Did you think the friendship system was good or bad?

[EtherTakeover]

A lot of people really didnt like the friendship system of GTA IV,but in my opinion it was one of those amazing features that made GTA IV stand out among the other GTAs.

[Algonquin Assassin]

Most underrated feature in the series IMO. I've been wanting to hang out friends/girlfriends since Vice City. The girlfrirnds in San Andreas were ok, but you couldn't do much with them and their dialogue was boring and robotic.

 

Not only in GTA IV you can pretty much do everything with then you can do by yourself it's also a great character builder and you get more depth from the dialogue exchange than just from the story alone.

 

It's a great feature that makes GTA IV feel less lonely than its predecessors.

[Femme Fatale]

I loved it, I don't know why people hate it.

[Tycek]

I think it was great feature that added a lot to GTA IV, as not only you could engage in nicely done mini games (bowling or pool), spend time having great time (drinking and watching shows), but also learn a lot about backstory of certain characters. And there were of course perks waiting for you at certain levels of friendship.

 

I would really love to see the feature to be back in its full glory, instead of the handicapped system from V.

[Lemoyne outlaw]

yea it was really fun. i liked it a lot. i didint even mind being called either. the only downside is that you cant hang out with people at the same time. i would love to have roman and jacob go bowling. or brucie with roman. or others. that would have been fun.

[Titabafon]

Hey if some gta5 fan boy was here u would know what will happen especially to Algonquin assassin bro

If some gta5 fan boy was here u would have gotten his sh*t concerning this thread especially to Algonquin assassin

[TheOriginalGunslinger]

It was alright. Some people do overreact a bit when it comes to the phone call aspect of it. You don't get phone calls constantly as some mention it. A bit over dramatic don't you think? The whole "Roman only wanting to go bowling" is too much played out. In my GTA IV he actually wants to go play darts or go to the strip club more than bowling most of the time.

 

If you get annoyed by Roman or any current friend in your contacts just invite them to any activity > pick them up > drive to the safe house in Bohan > go across the street to the apartment building that's right in front of the safe house > head upstairs to the roof > be the first one on the roof and watch your friend fall off the building and have a good laugh.

Edited August 14, 2017 by TheOriginalGunslinger

[Lancerator]

It's like "What am I gonna do now? I 100%'ed this game. Nothing left to do here.".

 

It's a perfect feature whoose dialogues are updatable troughout you go completing the storyline, I always wondered what could the friendship feature could look like once you've killed Big Smoke in San Andreas or before The Green Sabre events.

[AuSsIeThUnDeR36]

The only thing I didn't like about the friend thing was if you get called and didn't want to go on an outing you have to accept then they are on the other side of town and you have only an hour to get to them. So your only option is to taxi trip skip or call them back to cancel plans.

My fun thing to do with girlfriends is play pool with them at the Playboy X safehouse.

It was a well executed game mechanic but they should have called less so you are encouraged to call them yourself.

[chronic lumbago]

I think it's a pretty neat system and it's a shame GTAV dumbed it down so much. Every single friend and girlfriend is interesting to hang around with. Even though I maxed out everyone before and saw what each friend has to offer, I still do them over again on my new playthrough. I'm early in the game and Michelle already doesn't have anything new to say and I went with Roman about 5 times on a date.

 

It's kind of addicting to do them between missions. Minigames are fun to do with friends and when you're in a rush, you can just quickly drop by a diner.

[MattedSpam]

For me it was a great feature...It allowed me to get to know the characters more...Good post.

[The Time Ranger]

I liked it, Niko's friends were fleshed out characters with lots of dialogue so things never felt stale. Hanging out with them doing normal fun activities such as bowling and drinking was a welcome reprieve from Niko's grim life of crime. It adds another dimension to the characters seeing them engage in normal activities, just hanging out. During this time they could pass for ordinary civilians.

 

Brucie is the funniest with the best lines, some of the sh1t he says is just hilarious, Dwayne and Niko are kindred spirits who understand each other and can share their feelings and experiences knowing the other gets it. Jacob is a loyal friend who is chill af and always has Niko's back. Packie is a hothead but thinks highly of Niko, hoping that Niko will take Kate out. And last but not least kausin Roman, who above all is family, more of a brother than a cousin to Niko. And most importantly introduces Niko to the finest game of the American people, scrap that the finest game in the world, bowling!

[Good Hombre]

It was great, getting to know more about them and hearing their stories added more depth to the story and the characters. In V it was a step backward because they don't call you and the dialogues repeat a lot.

Edited August 19, 2017 by Good Hombre

[Piggsy pls]

The same people who complain about friends calling you in GTA IV, also play Online where contacts actually do call you every 5 mins to remind you of sh*t you don't care about.

[SmokesWithCigs]

the only bad thing about the friendship system was the phonecalls. the benefits made it worth it. speaking of which how do you dismiss dwaynes back up?

Edited August 15, 2017 by SmokesWithCigs

[gooeyhole]

Lots of worthwhile conversations to hear. Packie and Dwayne especially, Niko opens up around them. Dwayne mentions being poor and they compare lives. Packie talks about some serious abuse from his father iirc, actually difficult to listen to.

[chronic lumbago]

The same people who complain about friends calling you in GTA IV, also play Online where contacts actually do call you every 5 mins to remind you of sh*t you don't care about.

Lester completely spams the sh*t out of you, Malc and that Agent guy soon followed when their updates arrived.

[Algonquin Assassin]

the only bad thing about the friendship system was the phonecalls. the benefits made it worth it. speaking of which how do you dismiss dwaynes back up?

There isn't technically unless you die or get in a car and drive off before the thugs can get into it.

[gunziness]

I love it, the only thing I dont like is that once all the conversation lines are played, both characters will stay mute in future hang-outs. There should be two kinds of conversation types: story-related and random-chatter (its kinda like this already but still), the second type being repeated randomly once all lines are played.

[Piggsy pls]

 

the only bad thing about the friendship system was the phonecalls. the benefits made it worth it. speaking of which how do you dismiss dwaynes back up?

There isn't technically unless you die or get in a car and drive off before the thugs can get into it.Niko dismisses them himself after a certain while.

[B Dawg]

Idling too long will probably make them go away.

[Algonquin Assassin]

 

 

the only bad thing about the friendship system was the phonecalls. the benefits made it worth it. speaking of which how do you dismiss dwaynes back up?

There isn't technically unless you die or get in a car and drive off before the thugs can get into it.

Niko dismisses them himself after a certain while.

 

Oh hang on. Yeah you're right.

 

It would be better if there was a command to dismiss them though.

[The Rockstar Gamer 108]

It is really annoying when you are in Alderney and Roman calls you to say "Cousin, it's your cousin! Let's go out to eat."

And if you say no, or simply reject their calls, their friendship level will go down.

I never pay attention to those girlfriends. They are not so good in my opinion.

Edited August 17, 2017 by The American Army 1775

[Algonquin Assassin]

I love it, the only thing I dont like is that once all the conversation lines are played, both characters will stay mute in future hang-outs. There should be two kinds of conversation types: story-related and random-chatter (its kinda like this already but still), the second type being repeated randomly once all lines are played.

Despite my gripes with GTA V's the one thing it does really well is relaying story infomation/events during conversations. Makes it feels like the characters are still apart of the story and not just segregated in game play.

 

In GTA IV it's too vague or implied to be anything explicit. The closest we get is when Michelle asks what happened to Vlad. It's probably the only thing I'd change.

 

I'd love to hear Niko and Roman talk after what happened when they fled to Bohan or to Packie after TLC.

[The Time Ranger]

I like how after a first date you can call Roman and Niko will talk about the date with him, I learnt that here.

[Kyoto]

I liked the friends calling to hang out. It was a nice touch for people like me who start to ask "what do I do now?" after putting in 200+ hours into the game. It added some depth to the characters and their relationship with Niko... I think.

[Algonquin Assassin]

I liked the friends calling to hang out.

 

It might not be a popular opinion as such, but i didn't mind them calling. It added some relevance to the system rather than being something pushed to the side to be forgotten about.

[KonradGM]

Great feature, love the fact that you can interact with important characters outside of missions, wish it was in san andreas where i could hang out with sweet kendl etc who are living right next to me but i never see them... lol

 

slightly annoying when they call you at the worst time possible tough, thankfully both tlad and tbogt and V fixed it.

 

I don't get why they made less activities with friends in V, or at least limited the possibilities, in IV i think you could do everything with everyone

 

Also am i the only one who didn't mind friends calling you when the game released but during the more recent playtroughts got more annoyed by them? like i feel during my recent playtroughs they call at the worst possible times from all the years of playing this game

Edited August 18, 2017 by KonradGM

[X-Vector]

It's a nice feature, but could have been executed better.

 

Dates should have been player iniated rather than the reverse (with the occasional disgruntled call or text message if you really neglected your friends for a long period), there should have been an option for multiple activities during the same trip and the time window from call to pickup should have been extended by letting the player set the day and time.

I'd also liked to have seen a better approach to "getting lucky", where I'd have chosen to not go after sex on a first night out with for example Michelle and would have thus received a positive note from her rather than a thumbs down and a bad date notification (which doesn't make sense with her).

Then there's the amnesia factor, where you can ask an internet girlfriend out after being dumped by her and she won't have any recollection of Niko - I can see why Rockstar have chosen that approach, but it's still really jarring.

[Tycek]

Dates should have been player iniated rather than the reverse (with the occasional disgruntled call or text message if you really neglected your friends for a long period), there should have been an option for multiple activities during the same trip

Change regarding the first problem was already addressed with TLaD in which the friends were calling much rarer (I believe in my recent playthrough it happened once), and then it was up to the player if he wanted to call them.

 

You could actually complete three different activities while on one date.If you want to start another one just simply drive to another activity location. I was doing that many times, first hitting bowling alley with Roman, then getting something to eat and ending in the bar.