Us traditional GTA fans didnt appreciate GTA IV ENOUGH...

[The Made Man]

I remember years ago, us fans constantly(and we still do) bashing GTA IV because it wasn't like GTA SA with all the open ended stuff and customization, little did we know that we were indirectly creating a nightmare. When I mean "traditional GTA fans", I mean GTA fans that love gangster stories(and not corny Hollywood influenced heists crap) in open world. GTA has always been about gangs even since GTA 1. And in my opinion... GTA IV is the LAST true open world realistic gangster game(besides maybe the Mafia series...) and not just when it comes to the GTA series. 

 

As a person who is from New York, looking back GTA IV captured the gang world of New York city so beautifully and realistically. Especially during the late 2000s. You had the Eastern Europeans in Brooklyn. The declining American mafia. Latino gangs from Spanish Lords(Latin Kings) and Dominican gangs. Black American hustlers/drug dealers in Brooklyn(Broker) and Harlem(North Holland). The Irish mob. The Albanians. The Triads in Chinatown. Korean mob. Jamaican Yardies in Broker(Brooklyn). And many, many more. All these diverse groups of gangsters and you have to survive or ally yourself with each of them in the story. 

 

Of course now things are different. Most Caribbean gangsters are in the same gangs as Black Americans i.e Bloods or Crips(there isn't really any yardie posse anymore) same with Latin Kings(who hardly exist). Dominican gangs especially in uptown manhatten are bigger. Chinese Triads are more deeper than in just Manhattan. I never heard of Korean Mob in the tristate area. Albanian mob in real life are more louder and aggressive than they were in GTA IV. Though point is GTA IV done an excellent job depicting gangs and organized crime especially when it came to Niko interacting with them. Organized crime and gangs were FRONT and CENTER in GTA IV. 

 

Same can not really be said for GTA V for many reasons. But whats worse is that Rockstar really missed the opportunity to make the Mexican cartel the central antagonist in GTA V. The same Mexican cartel that has been huge in American popular culture with TV shows like Ozark recently. GTA V could've easily had a cartel from fictional Tijuana being the main antagonist and Michael, Frank and Trevor have to survive it. Instead we got some corny FIB story... 

 

All in all I we complained about IV. Rockstar kinda listened and the rest was history.  GTA V now doesn't even resemble "GTA" anymore to me. And yes, I know its annoying to see the constant whine about GTA V threads but I really just wanted to bring up how underrated IV was. 

[AkshayKumar]

I'm more of a casual fan, the kind that likes the corny heist sh*t you mention hehe, and tbh I didn't give IV much of a shot at first. GTA was popular here but it was more about San Andreas and I kinda got swayed by popular opinion. 

 

I think it was reading the Liberty City Appreciation topic in the IV section and seeing people post all these crazy details about the city and the game in general that made me go woah this game looks appealing as hell.  I admit after playing more of the game and spending time in this forum I have both gained a lot of appreciation for GTA IV as a phenomenally detailed and very fun game, and also been a bit turned off thanks to the really vocal IV fans years ago on here which idk why still influences my opinion of the game just a bit lmao (says more about me than the game though) 

 

I didn't mind GTA V's enemies being more Merrywether and FIB/IAA than the gangs or cartels of Los Santos as much as most, I think we were still doing criminal stuff and living out power fantasies or whatever. But GTA IV's approach to having the criminal underworld be the major focus was the more interesting approach for sure. I think GTA IV could have done even more in that we could have had more focus on the latin gangs in Bohan (there's a Commission family in Bohan too maybe set up a conflict between them and Elizabetas crew) and maybe seen more of the Yardies and Commission but GTA IV already focuses so much on gangs and the underworld that it feels wrong to hold such stuff against the game lol, just that GTA IV did a lot and still had untapped potential imo

 

GTA IV has developed a strong fanbase over the years, seeing places like here, YouTube, reddit i feel only San Andreas rivals GTA IV in terms of strongest singleplayer title fanbase. IV is also the only singleplayer GTA on this forum to have a general chat topic in its section so that's gotta count for something

 

I think IV didn't do as well sales wise as San Andreas and certainly GTA V but it still sold a lot and broke records on release. And it still is the highest rated GTA and one of the top rated games of all time in Metacritic. And a lot of people consider it the best GTA, you see polls for best GTA its either IV or San Andreas winning, so there's a lot for GTA IV fans to be happy about. 

[The Made Man]

33 minutes ago, AkshayKumar said:

I'm more of a casual fan, the kind that likes the corny heist sh*t you mention hehe, and tbh I didn't give IV much of a shot at first. GTA was popular here but it was more about San Andreas and I kinda got swayed by popular opinion. 

 

I think it was reading the Liberty City Appreciation topic in the IV section and seeing people post all these crazy details about the city and the game in general that made me go woah this game looks appealing as hell.  I admit after playing more of the game and spending time in this forum I have both gained a lot of appreciation for GTA IV as a phenomenally detailed and very fun game, and also been a bit turned off thanks to the really vocal IV fans years ago on here which idk why still influences my opinion of the game just a bit lmao (says more about me than the game though) 

 

I didn't mind GTA V's enemies being more Merrywether and FIB/IAA than the gangs or cartels of Los Santos as much as most, I think we were still doing criminal stuff and living out power fantasies or whatever. But GTA IV's approach to having the criminal underworld be the major focus was the more interesting approach for sure. I think GTA IV could have done even more in that we could have had more focus on the latin gangs in Bohan (there's a Commission family in Bohan too maybe set up a conflict between them and Elizabetas crew) and maybe seen more of the Yardies and Commission but GTA IV already focuses so much on gangs and the underworld that it feels wrong to hold such stuff against the game lol, just that GTA IV did a lot and still had untapped potential imo

 

GTA IV has developed a strong fanbase over the years, seeing places like here, YouTube, reddit i feel only San Andreas rivals GTA IV in terms of strongest singleplayer title fanbase. IV is also the only singleplayer GTA on this forum to have a general chat topic in its section so that's gotta count for something

 

I think IV didn't do as well sales wise as San Andreas and certainly GTA V but it still sold a lot and broke records on release. And it still is the highest rated GTA and one of the top rated games of all time in Metacritic. And a lot of people consider it the best GTA, you see polls for best GTA its either IV or San Andreas winning, so there's a lot for GTA IV fans to be happy about. 

 

Good post.

[sabitsuki]

Agree with most of this. I miss grounded, realistic open world crime simulators, honestly. Excluding Mafia, the last game that sort of had that gritty feel was probably Sleeping Dogs, and that was 10 years ago. Saints Row had the golden opportunity to go back to that style with the reboot but they completely flunked it with the premise and characters. We're pretty much left with Yakuza but that one isn't open world and even by GTA standards it's pretty wacky.

 

3 hours ago, The Made Man said:

The same Mexican cartel that has been huge in American popular culture with TV shows like Ozark recently. GTA V could've easily had a cartel from fictional Tijuana being the main antagonist and Michael, Frank and Trevor have to survive it

I wrote a GTA concept almost three years ago with a similar premise set between three cities based on Tijuana, San Diego and LA, which covers a cartel war between three groups, but I had it on hiatus. I should probably continue it but I got IRL commitments lol

 

Edited May 23 by sabitsuki

[wise_man]

While San Andreas remains my personal favorite GTA game, I must admit GTA IV is the best crime simulator. Content and mission design aside, the scale of underworld exploration in GTA IV is unmatched, accurate and detailed. I'm not a fan of mafia movies, series, or history; but The Comission is my favorite GTA gang. I like the elaborate lore behind it, like we know all their top members although we never see most of them directly.

 

This is the true appeal of GTA IV and its expansions for me. It's about showcasing a living breathing world of crime instead of throwing over-the-top stories.

[Algonquin Assassin]

GTA IV was always misunderstood in its early days. New engine, new physics, new style of storytelling etc.

 

Since it was the first GTA after the 3D era it was always going to be a shock to the system. Personally it never bothered me much what it didn’t have from San Andreas because it improved on San Andreas and other 3D era GTAs with those things I listed above which are more important to me.

 

For others I guess GTA IV was a slow burn and took more time to get used to.  It’s awesome to see it’s getting the recognition it deserves. Even if it’s not necessarily an absolute fan favourite everyone universally loves it’s still an important piece to the GTA puzzle. 

[Tacymist]

IV was never my favorite, but I was never a hater either. I think Liberty City was very wonderfully presented in that game, I loved being there so much I would call a cab and set the destination to the other side of the map and enjoy the ride while looking out the window the whole way. I would then change my destination to the other end of the map, and continue my journey to nowhere. Anyway I love mafia stories, and working for various mobs was really cool in this game. This is one thing I've been missing from this series as it appears to be moving away from being a criminal to someone who is more like a government errand boy. I want to play as a bad guy, not a guy who is forced into doing bad things.

 

Oh, Niko is still my fav protag. He had a great backstory and I really felt for him throughout the story.

[universetwisters]

IV was hot dog sh*t compared to TBOGT imo

 

I mean inherently IV wasn't that bad of a game, it was very revolutionary in several ways and I loved the boaty car physics but Niko was such a "wah wah wah I dont wanna be a criminal sad" fest and the story was just a downer. At least TBOGT brought some color to it and put it in a bit of a better light that wasn't like, yea you could have a really really good game but you gotta suck up this sad story 

[Badman_]

There's no way GTA IV is underrated, here or anywhere else.

 

One of the highest rated games of all time, numerous perfect scores, "Oscar worthy story" according to IGN. The biggest fanbase (the loudest at least) of this forum is the one of IV. 

 

I understand your argument and I respect it, but using IV and underrated in the same sentence is just incompatible.

 

And if you ask me, it's the other way around.

 

GTA IV is overrated.

[Guest]

I was never in love with IV too much until I played it for first time in 2019 or 20.

There is no other game like it, maybe RDR 2. I thought that we needed a crazy powerful pc to run IV.

I was fine with the 3 open world racing games from Criterion. Even V feels good to me.

Maybe in few years or sometimes I will get to experience it properly again.

[Space Cowboy]

17 minutes ago, Badman_ said:

There's no way GTA IV is underrated, here or anywhere else.

 

One of the highest rated games of all time, numerous perfect scores, "Oscar worthy story" according to IGN. The biggest fanbase (the loudest at least) of this forum is the one of IV. 

Well I'm pretty sure OP's point was not that IV may be underrated overall, but underrated among fans that tend to lean more towards the style of San Andreas/V etc. It's those fans who usually don't appreciate more grounded approach or other things that IV might have done well. If we are talking about professional critics, pretty much every GTA (or a Rockstar game) has perfect scores.

I am definitely in the category of those that don't have IV as their personal favourite, but over the years the story, the atmosphere and Liberty City as a whole have really grown on me. It may not be my favourite (which is Vice City), but I still think it's a phenomenal entry in the franchise. And I have always appreciated that Rockstar went for something radically different, even after a huge commercial success of San Andreas. The fact that they were taking risks is truly underappreciated. Would the Rockstar of today make GTA that is more grounded and similar in tone to IV, especially after the many years of over-the-top updates in GTAO? I don't think so.

[ThatBenGuy1998]

My agreement with the OP cannot be overstated. GTA IV, TLAD, and TBOGT are all right there with III and VC in being the greatest GTA titles of all time! All three of them are the EPITOMES of fantastic organized crime stories in video games! And yeah, it’s not just a shame that GTA IV/EFLC are more or less the last of their kind within their own franchise. It’s a PRETTY BIG SHAME.

 

And yes, I also can’t say it enough that GTA V missed every opportunity of having a great Mexican cartel related story with Martin Madrazo being one of the central antagonists instead of Steve Haines. The storyline could’ve been absolutely brilliant if it was him who had connections to Devin Weston. WTF is up with the VAST majority of the game’s FBI plot. Same with the torturing of Ferdinand Kerimov because he’s supposed to be a foreign spy or terrorist from Azerbaijan? Is this GTA or Call of Duty?

[diperro]

GTA IV and all the Rockstar-created games before GTAV were definitely prime R* underworld storytelling. GTA V was just too flashy to give that feeling, they tried to add so much sh*t but adding stuff doesn't always mean it's gonna make something better. Attention to world detail plummeted after GTA V, LC is just so alive and every corner has something different to offer, whereas in GTA V I feel like I'm driving past the same people in the same neighbourhood. The side missions, friend activities, and most of the stuff you could do in the game kept adding layers to the depth of the world, giving you further insight on stuff already explained on the story. Even though the graphics are sh*t (compared to V) and the game has glaring technical issues, I still find the world of IV to be more believable and engaging. In this sense I feel like GTA IV is closer to RDR2 than GTA V, like u said GTA V doesn't really feel like GTA anymore, it's like if Fast and Furious bought the franchise and went for a more Hollywood-esque route.

 

In regards to the underrated or overrated argument, I don't think it's underrated, the people that have really dived in and enjoyed the game world know its' worth. It's just one of the best modern open worlds ever, if you're a fan of the genre and you have played games like Mafia, Watch Dogs, Sleeping Dogs, Far Cry, Ghost Recon and more, you can quickly realize the world is always lacking something in those games, and RDR1, RDR2 and GTA IV are in a league of its own. Hell even GTA V gives that feeling even though the game world is a bit watered down. Only game I've found is kind of similar in how engaging and immersive the world is could be Ghost of Tsushima, it really is a beautiful game, even though it is very different than the ones mentioned above. 

 

I'm currently playing the GTA IV story again with a few mods (Responsive Plus, Potential Grim, Realistic Driving and Flying) and it's incredible how fun and immersive the gameplay is. I'm thinking about recording my gameplay just to show how ahead of its time the driving, shooting and general mechanics were. The base of everything was really solid but these mods turn the experience into something really special. Not gonna say much about that though because gameplay is not the core of this topic.

Edited May 23 by diperro

[The Made Man]

6 hours ago, Badman_ said:

There's no way GTA IV is underrated, here or anywhere else.

 

One of the highest rated games of all time, numerous perfect scores, "Oscar worthy story" according to IGN. The biggest fanbase (the loudest at least) of this forum is the one of IV. 

 

I understand your argument and I respect it, but using IV and underrated in the same sentence is just incompatible.

 

And if you ask me, it's the other way around.

 

GTA IV is overrated.

In the GTA community its actually among people's least favorite.... And like @Space Cowboy said not speaking underrated overall.

3 hours ago, ThatBenGuy1998 said:

My agreement with the OP cannot be overstated. GTA IV, TLAD, and TBOGT are all right there with III and VC in being the greatest GTA titles of all time! All three of them are the EPITOMES of fantastic organized crime stories in video games! And yeah, it’s not just a shame that GTA IV/EFLC are more or less the last of their kind within their own franchise. It’s a PRETTY BIG SHAME.

 

And yes, I also can’t say it enough that GTA V missed every opportunity of having a great Mexican cartel related story with Martin Madrazo being one of the central antagonists instead of Steve Haines. The storyline could’ve been absolutely brilliant if it was him who had connections to Devin Weston. WTF is up with the VAST majority of the game’s FBI plot. Same with the torturing of Ferdinand Kerimov because he’s supposed to be a foreign spy or terrorist from Azerbaijan? Is this GTA or Call of Duty?

And GTA V came out during a time when the Mexican Cartels were REALLY bugging out and during a time when the Mexican Cartels were popping up a lot in western popular culture. Now we have stuff like the Ozarks that feature the Mexican Cartels heavily. GTA V could've been on some Breaking Bad or Ozark sh*t. 

Edited May 23 by The Made Man

[Zello]

I don't understand people who hated it. People even going as far as to say that GTA IV isn't a real GTA which if we look at IV and examine it closely It's very similar to GTA 3 and even the first GTA. You're a hired gun that takes jobs for various gangs and criminals in a city just like GTA 1, 2, and GTA 3.

 

The problem was that its not San Andreas and is more grounded. That was the main problem people were expecting San Andreas. Real criminals don't hop out of planes or steal chemical weapons, or have shootouts with mercenaries.

Edited May 23 by Zello

[Badman_]

8 minutes ago, The Made Man said:

In the GTA community its actually among people's least favorite.... And like @Space Cowboy said not speaking underrated overall.

 

Okay, maybe that's you perception, but I'd say GTA V is actually the one among people's least favorite in the GTA community, not GTA IV. Fans have been heavily criticising V since 2013 while most of IV topics around here are about praising the game. There are some "haters" here and there but not many. The 3D games are obviously (and fairly) untouchable.

[The Made Man]

9 minutes ago, Zello said:

I don't understand people who hated it. People even going as far as to say that GTA IV isn't a real GTA which if we look at IV and examine it closely It's very similar to GTA 3 and even the first GTA. You're a hired gun that takes jobs for various gangs and criminals in a city just like GTA 1, 2, and GTA 3.

 

It's not San Andreas and is more grounded. That was the main problem people were expecting San Andreas. Real criminals don't hop out of planes.

My issues with IV was that the missions got repetitive  af after we got to Algonquin. And also Niko's lame revenge story and "woe me" characterization like someone mentioned. But it was a true gangster story. At the end Niko should've became head of his own Serbian/Eastern European mafia to obtain the "American dream" and finally protect his family and friends. It would've been cool if Niko at the end embraced and took control of the criminal underworld in the end. But yea IV is very similar to GTA 3. I'd argue GTA SA wasn't a "real" GTA game and did things taboo in terms of a GTA game. And I loved GTA SA....

5 minutes ago, Badman_ said:

 

Okay, maybe that's you perception, but I'd say GTA V is actually the one among people's least favorite in the GTA community, not GTA IV. Fans have been heavily criticising V since 2013 while most of IV topics around here are about praising the game. There are some "haters" here and there but not many. The 3D games are obviously (and fairly) untouchable.

Before GTA V came out, IV was DESPISED not just on here but other places. That's where the thread title comes from. 

Edited May 23 by The Made Man

[Zello]

40 minutes ago, The Made Man said:

 At the end Niko should've became head of his own Serbian/Eastern European mafia to obtain the "American dream" and finally protect his family and friends. It would've been cool if Niko at the end embraced and took control of the criminal underworld in the end.

NIko wasn't really the type to run a criminal empire though. Would have been cool if he did but it didn't fit his character. I'm more disappointed that the DLCs didn't explore that. Johnny should have kept the lost and had those empire/gang elements that VC and SA had instead of burning down the clubhouse. Luis is kinda tricky being that he dealt with the clubs and only helped out Henrique and Armando as a favor. He could have been like Ghost from Power but that was way before that show came out.

Edited May 23 by Zello

[The Made Man]

12 minutes ago, Zello said:

NIko wasn't really the type to run a criminal empire though. Would have been cool if he did but it didn't fit his character. I'm more disappointed that the DLCs didn't explore that. Johnny should have kept the lost and had those empire/gang elements that VC and SA had instead of burning down the clubhouse. Luis is kinda tricky being that he dealt with the clubs and only helped out Henrique and Armando as a favor. He could have been like Ghost from Power but that was way before that show came out.

Burning down the club house was one of the dumbest things. It literally served no purpose and now you couldnt even reenter it. And I agree Luis would've been cool as a Ghost like figure.

[Algonquin Assassin]

8 hours ago, Space Cowboy said:

Well I'm pretty sure OP's point was not that IV may be underrated overall, but underrated among fans that tend to lean more towards the style of San Andreas/V etc. It's those fans who usually don't appreciate more grounded approach or other things that IV might have done well. If we are talking about professional critics, pretty much every GTA (or a Rockstar game) has perfect scores.

 

Underrated isn't the right word. Underappreciated? Yes.

 

Back in 2008 many of GTA IV's advancements to the GTA formula were overlooked or they simply weren't obvious to people who were still hung up on San Andreas at the time and couldn't accept the dawn of the HD era. Critically and commercially GTA IV was/is a tremendous success, but it still had a hard time finding its footing within the community. 

 

Considering GTA V mangled many aspects GTA IV did well it comes across as one of those "you won't appreciate until it's gone" type of scenarios and as you said the R* of today would never make a GTA game like GTA IV. They've become too complacent and aren't as bold at taking risks anymore. They're trend followers not trailblazers like they were back in the 2000s.

 

This is why I don't expect much from GTA VI.  

 

2 hours ago, The Made Man said:

 But it was a true gangster story. At the end Niko should've became head of his own Serbian/Eastern European mafia to obtain the "American dream" and finally protect his family and friends.  

 

I don't know about this. Prior to GTA IV we already had three GTA games where we ended up running our own criminal empire (Vice City, San Andreas and and VCS) so it was a nice break to get something more grounded and personal IMO. 

 

Niko never came across as the type of person who was interested in power. All he wanted to do was put his past demons behind him and opt out of the criminal life once it was all said and done. 

Edited May 24 by Algonquin Assassin

[Ryo256]

14 hours ago, Zello said:

I don't understand people who hated it. People even going as far as to say that GTA IV isn't a real GTA which if we look at IV and examine it closely It's very similar to GTA 3 and even the first GTA. You're a hired gun that takes jobs for various gangs and criminals in a city just like GTA 1, 2, and GTA 3.

 

The problem was that its not San Andreas and is more grounded. That was the main problem people were expecting San Andreas. Real criminals don't hop out of planes or steal chemical weapons, or have shootouts with mercenaries.

You make a good point. Usually people argue that it is GTA IV that is the black sheep yet if you look at the series as a whole, it's GTA:SA that stands out (and GTA V that followed it). And it's no secret why GTAO ended up the way it is.

But I would say that GTA SA didn't introduce over-the-top missions right off the bat. It sorta builds up to the idea of CJ first working for a government agent and then ending up in missions where he would hop out of planes. GTA V, on the other hand, is a conflicting piece of work. It goes from grounded to over-the-top missions without a warning. I would say the problem with what makes GTA V so bad is that it lacks goals that it would have committed to, from the narrative to the mission design. Other GTA games are simply good because they have certain goals and they stay mostly consistent because of them.

[dekash27]

GTA IV wasn't initially a favorite of mine, before that I was a GTA SA boy. When I played IV I couldn't stop, one word comes to mind about IV: immersion . The game world, while being smaller, is very immersive, the gangs are diverse and the overall game mechanics was a huge step forward, it did many things that I felt were unfinished in SA, particularly the climbing aspect. While I missed vehicle customization in IV, I just loved blazing through the highway trying to avoid traffic, it was very challenging and very fun at the same time. While IV maybe underrated and/or underappreciated, I'm not apart of that crowd.

Edited May 24 by dekash27
Correction

[Algonquin Assassin]

10 hours ago, dekash27 said:

GTA IV wasn't initially a favorite of mine, before that I was a GTA SA boy. When I played IV I couldn't stop, one word comes to mind about IV: immersion . The game world, while being smaller, is very immersive, the gangs are diverse and the overall game mechanics was a huge step forward, it did many things that I felt were unfinished in SA, particularly the climbing aspect. While I missed vehicle customization in IV, I just loved blazing through the highway trying to avoid traffic, it was very challenging and very fun at the same time. While IV maybe underrated and/or underappreciated, I'm not apart of that crowd.

 

Speaking of gangs when I first played GTA IV I thought they only appeared in missions lol.

 

The way they blend in with the rest of the NPC population made them difficult to spot. 

[ChiroVette]

On 5/23/2022 at 9:14 AM, Algonquin Assassin said:

GTA IV was always misunderstood in its early days.

 

 

I don't agree it was misunderstood. I think that trivializes the tastes and preferences of fans like myself, to suggest this, because it makes it sound like "we don't get it" or something. Without getting into my anti-GTA IV rants, and my preference for sandbox games that play like SA and V and GTAO, let me just say that not everyone wants a sandbox crime game that feels and plays like a crime simulator. The thing about all the games before IV, and the two that came after (breaking the current game into GTA V and GTAO) is that there are two entirely different gaming philosophies at work here with IV and with the other games in the series. I think it would be more fair to say that a lot of GTA fans prefer physics that are more arcade-like than realistic, within the confines of a sandbox that simultaneously feels real without actually being too real. At least too real for my taste.

Edited May 27 by ChiroVette

[Zello]

GTA V was "government contractor" the game. Out of all the things they could have done in LA they chose that. LA isn’t DC sure there are feds there but making the story revolve around that was dumb. Even though it’s not the 90s the bloods and crips still exist. Don’t wanna do that fine MS-13 and the Latin gangs are also more active there. Them ignoring marabunta grande was a stupid decision

 

Edited May 31 by Zello

[Funktipus]

On 5/23/2022 at 6:38 PM, Zello said:

I don't understand people who hated it. People even going as far as to say that GTA IV isn't a real GTA which if we look at IV and examine it closely It's very similar to GTA 3 and even the first GTA. You're a hired gun that takes jobs for various gangs and criminals in a city just like GTA 1, 2, and GTA 3.

 

The problem was that its not San Andreas and is more grounded. That was the main problem people were expecting San Andreas. Real criminals don't hop out of planes or steal chemical weapons, or have shootouts with mercenaries.

 

I didn't hate GTA IV, it just took a while getting into it. It didn't have the fun/wackiness element of the PS2 GTAs, which to me, is what makes GTA so enjoyable.

 

I will say, I enjoyed GTA IV more once EFLC came out. I always play the missions from all three games in chronological order. TBoGT brought back the outrageous element that was missing in GTA IV & TLAD.

 

 

[IzzyBlues]

I don't understand how a game that won GOTY in 2008 is "under-appreciated".

[Donald Lov]

The fact that GTA IV indulges people in some vulgar crime fantasy they might have is not at all a positive quality, imo. Nor is Rockstar's melodramatic attempt to tell us something about war and American dream. It's the richness of the brilliant world they created that makes GTA IV what it is, a classic. So much unique, quirky characters all over Liberty City; without a doubt, the strongest, most subtle humor in the series; the overall attention to detail and level of immersion. GTA IV is a New York piece above all, and that's what it thrives in. The rest is secondary.

[Rajder]

Good thing I wasn't using the internet that much in 2008 so I didn't have to read all the bitching about GTA IV and simply enjoy the game. 

 

[ChengizVlad09]

The entire HD Universe suffers heavily from 'talking the talk' and not 'walking the walk'. It's all about cutscenes. They breathe the movie life of Hollywood, they are deep, strongly narrated, filmesque pieces of cinematic action. Gameplay on the other hand, is often dumbed down to a point of degeneration which creates huge discrepancy between one another. Designing choices are horrible; driving mechanics being the crown evidence of it, where it's not only disguisting (the entire IV era, as well as V) but it's completely counterintuitive, wrong, lazy and utterly boring as well as distracting. What exactly is realistic there, is still to be discovered. I bet, two dollars were invested in that particular aspect with the entire amount going in to IV, while V is simply dumbed down IV.

It's still funny to see the franchise spiralling down going from IV to V. At least they have tried with IV; ragdolls, enemy health and similar mechanics. Way too slow and over-animated that oftenly kills the dynamic but at least they tried, compared to V.

 

Of course, like the OP have said, the entire concept of 'gangs', the meaning behind them and what they represent in and to this franchise, whether we are looking at it from the 'story' or 'gameplay' aspect, is being replaced with flying motorbikes and satellite cannons. 

Edited June 24 by ChengizVlad09