GTAO Question(s) On Behalf Of A New Older Player

[ChiroVette]

Okay, my Dad just called me up and told me he bought a PS5. He wanted to play the new MLB game. Anyway, decades ago, he used to be a huge fan of GTA III on the PS2. BUT he had problems adapting to VC and SA, as they were too overwhelming for him with all the gameplay and vehicles and stuff. But that was single player and he was playing alone with nobody playing in a lobby with him to help him.

 

Anyway, I told him to pick up GTA V because I can play in lobbies with him and walk him through everything, and I have other friends I can ask to help join our quest to help him have a good time. He is downloading it now, and will buy a PSN+ subscription tomorrow.

 

A few things: He turns 80 this November, so I am going to keep him out of public lobbies and away from griefers. Now I have mostly been a money grinder in GTAO since starting to play in 2020. So I wanted to get some advice from all of you. What are fun stuff I can do with him and teach him to do with headsets in friendly rooms, Invite/Friend only? He is NOT a skilled player, nor does he have any desire to be, so I don't want to make him do stuff that is too difficult, particularly at first.

 

What fun stuff in GTAO can I introduce him to that are similar to single player missions but doable in an Invite/Friend lobby? I would like to get him into building his criminal enterprise, but nothing too high difficulty at first. I don't know if he will be as into grinding. But there must be a on of fun stuff to do, like CEO missions, easy heists, heist preps, etc. The good thing is I can make him a fortune fast by giving him 85% of any heists, so he can buy all the cool stuff more quickly than most.

 

I am going to tag @xInfected_Virus as well, because he is an expert on his money guide. first thing, where do I start?

 

How do I tell him to spend all the money he will get for signing into GTAO for the first time? I know there is a way to get a ton of money with E&E just starting out? But I want to make sure he has money to buy weapons, upgrade them, maybe get an office, important vehicles like the Buzzard, properties, etc.

 

 

 

 

Edited September 2 by ChiroVette

[MaddenedGhost]

I think races and OG contact missions should be your first activities in the game, maybe mix in some parachuting and survivals, the very common thing between SP and MP is the heists, so the OG Heists would probably be fun to do  but you'd need players for that, I'd stay away from the recent Heists because while they might be simple in general terms, there are so many things that a new player might not be able to do (like some of the hacking minigames...).

 

Impromptu Races, gang attacks, store holdups, just your "GTAO was fun back in 2013" package should be a "fun" thing to do with a new player.

 

On the other hand though, you could probably be able to solo Cayo Perico while he's with you a couple of times to get him some cash.

 

Edited September 2 by The_Ghost

[RyuNova]

No offence but if someone is not into grinding then GTAO has little to offer them. The old "wide as the ocean, deep as a puddle" saying comes to mind.

[Exsanguination]

It’s still a lot of fun to just drive around and explore the map, I still do it for hours even though I’ve played GTA V since the beginning, I’d try a lot of different things and see what he’s into, as others said the older contact missions may be a place to start. 

 

I’m not a real experienced GTA online player so can’t give the best advice but I think it’s very cool that he wants to give it a go. Have fun !!! 

[Valiant ENT CEO]

Role play a particular business.. Or play the missions that have cutscenes

[ChiroVette]

10 hours ago, RyuNova said:

No offence but if someone is not into grinding then GTAO has little to offer them. The old "wide as the ocean, deep as a puddle" saying comes to mind.

 

It sounds to me like you either you don't like this game very much or you happen to like grinding, because I get the sense from talking to you, even arguing with you, that you play the game a fair amount. That said, I definitely think that if your sole focus is becoming wealthy in the game, there is definitely going to be some grinding, okay lol an ungodly amount of it if you want to be a billionare. But if he isn't going to get addicted to trying to bank a billion dollars like I did, grinding isn't as much of a factor. There's a difference between spending hours doing grind loops or cargo sourcing versus say driving around a little, exploring, doing some races, some arena missions, pulling some of my other friends in to mess around and role play, doing some Import/Export, a Terrobyte mission, a Headhunter, some Cayo preps, then some Cayo finales.

 

There is a lot of fun stuff to do in this game. I happen to like grinding to an extent, by the way, BUT the caveat is that I did it so much for my first 2 years, during Covid, that I burned out a little. But a lot of the grindy feeling can be avoided by just doing a bunch of varied stuff. Obviously we disagree about this being 'wide as an ocean, and deep as a puddle," but I won't lie. If I were still grinding in this game, I might lean toward agreeing with you on principal, because the more focused a player is on accumulating wealth at all costs, the more of a grind GTAO does feel like. So you're not completely wrong here.

 

8 hours ago, Exsanguination said:

It’s still a lot of fun to just drive around and explore the map, I still do it for hours even though I’ve played GTA V since the beginning, I’d try a lot of different things and see what he’s into, as others said the older contact missions may be a place to start. 

 

I’m not a real experienced GTA online player so can’t give the best advice but I think it’s very cool that he wants to give it a go. Have fun !!! 

 

This is the kind of think I think he will like. Also, I imagine that he will get a huge kick out of Arena Wars, Transormer Races (which I still have NO IDEA how to do by the way!), CEO missions (as long as I am there to hold his hand in the lobby, and he will get paid even if he can't contribute). I can take him on Cayo scope missions, teach him about the MC businesses, night club, some races with a bunch of other people, as long as I am not trying to like leave him in my dust every race. I can take him on Cayo finales, and he can just stay behind me the whole time, as I am so used to doing them solo, and he will get the Elite every time, plus I will give him 85% of all the heists and stuff, and any CEO missions, I will just gift him my share of the payouts. I think the game still allows you to do that, right?

 

The thing with my Dad is at 80 years old later this year, he is not familiar with the PS controller, though he was able to play GTAIII and Halo a lot back in the day! He had an XBox and PS2, and loved Co-Op in Halo, even with split screen, but was never really good enough for PvP, nor did he want to be. So if I am in the lobby, headsets on, maybe a few other friendly's in the room, I think he will have a blast! I won't expect him to like pull his own weight in heists or preps, and I will keep it simple with Casino and Cayo heists. I am sure if me and others are helping him with his MC businesses while he just drives/flies the vehicles he will have a blast.

 

He LOVED the driving in GTA III. I think he will definitely get into building his criminal empire, the caveat being if I do all the heavy lifting and focus on grinding for him while he just contributes what he can.

Edited September 3 by ChiroVette

[RyuNova]

5 minutes ago, ChiroVette said:

It sounds to me

 

Well that's your opinion so...*shrug*

 

As much fun as I have treating like an RPG it is not an RPG and your imagination can only take you so far. You said he didn't want anything hard or too deep and yet above you answered your own question, if you already have this idea of what the game is and how to play it then why did you ask in the first place?

 

My ocean/puddle analogy works perfectly, there are a million things to do in this game hence it being wide but none of them are deep.

[ChiroVette]

5 hours ago, Valiant ENT CEO said:

Role play a particular business.. Or play the missions that have cutscenes

 

This I think he will enjoy, particularly if he can contribute whatever he can while he learns how to play, how to shoot and the combat mechanics, but the game doesn't punish him too much for his mistakes, as long as I am doing all the heavy lifting.

[Mexicola9302]

I would start with clubhouse contracts, OG contact missions and yeah maybe racing to teach him how to drive. And then increase difficulty over time.

 

Just do that stuff with your Armored Kuruma, put your dad on the passenger seat, show him how the game works in general. He will get better after a while, and figures out how it all works. Even with 80 ppl still can game pretty well. I seen youtube videos of damn old grandmas already, being very good at gaming.

[ChiroVette]

9 minutes ago, Mexicola9302 said:

I would start with clubhouse contracts, OG contact missions and yeah maybe racing to teach him how to drive. And then increase difficulty over time.

 

Just do that stuff with your Armored Kuruma, put your dad on the passenger seat, show him how the game works in general. He will get better after a while, and figures out how it all works. Even with 80 ppl still can game pretty well. I seen youtube videos of damn old grandmas already, being very good at gaming.

 

You know, I never even played the clubhouse contracts. Are they like the vehicle mod/deliver contracts in the Auto Shop?

[Mexicola9302]

12 minutes ago, ChiroVette said:

 

You know, I never even played the clubhouse contracts. Are they like the vehicle mod/deliver contracts in the Auto Shop?

They are like OG contact missions, but in free roam. Having 0 loadscreens is making it more fun. There was a i don't know 4x money and rp bonus for clubhouse contracts like 2 weeks ago. It was awesome getting 44-120k for just a few minutes of playtime. It still is 2x bonus i think so it should still be 22-60k or something, so it's still worth it somehow. It helps to learn game mechanics, how to drive, shoot etc.

 

You can do all of them, if you are a not alone, there is like a 3 minute cooldown between them. But R* added two new ones that don't have any cooldown. The best part is you got unlimited lives, because they are played in free roam. So your dad can die as often as he wants, he doesn't have to spectate then.

 

All you need is an Armored Kuruma, a Savage helps with the Oppressor and Deathbike contracts. But it's very grindy after a while, as soon as it feels too grindy just play OG contact missions with your dad instead. Or maybe workshop mini heists, or whatever.

 

CEO VIP missions also are good to learn how to play, but the enemy NPC's have such extreme terminator aimbots and dmg.

 

You could also teach him how to fly doing Hangar cargo missions, sure they are tedious and all but partially they are really fun.

Edited September 3 by Mexicola9302

[Aquamaniac]

For low-level player with little skill, I guess nothing is really easy when it comes to missions etc. Maybe lend him a nice car and do road trips over the map.

[mr_j]

Unpopular opinion, but maybe he could start with singleplayer? He might even enjoy some cutscenes, dialogues and evolution of events, at normal pace and even with skip option for some missions (if you die too many times).

 

All new players jump in online and then ask about Trevor, Lester, locations, subtle references, etc.

 

As for online, probably start with some invite session, so he would not be shocked/overwhelmed by the mayhem, randomness and abundance of UI notifications in a public lobby.

[Jamwes]

15 hours ago, ChiroVette said:

Okay, my Dad just called me up and told me he bought a PS5. He turns 80 this November.

 

You are in for a fun bonding experience with your father. I'm in much the same situation with my play group, which is my friend, his brother, and their 80 year old dad. It's great fun, especially when he starts telling stories from his youth. I find it funny that he loves playing GTA and being a bad guy because he's a retired cop.

 

The number one thing I will stress is for you to be VERY patient and encouraging with him. He'll probably be not good at using a controller, remembering buttons, being able to look at both the minimap and the screen, driving cars without crashing, and all that sort of stuff. We take things very slow, are very encouraging (always calling out whenever he does something good or encouraging when he makes a mistake), and we do the things he wants to do with minor encouragement towards trying new things.

 

The old guy we play with loves playing Survivals. It helps teach him how to use guns and cover. Basic game mechanics. He can just stay in one spot and shoot bad guys. Low stress and he doesn't have to worry about trying to run or drive while shooting moving targets. And if he dies, we carry through the round and he respawns at the next wave.

 

Content with unlimited respawns would probably be good. Freeroam activities like CEO VIP missions or MC clubhouse missions. Contact missions might be good once he gets a handle on how to play the game. I only cation a little on those because of the limited lives and it's not fun to die early and watch everyone else finish the mission.

 

We don't do "grinding" with him, but we've taught him how to do Cayo and the Casino heist. With Cayo he's fine with going slow and following along while we do all the killing. With the Casino he does the same on the silent or costume approaches, but  he's good at shooting with the aggressive approach. 

 

If he's a car guy then do races. Doing a rally race to unlock the respray color might be a fun bonding experience if you have 4 in your group. (Turn right dad! No, your other right!) Maybe keep laps low so he doesn't fall very behind, again it's no fun when you're alone. Once he has some money, maybe do I/E and help him fill a warehouse.

 

TL:DR - Show him some simple activities to start with. Play activities he enjoys. Always be patient and encouraging. You're in for some fun bonding.

[ChiroVette]

I agree with the consensus. @Jamwes, I will keep in mind Survivals. Is that versus, or is it us against the AI? I would prefer keeping the PvP to an absolute minimum. Only races, Arena Wars, Transformers, and such, where I can let him win so he gets more money and RP and he opens up paint jobs in case he likes to customize later on.  I would rather keep it to missions that don't limit lives, with the exception of the Cayo finale, which I can do myself anyway, so it might be cool for him to learn the ropes a little just shadowing me on that. Also, if I take him on a bunch of Cayo Finales, he can learn how to do the preps

 

I want to keep it as simple as possible for him. I mean, even if I load up Headhunter and Terrobyte missions so he can benefit from the money (double on CEO missions this week) even if he can't contribute and dies over and over again in the beginning. Exploring and collections are definitely an option, too. Casino heists are going to probably have to wait until later. Even with The Big Con using the Gruppe Sechs gear, which is uber easy, and he literally doesn't have to do anything but trail me, he is going to have problems with the hacking at first. I have an Art loot all ready to go, and I may try to get him to practice the hacking before we do it, because if I give him 85%, and we get the full paintings, he will make close to $2 Mill just on that. I have a Pink Diamond all ready to go (though with the new sh*tty rules I didn't get Hard Mode) and I have 2 Gold and a painting in the basement, so that will be a nice payout for him and he doesn't even have to worry about getting spotted going to the other loot areas.

 

I want to stress now that I DO NOT want to play anything that limits lives with him, because that will frustrate him. With Cayo it's no biggie because I know it like the back of my hand.

 

@mr_j, the SP thing won't work unless I am there playing with him and can walk him through. He loved GTA III, but VC and SA when he tried them by himself were so overwhelming for him, I'm not sure if he would even enjoy it enough to want to play online. I may go over to his house and let him play the missions with me right there to help him. But I think he is better off starting online in a lobby with me. Invite only, of course! No way am I putting him in a anarchistic free-for-all like a public lobby lol!

[Jamwes]

43 minutes ago, ChiroVette said:

I will keep in mind Survivals. Is that versus, or is it us against the AI?

 

Survivals are up to 4 players vs AI over 10 rounds. The trick is finding good hiding spots to be able to gun down the baddies from cover. Some are complete bullsh*t (forest and Zancudo jump to mind) but most aren't hard if you stick to good cover. Especially the original ones. The newer ones have more bad guys, but do pay better. I'm sure R* will release the limited time Alien Survivals near Halloween again. The originals only pay $30k and take maybe a half hour. Not a money maker, but it's a fun thing to do. They are currently on double payout if you have GTA+ this month.

 

50 minutes ago, ChiroVette said:

with the exception of the Cayo finale, which I can do myself anyway, so it might be cool for him to learn the ropes a little just shadowing me on that. Also, if I take him on a bunch of Cayo Finales, he can learn how to do the preps

 

It's also a great way to give him a bunch of money if you give him a good cut of the payout. And playing with him means you can get gold in the compound. Be careful with the swimming entry, our 80 year old has yet to master swimming in this game. It's one of the hardest things to do.

 

51 minutes ago, ChiroVette said:

Exploring and collections are definitely an option, too.

 

Sightseer is a great VIP mission for learning the map. Doing the collectibles could be fun too.

 

52 minutes ago, ChiroVette said:

he is going to have problems with the hacking at first.

 

At least you can practice those hacks in the Arcade basement. You can also find a cheat sheet with fingerprint pictures online to make it easier for him.

 

Sounds like you have good plans. Good luck.

[El Cavilldo]

- Pick a couple Sandkings on Paleto early morning and climb to the top of Mount Chiliad. You'll be on time to sunset and enjoy the view. 

 

- Make a family Crew with a nice emblem that has a personal meaning for you both. 

 

- Go to the Casino and bet on the same table against the house. 

 

- If there's a working GCTF trick, use it on special ocasions (birthdays, holidays). Gift him with a custom car of his liking: period-like custom color, Benny's rims, stuff like that.

 

- The treasure hunts are a really fun way to know the map. 

 

- Business Battles have some really fun missions. Cleaning that carrier of every soldier it's specially satisfactory.

 

- Missions that can be made on an armored vehicle with a driver/gunner combo. The Duggan's finale on a Half-Track or an Insurgent it's specially relaxing for the gunner on the turret. 

 

- I'm sure he will enjoy a lot the Halloween content if you explore it together. 

 

Now, I know it's not on its best moment, but maybe he would enjoy Read Dead Online too? 

As a contemplative experience, it has no rival. The map is beautiful and simple things like hunting and fishing, or even long horse rides and camping would be like a 'vacation trip' to the woods, away from Los Santos. 

 

 

[Jimbatron]

This is a nice thread. I’ll be very happy if people want to play GTA with me when I’m well into retirement!

[TheFroggmann]

I say just get him in and start playing, discovering and interacting with the world. Have him fill up that starter 10 car garage with whatever suits his fancy. Hold up a store or two, get into a shootout or 5 with the local gangs, blow up a few stupid NPCs, just let loose. Even if he spends his time center-punching motorcycles all day he'll be learning. Speaking of which show him the stupid crap of GTA, trick NPCs into beating each other, get motorcyclists to flip you off as they careen into a wall.

 

As for beginning cars, have him spend the 50K to join the car meet, that way with his leftover cash he could buy some of your car like the Karuma. Same goes for the Casino, teach him how to "game" the wheel for a free car every week. 

 

Speaking of freemode, introduce him to public sessions. He'll get a kick out of the random chaos that other players do to each other. Even if he's in passive I think he'll enjoy the show. 

 

Once he's comfortable with the controls, have him get going on the bunker stuff. It by itself is pretty low-key and can be done solo. Once he's familiar with that get him started with the nightclub. The money will be slow at the start but as long as he keeps the popularity up by being VIP's personal taxi service. it should be an easy 50K every 48 minutes. 

 

With the above, I would sprinkle in the occasional contact mission to get his skills up before letting him figure his next steps. 

[Big Molio]

Give him a few weeks and he'll be running around with the ghost-face and rebreather like the best of 'em.

[Jamwes]

7 hours ago, TheFroggmann said:

Same goes for the Casino, teach him how to "game" the wheel for a free car every week. 

 

Good idea. If the requirement for the podium car is Street races then they could do that together for more free cars. If OP has 2 friends then they could do the same for Pursuit races. What's funny is that the old guy I play with ALWAYS wins the casino car. Between his delayed reflexes and trying to remember the controls his timing is spot on.

 

7 hours ago, TheFroggmann said:

Hold up a store or two, get into a shootout or 5 with the local gangs, blow up a few stupid NPCs, just let loose.

 

Go for the easy awards. stuff like robbing all the stores or doing 5 gang attacks in a single day. For an award that gives a tattoo they could get matching "rare" tattoos.

[joe1606]

Make him your personal driver and show him all your businesses and Los Santos/Blaine county points of interest. So he can discover the city and the gameplay (driving, gps, the interaction menu etc...) at his own pace. Maybe you want to be with him for his caracter creation too.

 

But maybe you two have played already! Keep us posted : D

[Breadpit]

Play golf with him, thats what old people do right?

[ChrisChros87]

Show him the Golf course and Vanilla Unicorn

[diperro]

Terrorbyte missions, VIP Work, MC Club Contracts, Agency Payphone hits/Contracts, Auto Shop Contracts, hell even Import/Export or Crate sourcing can be fun. All these activities don't have a limit in the times you can die and can be done in freeroam/invite only lobbies, although can be a little bit frustrating for a new player with no experience cause some of that content can be kinda hard. Agency stuff is really fun because most of the missions are short and easy, so you can do a rotation of VIP Work/Terrorbyte missions/MC Club Contracts/Agency missions in a short period of time and make him decent money, while also enjoying poppin some brains off together. Contact missions are also a good call if you own an Armored Kuruma.

 

Show him useful places in the map, like places where you can lose the cops (train tunnels, LS River sewers, parking lots), or places where he can refill his health (vending machines), basically just go from activity to activity in freeroam and see what he likes the most. Show him some of your cars/aircraft/etc and help him get some for himself. Anything can be fun really with good company, just enjoy the ride together

Edited September 6 by diperro

[SummerFreeze]

I would play the casino heist. He can mostly follow you on both the preps and finale.

[Rev. Gnash]

 

51 year old grandpa, here.

 

Find out what his favorite crime film, book or tv shows are and base his character, around that piece of fiction.

 

Started a new character on PS4.

My main characters were migrated to PS5 and I needed a PS4 character to create new custom license plates on Ifruit.

 

It took three weeks (no grinding). For the new character to own a few street cars, cheap night club and a small warehouse.

 

He is an old ex con, turned night club owner, that will occasionally, help some guys he did time with.

 

 

 

 

*He is loosely based on Gandalf Finch - a character from the Rockford Files.*

 

 

Edited September 6 by Rev. Gnash

[El Cavilldo]

1 hour ago, Rev. Gnash said:

He is an old ex con, turned night club owner, that will occasionally, help some guys he did time with.

 

 

 

*He is loosely based on Gandalf Finch - a character from the Rockford Files.*

 

Ain't he also the black private d*ck that's a sex machine to all the chicks?

 

[Rev. Gnash]

8 hours ago, El Cavilldo said:

 

Ain't he also the black private d*ck that's a sex machine to all the chicks?