Anyone feel that San Andreas was a better representation of L.A?

[tigertoddy2008]

It really had that feel of a place where it's always sunny and warm, but V looks more like Chicago in Watch Dogs.  While the graphics are overall more realistic, it just doesn't feel the same.

[R3CON]

People have been asking this for years now. You'll find various perspectives on the question in older threads on the site. 

 

 

wrong link

 

Please use the search feature

 

Edited June 16, 2018 by R3CON
Tried to delete a link, but somehow couldn't because new site, then put a spoiler over it which then absorbed the link below it. Such a clusterf*ck

[Sanches]

SA and V represent different eras of LA. Maybe a gangsters' one settled in your head instead of crazed heisters'.

[Pocket Fox]

Ummm... GTA V is a tonne more realistic version of LA.

 

Shown pics of LA, I know them from their GTA V representation. SA, nowhere near.

[Nyamber]

GTA 5 rains WAY too much. Other than that, modern Los Santos is more accurate.

Edited June 16, 2018 by irish.chr

[CosmicBuffalo]

Yeah, when I see the maze bank in movies I know where I am?   Many times I will be watching movies and think have I been there? No, just L.S.

[REXX]

Lets put it this way;

 

If I went to LA after playing San Andreas, I'd get lost.

 

If I went to LA after playing V/Online, I could at least familiarize myself slightly.

Edited June 16, 2018 by REXX

[lll-H-I-M-lll]

San andreas was just a better game, personally for myself the best game ever made

[Nyamber]

3 minutes ago, HARBUJAHN said:

San andreas was just a better game, personally for myself the best game ever made

I can agree with this. I played it for a while during the great property purge of 2018 and had a blast.

[kcole4001]

I think they did a pretty good job.

There are a lot of neighborhoods made specifically for game play, but overall you get a good feel for the city.

 

Watch TV series made in LA and you'l recognize a lot of places.

In movies you often only get a brief glimpse, but a series tends to revisit locales.

A very good example is Bosch (3 season detective series, highly recommend).

You'll be saying to yourself "hey, I know that spot" a lot more than you'd think, and the game locales are quite accurate for the most part.

 

It is an impressive piece of work, I must say, one of the reasons I keep playing.

SA did have a few features I thought should have been included in V, still could if they wanted to.

 

Edited June 16, 2018 by kcole4001

[Officer Ronson]

san andreas lacks the city seal plastered everywhere 

[AboveAndBeyoncé]

I feel as though San Andreas tried to capture the feel of a 90s L.A. And I only believe people say San Andreas was better cause the map was more vast in the sense you wasn't just confined to Los Santos and a desert side.... But in my opinion GTAV represents L.A. better

[joel15cat]

Yes. I was very disappointed that they forgot to make the Gas Company Tower.
I love this skyscraper.

 

[Ice_cold2016]

Yup. GTA San Andreas 2004 wasn't just the best map, it was the best game ever created.

 

I've never been to L.A. However, GTA is a British parody of American culture. Dan and Sam Houser said they get their influences from American and British TV they had watched in 70's, 80's and 90's. GTA San Andreas was set in the early 90s. I was around in the 80's and 90's and used to watch all those same TV shows that Dan and Sam took inspiration from. So i got all the references and easter eggs and get where they all came from and what they meant. And because i'm British i get all the British refrences, hidden British humour splashed across GTA's maps etc. San Andreas had a lot of it. That's one of the things i love about GTA being a Brit. Because GTA games are a British parody of American culture there is alot of GTA games that only Brits will understand as not everyone get's British humour, slang, sayings, view on American culture etc. So i feel for us Brits we get more out of GTA than other countries. I haven't been to L.A but i fully understand the British parody version of L.A.

 

I also loved the soundtrack and think it was the best yet and helped make the San Andreas world what it was. Also cool how the game felt so nostalgic on release in 2004 as it was set in the early 90's. It took me back to my childhood.

[Pistol Bobcat]

To me, San Andreas at least felt like a more thought out yet also light hearted depiction, but that may also be thanks to the early 90s setting which took so many cues and paid homage to classics like boyz in the hood, menace ii society and the dawn of gangster rap. 

 

Gta V/Onlines map is stunning beyond belief, and has proven to be a playground we're still not tired of playing in, but from a writing standpoint. The 2013 HD Los Santos is often a  parody gone simply too far, the dialogue, commercials and overall characterisatiohn is stuck on a loop playing the same over exaggerated jokes over and over, it's always either "look at all the plastic people lololol" or "this city loves enemas, haha", or "Hipsters! Hipsters everywhere! So alternative, much snob, much elitist". And I hate how Lazlow has gone from the most likeable talk show host ever in GTA 3 to the pitiful creep in V, it felt like rockstar was not even laughing at LA, but trying to point out a problem.

 

San Andreas had its share of political satire too, but it wasn't forced down your throat every 5 minutes and it didn't fall into the story, San andreas was another epic rags to riches that took us across the whole state.

[HaIfricanHammer]

I loved the highway/freeway system on GTA SA, parts of that look, and feel like Southern California still to this date. 

[Slam_Jones]

As someone who actually lives near L.A., V is a lot more accurate.

 

I'll put it this way: my dad (who has lived in/around LA for 40 years) was able to recognize the hills in the game and correspond that to real hills in the L.A. area.

 

GTA V is more accurate, no doubt.

[Laker23]

V's map is by far a more accurate representation of Los Angeles, regardless of what the 'better' map is, which this topic will turn into soon enough.

[DangerZ0neX]

You mean Southern California?

 

Compared to GTA V, definitely, but this generation has a more accurate Los Angeles and the mishmash of counties outside of it into Blaine County.

[deadx23]

Well I live on la and gtav is much more la than sa from what I see...

 

Edited June 16, 2018 by deadx23
I gots pictures :D

[D9fred95]

Too bad V's LS is missing basic landmarks that even SA had, Union Station, etc.

[Nutduster]

15 minutes ago, D9fred95 said:

Too bad V's LS is missing basic landmarks that even SA had, Union Station, etc.

 

But they included a bunch of others that SA lacked.

 

I think the V map is almost inarguably better and more detailed. But the SA map maybe did a better job with the hood areas around Grove St (it needed to since that was the heart of the game), and it had more atmosphere. They really pushed that smoggy orange filter vibe until it was unrealistic but sucked you right in, almost like a 90s West Coast rap video. V's San Andreas looks a lot more real but doesn't transport you quite so much, IMO.

[kcole4001]

The sunny days in V are usually much cleaner/clearer.

More like weather out in the country.

Can't say I miss the virtual smog.

Edited June 16, 2018 by kcole4001

[PrisonerOfEarth]

1 hour ago, D9fred95 said:

Too bad V's LS is missing basic landmarks that even SA had, Union Station, etc.

Yeah I was kinda upset when I 1st played V back in 2013 and didn’t see the LS version of the LA Convention Center.

[Sanches]

By the way. When me and my friend went for a trip to LA (Google Maps) we actually got lost. GTA V didn't help...

[HOONART]

I visited LA in September of 2013, mostly the Thousand Oaks and Malibu area with some driving on PCH. I didn't get the game right on release day, but later that year. Anyways, I was blown away how close the resemblance was.

Edited June 16, 2018 by HOONART

[Bloodytears1666]

2 hours ago, deadx23 said:

Well I live on la and gtav is much more la than sa from what I see...

Lol, how do you live there, expect crazy guy on Kuruma with sticky bomb anytime. 

Edited June 16, 2018 by Bloodytears1666

[FlacidJack]

GTA SA was like a real steak imo

GTAV is like pre-packaged meats slapped together with meatglue to make it look even more grandiose and delicious ...but in the end it's no realistic steak.

 

Sorry can't answer the actual question I've never been to LA

 

22 minutes ago, Bloodytears1666 said:

Lol, how do you live there, expect crazy guy on Kuruma with sticky bomb anytime. 

I doubt he's scared, crazy guy can't throw stickies from a Kuruma anyway

Edited June 16, 2018 by FlacidJack

[Nutduster]

16 minutes ago, FlacidJack said:

GTA SA was like a real steak imo

GTAV is like pre-packaged meats slapped together with meatglue to make it look even more grandiose and delicious ...but in the end it's no realistic steak.

 

 

I gotta say, I really don't get the hate on V.  It's a quality game that clearly a ton of effort went into, and quite a lot of the best parts of San Andreas were brought into it and updated.  Even the heists were an updated, more complex spin on the casino robbery quests in SA.  I think the very mixed feelings people have about Online tended to rub off on V; I bet it would be remembered pretty differently if it didn't even have multiplayer.

[Bloodytears1666]

24 minutes ago, FlacidJack said:

I doubt he's scared, crazy guy can't throw stickies from a Kuruma anyway

He can put it on front bumper instead and bail. 

Edited June 16, 2018 by Bloodytears1666