I'm in always need of money

[Cjrememberthat]

Even after the f*ckin heist with packie, he still kept sayin he needed money, i want to make this clean, niko didn't buy sh*t other than a few suits, how exactly was a thing needing money from his perspective? Or was he f*ckin with the people when he said he needed money? , or my last toughts are he's someone else we never saw in the game, he has another life in clubs and everywhere no one knows, which one do you think it is?

[santosvagos]

Because Niko wants to retire . He doesn't want  to be a hitmen for rest of his life so he will need a lot of money to settle down and pay off all Roman's debts . 

[billiejoearmstrong8]

Even though nothing really happens to your money in game (aside from spending on weapons/ammo and hospital bills, which aren't cheap) from a story perspective it's implied that Niko's supporting himself and Roman as well as regularly paying off Roman's gambling debts. With that many apartments and other living expenses and the amount of debt Roman's in, and no other regular job/source of income, he would need the money.

 

But also I think part of it is he convinces himself he has to do it for the money because of the guilt he feels for the wrong he does. His conscience weighs on him heavily throughout the game and he wants to justify his actions to others and to himself. He keeps carrying on with it because it's all he knows, and it's easier if he keeps repeating that he has to do it because he needs the money than to fully confront what he's doing or stop. A lot of what he does is out of necessity (needing money, trying to find Darko, getting Roman out of trouble, getting blackmailed) but not all of it is, and he's somewhat in denial about that.

Edited June 5, 2019 by billiejoearmstrong8

[TheSantader25]

This is one of the problems within the game. Other than revenge, the "America Dream" was another theme that the game was trying to replicate. It was advertised by R* before release as well. But the fact that the game really doesn't show you any progress other than a couple of given apartments really ruins this theme for me.

 

One of the points of the story is that the American Dream is a lie but IMO this point was poorly executed by R*. On the other hand they did capture the Revenge and Emptiness theme pretty well. 

 

And still we didn't get to see Stephanie and Barbara and instead we get to date a bunch of weird girls. 

Edited June 5, 2019 by TheSantader25

[gooeyhole]

Roman buys a luxury apartment and new cab depot with Escalades. It ain't cheap.

Edited June 6, 2019 by Mr_Rager

[santosvagos]

19 hours ago, billiejoearmstrong8 said:

But also I think part of it is he convinces himself he has to do it for the money because of the guilt he feels for the wrong he does. His conscience weighs on him heavily throughout the game and he wants to justify his actions to others and to himself. He keeps carrying on with it because it's all he knows, and it's easier if he keeps repeating that he has to do it because he needs the money than to fully confront what he's doing or stop. A lot of what he does is out of necessity (needing money, trying to find Darko, getting Roman out of trouble, getting blackmailed) but not all of it is, and he's somewhat in denial about that.

Nah , i don't think so . Later on , he made his price before killing but somehow , Niko reminds me of Claude . the man willing to do anything to get what he wants .

[billiejoearmstrong8]

On 6/6/2019 at 11:14 AM, santosvagos said:

Nah , i don't think so . Later on , he made his price before killing but somehow , Niko reminds me of Claude . the man willing to do anything to get what he wants .

The difference with Niko is he's a lot more self aware than most other GTA protagonists, he knows what he does is morally wrong and struggles with it. Focusing on "I need the money", "there's nothing else I know how to do" and being cold about setting his price and it just being a job is a denial tactic with him. He tries to switch off his emotion and guilt but he can't fully, you see time and again through the game how emotionally troubled he is about the bad things he does. On one hand he is able to switch off enough to be a hitman and at times truly believes there's nothing else he can do, mostly due to his violent and traumatic past, but on the other hand deep down he still wants to be a decent human being and live a better lifestyle. 

 

It's why there's kill or spare choices in the game. If he was just cold and all business the choice to spare random people he's been asked to kill, or spare someone who greatly wronged him, or to decide to kill the guy who asked him to kill someone instead of following their orders for moral reasons (when he doesn't even gain anything for sparing people) wouldn't need to be there because he'd just go ahead and kill them all no problem. But because he's morally conflicted it isn't as simple as that for Niko. And that's why you see him repeat how it's all about needing money even when it isn't strictly true, he tries to justify his actions to himself. He is willing to do anything to get what he wants, but unlike other GTA protagonists he has a heavy conscience and doesn't necessarily feel good about doing it.

 

 

Edited June 8, 2019 by billiejoearmstrong8

[Eugene H. Krabs]

This quote from Niko does a good job at summing up why he needs cash:

 

"Because I can't do anything else, and because I'm good at it."

 

As for what he spends his money on, there's also this:

 

"I kill and steal to scrap together a living so that my cousin can fritter it away online and pay off debts."

[Algonquin Assassin]

On ‎6‎/‎6‎/‎2019 at 11:16 PM, billiejoearmstrong8 said:

The difference with Niko is he's a lot more self aware than most other GTA protagonists, he knows what he does is morally wrong and struggles with it. Focusing on "I need the money", "there's nothing else I know how to do" and being cold about setting his price and it just being a job is a denial tactic with him. He tries to switch off his emotion and guilt but he can't fully, you see time and again through the game how emotionally troubled he is about the bad things he does. On one hand he is able to switch off enough to be a hitman and at times truly believes there's nothing else he can do, mostly due to his violent and traumatic past, but on the other hand deep down he still wants to be a decent human being and live a better lifestyle. 

 

It's why there's kill or spare choices in the game. If he was just cold and all business the choice to spare random people he's been asked to kill, or spare someone who greatly wronged him, or to decide to kill the guy who asked him to kill someone instead of following their orders for moral reasons (when he doesn't even gain anything for sparing people) wouldn't need to be there because he'd just go ahead and kill them all no problem. But because he's morally conflicted it isn't as simple as that for Niko. And that's why you see him repeat how it's all about needing money even when it isn't strictly true, he tries to justify his actions to himself. He is willing to do anything to get what he wants, but unlike other GTA protagonists he has a heavy conscience and doesn't necessarily feel good about doing it.

 

 

I quite like this analysis as it goes deeper than the typical explanation. 

 

Whilst I would've liked some more things to buy I think it would've clashed too much with what the story was selling. Imagine Niko getting up in Roman's face for blowing all of his money on gambling yet in the meantime he's (Niko's) spending it on modifying cars, buying apartments etc? It would've been silly IMO.

 

Anyway all that's missing is the physical nature of paying off Roman's debts since it's never specified how much Roman owes, but I like how you describe Niko using money as a way of focus or sense of justification to filter out what he's doing. 

[tranceking26]

I earned $800,000 in 100% ing IV so they can live just fine from that. It was over a million but them damn cops kept killing me during the 200 pigeons part.

 

I reckon Niko just became a taxi driver or maybe just started fresh out of work for a while. Life got pretty intense for a long period of time so he would have certainly needed a break.