I finished GTAIV last night.

It took me 44 hours and thirty minutes. I have been playing it for about 4 months, in and out. I tried playing everyday but life always got in the way.
I reached around 65% completion, so I am not so sure why it took me so long. It seems that people finish it in around 35 hours or so.
I loved it. Still, I am not sure I'll get the Lost and the Damned soon. I am kinda drained after so much time poured into the game. Probably later.
The title card at the end was pretty long! at some point my controller got turned off and the game paused and asked me to "reconnect" my controller. When I turned it on again, the credits ended. I don''t know if I skipped something important because of this. I hope not.
(spoilers next)
I chose not to kill the guy I wanted to get revenge on and to kill Dimitri. I'll look up what happens when you choose other things.
Hope you all played it and enjoyed as much.
Next on my list: Mass Effect.

Good stuff i actually finished it in like 29 and something but yeah i could see if you mucked around it could take longer. I need to work on some mass effect....I played the first mission and have not touched it since

Maybe this would have been better as a blog post, just for future reference.

I went through the game twice to see the outcome of each desicion. Then I went and got 100% completion. That took about 80 hours to do I think.

I haven't gotten the Lost and Damned dlc either. I mainly want it for the points.

I remember getting to the last level in it and giving up after the third 7th 8th time. I just couldnt hit that big ass ramp.

"Maybe this would have been better as a blog post, just for future reference."

I just started to play this again from scratch. Absolutely loved it the first time through so cannot wait to get back into it again. I would also highly recommend the Lost and Damned. It's a fantastic expansion, one that will last you a great deal. I suspect that it's still pretty expensive but it truly is worth it.

If you decide to help Dimitri the end level is even harder. You have to drive a boat under LJ's heli and jump up to it. Using the dirt bike took me 3 or 4 tries but using that boat took me 2 days of constant failure until, by luck, it worked.

Well brainwins, seems we both made the same decision the first time through. I'd definitely suggest getting The Lost and the Damned, but I can understand if you want to wait a little while before doing so. Also, I think you should try beating GTAIV a second time to see how things pan out when you choose the other paths. However, if you already spoiled it yourself by reading it online, I'm guessing you probably have no intention of ever doing that.

I think it took me around 60-70 hours the first time, but I wasn't rushing through the game by any means and spent a lot of time just exploring the world and doing sidequests.

When I finished it, I clocked at around half an hour before the Liberty City Minute acheivement. I was lucky.

@Pie: I didn´t find anything like that. By then my hands were sweating like crazy and I was focused on Pegorino´s boat. Keep trying. You are like 3 minutes away from the end.
@Dethfish77: Thanks for the info, I´d have never got that since I wouldn´t feel good at all helping Dimitri.
@TheGreatGuero: Yeah, right now I wanna take a brake from the game. But I do have the intention of getting the expansion at some point. Gee, 70 hours? what % did you get after that?
@shaun832: That was fast. And you probably got more % than I did, hehe.

It took me about 80 hours to get 100 % on that game and I loved every minute of it. Then I played it again to get the NY minute achievement. Oh and tomorrow marks 1 year anniversary since the release. Crazy.

Not sure what time I got. I just remember I had to force myself to finish it. Not really a way I want to finish my games...

Well I am playing GTA:CTW and so far I have spent 100 HRs on it.
BTW good job

You should get Lost & Damned. It's awesome.

Glad you enjoyed it! It really is a lot of fun. Though I am curious, what did you think of the cheap shot it took with say.. the Irish chick? Sorry, I can't remember her name.

I finished it in about the same time and % complete as you. Story was great but I never got past that 65% really. Didn't go back to it. Would have got Lost and Damned except I sold it awhile ago so not possible now. Unless I were to rebuy it but at this point.. no really worth it.

@natetodemax: As soon as I give my mind a GTA rest, I will.