I don't understand GTA V

What are you supposed to do after the story is over? The open world feels so pointless.

I drive for seven minutes to an M that I assume is for my character Michael. When I get there, nothing. Happens again and again. How come I could keep playing the previous games but not this?

You can select missions from the menu in order to 100% them.

Tastes change. I had close to the same exact experience with the first few GTAs after 3. The games didn't get worse; I just didn't like Grand Theft Auto as much anymore.

While Im tired of it now, I had some great times in GTA online

lol you were a kid maybe? The game is better fleshed out in all these areas and has a great open world. I can still mess around in GTA V and have a blast. And play online.

Keep in mind that the previous GTAs were probably so much more impressive back in the day. At least I can remember the first time I tried GTA 3 on PC at my sisters boyfriends apartment and I was blown away. I had never seen such an open sandbox game like it before, AND in 3D! GTA IV was also quite impressive at the time, but GTA V is not as vast of an improvement. Plus the genre has become a standard with all the clones being made over the years. It's just not that impressive to run around in an open sandbox world anymore.

I like to do the side missions and activities if I haven't finished them already or you could mod GTAV and just go crazy.

I bought gta V and couldn't get into it...again. I always do that with GTA games play for a little while then just get bored with them, it also rubs me the wrong way when they write black characters especially since 3. I just imagine some tarrentino wannabe thinking how many times they can get away with saying the N-word. Performers always do a good job though but i don't know why it bothers me in these games so much honestly.

Being you're such a difficult person to please, I assume the thread's question is 100% rhetorical. (Though I never get the point of "I don't like X! Make me like X!" threads)

OP's question reads as legitimate to me, but I don't have an answer for him/her. If GTA:O holds no appeal, then the open world is as hollow as they come.

Get some friends over and take turns getting into police chases using only c4. That's what I think I spent the most time doing the year I got the game.

@newfangled: pretty sure he didn't base his assumptions on this thread alone :p

To be honest I always found gta to play like hot garbage untill gta4. The open world never did it for me in those older games mostly because actually playing the thing felt horrible to me....Untill I found out the trilogy on OG xbox controls insanely better than the ps2 versions with proper analogue gas/brake and playable framerate, so I have enjoyed the older games, just not at the time on ps2.

I go back to gta 4 more often than 5 mostly because I like seeing the fake physics at work and I love the driving in it. Gta V however I have used a ton as ambient background audio, everything from forrest to city to pier to highway parking spots sound incredibly lifelike and relaxing.

That said, I've never had much fun 'screwing around' after the story in gta for any suspended time, after half an hour im usually super fed up with it.

@lestephan: No yeah, from my time on this forum Ezekiel seems to have picky tastes in games. That said I have really picky tastes myself, and I certainly can't fault him for that. If anything that just makes him a real individual.

@ezekiel: GTA online is what you do after the story. Or just trade it in if you are that bored.

@boonsong: agreed :) didn't mean it negatively.

Did I miss on some secret alternative versions of the previous games? Because those had even less things to do in them after you completed the story, so I'm not sure what you are referring to with your "keep playing" part.

That said, I personally used to play GTA 3, VC and SA a lot outside of the story, but my desire for open world shenanigans has since greatly reduced and I just don't see the appeal in going around, mass murdering and blowing things up, hence why I barely did it in GTA V. But I can't really blame the game for that. If anything, the big detailed world of it would've probably been like heaven to me back when I was way younger.

I will never forget hanging in the nightclub in Vice City (last time I enjoyed a GTA game) and listening to the npc s question who they were, what happened to them, and why they were in some disco club dancing like fools. I guess they thought it pointless, also..

There's only one thing you need for endless entertainment post-story: the jump-punch ragdoll trick all over town.

Yah I didn't get the question either. I also think it's an ageing out issue. Vice City was my favorite GTA and I played way too much of it outside of the story. I'd do that thing where you drive around obeying traffic laws and I'd invent things to do on my own - that map wasn't even that big. GTA V was still fun for me and I played it a bit after I finished the story, but it's more that I aged out of simply going around and blowing up cars or whatever rather than the game not giving me any options. IF anything GTA V is the most robust one of those to date.

Yeah! Try seeing if you can pull off a front flip over a moving car!

When I went to a mission marker in the older GTA games, there was a mission. Does the question mark on the letter icon mean I have to wait for a certain time of day?

Out of San Andreas, IV and V, the ones I finished, V had the worst story. I didn't care about any of the characters. Trevor and Michael were just angry all the time, like a bad Scorsese imitation. Trevor was just kind of there. I think the main character should be more the silent, uncharismatic type, so that your actions contradict the story less. He or she should be an antihero. I don't want them to be mute, just more impassive and less talkative, like the hitman from Le Samouraï (1967). I want a guy who you believe could be a sociopath, but are not sure of. GTA gives too much information about its protagonists (usually making their morals pretty clear in the story) for some of the awful shit the player does (can do). I also hate the things the characters shout as they hit people and animals on the road. Nobody would yell at a deer they've just hit to evolve some ears. Michael's family is unlikable. I've seen people compare his family problems to The Sopranos, but I actually cared about Tony Soprano and his family. I think the series needs better writers at this point. Dan Houser's idea of good storytelling is just making everyone unlikable. I did enjoy the story of Max Payne 3, perhaps because it wasn't filled with so much forced humor and satire. Its story also benefited from being told through linear levels. GTA's stories tend to go on for too long in the open world, involving endless commuting.

The excuses for car chases and shootouts are often so sloppy. There are moments in which your character could shoot the other person or vise versa that inexplicably turn into lengthy car chases, including one of the endings. Shootouts are like that too. They have a standoff and then they start yelling at each other and retreating and shooting, everybody missing. Max was sometimes unarmed in MP3, but he used distractions and sudden attacks to get out of those situations, which was more convincing.

https://youtu.be/N2OMch5yYeo?t=49s

https://youtu.be/VPaBYZ3IfeQ?t=18m11s

https://youtu.be/-flAl2BXV1k?t=5m14s

The few women still are unlikable, pitiful burdens. Michael's daughter and wife are human garbage. David Chase, creator of The Sopranos, explained that if you're going to tell such long stories, then it's probably a good idea to write compelling female characters. Scorsese's movies usually have decent women too. The two wives in Goodfellas and The Wolf of Wall Street get pretty upset and burdensome too, but they're smart and believable.

It feels like such a small step compared to GTA IV. The damage modelling on cars has been reduced, the driving is more arcade-like and it still has walking as the primary movement. GTA IV brought manual aiming to the series. GTA V tries to improve on that, but the movement still feels sluggish, perhaps even more sluggish than in GTA IV. It's a big step down from the gunplay of Max Payne 3 for sure. The police AI is still poor, unable to convincingly chase you and frequently appearing suddenly in front of you on freeways. I want them to investigate, patrol and pursue believably. The other drivers still turn in your direction from the wrong side of the street for no reason, causing you to crash. The other cars still don't flip and go flying like in real life, partly because everybody is driving far too slowly. Even on freeways, they drive at like 35 miles per hour. Missions can STILL only be activated through cutscenes, instead of through organic NPC interactions, like in Zelda or Elder Scrolls.

Some of you tell me to play GTA Online, but overwhelmingly what I go through when I play that is loading screens, more loading screens, driving around aimlessly, empty lobbies/matchmaking, the same heists over and over and a lot of grinding. You can't even steal and store the car you want if you're not high level or wealthy enough. I guess if you don't have a close crew or GTA friends, the multiplayer is mostly a waste

Right but did you enjoy the time you played completing the main story? Did you get that part?

Do some taxi driving, that's a nice low key way to spend some more time into the world.

GTA V is a bad game. They realized the potential of pay to win multiplayer, using the name of the franchise that is so dear to my heart for revolutionalizing the industry. They are bad people running a bad server with poorly optimized modes and ask for money unless you're dedicated to the game 24/7. I have 100%'d gta 3, vice city, and san andreas multiple times. I have beaten gta 4 at least 5 times, but the team at rockstar have lost their way, and they've delivered a soulless husk of a game. I fear for Red Dead

The short answer is 'screw around'. Getting into big chases, messing with cheats and trying to cause havoc.

I remember when GTA was pretty much THE open world game and fucking around with the cops was the thing to do with friends. Driving at full speed with a tank while shooting backwards to increase speed. Stepping in a car and not getting out of it until you die, after which your friend does the same, trying to improve on your time. Hanging out on a roof with a rocket launcher creating huge explosions. playing around with the cheats.

Before GTA, Creating fun replays in Driver on the San Fransisco map scratched a similar itch. Felt so good to jump over cop cars while cop cars fly over you too.

Never felt like GTA was the kind of game that gave you a lot of worthwhile things to do after the story apart from just fucking shit up with your guns and messing with the police & military. Now that a lot of open world games exist where you can shoot / drive and cause chaos, the appeal of doing that in GTA V is not as big anymore to me. I played GTA V for the singleplayer story, had an alright time with it, and never looked back.

I couldn't tell you, dude. I used to like taking a dirt bike and going to the desert area. It's fun riding around for a while. That's all I can think of.

you're supposed to do crazy things and have fun

You're not allowed to have fun in GTA V outside of their lovingly crafted story missions that were designed fifteen years ago. You should have the game framed and hung on your wall as a testament to its greatness.

GTA V doesn't want you to have fun. The police arrive within seconds of you blowing shit up or killing people, no matter where you are. They shoot at you at the slightest offense.

"How do I know when I'm satisfied?"

@ezekiel said:

https://www.gamefaqs.com/xbox360/634491-grand-theft-auto-v/cheats

Well one thing that might be good, if you are playing on pc is to start modding it. The cool mods i saw where what got me to buy the game in the first place, although i didn't actually download many since I fell off the game pretty quickly.

@ezekiel: So what you're basically saying is that you just don't like the game, as opposed to not understanding how it works. Also comparing the shooting to Max Payne 3? That's a bit of a stretch isn't it.

Probs just don't play GTAV then.

Not really. It lets you shoot while running, without holding the aim button, just like Max Payne 3. It has weighty physics, just like Max Payne 3. But, mechanically, it's far inferior and less satisfying.

I think the sandbox is what does it for me.

How can I use that game's engine, with the things provided, to do some weird/cool shit, and then how can I turn that up to 11?

Shenanigans at the military base are always a good time.

@ezekiel: That's like comparing the driving to Forza because holding down the right trigger accelerates.

Open world games are amalgamations of several different genres and with that come certain limitations. GTA is never going to be the worlds most advanced shooter or the most realistic driving or flying sim. It will be competent enough in all those areas to be fun while seamlessly hopping from one to the next. Also the shooting in GTA4 was lock-on based and far clunkier unless you played on PC.

Which version are you playing? Also, I found the last-gen versions to be glitchy and couldn't finish some missions. Other missions require you to go there at a specific time. For me, GTA 5 on last-gen was a game that I finished the story and was right there with you, I couldn't care to jump back in. I was also very disappointed by the third-person gameplay coming off of how well Max Payne 3 and Red Dead Redemption played in comparison; I mean, you can't even switch over the shoulder in GTA 5. When I played it on PS4, I went back multiple times after I finished it and it turned out to be one of my favorite open world games ever. In first person mode it's really immersive and just roaming the world is fun on its own, but there's a lot of little missions that you can pick up by just exploring.

In the first person, it plays really great to me so I spent (over the 100 hours I've put into it) about 99 percent of it in the first person. It feels the closest to real life for an open world to me despite its satire. I was actually thinking about going back a couple of weeks ago. While I don't love the majority of tracks in GTA 5 on the radio, I still like listening to at least one or two stations and driving around. To me, the detail they put into the world is great. It also does the best 'I am not really going to go drive through the city right now, but I want to see the city, let's play GTA 5' kind of thing. Seeing some of the vistas as you stand on one of the mountains is nice too. The one thing I hope GTA 6 does is open up buildings, so you can walk through places for more immersion. It'd be cool to go to the fictional GameStop and play fake games in the store.

There are definitely cheats in it if you want those too, but I never really messed with them. There is one where you can jump super high into the air which was fun.

What I've enjoyed about GTA V after finishing it is driving around the world at my own pace, listening to the great music on the radio and enjoying the scenery; particularly the sunrises and sunsets, exploring the various, highly detailed locations in the city and going 'trekking' to the sloping hills with the city as the potential backdrop. And doing this on my lonesome.

Mostly a highly relaxing experience, though occasionally - or somewhat often actually - a song might propel me to rev up the engine and speed through the traffic slaloming between the other cars on the road, which can be exhilarating in the way that a good driving game is where there is a definite sense of speed but you feel like you're constantly in near-perfect control of the vehicle. There are no artificial starting grids or finish lines - or actual competitors for that matter - just the city/world, me and the car.

Oh, and the music. Cruising around the world with Smokin' and Ridin', Don't Wanna Fall In Love, You Know How We Do It or Back And Forth blasting through the speakers/headphones while the sun is setting behind the hills simply has been an enormously enjoyable experience each and every time I've decided to launch the game.

Play the online? There is a decent 10-15 hour story if in there if you are willing to deal with it. Otherwise move onto a different game? I got my moneys worth from just playing the story so if you are expecting Minecraft like freedom look elsewhere.

Fuck around, like in any other GTA? Move onto another game, like i do? Engage yourself in multiplayer, since that component is pretty big in this game, from what i know?

These are your options, OP.

If you want to have an open world with more single player content then maybe Just Cause 3 will scratch that itch better.

@ezekiel: But do you understand that with most games, after you "finish" the main story/campaign/whatever, you've now completed a significant portion of the game's content and thus the game will now have less "new" stuff to offer? because you've finished the main story?

You can move onto another game if you want. Just do that. Or play the multiplayer.

Fuck yes dude, right there with you! The sound is even more immersive in first person too.

Too bad theres no afrobeat station on the radio anymore in gta 5 though, guess the one fela kuti fan on the team left haha.

And @Humanity: Theres totally free aim in gta 4.... Even on ps3, im playing through the ballad of gay tony as we speak, the lock-on was unbearable to me, first thing I changed in the options together with removing the minimap(WHO the eff thought it was good idea to attach the healthbar to it though -_- )

Yep. Also, about the reply that's not to me, yes about the whole auto-aim thing (if I remember correctly, there are more than two options for lock on?) I hated lock on when I played GTA 4. What I wanted to ask though is, are the GTA 4 DLC's worth getting? Before five was out, I wanted to play them but never did. The thing about four and the previous GTA games that I really disliked was that they didn't checkpoint during missions, and it was late that I heard that that was actually fixed in the DLC's. I also wonder if the next GTA will be in the same universe considering this is a new-gen. GTA 3 era (Vice City/San Andreas) are not set in the same universe as GTA 4 and five. I don't know, it'd give me another reason to want to go back to those DLC's if it was still set in the same universe I guess. Maybe I'd buy GTA 4 a third time, on the 360 through backward compatibility to do it.

Yes, that's exactly how I feel about it too. Well said. That said, the topic of competitors and finish lines, I played through the hardest/longest triathlon multiple times just for fun. What's interesting is, in first person mode, by the end of it, if you want to win, you have to hold the stick forward to keep sprinting, and the player's fingers (or, at least mine anyway) can get pretty tired just from doing that which was interesting to me. Another thing the third-person mode doesn't allow! You have to tap A/X really fast to sprint, but not as you're in the first person where it's a simple click of L3.

@ntm: yes, I think so, the dlc missions are more varied than in vanilla 4 from what I remember and the checkpointing is better too. For example one mission has you stealing a helicopter from a boat.

I got to the pier by car (took a lil while), got on a boat, went to said helicopter containing boat with my boat, shot a few guys on the boat, stole the helicopter, flew off, then needed to fly back to shoot a couple enemy boats and then crashed into a building right before the mission was done, I was already going 'fuuuuuuuuuck no :('. But to my surprise doing the restart on the ingame cellphone put me immediately back in the helicopter at the point I was shooting the enemy boats.

I somehow manage to constantly crash, flip the car over or die right before the end of a mission in these games haha, I'd agree the old games punish you way too hard for stuff like that. I dont think I ever felt overly punished in tBogT or that other dlc I forgot the name of with the bikers though.

How much time have you clocked in this game? You said you completed the story and that alone is a hefty amount of content. GTAV can be criticized in many respects but "What are you supposed to do after the story is over?"? That seems so unreasonable. It's a meaty single player campaign most people that touch don't even come close to finishing.

I wouldn't call it bad, but I pretty much agree with you. I played GTA IV three times.

I'm a dog, and with mods in GTAV you can be a dog too!