Mission Specific Maps

[The Time Ranger]

Wondering what your thoughts are on these, in San Andreas we visited Liberty City for a mission, in V's prologue + one other mission we are in Ludendorff, and in another R* game RDR2 we visit the tropical Island of Guarma. 

 

In each case I liked the change of location, new surroundings, new characters, and the feeling of a wider world, it was all very fresh feeling and appealing, however my issue is that in these cases not being able to visit in freeroam is, well a bit of a tease. 

 

I understand that hardware    limitations play a part, especially  in older generations, but if outside map locations were to be added in the next Gta, would you be happy if they were just a one and done scenario, or would you be expecting them to be visitable in freeroam. While not technically Gta related I think not being able to revisit Guarma was a missed opportunity.

 

So, do you like them, dislike them, want to see them again, think they should/shouldn't be revisitable?

[GhettoJesus]

I hate them with burning passion. If you don't want us to access it later on then why put it in the first place? This seems to be a R* trend given GTA V and RDR II. I really hope they stop with it because inaccessible areas that are on the map (I am looking at you southern shore of San Luis river) on stuff that are just visited for missions and can never be accessed again are no brainers to me.

[universetwisters]

They make sense within the context of the plot, but it’s just a big shame they go wasted (except for LC in San Andreas because that was already in III lmao)

[H-G]

I for one really wish we could've been able to travel between SA and a full-fledged LC at any time, with "Saint Mark's Bistro" removing the four-star wanted level punishment for entering a restricted city before it's unlocked. Would've been cool to see LC in 1992 with all that snow lying around and the various lore-wise differences in the city layout... in fact, you know what? They could've added in some proper snowfall effects like in LCS PSP (atleast for the mission that takes place there).

 

But nooo, they had to throw in a half-assed, incomplete and mostly unsolid piece of the city ripped straight outta GTA3 (Luigi's club is there in '92 whereas it's Paulie's Revue Bar in 1998 lmao) and place it about 1km high above the tip of the San Fierro airport runway. And besides, who hasn't taken a Shamal after "Saint Mark's Bistro" and flew towards East for hours just to get to LC? Like c'mon, R*. SMH...

Edited March 6 by H-G

[universetwisters]

55 minutes ago, H-G said:

(Luigi's club is there in '92 whereas it's Paulie's Revue Bar in 1998 lmao)

I mean in their defense they probably didn’t even begin writing the LCS story yet

[Lemoyne outlaw]

yes i do like these unique areas. but i hate how you only access it once and never again. i loved north yankton in gta 5. but it was so upsetting that it was only used in two missions. i think it would have made a great story dlc location. with it being a flashback to what michael and trevors crew were up to back then. sort of like how rdr2 shows us what being in the van der linde gang was like. or even in modern day where the gta 5 trio have to flee los santos and go to north yankton. either way it was a huge wasted opportunity.

 

i also really like guarma as well. it has some awesome scenery. and at least you can free roam it a little. but it would be cool to go back there. i know originally there was a lot more to do in guarma and it had another camp. and apparently you could buy a boat ride in saint denis to go back. i wish they kept all of that. but i guess they couldn't fit it all due to time constraints. i think it would be cool to use it for multiplayer. allow us to have deathmatches and races there. even a call to arms map at the fort. there is so much they could have done with it. but rockstar does not seem to care about red dead anymore.

[Claude4Catalina]

I don't mind them being locked as you're going through the story and visit once in a mission, but when you finish the final mission it'd be a cool little bonus to be able to visit the airport and revisit the mission-only map, something really basic like a short cutscene of the protagonist sat in a passenger jet, fade out then fade back into gameplay as a taxi drops you off on Main Street and you can explore in a kind of sandbox mode.  bit of gameplay and story segregation never hurt nobody but the amount of effort put into not allowing us to have a stroll around these environments just seems counterintuitive to Rockstar's open world design.

[H-G]

On 3/6/2022 at 12:15 PM, universetwisters said:

I mean in their defense they probably didn’t even begin writing the LCS story yet

Right, but even then, Luigi's club doesn't exactly seem like it's been up and running for the past nine years.

 

Fun fact: When you pass the "Saint Mark's Bistro" mission in SA, the mission's code raises the game's internal "Cities Unlocked" stat from 2 to 3 as if you unlocked a new area to travel to without getting the four-star wanted level bonk.

 

Quote

:CASIN10_15339
$CASINO_TOTAL_PASSED_MISSIONS += 1
0318: set_latest_mission_passed 'CASIN10'  // Saint Mark's Bistro
030C: progress_made = 1
01E3: show_text_1number_styled GXT 'M_PASSS' number 20000 time 5000 style 1  // MISSION PASSED!~n~~w~$~1~~n~~w~RESPECT +
Player.Money($PLAYER_CHAR) += 20000
0998: add_respect 35
Player.ClearWantedLevel($PLAYER_CHAR)
0394: play_music 1
Marker.Disable($585)
0629: change_integer_stat 181 to 3
start_new_script @MANSION
Marker.Disable($582)
Marker.CreateIconAndSphere($582, $ICON_TRIADS_CASINO, $X_THE_FOUR_DRAGONS_CASINO, $Y_THE_FOUR_DRAGONS_CASINO, $Z_THE_FOUR_DRAGONS_CASINO)
08DC: create_interior_marker $582 at 2026.603 1007.735 radius 20.0
terminate_all_scripts_with_this_name 'MOBLA2'
start_new_script @MOB_LA2
0629: change_integer_stat 329 to 1
return

 

Maybe R* did intend to allow traveling to LC?

[Wayne Kerr]

I dont mind them, North Yankton is more intriguing as a one time location than as one we could visit all the time. I think interiors shouldn't be locked outside of missions but a brand new one time only location in the story sounds nice to me. Maybe a tease but i dont mind, i feel it would be more memorable otherwise it could feel like just another portion of the map

Edited March 9 by Wayne Kerr

[The Coconut Kid]

I love the idea.

The execution of them hasn't been great. They're always landlocked. I completely agree with the OP - they're a cocktease.

Why not remove the landlock and let us explore? North Yankton had the very small downtown area and the farmhouse. Why am I getting Mission Failed if I want to drive around them? It doesn't have to be tidy. Just let me see what's there!

It's the same with RDR2. I haven't managed to explore Guarma without being shot to pieces. If I try and reach Mexico, I drown.

I don't actually mind that they're unreachable outside of missions though. Now we can just go to the pause menu and boot up the mission. As long as there are no timeouts or landlocks, you can just stay there and explore. And for those on PC, you've got skilled modders who can make them available as map extensions.

I'll give you all an example from a project I was working on.

I planned for a mission to take place in Latin America. The protagonist would go down to Venezuela to oversee the planning stages of a drug deal with some very powerful drug barons.

The return flight to Liberty City is shot down over the jungle. The protagonist is stranded and the pilot is dead. He is able to survive initially on life experience alone.

He is eventually rescued when a suave, man's-man mobster flies down there himself with an IAA accomplice and saves his ass close to death. They fight their way through local resistance and back to Broker to recuperate.

This whole thing would have to be landlocked. It's a completely different continent. But moving the action away from the main map lets you place the characters in completely different conditions. It affords so much opportunity for character development.

Let's walk it back. We see drug barons in Venezuela living life openly. They aren't hidden away as they are in LC. We're shot down by guerrilla fighters waging war against the government. We survive the jungle because we see that our protagonist has picked up survival skills in Vietnam. We learn that our Mafia partner has enough heart to look for us in a remote conflict zone. We can trust him, but we also learn he's in with the IAA, so can we really? It's character development we can invest in.

This was one of the best things about Saint Marks Bistro. The map was horrible, but it put front-and-centre how much of a ruthless bastard Salvatore Leone was by sending us to Portland to murder Marco Forelli. It showed a completely different side to him.

Two or three missions like this spread throughout the story would be wonderful.