Did you needed time to warm up to IV?

[PhillBellic]

 

It never grew on me.

 

It was too depressing and I can't get absorbed into it for hours.

 

You should re-play it, good things happen when you do that,and besides, TLAD is the darker one of the trinity, not IV.

 

I second your statement Midnight Hitman. In many respects, the games are like this in relationship to darkness (from least dark to most dark);

 

TBOGT

IV

TLAD

 

Do you guys remember when the trailers came out? Good times. When I first saw "Things will be different" I knew this will be something monumental. But the trailer provided not much information, so I wanted more informations so bad.

 

Some months later, "Looking for that special someone" came out. I was sooo hyped. And about half a year later the hype went through the roof - I saw "Move up ladies" for the first time.

 

It definitely lived up to the hype for me. I´m feeling kinda sad when I think about the fact it won´t be like this with future GTA games, because of how things went with V. It is still a great game, but the first trailer was so promising, so magical...the game never lived up to it.

The trailers to GTA IV still create happy goosebumps up my body. Additionally, they provided a much better representation of what the game contains, and their associated themes, than the trailers to V, in my opinion.

[HaythamKenway]

Personally, I don't think IV is all that depressing. Dark and bleak? Yes. But not without hope and a lot of uplifting themes. You can find a lot of positivity in IV, if you try. There is Roman's generally optimistic outlook on life, good-natured friends such as Little Jacob and Brucie, people like Bernie who found a way to get over the bad things that happened to them and start over and others who are trying their best to resolve their demons, characters who are enthusiastic about, if not their lives as a whole, then at least some aspects of them and you can feel a genuine love Rockstar themselves have for New York and its culture and atmosphere. Niko's own story is that of hope, a pursuit of inner peace. Niko doesn't want to become a ruthless crime boss on the top of the pile. He wants to find Darko and then retire. He doesn't want to become excessively rich, he just wants enough money to live a comfortable life.

 

Yes, the story doesn't end well for Niko or many other characters in Liberty City. But the point is that they tried. And that there is still hope and good in the world, no matter how stupid, unjust and cruel it is. IV is a cynical work, no doubt about that, but those positive themes help paint a more complex and real picture of our world.

 

And because I can't write a post without bringing up V, let's look at that game's tone. I find it very ironic that IV is, at a first glance, dark and depressing, V seems lighthearted and cheerful, while at its core it's even darker and more pessimistic than IV. V's theme is, as

, resignation. V doesn't find anything redeeming or positive about life or our society and there is no hope of it getting any better. Los Santos is a horrible place full of self-absorbed assh_les, who just want to get rich, famous, or both and stop at nothing to achieve those goals. Everyone is a douchebag, everyone is a stereotype with its bad characteristics ramped up to eleven and with no redeeming qualities whatsoever. All characters, including protagonists, are keenly aware of how horrible, and beyond repair, the "system" is and don't actually try to change anything. They just go through the motions and willfully submit to the game of deception, ruthless greed and betrayal, fully aware of its emotional and moral cost. Only Michael tries to change things in his life for the better and realizes the pointlessness of the "pursuit of the almighty dollar" and in two of three endings, he either regresses or gets killed. Franklin, for 99% of the game, perfectly embodies the self-interest and ruthelss ambition V's world values so much and in the same two endings fulfils his "turn to the dark side" and becomes just another cog in the machine. And then there is Trevor, who is pretty much an unhinged and extreme response to the system and its accidental byproduct.

 

Let's use an example to illustrate the difference between those two games, with one character. Johnny Klebitz. TLaD is easily the darkest and most depressing of IV's stories. Everything ends badly for Johnny. His Brotherhood, a group meant to value loyalty and camaraderie until death, is destroyed as a result of in-fighting, his best friend is dead, he was forced to kill his old leader, the love of his life continues ruining herself and he's unable to change it and his own greed led to him ending up with nothing. Yet he still finds hope, he sees it as a chance to cut his ties and start anew. Fast forward to V, where he's a wreck, a shadow of his former self. He's on drugs, runs yet another "Brotherhood", when he's fully aware of how full of bulls_it the last one was and his inability to let go of Ashley leads to his death.

 

And that's why I think, at its core, V is much more depressing than IV.

Edited March 10, 2015 by HaythamKenway

[Nah nah nah Gta 6]

yes

 

I'm gonna be honest here, when I first played the game in 09', (I played it round a friends house.) I hated it, keep in mind the only GTAs I owned at the time was VC and SA AND I didn't play the story, I just free roamed, I really didn't like the gameplay nor the vehicles. The only fun I had with it was making Niko jump from a helicopter and smashing him into a bridge and hope he survives (out of all the 48946659645867596 tries he didn't survive once).

 

Skip forward in time to 2013, I decided to buy Episodes from Liberty City, I saw some of the missions and liked ths story, when I played it, it wasn't as bad as I played it before!

 

Now at late 2014 I decided to buy the vanilla GTA IV and liked the story and liked the gameplay (because I actually knew how to f*cking control the game).

 

That's my story on how I liked IV.

[Maxxeine]

*Post deleted.

Edited October 8, 2017 by The7thOne

[Queen]

I remember being disappointed that it wasn't as "open world" as San Andreas, but that certainly didn't detract me from enjoying the game. For one, it had a much better story.

[Tikhung]

I first played it on a Macbook White. At the lowest settings. With 18FPS. Yet somehow I managed to finish it 3 times on the macbook, and another 12 times on my PC at very high settings. So not, I didn't need time to 'warm it up'.

[albanyave]

Only the time it took me to fall out of the state of shock that I was in when I first saw The Platypus preparing to dock in Broker and Liberty City in the distance. I feel instantly in love with the game right from the start. I loved the mysterious gritty theme song playing as I first meet Niko who was just as mysterious and gritty.

 

The entire game from start to finish is an amazing piece of art. I'm warm just thinking about the first time I played this game. I get that same feeling each time I start a new play thriugh minus the state of shock.

 

So many game get put on the shelf after a play through, but this game has never been put away since I purchased it in 2010.

[Femme Fatale]

I liked GTA 4 in my first playthrough...I did hear the so-called "negative" comments, but the dark storyline attracted me...Although I like TBoGT more...I just wish it had more missions, a more dramatic ending, and a protagonist that doesn't have the personality of a corpse...And it ain't the good kind of corpse either...

[Shenmue18]

I did really like the game the first time I played it, but I've appreciated the game's dark and awesome story infinitely more than the first time I played it. I was never a hater of the game whatsoever, but I've only valued it more and more as the years have gone on.

[Moving Idiot]

I remember being insanely hyped for this game at the time, and it didn't let me down at all.

Edited March 18, 2015 by TalkingPear

[TheMostKnowledgable]

I loved this game from the start. I realized right from the start that this was scale back in scope, but ramped way up in fidelity. I loved it. I didn't miss planes, I didn't miss varying countrysides etc - I was just happy to see GTA III in "HD" - Claude Speed was mute, Niko just doesn't understand english so well, so it was like HD mute in some ways. HD remake of III. Was so awesome to me, even though in the old gens I prefered VC and SA.

 

Honestly I think it's going to take me longer to warm up to V. Even though it returns a lot of functionality to the series that was missed in IV, it also leaves out so many things that IV was "more" than a game for, it was a "simulation", I just don't see that aspect of V. V has become really arcadey again - I miss IV, and I hope V will feel better to play than it looks.

[Algonquin Assassin]

 

It never grew on me.

 

It was too depressing and I can't get absorbed into it for hours.

 

You should re-play it, good things happen when you do that,and besides, TLAD is the darker one of the trinity, not IV.Personally I think it's odd when someone says they don't like GTA IV for being too "depressing" yet don't seem to have a problem with TLAD.

 

I guess it's one thing to prefer gameplay features, but from a pure atmosphere/tone point of view TLAD is just as sombre if not more than GTA IV is.

[PhillBellic]

 

 

It never grew on me.

 

It was too depressing and I can't get absorbed into it for hours.

You should re-play it, good things happen when you do that,and besides, TLAD is the darker one of the trinity, not IV.

Personally I think it's odd when someone says they don't like GTA IV for being too "depressing" yet don't seem to have a problem with TLAD.

 

I guess it's one thing to prefer gameplay features, but from a pure atmosphere/tone point of view TLAD is just as sombre if not more than GTA IV is.

 

Compared to IV, TLAD has a very Cr*psack ending. In IV at least you have a much better ending, with most of your friends still in contact (depending on your choices). Compare this with TLAD where your club is ruined, and many of your friends dead.

[Algonquin Assassin]

Yep. Atleast Niko finds a little bit of happiness. Johnny's tale is further amplified by his sh*tty treatment and the remainder of The Lost in GTA V.

 

If that isn't "depressing" I don't know is.

[PhillBellic]

Yep. Atleast Niko finds a little bit of happiness. Johnny's tale is further amplified by his sh*tty treatment and the remainder of The Lost in GTA V.

 

If that isn't "depressing" I don't know is.

Johnny, and by extension the Lost MC were certainly the Butt Monkey in the HD Era, that's for sure.

[Uncle Vlad]

 

 

 

It never grew on me.

 

It was too depressing and I can't get absorbed into it for hours.

You should re-play it, good things happen when you do that,and besides, TLAD is the darker one of the trinity, not IV.

Personally I think it's odd when someone says they don't like GTA IV for being too "depressing" yet don't seem to have a problem with TLAD.

 

I guess it's one thing to prefer gameplay features, but from a pure atmosphere/tone point of view TLAD is just as sombre if not more than GTA IV is.

 

Compared to IV, TLAD has a very Cr*psack ending. In IV at least you have a much better ending, with most of your friends still in contact (depending on your choices). Compare this with TLAD where your club is ruined, and many of your friends dead.

 

 

But this bitter-sweet ending fits in so well. Johnny riding into the sunset on his bike, still alive, but also lonely.

[woggleman]

I loved it from the minute I played it. I lived in NYC for eight years and I was glad to see the city I used to call home portrayed in such a way. I also loved the dark tone and I agree with the person who said in some ways V is more depressing but I really like that aspect of V. Despite it's outward beauty it is a very nihilistic game and it is about getting yours in making a life in a world gone to hell. People who hated IV will see it's colorful appearance and be glad about the lighter tone but look under the surface and you will see how deeply cynical it is especially when you listen to Michael and Lester on certain missions which is one of the reasons I think the story is underrated. In a way the transition from IV to V mirrors mine as well in the sense that I used to think I could change society but now I have a gotta get mine mentality. I can't change this world but I can change how I live my life.

[TheMostKnowledgable]

 

 

It never grew on me.

 

It was too depressing and I can't get absorbed into it for hours.

You should re-play it, good things happen when you do that,and besides, TLAD is the darker one of the trinity, not IV.

Personally I think it's odd when someone says they don't like GTA IV for being too "depressing" yet don't seem to have a problem with TLAD.

 

I guess it's one thing to prefer gameplay features, but from a pure atmosphere/tone point of view TLAD is just as sombre if not more than GTA IV is.

 

 

 

I think it can be explained by, well, a few things, all are sort of wishy washy, but give it a thought:

 

1: TLaD is parody of Sons of Anarchy - people may be desensitized to it by that, or expect it from that.

 

2: Expecting again: Bikers choose to live that live. Niko came under the promise of something way different than he arrived - Johnny chooses to live that life, even lower than niko.

 

3: Niko's story really is a lot more depressing/dark. Carrying bodies in trunks to organ smuggling doctors, and where we watch Johnny suffer a long-drawn, single "overall" loss of 'the life he knew', we watch niko *repeatedly* make friends he begins to trust and respect and give loyalty, only to be stabbed in the back by them over and over.

 

I think Niko's story is way sadder than Johnny's. It's longer, and Johnny deserves everything that happens to him - not niko though.

[Homicidal Hipster]

The first time I saw IV was when I watched my auntie play it back in 2008, I was still a little kid back then only about 9 and I instantly fell in love with the game even though I was just watching it being played and not actually playing myself. I was amazed by how realistic it was, the graphics, the cars, the peds everything just blew me away. I still have memories of watching my auntie play certain missions such as search and delete, I thought it was so cool how you could type up names in the police computer. I remember her doing call and collect, I even helped her spot the guy on the phone. I remember watching her take michelle out on a date,I couldn't believe you could date aswell, and then watching them go in for hot coffee, the sounds that came out of the apartment cracked me up. And I also remember watching my auntie play the mission snow storm which she failed a lot.

 

Later that year I got San Andreas, it didn't wow me as much as IV did but I still fell in love with it.

I didn't get IV for myself until about 2011. I got it with my xbox 360 on my 12th birthday. As soon as I put it into my brand new console all the memories of watching my auntie play it came rushing back, the city, the graphics, the missions. I loved it from day one. I was doing all the missions that I had watched my aunty do years back. It took me about 6 months to finally finish it, it was a great experience and it is still my favourite game to this day.

[nursemorph273]

My first post on the forum!!

 

I loved SA on the PS2 and considered it pretty much perfect so was looking forward to the release of IV...but, through a general period of not playing games and life, I didn't buy IV until I finally got a PS3 in late 2012....and still didn't play it as other games kept me engrossed and I was apprehensive due to the reviews I'd read. Bought SA a couple of weeks ago for PC but, after not being able to get my controllers working properly for it, I finally fired up IV yesterday for a couple of hours.....and, honestly, I hated it

 

I admit I've only done a few missions and not really got into it and the storyline looks promising and the City is almost realistic with the litter and clutter etc everywhere......but the driving mechanics have almost made me not want to play the game again! I have never experienced such badly handiling cars in a game ever....it's like they took the bouncing suspension from SA's Low Riders, cranked it up to max height and then put it on all cars.....it feels like the cars have jelly for suspension. I am still convinced that my game is broken or something as I can't imagine R* getting such a fundamental part of the game so abysmally wrong (unless they spent so much time on the story and the city that the cars got no attention).....such a contrast from SA.

 

I wanted to enjoy the game but the car handling, for me, negates all the good things in the game......the thought of "trying" to drive vehicles a lot in this game puts me off completely. And that is the disappointing thing as I'm sure I would enjoy the story and the city but I can't see me getting a grip on the handling (I am used to all sorts of vehicle handling from sims to arcade so I can usually adapt). The other thing for me was the area outside the first safehouse was so dark I could barely make anything out...but I realise this is likely due to it being on PS3.

 

I will try playing it again but I think, in the end, I will never love, nor complete, the game as I can't excuse a fundamental part of the game being so broken...maybe some cars will handle okay but I just don't see it.

[Homicidal Hipster]

My first post on the forum!!

 

I loved SA on the PS2 and considered it pretty much perfect so was looking forward to the release of IV...but, through a general period of not playing games and life, I didn't buy IV until I finally got a PS3 in late 2012....and still didn't play it as other games kept me engrossed and I was apprehensive due to the reviews I'd read. Bought SA a couple of weeks ago for PC but, after not being able to get my controllers working properly for it, I finally fired up IV yesterday for a couple of hours.....and, honestly, I hated it

 

I admit I've only done a few missions and not really got into it and the storyline looks promising and the City is almost realistic with the litter and clutter etc everywhere......but the driving mechanics have almost made me not want to play the game again! I have never experienced such badly handiling cars in a game ever....it's like they took the bouncing suspension from SA's Low Riders, cranked it up to max height and then put it on all cars.....it feels like the cars have jelly for suspension. I am still convinced that my game is broken or something as I can't imagine R* getting such a fundamental part of the game so abysmally wrong (unless they spent so much time on the story and the city that the cars got no attention).....such a contrast from SA.

 

I wanted to enjoy the game but the car handling, for me, negates all the good things in the game......the thought of "trying" to drive vehicles a lot in this game puts me off completely. And that is the disappointing thing as I'm sure I would enjoy the story and the city but I can't see me getting a grip on the handling (I am used to all sorts of vehicle handling from sims to arcade so I can usually adapt). The other thing for me was the area outside the first safehouse was so dark I could barely make anything out...but I realise this is likely due to it being on PS3.

 

I will try playing it again but I think, in the end, I will never love, nor complete, the game as I can't excuse a fundamental part of the game being so broken...maybe some cars will handle okay but I just don't see it.

you should definitely stick to it man, it's a great game with an engaging storyline. You will be missing out on a awesome experience if you don't play it. The driving just takes some time to get used to, especially if your coming off of playing San Andreas. I was the same as you when I first started playing, I mean I couldn't drive for sh*t always crashes cars but eventually I adapted and now I'm an expert driver. Just keep at it and get plenty of practice and you should get used to it in no time.

 

Welcomes to the forums by the way

[Hoss Soss]

I loved it as soon as I heard: "Daddies back you bitches!" Then I met Roman and I was in awe, the only thing that was odd was that I slid through a couple of intersections on the way to Romans place but that's because I was used to driving in San Andreas. I still loved the game thougha fun once I got a hold of the controls there was no looking back.

[Jago]

nope, even when I was a little kid back in 08 who saw only gameplay I thought it was much better than any of the previous games. sure it didn't have the kind of side-missions and activities that I was used to in the other GTAs, but at the core I knew it was a solid experience. everything felt like it had an impact to it, the bullet and euphoria engines along with the fantastic sound design came together and gave it all a very fun sort of "weight" to it.

 

I was hooked and I knew that if I ever went back to the older titles it just wouldn't feel as good in comparison. of course when I play the game now I appreciate it for the music, atmosphere, story, and characters too, so that's an added bonus

[lastmanonearth]

I had to allow myself some time to get into the GTA IV story and gameplay, only recently finished the story since I had given up on it years ago for being too challenging. In a way, a challenge is a good thing, but not to the point of inducing frustration, especially since I play games when I want to cool off from real life melancholies. I didn`t care much for the story or the gameplay but now I have mixed feelings about both, I like that the story is realistic, but then again I don`t like that it`s too depressing with very few positives. The game for me has no gameplay value whatsoever outside the main missions since there is nothing to do. As for replay value, since the choices you make don`t really matter a hill of beans, it`ll certainly be some time before I play it again. My initial reaction since the first trailer was that it sucks, and I certainly don`t hold that opinion anymore, but I really wish there were more things to do and that it was less frustrating to play. I still can`t get over the lack of checkpoints and that you have to endure long car trips with annoying conversations each time you fail a 30 minute mission at the very end. Even though V was unrealistic, I needed that to get me over the downtrodden feeling I got from IV. I really miss the realistic car damage though, spoiled me so much that I can`t stand looking at the fender bender damage from smashing into a truck head-on in V.

[Uncle Vlad]

......but the driving mechanics have almost made me not want to play the game again! I have never experienced such badly handiling cars in a game ever....

 

Ever played Watch Dogs?

[nursemorph273]

 

My first post on the forum!!

 

I loved SA on the PS2 and considered it pretty much perfect so was looking forward to the release of IV...but, through a general period of not playing games and life, I didn't buy IV until I finally got a PS3 in late 2012....and still didn't play it as other games kept me engrossed and I was apprehensive due to the reviews I'd read. Bought SA a couple of weeks ago for PC but, after not being able to get my controllers working properly for it, I finally fired up IV yesterday for a couple of hours.....and, honestly, I hated it

 

I admit I've only done a few missions and not really got into it and the storyline looks promising and the City is almost realistic with the litter and clutter etc everywhere......but the driving mechanics have almost made me not want to play the game again! I have never experienced such badly handiling cars in a game ever....it's like they took the bouncing suspension from SA's Low Riders, cranked it up to max height and then put it on all cars.....it feels like the cars have jelly for suspension. I am still convinced that my game is broken or something as I can't imagine R* getting such a fundamental part of the game so abysmally wrong (unless they spent so much time on the story and the city that the cars got no attention).....such a contrast from SA.

 

I wanted to enjoy the game but the car handling, for me, negates all the good things in the game......the thought of "trying" to drive vehicles a lot in this game puts me off completely. And that is the disappointing thing as I'm sure I would enjoy the story and the city but I can't see me getting a grip on the handling (I am used to all sorts of vehicle handling from sims to arcade so I can usually adapt). The other thing for me was the area outside the first safehouse was so dark I could barely make anything out...but I realise this is likely due to it being on PS3.

 

I will try playing it again but I think, in the end, I will never love, nor complete, the game as I can't excuse a fundamental part of the game being so broken...maybe some cars will handle okay but I just don't see it.

you should definitely stick to it man, it's a great game with an engaging storyline. You will be missing out on a awesome experience if you don't play it. The driving just takes some time to get used to, especially if your coming off of playing San Andreas. I was the same as you when I first started playing, I mean I couldn't drive for sh*t always crashes cars but eventually I adapted and now I'm an expert driver. Just keep at it and get plenty of practice and you should get used to it in no time.

 

Welcomes to the forums by the way

 

Thanks for the welcome. To be honest, I haven't played SA for years now but I just remember the cars handled pretty well and they felt distinctive in their handling.....Ive come into this off the back of games like GT and Need For Speed so both ends of the spectrum. I did give it another go yesterday for another couple of hours and enjoyed it a bit more, mainly because I stole a Moped from someone and that handled properly!! Who'd have thought after 5 hours of playing, my favourite vehicle so far is a moped!! I enjoyed it even more when I managed to evade a 6 star wanted level on it lol (was busy trying to get the PS3 wheelie achievement and was riding on the train tracks and forgot about going into parts of the city too early!).

 

I will continue playing it as the storyline does look good and I am enjoying the city so far but the handling is just a massive letdown for me....I probably will get the hang of it in the end but it will still take some of the enjoyment from it. I just can't understand what R* were thinking when they did it? It's like "Let's make a good game but it can't be too good so let's screw up one of the most important parts of it"....it makes me never want to buy another GTA title ever again (well, judging by some of the comments I have read on here about V, I may not anyway). I guess time will tell but, given I'm hoping to get a new controller to play SA soon, IV may not get played that often

 

 

......but the driving mechanics have almost made me not want to play the game again! I have never experienced such badly handiling cars in a game ever....

 

Ever played Watch Dogs?

 

 

I haven't had that experience as of yet, no....figured the game really needed a PS4 to do the graphics justice and I can't afford one. However, if the vehicle handling is as bad or worse than IV, then I may skip it altogether....I can tolerate many things wrong in a game like graphics, weak plot etc etc but poor vehicle handling is not one of them given I have always spent most of my gametime on driving games

[lastmanonearth]

it makes me never want to buy another GTA title ever again (well, judging by some of the comments I have read on here about V, I may not anyway)

 

By all means, do buy GTA V for the PS3, don`t miss out on all the fun! The vehicles handle infinitely better than in IV. The steering sensitivity is somewhere between IV and SA`s.

 

Just don`t update the game while you`re playing the single player, cause the new updates mess it up.

[cp1dell]

Nope. I had previously played GTA Vice City, and San Andreas before. Before actually getting IV, me and a friend freeroamed in it a tiny bit. Other than that, I never really touched it.

 

While I waited for the slim version of the 360 to come out, I played San Andreas all the time on my PS2. When I finally got a 360, IV was the first game I snagged. I was so excited and blown away by the physics and graphics. The story was very interesting as well, and I loved the black humor.

 

Funny enough, I never turned on Auto-Save, and forgot to save the game before I turned it off. I had gotten to Bleed Out/First Date by then. Still, I had fun playing it and it was quite the adventure. Thinking about it makes me want to replay it now before V comes out on the PC, haha.

[Algonquin Assassin]

The vehicles handle infinitely better than in IV.

No they don't.

[lastmanonearth]

 

The vehicles handle infinitely better than in IV.

No they don't.

 

I believe it`s the general consensus that they do. They may handle less *realistically* but the controls work better.