In terms of direction? - 3D Era / HD Era

[Abhay]

I am a big GTA fan since GTA 2 and has become as equally loved as RPG's. 3D Era GTA's offered an amazing sandbox and open-ended gameplay elements with many interesting things to deviate from the main story that till date sounds as engaging and fun as the days back then, and no other open world franchises have managed to ever pulled me back into replaying for years as these 3D Era GTA's
Then comes...
GTA IV
The beginning of a new direction in the franchise by Rockstar. On a technical level, the game managed to bring a lot of improvements, but what I really hated was how out of place it felt; missing a lot of that sandbox "appeal".
Whether its the "realism" or the heavy emphasis on everything should make sense for "Niko", but it became my first major disappointment with the Grand Theft Auto franchise.
I never like this direction they took to change the series in the HD Era.
GTA V still suffers from a lot of similar IV problems except that its a bit more fun.
But I can't help thinking that the new direction just feels ..wrong. The sandboxes in the modern GTA's are nowhere as fun ( unless you mod ) as the 3D era GTA's made me such a big fan of this open world franchise.
So Codex, what do you think about the GTA as a franchise in this new direction, in comparison to the old GTAs, and any ideas that you think will be the best way to go forward for future direction??

 

[Excidium II]

Vice City is the apex of the series.

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

GTA 3 is my favorite game in the series. Vice City and San Andreas were kinda meh.
GTA 4 was okay, but it's been years since I played it. Never tried GTA 5 and probably won't.

Gotta play older games, iirc I played the original GTA for an hour or so while my friend was finishing his homework, and I only remember that I disliked the control scheme.

 

[Excidium II]

GTA 3 is my favorite game in the series.

For what reason? I could never get into it even though I liked GTA 2 and the idea of a 3D GTA was crazy at the time (first game I got on my new pc even). It just felt off, and iirc had too many timed driving missions.

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

GTA 3 is my favorite game in the series.

For what reason? I could never get into it even though I liked GTA 2 and the idea of a 3D GTA was crazy at the time (first game I got on my new pc even). It just felt off, and iirc had too many timed driving missions.

The blocky town kinda felt like my neighborhood, I guess. VC and SA didn't have the same vibe, even if they were superior.

 

[BLOBERT]

BROS I LIKED VICE CITY BESDT OF ALL THE GAMES ON MY FIRST PLAYTHROUGH

NEVER FINISHED 1 2 OR 3

TO BE FAIR THOUGH I FUCKED AROUND ALOT IN 1 AND 2

VICE CITY JUST FUCKING NAUILED THE SETTING

 

[Baron Dupek]

So I'm not the only one who liked GTAIII more than VC and SA? Good to know.
Why? Maybe theme incompatiblity? Music choice? Living in middle europe might did something.

 

[Major Malfunction]

GTA1, 2 and London are my favorites in that order. The rest I consider GTA-in name only, though they aren't bad games. But GTA was meant to be top-down news copter view, sorry newfags.

 

[sullynathan]

Can't believe people think gta 4 is better than gta 5 purely because of its physics engine

 

[Abhay]

Yeh, physics, world details, story, and of course, the star protagonist; Niko Bellic.
I found 4 absolutely boring. Good game, but offers a very weak sandbox thus not strong on replay factor.

 

[Nekot-The-Brave]

Can't believe people think gta 4 is better than gta 4 purely because of its physics engine

What?

 

[oddech_wymarlych_swiatow]

I can't stand any GTA beyond first two.

 

[Wilian]

Vice City is the apex of the series.

Those copter controls though. Someone should be shot for making that shit up

 

[Excidium II]

yeah. Fucking demolition mission.

 

[Wilian]

You just triggered my PTSD

 

[Baron Dupek]

It still boggle my mind that I managed to do pilot school in SA on keyboard. My biggest gaming live achievement so far.

 

[sullynathan]

Can't believe people think gta 4 is better than gta 4 purely because of its physics engine

What?

Typo

It still boggle my mind that I managed to do pilot school in SA on keyboard. My biggest gaming live achievement so far.

I hated that mission so much. I really thought I would quit San Andreas at that point but the feeling of accomplishment afterward made you think you were a master pilot.

Yeh, physics, world details, story, and of course, the star protagonist; Niko Bellic.
I found 4 absolutely boring. Good game, but offers a very weak sandbox thus not strong on replay factor.

Gta 4 is boring as hell at first. I played it in like 2009 and stopped after an hour and didn't pick it back up till 2012. It takes too long till it becomes enjoyable, ballad of gay Tony was far better

 

[Blowhard]

I'm sorry, but your original post made me question whether I was going retarded. I've seen google translate make more sense.

 

[Siveon]

Not a big fan of GTA in general, but I did like Vice City's setting at least.

...San Andreas felt a little too close to my own city sometimes.

 

[Gragt]

Funny, I feel the same with San Andreas now, but back when it came out I lived in a completely different place.

 

[pippin]

2 is fucking awesome and Vice City must be the only GTA game you'll ever need. 3 felt dull for me for some reason.

 

[Machocruz]

Saints Row 2 is the example of where this series should have went, i.e. amping up the criminality. Compare the side activities in that game to GTA 4 or 5. I mean, golf? Darts? Parachuting? Tennis?! Meanwhile in SR2 we have turf battles, pimping, Septic Avenger, drug running, insurance fraud, assassinations, auto theft, helicopter assault, drive bys, hostage taking, store hold-ups, mugging.. A lot more contextual reasons to cause mayhem than GTA now offers. GTA3 had rampage missions and rivals would shoot at you when you went into their neighborhoods. Chinatown Wars had gun-running and hijacking Ammunation trucks. SA had turf wars. Why didn't 4 have all this stuff plus more? Boring.

 

[typical user]

I enjoyed 3D GTAs more than HD especially San Andreas for it's overwhelming list of features.

I just hate the controls of GTA IV and V. Those games don't even know what I want to do, they snap me into wrong side of cover, my character can't turn back quickly and if you try to jump over water-gap then you will face-plant into ground. Rockstar should take notes from Ubisoft how animations and controls should be made. If I play TPP mix of shooting and driving then I don't want to struggle with simple tasks which weren't an issue in GTA III.

Volition with Saints Row series capitalized on Rockstar "realistic turn". People even bash GTA V's arcade'y driving system, while driving soapy boats with wheels suits them perfectly. They don't want to try Asseto Corsa or any other drive sim, they will gladly support retarded controls for one of the series that started as arcade 2D top-down view with missions where you had to turn people into hot-dogs.

Then there is Mafia 3 which goes full Saints Row.

 

[Nekot-The-Brave]

I've only ever played Saints Row (II) and GTA (Vice City and IV) on the PC with M&K. Let me tell you, drive-by shooting and even really any vehicle driving was not very simple. Driving in SRII was so difficult for me that when I was playing with a friend in co-op campaign, I had to have my friend drive for me because he had a controller and I had gotten stuck between two walls and was literally unable to fix the situation with M&K. Drive-by shooting was almost impossible in Vice City.

 

[sullynathan]

I was particularly talking about videos like these

I know they are jokes but they're shitty jokes.

Saints Row 2 is the example of where this series should have went, i.e. amping up the criminality. Compare the side activities in that game to GTA 4 or 5. I mean, golf? Darts? Parachuting? Tennis?! Meanwhile in SR2 we have turf battles, pimping, Septic Avenger, drug running, insurance fraud, assassinations, auto theft, helicopter assault, drive bys, hostage taking, store hold-ups, mugging.. A lot more contextual reasons to cause mayhem than GTA now offers. GTA3 had rampage missions and rivals would shoot at you when you went into their neighborhoods. Chinatown Wars had gun-running and hijacking Ammunation trucks. SA had turf wars. Why didn't 4 have all this stuff plus more? Boring.

That's because Saints Row started as a San Andreas rip off and fully focuses on the whole gang premise more than all the GTAs.