fjordson

@graf1k: You don't think it sounds interesting at all? You should watch The Sopranos. An older criminal in therapy who also has issues with his role as a family man? Lots potential there.

@toots said:

All you whiney worriers, it's motherfuckin' GRAND THEFT AUTO FIVE

Welcome to the Giant Bomb boards, unfortunately.

Prepare for lots of cynicism up in here. The Giant Bomb crowd is super weird when it comes to open-world games.

Anyways, I think if anyone will do it then R* will be the ones. No one else really even attempts to do what they do. They examine contemporary American culture, and American history with something like Red Dead, in a way that you don't often see in video games. It's the main reason why I love this series and R* in general. I just love the satire and how their games are steeped in Americana.

But yeah, it's important to note that the game is made in Scotland. And the head creative guys are all English. Even with Red Dead. While it was made in San Diego, the Houser brothers and Leslie Benzies are the heart of the company creatively (Dan Houser writes every R* game, and Sam Houser and Leslie Benzies are executive producers on every game).

@Bourbon_Warrior said:

Its weird that Houser says this game is set in a different world that the PS2 games when you have BALLAS carved into the bench the dad is sitting on.

Haha, eah, they've said before that continuity in GTA is a little wonky.

The only things that carry over are brands. Things like cars, stores, stuff you her about on the radio, etc. And of course Lazlow :P

Driving jeeps out of planes, blowing up buildings, dogfights in fighter jets, realistic regular dogs, trains smashing into each other, Stevie Wonder.

So much to take in. But it looks awesome. I already love Michael. Getting a real Tony Soprano vibe from him.

Nice roundup of the screens man. Game looks amazing. I love the lighting and the vibrant colours. Nice change of pace after Liberty City.

@MiniPato said:

@project343 said:

@Shaanyboi said:

And all three will be unlikable cunts who have no consistency between their character motivations and their actions.

Because, y'know, Rockstar are such brilliant writers....

How are you supposed to write a game that encompasses all of player agency and freedom?

By imposing a shit ton of rules that punish you for killing civilians, running red lights, and violating other principles that the character would not do and thus making the game completely unfun.

I honestly don't get why people complain about that character dissonance stuff in open world games. If you want to immerse yourself in the story and character, then role play and don't act like a crazed lunatic. I for one can make the distinction. When I'm fucking about running people over and shooting cops in Sleeping Dogs, Wei Shen has become the digital incarnation of myself so that I may interact in the world as I please. When I'm playing a story mission, I'm back to watching Wei Shen as a character and not my homicidal ass. If your brain can't switch between those two modes, then you probably shouldn't be playing videogames. They probably require the most suspension of disbelief than any other medium.

I'm totally with you. I always hear that Clint Hocking buzz term "Ludonarrative Dissonance" to describe it, but it's just never really bothered me.

@msavo said:

@Fjordson said:

@BestUsernameEver said:

@Chaser324 said:

@dagas said:

GTA seems stuck in the past.

In what way exactly? The way they're putting the player in control of three main characters seems pretty new. Just in terms of scale, they appear to be going beyond most, if not all, other open world games out there.

Plus, there are very few games in the same genre, and they can't really compare to GTA. Not that they're bad, but it's just apples to oranges. I don't think GTA is stuck in the past because they're the only ones doing that type of game.

Not to mention your average GTA protagonist has a million times more depth to him than "The Boss" in Saints Row.

A created character in something like Saints Row is nothing more than a cipher with some voice acting. Sure, it can have boobs, or a British accent and an afro, but it doesn't add anything to the game once the "look how ridiculous this is!" feeling wears off.

When I first read that I thought you were going to say The Boss from MGS3 and I was going to flip a table over.

Haha, no way, that Boss is great!

And I should clarify that I'm not saying a "blank slate" character like in Saints Row 3 is automatically bad. I get that some people prefer that sort of character with a lot customization and don't give two shits about story in gaming. It's just that there are already plenty of games out there that do that sort of the thing with the robust character creation and whatnot. It's why I appreciate Rockstar's take since it adds some nice variety to the genre.

@Green_Incarnate said:

OMG started clapping after the first paragraph. Micheal seems cool.

@Chaser324 said:

@benpicko said:

• 'Driving is described as an arcade racing game, vs the heavy cars of GTAIV.'

FUCK.

Yeah, kinda crazy, but Dan Houser did say in the article that it is going to scratch the itch of "high level racing games" in a way that GTA has never done before.

I liked the boat cars though. Think I'm the only one.

I loved them also. I don't think they'll mess them up, though. Just make them slightly less slippery.

@captain_clayman said:

@Jace said:

@Chaser324 said:

• Driving physics model has been tweaked from GTA IV. Whereas cars were "big and boatlike", they'll now "hold to the ground a bit better". Dan Houser says that it will scratch the itch of "high level racing games".

Fuck. If the cars drive like the ones in Saints Row, I'm going to be so pissed. The driving in GTA IV was perfect. God damn it.

It was good in the sense that it felt like they had weight to them, but good doesn't always mean fun. The driving got REALLY aggravating on later missions, especially on bikes where you'd hit a bump and then fly off and then mission failed. The handling might have been more forgivable if the missions had checkpoints and it was faster to get back into the action if you fucked up (which GTA V will do, i'm almost positive)

Yeah, vanilla GTA IV's checkpointing was shitty. They improved that a lot in the DLC episodes and Red Dead thankfully.

@BestUsernameEver said:

@Chaser324 said:

@dagas said:

GTA seems stuck in the past.

In what way exactly? The way they're putting the player in control of three main characters seems pretty new. Just in terms of scale, they appear to be going beyond most, if not all, other open world games out there.

Plus, there are very few games in the same genre, and they can't really compare to GTA. Not that they're bad, but it's just apples to oranges. I don't think GTA is stuck in the past because they're the only ones doing that type of game.

Not to mention your average GTA protagonist has a million times more depth to him than "The Boss" in Saints Row.

A created character in something like Saints Row is nothing more than a cipher with some voice acting. Sure, it can have boobs, or a British accent and an afro, but it doesn't add anything to the game once the "look how ridiculous this is!" feeling wears off.

Trevor does remind me a little of Kane & Lynch. Sounds like he's a bit unhinged mentally.

Michael reminds me of DeNiro in heat. Older dude with experience, but knows his shit.

Yeah, I'm not sure why the lack of a female protagonist is that big a deal.

I mean, if we're going to start getting on developers every time they come out with a game lacking a female main character then...well, Patrick better get writing ASAP 'cause that'll be one long ass article.