GTA 5 - is it any good ?

[DigDog]

I have just now - with a slight delay - started playing Traffic Simulator for the PC. I know that this brand of games really holds you hand early on, but i'm getting kinda bored waiting behind trucks at a red light.
Also, every mission in so far has been heavily scripted, and i could not help thinking of Mafia Simulator (GTA 3) that would instead go "here's a map, here's an objective, here is a bazooka - have fun".

I'm playing strictly offline. Does the game get better? or does it go on for hours being again heavily scripted? I dont mind the occasional "all you had to do was follow the damn train" but i also want to problem-solve my own way around a mission.

 

[zinfamous]

It's OK. I only played it last year...maybe the year before, so way late after original release and "fully baked" with all the content, I suppose. I never once played online. I don't get the point of GTA online and I don't want to. The idea is pure nonsense.

Anyway, I think all GTA have progressively gotten worse since San Andreas. Not that it's more than 2 games, but I feel that the generally maligned GTA 4 was certainly better than 5. It was less distracting. You could run around and do what you want. Like you, I felt that GTA 5 was very much hand-holdy and I didn't really care for it most of the time. I think it's still a great game with tons to do and much fun, but really the weakest for GTA.

There are a few late game missions that get a bit hairy and can require some strategy with maybe multiple options...but I think you can still cheese it anyway with zero consequences, if you're desperate.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

I only did story mission to get money. I fire it up, engage in mayhem and carnage for an hour or two, done. Trevor is hilarious and the only redeeming part of the story.

 

[Zeze]

You're supposed to enjoy the curated scripted scenes. It's a story telling single player game that has you immersed in its 3D sandbox world.

Red Dead Redemption 2 is exact same formula but set in a cowboy pew pew wild wild west era. It's absolutely engrossing to pretend you're a cowboy on the run in late 1800s America. You get to visit Saloons, history-inspired / researched settings, and play the part (you know.. Role Playing).

GTA5 - go enjoy the glorified interpretation of Los Angeles. As an East Coaster, I loved taking in the piers, the arid mountains, and driving around the map which portrays RL SoCal and Nevada. It's a gorgeous game.

 

[DigDog]

It's a gorgeous game.

visually it's impressive, but gameplay-wise, i'm finding it confusing.

I havent played it either for a few days because, well, i haven't really felt the desire. I've also had a disastrous attempt at playing STALKER Anomaly *and* Gamma, where Gamma would not install, and Anomaly is so atrociously bad, it's a chore simulator.
Just to give you an idea, you start out basically with zero money.
To even repair the gun you are using, you need a repair kit at least, which you need to buy and costs far more than you can afford, then you need to kill stuff with your non-functioning weapon so they drop guns, which you cannot sell, but you can buy for more money that you can afford a disassembly tool - which has durability - and then the guns will drop DAMAGED parts, which you then combine to obtain less damaged parts, then you must non-fast travel to a specific vendor, pay money-per-use to use their repair station, your repair kit, the gun parts, and this is the base of how you repair a gun.

Also; you live in a world where the enemy will happily unload on you, then you kill them, and you find 3 bullets and a gun at 15% durability that sells for 0 and jams every other shot.

 

[DigDog]

still playing, pretty early missions i guess, the annoying kid who gets his boat stolen, the jewelry store heist, a few car chases, etc.
Again, visually stunning, but i want more freedom to plan my missions.

 

[evident]

This game has been on my backlog ever since it came out for PC. I loved vice city but havent played any of the other games.

 

[Zeze]

I have just now - with a slight delay - started playing Traffic Simulator for the PC. I know that this brand of games really holds you hand early on, but i'm getting kinda bored waiting behind trucks at a red light.
Also, every mission in so far has been heavily scripted, and i could not help thinking of Mafia Simulator (GTA 3) that would instead go "here's a map, here's an objective, here is a bazooka - have fun".

I'm playing strictly offline. Does the game get better? or does it go on for hours being again heavily scripted? I dont mind the occasional "all you had to do was follow the damn train" but i also want to problem-solve my own way around a mission.

In my opinion...

• You're supposed to enjoy the heavily scripted curated gameplay. This is a AAA IP which made Rockstar tons of money. For GTA5 development, they spent even more $$$ on top-tier writers, did storyboarding, and talented voice actors performing throughout the plot.
• You're SUPPOSED to enjoy the game's major selling point which is a highly polished and curated single-player experience which GTA5 offers in the age of multiplayer games such as COD and Fortnite.
• You're supposed to soak in the highly detailed city which was ground breaking and state of the art at its time (and still looks great today).
  • Go bowling, go buy some clothes and pimp out your character, go to a strip club, how about exploring that beautiful mountains? Go skydiving, go hit the pier and play games.
  • This was state of the art and industry leading of the sandbox games - the GTA series. Whatever other games that are similar are actually derivatives of GTA.
• Also, it's not always heavily scripted. You can do whatever you want - go steal a bicycle or helicopter and infiltrate the military base right from start. That's the beauty of a sandbox open-world game which GTA series invented.

I am just not sure what you're precisely complaining about. GTA5 is open world (again they are the industry leader in sandbox). You can do whatever you want. Also you're supposed to enjoy the scripted experience which the writers, actors, mo-cap, director of photog all spent blood & tears making it.

 

[DigDog]

In my opinion...

• You're supposed to enjoy the heavily scripted curated gameplay. This is a AAA IP which made Rockstar tons of money. For GTA5 development, they spent even more $$$ on top-tier writers, did storyboarding, and talented voice actors performing throughout the plot.
• You're SUPPOSED to enjoy the game's major selling point which is a highly polished and curated single-player experience which GTA5 offers in the age of multiplayer games such as COD and Fortnite.
• You're supposed to soak in the highly detailed city which was ground breaking and state of the art at its time (and still looks great today).
  • Go bowling, go buy some clothes and pimp out your character, go to a strip club, how about exploring that beautiful mountains? Go skydiving, go hit the pier and play games.
  • This was state of the art and industry leading of the sandbox games - the GTA series. Whatever other games that are similar are actually derivatives of GTA.
• Also, it's not always heavily scripted. You can do whatever you want - go steal a bicycle or helicopter and infiltrate the military base right from start. That's the beauty of a sandbox open-world game which GTA series invented.

I am just not sure what you're precisely complaining about. GTA5 is open world (again they are the industry leader in sandbox). You can do whatever you want. Also you're supposed to enjoy the scripted experience which the writers, actors, mo-cap, director of photog all spent blood & tears making it.

i've been playing it quite a lot more and i have some thoughts.

1. i started enjoying it from the mission where i need to steal the bug spray van. I thought it was clever to show you that the security cars get to go in the secure zone, and let me figure that out by myself.
2. i hate flying. Maybe if i had a controller, but with WASD and on a tenkeyless, flying reaaally doesnt work.
3. i am generally speaking not too keen on the switching characters whole thingamabob.
4. the UI in general isn't great. It took me forever to learn how to set a waypoints, and still have trouble figuring out where a mission start point is.
5. the sub mission was horrid.
6. shooting seems overpowered.
I mean .. GTA has always been a game where you carry every weapon AND a rocket launcher, but the assault rifles with scopes and silencers that stealth-kill everything are a bit OP, when you aim with a mouse.
7. driving is fun, but i have to say that the story game is always always throwing me out of the decent car i got and into a piece of junk.
8. i've only gotten 3 stars of heat until now, but getting away from the cops seems waaaaay too easy. Just hide where they dont see you, that's it. And wait.
9. the characters aren't exactly likeable.
Ok so, this may be debatable as someone else may be looking *exactly* for what these characters are - a bunch of scumbags. Franklin seems ok, up to a point.
10. heavy scripting during missions leaves me with more challenge in finding out what controls to press, that to fight the game. I had to google how to beat the Yoga mission, lol.

I gotta say that some things are spectacular. The amount of detail in design is staggering, if you rush to a mission checkpoint where a character voiceover dialogue is still going on, and they get out of the car too soon, their mouth will be moving to voice the dialogue. There's audio feedback from the tarmac on the side of the road, through the wheels.
Traffic is excellent. Visually, the game is stunning, however i think this is a game best enjoyed hotseat style on a large TV and controller, because with all the driving, it's easy to get tunnel vision and not actually pay attention to the surroundings.
The city design is ... again, debatable. I hate the overpasses and would have much preferred a more straightforward street design.

I really hope that further down the road we get to some good ol' GTA mission styling. I'm ok with the occasional "hey, drive this weird or awkward vehicle in this unusual fashion" mission, but the real meat of the game is "kill X anyway that you want, he's over there" and i get to plan the attack, decide what to use, and cope with the shitstorm that i have caused.

 

[Stg-Flame]

The single player is usually fun for a while and if you know how to abuse the stock markets with certain side missions, you can become a billionaire. That being said, I had far more fun with the game when my friends and I finally jumped online. Not only is there far more content but making money is difficult considering other players can screw you over. I definitely wouldn't recommend online by yourself but if you have some friends it's a lot of fun.

I am fairly conflicted on GTA 5 when you compare them to previous games. To me, San Andreas was the pinnacle of GTA perfection with outstanding voice actors, a story that had great writing and pacing, and it still had that older Rockstar feel for allowing the player to just cause mayhem if they wanted to. For whatever reason, the devs for GTA 5 felt the need to program the game to decide when you've had enough fun and put a stop to that as quick as possible. In older games you could cause a riot just by reacting negatively towards random pedestrians then have him hit other peds/cops and just sit back and watch the neighborhood burn down. In GTA 5, if you insult a pedestrian, they'll call the cops on you. If someone attacks you but you climb on top of a car for safety, you get the cops called on you. If you get a wanted star, no matter what you're driving the cops are always faster and can knock any vehicle you're driving off the road. Even if you hide from the cops, they pull out that old Oblivion ESP and know exactly where you are and what you've done.

Now, some of these complaints may have been fixed in the later PC updates, but these small gripes were compounded by how often they'd occur which made it difficult for me to just sit down and enjoy the mindless mayhem because the game was constantly slapping my hand and telling me that I'm not allowed to do a certain thing because the cops/army cannot be countered. The bad part about this is that online fixed all of these complaints but they left all this in the single player and it was very obvious that they weren't going to do any of the promised single player DLC. They were making way too much money on the card shark packs and to be fair, the newest online heists are a lot of fun since they give you many options for how to tackle the heist but again, you need friends if you plan on doing them successfully.

I think I'll always love the GTA series but there's certain games I'll always go back and replay no matter how many years have passed. GTA 5 I can handle in small doses whereas I can binge San Andreas for hours on end.

 

[sandorski]

Game is alright. Playing the previous games/dlc helps story wise, but isn't necessary.

 

[zinfamous]

In my opinion...

• You're supposed to enjoy the heavily scripted curated gameplay. This is a AAA IP which made Rockstar tons of money. For GTA5 development, they spent even more $$$ on top-tier writers, did storyboarding, and talented voice actors performing throughout the plot.
• You're SUPPOSED to enjoy the game's major selling point which is a highly polished and curated single-player experience which GTA5 offers in the age of multiplayer games such as COD and Fortnite.
• You're supposed to soak in the highly detailed city which was ground breaking and state of the art at its time (and still looks great today).
  • Go bowling, go buy some clothes and pimp out your character, go to a strip club, how about exploring that beautiful mountains? Go skydiving, go hit the pier and play games.
  • This was state of the art and industry leading of the sandbox games - the GTA series. Whatever other games that are similar are actually derivatives of GTA.
• Also, it's not always heavily scripted. You can do whatever you want - go steal a bicycle or helicopter and infiltrate the military base right from start. That's the beauty of a sandbox open-world game which GTA series invented.

I am just not sure what you're precisely complaining about. GTA5 is open world (again they are the industry leader in sandbox). You can do whatever you want. Also you're supposed to enjoy the scripted experience which the writers, actors, mo-cap, director of photog all spent blood & tears making it.

You're arguing for things that a player is "supposed to do" based on the developer's reputation.

But what if those things objectively suck...compared to their established reputation? That is a thing that actually happens, and it's fair to criticize when those marks are missed. I'm not saying that it's the case here, specifically, but arguing for how a game should be played, based on expectations, is an argument to completely ignore the product as it actually is.

GTA5 is fine on its own, I think, but it's very weak compared to the previous iterations when it comes to actually playing the game. Yeah it's the prettiest one, but so what?

 

[zinfamous]

The single player is usually fun for a while and if you know how to abuse the stock markets with certain side missions, you can become a billionaire. That being said, I had far more fun with the game when my friends and I finally jumped online. Not only is there far more content but making money is difficult considering other players can screw you over. I definitely wouldn't recommend online by yourself but if you have some friends it's a lot of fun.

I am fairly conflicted on GTA 5 when you compare them to previous games. To me, San Andreas was the pinnacle of GTA perfection with outstanding voice actors, a story that had great writing and pacing, and it still had that older Rockstar feel for allowing the player to just cause mayhem if they wanted to. For whatever reason, the devs for GTA 5 felt the need to program the game to decide when you've had enough fun and put a stop to that as quick as possible. In older games you could cause a riot just by reacting negatively towards random pedestrians then have him hit other peds/cops and just sit back and watch the neighborhood burn down. In GTA 5, if you insult a pedestrian, they'll call the cops on you. If someone attacks you but you climb on top of a car for safety, you get the cops called on you. If you get a wanted star, no matter what you're driving the cops are always faster and can knock any vehicle you're driving off the road. Even if you hide from the cops, they pull out that old Oblivion ESP and know exactly where you are and what you've done.

Now, some of these complaints may have been fixed in the later PC updates, but these small gripes were compounded by how often they'd occur which made it difficult for me to just sit down and enjoy the mindless mayhem because the game was constantly slapping my hand and telling me that I'm not allowed to do a certain thing because the cops/army cannot be countered. The bad part about this is that online fixed all of these complaints but they left all this in the single player and it was very obvious that they weren't going to do any of the promised single player DLC. They were making way too much money on the card shark packs and to be fair, the newest online heists are a lot of fun since they give you many options for how to tackle the heist but again, you need friends if you plan on doing them successfully.

I think I'll always love the GTA series but there's certain games I'll always go back and replay no matter how many years have passed. GTA 5 I can handle in small doses whereas I can binge San Andreas for hours on end.

It's definitely been downhill since San Andreas. Next to the play and design, Vice City and San Andreas also had the best soundtrack/voice talent/writing of the series.

Also, as suggested earlier, RDR2 is a much much better place to spend your time compared to GTA 5. ....except that it feels incredibly way too long and maybe even unending, which I actually find obnoxious, lol (this with all the later content released, anyway. I have no idea what vanilla RDR2 was like)

 

[Zeze]

You're arguing for things that a player is "supposed to do" based on the developer's reputation.

But what if those things objectively suck...compared to their established reputation? That is a thing that actually happens, and it's fair to criticize when those marks are missed. I'm not saying that it's the case here, specifically, but arguing for how a game should be played, based on expectations, is an argument to completely ignore the product as it actually is.

GTA5 is fine on its own, I think, but it's very weak compared to the previous iterations when it comes to actually playing the game. Yeah it's the prettiest one, but so what?

Zinlicious,

I'm just making a point regarding the game dev's expectations of enjoying GTA5.

I'm not even a big fan of GTA either. I love me some RDR2 PC though - great for pretending to be a pew pew cowboy.

 

[Oyeve]

I'm still playing it on occasion. I played it years ago and did the stock market trick and each character has like 2 billion dollars. I now just go around and start mayhem. The story line was kinda weak but a GTA experience nonetheless.

 

[DigDog]

Well, im glad i stuck with it, because it was pretty good. I just finished the main story mode, which means i'm pretty much done.

As a very simple review, overlooking many important things, i liked/disliked:

the good stuff
1. the dialogues were fun and entertaining. The voice acting was good and this is one of the very few games where i didn't try to skip the cutscenes.
2. the driving was good. It's a relief to drive cars that handle like cars and not like paper airplanes.

the bad
.. uh .. nothing
oh oh no, wait, yes the flying was atrocious. I purposedly crashed my aircraft so i could SKIP that portion of the mission.

the mediocre
1. the city design was not great. I spent too much time on the highway and still have no idea what is where.
2. the combat was too easy. "a challenge" is ME, one guy, versus about 50 army guys tactically placed around me. Anything short of that is trivial.