[Nostalgia] How would you explain how GTAO was back in the days to a newcomer?

[Bruce Khansey]

In Soylent Green, Charlton Heston lives in a dystopian world along with Edward G. Robinson, an older man who saw how the world was like before pollution, global warming and economic crysis completely ruined it.

 

In the same way, many GTAO newcomers (like me) play this game and have fun with it, but also hear now and then that this game is "not how it was in 2013", for example.

 

So: how would you describe how this game was back then? Why was it so much better than now?

 

 

Ps: yes, I like over-the-top analogies.

Edited November 6, 2017 by Bruce Khansey

[Rafae]

"We all used to hold hands and prance around Los Santos together. There was no fighting, no guns no stressing about money, none of that. Life was good."

[whywontyoulisten]

[M*A*R*I*N*A]

It was actually exciting. You had to actually try, rewards took effort. Nowadays everything is handed to you on a silver platter just as long as you can afford it...

[CrysisAverted]

You could do missions on repeat without some convoluted steps and make enough money to own everything in the game real quickly

 

 

pink shaded spectacles?

Edited November 6, 2017 by CrysisAverted

[novesori]

There was much less to do, but somehow I managed to spend more time in the game than I do now. Strange.

[elfoam]

How the game was? you mean Rooftop rumble with some other crap no body ever bother with . And it was GREAT~!. After a few thousands trips up the hill you got to upgrade to a car that could make the trip even faster!.

[Rafae]

pink shaded spectacles?

You know the saying.. looking at the past with rose tinted glasses

 

i.e it wasn't as jolly as everyone cracks it up to be lol

[lll-H-I-M-lll]

Everybody had a dunce hat and bounty's were a much higher payout, strange things used too happen as well like random explosions and spontaneous combustion

 

This was my early life

[M*A*R*I*N*A]

9k race betting = instamoney

Edited November 6, 2017 by N R G

[Sanches]

GTA O was some kind of a crook simulator.
And now it's an absurd simulator.

[Sky_Light12]

getting spawnkilled by two griefers wielding stickies and sniper while being lv 9 & busy banking a pocket money until realizing there is a bomb in back of a car (just barely manage avoided it not before he killed me with automatic weapons)

[Lonely-Martin]

The game back then was creative, and rewarding... The grind wasn't a thing in 2013... No-one knew nothing yet, lol...

 

You could earn money, but the games economy hadn't suffered by the pressing of shark cards straight away, nor the very expensive additions, like a yacht or something. So those that bought a $8m card were in a great position, I'd even say it was good value and ideal for part time players to buy them... It was far from a perfect game, but it offered everyone a fair shot back then. You could afford the important things, and had money for toys, and stuff wasn't over-priced... Freeing players up to play the game modes they wanted and start saving their cash for any potential additions R* might add...

 

To start with too, the DLC's were not expensive, sh*t, some were free. Players again weren't copmpelled to choose things they least prefer to do in order to catch up/keep up... Worse, remain balanced these days (Yep, more bunker digs, lol).

 

Was it peaceful... Hell no... But it had choice to all of it... EVERYTHING was available to all. PvE players could use solo/invite/crew sessions to access EVERYTHING in the game. Plus being able to use those lobbies, it meant if cheats and glitchers were around, you had ways to avoid them, without losing out on anything the game does offer...

 

Equally, PvP guys had the freemode happenings to keep them going too, the crates and security vans etc. So players, like me, that likes to mix it up meant I could choose the days/sessions I'd like to fight or play... It was a very flexible game... IMO, of late, far too much concentration on one style.

 

Racing meant something!... That is as simple as it can get in this regard. Worlds apart. Things to unlock too, progression meant more (to me, I feel many too), so stuff like 50 stunt jumps/Lime green or sea and air races, rallies!!!... Were all easier to find others to play with, friends or randoms... It just was easier to pick more of anything really... Go on call, jobs popped up rapidly for a good while... Now most of these, and more are very dead... PvE and PvP thrived through players being able to take their pick... Now things are different... So many things just not played much these days, the bigger it got, the worse the matchmaking got too...

 

Plus, in 2013, we were promised heists and story DLC... So going by the logic of selling the game from then to those now, there was just so much to look forward to through what was promised/offered... Granted, I'm disappointed story DLC didn't pan out, but for sure GTA:O took off big time in ways none of us could have known...

 

The next GTA is easy to sell, just look what they did, and then think about the feedback over the years, and what's been in the series but didn't make it to GTA V, gyms etc... Man, the next game sells itself, lol... Like I've said to many I talk games with... just look at the history of GTA, look at their other games too... These guys rarely make a sh*t game...

 

Though I feel it's gone a bit wayward this year, in general, these guys make great stuff. And GTA V's unexpected success does bring with it a free pass as I feel they just 'winged it' in the end as no one knew the demand would be this strong this far in... I'm keen on GTA/RDR's futures, and just hope they simply get better and better.

 

Last one... NPC's could drive. Don't think I need to add to that one, lol.

[REXX]

Going up against insanely accurate AI with only a Pistol and a few hours of experience.

 

 

Gimme a pistol now and I'll wipe everything out!

 

And lets not forget about the crazy Sentinel and Stinger GT driver who would run us over after spawning from a job 80% of the time

Edited November 6, 2017 by REXX

[novesori]

Back when 10/20k money from races/missions were actually worth getting.

 

Or the Mechanic who used to bring us the car personally. I miss him, never understood the hate.

Edited November 6, 2017 by novesori

[Gettin up]

I dunno, did not play back then mostly because it was not available for PC. Started playing early 2016, a few months before FAFF update.

[Matrelith]

Speaking as someone who has played Online since October 2013, the game was a lot less structured back then, for better or worse. You didn't need millions of dollars just to enjoy the newest content, but at the same time there was a lot less to do in terms of activities and content. Online now has a lot more ways to make good money, while there used to be only a handful of missions which were worthwhile to grind for days on end (Rooftop Rumble, Coveted, Violent Duct). At the same time making money and grinding takes more of your time now because of how expensive everything has gotten, while a 16x Coveted playlist used to get you enough money to make some major purchases.

 

Then there are the smaller things that we take for granted now that weren't there when we first started playing. The clothing was a lot less varied back in 2013, resulting in a lot of people wearing the same stuff. You couldn't run in appartments, so quickly changing your outfits took forever. You couldn't swap the order of your cars in your garage, so if you didn't like the order they were in, you were SOL. You only had room for 10 cars max so you had to be smart about which cars you wanted to keep. The mechanic was an actual NPC, and stubborn one at that; more than once he'll drive up to you, wait for you to walk over, then drive off again (WITH YOUR CAR!). I could go on.

 

The game was a lot less polished four years ago, but that was kind of its charm. Nowadays people spend pretty much all their time grinding for the almighty dollar and getting frustrated when things don't work out in that aspect (''I got blown up by a f*cking jet griefer AGAIN!''), whereas four years ago the game was more centered around fun. Don't get me wrong, that aspect is still present in the game (at least for me), but it's been buried under layers of crate missions, selling missions, grinding, million dollars of cars, annoying NPC's calling you to buy those bunkers and hangars, etc. over the years.

Edited November 6, 2017 by Matrelith

[novesori]

You could grief with your tank all day long and noone could do anything against it. The only way was to steal a Lazer which took forever because you had to drive to Fort Z and steal it, often not worth the time.

[IamCourtney]

It was the best of times,

it was the worst of times,

it was the age of wisdom,

it was the age of foolishness,

it was the epoch of belief,

it was the epoch of incredulity,

it was the season of Light,

it was the season of Darkness,

it was the spring of hope,

it was the winter of despair,

we had everything before us,

we had nothing before us,

we were all going direct to Heaven,

we were all going direct the other way

 

In short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.

Edited November 6, 2017 by IamCourtney

[PwnageSoldier]

Bunkers didn't exist and there wasn't any troll snipers.

All of the land that the light touched used to be his, but they f*cked it up like usual.

Edited November 6, 2017 by PwnageSoldier

[Geisterfaust]

Xbox 360, low fps and being stuck at intro race. Rooftop rumble for 25k in 3 mins, getting 2x reward for completing contact mission for the first time. Cash trucks, crate drops and Rhino/ Lazer without radar blips. Billionaire era and DNS hacks.

Edited November 6, 2017 by hei3enberg

[Killer Whale]

"I remember people used to play a contact mission. Yup, a contact mission. Those used to give you lots of money. There was one called Rooftop Rumble, and people used to exploit it by completing it in 20 seconds, and replay it instantly. I also remember having difficulty making money to buy an apartment. laughs It's funny because it was really hard to make $400,000. Oh, oh... I almost forgot about a lot of chrome Adders cruising around the city. Ugly as f*ck, but hilarious to look at. Eyup, those were the days."

[Arrows to Athens]

Everything made sense.

[StangOne50]

Rooftop Rumble.

[Mach1bud]

You could only own 10 cars.

 

It was a horrible time.

[HaIfricanHammer]

We use to rob liquor stores, get griefed by a reversing Zentorno, and do missions for Gerald.

It was the pits. Literally the pits.

[G U M M I]

From *my* first days ( not 2013)

 

I remember how you could drive through the streets in your drop top without worrying about a homing missile flying up your exhaust pipe. Back when everything was still balanced, the most powerful weapon was the musket, and people drove reversed zentornos, shooting at people who couldn't defend themselves. Back then, shark cards actually were/could have been worth it. Having $1 million dollars, and an Adder, almost made me feel finished with the game. Grinding contact missions, those were the good old days.

 

Then there was heists, when it first came out, believe me, the servers went ape sh*t, and if you couldn't get one done with a group of sh*t heads, there were thousands more launching that same job. Invites were off the chain. Now its a wasteland kind of.

 

It was a lot better before the rest of that copied CEO sh*t. CEO was a nice touch, but should have been the only mode built the way it is. Biker, Gunrunner, all of that? Should have differed way more from each other than just a title and a new location. Now its lazy updates, all revolving around putting more money in the greedy pockets of the guys who made a billion f*cking dollars off this game. But I forget, Rockstar is pimped by T2, so I can only speculate where it all went.

 

Still, it was just like yesterday. It'd be hell to start the game from this point.

[Smooth Longsack]

Jets would fly unimpeded for an hour or more, killing everybody! Is that the kind of world you want?!!!

[Arrows to Athens]

Jets would fly unimpeded for an hour or more, killing everybody! Is that the kind of world you want?!!!

Still happens.

[.Diana McFarland.]

I'd start a campfire.

 

and it would be nightime.

 

and We would gather 'round, and i would tell them countless horror stories of the most terrifying Thing in GTA back in the day.

 

The Rhino Tank.