am also making another one, in Memphis Tennessee. Known as Pyramid City, I am setting it in the 90s. To include Memphis Rap, Crunk, and Horrorcore, and also Phonk.

Why not just focus on one concept though? That way you can pour all your energy into making one great concept instead of a dozen crappy ones

July 27

Finally completing and posting the summary for Thomas' story for Light & Shadow. Two con games of him to follow before Maria and Cesar stories. Go check it out.

Should I hide the summary with spoiler, though? pretty much like @H-G once said he'll write each chapter of TJC in spoiler tab. An average of 13 paragraphs per summary can feel too much for a post IMO.

July 27

1 hour ago, wise_man said:

Finally completing and posting the summary for Thomas' story for Light & Shadow. Two con games of him to follow before Maria and Cesar stories. Go check it out.

Should I hide the summary with spoiler, though? pretty much like @H-G once said he'll write each chapter of TJC in spoiler tab. An average of 13 paragraphs per summary can feel too much for a post IMO.

Too many spoiler tags might ruin the flow of the concept so probably not. You could also try splitting up the story into missions similar to what I did in my Carcer concept if word count's an issue.

July 27

9 hours ago, wise_man said:

Finally completing and posting the summary for Thomas' story for Light & Shadow. Two con games of him to follow before Maria and Cesar stories. Go check it out.

Should I hide the summary with spoiler, though? pretty much like @H-G once said he'll write each chapter of TJC in spoiler tab. An average of 13 paragraphs per summary can feel too much for a post IMO.

8 hours ago, sabitsuki said:

Too many spoiler tags might ruin the flow of the concept so probably not. You could also try splitting up the story into missions similar to what I did in my Carcer concept if word count's an issue.

Speaking of word count, what's the max cap. for it on the forums? I'm sitting on like 260+ KBs worth of The Japanese Connection right now (and the story's still alarmingly stuck on Act III due to "detailing issues" even though basic premises, structure and flow had all been mapped out years ago) so... what to do?

July 30

On 7/28/2022 at 12:13 AM, H-G said:

Speaking of word count, what's the max cap. for it on the forums? I'm sitting on like 260+ KBs worth of The Japanese Connection right now (and the story's still alarmingly stuck on Act III due to "detailing issues" even though basic premises, structure and flow had all been mapped out years ago) so... what to do?

I don't think there's any max cap for topics here, as far as I've seen. That's quite a big size file, how much pages are there? maybe consider dividing a long arc into different posts, especially if they feature pictures and graphics attachments.

Anyway, I decide not to put any spoiler tag for the summaries nor the future missions. No matter how long the first page would be at the end, at least it'll keep the overall aesthetic and flow as what @sabitsuki has advised.

August 2

So I finished my bachelors and now I have a ton of free time. I'm strongly considering posting the Chicago concept as it is and editing in the graphics as it goes along since like Chasing The Dragon, I don't like leaving big ideas in the attic for too long. I'd say that 90% of all radio mixes, 20% of the radio logos and about 40% of the gun icons are done but no maps and headers are done yet. I really don;t want to half-ass this but at the same time, I don't want to keep it in my system for too long.

I'm kinda conflicted right now lol.

August 2

45 minutes ago, sabitsuki said:

So I finished my bachelors

August 25

With how much of a bad taste the new Saints Row left in my mouth I figured I'd post a few updates, as well as a brief synopsis on the Gusenberg concept. I've been really inspired by the atmosphere and vibe of Gotham City in The Batman recently so I might add that touch graphically in this.

Weapons

Here's the current progress on the guns I've done so far for the story mode of GTA: Gusenberg. I've removed the highlights so the guns stand out a little more. Shotguns, sniper rifles, heavy weapons, concealable melees and temporary melees are next. Will most likely do the same for Carcer City as well since it has a similar roster of guns.

Synopsis

GTA: Gusenberg will feature 3 protagonists in an alternate reimagining of turn-of-the-century Chicago, which takes influences from other cities as well, in a timeline when mob bosses, rather than face charges on tax evasion, are acquitted and eventually become successful in their political ambitions, with the in-universe version of Al Capone going on to become mayor in the 50s and 60s, while the equivalent of the Untouchables go underground, eventually becoming sort of an aide to the city's criminal underworld to keep the peace. In other words, the local criminal element forms another layer to the fabric of regular life in the city. To maintain order, other than the use of rogue feds, contracted killers and hit squads, known collectively as Collectors, are employed to silence any criminal or renegade believed to be stepping out of line, with the sanction of a certified fixer. Today, Gusenberg is a hedonist's paradise masquerading as a modernizing beacon of the Great Lakes region, a city known for its sports culture, music, old-school architecture, shopping arcades, horrific winters and lakeside views by day, and a nightlife city rife with dingy nightclubs, party drugs, sex and sketchy alleyways by night.

As of the early-2000s, a traditionally Polish-Irish, now equal-opportunity criminal organization known as The Wicklow Exchange rules the city with an iron fist, being associated and directly involved with the higher echelons of Gusenberg's city hall, as well as across Ikona state. Other powerful crews include the Gusenberg Outfit, an Italian-American outfit whose power has dwindled after a gang war in the 80s against the Exchange leads to their defeat, and The Vanguards, a successful drug and arms gang in Southside Gusenberg with ambitions in the entertainment business, with close links to Southern crews and the Mexican Cartel. Collectively, they form the Three Wolves, and while sitdowns are not usually common, there is an unspoken alliance between the three groups.

Post-9/11, however, tides turn, and federal soft and hard power grow increasingly more disruptive to local business, with the federals and East Coast gangs such as the Russians and the Commission, arriving in the city to take their piece of the pie, while politicians begin to grow unafraid of local gangs with outside intervention. Other gangs in the city, such as the mixed-race street gang, The Tribe, and the Hispanic gang, Los Duques, and even the local sect of The Triads have begun to take what's theirs with the weakening of the alliance between the Three Wolves, establishing links of their own. The future remains uncertain for Gusenberg, but one thing for sure, it may be bloodier than the 80s were.

The story begins in the Winter of 2002, and ends roughly around Fall of 2005.

Protagonist 1 is Camilla "Cam" Cavanagh, a quiet, freelance Collector who lives in Chinatown, currently working for a fixer, a hobo named Barry Hawkshaw living under one of the L Train lines. Despite an Irish-sounding last name, Cam's true ethnic ties remain mostly-unknown, with only a distant memory of her biological mother and being mostly under the mentorship of a man named Master Bridges, who trained her to be the nameless killer she is now. A stoic young woman who frequents clubs and bars to get information on her contacts, she is often efficient in completing them, though a dark side to this is progressively revealed through her near-constant surreal, near-psychedelic dreams, which turn eventually turn lucid as she slowly gains control of them. Barry later pits her on a job at a hotel in The Circuit, which captures the attention of a certain hit squad in the city...

Protagonist 2 is Raymond "Little Ray" Ricci, the son of now-disappeared Outfit enforcer, Pietro "The Electrician" Ricci, who was supposedly murdered in the mid-90s by a group of Outfit hitmen for selling information to the Exchange. He is a returning US Marine from Kosovo, who, due to an undisclosed incident in the Balkans, spent a few years in a military prison, and as of 2002, is released under mysterious circumstances. The Outfit welcomes his return, though at first he appears to not share that same sentiment, and with the ongoing strife between the White House and Iraq, he is given the option to continue his service in Mosul, and later Fallujah, as a way to completely clear his name from the incident. This conflict between two worlds will prove to be a personal crisis for Ray, which later translates physically, as Ray juggles with the possibility, that, with how old and behind-the-times everyone is in the Outfit, that he may one day succeed as its new leader.

Protagonist 3 is Devon "Dee" Youngsford, a high-ranking member of The Vanguards crew, partners with long-time associate and ambitious, yet ruthless lieutenant and former corner kid, Marion "Priest" Ralls. A young man who grew up in both the grittier areas of Southside as well as a more affluent black neighborhood in central, Saints' Way, it is an open secret among the Vanguards that Dee's father was an Untouchable agent named Giles Youngsford, who worked with both the Exchange and the Outfit back in the 80s and 90s, until his death in '93. A calm, street-smart soldier for the Vanguards, spending his days maintaining his loyalty to Priest as they find ways to get ahead of the game while keeping a low profile. All this changes once a chance encounter with an Untouchables agent, Angela Mendez, happens during a drive-by shootout between The Vanguards and The Tribe, where he soon faces the prospect of joining the organization his father was once a part of. Couple that with the upcoming elections within The Vanguards for a new leader and Priest's growing ambitions, Dee will have to prove soon enough that he is still trustworthy in the eyes of the crew, as feds continue to creep in.

Stories will be split into separate character arcs across different chapters. Rather than individual missions like the previous games, they are continuous storylines set between meeting locations, with the main source of income for the protagonists being sidequests and businesses that, rest assured, won't feel like a slog to play through, with Yakuza being a major influence on these missions.

Music

The fun part. As mentioned before, this is probably the biggest list in all of my concepts thus far, with slightly over 30 stations including DLC and Multiplayer, with a mostly-electronica and dance music-centric vibe owing to Chicago's history as the birthplace of house and industrial. So far, I'm glad to say that almost all the Mixcloud links are ready for this concept, with all the continuous stations mixed like the actual GTA dance radios. Icon-wise, I might do a glowing monochrome similar to Cyberpunk 2077 because that looks cool and fits this forum better, so definitely disregard all the earlier logos I've done.

Open the spoilers tag for a run-down on all the stations. Names may change in the final concept. Each station averages between 25 to 40 tracks.

Spoiler

Vanilla

Original Stations

1. The Circuit 98.7 - "Britpop, Alternative Rock, Pop Rock, Electronic Rock" [Sample 1, Sample 2, Sample 3]

2. Metallish FM - "Metalcore, Industrial Metal, Nu Metal, Prog Metal" [Sample 1, Sample 2, Sample 3]

3. The Block 93.2 - "Hardcore Hip Hop, Crunk" [Sample 1, Sample 2, Sample 3]

4. Ronin Radio - "Alternative Hip Hop, Jazz Rap, Underground Hip Hop, Lo-fi Hip Hop" [Sample 1, Sample 2, Sample 3]

5. The Heat - "R&B, Hip Hop Soul, Neo-Soul, Miami Bass" [Sample 1, Sample 2, Sample 3]

6. Electronic Sound Syndicate - "IDM, Post-Rock, Downtempo" [Sample 1, Sample 2, Sample 3]

7. Legato 95.4 - "Classical" (I'm stuck between doing a piano mix with Debussy and Rachmaninoff-type pieces or an opera mix like Double Clef, some advice would be nice!)

8. Members-Only - "Deep House, Garage House, Chicago House, UK Garage" [Sample 1, Sample 2, Sample 3]

9. It's Unleashed! - "Punk Rock, Grindcore, Post-Hardcore, Noise Rock, Early Emo" [Sample 1, Sample 2, Sample 3]

10. Future Trip - "Jungle, Drum n' Bass, Neurofunk" [Sample 1, Sample 2, Sample 3]

11. Adrenalica FM - "Breakbeat, Big Beat, Techno, Acid" [Sample 1, Sample 2, Sample 3]

12. X-Stacey - "Hard Dance, Hardstyle, Hard Trance" [Sample 1, Sample 2, Sample 3]

13. City After Dark - "Progressive Trance, Vocal Trance, Classic Trance" [Sample 1, Sample 2, Sample 3]

14. Osmosis Radio - "Speed Garage, 2-Step, UK Garage, Bassline" [Sample 1, Sample 2, Sample 3]

15. Audiobon - "Radio Dramas"

16. The Connect - "Local Public Radio"

17. The Hardliner - "Conservative National Radio"

Added in Act 3

1. Lakeside FM - "Dancehall, Reggae Rap, Bassline" [Sample 1, Sample 2, Sample 3]

2. The New Mode - "Post-Punk Revival, Grunge, Indie" [Sample 1, Sample 2, Sample 3]

DLCs

Gotham Addon

1. Radio Samsara - "Worldbeat, Tribal House, Early Breakbeat" [Sample 1, Sample 2, Sample 3]

2. Sigilized FM - "Alternative Metal, Gothic Metal" [Sample 1, Sample 2, Sample 3]

3. The Speak - "Traditional Pop, Jazz, Doo-wop, Rock n' Blues" [Sample 1, Sample 2, Sample 3]

Red Dawn Addon

1. 1-Luvv - "Golden Age Hip Hop" [Sample 1, Sample 2, Sample 3]

2. Reverberations Radio - "Punk Dub, Classic Dub, Downtempo" [Sample 1, Sample 2, Sample 3]

3. Gusenberg 89 - "Post-Punk, Industrial" [Sample 1, Sample 2, Sample 3]

Multiplayer-only

1. The Parade - "Emo, Pop Punk, Electronic Rock" [Sample 1, Sample 2, Sample 3]

2. Circuit Jazz 92.5 - "Spiritual Jazz, Jazz-Funk, Jazz Fusion" [Sample 1, Sample 2, Sample 3]

3. Cloud Radio - "Experimental Hip Hop, Cloud Rap" [Sample 1, Sample 2, Sample 3]

4. Murderberg FM - "Party Rap, Snap, Gangster Rap" [Sample 1, Sample 2, Sample 3]

5. Sub312 - "Dubstep, Dark Garage, Ambient" [Sample 1, Sample 2, Sample 3]

6. Atmos FM - "2000s Drum n' Bass" [Sample 1, Sample 2, Sample 3]

7. Neo-Guzie FM - "Techno, Acid, Tech House, Ghettotech, Electroclash" [Sample 1, Sample 2, Sample 3, Sample 4, Sample 5, Sample 6]

Edited August 25 by sabitsuki

September 3

Just a general question out of curiosity, but how would you all feel about a GTA concept thread that featured a custom-created protagonist?

September 3

2 hours ago, Big Fat Paulie said:

Just a general question out of curiosity, but how would you all feel about a GTA concept thread that featured a custom-created protagonist?

Like in GTA Online? Not a bad idea essentially but I'd find it kind of impractical. without it being clear just how much you can customize your character, it's hard to say if it'd be a good fit. Having a ridiculous looking guy in a serious story for example, just don't see how it'd work.

Edited September 3 by E Revere

September 4

8 hours ago, E Revere said:

Having a ridiculous looking guy in a serious story for example, just don't see how it'd work.

You can circumvent this by pulling a Sunset Overdrive with preset faces, though.

September 12

Has anyone took a crack at a concept for a 3D based “San Andreas Stories”?

September 12

15 minutes ago, OJsAlibi said:

Has anyone took a crack at a concept for a 3D based “San Andreas Stories”?

Not that I know of, at least recently.

September 17

On top of GTA: Gusenberg, I might drop a multiplayer component for Carcer City called Gangs of Carcer City, which takes inspiration from the original idea for GTA Online as well as Saints Row 1 and 2 Multiplayer. Meanwhile I'm just doing all the players for Carcer City and hopefully I'll get the logos done for that.

September 17

On 9/12/2022 at 12:39 PM, OJsAlibi said:

Has anyone took a crack at a concept for a 3D based “San Andreas Stories”?

I wouldn’t be surprised if, buried deep within the concept thread index, someone from like 2010 did and abandoned it after the first post because they never logged back in

September 22

@sabitsuki, @Ivan1997GTA, @E Revere, @Datalvarezguy, @Jeansowaty, @VenusianDream, @Big Fat Paulie, @AkshayKumar, @universetwisters, @The Coconut Kid, @Francesco Bonomo, @Zenit, @Phil McCrevis, @Akaviri,
@wise_man, @TheOriginalGunslinger, @Graven

Welp... what can I say? This one sure did take it's time to come out ("Kept you waiting, huh?") and had been rotting on my PC for nearly 10 months now, but I guess it was for it's own good anyway.
And because of that, there's been a change of plans: This will be the last bit of the fanfic I'll be posting here, and later on, I'll make a whole new concept thread with various remastered elements.
I know it's dumb to leave a story half-explained like this, but given how so much detail and time went into writing this one part, it's best to just release this and then later restart with a fresh setup.
Not to mention all this writing I've been doing for such a long time in one specific direction has kinda made me lose my vision on this project. I'm going to need some time to clear my head about this.

Sorry for the long delay BTW, I had been dealing with a LOT of IRL issues, personal issues and even my own PC's issues lately. But now, it's finally on with the story again.
For a little fun and more tone-defining story experience, I've decided to throw in some music tracks from the first two Manhunt games and a couple of others coming from the Hitman ones.
Think of these tracks like "placeholder music" of some sort until the fanfic gets proper OST composed for it (which will never happen so just deal with it, lol).

A minor fun fact, but... I've been working on this since the 12th of February 2022. O_O

WARNING: This part of the fanfic has been written with extreme attention to detail regarding combat, fighting and overall violence. They've been bumped up on all fronts and made nastier than ever.
It is highly recommended that the readers of this piece of fanfiction should be at least 18 years old, or be comfortable enough to be able to easily take on what you are about to read.
Readers younger than the recommended age of 18 should refrain from reading this fanfic. This is for your own well-being and I'm saying this purely based on the content of this fanfic.
And please, for the sake of your very own safety, sanity, and the same of those around you: DO NOT, AND I MEAN, DO NOT ATTEMPT TO 'RECREATE' OR IMITATE ANY OF THE SCENES WRITTEN HERE IN THIS STORY.

Spoiler

Starting off right where the first half of the third act left off (and continuing it), a pissed-off Kazuki is headed to the elevators on the far side of floor #37 in the Greenstone Apartment Complex.
"Mind Control" by Craig Conner is playing in the background, the recent sight of the tipped-over recycling bin has reminded Kazuki of something really... awful.
As Kazuki approaches the elevators, slight distortion starts appearing on the screen as the scene briefly and very subtly flashes back and forth between the past and the present.
The environment around Kazuki temporarily flashes between a hospital and the apartment building he's currently in a couple of times. A blue file briefly appears in Kazuki's hands and disappears.

A hospital report flashes onto the screen three times in a row for like half a second per flash. Most of the data in the file is blurred out by screen distortion, apart from the name field... Mrs. Kasen.
Kazuki goes to an elevator and presses the call button. Kazuki's expressions slowly change from angry to confounded as he goes deeper into thinking, knowing he can't do anything about Toshiko.
While waiting for the elevator, the screen gets even more distorted, and just as we are about to find out what exactly happened, Kazuki quickly floods his thoughts with the state of his clan.
The screen clears up and the graphics become smooth again, but the distortion tries to wrestle it's way back in as Kazuki tries not to think about it. The distortion and music eventually goes away for good.

Kazuki mutters to himself of doing something about the Sindacco situation and walks up to a nearby window to take a look outside. Down below, the streets of Torrington look calm and mundane as ever.
"Kill The Rabbit" by Craig Conner starts playing in the background, the music behaves dynamically and adjusts it's tone according to the current situation. It remains at the lowest "Idle" note for now.
Japanese residents of the area are going to work as normal, others are free to hang around the place and there's even very slight Yakuza presence in the street out front of the apartment complex.
However, at the end of the day, they're outnumbered by the Sindaccos who still have their hold on these particular grounds, abeit now slightly crippled by the recent punch from the Japanese community.

A suspicious-looking black Securicar pulls up in the neighborhood, it parks up on the road around the back of the "366" building and five unknown Japanese-looking men emerge from the back of the van.
The music picks up the higher "Suspicious" note. Throughout the whole scene, it'll use the next "Spotted" note when Kazuki is facing at least one goon and go back to the previous one when he's safe again.
The men are dressed in black suits, black shoes and black shades. Each one has a gray rubber "spiral spring"-looking earpiece going over their left ear and into the ear.
Some of the guys are plain bald and some have very short haircuts, the kind where their head is shaved from all sides and a slight patch of hair is left on the top.

Kazuki spots them coming from a mile off and quickly heads into the elevator, which has arrived just in time, and heads down to the first floor as the now-apparent goons prep up to whack Kazuki.
The goons nonchalantly unload boxes from the van in the wide open street like it was laundry day and crack open the huge wooden crates with a Crowbar.
Out of one crate, a couple of goons take out some Body Armor, a Brick, a Snub-Nosed Colt Python .357, an Ingram Mac-10, an M4, a Grenade... and a freaking RPG-7 rocket launcher.
The elevator arrives at the first floor with it's classic bell going off and Kazuki sprints out of it so fast and urgently that he might as well wouldn't have waited for the doors to slide open.

Before Kazuki is able to reach the huge glass-and-steel entrance to the building, two more Securicars arrive outside and spit out more truckloads of retards for Kazuki to take care of.
Kazuki stops before the doors and slowly backs away as the emerging goons arm themselves with some really expensive weaponry that seems to be straight outta Japan.
A goon literally drowning in the aforementioned weapons strapped all over him (including one whole motherf*cking Brick) crouches out front the building and readies up to smash down the fragile entrance.
The people hanging around the first floor of the building notice the crowd outside and gather in the main lobby to see what's happening.

Over a Megaphone, a group leader-looking goon tells Kazuki that they're the Renegade Clan and they have the place surrounded, he asks him to surrender calmly or they'll blow up the whole building.
The civilian crowd is scared by the threat, some run off to safety, some stay right where they are and some are still wondering what's going on.
Now Kazuki is Kazuki, so he's like "nope" and shows them his left hand's middle finger before quickly turning around, running up the reception desk, jumping over it and taking cover behind it.
The goon with the RPG-7 sees this as a green light and aims the RPG-7 at the entrance, the civilians freak out and try to flee but the goon pulls the trigger.

A huge explosion shatters the entire entrance, blowing away and literally mincing lots of civilians and sending various hotel-specific objects like trolleys, baggage and what-not flying across the hall.
The entrance is riddled with glass shards, steel bits and concrete blocks lying everywhere as the hitmen rush inside wearing gas masks and throw Teargas Grenades in to trap any fleeing survivors.
A fire alarm in the ceiling goes off from the teargas smoke as the hitmen start killing anyone who witnessed their handiwork and both the surviving and injured civilians try to escape them, but fail anyway.
Kazuki checks his pockets and realizes that's he ironically UNARMED in this one situation of all situations. He grabs a hold of a Glass Flower Vase on the top of the desk and sneaks out into the smoke cloud.

Kazuki notices a gas mask-wearing goon armed with a Customized Uzi 9mm looking away from him, Kazuki sneaks up on him from behind and smashes the Glass Vase onto his head, dropping him to his knees.
Kazuki grabs one of the six Glass Shards from the debris of the broken vase lying on the floor and stabs the goon in his back with it to keep him stunned.
Kazuki takes the gas mask and the gun off the goon and executes him with a single shot in the back of his head, kicking him onto the floor.
Kazuki escapes further back into the building to avoid being seen. The Customized Uzi 9mm has a 25% faster fire rate, lacks the folding stock and features an extended magazine that can hold 45 rounds in it.

Now you see that there was a little hypothetical gameplay concept back there: Certain Green Class (AKA one-time use) weapons produce special debris on impact that can be picked up and used again as a weapon.
This "weapon recycling" is also available for some Yellow Class (AKA throwable lures) weapons, such as throwing a Brick hard enough can make it dynamically break into multiple pieces of various sizes.
Similarly, certain Yellow Class weapons can be changed into Green Class weapons and the other way around, like the Glass Bottle (Yellow Class) which can break upon impact and spawn up to six Glass Shards.
Conversely, the Glass Bottle (Green Class) spawns a Broken Bottleneck (alongside the usual six Glass Shards) when an execution is performed, this can be used as a Yellow Class weapon.

Some level-exclusive weapons, like the Glass Vase, don't exist globally. This type of weapon is called the Level-Exclusive Orange Class Weapon; a mix of both Green and Yellow Class weapons.
This "weapon" basically amounts to nothing (e.g. Kazuki acts as if empty-handed) outside of levels, it's all up to the level to connect it a map prop and give it behavior data.
Multiple items can be defined to it, so it's possible to define as many level-exclusive props as intended, each one tied to a unique map prop with proper behavior data. But they'll all count as one weapon.
Since each prop can have dynamic behavior data, not all have the "BREAKS_ON_IMPACT" and "SPAWN_WEAPON_*NAME*" flags on, in which case those ones lean more on being a Yellow Class or even a Blue Class weapon.

Similar to GTA IV, it's carried separately from all other weapons. Kazuki must be empty-handed in order to be able to use it, and will drop it if he unholsters any holstered weapon with the prop in hand.
Anyway, so Kazuki puts the gas mask on due to the spreading gas and heads for the restaurant area. Two hitmen barge in through a huge window pane on his left and open fire on him.
Kazuki backtracks a bit and crouches behind some of the hotel trolleys and swiftly takes care of the hitmen. Behind him, more and more innocent civilians are seen being slaughtered.
Kazuki quickly proceeds forward before anymore of the hitman see him from outside and try to come in through the huge hole left in the wall.

As he rounds the corner, a blackjack table with a dead male civilian tied onto it is sent flying out of the nearby mini-casino (those guys are really damn strong), the way ahead is barricaded by hotel stuff.
A goon standing in the distance throws a Grenade at Kazuki from over the barricade. Kazuki shoots at the Grenade while it's still close to it's thrower, causing it to blow up and take the goon along.
The newly-implemented security system of the building detects the explosion and seals off all the ground floor windows with metal shutters, locking various crucial rooms and halls on the floor too.
Two more goons silently approach from behind in an attempt to sneak up on Kazuki, but he hears them coming, turns around and unloads whatever's left in the Uzi 9mm's mag into them.

Kazuki drops the Uzi 9mm and takes the Rugers left by the two goons, as well as some spare ammo and a Glock 17 as a backup sidearm. He takes the mag out of the second Ruger and leaves that one lying around.
Kazuki complains about how these guys "operate like mass murderers", he believes their ways have changed overtime and they went insane. He also wonders how they managed to track him down.
Heading into the mini-casino, Kazuki is confronted by lots of Ruger and Uzi 9mm-wielding goons taking cover behind tipped-over tables and vending machines, he tips over a table nearby and takes cover.
Kazuki headshots a handful amount of them and proceeds further in through the casino until an M60-wielding goon standing on the top of the bar around the corner sprays a rapid-fire hail of bullets.

Kazuki hides behind a wall and tries to take a shot at him but can't because the M60 guy is spraying bullets all around like crazy. Kazuki sees a bottle of whiskey lying on the floor by a table.
Kazuki checks a dead hitman and finds a box of Matchsticks on him. He rips the guy's tie off, gets the bottle, removes the cap, stuffs the tie into the bottleneck and uses a Matchstick to light up the tie.
Kazuki silently approaches his cover and throws the freshly-made Molotov Cocktail around the corner and onto the bar, which is apparently all woodwork-based.
The bar catches fire and all the liquor supply stashed in it worsens the fire (because liquor is flammable), causing it to erupt into a huge fireball and set the M60 guy on fire, killing him.

Gameplay concept: Certain types of Green\Yellow and Blue Class weapons can be carried together at the same time with others if the exact needed list is extremely specifically available in the inventory.
And if all the needed materials are present in Kazuki's inventory, he can combine all of the elements to build up a powerful Molotov Cocktail, which sometimes also comes already assembled.
To build a Molotov Cocktail, Kazuki needs a Glass Bottle (Green\Yellow Class, doesn't matter), a flammable liquid (vehicle fuel, liqor or just about any oil, Teal Class) and a piece of cloth (Orange Class).
A piece of cloth can also be obtained from any clothed dead body, but it will replace the Level-Exclusive Orange Class Weapon when picking that up.

To light up the bottle, Kazuki needs a Matchstick or a Lighter (Blue Class, a "melee" weapon with limited "ammo", usually found on "cheap-looking" hunters but also slightly common in professionals as well).
If neither of the two are present, he can also light it up from any source of fire, be it fire from a burning level prop or even a burning dead body.
A faded Molotov Cocktail icon will appear in the inventory when all materials are present, or when a Matchstick\Lighter isn't present, Kazuki is near a fire. Simply select it to trigger the building process.
The building process can be interrupted any time. If the bottle is filled and not lit up yet, it can still be used as a Green\Yellow Class weapon with the "weapon recycling" still working.

The contents of the bottle will be splattered onto the targeted hunter\level environment when smashed onto it, the splatters\puddle can then be lit up with gunfire or a Matchstick\Lighter\source of fire.
Remember, smashing a filled bottle close enough can make the liquid splatter on Kazuki himself, making him vulnerable to catching fire and being executed by hunters wielding Matchsticks or Lighters.
The liquid splatters dynamically on characters, so the intensity of Kazuki catching fire from the splatters heavily varies on how much drowsed he is in the liquid.
If Kazuki has a flammable liquid on him, just go into any source of water (enter deep water, stand in heavy rain\pouring water, get a Glass Bottle containing water smashed onto him etc.) to wash it off.

And flammable liquid puddles are another concept: They can be created using a Jerry Can (with petrol\diesel\gasoline etc. variants) and set ablaze with a fire weapon\source, similar to Manhunt 2.
The same goes for the Glass Bottle (Green\Yellow Class), sometimes they come filled with liquor or water (if the environment demands it) and can be used similarly... Smash it down and light 'em up!
The Jerry Can is heavy to carry around (only when filled up to about 45%) and prevents all weapon usage at the cost of being a separate inventory item, unless temporarily dropped.
The spilling process can be triggered by equipping it and then reselecting it from the inventory again, or simply attacking a Jerry Can pickup with fists or a melee weapon, making Kazuki kick it over.

Spilling is fully controllable, it's possible to move around and even control how much liquid should be spilled about, thus interruption is possible.
The Jerry Can also works as a melee weapon if Kazuki is in danger. It's attack speed and damage effect varies depending on how much liquid it contains, often being inequal each other in a balanced way.
Like in Max Payne 2, shooting the Jerry Can will set it on fire and eventually make it explode. But if bullets are high-caliber and the angle's right, it'll poke holes through it and create a puddle.
Shot-up Jerry Can pickups leak fuel and lose their content\usefulness over time, but the fuel dropped from them can be used as long as it doesn't dry out.

Anyway, Kazuki walks into the fiery room, heads left through the other entrance of the casino and ends up on the other side of the barricade. He takes off his gas mask and pulls out his cellphone.
Kazuki tries to call Kenji, but his phone is switched off. In the meantime, an assassin almost sneaks up on Kazuki and is about to whack him in the head with a Crowbar.
Kazuki turns around and smashes the stock of the Ruger into the goon's head before shooting him in the face while he's down, effectively creating a unique and custom execution.
Panicked screams of innocent civilians and security guards taking their last stand against the hitmen echo throughout the chaotic ground floor halls, only to be subsequently followed and silenced by gunfire.

On the other side of the barricade, two guards and a female civilian run up to the other door of the mini-casino but are gunned down by two more hitmen. They spot Kazuki and try to shoot at him with Tec-9s.
Kazuki crouches and grabs a Grenade from a box placed next to the dead hitman who threw a Grenade at him earlier and throws it on the other side of the barricade, taking both hitmen out.
Kazuki puts the gas mask on again when he notices the teargas smoke has started to spread almost everywhere on the floor. His cellphone rings with a call from Toshiko, but he hangs up the incoming call.
Kazuki straps the Ruger onto his back and takes the Crowbar before heading out onwards. He finds the way to the basement and heads down there, executing some unsuspecting patrolling goons on his way down.

In the dark basement, he comes across a locked fusebox and cracks it open. The noise of the crowbar and the fusebox lid slightly alerts some goons patrolling above and outside the basement.
Kazuki then flips off all the power fuses, causing the whole apartment building to now go completely dark with all the window shutters down and locking all the elevators in place.
One goon is told to head down the basement and see what's up with the power, he takes a Flashlight along with a Silenced Glock 17 and heads downstairs, where Kazuki waits for him and executes him.
Kazuki sneaks up on the goon from behind with the Crowbar and hits him in the back of his head without stabbing, he drops the Crowbar and takes his Flashlight before beating his head to a pulp with it.

Kazuki takes the goon's Silenced Glock 17 and gains the ability to dual-wield two Glock 17s, he heads up the stairs and hides in a shadowy corner while a goon walks in, wondering why the power isn't on yet.
Kazuki turns on the Flashlight and shows him some power by whacking the hell out of his head with a friggin' torch, taking the silencer attached to his Glock 17 and then sending him tumbling down the stairs.
Kazuki throws the Flashlight away, switches to the two Silenced Glock 17s and continues through the dark halls, "sneaking and gunning" unsuspecting goons until he runs out of ammo and throws the guns away.
Eventually, Kazuki finally manages to reach the restaurant area, but the double doors are locked. He wrestles with the doors a little and tries to smash his way through but they won't budge.

A security camera by the doors turns to Kazuki and the green light blinking on it turns red upon finding him in it's field of view, indicating the place has been hacked to consider Kazuki an intruder.
Four hitmen waiting outside for their next instruction are informed of Kazuki's current position through their earpieces and run inside to take him out.
Kazuki sees them and is quick to figure out that there's must be someone in the control room, he grabs a Crowbar off the floor, backtracks into the shadows and smashes the Crowbar into a wall.
Kazuki holds his breath whenever a hitman comes too close to him while he's hiding in the shadows, making sure the cover isn't blown.

Kazuki slowly executes each of them one-by-one, drops the Crowbar and grabs a Silenced Glock 17 off a hitman, he stays in the shadows and shoots out the security camera with one bullet, blowing it up.
Kazuki heads up a nearby staircase and finds himself on the first floor of the building, he quickly shoots another security camera before it can see him and runs through the halls to find the control room.
Kazuki faces hitmen wearing night-vision goggles on this floor, he takes them out with one headshot per guy and destroys any cameras watching him. Eventually, he finds the control room.
Kazuki enters the control room and sneaks up on a lone hitman standing in there with a bunch of dead security guards lying around him before executing him with the second-to-last bullet of the gun.

Kazuki uses one of the control panels to loosen up security measures on the southern wing of the ground floor, lifting up some shutters and unlocking several rooms and halls around the restaurant area.
Kazuki completely disables all of the security cameras by shooting and blowing up the control room unit controlling them. Kazuki throws the empty gun away and takes the MP5 off the dead hitman.
Kazuki is about to leave when he notices an unused microphone system left on a table in a shadowy corner. Kazuki's cellphone rings again with a call from Toshiko, but he hangs up the phone.
Kazuki hacks the fire alarm system to output the microphone's input, he tells everyone on the upper floors to remain calm and lock themselves inside their own apartments until the police arrives.

Kazuki refers to the attack as a minor "welcoming committee" for the surprise "guests" he's currently "serving", before ending the annoucement with "And Toshiko... STOP WITH THE F*CKING CALLS!".
Kazuki heads out of the control room (A'ight, I'mma head out) and makes real quick and sleek work of the incoming hitmen, headshotting several of them.
Kazuki thinks about taking one of the pairs of night-vision goggles lying around but then figures out he would need to take off the gas mask, and the hitmen are still throwing more Teargas Grenades about.
Behind Kazuki, a sneaky hitman enters the control room thinking Kazuki is inside and throws a Molotov Cocktail at a swivel chair facing away from him. The whole control room blows up, taking the idiot along.

Kazuki reaches the bottom of the stairs and drops the empty MP5, he gets to the double doors of the restaurant area and briefly looks at all the dead security guards, civilians and generic hotel staff.
Kazuki looks in through the keyholes of the double doors and sees the whole hall literally crawling with suit-boot retards carrying unlicensed heavy artillery smuggled in from Japan.
Kazuki gets the Ruger ready, takes off the gas mask and throws it away while looking through the keyholes before busting into the place in full force, kicking them double doors in like a commando and stuff.
The retards are quick to react and immediately ready up their fresh-from-the-crates Uzi 9mms, MP5s, Steyr Augs, M16s, M4s, AK-47s, Spaz 12 Shotguns, Stubby Shotguns and even the rare and deadly Jackhammers.

Kazuki reacts fast AF too and takes cover behind a stylish Japanese design-filled concrete monolith to his right. The other side of the square monolith is riddled with gunfire in a matter of seconds.
Two potted palm plants decorated on the either sides of the white monolith tip over and cripple into pieces. The gunfire is so intense it doesn't give Kazuki even a single chance to take a single shot.
Kazuki peeks out and manages to score a couple of headshots, but there are still tons upon tons of these guys to mow down. One goon climbs up two restaurant tables stacked up on top of each other.
The goon readies up an M79 grenade launcher and fires it unannounced. While Kazuki is taking more shots, he sees the M79 guy and turns the barrel of his Ruger towards him.

In a short slow-motion sequence, Kazuki aims at the grenade fired out of the M79 and fires just one single shot at it while it's still near the goon and hasn't gotten that much far enough from him.
The M79 grenade explodes in mid-air upon colliding with one of the bullets fired from Kazuki's Ruger, killing the goon, blowing up a large number of hitmen and making the table tower collapse.
Kazuki throws the Ruger away and jumps out of his cover onto a Jackhammer dropped by a dead goon, he cuts through the frivolous field of firefight as fast and as lethally as possible with the newfound gun.
Kazuki is almost killed by a near-lethal shotgun fire but manages to unload anything left in his gun's clip at the attacker's head while falling to the floor and subsequently sitting up.

Kazuki crawls behind a tipped-over table, switches to an M4 conveniently placed there, crouches up and out of his cover a bit and brutally headshot a sh*tload of hitmen all around the hall.
Kazuki fetches some Grenades off a nearby crate and throws them at any distant goons he can't reach (but they can reach him somehow), blowing them up and crippling the nearby walls.
The entire hall eventually goes silent, Kazuki gets up and walks over to the dead sneaky attacker, whose whole head has been shot off and is completely missing from above his neck.
Kazuki psychotically grins upon the look of this as he looks up to see the head of the retard rolling around the bloodied red carpet of the hall. You can't tell exactly where blood has NOT been splattered.

A panicked fat chef runs out of the kitchen with two hitmen hunting him down with M4s, Kazuki picks up a Beretta and guns them down with a headshot on each, but the hitmen manage to wound the chef anyway.
The innocent chef falls to the floor with two gunshot wounds in his upper back and one in the lower right leg, he drops a Meat Cleaver and tries to desparately crawl away before dying.
Kazuki is disgusted at how they're targeting innocent civilians just because they saw what they're doing, he complains they could've done this more cleanly and shrugs it off as them "losing their touch".
Kazuki heads into the kitchen and a hitman hiding behind the double doors ambushes him with a Kitchen Knife.

Gameplay concept: Hunters can perform executions on YOU as well, either with jumpscares or even sneaking up on you. A couple of prompts will be shown and they MUST be followed in order to survive.
Kazuki blocks his attack, disarms him with a punch and stabs him with his own Kitchen Knife before shoving him onto a fryer and roasting him to death. Kazuki turns the fryers off afterwards as well.
Some hunters' executions take place near Environmental Execution Points. If you manage to repel them, it's possible to turn their execution into your Environmental Execution.
Note that the Kitchen Knife will not be added to the player's inventory after this execution, it will spawn as an optional pickup.

Kazuki exits the kitchen, drops everything on him and takes an Oyabun Knife (<- pretty fitting for a Yakuza oyabun!), two Colt Python .357s, a Chromed Shotgun and a Micro Uzi as backup with some spare ammo.
Kazuki finds some First-Aid Kits and Body Armor from a crate and heals himself before proceeding onwards through the next set of double doors, stepping through which he immediately comes under heavy fire.
Kazuki immediately dashes to a nearby monolith and takes cover behind it, he pulls out one Colt Python .357 and headshots out about five of the ten hitmen in here with great accuracy.
A sixth goon tries to sneak up on Kazuki from behind but he turns around, grabs him by his neck and whacks him in the head several times with the Colt Python .357 as if he knew this retard was coming.

The already-unconscious goon falls onto his knees and then falls over backwards as Kazuki beheads him with one single devastating round unloaded into the center of his face at point-blank range.
Kazuki reloads the Colt Python .357 and picks up the Ruger dropped by the goon, keeping the Chromed Shotgun strapped to his back. He looks out of the cover and shoots two of the hitmen dead.
One goon on an upper balcony brandishes an M72 LAW (GTA3 rocket launcher), and another goon screams at him "What the f*ck are you doing, you retard?!?" in native Japanese language (translated in subtitles).
Kazuki sees this and quickly ditches the Ruger and switches to the Chromed Shotgun, he runs out of the cover and jumps into the air towards a second monolith to take cover behind.

The indoor-rocket-launching retard epically blasts the monolith as Kazuki soars high through the air in slow-motion and wounds the said retard with his shotgun before landing behind the second monolith.
The monolith cracks and crumbles and falls out backwards, breaking into two parts as a short part of the balcony it was holding up cripples and comes down crashing, creating a hole in the platform above.
Kazuki switches to the two Colt Python .357s (dual-wielding, of course) and rushes out from the cover to shoot at the rocket-launching guy to make sure he's dead before turning to the last hitman.
Kazuki wounds the last hitman and shoots the Tec-9 out of his hand before heading up to the balcony using the stairs and walking up to him to brutally execute him.

Kazuki sees more hitmen hiding on the patio of the restaurant hall, he guns them all down and blows up some of the weapon and ammo crates they've managed to offload into the place.
Kazuki also uses environmental weaponry to save ammo like the Glass Candle Holders, Chairs and even weak throwable props like Restaurant Menu Cards.
Kazuki shoots and wounds a lone hitman standing in front of a huge window, before shooting the window behind him and then shooting him again to send him flying out of the window and into the street.
Kazuki makes sure that the place has been cleared out completely and heads back to the stairs that lead up to this floor.

Kazuki's cellphone rings again. He pulls it out and answers the call, only to hear a freaked-out Toshiko frantically shouting and asking about what hell's going on downstairs.
Before Kazuki has a chance to say anything, Toshiko complains about the elevators not working and that she wanted to go to shopping.
Toshiko then proceeds to tell Kazuki about a text message she received from the bank telling her that she has crossed the limit for her credit card and now owes $100,000 to the bank.
While Toshiko is still only wailing about the money and doesn't give a f*ck if Kazuki got fatally shot or whatever, a disappointed Kazuki hangs up the call and puts the cellphone back into his coat.

Kazuki is about to head downstairs when suddenly more hitmen rappel in through the huge windows on the far side of the hall, armed with Desert Eagles and Spaz 12 Shotguns and kicking through the huge glass.
Kazuki runs to where the rocket-launching retard was situated while gunning down as many hitmen as possible with his Chromed Shotgun. He also had other kinds of explosives stashed by him before he died.
Kazuki drops the Chromed Shotgun and gets an M79 ready as more and more hitmen climb in through the windows and crowd the place. Kazuki backs up from the railing and takes cover before eventually getting up.
Kazuki bombs a sh*tload of the hitmen to the moon with one blast, reloads the M79 and straps it onto his back before picking up the shotgun again and running back to the stairs, gunning for anyone armed.

Kazuki jumps onto one of the railings of the stairs and takes out the incoming goons while sliding down the railing. He gets off when he reaches the bottom floor and clears out the hall.
Kazuki sees an incoming black Securicar crash into an already parked Securicar outside through the shattered windows and hears more hitmen offload their weaponry and prepare to attack.
Kazuki heads up the stairs a bit, drops the Chromed Shotgun and switches to the M79, he plugs the hitmen one through the window and blows up both Securicars, killing them all and blowing up their equipment.
Kazuki throws the M79 away, picks up the Chromed Shotgun again and heads into the ballroom where he finds the hitmen's leader, Itsumo, who commands his men to kill him and immediately runs off.

Kazuki shoots most of them dead but runs out of ammo for the Chromed Shotgun and drops it. He then switches to the Ingram Mac-10 and takes out the rest of the goons before running after Itsumo.
Kazuki chases the leader around the rest of the first floor and eventually across the main lobby full of innocent people's mutilated corpses, gunning down any now-smaller and less frequent groups of hitmen.
The glass-and-steel skylight above the center of the hall shatters into pieces as eight hitmen stylishly rappel down through it to kill Kazuki.
Kazuki covers his head up with his arms and quickly rushes over to the reception desk, jumps over it and takes cover behind it as the hitmen try to shoot at Kazuki through the huge wooden desk.

Kazuki notices the hitmen aren't wearing gas masks, so he grabs a Teargas Grenade off a dead male civilian lying nearby and chucks it over the desk.
The hitmen are stunned by the grenade Kazuki has thrown as he takes a lighter from the dead hitman's pocket and runs out of his cover after Itsumo. One hitman sees Kazuki and tries to shoot at him.
Kazuki fights back by flipping on the lighter and throwing it into the teargas smoke-cloud. The whole cloud catches fire and turns into a huge gaseous flame, burning all the hitmen to death.
Gameplay concept: Smoke-clouds of gas can be set ablaze with Matchsticks, Lighters, Molotov Cocktails and just about any other source of fire.

Itsumo heads up the emergency spiral staircase and eventually reaches the rooftop. Kazuki taunts Itsumo on the way up multiple times and curses at him, calling a "honorless coward".
Kazuki runs out of ammo for the Ingram Mac-10 while shooting at Itsumo and throws the gun down the staircase. He then switches to the Colt Python .357s and wastes three more rounds.
On the rooftop, a huge ambush consisting of sixteen hitmen of the Renegade Clan is ready, ten of them are armed with Jackhammers, three carry M4s, one is holding an M79 and the last two have Remington 700 sniper rifles.
The weather seems to be changing slowly as the setting sun is obscured by dark and heavy storm-clouds coming in from the south-east and the weather starts looking overall rainy and windy.

In the background, we can see some literal world building on the skyline of Liberty City, many buildings that are seen as completed in GTA3 and LCS are yet to finish up building.
The infamous "Portland's Big Brown" (the huge black old apartment building stuck smack dab in the middle of Portland) is under construction, and seems halfway completed.
The "366" building has a couple of more floors being added onto it, and thus is surrounded by huge magnocranes and partially covered up with scaffoldings on some of the floors.
The FBC Bank Building and the AmCo. Petroleum HQ across the street from the apartment building are also getting the same treatment, they actually look a couple of floors shorter than usual.

The Lips 106 radio station's HQ building is heavily under construction, with the Final Build construction company's workers having a hard time on how to do the round architecture the right way.
Even the Jefferson Street Credit Union Building, where Donald Love's office is situated in LCS, is still shorter than the Morningstar Industries HQ building these days, it's almost half of it's final size.
Anyway, so Itsumo heads up to the helipad and declares to give a blank check to anyone who manages to kill Kazuki first. Kazuki curses at Itsumo and runs for cover around the wide open roof.
Kazuki quickly takes cover behind a conveniently-placed open ammo crate and pulls out a Stubby Shotgun from it. The hitmen take aim and zero in on Kazuki.

The hitmen's Jackhammers pierce and blow up the crate in less than a moment, and Kazuki quickly jumps away from the burning crate just in time.
Kazuki runs around the roof hiding behind various AC vents, antennas and satellite dishes, gunning down each and every one of the hitmen one-by-one.
Kazuki is forced to keep changing covers constantly as Itsumo can see him from across the roof and directs his men to his position. Kazuki tries to shoot at Itsumo but he crouches.
When thirteen out of the sixteen hitmen have been taken care of, the hitman with the M79 flushes Kazuki out of his last cover by blowing up the last satellite dish left in mint condition on the roof.

Kazuki swaps his shotgun for an M4 and takes out the M79 guy while running for another cover. Kazuki finds an AC vent to hide behind but he is pinned down there by the two snipers.
Tetsu, Itsumo's "best hitman" as he calls him, shows up. This is the same guy who blew up the front entrance and still has all the weapons from the crate strapped onto him.
Tetsu throws a Grenade at Kazuki, who runs away, and then pulls out the Ingram Mac-10 to shoot at him. The sudden break from cover gets Kazuki struck by a sniper bullet in the lower left leg.
While falling onto the roof, Kazuki manages to shoot out the sniper who took him down and then shoots at Tetsu, who dodges the bullets and continues shooting at Kazuki.

Kazuki crawls to a second ammo create nearby and shoots at an AC vent near the staircase, where Tetsu is hiding and shooting from cover.
The constant spray of bullets from Kazuki prevents Tetsu from shooting him. Kazuki runs out of ammo and grabs a Beretta from the crate, he manages to shoot the Ingram Mac-10 out of Tetsu's hand.
With the bullet from Kazuki's Beretta having penetrated through his left hand, Tetsu hides far back into his cover, rips off his tie and wraps it around his hand before jumping in again.
This time, Tetsu pulls out the Snub-Nosed Colt Python .357 (the rarest gun of all) and attacks Kazuki, who takes a Silver Colt 1911 from the crate and rolls around the roof.

Kazuki reaches another crate and shoots at Tetsu with both pistols, who is quick to run out of ammo (six rounds per cylinder and no spare ammo) and throws the gun away.
The other sniper finally gets a view of Kazuki and shoots the Beretta out of his hand, but the bullet hits the gun and not the hand.
Kazuki takes one sharp shot at the sniper while he gets stuck reloading his gun and blows his brains out with one single distant shot (this Silver Colt is really accurate, almost beats the Desert Eagle).
Tetsu charges at Kazuki with the Crowbar he used for opening the crate. Kazuki lands the last two rounds of his gun's 9-bullet clip into Tetsu's torso but he's wearing Body Armor underneath.

Kazuki drops the gun and dodges and wrestles the Crowbar out of Tetsu's hand. He eventually disarms and brutally stabs him in the middle of his legs with it, causing lots of blood to spray out.
Tetsu tries to reach for his trusty old Brick, but Kazuki blocks Tetsu's hand, snatches it out of his hand and slams it into his head, making Tetsu fall over backwards, stunned.
Kazuki then throws the Brick onto Tetsu's head real hard, splattering his skull onto the roof and breaking the brick into two pieces (spawning two Half Bricks). Itsumo backs up in fear.
Kazuki picks up the bigger half of the Brick and continues to bludgeon Tetsu's head to bits with it multiple times while yelling at Itsumo how his best guy "isn't so best after all."

Kazuki corners Itsumo at the helipad and holds him at gunpoint with one Colt Python .357, asking him why he wants to kill him when he's done absolutely nothing at all.
The leader says "Now I know nothing. But consider this instead, if you want the true answer, make sure your own house is in order first!", pulling out two Katanas from the holsters on his back.
Kazuki, knowing he had to kill traitorous Yakuza elites of his own clan to find out about his family, sarcastically replies "Yeah, right."
Itsumo throws one of his Katanas towards Kazuki's way, who takes off the Body Armor, holsters the gun, picks the Katana up and prepares to fight. The music picks up the higher "Combat" note.

An epic Katana swordfight takes place on the roof of the apartment complex between Kazuki and Itsumo. Itsumo blocks and dodges Kazuki's attacks and tries to stab him back, who does the same.
Kazuki and Itsumo's swords clash and cross multiple times as they jump around the helipad and wait for the right moment to stab one another first. They gain an upper hand on each other one-by-one.
Now Kazuki has natural talent in his blood, he eventually corners Itsumo at the tip of the helipad's edge and almost throws him down but Itsumo breaks out of the block and shoves Kazuki away.
Kazuki manages to land several slashes on Itsumo's torso and jumps up in the air, narrowly avoiding his legs from being slashed or possibly even cut off, and kicks Itsumo in the face.

Kazuki and Itsumo continue fighting brutally, looking to cut off each other's limbs and head on the first available opportunity as they punch, kick and even try to shove one another off the roof.
The music temporarily dips to the "Spotted" note as we cut to two goons at the Francis Intl. Airport contemplate about being late and get into a black Maverick, taking off and flying towards Staunton Island.
Kazuki and Itsumo are still fighting. The music shoots back up to the higher "Combat" note again, Itsumo tries to slash and stab Kazuki but he dodges.
Itsumo hears the distant slicing rotor blades of the approaching heli and suddenly performs a special move that nearly slashes Kazuki's right arm off.

Kazuki's right arm remains completely safe, but the arms of the suit and the dress shirt underneath it get totally slashed up and the sword almost touched the skin of his arm before he pulled it away.
The move causes Kazuki to drop the Katana, Itsumo quickly headbutts Kazuki and shoves him away, stunning him. Sirens echo in the surrounding area as the LCPD finally decides to respond.
Itsumo kicks the sword off the rooftop and down into the street where it lands tipfirst into the head of an unsuspecting Sindacco mobster, brutally killing him.
Itsumo throws away his Katana and resorts to punching Kazuki, who eventually blocks one of his attacks, crouches and spins around while pulling out the Oyabun Knife and slashing the guy's kneecaps.

Itsumo drops to his knees and Kazuki stabs him multiple times in the torso before throwing the knife away and kicking his body several times, with the last kick causing his body to fall over.
Kazuki grabs Itsumo's sword and threatens the now-dying Itsumo that he'll chop his head off with it if he doesn't tell him who wants to kill him and why.
Itsumo says they were told to kill him by a higher-up elite that even a well-ranking mobster like him doesn't even know yet. Storm-clouds rumble and flash with thunder as the weather gets intense.
Kazuki claims that the Yakuza elites he killed of his own clan betrayed him and were paid to kill him, but there's no evidence at all since the paid killers themselves were the only true evidence.

Itsumo is about to explain Kazuki's death wasn't ordered because of the deaths of his own Yakuza elites, but rather something else. And before he can tell why, Itsumo dies.
The music ends on the higher "Scene Failed" note (but then that doesn't mean the level is actually failed, it's still going on).
Kazuki grows extremely pissed off and violently chops the already-dead Itsumo's head off with a loud yell of "GODDAMNIT!!!", splattering a f*ckton of blood onto himself. Cold wind starts blowing fast.
A good part of the roof gets covered up with a huge gush of blood shooting from Itsumo's neck as the music slowly starts fading out to plain silence. Kazuki stands up and throws away the Katana.

Kazuki silently rambles around the helipad a bit and checks the gunshot wounds on his upper-left back and lower-left leg when suddenly Itsumo's cellphone rings.
Kazuki pulls out the ringing phone from Itsumo's pocket and answers the call. The caller sounds like a completely unfamiliar old male who asks "So... Mission accomplished?".
Kazuki replies "I guess not. Next time, hire someone who can actually stand against me.", the man is shellshocked upon hearing Kazuki's voice and yells "Kasen?!... Damn it." before subsequently hanging up.
Kazuki looks at the cellphone's screen and realizes the caller's number is a mixed gibberish of random letters and hexadecimal numbers, making it untraceable. Kazuki throws the phone off the building.

Kazuki walks to one of the two remaining ammo crates to look for a First-Aid Kit but sees the backup heli closing in and "Kill The Rabbit" by Craig Conner starts playing again with the "Suspicious" note on.
Kazuki quickly rushes to the right side of the staircase and hides around it, taking cover behind some conveniently-placed cardboard boxes.
The heli lands on the roof and the last two hitmen of the Renegade Clan's Liberty City chapter jump out to tend to their dead leader. One hitman thinks Kazuki could be nearby and suggests looking for him.
Kazuki pulls out the two Colt Python .357s and loads them up with the last twelve rounds left on him, with six rounds loaded into each gun.

The hitmen start patrolling the roof in the search of Kazuki, one goes down the staircase and Kazuki follows him in for one hell of a brutal, dual-wielding execution.
Kazuki spins the hitman around, whacks him in the head twice with each of the two guns before unloading three rounds in the center of his forehead with both guns.
The hitman outside is alerted. Kazuki hides behind the little space behind the already opened door at the top of the staircase and waits for the hitman to turn up and find the dead hitman.
The last hitman arrives and spots the corpse a bunch of steps downwards, he goes to see him but Kazuki jumps onto him from above, smashes the guns into his head and empties the clips of both guns into him.

Kazuki throws away the only two guns he had and dashes upstairs and towards the helicopter, he walks up to it, gets into it, starts it up and flies away as the wind and thunder get more intense and frequent.
Meanwhile, Toshiko comes down to the first floor through a second emergency spiral staircase, complaining about the elevators messing up and freaks out like crazy upon seeing the aftermath of the carnage.
Toshiko walks outside and sees the police arriving on time... not, the police survey the scene and call for additional backup and emergency services like firefighters and paramedic teams.
Kazuki obnoxiously lands the chopper in the middle of the southernmost runway of the airport in Shoreside Vale and exits it. The music ends again, now on the highest "Scene Completed" note.

Gameplay concept: The level completion statistics screen would be displayed now, serving as a "breather" transition to the next cutscene. You can save, quit to menu, continue playing etc.
If the "Transparent End of Level Stats Screen" option is turned on in the game's Display Setup menu, the statistics will be displayed directly onto the screen mid-cutscene.
But then that doesn't mean the statistics won't be displayed if the cutscene is skipped, skipping the cutscene will still present the normal stats screen.
Kazuki looks around the runway and walks over to the edge of the runway's side, looking down he sees a lower platform around the runway with a Speeder anchored nearby.

Kazuki finds the ramp leading down to this pier, heads down to the Speeder and steals the boat to get back to Staunton Island.
Kazuki anchors the boat at the jetties on the westernmost edge of Aspatria and heads to the Carson General Hospital in Rockford on foot. It starts raining, eventually.
Kazuki avoids going near Paulie's apartment building by going around the northern edge of a huge waste ground in north-west Aspatria where the construction of a huge football stadium has just begun.
The construction is led by the J.E.C. & Sons construction company (see Manhunt 2), the foundation for the stadium was laid when people complained about Liberty City not having it's own football stadium.

Kazuki gets to the hospital and pays about $250 to get fully fixed up like he was never shot, he then hails a passing by Taxi off the street and takes a ride back to his apartment near Belleville Park.
Upon arriving at his own apartment, Kazuki tells Kenji about the whole day and scolds him for not answering his call even though he was just outside the building.
Kenji tells Kazuki that right after he dropped him off at the apartment building, he got a call from one of the regular guys asking him to come and meet him immediately for some "very urgent work."
Kenji then proceeds to say that he had no idea all that happened, and when Kazuki asks what that "very urgent work" was, Kenji simply responds by saying that it was "just taken care of."

Kazuki thinks for a while before subsequently shrugging it off, cooks some food, has dinner and takes a dose of the little bit of medicines the doctors gave him before going to sleep.
Now you see that there's an interesting and unexplained concept in here. Whenever Kazuki goes to sleep, his dreams project an overview of the current on-going situation in the story.
There are many of these in all of the acts, even the first one, but they just kinda slipped my mind. I had these all fully planned out but I completely forgot about throwing these in.
Note that this dream is not related to the Renegade Clan hitting Toshiko's apartment building, but it's rather more oriented towards what Kazuki was thinking before the hit took place.

The dream opens with "Broadcast Interrupted" by Craig Conner playing in the background, currently staying at the lowest "Idle" note.
We get a close-up shot of Kazuki as he opens his eyes and finds himself in the midst of a crowded family gathering.
All the guests are rich and executive people. Many of them are either Kazuki's friends, distant relatives or contacts. The gathering is being held in a huge grandiose hall and everything seems eerily quiet.
Standing beside him is Toshiko, holding Kazuki's right hand with her left hand. Toshiko's nails grow devillishly long and sharp as she clutches onto Kazuki's hand with her witch-like left hand.

Toshiko's nails pierce through the skin, flesh and bones of Kazuki's hand as it starts to bleed profusely. Kazuki feels immense pain, but a weird suffocation in the air prevents him from screaming.
Kazuki clenches his left hand into a fist in pain. The ever-building up pain makes Kazuki let go of his hand and a weird white plastic bottle suddenly appears out of nowhere in it, falling onto the floor.
The loud noise of the bottle hitting the floor echoes throughout the entire eerily-silent hall as it rings in all the guests' ears. Kazuki lets out a worrisome sigh.
The music then suddenly picks up the higher "Combat" note, starting off from the creepy 1:36 timestamp.

All the guests' heads suddenly turn towards Kazuki with sharp, vulture-like eyes, staring at him questioningly. Eerily enough, their bodies don't turn along at all.
Toshiko turns into white dust and fades away backwards like a ghost. Her long nails still stabbed through Kazuki's hand and causing very heavy and near-shower-like bleeding.
Kazuki looks at his hand and sees several bloody cuts carved onto the palm of his hand. The guests' eyes zoom in on Kazuki's face as his bloodied hand shakes violently.
The scars on Kazuki's hand run very deep and bleed profusely, and together they form a heavily distorted text that reads... "children."

The camera goes into first-person view on Kazuki with a very wide field-of-view as the guests staring at Kazuki surround him and his head does a sudden, fast and nauseating 180-degree counter-clockwise turn.
We are met with a sudden black screen upon getting a brief sight of an unknown person sneaking up on Kazuki from behind, heavily obscured by the blur caused by the camera spin.
A set of heavily blurred and distorted brief flashback shots from the past flash onto the screen one-by-one with a strong white transitional flash in between each shot.
We see a trash bin tip over, a white plastic bottle being taken off the scattered trash, a glass of juice being laced with something, a doctor's office door opening and a blue file being handed to someone.

One last huge flash sends us to Kazuki in first-person view, standing inside a hospital. Kazuki has that same demented blue file from before open in his hands, and he is reading it's contents to himself.
The contents of the file are still hardly visible and as Kazuki reads through them, parts of his whispering speech gets either cut off, entirely skipped, distorted, plays in reverse or fades in and out.
As Kazuki reads through the contents of the file, certain parts of the file become clearer and the blur and distortion covering the text starts to fade away.
Before we can find out what exactly wrong is written in the file, Kazuki's hands start to slightly shake in anger as he tightens his grip on the file.

The screen turns black with Kazuki letting out an echoing sad sigh... followed by him slightly whimphering and then screaming out loud in emotional agony and pain.
This triggers two more flashes. We see a bunch of kids happily playing in a playground, followed by a witch-like woman hunting the kids down with a dagger, mercilessly stabbing and beheading them.
A flash takes us back to the family gathering with Kazuki in first-person view as the guests surrounding him point accusing fingers at him and laugh at him humiliatingly.
The music's "Combat" note skips to the crazier-sounding 3:00 timestamp as the camera does a slow, full 360-degree spin of the environment, shifting back to third-person view once it's done with it's stuff.

A gobsmacked Kazuki looks around at the laughing crowd for a way out and clutches onto the hair on his head, falling onto the floor. The screen goes black again with Kazuki yelling "SHUT UUUUUUUUUP!!!!!!!!".
With all sounds and music abruptly stopped, the screen very slowly fades out from black to the white marble tile floor of a hospital room.
We see a man in a suit standing by the camera, only his shoes are visible. There's a bit of indistinct and faint talking, but it's mostly inaudible.
The scene stays still, static and inanimate for a while... until the bloodied skeleton of an unborn baby comes falling onto the floor from above and the bones crack and shatter into a thousand pieces.

Kazuki snaps awake up from his sleep and looks around. Kenji is still sleeping nearby like a hard-working man (despite having slept all day for f*ck's sake), Kazuki sighs and rubs his face a bit.
"Fuelled by Hate" by Craig Conner starts playing in the background, set to play the lowest "Idle" note for now.
Kazuki picks up a bottle of Zoom-Zoom v0.7 (the leaked BETA test of the said medicine from GTA2 lore) from his bedside table, where the rest of his prescription medicines are piled up on, and looks at it.
Kazuki seemingly blames the medicine for the weird dream by the looks of his expressions, but he knows that it was because of his own mind. Kazuki looks at the clock and realizes it's 3 AM.

Thunder rages outside as the faint sound of heavy rain pattering on a nearby window comes to Kazuki's ears, he briefly looks at the window for a while.
Kazuki gets out of his bed, goes into the bathroom and splashes some cold water onto his face from the faucet, he turns the tap off, takes a deep breath and puts his hands on the sides of the faucet.
Thunder rages outside again, lightning flashes into the bathroom through a small window pane as the camera shifts to first-person view on Kazuki and the music picks up the "Suspicious" note.
Kazuki constantly alternates between looking up at himself in the mirror and then back down in the dirty used water collected up in the faucet while in first-person view.

This keeps on going... until Kazuki suddenly sees a crying new-born baby drowning in the water (JUMPSCARE), he totally freaks out and backs up off the faucet as the music is overridden by a scary organ note.
The camera goes back to third-person view as Kazuki rubs his eyes and shakes his head. The jumpscare organ note fades out, giving way to the actual music, which still has the "Suspicious" note on.
Kazuki walks up to the faucet and looks into it again to see nothing in there, just water slowly going down the drain. Kazuki sighs, washes his hands (because faucet sides are nasty) and goes back to sleep.
Kenji is woken up by the sound of Kazuki rambling and looks up a bit before sitting up and looking around, he shrugs off the noise as a part of the dream and goes back to sleep.

The music ends on the highest "Scene Completed" note as the camera slowly pans away towards one of the closed windows and the screen fades to black.

...Now of course I didn't spend 7 months writing just this little thing. What if I told you that this is just a 1\3rd fraction of a whole bit of the story that I wanted to post?

As always, there's more to The Japanese Connection: Expect two direct follow-up episodes to this bit soon , and when they're done, It's on with the concept thread!... Er, whenever that will happen. *shrugs*

Edited September 22 by H-G

September 22

...you're insanely passionate about this. Good.

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