Patrick got his wish

@Ghostiet: I agree that they probably aren't the protagonists from GTA3/VC/SA, but why do you say GTA IV is a separate universe and timeline? There's nothing about IV that couldn't exist along side the other GTA games.

@Venatio said:

Really? One of them should've been a woman

What would a female GTA protagonist have to offer from a male GTA protagonist? More self-contradictory personalities? There have been plenty of female characters all essential to the plot in GTA games. Women have been in the story of almost every GTA game. Playing as one would offer little besides being a different character model with different animations. It's funny how Claude, a silent protagonist, is so popular with the GTA fanbase yet there is little to no character of him. Same with Gordon Freeman. I don't get it.

If Tommy V. is going to be in this I want a grizzled hagared alcoholic Tommy V. Still excited for this game, I might actually pre-order!

@Eidderf said:

@RecSpec:Sounds like it would be more like playing it safe if they just used characters fans already knew since they could count on fans of the old games coming back in that scenario, it's more ballsy for them to have three unknown protagonists.

Yup, this is correct.

@Chaser324 said:

@Ghostiet: I agree that they probably aren't the protagonists from GTA3/VS/SA, but why do you say GTA IV is a separate universe and timeline? There's nothing about IV that couldn't exist along side the other GTA games.

Because Sam Houser said as much:

The Grand Theft Auto III timeline is not necessarily over - but it is a different world to Grand Theft Auto IV - only the branding and certain radio personalities exist across both worlds. The reason for this was that we felt Grand Theft Auto IV was a high-definition experience and required different kinds of characters. That - and the fact that most people from the previous world are dead.

There's also the fact that Liberty City from GTAIII has a completely different layout than the one in IV.

I see your three and raise it to five.

@2HeadedNinja said:

@Bucketdeth said:

If this game has Tommy, I'm in. Not sure I like the idea of 3 different main characters but I think Rockstar can pull it off, they are Rockstar after all.

idk ... "They are rockstar" only means to me they can make good sandbox games with a decent story that contradicts itself on every corner with stupid protagonists. I'm with the GB crew on this one. Marston in RDR was the first protaginist they made I understood.

I definitely agree that Marston was an excellent character but I really dug Vice City and San Andreas for the over the top and humorous sub-plots, Tommy was the first character I really bought into, everything about Vice City is what I love about GTA. I believe Niko was the first time they fleshed out a character when they brought up his dark past when he spent time in the war, Marston was the first character to have a heart and really wanted to change his ways, he had a lot of dialogue and the ending of RDR was fucking intense. All-in-All though I just prefer the over the top "We don't give a fuck and neither do our characters" of the GTA franchise, and I'm really looking forward to seeing Tommy and CJ again.

@Ghostiet said:

@Chaser324 said:

@Ghostiet: I agree that they probably aren't the protagonists from GTA3/VS/SA, but why do you say GTA IV is a separate universe and timeline? There's nothing about IV that couldn't exist along side the other GTA games.

Because Sam Houser said as much:

The Grand Theft Auto III timeline is not necessarily over - but it is a different world to Grand Theft Auto IV - only the branding and certain radio personalities exist across both worlds. The reason for this was that we felt Grand Theft Auto IV was a high-definition experience and required different kinds of characters. That - and the fact that most people from the previous world are dead.

There's also the fact that Liberty City from GTAIII has a completely different layout than the one in IV.

OK. I guess if Sam Houser says it then it's the truth.

Your point about city layout though is something I think could be written off as just the developers having the horsepower to make a bigger and more detailed world and not necessarily that they aren't the same place. Again though, Sam says they're distinct timelines though, so it doesn't really matter.

Most of the crossover stuff in that previous trilogy was trivial anyway. The stories of GTA IV, The Lost and Damned, and The Ballad of Gay Tony are much more intertwined, and I think that's more indicative of the path that GTA V will be continuing down.

I'm almost 100% sure those guys are not Claude, CJ and Vercetti. The center guy doesn't even look african american, more like maori or something like that.

@PeasantAbuse said:

@RecSpec said:

If Rockstar makes it Claude, Tommy and CJ, I will buy this game day 1. Not a fan of the series.

If you're not a fan of the series why would you want to play as the old characters?

And why were people expecting a female protagonist? Why mind is being boggled.

Well said. Seriously, how many bad ass female mobsters do you see on the news or read about? Yeah, just about none.

Those guys look cool, I'm looking forward to this.

So seeing as how the main theme of this one seems to be the economy, I'm guessing the guy on the left is poor (judging by his tattered pants and stained shirt), middle guy is middle class, and guy on the right is upper class?

@RecSpec said:

@PeasantAbuse: Because it would be a ballsy decision. And I played through 3 and half of Vice City. Nothing new they do can bring me in.

How would it be a "ballsy decision"? There are other open world games with female leads already.

@Venatio said:

Really? One of them should've been a woman

The severe lack of variety to these characters is really disheartening. At the very least, the middle one looks like latin.

@Venatio said:

@BestUsernameEver said:

@Venatio said:

Really? One of them should've been a woman

Why? I don't get this same complaint coming from multiple people online.

I just think it would've been an interesting and new perspective, GTA has never had a female lead. I'm not saying I won't play the game because of this, it's still one of my most wanted games but It's a missed oppurtunity

How many crime and mob movies have a female lead? Not many, and GTA is a gritty crime game.

@MikkaQ said:

My gut reaction is that it's a terrible idea and none of the characters will have the level of development I've come to appreciate from Rockstar protagonists.

I have that worry too, but from what I saw from episodes of Liberty city, Rockstar has proven it can make multiple interesting characters so close together in development.