GTA V vs. IV - realism

[XTad]

I haven't played GTA V (because it wasn't released for PC) so i would like to know how does it stand in terms of realism. I'm not talking about car physics or graphics i mean the way story and missions are designed. In GTA IV were many missions which could be considered as boring (drive here, drive there, talk to this guy, threw brick into that window etc.) but they helped to enhance the realistic feeling and depth of the story. There were also more action-packed and explosive missions but still there was some king of balance which made the game feel more serious than the previous ones. So my question is: Are there "boring missions" (as mentioned above) in GTA V and is the amount of action-packed missions higher than in GTA IV and if so are there some literally crazy missions (like stealing subway train in TBOGT or stealing jet-pack in SA) and is the number of kills per mission higher than in GTA IV?

[woggleman]

There are more over the top missions in V than in IV. According to who you ask that is either a good thing or a bad thing.

[PoeticWhisper]

V missions are like San Andreas missions. They are over the top, unexpected and downright crazy.

But they are some of the most fun and memorable missions I've ever played in a GTA game.

So in terms of realism, I'd say it fails in comparison to GTA IV, but in terms of fun, I'd have to go with GTA V. (That's not to say IV isn't fun, just it does have some repetitive missions)

[American Viking]

They definitely toned down the realism in GTA 5. For example, Trevor has "rampage" missions which is essentially him freaking out on some guys and shooting countless guys down who spawn non stop for about a minute or so. Another example would be the (spoiler alert, so stop HERE if you want) alien spaceships that appear in the sky upon 100% completion, as well as a frozen alien that can be found in North Yankton. (CONTINUE HERE) Each character now has a "special ability" which I think is stupid and ruins realism. I didn't mind it in Red Dead Redemption but it feels misplaced in a GTA game. The vehicles, although easier and more preferable to handle, are not as realistic as GTA 4s driving mechanics, and that goes for vehicle deformation in crashes as well. The "health system" is more simplified and naturally more unrealistic than 4s, whereas on 4 Niko had to eat or whatever to refill his health, the characters health on GTA 5 will refill to half and then eventually to 100%. The melee combat is realistic albeit much more simplified and generic in comparison to 4.

 

On the other hand, there are many little details that make the game more realistic, such as vehicle interior lights, bells and whistles triggering, mud flaps on trucks actually stopping the mud, flip flop shoes that flip and flop, and countless other tiny things that I can't remember off the top. Missions themselves are not too far fetched but not as realistic as 4s. In a nutshell, the game is less realistic in alot of aspects but more realistic in others, if you get what I'm saying. It is definitely more fun to play.

 

[NYC PATROL]

Think of V as like a comedic action movie (Lot's of explosions, over the top sequences and humor/*some drama throughout) But definitely less balanced out than IV.

Edited November 9, 2014 by NYC PATROL

[Algonquin Assassin]

I wouldn't call either game "realistic", but I thought GTA IV was far more consistent with its theme and tone. GTA V often feels confused to me. As for the missions overall they're more over the top, but IMO that doesn't exclude repetition or if they're "boring". Most of the heist preparation tasks are repetitive. "Go here, collect this, come back" and there are some non-heist related missions I thought were boring and tedious.

 

It all comes down to taste though. You wont know until you try I guess.

[PhillBellic]

I prefer GTA IV. It's more down to earth. Thus that makes it more realistic, at least for me.

 

Cheers.

[Tenderbeefcake]

I was disappointed in the lack of realistic bullet wounds like in red dead redemption. There is very little blood in gta 5.

[BlackNoise]

There are always "boring" missions in GTA. R* can't seem to evolve and figure out how to make that stuff more interesting/fun. I think they do it to make the game world more believable, but it does seem like it's just there for the sake of being there. I guess you could call that realism.

 

Heist preparation might be the worst IMO. It's not only tedious, but it also annoys me because R* pointed out multiple times how deep the heist planning would be. It adds absolutely nothing in most cases. I'm sure you already know about yoga. That type of stuff will probably always be in GTA.

 

So to answer your questions, yes, but the amount of action might be debatable if you're comparing V to IV+EFLC.

Edited November 9, 2014 by BlackNoise

[fefenc]

we can say which game is more realistic by measuring the time that the character takes to eat a steak.

 

/thread

[Officer Ronson]

I never though of both games a realistic actually, semi-realistic to be honest. A lot of stuff tends to be over the top sometimes regardless of the game.

[AzelfandQuilava]

It seems to me that the game takes unrealistic situations and shows them in a somewhat realistic manner (if that even makes any sense what so ever...)

[namor]

There are bound to be two or three boring missions in each incarnation of GTA, but those in V really take the piss out of that. Scouting the Port, Reuniting the Family, Yoga were not only boring, but just dragged on interminably that I nearly lost the will to live. Hang Ten was an utterly pointless mission and could just as well have been replaced by a cutscene, and why Masks, Boiler Suits, Getaway Vehicles and other Heist Prep activities were included in the main story mission count is beyond me - just to make it appear as though there were more proper missions than there actually were.

 

On the flip side, there are more than a fair number of memorable and fun missions, but on the whole I felt the game was unbalanced in tone in that it couldn't decide whether to take the realistic or goofy route which is why I thought it turned out to be something of an unholy, albeit periodically fun, and sometimes pretentious mess.

[Martijnn]

I like those missions that you dislike. I don't like the always shooting missions.

[Tconzz22]

There are bound to be two or three boring missions in each incarnation of GTA, but those in V really take the piss out of that. Scouting the Port, Reuniting the Family, Yoga were not only boring, but just dragged on interminably that I nearly lost the will to live. Hang Ten was an utterly pointless mission and could just as well have been replaced by a cutscene, and why Masks, Boiler Suits, Getaway Vehicles and other Heist Prep activities were included in the main story mission count is beyond me - just to make it appear as though there were more proper missions than there actually were.

 

On the flip side, there are more than a fair number of memorable and fun missions, but on the whole I felt the game was unbalanced in tone in that it couldn't decide whether to take the realistic or goofy route which is why I thought it turned out to be something of an unholy, albeit periodically fun, and sometimes pretentious mess.

Hang ten really was a cutscene. All you had to do was drive to the strip club, and it's not like it was on the other side of the map or anything. It was just a two minute drive. I wish they made it more into a mission to be honest, but it was deffinitely a necessary "mission" how else could they have implemented it without it being completely out of place? It's an important part of the name because Trevor permanently owns the strip club afterwards.

 

Personally, I liked the missions in gta v for the most part. Typical GTA missions with some variance if you include the strangers and freaks missions.

 

I think in the next GTA we will see veiled missions. I hope so at least. What if they were less spelled out for us? Tell us the target works at the pharmacy in Paleto bay, and make us find Paleto bay on the map and search the town for the pharmacy, find the target from the description and do what we need to do. No more of this automatic waypoint crap telling us exactly where this person is. Make us find them, and make us work for it. I mean most of these missions are us assassinating people, and if you do missions back to back your assassinating three or four people a day in game time. I'd rather have it be more work, make it rewarding, more difficult and risky to kill people publicly.

 

There's missions where we have to find like a tow Truck or something, and there's only ONE tow truck we can get to pas the mission and that tow trucks exact location is marked on our map. Screw that. Make us think back to where we saw that two truck company earlier in the game and find that. Spawn a couple more tow trucks in places where they wouldn't normally be to make the search easier and less frustrating. If were planning for heists, lets really have to work for these things.

Edited November 10, 2014 by Tconzz22

[Algonquin Assassin]

There are bound to be two or three boring missions in each incarnation of GTA, but those in V really take the piss out of that. Scouting the Port, Reuniting the Family, Yoga were not only boring, but just dragged on interminably that I nearly lost the will to live. Hang Ten was an utterly pointless mission and could just as well have been replaced by a cutscene, and why Masks, Boiler Suits, Getaway Vehicles and other Heist Prep activities were included in the main story mission count is beyond me - just to make it appear as though there were more proper missions than there actually were.

 

On the flip side, there are more than a fair number of memorable and fun missions, but on the whole I felt the game was unbalanced in tone in that it couldn't decide whether to take the realistic or goofy route which is why I thought it turned out to be something of an unholy, albeit periodically fun, and sometimes pretentious mess.

 

This. I never liked any of those missions. Did Somebody Say Yoga was probably the most tedious mission in the game for me and could be compared to First Date in GTA IV, but at least First Date allowed the bowling game to be skipped. It was painful having to sit through that yoga session.

[S1N0D3UTSCHT3K]

V is actually mostly realistic missions... more are bigger in scope but those are mostly realistic, too

 

but it has a few, maybe 4-5, which are a bit unrealistically Michael Bay ish

 

most of the action packed missions are closer to Michael Mann though

 

and it has a lot of slow simple missions to that many players find boring but you'll probably like

[Jackson T]

The V missions in V are more exciting.

[GtaFanatik]

Both games are unrealistic. In real life, get a shot in your leg and you will bleed-out and die in half an hour (while in GTA just a small portion of a bar called "Health" will be dropped. How you can get cured from a bullet injure by eating a hot-dog?

Crash at 120km/h will result instant death while in GTA would cause your player get out of the window and get up of the floor normally (or die after hitting something in V)

 

At that point of view, both games are unrealistic. But, comparing "GTA Realism", both have their own objections:

In Graphics terms: GTA V, no doubt. And more if you look at the new gen version.

In Animations, facial movements and body physics: GTA V.

In Car Handling/Physics: GTA IV: You feel like driving a real car. With gradual acceleration (with XBOX, PS3 joysticks), the realism of it is insane, especially while driving a 4x4 in a rocky terrain. Car suspension is great, although sometimes your car will flip out in a closed curve. Car deformation is not quite accurate, but it's real at least. In GTA V, the cars are stick to the ground. You can go at high speed in the highway with the Adder (the Buggati Veyron GTA V counterpart), press the brake and stop the car completly in just 10mts. Or take a curve at high speed and make a 75° turn easly. Car deformation is not as good as GTA IV, but now the windows can break in portions, and wheels, plates and bumpers can detach.

In fighting terms: GTA V.

In shooting terms: GTA V

In water diving, obviously, GTA V

In map size: GTA V

In terrain variety: GTA V

In story: You decide. GTA IV is more dark and dramatic, and the story is consistent. GTA V is more comic-action focused, some of the missions look like taken from Mission Impossible or Fast and Furious. Personally I like more GTA V.

 

There are some other points to compare but my brain is using the 90% of his GPU available and I cant remember more than that. Just remember that you're comparing a 2008 game with a 2014 one. Good luck

[namor]

The V missions in V are more exciting.

 

As opposed to the V missions in IV or the IV missions in V ?

[Jehannum]

GTA V, I think, abandoned most pretences at realism. V is at its worst in those few occasions it tries to be realistic. Reuniting The Family (GTA V) is the worst mission I've ever played in any GTA game. The only good bit is the humour of talking to the sh*tbag shrink but by then you're so fed up you skip it anyway.

 

GTA IV was tedious when you had interminable drives to missions. You were penalised for skipping these (that particular dynamic has a current R* vibe about it, somehow). But the endless drives are one bit of realism that I'm glad was toned down for V.

 

Map-wise I prefer GTA IV. Mathematics may say that GTA V's map is bigger, but Liberty's three major islands (and several minor ones) feel a lot bigger than those few streets tacked onto the bottom of a huge, mountainous wilderness.

 

Story-wise, Niko easily beats the three protagonists of V as characters I want to play. The most playable character of V, Michael, I eventually ended up despising. In a way, this was actually one of the better things about V - the way your perception of the characters shifts subtly through the game. Michael negatively, Trevor positively. Poor Franklin, though, remains a neutral mummer throughout.

Edited November 12, 2014 by Jehannum

[Jackson T]

@namor V missions are better than IV's. If you disagree, I'll happily prove you wrong.

Edited November 12, 2014 by rahsmoov18

[IDAS Leader]

The plot in IV is better. However missions are a lot more fun in V. For about 75% of the story in IV you drive to a location, shoot, run away from the cops and it's over. In GTA V it feels so more immersive, and diverse.

Edited November 13, 2014 by IDAS Leader

[S1N0D3UTSCHT3K]

yeah in IV most the missions feel like an excuse or just tagged on to to idea for a story event, and that event is just some random thing to keep Niko busy or move him around the map

 

with V it feels like they actually story boarded a story... and designed missions from the ground-up to be unique and have high production values

[Racecarlock]

Well, there is still the odd mission where you play a dock worker and that yoga mission that thankfully had drugs to make it more entertaining (just like real life), but in the end not only does this game have mission replay like episodes from liberty city, but it has a mission where you raid a private military cargo plane by crashing a crop duster into it. So yeah, V's pretty great.

[shadyslady]

V has both. Over realistic parts and over the top cartoonish arcade parts. Story at times seems realistic and down to earth. ..like Michael's midlife crisis and family issues. Some missions like preparation for the jewellery heist are quite realistic, too. Then again, Trevor himself seems like a cartoon hero at times and missions involve killing endless amounts of trained personell of a private army or breaking into high security areas such as iaa lab and getting away like stealing candy from a 5year old.

[B Dawg]

Both games are unrealistic. In real life, get a shot in your leg and you will bleed-out and die in half an hour (while in GTA just a small portion of a bar called "Health" will be dropped. How you can get cured from a bullet injure by eating a hot-dog?

What the hell do you know? You've never been shot and then tried the healing power of the Hot Chiwawa Dawg! So shut your mouth!

 

 

Just kiddin

 

[MrVance]

Well the realism advances with every next GTA series since HD release. Certain aspects feels a step backward from IV but most of them are a step forward.

Missions in V are a bit over the top, similar like those in TBOGT and SA. Most people love it, some people hate it. Those over the top missions certainly brings a lot amount of fun within it.

As for pure fun, V`s over the top and diverse missions beat IV`s repetative and somewhat boring missions any day.

But then again if you think that IV`s missions are more ralistic just because they are less over the top than in V, you`re wrong.

Look at this; killing a whole warehouse of russians (rescuing Roman-IV) or taking down 50 SWAT team members (three leaf clover-IV) aren`t even 1% more realistic than invading the military jet with a crop duster (minor turbulence-V)..so it`s about the same in the terms of realism. With the diference that V`s missions are fun while IV`s are mostly too bland, repetative and too uncreative.

 

But the small details bring the realism into the game and V has plenty of it. The game-like realism that is, not the real life-like realism.

 

I suggest you get a hold of V (older or new gen) soon as possible because you wont regret it.

[dxivilea]

There are more over the top missions in V than in IV. According to who you ask that is either a good thing or a bad thing.

Nothing wrong with over the top in gaming.

 

GTA IV in a nutshell

 

drive here

kill this guy

drive there

[woggleman]

I agree that over the top is good and GTA has done it from the start but according to this board if you do it now you are just catering to immature kiddies.