GTA Soapbox

[EkaSwede]

During the intro cutscene of "Wrong Side of the Tracks" I noticed something that explained something for me.

 

For the longest time I never understood why CJ threw a fit and screamed "Motherf*cker" to Pulaski when he said: "We're watching you, Carl." It felt like CJ decided to throw a fit for no reason.

 

Then when I replayed it on a higher resolution (look, my old 1979 television may not have had the best picture) I noticed that Pulaski actually threw a cigarette at CJ which caused his outburst. So that's why...

 

Still, the trajectory of the cigarette doesn't even come close to CJ so it still looks silly that an object that barely reached half way causes CJ to recoil. Mabe he has a cigarette stump phobia? Or he really hates littering.

Edited August 4, 2022 by EkaSwede

[String]

Found this on r/gta

 

GTA V today (Aug 9 2022) is now as old as what San Andreas was when GTA V was released (SA release date to V release date = V release date to today = 3248 days) 

 

We has the Stories games and IV era and Advance in the first duration

 

And GTA Trilogy: the Definite Edition and the ever expanding GTA Online in the second. 

[Carbonox]

I had this realization lately that if Vice City Stories somehow ever got a re-release, Rockstar are so far gone that they'd either purge all Phil Collins-related content entirely or charge us real money to view the concert.

[Guest]

6 hours ago, Carbonox said:

I had this realization lately that if Vice City Stories somehow ever got a re-release, Rockstar are so far gone that they'd either purge all Phil Collins-related content entirely or charge us real money to view the concert.

They would strip out all the radio stations completely and not even bother to get replacement music based on what I can see from here. It's just painful how R* has pretended to make it out as if some of their best games such as VCS, MH1, MH2, Bully and even The Warriors (never played the latter-most) have fallen off the grid and\or never existed to begin with.

 

Some kinda business tactics are at play here, I see, it's like they wanna capitalize (and most likely cheaply through the fukken GSG), but then they eventually realize that they can't upon weighting the pro(fit)s and cons(equences) together. The latter of which are bound to weigh higher than the former.

 

AFAIK there's been a huge changeover on the staff and most of their OG PS2-era staff is all long gone by now. I guess the new peeps simply just don't care about the past games and only focus on V, Online or VI.

Edited August 11, 2022 by H-G

[Carbonox]

There could be more of these that I just don't remember, but I got to thinking: in SA, two prominent missions that give you a wanted level after a successful completion are "Jizzy" and "Outrider", both Loco Syndicate missions. Could it be that this is the game's way to subtly showcase, even though CJ intends to screw them over to begin with, that the Locos are actually pretty bad bosses who regularly leave their associates to take the fall for operations and to fend for themselves with the law?

 

EDIT: On further recollection there's also Dam and Blast, but in that mission's defense it was actually CJ's own plan that just went wrong at the last moment.

Edited August 28, 2022 by Carbonox

[String]

It's so funny how so many people on here hate Michael. I've seen people hate him for being a snitch, hypocrite, whiner, few felt he was unimpressive for being punked by the yoga coach and now I saw a post saying Michael is more psychotic than Toni Cipriani .

 

I think its a good thing, memorable characters evoke strong reactions and not like Michael is a universally reviled character, I think in polls for favourite protagonist of the V trio Michael usually leads on here. I think Michael is a very interesting character and I find him likeable too (even his whining), seeing such strong reactions for his character makes me like him even more.

 

f*ck the 'criminal with a heart of gold' protagonist, more villainous protagonists please. Obviously no need to make them an irredeemable pos but a more villainous spin on the protag like Michael who most can still root for would be great.

Edited September 5, 2022 by AkshayKumar

[Adminsaredicks]

On 8/4/2022 at 12:14 PM, EkaSwede said:

During the intro cutscene of "Wrong Side of the Tracks" I noticed something that explained something for me.

 

For the longest time I never understood why CJ threw a fit and screamed "Motherf*cker" to Pulaski when he said: "We're watching you, Carl." It felt like CJ decided to throw a fit for no reason.

 

Then when I replayed it on a higher resolution (look, my old 1979 television may not have had the best picture) I noticed that Pulaski actually threw a cigarette at CJ which caused his outburst. So that's why...

 

Still, the trajectory of the cigarette doesn't even come close to CJ so it still looks silly that an object that barely reached half way causes CJ to recoil. Mabe he has a cigarette stump phobia? Or he really hates littering.

I dont know, but he once get hit by condom in ocean as kid.

 

 

[universetwisters]

Vic is literally like “wah wah wah I don’t wanna commit crimes” yet takes no attempt at going legit. Instead of buying out Marty’s brothel, he should’ve taken that money and opened up a Quiznos franchise instead

[ClimateLockdowns]

On 4/15/2021 at 1:55 AM, Guest said:

I've been replaying GTA 3 and I forgot how good the Radio stations are. It's making me consider pulling Vice City as my favourite, some of these tunes are bangers. Rise FM is amazing.

 

 

Late 90s early 2000s in UK everything sounded like this 

[E Revere]

Where do yous feel like the Vances are originally from? It's never stated. I don't mean DR either. I mean where they must have been living before the events of VCS. Lance's accent is hard to trace but Philip Michael Thomas is from Ohio, raised in Cali. I always got the feeling it was somewhere else in Florida, like one of those lesser known places on either coasts though I don't know intrastate flights exist in Florida, seeing as Lance arrives by plane.

[String]

@E Revere I say the Vances are from San Fierro. No real reason but I decided to go with a location we already have seen and of those, I feel like SF fits for some reason 

 

It feels like from GTA III onwards each location in the series kind of has a theme, atleast it seems that way to me intentional or not. 

 

Liberty City- street criminal life

Most protagonists in an LC based game never rise to a high profile, often not beyond street level despite doing a lot of wild things during the events of story. Notable exception being Huang. Luis too in a way though he was very much a street criminal before and got out of the life rather than rose through the ranks. 

 

 

Vice City- empire building

Both Tommy and Vic became kingpins of Vice. Though I think we will see something different if Vice returns. 

 

San Andreas- riches and glamour

Bit of a stretch lol but protagonists based here usually get super rich and influential by the end, having possibly various properties and mansions and starting their own businesses and the like. Also the SA based games feel more wilder/glamorous than the rest, they have you stealing jetbacks from army bases to robbing the richest bank in the world etc. 

[Pistol Bobcat]

I've alwyas found it funny how 8-Ball, such a likeable character in GTA III who sees jobs through for a good reason is totally chill about his role in blowing up an entire city block in LCS.

 

[Guest]

Non-GTA IV player post incoming...

 

Considering how most of IV\EFLC missions give us choices as to who to kill or spare, I don't quite understand what made R* scrap the potential scenario of killing Phil Bell instead of Ray Boccino in base IV's "Pest Control" mission.

 

Like WTF bro, they just turned it into the usual static "kill X person" mission where Ray is always destined to die, even though Pegorino's dialogues in the beginning of the mission imply two possible scenarios. Not to mention I don't think Ray was really that much of a bad guy to Niko, maybe he was to Johnny though, but IDK...

 

One could say R* made the mission static because Ray ended up being a major antagonist in TLAD and they decided to have Niko kill one of Johnny's antagonists, kinda like how Luis kills Ray Bulgarin in TBOGT, but then I still don't see why scrapping Phil was necessary as that could've worked out too. The story just needed some tweaks so it would work well the other way around too.

 

I mean, they could've made it so Pegorino would randomly pick either Ray or Phil (instead of just always Ray), Niko would take out the said person and the other one would get to call Niko after "A Dish Served Cold" to talk about Dimitri, or help him out with the deal in "If the Price is Right".

 

Basically, everything Phil is supposed to say and\or do in either of the two endings of the game would be assigned to Ray in case if the former gets killed. Packie's dialogue about handing the diamonds to Ray in "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" and the phone call to the latter after the mission would remain unaffected and still play out normally if the mission is completed with the Phil scenario, though.

 

Additionally, Pegorino might call Niko after he kills Phil to tell him about his wife Angie not being too happy about it. Moreover, the optional phone call with Roman after the mission would be adjusted to mention Phil instead if that scenario does get chosen.

 

Gameplay-wise, the Phil scenario in the mission would also differ a lot from the Ray scenario. Instead of Ray traveling in a convoy, Phil would be stopping by at a restaurant or a club or something and Niko would go in take him and his bodyguards out, so the player would have to set up his approach according to the given order.

 

But since TLAD obviously has Ray as a major antagonist and Thomas Stubbs III tells Johnny in "Get Lost" that the Pegorinos are "under the process of imploding" and that they'll be "dead or inside within a month", there would bound to be a catch about this: Ray would be arrested after his final appearance in the base IV storyline, be it his in-flesh appearance during the deal in Deal or his phone call after killing Dimitri in Revenge.

 

The in-game news channels and newspaper stands would also cover it with a headline like "Boccino Nicked!" or something of that sort to make sure the player knows about it. Plus the phone call after "A Dish Served Cold" would be adjusted to have Ray saying that he's "like half an hour away from the handcuffs" at the end and "If the Price is Right" would exclusively feature a post-mission phone call from him heavily centered about being caught.

 

In fact, R* could've even gone as far as adjusting the credit sequences according to the storyline so if Phil is killed, the shot of him entering the Pegorino mansion after the end of the game would be replaced by Ray being intercepted by the LCPD on the street and taken away, followed by a shot of a random Pegorino goon sniping him dead from the water tower in the Alderney State Correctional Facility to prevent him from potentially talking.

Edited September 9, 2022 by H-G

[E Revere]

I always found it odd how Jimmy P. would use the word immigrant to insult Niko, considering he's most likely a 1.5th or 2nd generation Italian American himself. And there's possibly some in-game reference to this as well.

 

The first time he meets Jimmy P., he asks Niko a question, Niko acts dumbfounded, says he doesn't know what he's talking about, to which Jimmy P. says "You do but I ain't gon a push." If I'm reading the situation correctly, he's saying that he can relate to pretending not to understand English in order to get out of a conversation he doesn't want to be a part of. It could be. It could be.

 

Bottom line, Jimmy is an asshole for using that insult.

[Americana]

Had I been Niko I would have been impressed by Roman's Taxi.

Edited November 21, 2022 by Americana

[universetwisters]

On 10/8/2022 at 3:07 AM, E Revere said:

I always found it odd how Jimmy P. would use the word immigrant to insult Niko, considering he's most likely a 1.5th or 2nd generation Italian American himself. And there's possibly some in-game reference to this as well.

I think the hypocrisy is the point of his character. It’s like how Carmela in the Sopranos gives Tony sh*t for all the criminal things he does yet has no issue spending the money he makes doing criminal things 

[GhettoJesus]

I was gonna put this in the unpopular opinions thread originally but I don't know how unpopular this is so I might as well just put it here.

 

GTA IV characters have uncanny faces and facial animation.

[universetwisters]

12 minutes ago, GhettoJesus said:

GTA IV characters have uncanny faces and facial animation.

It was def good at the time but compared to V, yeah they look weird af

 

Especially when you realize that some of the male characters in cutscenes (like Gerry) are just edited versions of Niko

[Adminsaredicks]

Looking back 5 star vs 6 star debate in HD era I finnally managed to get some logic in this.

 

6 star in Liberty city is just antiterrorism measurements because it is literally undertone of game, and it puts whole city in lockdown. There no way to survive or get away on land, sea or air.

 

San Andreas in V has none of terrorism threat, so they are sticking with five stars strategy.

Edited November 26, 2022 by Ondr4H

[Kalashnikov1947]

I'm pretty sad my nation's community is hardly explored in any GTA game. San Andreas has the Da Nang Boys, but other than that, there are no signs of a Vietnamese community to be found, such as a Little Saigon equivalent.

 

San Andreas has the oppoturnity they missed to include a Little Saigon in Red County that would also have served as area of operations for Da Nang Boys.

Edited December 9, 2022 by Panzermann11

[String]

Who else has gone and spoilt most of the GTA games' storyline for themselves before they finished the game? Think I did this with near every GTA I played.

Atleast with GTA/games in general there's still fun in playing the missions and exploring the game world even if you learnt of the story in advance. With books and movies spoiling the story in advance would be even worse.

[Adminsaredicks]

On 11/22/2022 at 7:52 AM, universetwisters said:

It was def good at the time but compared to V, yeah they look weird af

 

Especially when you realize that some of the male characters in cutscenes (like Gerry) are just edited versions of Niko

GTA V have for me other problem, everybody is looking perfectly like its in barbie universe. Especially Los Santos everybody is model.

 

GTA6 from leaks finally managed to get people right, off course its development of RDR2, that game is still good loking and probably be graphically relevant even after ten years.

[universetwisters]

8 hours ago, Ondr4H said:

GTA V have for me other problem, everybody is looking perfectly like its in barbie universe. Especially Los Santos everybody is model.

I mean to their credit, Los Angeles is full of models and actors soooooooo

[Adminsaredicks]

26 minutes ago, universetwisters said:

I mean to their credit, Los Angeles is full of models and actors soooooooo

Yes on casting couches, not on streets. Street are kinda like in Online when everybody is broke.

[String]

I attempted Vice City Stories' Kill Phil part 2 mission 7-8 times before realizing there was a bicycle in the beginning

Edited December 21, 2022 by String

[Going_To_Aruba_01]

Not trying to start a war in here or anything but whenever I see a 4 vs 5 debate, some of the complaints towards 5 go along the lines of " atleast I don't get blown up by a flying bike every two seconds" like what? Since when do you see poor Michael get blown to bits by an Oppressor while he's making his way to therapy? I'm a bit of a 4 fanboy I have to admit, but imagine if a 5 fanboy said he was going to debate with you on 4's story or something, only to complain about how he hates getting murked nonstop by Annihilators on multiplayer. If you're going to start a fight, atleast figure out who to aim at first lol. We're taking about "story mode" not Online dude. It's gotten to the point where i feel we need to tackle it like a geographical debate and have to legally define the difference between V and Online lol.

 

I can't help but blame all the 13 year old clickbait YouTuber watching kids that just blatantly say "GTA" when they really mean "GTA V" and when they say "GTA V" of course what they really mean is Online.

[universetwisters]

44 minutes ago, Going_To_Aruba_01 said:

Since when do you see poor Michael get blown to bits by an Oppressor while he's making his way to therapy?

 

V's story mode is a lot more problematic than that, even if it were true lol

[String]

What kind of organization are the Sharks in Vice City Stories? How are they so powerful, they seem like just some young thugs pretending to be soldiers to me. 

 

One of the scariest things in GTA is facing an attack on your property by them. Or once you take their property they immediately attack you in free roam. They can absolutely annihilate you. 

 

I like to think though Vic Vance died an unmemorable death in Vice City, his impact on Vice is resonant in how the Sharks become a non entity in the city after he was done with them. Also interesting to note the rivalry between Sharks and Bikers in VC with the context of VCS, it seems the bikers had the last laugh. 

[Dave Mustaine 1998]

Regarding GTA VI, I heard that the protagonists are Jason and Lucia and they’re a boyfriend and girlfriend. Sounds fair IMO. Two protagonists instead of two or one. What I’m hoping for is Jason to give off gentleman thief vibes and Lucia to give off lady thief vibes. I don’t want either of them to be Trevor or Catalina clones. I’d rather have them be chill and analytical but dangerous and baller at the same time almost like Rene Belloq and Irina Spalko from the Indiana Jones films. And yes, I know they’re from different movies of the same franchise but still. You get the point. I also think it would be cool if there’s actual mobsters in Vice City for them to go on missions for.

[E Revere]

26 minutes ago, Bratva Assassin said:

Regarding GTA VI, I heard that the protagonists are Jason and Lucia and they’re a boyfriend and girlfriend. Sounds fair IMO. Two protagonists instead of two or one. What I’m hoping for is Jason to give off gentleman thief vibes and Lucia to give off lady thief vibes. I don’t want either of them to be Trevor or Catalina clones. I’d rather have them be chill and analytical but dangerous and baller at the same time almost like Rene Belloq and Irina Spalko from the Indiana Jones films. And yes, I know they’re from different movies of the same franchise but still. You get the point. I also think it would be cool if there’s actual mobsters in Vice City for them to go on missions for.

From the design of their appearances, it's hard to tell if that's what'll happen. I hope so too. The mindless psycho cliché is getting old.