GTA SA and GTA V [comparison]

[BlackSnow176]

Hey again!

Since GTA V came out, people have been constantly comparing it to GTA IV and Watch_Dogs, but mostly to GTA San Andreas.

In most YouTube videos titled "GTA SA vs GTA V", people were usually being biased toward each title, be it out of nostalgia or because they hate either game. So I made a comparison sometime ago between the two, trying to be as unbiased as possible.

So... which title do you prefer and why? Please share your thoughts and vote

---

(!) The following are just my opinions (!)

* GTA San Andreas' gameplay is focused on FUN, rather than realism.

- It doesn't try to be anything more than a fun game to play.

* GTA V's gameplay is focused more on realism, which isn't a bad thing.

- Only it isn't much realistic.

- Like San Andreas, it doesn't try to be anything else than a fun game to play.

* GTA San Andreas is an easy game with little to no challenge.

- The cops/SWAT/FBI/army/gangs are all a bunch of morons that can't aim.

- The AI sucks.

- UNREALISTIC as can be.

* GTA V was also a fairly easy game, but a lot more challenging than San Andreas.

- The cops/SWAT/FIB/army/gangs are way smarter, accurate and otherwise superior to any previous GTA cops. If you don't take cover, you die within seconds.

- The AI was more than great!

- Somewhat realistic.

- It's fun fighting with an army of corrupt Terminators and RoboCops!

- Kinda missed the fat cops, like the ones in GTA IV, that are nowhere to be seen.

* GTA San Andreas' shooting systeam was okay, but not perfect.

- You had three skill levels for almost all weapons.

- Too much accuracy.

- Not much skill involved in shooting the bad guys (or whoever you're shooting at).

- You expect me to believe that a young ghetto boy would suddenly become Rambo overnight?

* GTA V's shooting system was top noch.

- It was somewhat realistic.

- It actually required some skill.

- None of that Call of Duty nonesense.

- Michael's special ability makes it so much better.

* GTA San Andreas' driving system was probably the best in the series so far.

- Not realistic, but nice.

- It felt like you were driving a car.

* GTA V's driving system operates more like a racing video game (which isn't a bad thing)

- Not realistic, but nice.

- Kinda feels like Need for Speed.

- Franklin's special ability makes it so much better.

* GTA San Andreas doesn't have special abilities.

- Yet you're still invincible for the most part (which sucks).

* GTA V's main characters have special abilities that are supposed to make the game easier.

- Yet you still die a lot more often than in San Andreas (which is a good thing).

- Even as Trevor.

* GTA San Andreas has a great world to fool around.

- Hundreds of hidden things to collect, which is always a nice thing.

- Not so much of a great atmosphere.

- Las Venturas sucks IMO.

* GTA V has a great world to fool around, which is at least five times bigger than San Andreas, and much more beautiful.

- Not so much hidden things to collect though, which only leaves you exploring the huge world after a certain point (but it's so damn beautiful!)

- Great atmosphere

- Interaction with pedestrians can be hilarious, especially if you play as Trevor.

- You can flip off anyone and anything.

* GTA San Andreas doesn't have animals you can interact with.

- It's kinda odd being in the forest, the mountain or the desert where you're the only thing breathing.

* GTA V has a variety of animals you can interact with.

- You can even play with "your" dog.

- I hate the hunting missions. I would never complete them.

* GTA San Andreas has an awesome and long storyline.

- With a lot of side-missions.

* GTA V has (in my opinion) a way better storyline, although not as long as San Andreas.

- With a lot of side-missions/ strangers and freaks for each of the three characters.

* GTA San Andreas' missions get repetitive fast and are way too easy.

- Some missions sucked ass .

* GTA V missions are more variable and way more challenging.

- Like San Andreas, some missions sucked ass.

* GTA San Andreas has an okay main character.

- But also a wimp.

* GTA V has better main characters.

- All of whom were better than CJ (IMO).

* GTA San Andreas has great supporting characters.

- I really loved Woozie, Cesar, Sweet, Smoke, The Truth, Mike Toreno, Ken Rosenberg, Catalina, and especially Tenpenny in particular.

- OG Loc and Ryder suck.

* GTA V doesn't have that many good supporting characters.

- I liked Lamar, Lester, Michael's family and Ron.

- The fitness lady was nice too.

- Didn't care that much about the other supporting characters.

- Wade sucks.

* GTA San Andreas has better angatonists

- Frank Tenpenny is one of the best video game villains of all time.

- Big Smoke was okay too.

* GTA V's antagonists are boring and forgettable for the most part.

- Weren't that bad though.

* GTA San Andreas has an AWESOME choice of music in radio stations.

- No fake rap or autotune pop. Great classic and alternative rock.

- Axl Rose was a DJ.

* GTA V might have the worst music in radio station yet.

- Lots of fake rap and lots of computer recorded autotune pop. The rock radio was nowhere near as good as in Vice City, San Andreas or IV.

* GTA San Andreas has literally thousands of amazing mods...

- that can totally enhance the gameplay and make it more beautiful, realistic and challenging. Or noobish.

- Most mods suck.

* GTA V doesn't support a lot of mods as of now...

- and judging by the not so many GTA IV mods, GTA V will most likely not have that many good mods either.

* GTA San Andreas took me four or five days to complete its storyline the first time I played it in 2008.

- Never gets old to me.

- I still play it for fun, only with lots of mods.

- I have modded it to make it impossible challenging and beautiful in particular.

- Skin mods are something great too.

* GTA V took me about five days to complete the first time I played it PC.

- After that I didn't do much but explore the city and complete the side tasks.

- The game got a little bit boring after some time exploring the wilderness.

- I got back to playing San Andreas, but I still fool around in GTA V occasionally.

---

Overall I like San Andreas more as a fun game to play (with lots of mods in my case), but I like GTA V's story and main characters a lot more. What about you?

Edited June 9, 2015 by BlackSnow176

[The Dedito Gae]

i think that some of the points you made don't make much sense,like the realistic shooting in V,challenging missions in V and good IA of cops.

music taste is objective though, honestly i can't say i dislike or consider V to have the worst radios.

Edited June 9, 2015 by Midnight Hitman

[KyojinEM]

Both are great

But without gta online gta V would be boring as hell

And i think grand theft auto San andreas is the better gta because i actually enjoyed the singleplayer

no nostalgia talk

Btw OP stop with the comparison threads

[Osho]

Easily, GTA SA. Its just a classic, masterpiece of a game.

V sucks. Its a sh*t game with utterly forgettable single player.

GTA SA [ 8.5/10 ] > V SP [ 2/10 ]

[Algonquin Assassin]

[GTA IV fanboy mode]

 

None. GTA IV beats them both senesless.

 

Come at me fanboys. I f*cking dare you.

 

[/GTA IV fanboy mode]

 

Now I have that out of my system GTA V obviously has the edge regarding technical aspects, but SA is a better all around crime game IMO. The characters don't annoy me like they do in GTA V.

 

Not a huge fan of either to be honest, but SA gets my vote.

[Homicidal Hipster]

for me, both game's beat the other in different categories.

 

Stuff SA does better.

side activities.

 

 

more interiors

 

player customization

 

crime activities

 

the stats are better designed and actually feels like you've improved when you increase your skill set. as opposed to V's where the lowest skill level feels no different from the highsest.

 

but V also does things better than SA.

 

heists

 

better paced plot

 

game mechanics.

 

obviously SA can't compete with V in many areas such as graphics and other visuals. but overall I do prefer V.

[Osho]

.. but overall I do prefer V.

Despite a LOT of things GTA SA does you still prefer V??

I always find it funny when people come with a similar "reasoning" like you and yet prefer something else.

Either you're blinded by those pointless eye candy as you just can't get into playing on dated hardware, or you just don't have a serious idea what makes a game better than just listing about few things here and there; maybe you haven't just played GTA SA for a long time and V is still fresh on your mind, or at best, Online Rulezz?????

There are a lot of stronger points affecting GTA SA as a whole by choosing the things that actually gives the game not only high replay factor, but unique of its own, that no other GTA ever managed to come close. V doesn't hold a sh*t against SA to be even considered as a prefered choice.

[Homicidal Hipster]

 

.. but overall I do prefer V.

Despite a LOT of things GTA SA does you still prefer V??

I always find it funny when people come with a similar "reasoning" like you and yet prefer something else.

Either you're blinded by those pointless eye candy as you just can't get into playing on dated hardware, or you just don't have a serious idea what makes a game better than just listing about few things here and there; maybe you haven't just played GTA SA for a long time and V is still fresh on your mind, or at best, Online Rulezz?????

There are a lot of stronger points affecting GTA SA as a whole by choosing the things that actually gives the game not only high replay factor, but unique of its own, that no other GTA ever managed to come close. V doesn't hold a sh*t against SA to be even considered as a prefered choice.

cool story. but I still prefer V. you don't like it, then tough sh*t.

[Osho]

cool story. but I still prefer V. you don't like it, then tough sh*t.

I don't care about your opinion, but because like I already wrote you have no idea what you're talking about when comparing one thing over the other, if you choose to ignore the stronger points, but still doesn't mean other game lacks on those, and yet will prefer to vote it, then your argument isn't worth sh*t anyway to take seriously.

Its like someone clearly lacks conviction and balls to speak fully without being affected anything. Its very likely that you dislike GTA SA in the hindsight but tend to keep a positive opinion simply because someone had gone ahead in voting for GTA SA.

That's all there's to it. A big hole in your opinion.

[Aerovitia]

Some of your points are under-observed for me.

 

V weapons don't have recoil nor bullet spread, unless you modify the file. You only need aiming skill on V, that's it.

 

But yeah, that's your opinion, even if it's unbiased.

[Homicidal Hipster]

 

cool story. but I still prefer V. you don't like it, then tough sh*t.

I don't care about your opinion, but because like I already wrote you have no idea what you're talking about when comparing one thing over the other, if you choose to ignore the stronger points, but still doesn't mean other game lacks on those, and yet will prefer to vote it, then your argument isn't worth sh*t anyway to take seriously.

Its like someone clearly lacks conviction and balls to speak fully without being affected anything. Its very likely that you dislike GTA SA in the hindsight but tend to keep a positive opinion simply because someone had gone ahead in voting for GTA SA.

That's all there's to it. A big hole in your opinion.

if you don't care about my opinion then why are you bothering to quote my posts? and fyi I love gta sa, it was and still is to this day a brilliant game. it did a lot of things better than V, I'm not going to ignore that. but overall I just enjoy playing V more. the shooting mechanics, the missions are all more enjoyable to me. and I could care less about the difference in graphics, graphics mean nothing to me. the things in V that are done better, for example the controls, the mission diversity etc trump the things SA does better. and if you prefer SA then fine by me. I'm not going to tell you your opinion isn't invalid. why don't you pay me the same courtesy.

 

ps IV trumps both of them.

[Algonquin Assassin]

ps IV trumps both of them.

 

 

This we know.

[GamesBoy316]

These are the best games in the series for me, but if I had to pick, I would pick San Andreas. That game is better, and I'm not being a fanboy here. There's more things to do in that game than GTA V.

Edited June 10, 2015 by GamesBoy316

[BlackSnow176]

i think that some of the points you made don't make much sense,like the realistic shooting in V,challenging missions in V and good IA of cops.
music taste is objective though, honestly i can't say i dislike or consider V to have the worst radios.

Some of your points are under-observed for me.

V weapons don't have recoil nor bullet spread, unless you modify the file. You only need aiming skill on V, that's it.

But yeah, that's your opinion, even if it's unbiased.

 

Those were just opinions

 

I enjoyed the shooting of GTA V (and IV) more than that of GTA SA, because it was more challenging and you didn't need to play the whole game/blow up endless amount of cars to increase your stats. GTA V actually required some skill to survive the shootouts.

Edited June 10, 2015 by BlackSnow176

[Osho]

@ Thelema93

Because your opinion is obviously invalid. Its not about the matter of courtesy. This topic clearly focuses on making a decision based on straightforward comparisons between the two, trying to be as unbiased as possible. If you chose to list something that clearly shows one is objectively better over the other, then it doesn't make any sense, whatsoever, if you tend to go by the reasoning along the lines of what sounds more enjoyable and walk away by voting for something different that sounds the case of being actually unreasonable.

If you want to voice an opinion that are held by individual, subjective ideas, pertaining to enjoyment ONLY then you simply should have gone with "Can't decide", because both are fun anyways.

Its like going for the interview and not paying attention to what the panelist and the interviewer ( in this case; topic starter ) WANTS to have more clarity about your opinion in thoughtful ways that helps them to decide their position about whether you managed to convince them all the while staying logical and refraining from being confusing by just speaking casually, "'SA' did this right, or 'V' did that right, but otherwise IV trumps both of them. Still 'SA' at least feels out a fairly solid game, doing a lot of better things than 'V' and to this day a brilliant game. But f*ck THAT, V sounds all that cool and enjoyable for spending all that time playing, even though it doesn't matter whether 'SA' does a LOT of things better"

I hope you do understand what exactly I'm trying to say, because your opinion just sounds like someone didn't understand what the topic has asked for coming forward as more convincing, with your thoughts "if you choose to compare" than throwing bullsh*t about how IV trumps them both.

[Algonquin Assassin]

Osho; There are many things I agree with you on, but I don't think you should be preaching to anyone about being unbiased when you're pretty much one of the most biased San Andreas fans on here.

 

I'm not too sold on GTA V, but come on 2/10? I suppose Theleman93 at least tried to explain his reasonings. No need to jump down the guy's throat saying his opinion is invalid.

[Osho]

Yup, I stand by those ratings. I have explained countless times before. Oh; please. It doesn't make me "Most biased". Sure, at times, people do get carried away but many have passed through such times. I am not an exception here. I can easily prove even Thelema93 sounds the most biased by saying IV trumps over both. But don't want to be at odds over this.

I wasn't trying to be preachy but just didn't understand the reasoning which cleared appeared like SA is better than V.

Fine. Each to its own.

[Homicidal Hipster]

alright osho. I can see where your coming from. let me try this again.

 

Gunplay

 

SA- it wasn't a terrible shooting system. but it could of been better.

 

- had no cover system.

- the shootouts didn't really require any skill. just aim and shoot until targets dead.

 

V- the shooting mechanics were much better than sa imo.

- had a cover system

- smooth free aiming

- actually required skill. you had to think about where your enemies are and not just rely on shooting at the aim reticule until it turns red.

 

Melee

SA- it had a much better melee combat system than V imo.

 

-could learn varied styles at the gym

- had some cool combo's

 

V

- required no skill. just plain button mashing.

- all the punches and counterattack moves were slow and looked boring.

- you hardly had any input. you press the punch button and sometimes you'd do two punches and a follow up soccer ball kick.

 

gun play V-SA

 

melee SA-V

Edited June 10, 2015 by Thelema93

[Son of Zeus]

I'd rather die than pick V over SA.

 

for example the controls, the mission diversityetc trump the things SA does better.

So let me get this straight.

 

In SA, you're rolling with your homies in LS, you're racing against Claude from GTA III in SA, you're doing a Casino heist in LV.

 

 

And you say.....V has better mission diversity?

 

 

Brilliant. Just brilliant.

Edited June 10, 2015 by Son of Zeus

[Homicidal Hipster]

I'd rather die than pick V over SA.

 

 

for example the controls, the mission diversityetc trump the things SA does better.

So let me get this straight.

 

In SA, you're rolling with your homies in LS, you're racing against Claude from GTA III in SA, you're doing a Casino heist in LV.

 

 

And you say.....V has better mission diversity?

 

 

Brilliant. Just brilliant.

fair point. I take that claim back. I suppose both game's had even mission diversity.

[PhillBellic]

I could easily go back to SA. On the other hand V feels like a chore to play.

[Shadowfennekin]

V. Clocked in over 300 hours on story and 100 days, 3 hours, 23 minutes for Online.

 

SA..... I played through the story four times and once for the "remaster" on the 360. CJ fanboys made me lose interest in this game.

[RedDagger]

@ Thelema93

Because your opinion is obviously invalid. (...) If you chose to list something that clearly shows one is objectively better over the other

He listed things that SA does better. He then listed things that are better in V that obviously mean more to him. This is the subjectivity of opinions at work - for some people, the fact GTA V has better graphics alone makes it the best game. No, there's no objective 'truth' about a game being better, no, you can't claim someone's opinion is invalid over something as asinine as what you've just done.

 

 

In SA, you're rolling with your homies in LS, you're racing against Claude from GTA III in SA, you're doing a Casino heist in LV.

 

And you say.....V has better mission diversity?

Showing three missions from SA and none from V doesn't show anything at all about their relative mission diversity y'know...

 

Anyway, responding to parts of the OP:

 

* GTA San Andreas' shooting systeam was okay, but not perfect.

At least on consoles, SA's shooting was terrible. Now some may say comparison like these aren't fair because later games get to refine and improve mechanics. whereas older ones are the first ones to do what they're doing so don't have anything to base off of, but hey. SA's is still terrible.

 

 

* GTA San Andreas has an AWESOME choice of music in radio stations.

* GTA V might have the worst music in radio station yet.

This one is entirely about what music you like. Personally, V had a better radio station selection - oh yes, I liked SA's, but V had more stuff that I like. Though Self Radio is still the best

 

 

* GTA San Andreas has literally thousands of amazing mods...

- that can totally enhance the gameplay and make it more beautiful, realistic and challenging. Or noobish.

- Most mods suck.

* GTA V doesn't support a lot of mods as of now...

- and judging by the not so many GTA IV mods, GTA V will most likely not have that many good mods either.

V's been out on PC for 2 months, SA's been out for years. Many years.

 

And even then V has a load of mods. It seems a lot more varied than IV already - although this may be because model replacing isn't something that can be done easily right now, so people can't create Yet Another Sports Car Mod like seem abundant in IV. Still, V's modding scene is moving very quickly - lots of mods for whatever you want are out, and judging by what people have achieved, there will be many great mods.

 

Oh, and as for most mods suck, that goes for any modding scene, really - there will inevitably be a load of sh*te created by nubs doing the bare minimum and uploading it

[Son of Zeus]

Showing three missions from SA and none from V doesn't show anything at all about their relative mission diversity y'know...

Just gave a tiny example y'know...because anyone who's played both games knows how big the difference is. Drive-bys, RC plane battles, robbing banks, stealing a jet from a ship, burning weed farms for a hippie, doing a Casino heist, flying to Liberty City to eliminate a mafia, saving a rapper....

 

There's no comparison.

[Osho]

He listed things that SA does better. He then listed things that are better in V that obviously mean more to him. This is the subjectivity of opinions at work - for some people, the fact GTA V has better graphics alone makes it the best game. No, there's no objective 'truth' about a game being better, no, you can't claim someone's opinion is invalid over something as asinine as what you've just done

While I do realize that I shouldn't have gone so far, but saying "graphics alone makes it the best game" sounds more idiotic to me.

Edited June 10, 2015 by Osho

[B Dawg]

For starters, SA has a proper reward for every single thing you do in the game, unlike V.

SA has better driving mechanics, not pissing you off with auto-correction assists and not giving you cars as strong as tanks.

SA has better shooting mechanics, even if you're fully skilled with an M4, the thing still has bulletspread to it. You have to crouch to completely minimize it. In V, you can just run n gun and spray your silly Special Carbine at a target with every bullet hitting the target.

SA weapons are also better and more varied, with tons of melee weapons including katanas and chainsaws, not to mention the flamethrower.

SA has a better combat system, with four different fighting styles where none of them include something as stupid as bitchslaps, and proper strenght stats. Everything in V is just oversimplified.

SA has a much better and larger cheat list with a lot of variety. Don't like the hunger system? Guess what, you don't need mods to get rid of annoying stuff like in GTA V, you just input a cheat!

SA has better radio stations.

SA has better heists (subjective). Don't mess with Catalina.

SA has a proper RPG system, where the hunger system can be disabled via cheat, and you can instantly become skinny/muscular/fat or have full stamina via cheat if you don't like using the gym.

SA has better character customization, letting you transform CJ into anything!

SA has better vehicle performance customization, including the likes of Nitrous and Hydraulics where as in V you already make easy cars even easier to drive and f*ck up their ridiculous acceleration even more.

SA has a gang control system, and even a cheat to recruit any ped with a 9mm/RPG/current held weapon by the ped, you can command them to stay, follow and attack.

SA has a much better and larger number of side missions and activities that provide good rewards for completing them.
SA has a better protagonist (subjective), and infinitely better supporting characters. Ryder > Lamar.

SA doesn't have health regeneration which for me is a positive.

SA has unique proof vehicles (for more info contact Militia)

SA doesn't have turbulence.

SA has the better tank, which is near indestructable unless you use fire against it.

SA actually has fast food restaurants that you can enter.

SA has girlfriends that give you cool rewards for dating them.

(PC)SA has the better multiplayer modes (though who cares about multiplayer).

(Consoles)SA has local co-op.

SA doesn't have annoying hitmarkers and screen flashes for every kill. The only aid you get is the health arrow above the enemy.

SA has better looking vehicles. All the supercars in GTA V are ugly as f*ck. SA still has the classic Cheetah, Sabre, Stallion, etc...

SA doesn't have next-gen/PC exclusive content/vehicles.

SA has dual-wielding.

SA has the crouch feature.

SA has territory takeover, and even a glitch/bug that lets you take over the whole of SA.

SA has race cars.

SA has RC vehicles.

SA has a jetpack.

SA has a large number of interiors.

SA has stealth too, and it doesn't replace crouching. You can stealth kill in V and still have cops on your ass.

SA has better businesses (Car Dealership, Casino, etc...).

SA cars never instantly blow up, regardless of how hard or fast you hit something or land.

SA has gambling and casinos.

SA has four different schools (Cars, Bikes, Boats?, Aircraft).

SA has better Thriathlons. Thriathlons in V are criticized for being too long, button mashing fests (you have to repediately tap sprint for half an hour or so), In SA, you only have to hold sprint, tap it if you want a tiny speed boost.

SA has better movement/sprint mechanics (as mentioned above, in HD era games you have to repediately tap sprint, so yea, even a problem in IV)

Edited with extras from page 2:

 

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas will always be king!

Edited June 20, 2015 by B Dawg

[Osho]

^ Unfortunately, some believe that V graphics alone can beat all that you listed!... Smh

[combustion]

It's GTA V, no doubt about it.

[KyojinEM]

GtaV is so poor , it needs a remastered version, 260$ budget, first person, 14 updates ,gta Online and must still compete with SA, still cant beat gta San Andreas ( in my opinion )

but i said it before , both are great games and every gta is unique in their own way

Edited June 10, 2015 by emiliumium

[RedDagger]

^ Unfortunately, some believe that V graphics alone can beat all that you listed!... Smh

Yeah, it's unfortunate there are people who look have different preferences to you.