The Official "GTA IV's missions are NOT repetitive" thread

[The Time Ranger]

18 minutes ago, iiCriminnaaL 49 said:

For some reason, to me the Glock feels the most satisfying gun to kill with in the game.

 

All weapons are pretty good nonetheless. Probably the only game in the series in which I like to switch between the variations of a weapon slot every now and then.

Yeah I get that, I like to vary my loadout too, like even though the M4 is the better rifle I feel that the AK is better suited to Niko, same with the Mac 10 over the MP5, feels more suited for a gun thug such as Niko. 

 

Regarding the Glock I have no issue with it as such, just that it takes so many bodyshots to finish an enemy, kind of takes me out of the moment, but thinking about it that's probably just for game balancing issues, wouldn't make sense for the weakest gun to be realistic.

[Americana]

I can play Grand Theft Auto IV's missions any time I want to and I don't feel bored. Sadly, I can't stand a lot of missions in Grand Theft Auto V anymore, because they are too slow.

 

Like, come on. Do I really need to play as Chop in Chop? Or what about Eye in The Sky? A lot of missions in Grand Theft Auto V have these weird, boring segments. Not to mention A Friend Request, which is just... awful. 

 

When it comes to weapons in Grand Theft Auto IV, I only use Glock, UZI and M4. I never use other weapons, unless I'm forced to (I hate this).

 

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Edited March 28, 2020 by Ronald Reagan

[Algonquin Assassin]

7 hours ago, The Time Ranger said:

All the Gta's have a mission formula, drive here, shoot them, escape the cops, add in the occasional tailing, stealth segment and robbery and you've got Gta bingo. And there's nothing wrong with that, it's the same formula across virtually all open world crime games.

The thing is when I play a GTA game I want to be doing all those things. It's been that way since GTA 1 so it beats me why GTA IV gets singled out when all it's doing is sticking to a familiar formula. As the saying goes don't fix it if it isn't broken. 

[Nappy]

I like also San Andreas missions but Gta IV’s should be my pick because of the crime related stuff.

[Excalibur Voltaire]

23 hours ago, iiCriminnaaL 49 said:

the Glock feels the most satisfying gun to kill with in the game.

The glock>>>>>>Deagle

16 hours ago, SonOfLiberty said:

The thing is when I play a GTA game I want to be doing all those things. It's been that way since GTA 1 so it beats me why GTA IV gets singled out when all it's doing is sticking to a familiar formula. As the saying goes don't fix it if it isn't broken. 

Tbf, IV gets the criticism because SA introduced "variety"

[Nappy]

Nearly in %95 of the missions the player can use the vehicle they want, i like this so much.

[Americana]

Baby, no need to use the same car every time I play the game? Impressive.

 

---

[Algonquin Assassin]

So just to bring this thread up again you know what I absolutely love about GTA IV's missions? They don't require you to partake in mundane, tedious tasks.

 

As much as I'm enjoying my current playthrough of San Andreas I forget in "Robbing Uncle Sam" a large chunk of it is tediously loading crates into a van with a forklift. There was a mission in VCS like that which had a forklift too and it really wasn't that fun. GTA V unfortunately has its fair share of missions like this too. For games that are praised for their "fun" missions they sure do have moments that come grinding to a halt, but in a bad way.

 

The only thing that comes close in GTA IV is "First Date", but since the bowling game is pretty short and it can be skipped so it's really not a bother. Then again I love bowling so I see no reason to skip. I mean it's not like in other missions Niko's asked to be a janitor, a valet, a dock worker etc. Yeah not all of GTA IV's are exciting and some of them are extremely simple, but they never feel mundane or tedious. 

 

 

[Americana]

True, some missions in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas are just... boring.

 

When it comes to Grand Theft Auto IV, I really don't like "Crime and Punishment" - searching for these vans is very unnecessary.

 

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[billiejoearmstrong8]

6 hours ago, Americana said:

 

 

When it comes to Grand Theft Auto IV, I really don't like "Crime and Punishment" - searching for these vans is very unnecessary.

 

 

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True but it does have the best intro cutscene in the history of GTA so I have to forgive it.

[Algonquin Assassin]

3 hours ago, billiejoearmstrong8 said:

True but it does have the best intro cutscene in the history of GTA so I have to forgive it.

It isn't even that unnecessary. Doing this mission unlocks vigilante and most wanted missions. Infact during every playthrough of GTA IV I look forward to it for this reason. 

 

It's still better than doing yoga or driving a slow as f*ck cargo handler lifting up and placing cargo containers.

[billiejoearmstrong8]

4 minutes ago, SonOfLiberty said:

It isn't even that unnecessary. Doing this mission unlocks vigilante and most wanted missions. Infact during every playthrough of GTA IV I look forward to it for this reason. 

 

It's still better than doing yoga or driving a slow as f*ck cargo handler lifting up and placing cargo containers.

Yeah it's not the best mission ever but it's not that bad, it's only three vans that aren't far apart and sometimes you don't even need to stop all of them. It doesn't exactly live up to the quality of the intro but it's an early mission and I don't judge them so harshly. Have to remember it was a whole new GTA era with a ton of new features so they couldn't just throw players into the action without some tutorial type missions to ease them in first the way they could with V.

[Algonquin Assassin]

16 minutes ago, billiejoearmstrong8 said:

Yeah it's not the best mission ever but it's not that bad, it's only three vans that aren't far apart and sometimes you don't even need to stop all of them. It doesn't exactly live up to the quality of the intro but it's an early mission and I don't judge them so harshly. Have to remember it was a whole new GTA era with a ton of new features so they couldn't just throw players into the action without some tutorial type missions to ease them in first the way they could with V.

I like the randomness though. It's almost impossible to steal the van straight up, but sometimes it's possible to steal it the second try.

 

I mean I'm trying not talking its stocks up as it's a fairly straight forward mission, but it was really just to set up Faustin and Dimitri as contacts by earning their trust and to introduce vigilante and most wanted missions to the game. Normally I'm not a fan of unnecessary tutorial type missions, but for GTA IV it was understandable since it introduced a lot of new mechanics. Even on subsequent playthroughs it isn't even a bother since these missions are kept short and sweet. 

[KGBeast]

On 3/28/2020 at 9:07 PM, SonOfLiberty said:

The thing is when I play a GTA game I want to be doing all those things. It's been that way since GTA 1 so it beats me why GTA IV gets singled out when all it's doing is sticking to a familiar formula. As the saying goes don't fix it if it isn't broken. 

I have always found this kind of criticism of IV bizarre. Complaining that "all you do" in GTA is drive around and shoot people is like complaining all you do in Call of Duty is walk around and shoot people. Like, no sh*t. That's the game.

 

The beauty of IV's story missions is that they started with a very strong game base, and the missions grew out of that. A large detailed map with lots of interesting places, strong game mechanics, a wide variety of vehicles and other tools. Virtually everything you do in the missions are things you can do on your own time in the game, the missions simply set up scenarios in those interesting settings and give you a lot of freedom in terms of which vehicles and weapons and tools and approaches you use. The people who say this game is boring or repetitive are people with no imagination. You can influence most of the missions in this game and make them as routine and ordinary or as crazy as you want. 

 

The failing of V's story missions is that everything is scripted. You are given very little choice over what to do or how to do it. Virtually every mission in V involves things that cannot be utilized in free roam. A mountain of interiors that aren't accessible (the FIB, LifeInvader, the bank, the recycling plant, virtually one every other mission, not to mention the entirety of North Yankton), vehicles that can't be found (Driller, Skylift, Handler, the crane, the train?), and mechanics that can't be used (rappelling, the oxy cutter, riding bikes on top of trains, the van gun, carrying things with the Cargobob, the list is honestly pretty ridiculous). I like tightly scripted cinematic action sequences in games a lot but in the context of an open world game where the player should be able to make decisions and utilize those tools on their own time, this kind of mission design is a complete failure. 

 

I may do a playthrough of V soon and make a comprehensive list of everything you can see and do in the story missions that isn't available in free roam. It would be a long long list. 

[KingAJ032304]

OK I LOVE GTA IV, I really do. But it's the least "Grand Theft Auto" main game till date. And I mean "Grand Theft Auto" in the since that's barely any actual "Grand Theft Auto". Even GTA 2 and GTA III had more "Grand Theft Auto" missions. I want more stealing car missions. I get that Niko is a hired gunman and stuff but I doubt it would be out of Niko's character to take jobs where you just steal cars for money (I really do hate that excuse people use, there are A LOT of things that goes with GTA IV's tone and Niko as a person not in the game). Don't get me wrong, I love the choose mechanic on who or if a person gets to live. And I love missions like flatline where you can approach killing someone in so many different/fun ways (at least for GTA's standards), but man where does the Grand Theft Auto comes in. And no, I don't mean stealing cars to chase someone, I mean stealing for use to give to people or something. Where's all the stealing cars? In fact, where is the stealing in general. Stealing cars, accessories, and robberies are all lacking. But honestly I'll let that slide and that's not the only alternative to shootout missions. I guess what I'm saying is no matter how many different ways you approach a shootout mission, no matter the reason for them, and no matter the outcome, a shootout mission is a shootout mission. And sometimes I don't really want to do a shootout mission after a shootout mission. In that and ONLY that since that it's like 80% shootout missions even of just one person is GTA IV kind of repetitive.  It's kind of why i had HIGH HOPES for Simeon's "car reppo" missions as it was FINALLY what something that was mission since GTA 2 (as that one was the GTA that started the trend of primarily shootout missions) but it's too bad there was only two of those. BUT something I DID love about GTA V's missions were that the heists WEREN'T primarily shootouts! You could complete like 2 maybe 3 heists without killing anyone depending on your approach. But I do wish there was a "Three Leaf Clover"/"Pacific Standards" like mission in GTA V and NO the "Paleto Bay Heist" don't count. That was linear as hell.

12 hours ago, SonOfLiberty said:

It isn't even that unnecessary. Doing this mission unlocks vigilante and most wanted missions. Infact during every playthrough of GTA IV I look forward to it for this reason. 

 

It's still better than doing yoga or driving a slow as f*ck cargo handler lifting up and placing cargo containers.

I know this sounds REALLY weird but I really want to do cargo handler missions as an completely optional S&F mission (obviously so people don't complain that it's a main mission). Idk what it is but it actually DOES appeal to me. 

Edited April 20, 2020 by KingAJ032304

[KingAJ032304]

On 5/13/2019 at 2:31 AM, SonOfLiberty said:

If anyone's old enough to remember the original GTA games they would know shootouts and car chases have always made up the bulk of GTA missions so if anything GTA IV pays respect/homage to its heritage more than some of the other GTA games that feel less like crime games and more like goofy action flicks.

 

I think R* saw this when developing GTA IV so they tightened the reins and got back to GTA's roots.

On 5/13/2019 at 5:59 AM, lol232 said:

Actually, yeah, it really does. The vibes in GTA 1 and GTA IV are very similar indeed.

Eeehh replay them. I get why you two said that, but prior to GTA II, the shootout missions were quite few and were mainly times missions, stealing certain cars, dealing drugs/passing information, collecting information for your boss, or destroying cars in various ways. I honestly can't think of a single car chase in GTA I/London to save my life. GTA IV has GTA III shooting missions with GTA I's tameness and loyalty. GTA II on the other hand was constant shooting or SOMETHING over the top. Like if the game was 3D and had aircrafts, it'll probably be more Over The Top than SA.

 

Edited April 20, 2020 by KingAJ032304

[Algonquin Assassin]

1 hour ago, KingAJ032304 said:

OK I LOVE GTA IV, I really do. But it's the least "Grand Theft Auto" main game till date. And I mean "Grand Theft Auto" in the since that's barely any actual "Grand Theft Auto". Even GTA 2 and GTA III had more "Grand Theft Auto" missions. I want more stealing car missions. I get that Niko is a hired gunman and stuff but I doubt it would be out of Niko's character to take jobs where you just steal cars for money (I really do hate that excuse people use, there are A LOT of things that goes with GTA IV's tone and Niko as a person not in the game). Don't get me wrong, I love the choose mechanic on who or if a person gets to live. And I love missions like flatline where you can approach killing someone in so many different/fun ways (at least for GTA's standards), but man where does the Grand Theft Auto comes in. And no, I don't mean stealing cars to chase someone, I mean stealing for use to give to people or something. Where's all the stealing cars? In fact, where is the stealing in general. Stealing cars, accessories, and robberies are all lacking. But honestly I'll let that slide and that's not the only alternative to shootout missions. I guess what I'm saying is no matter how many different ways you approach a shootout mission, no matter the reason for them, and no matter the outcome, a shootout mission is a shootout mission. And sometimes I don't really want to do a shootout mission after a shootout mission. In that and ONLY that since that it's like 80% shootout missions even of just one person is GTA IV kind of repetitive.  It's kind of why i had HIGH HOPES for Simeon's "car reppo" missions as it was FINALLY what something that was mission since GTA 2 (as that one was the GTA that started the trend of primarily shootout missions) but it's too bad there was only two of those. BUT something I DID love about GTA V's missions were that the heists WEREN'T primarily shootouts! You could complete like 2 maybe 3 heists without killing anyone depending on your approach. But I do wish there was a "Three Leaf Clover"/"Pacific Standards" like mission in GTA V and NO the "Paleto Bay Heist" don't count. That was linear as hell. 

You know GTA IV has Brucie's exotic exports and Stevie's vehicle thefts right? All up that's 40 times we're able to steal vehicles for cash yet you say it lacks "Grand Theft Auto"... ok. 

 

I know you're talking about main story missions, but i disagree. I see GTA IV as an evolution of the original "Grand Theft Auto" concept in 1997, but modernised for a new generation. If anything GTA IV felt like the first GTA where stealing cars actually felt like it meant something. In every other GTA before all it was was walking up to a car, opening the door and driving off. There was no physical exertion like GTA IV. GTA IV makes almost all cars locked so Niko literally has break in to steal and hotwire the car.

 

Now I wouldn't have minded some more stealing missions in the story, but since it grants us so many opportunities in free roam in the form of side missions I fail to see how GTA IV doesn't live up to its namesake or atleast what you're implying. 

[Americana]

What...? Grand Theft Auto III had maybe... 3 missions, which revolved around car thefts... Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas had none, and when it comes to Grand Theft Auto V... yeah, there were more missions related to that aspect of crime, but most of them were kind of lame and too scripted... 

 

Grand Theft Auto IV doesn't really have much missions related to car thefts implemented into the story, but player can steal vehicles for Brucie and Stevie, and that's done in a very immersive way. 

 

And yeah... 3D Era Grand Theft Auto games had Import / Export feature, but... it was just a boring chore.

 

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Edited April 20, 2020 by Americana

[KingAJ032304]

40 minutes ago, SonOfLiberty said:

You know GTA IV has Brucie's exotic exports and Stevie's vehicle thefts right? All up that's 40 times we're able to steal vehicles for cash yet you say it lacks "Grand Theft Auto"... ok. 

 

I know you're talking about main story missions, but i disagree. I see GTA IV as an evolution of the original "Grand Theft Auto" concept in 1997, but modernised for a new generation. If anything GTA IV felt like the first GTA where stealing cars actually felt like it meant something. In every other GTA before all it was was walking up to a car, opening the door and driving off. There was no physical exertion like GTA IV. GTA IV makes almost all cars locked so Niko literally has break in to steal and hotwire the car.

 

Now I wouldn't have minded some more stealing missions in the story, but since it grants us so many opportunities in free roam in the form of side missions I fail to see how GTA IV doesn't live up to it's namesake or atleast what you're implying. 

34 minutes ago, Americana said:

What...? Grand Theft Auto III had maybe... 3 missions, which revolved around car thefts... Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas had none, and when it comes to Grand Theft Auto V... yeah, there were more missions related to that aspect of crime, but most of them were kind of lame and too scripted... 

 

Grand Theft Auto IV doesn't really have much missions related to car thefts implemented into the story, but player can steal vehicles for Brucie and Stevie, and that's done in a very immersive way. 

 

And yeah... 3D Era Grand Theft Auto games had Import / Export feature, but... it was just a boring chore.

 

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Ahhhh they're SIDE MISSIONS. I was like "I don't remember that many theft main missions." Ok fair point, I still think it's lacking but I definitely agree with the Brucie and Stevie side content. I can definitely replay GTA IV for those. But I guess I approached this topic wrong. It's not that I want to bash GTA IV's focus on shooting, it's just that I honestly don't want the next GTA game to have a similar focus on shooting. On it's own it's awesome for the game it was and what it was going for. Prior to GTA IV, shooting was pretty lackluster and to some extend even a chore. I'm very glad GTA IV is the way it is. Not much wrong, but for the next GTA (And I have to warn you as pretty much everything I'm going to say is relatively off topic). I REALLY don't want it to be known for mostly shooting in the story missions. (and this goes for all GTA's since GTA 2). Have more stealing, robberies, stealth that DOESN'T involve killing people, import and exports, finding out information, setting up people with a surprise by calling the police on THEM, more of the stuff you see CJ was doing back in LC, drug dealing, escorts, stealing and selling weapons for gangs and thugs, doing trivial favors for people, lone sharking, interrogating, more racing, suping up cars and selling them, repossessions, kidnapping, tracking people sown through creative ways, pimping, fraud missions if you have too , and what ever else. GTA doesn't HAVE to be in 30-50% shootouts when it's grounded enough to be something much more. I know many people won't agree but I kinda want Rockstar to make it so our health is the same or merely noticeably more than the average tough npc that way it doesn't really on shootouts that much. One of the most unique things about the original GTA since that game you were practically one shot (I'm in no way saying we should be one shot, I'm just saying we should be less bullet-spongy). Since you couldn't afford to be shot, the game had SMALLER shootouts to still keep the action, that also made it surprising, and not over focus on it. It also would highlight stealth more, doing missions WITH people/goons, and using armored vehicles. And it's not like the series has to evolve into this new meta, I just want just one GTA where your not a one man army. They can go back to the same old, same old if it's really unpopular. Just my opinion though. That's nothing against GTA IV as a game (but I ABSOLUTELY ABHOR how it's the only GTA game where you can kill so many NPCS point blank in the open, yet if you fist fight like 3+ people at the same time, you'll most likely die even though in a cutseen Niko could probably do it easily. Thank The Lord that GTA V didn't follow up on that even if it made it a little too easy by having it so only one person fights you at a time)

 

 

Edited April 20, 2020 by KingAJ032304

[Americana]

Quote

I approached this topic wrong. It's not that I want to bash GTA IV's focus on shooting, it's just that I honestly don't want the next GTA game to have a similar focus on shooting.

 

Naturally, we're just stating that other Grand Theft Auto games don't really have that much missions revolved around... car thefts.

 

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Edited April 20, 2020 by Americana

[KingAJ032304]

3 minutes ago, Americana said:

Naturally, I'm just stating that other Grand Theft Auto games don't really have that much missions revolved around... car thefts.

 

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I do agree on that, I think it's more that GTA IV has too much shooting missions while the 3D universe (except GTA III) had less that bothers me but I wasn't a fan of the non shooting missions just being silly or over the top stuff while GTA IV didn't HAVE to be grounded in like... 75 or 80% shooting missions. It just wanted more grounded non shooting missions but I still love GTA IV. On topic it's only repetitive imo that when talking purely main missions that weren't filler, it's pretty repetitive in the since that it's mainly shooting missions. i would prefer something more GTA I like but GTA IV overall isn't really repetitive and is actually one of the best one's solely for the amount of times you can do different approaches on missions. That's all.

[Americana]

Yeah, but you know how I play? I do some missions, then I call Michelle (or Kate), I hang out with Roman... then I go to sleep, I drive around Liberty City and do some other missions. 

I guess they really wanted players to play this way.

 

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Edited April 20, 2020 by Americana

[KingAJ032304]

7 minutes ago, Americana said:

Yeah, but you know how I play? I do some missions, then I call Michelle, I hang out with Roman... then I go to sleep, I drive around Liberty City and do some other missions. 

I guess they really wanted players to play this way. This makes the game more interesting, because you can just relax... and then you get back to work.

 

 

---

Oh when it comes to doing missions in general I'm probably the slowest in general. I had GTA V since 2015 and only completed the game 2018/2019. It wasn't that I don't like it's story, it's just that I have SO MUCH FUN in it's open world that I just ignore the story. I have yet to even beat GTA VC and SA (but I know everything A-Z though YT and reading though). GTA III and IV (and to a smaller extent GTA VC) are the only main games where i can actually do 20-30 missions straight. 

Edited April 20, 2020 by KingAJ032304

[Xiled]

Only using vehicles stolen in story missions. 

 

GTA 3 - 76 Missions

Missions with vehicles stolen - 23

Actual vehicles stolen - 30

30% of missions are stealing vehicles

 

 

GTA 4 - 84 Missions

Missions with vehicles stolen - 27

Actual vehicles stolen - 30

32% of missions are stealing vehicles

 

 

GTA 5 - 69 Missions

Missions with vehicles  stolen - 29

Actual cars stolen - 33

42% of missions are stealing vehicles

 

So if you use this for "repetitive missions" gta v has more of the same mission than gta iv

Edited April 20, 2020 by Xiled

[iiCriminnaaL]

If I got KingAJ032304's point right, I guess he was referring to story missions whose objective is stealing a car for the sake of benefiting from it by delivering it to the mission giver or a lockup, and not just to use as a material of chasing, reaching a certain destination, etc.

 

For me personally, I like how car thefts are implemented into the game's missions. While there is a fair share of missions revolving around stealing cars, it's more diverse that instead of plainly focusing on the literal "Grand Theft Auto", you got missions where you steal cars/trucks/boats packed with drugs, explosives, TV screens, etc.

Edited April 20, 2020 by iiCriminnaaL 49

[billiejoearmstrong8]

I don't believe any GTA game has significanty more missions that involve stealing vehicles than GTA IV. Like, it has a normal amount. Stealing that Blista Compact for Vlad, a main Brucie mission where you steal some car for him, stealing the van with TVs in it, stealing the heroin truck, stealing a helicopter for ULP, stealing Gracie's car with her in it, plus numerous others where getting (ie stealing) a car is a necessary element and probably others I'm forgetting. Plus two different vehicle stealing side missions AND the ability to steal and sell cars infinitely afterwards. It's the only GTA game where the best way to make decent money outside the story is committing grand theft auto. They included the GTA part just fine.

Edited April 20, 2020 by billiejoearmstrong8

[lol232]

Import export was boring as f*ck because you'd rely on none other than cars spawning on the street rather than figuring out a location and tracking it down. GTA IV's was a much better system.

[Algonquin Assassin]

5 hours ago, lol232 said:

Import export was boring as f*ck because you'd rely on none other than cars spawning on the street rather than figuring out a location and tracking it down. GTA IV's was a much better system.

I liked how we sent photos in text messages with a vague description and it was up to us to figure it out. Felt more realistic and immersive than just stealing random vehicles of the same name off the street IMO. I've always picture Stevie to be like that Raymond Calitri dude from Gone In 60 Seconds and he requires specific vehicles to be stolen. 

 

I also like how Brucie's exotic exports presents us with a different scenario. Sometimes it can lead to a shootout, cop chase or neither of those things. GTA IV's vehicle theft content is hands down the best in the series.