What Grand Theft Auto game had the best story line?

[Homemade Dynamite]

IV. How this is even a contest?

[Queen Elizabeth II]

1. GTA IV

2. GTA VC

3. GTA TBOGT

4. GTA V

5. GTA SA

6. GTA TLAD

7. GTA III

 

Edited December 14, 2014 by Queen Elizabeth II

[Algonquin Assassin]

IV. How this is even a contest?

 

Judging by the poll it isn't.

[PowerKracker]

I can't really judge which is the best because each has own merits. Although GTA V was kinda short and underwhelming.

IV has the most indepth story yet. VC was a nice homage to the 1980s, III had a solid story for the first 3D GTA that made an intricate story possible.

Hell, I loved SA. I don't see what's so bad about it, it's at least memorable and is nicely contrived for you to go on a journey throughout the state and do crazy sh*t.

[GrindingOnDatNRG]

I think IV had the best storyline but the one I enjoyed the most was Vice City so I voted Vice City. I played VC when I was young and to be honest I actually can't remember the story for that game too well at all but I just know I loved playing it and that when I beat it I felt really proud and better than when I beat any other GTA.

Edited December 14, 2014 by GrindingOnDatNRG

[truxton]

Yes I believe IV/4 had the best storyline for me but instead of Vice City I enjoyed San Andreas the most!

[RogerWho]

Just a thought. Is it the case that IV has such good story, or do the other GTA games just have crappy stories?

 

Or is it the case that games have crappy stories in general?

 

I think, the IV story is good enough that it could work even outside of a game. A GTA IV movie/book? Yea I can imagine that and not just because WoW and Doom have books. It has flaws but it's simply good enough on its own I think.

 

V, story is decent enough for a game, but not strong enough by itself IMHO. But it still mountains above the game average. As for the other GTA games, these have never been story-driven but still aren't below average for games I think.

 

I'm thinking about this now since I'm just playing Heavy Rain and I can't imagine going back to the 'this foreigners/zombies/monsters are bad, shoot them' 'stories'.

Edited December 15, 2014 by RogerWho

[MrDeSanta]

Rockstar went really deep with IV`s storyline. Everything from the backstory, plot and antagonists is so greatly done that you almost feel like a part of the whole scene.

 

You actually care for Niko as he would be real human being and not just a game character and your hair goes up everytime you hear that f*cking Dimitri.

 

That`s the pinpoint of how IV`s story is good actually.

 

I don`t have those feelings in V. I don`t give a f*ck about Weston, Haines and those Merryweather douchebags because no matter how many times they try to f*ck you up they still don`t feel half as threat as that snake Dimitri.

When i killed Dimitri on Platypus i was really satisfied, it felt like a huge achievement. But when i popped those morons in C ending in V i just felt empty.

 

No matter how much i love V overall i still can`t overlook it`s bad story and crappy endings.

[truxton]

Yes I completely agree when I played through IV,the Dimitri story was excellent, even minor characters were good,and the city feels more detailed IMO.The map was the right size so it all fitted perfectly in one package but V just didn't feel right it wasn't a good story.

[Journey_95]

lol is this a joke? this poll is unnecessary

GTA IV of course had the best story and characters without any competition

Edited February 12, 2015 by Journey_95

[Son of Zeus]

^ Agreed that IV had a well-written story, but I think SA too had memorable chars like Wu zi, Smoke, Truth...

[Nah nah nah Gta 6]

^ Agreed that IV had a well-written story, but I think SA too had memorable chars like Wu zi, Smoke, Truth...

RYDER

[--Vega--]

San Andreas followed by IV.

[truxton]

I agree with @son of zeus, i think the same way, none of GTA plot are really that great tbh.

 

If you want to know what a really good story looks like, take a look at RDR. Now that`s an oscar wothy video game story which makes even IV`s story look like a cheap tv criminal.

Yes I agree RDR is a masterpiece that can't be matched,but we are talking about gta here.

[Misunderstood]

1. IV

2. TLAD

3. VC/VCS (tied imo)

4. GTA SA

5. TBOGT

6. GTA V

6. GTA 3

[Algonquin Assassin]

^ Agreed that IV had a well-written story, but I think SA too had memorable chars like Wu zi, Smoke, Truth...

 

Even though I don't think SA has the best story I agree its characaters are highly memorable. IMO GTA IV, VC and SA have the most memorable characters in the series.

[Pavle]

IV, no doubt.

[smigko]

GTAIV...I've stated why multiple times on other threads with the same pole...

Love outsiders

[J Cobra]

There's not really a contest in this one. GTA IV.

[PhillBellic]

GTA IV is winning by a landslide here.

[Niko Montana]

GTA IV Without a doubt

[Sawnek]

For me, definitely GTA IV.

[TheOneLibertonian]

Easily GTA IV. Best protagonist, best supporting characters, best plot, and best dialogue.

 

^ Agreed that IV had a well-written story, but I think SA too had memorable chars like Wu zi, Smoke, Truth...

 

Even though I don't think SA has the best story I agree its characaters are highly memorable. IMO GTA IV, VC and SA have the most memorable characters in the series.

 

I did not like CJ but I liked Woozie and The Truth a lot. They are funny and memorable.

Edited February 17, 2015 by The_Ghost

[Piggsy pls]

IV and it's epsiodes (Well not TBOGT so much, but it was still decent.) Not even a competition.

 

Not sure why VC is second place in the poll. Sure the story is fun but it's not well written or a classic at all. I'm playing through it right now and it comes off as a gangster flick cliche. Maybe that was their intent, but still. Even V's half-baked story has more originality. The characters themselves are good though.

SA started off fine and just got ridiculous once CJ left LS. Same with V once Trevor left Blaine County.

 

I think III, LCS, VCS, and CTW don't get enough credit. They had really interesting storylines that stayed as such throughout.

[wiizardii]

OK for me its:

 

1. IV

 

2. SA

 

3. VC

 

4. III

 

5. V

[combustion]

Looks like no one voted for GTAVCS yet... poor Vic.

[Osho]

I liked IVs story but found the missions not as fun to replay as I have fun with VC and SA. So frankly speaking here, IV does have a better narrative and presentation but when actually talking about playing through the long campaign again and in the same spirit of VC/SA, I couldn't find much motivation nor interest to replay it for the missions more than for the experience of the story only.

Since I never play GTA for the story only but for the interesting mix of both; nice story matched with brilliant gameplay of the GTA - I vote for GTA SA. Since I could only vote any one, otherwise I'd say, both VC and SA as my favorite ones!

[Xing of Virtue]

IV forever. Forever ever...

[CynicalRise]

I never really found Niko's story interesting, it's incredibly cliché ridden and never had anything that excited me. And when I played a GTA for the first time, I was incredibly excited because I wanted to see where the game takes me. Whether be a new location, a new weapon, or new cars, I don't know. But IV's story is incredibly predictable. (quote if you want to know why) TLAD failed to have a good story, but it actually excited me because the missions were actually good and not fetch-quests. And even if it is a fetch-quest, it manages to turn baaaaaaaaaaaaaad. TBOGT was incredible. It had a lot of explosions, was exciting and had a good story. It was basically, a deal gone wrong, but in the most coolest and badass ways. In fact, when the story actually got exciting was these points.

 

-Michelle betraying Niko, but not arresting him.

-The diamonds deal.

-The kidnapping of a mob daughter, Gracie Ancelotti.

-The ending chain of missions.

-Deal. Roman's gets shot, out of nowhere. Revenge was predictable. Betray boss, boss is ticked off, tries to kill you, fails. Roman deserved that bullet for making me press triangle by accident when I was almost out of a 6-Star wanted level.

-Darko. Those 12 bullets were fun to feed him.

 

And everything else is "Niko, shoot these guys, get this, get back here, have cookie". Also the nerfing of many weapons doesn't help either. To be honest, this could've been an entirely new game instead of GTAIV, because Niko doesn't fit in GTA. I can't ever connect with him. He always says he wants to leave the life of crime. He cries about it so much. Every time I'm on a job he always wants to leave crime. And he does crime. Why? Because Roman. I hate him. He sucked Niko into crime. And that's why he bitches about leaving crime. And that's why I can't connect with him. He just doesn't feel like a criminal. He just feels like a mopper. (f*ckin' Manny)

 

TL;DR, GTAIV story is basically a black and white filter made with vaguely serious moments.

 

Here I go, GTAV's story. What can I say? It brings the gangster theme back, a city that feels natural rather than robotic people (ironically, LS has plastic people), pretty explosions, more cash stealing less catering mob bosses. Story is exciting, serious, bitingly funny, over-the-top action, twists, and it doesn't have a black-and-white filter. It's not bad, it's incredibly good and satisfying, and has a good balance between tense and serious and hilarity and action. Dialogue hilarious and serious, and action is over-the-top. You start off in a bank, subduing hostages. The cutscene switches to gameplay without a black screen. And after I saw that, I was ready for whatever this game was gonna throw at me. Nice little shootout, few explosions, all good. Driving section, pretty good driving imo, and HOLYSH*TATRAINCRASHEDINTOUSVIBRATIONMADEMEGONUMB. Brad gets shot, Michael gets shot. Michael tries get Trevor to leave, but Trevor defends them. For a while. At least. Then you're thrown into a sunny day at the shrink, and I get switched into another protag. This is when a game says, "We're ready to take risks to make gameplay and story exciting". Then, a simple fetch quest (rolled my eyes), went wrong, but the thing you were fetching wasn't even there. Then the thing you were fetching comes up, and you desperately try to get it. And then I enjoyed the sights as I went to the car wash, and I wanted to end this mission to frolic around in the world. Basically, GTAV's story is perfect, and exactly what a GTA should be. Serious crime tone, bitingly funny at times, and with you feeling like you've actually committed a crime.

[Osho]

I honestly felt that TLAD and TBOGT are a lot better than the original IV. Its a shame, they didn't offer a lot of variety in the episodes for side jobs which clearly could have stopped me from playing IV entirely and stick with EFLC forever!