Do GTA Games make you nostalgic for the times they portray?

[universetwisters]

I'm asking if anyone else feels nostalgic for the eras about some GTA games set in the past. Sometimes when I play LCS I get reminded of growing up in the late 90's/early 2000's. Especially the clothes and hairstyles of the pedestrians. And some of the music on Head Radio or whatever sounded like the stuff they played in stores back then and it makes me warm and fuzzy. Does anyone else feel the same or just me?

[.Ryan.]

Yes. Vice City gives off the strongest nostalgic vibes to me. I guess it's partly because it's set during the year I was born, but everytime I play it I feel like I've travelled through time back to the 80s.

 

Even the start up R* logo makes me feel like I'm playing one of my old school Ataris I had years ago.

 

GTA IV is starting to feel nostalgic too abeit to a lesser extent. It just screams late 00s. From the Internet cafes, paranoia surrounding terrorism, Niko's blocky mobile phone that reminds me of the first Nokia I had in 2003.

 

I've never been to NYC before, but GTA IV also gives off some old time vibes with the graffiti covered subway trains and such.

 

It's a different kind of nostalgic feeling to Vice City though as Vice City was an intentional period piece. With GTA IV as it nears a decade old it becomes more nostalgic each year that passes IMO.

[Femme Fatale]

Playing VC makes me wish that I was born in the 80s, cool music n stuff.

[--Vega--]

Absolutely.

 

 

San Andreas managed to NAIL the early 90s vibe perfectly. Los Santos and Las Venturas both scream 90s and San Fierro feels like a detached 90s deep house vibe.

 

 

Vice City and to a lesser extent, VCS, got the 80s perfectly. And like you said, LCS has that 1998-1999 vibe going on. The rap radio can really make it hit home, and will induce instant nostalgia on me.

[LincolnClay]

I grew up in the late 90's/early 2000's so the earliest games in the series give me some of that nostalgia. The good ole 3D Universe. Fun times.

 

Edit: That soundtrack though.

Edited January 2, 2017 by TheGamingPr025

[DimitriFaustin]

I can say a resounding "yes" to this question, though the games also speak lengths about when they were made as well as the eras of time they were set in.

For example, GTA 3 perfectly captured the moods of 2001 (especially the "9/11 just happened" vibe), and GTA 4 truly feels like a time warp to 2008.

As much as Vice City was the 1980s, I felt a big part of the atmosphere of that game resonated with 2002/2003, with the 2000s MTV teen culture back then.

I can't put my finger on it, but something about Vice City related to the year it was made.

GTA 2 nails the pessimistic representations of the future from viewpoints held in the '70s, '80s, and '90s. My theory (although a different story) is that GTA 2 is set in a 2013

where Y2K happened, and Murphy's Law was in full force for the whole crapfest that would occur if it happened. GTA V also gets the 2010s on the spot.

[DOUGL4S1]

I imagine myself in 10 years playting GTA V like "Wow, remember when we used those old iPhones and Galaxys and stuff?" Kinda like I did with GTA IV.

[Jimmy]

Vice City makes me wonder how it'd have been to live in 80s. I always think that the setting was perfect. The cleanliness of the atmosphere, the bright Sunshine, the Miami Beach and a time when there weren't any Computers, Mobile or any advanced technology. It was all retro. Makes me imagine how people lived life those days.

 

The only thing that hasn't changed in decades is the crime and Rockstar does a great job at portraying them in-game.

[GTA-Biker]

Yes.While some GTA games like VCS, VC and SA make me interested about the times before I was even born,others like LCS, GTA 3, GTA 4 and EFLC remind me of the times I lived in and make me feel nostalgic about my own childhood.From the references about the early internet as something new and exotic in LCS,to the cars from the 90s and early 2000s (similar to the cars I remember seeing when I was a kid) in LCS and GTA 3,to cars from the 2000s and Niko's mid 2000s cellphone in GTA 4.

GTA games also remind me of the times I played those games,so despite not being alive in the 80s,that decade makes me nostalgic about the time I first played VC as a kid and VCS as a teenager.

[--Vega--]

Yes.While some GTA games like VCS, VC and SA make me interested about the times before I was even born,others like LCS, GTA 3, GTA 4 and EFLC remind me of the times I lived in and make me feel nostalgic about my own childhood.From the references about the early internet as something new and exotic in LCS,to the cars from the 90s and early 2000s (similar to the cars I remember seeing when I was a kid) in LCS and GTA 3,to cars from the 2000s and Niko's mid 2000s cellphone in GTA 4.

GTA games also remind me of the times I played those games,so despite not being alive in the 80s,that decade makes me nostalgic about the time I first played VC as a kid and VCS as a teenager.

Those cars in LCS are like a literal timewarp to the late 90s. Pretty amazing how a game can capture a vibe/feeling that well.

[SmokesWithCigs]

what if you weren't around in certain time periods how can you be nostalgic? red dead redemption, mafia series, gta vice ,city ,vice city stories or san andreas. some of us on this site weren't around during the 80's or were in diapers during the early 90's

[Mister Pink]

....GTA IV is starting to feel nostalgic too abeit to a lesser extent. It just screams late 00s. From the Internet cafes, paranoia surrounding terrorism, Niko's blocky mobile phone that reminds me of the first Nokia I had in 2003.

 

I've never been to NYC before, but GTA IV also gives off some old time vibes with the graffiti covered subway trains and such.

 

It's a different kind of nostalgic feeling to Vice City though as Vice City was an intentional period piece. With GTA IV as it nears a decade old it becomes more nostalgic each year that passes IMO.

 

I often wondered if that's something Rockstar thought about when creating current-day GTA's. Did they know or imagine about future people playing these games a a sort of satirical time capsule that portrays a little slice of life back then. I certainly thought about it playing IV and I always like the period pieces from GTA but I felt Rockstar almost wanted to do something contemporary so we can look back on it with real nostalgia.

 

But yeah, III (internet cafes) and IV make me nostalgic and even San Andreas. San Andreas because even though I hated gangsta culture when I was growing up, I learned to like it as an adult for what it is and it kind of clicked with me and I understood it better.

Edited January 2, 2017 by Mister Pink

[ViceBoy69]

I was born in 69, so im a true eighties kid, ViceCity takes me back, i used to listen to a lot of the songs, so i sing along when im playing the game. This is why its my favourite of all GTA's

[Yinepi]

GTA4 make me most nostalgic. The music and the obsession with terrorism and the ugly square phone that looks like one of first 'smartphones' to come out ... it reminds of 2007/8 era when X360 and PS3 were greatest thing since slice bread and how most people did not own GTA4 yet but drooled over its graphics.

[SodaDog]

Even though I wasn't a 90s kid, Liberty City Stories actually managed to have the best late 90s vibe.

[Dementia]

To me, it's that old and good 80s & 90s vibe or die.

[[...]]

Even though I'm a 2000s kid (born in '98), VC & VCS make me nostalgic, especially the soundtracks and environment.

 

If Rockstar wanted to make a GTA that would be really nostalgic to me, it should've been set in the mid 2000s.

[Colonel _Cortez]

GTA 3 feels nostalgic. Libertycity reminds me of my childhood. I didn't grew up in NY, but also in a city which was always dark, rainy and cloudy and i lived in a urban area with lots of block of flats.

[Maibatsu545]

Yes, definitely. They are their own little enclosed worlds that will never change, places we can always go to like a living museum of memories.. My life and my world may have changed since the early 2000s, but as soon as I turn on GTAIII im instantly transported to the fall of 2001/winter of '02. Same thing with Vice City, and the rest. I can always remember where I was and what I was doing when I replay these games' intro missions

[EvilEmperorZoRG]

I'd say it makes me more nostalgic about the times I played those games... Hell even the sound of the menu in Vice City can make me nostalgic about the old days. It only happens with video games actually. The moment I look at the cover of Vice City I'm filled with nostalgia and memories lol. Recently a cousin who is 10 or so tried to play Vice City on my PC and he got tired of it after 2 minutes : P. I was like how could he? Wonder if he will feel the same nostalgia with GTA V as we do with 3D era GTAs.

 

edit: Even the 80s songs in Vice City remind me of my early PS2 days when I first got Vice City (mid-late 2003 not sure).

Edited January 9, 2017 by EvilEmperorZoRG

[Indy007]

I'm asking if anyone else feels nostalgic for the eras about some GTA games set in the past. Sometimes when I play LCS I get reminded of growing up in the late 90's/early 2000's. Especially the clothes and hairstyles of the pedestrians. And some of the music on Head Radio or whatever sounded like the stuff they played in stores back then and it makes me warm and fuzzy. Does anyone else feel the same or just me?

 

I remember when Vice City first came out in 2002 and how my brother and I used to play it. He introduced the GTA games to me and when I watch the cutscenes of Vice City on YouTube I get a feeling of nostalgia. Good times!

[--Vega--]

I'd say it makes me more nostalgic about the times I played those games... Hell even the sound of the menu in Vice City can make me nostalgic about the old days. It only happens with video games actually. The moment I look at the cover of Vice City I'm filled with nostalgia and memories lol. Recently a cousin who is 10 or so tried to play Vice City on my PC and he got tired of it after 2 minutes : P. I was like how could he? Wonder if he will feel the same nostalgia with GTA V as we do with 3D era GTAs.

 

edit: Even the 80s songs in Vice City remind me of my early PS2 days when I first got Vice City (mid-late 2003 not sure).

The background 'elevator music' in the mall in Vice City is an instant HUGE nostalgia trigger for me. Immediately brings me back to 2002.

[GTA-Biker]

what if you weren't around in certain time periods how can you be nostalgic? red dead redemption, mafia series, gta vice ,city ,vice city stories or san andreas. some of us on this site weren't around during the 80's or were in diapers during the early 90's

I'd say,it's not really that those games can make you nostalgic for times you weren't alive yet,but it's kind of the opposite,thinking about those times later reminds you of the games set in them,making you nostalgic about the time when you played them.

[woggleman]

I am too young to remember the 80s too much but San Andreas makes me miss the 90s.