GTA is seriously suffering from the "complex morally conflicted protagonist" plague

[The Journey]

On 12/13/2023 at 6:20 PM, Lancerator said:

I want the protagonist to play as the antagonist for once.

Or go from being the good guy at first to being the bad guy by the end, Breaking Bad style

[Máriommsdsdf]

About the criticism of "non-criminal" missions in GTA, I don't see any problem, but very much the opposite. It's much more fun to have them, otherwise the game becomes almost a third-person shooter. That's how I observed GTA IV, very repetitive missions. But it's been over 10 years since I played it, so I may have a bad memory about it. 

 

About the impact of these missions on history, I think it is too subjective, and I have no opinion on that.

 

But regarding the main subject of the topic, I agree with the author. I think a self-centered and convicted criminal character suits the game much better. And I don't see how this could be in disagreement with the demand for deep and well-written stories of nowadays.

[almightyvasi]

Lucia & Jason?

These two seem to enjoy themselves in this lifestyle 

[Agent Edward]

1 hour ago, almightyvasi said:

Lucia & Jason?

These two seem to enjoy themselves in this lifestyle 

In the scene which they are in the Pegassi Zorrusso they really are enjoying themselves, even Jason is shaking his head to the music.

Edited January 27, 2024 by Agent Edward

[Kiro Ivo]

On 9/18/2022 at 4:32 PM, Jeansowaty said:

Me personally I've been writing many GTA storylines and I don't really reckon in any that I wrote (or helped at writing) the protag wanted to exactly leave crime per se. Let's see:

 

3D era:

-one guy sticks up people to get money for his sick sister and gets consumed by jealousy due to his best friend joining the Families, whereas he starts working for the Ballas in response

-one guy inherits the leadership of his gang and is forced to defend his organization from rivals

-one guy is a capo of his crime family and tries to make sure other rival families don't take over their assets

-one guy decides to avenge his fallen brother on a Max Payne-esque mission

-one guy uses the current power vacuum in the city's crime to uprise his fallen crime family

-one guy is caught up in an internal conflict of a crime family he literally married himself into 

-I also took the liberty to rewrite the Frosted Winter mod story by Beginit/Pistukas with Joey as the protag. In my rewrite, which is set a little earlier, Joey deals with his ever growing paranoia and attempts to keep the Leones afloat, with mixed results. 

 

HD era:

-one guy is an alcoholic, brother-like figure to his comrades in arms and his addictions and easy going nature bring him into trouble

-one guy is a raging steroid addicted gang OG who learns brute force and power aren't the way to lead things

-one guy tries to find his own place in the city, comes from a poor background and just tries to survive

 

I am not a fan of protags that are brute assholes who don't respect anyone, but instead I prefer a protag who is balanced. Has strengths and weaknesses. Has morals, but can also be a hypocrite. As Sam Lake said about Max Payne: "If you have a strong protagonist, you can put him into any situation and it will work."

I am keen on reading all these stories.

Especially interested in Frosted Winter re-write.

[Jeansowaty]

6 minutes ago, Kiro Ivo said:

I am keen on reading all these stories.

Especially interested in Frosted Winter re-write.

You can add me on Discord and then we can discuss

[Copcaller]

On 9/16/2022 at 8:34 PM, Cutter De Blanc said:

I never found CJ to be particularly morally conflicted

 

He always seemed real comfortable boosting cars and killing people 

 

His conflictions in missions never seemed to be moral ones, they seemed to stem more from self interest than anything else.

Yeah idk what  OP on about because cj has always been a ruthless  criminal his solution to zero's feud was to simply kill berkley. 

 

Also while gta vc and lcs are fun tommy and toni are kind of boring lcs felt more like sal's story than toni's. Moments with characters like kate, roman, etc help flesh out the characters. 

Edited February 18, 2024 by Copcaller