Racecarlock 604 Posted March 23, 2018 I guess I don't actually mind "serious". What I really want is to see a serious story that doesn't think serious means "Be sad and grey and morose all the time". And frankly, that shouldn't be difficult, they did that with all the III era games. Vice City was a serious story, but Tommy still seemed to like what he was doing, and the goofball world still left room for lines like "No giant shark! Just keep the camera pointed at the poontang!". Nico in GTA IV did still kill and shoot a lot of things, but he didn't enjoy any of it. And I know that sounds psychotic, why would any real person enjoy killing and mayhem? But the point is, these games are not real life. They might be realistic in some aspects, but they're not real life. GTA V compounded on the error, having Michael actually enjoy himself during the heists, but never figuring out that he only enjoys himself when he's pulling off a big score. So the entire game is spent trying to get Michael to a point of not doing or not having to do the exact kind of things you play a GTA game to do. Trevor's got parental and abandonment issues for no reason other than to make the wackiest character slightly more serious for no reason, so now all of his mayhem is suddenly a result of a tragic backstory and thus all the fun is once again taken out of the mayhem because trevor is only doing it to escape his tragic past. Franklin just hates things. Dude smokes weed and he still finds ways to hate himself. He goes from stealing rides from gangsters to stealing high end expensive sports cars, but since it's "doing the same thing" he complains despite having moved so far up in the world that he's now helping to rob expensive sports cars instead of cheap gangster rides. So he's not really enjoying himself either. See what I mean? Both IV and V concoct various reasons or sometimes no reason at all for their protagonists to never enjoy any part of the experience. And if they're not enjoying themselves, how am I supposed to? How am I supposed to relax and have a good time when all of the characters I'm playing as make it a point to specifically not do that? This was a problem with max payne 3 as well, only to such a huge extent that I think max payne gave me contact depression. Despite the badass shooting gameplay, I hated every single moment I had to play as that whiny assbag, and only did it because I wanted as many clues as possible into what GTA V could be like. So yeah, have a serious story, but have the protagonists enjoy themselves more than 10% of the time. Because if they can't enjoy themselves, how am I supposed to? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
xARMEDx 111 Posted March 23, 2018 (edited) God, if only we could get something serious again with all this great CG tech. Give us something gritty with manhunt levels of violence, with a deep story with multiple paths to be taken. Immersion used to be R* staple. I fear the path of GTA is heading the way of the younglings. Edited March 23, 2018 by xARMEDx Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
VictorVance1239 613 Posted March 23, 2018 Video games should always have a mix of serious and goofiness imo. The serious to get people invested in it and the goofiness to help people have fun with it at the same time with smiles and laughs. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MARKUS. 637 Posted March 23, 2018 Cereal like GTA IV Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lioshenka 326 Posted March 23, 2018 Cereal like GTA IV Sorry, I had to do it. Which is actually on topic, this is the kind of thing which was a neat addition to an overall serious game. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jaljax 811 Posted March 23, 2018 I'd like a GTA with a very serious story line like GTA IV had because it just let's you know how much detail they put through a story unlike GTA V's garbage story Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Official General 9,328 Posted March 24, 2018 Video games should always have a mix of serious and goofiness imo. The serious to get people invested in it and the goofiness to help people have fun with it at the same time with smiles and laughs. Indeed....but in my view V went too far with the goofiness. There was no nice balance between the two. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
VictorVance1239 613 Posted March 24, 2018 Video games should always have a mix of serious and goofiness imo. The serious to get people invested in it and the goofiness to help people have fun with it at the same time with smiles and laughs. Indeed....but in my view V went too far with the goofiness. There was no nice balance between the two. True IV did a much much better job. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Racecarlock 604 Posted March 25, 2018 Video games should always have a mix of serious and goofiness imo. The serious to get people invested in it and the goofiness to help people have fun with it at the same time with smiles and laughs. Indeed....but in my view V went too far with the goofiness. There was no nice balance between the two. True IV did a much much better job. Well, not really. IV was too serious in the same way V was too goofy. I just don't like grey brown environments, they lower my mood through some complicated psychological thing and they just sort of suck the fun out. Also, alderney kind of disappointed me after algonquin because I was expecting a bigger city bit, but it was just a big industrial area with almost nothing in it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MARKUS. 637 Posted March 25, 2018 (edited) Sometimes I do think its due to the city GTA III, LCS and IV has a serious, dark tone because is set on a cold, rainy city and normally the story is set on winter-autumn GTA SA and V are more joky maybe because it has a more sunny, colorful ambience and set in California GTA VC, VCS, and probably VI are between both sides... due to his set in Miami on the 80s with the drug trades and so... for me the perfect balance between a serious and goofy storyline Edited March 25, 2018 by Markhosdangerous Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
snickers4passwords 0 Posted April 2, 2018 I really enjoyed the GTA 4 story for the most part, and a lot of that had to do with the serious tone. I do however, understand why people would enjoy a goofy story that doesn't take itself to seriously. I guess it doesn't matter to me as long as the story is good, but I prefer serious. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
iiCriminnaaL 49 519 Posted February 8 (edited) Bump. So, I surely prefer a serious tone, but with a good balance. And in my opinion, each of Vice City, IV and The Lost and Damned almost nailed it perfectly. You think that GTA IV and The Lost and Damned were too serious? Well, they generally weren't as dark or serious as GTA III. The latter, while had a very atmospheric tone, was serious to the bone. Sure, pedestrians have a couple of ironic lines, and the radio is filled with jokes, but the story didn't have any sense of humor (or at least that's what I remember about it). By the end of the game, almost every gang is after you. There's no family or friends, just crime bosses and corrupt politicians. The protagonist himself is a mute criminal who cares about nothing aside from money. GTA IV and The Lost and Damned, while serious and believable, had little doses of mature comic every now and then. And each of Niko and Johnny had a couple of close friends, emotions and non-financial motivations (at least indirectly). When it comes to San Andreas, it was just a little goofier than the necessary. And each of Liberty City Stories and Vice City Stories was even goofier. GTA V is in contrast to GTA III; while the story had a ton of moments that could've been serious, dramatic and engaging, everything was covered with a goofy overdone humor. A lot of missed opportunities. I don't know much about the radio, but from most of what I heard, it was too generic and tedious, which applies to the pedestrians' lines as well. Edited February 8 by iiCriminnaaL 49 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
American Venom 38,509 Posted February 8 8 hours ago, iiCriminnaaL 49 said: GTA IV and The Lost and Damned, while serious and believable, had little doses of mature comic every now and then. And each of Niko and Johnny had a couple of close friends, emotions and non-financial motivations (at least indirectly). GTA IV and TLAD really only got serious towards the end when sh*t was going south. I know "humour" is subjective, but I find Niko to be the most humouress protagonist in the series by quite a margin. The best thing is he's not all up in your face about it like Trevor (Any respectable adult would find him unbearable and childish). Hell even Johnny managed to get a chuckle out of me. Great games know how to get the balance just right without tipping too far from one side to the other. The best that do it are GTA IV, TLAD and Vice City. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
