** Official Grand Theft Auto 4 (GTA4) ** Thread

[Riverhound777]

Only issues I had yesterday were having trouble seeing everything due to it being so dark. I had to close all the blinds and turn up the brightness and even then it was hard to see at times. Oh and for some reason the top and bottom of the game are cut off on my TV. Not much, maybe 1/4 inch, but it is hard to read the text. I have a 57inch projection in 16:9 at 1080i using component connection if that matters. I also had my 40gb PS3 lock up once about 30 minutes into the game while driving Michelle to our first date. So far I like the game but being the first GTA I've played on a console, it is taking some getting used to. I actually like the driving with the controller, but the walking around it tough. It is hard to judge the mini map sometimes while driving, a turn will look far away on the map, but then I cruise right past it and have to turn around which is no easy task.

Is there any way to gauge your relationships? I don't see anything in the stats.

 

[blurredvision]

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: Davegod
As for the camera angles, I drive around with my right thumb pushing the right-stick down a fraction, MUCH better angle. Re-centring while on foot is a nuisance but a minor one.

I have the same two complaints. I use the camera angle that's farthest away, that helps some. But I still have to elevate the camera when I'm driving to see farther down the road.

I don't really have a complaint with the camera. I use the one that's farthest away with no issues. The only thing that messes with me is that the camera is an over-the-shoulder view even when driving instead of centered behind the car.

Speaking of which, who has driven drunk? Now THAT will mess with your head. It's so well done that I'd imagine it might actually make people not drive drunk in real life, since it's so convincingly done (not that I've ever driven drunk IRL, but that's how I imagine it would be). It made my stomach churn a little bit trying to drive like that in the game.

 

[blurredvision]

Originally posted by: Riverhound777
Is there any way to gauge your relationships? I don't see anything in the stats.

Ya, it is under the Stats page, but you have to go to the Player "tab". Under there you should see it. At least on mine, it shows me my rating with Michelle, which is at a cool 100% right now. I think I'll ignore her for a while and see if it goes down.

 

[MmmSkyscraper]

I haven't found any problems with the camera views when driving. I'm always inside for cars, and outside for bikes.

 

[bucwylde23]

Originally posted by: blurredvision

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: Davegod
As for the camera angles, I drive around with my right thumb pushing the right-stick down a fraction, MUCH better angle. Re-centring while on foot is a nuisance but a minor one.

I have the same two complaints. I use the camera angle that's farthest away, that helps some. But I still have to elevate the camera when I'm driving to see farther down the road.

I don't really have a complaint with the camera. I use the one that's farthest away with no issues. The only thing that messes with me is that the camera is an over-the-shoulder view even when driving instead of centered behind the car.

Speaking of which, who has driven drunk? Now THAT will mess with your head. It's so well done that I'd imagine it might actually make people not drive drunk in real life, since it's so convincingly done (not that I've ever driven drunk IRL, but that's how I imagine it would be). It made my stomach churn a little bit trying to drive like that in the game.

omg dude.. when I went drinking with Roman afterwards I tried driving drunk. I was sitting kind of close to the TV and that almost gave me a headache it was so crazy.. probably THE only time I've ever felt close to an upset stomach while playing a game.

 

[bl4ckfl4g]

I only got to play for about 3 hours but wow. I have no complaints really.

At one point I was trying to evade the police and I rearended a car really hard, flew through the windshield and got hit and killed by a hummer. My jaw dropped at that cuz it looked so good and was just unexpected.

 

[MetalMat]

Originally posted by: Queasy
How are you playing Niko?

Contrary to some reports, you can play ?Grand Theft Auto? games without behaving like a virtual sociopath.

Well, at least, you can tone it down a little.

I?m 16 hours into ?GTA IV? and I tried, in the early hours, to keep Niko as reasonable and peaceful a man as possible.

I was also classy:

* Niko has dated only one woman so far and treated her to nice dates at the cabaret.
* I?ve returned most of Niko?s friends? calls, though now that they call really often, I?m beginning to blow them off.
* Most importantly, I tried to take the non-violent route as often as possible and attempted to respect the Liberty City Police Department. The game didn?t let me keep that up. But to compensate, I?ve apprehended many of the city?s Most Wanted criminals.

If you ?GTA? gamers can tear yourself away from the game for a moment, tell me, how are you playing Niko Bellic?

I only played for maybe an hour and a half last night so I didn't get much of a chance to be a nice guy or a sociopath. I think I've been a somewhat nice guy to this point. The only thing I've done to blow off anyone is, like I mentioned before, going on a date with Michelle instead of helping Roman. Though, I did beat the crap out of a guy and stole his car when I rear-ended him and he came up and pulled me out of my car.

I likely won't even get to play tonight as I've got too much going on. Probably won't even get to join the Forza 2 game night. This makes me a sad panda mod.

Lets see.

1. Killed all the strippers and security at strip club
2. Stabbed multiple pedestrians at the beach
3. Went to bar and had sex with Michelle on second date (Also drove drunk)
4. Shot and killed multiple police officers
5. Beat everyone to death at the pool hall with the cue ball

All within 3 hours of playing :beer:

 

[Xavier434]

For those finding it difficult to control your car while driving (especially at faster speeds) let me offer some tips which I have picked up. Please keep in mind that I am still new at this game like we all are so these tips may not be the best way and they do take practice to master.

First and foremost, the type of car you are driving makes a HUGE difference. Unlike previous GTA games where the main difference was acceleration and top speed, the difference between the lower end, medium performance, and high performance cars is huge. With that being said, go find yourself a good car to practice with at first. I recommend a Turismo which is a sports car that can be found parked outside of that mafia leader's mansion (Forgot his name. It's Vlad's boss) which is at the southeastern tip of the first island.

Second, you have slow down a lot before making your turns now. Unlike San Andreas where you could haul ass and then use the handbrake to control a tight turn, that unrealistic driving feature no longer exists. Fear not though! With enough mastery, you will understand how to fly through the streets and make proper turns.

Lastly, when it comes to using the handbrake, there is a very different way to use it. The Standard controls have it setup so that the A button is your brake and the left trigger is brake/reverse. Unlike previous GTA games where the handbrake (A button) was enough to handle you car at fast speeds, you now need to use both the handbrake and reverse at the same time. This does not mean you can fly at any speed and then use the combo of brakes and expect perfect results, but it does help a lot.


The basic scenario of what I do for a 90 degree turn:

1. Pick up lots of speed.
2. Start to slow down as I approach my turn by letting go of the gas and tapping the left trigger some (brake/reverse) to reach a speed where I feel comfortable for my upcoming turn. This speed greatly depends on the car I am driving.
3. Hold both the handbrake and brake/reverse while turning and not hitting the gas. I do this for about 40%-60% of my turn.
4. Let go of the brakes and hit the gas.
5. Rinse and repeat.


Again, it takes a lot of practice and I do not even have it down yet especially when it comes to the lower end vehicles. I hope this helps though.

 

[ArmchairAthlete]

It feels like I'm doing the same stuff from the other GTAs over again, but just in hi-res. Hopefully it'll get better, but while the graphics are nice they're a farcry from making a game a perfect 10.

 

[tdawg]

So, how are you guys getting missions? I think I've only had three or four, and 2 were from that crack addict that shows up as a blue person on the mini map. The other was saving Roman from the loan sharks in the park and chasing down that guy with the knife (cut him up good for the hassle of the chase).

Other than that, I just kill time with Michelle or Roman. I really like the mini games--I've bowled, played pool, and dominated Roman at darts (in my head I could hear that British darts announcer from Fox Sports say 180, when I scored that). But it feels like I've lost contact with the story or something and it's not progressing. Any ideas?

 

[SuperjetMatt]

break != brake

My midnight pickup....I have never before went to a midnight release.

I wanted GTA4 really bad, so I went to a local Gamestop on Monday night at 10:30. Buncha neckbeards and other geeks there, I swear I was the only normal guy there.
Some 350lbs dude showed up in jeans & wife beater. Uck.
There were a couple girls there that freaked out when another guy showed up. Apparently one of the girls had a restraining order against him. So they call the cops and go sit in their car. The guy never even saw them.
A full 45 minutes later the coppers finally showed up and walk up to the store. Guys are yelling: Back of the line guys! LMAO
So they start walking the line, find their guy and pick him out. He's all "WTF?".
Poor guy. They pulled him out of the line exactly at midnight, as the store was opening.


The game: I'll admit that it took me a couple hours to really get into the game. Everything is dark.
The dialogue is awesome and funny, especially between Roman & Niko and Niko & Jacob. Niko is always pessimistic and implying he doesn't like what he does and where he is.
The radio stations are pretty good. There was something on socialized healthcare on one of the Talk Stations that made me laugh out loud a few times. "Do we really want everyone to have access to a doctor?"
Driving is indeed more difficult than in previous releases, but it's a blast. I simply crash the living daylights out of everything.
Niko flies through the windshields of crashed cars quite often. That didn't happen in GTA:SA, did it?
I really like the new way of escaping a wanted level, that's well done.
Taxis are no longer the super cars they once were (same with police cruisers).
But they got Dodge Grand Caravans now, LOL.
I took all day off yesterday to play.
Now I am sitting at work wishing I was playing.

 

[Xavier434]

Originally posted by: tdawg
So, how are you guys getting missions? I think I've only had three or four, and 2 were from that crack addict that shows up as a blue person on the mini map. The other was saving Roman from the loan sharks in the park and chasing down that guy with the knife (cut him up good for the hassle of the chase).

Other than that, I just kill time with Michelle or Roman. I really like the mini games--I've bowled, played pool, and dominated Roman at darts (in my head I could hear that British darts announcer from Fox Sports say 180, when I scored that). But it feels like I've lost contact with the story or something and it's not progressing. Any ideas?

It's like all of the other GTA games in the sense that doing the main story line missions continuously unlock more and more side missions. There are probably other ones you can do now too. I imagine there are missions associated with the fire trucks, police cars, and ambulances although I have yet to confirm that.

 

[SuperjetMatt]

and 2 were from that crack addict that shows up as a blue person on the mini map.

I talked to that guy once, and was thinking WTF?
I don't think he gave me mission.

 

[Xavier434]

Originally posted by: SuperjetMatt
break != brake

Typing fast makes me do strange things. I fixed it for you though.

 

[SuperjetMatt]

But to compensate, I?ve apprehended many of the city?s Most Wanted criminals.

How does one do this?


Also, has anyone read the serial killer thing online (in the game)?
I thought I read somewhere that you can find him on the in-game MySpace spoof and bring him to justice.
Is the MySpace spoof that dating website?
Anyone?

 

[blurredvision]

Originally posted by: Xavier434
I imagine there are missions associated with the fire trucks, police cars, and ambulances although I have yet to confirm that.

I believe I read there are these things still. I know with the police cars, you can access the in-car computer and hunt down the criminals on the most wanted list (I think this was mentioned above somewhere).

 

[bucwylde23]

Originally posted by: blurredvision

Originally posted by: Xavier434
I imagine there are missions associated with the fire trucks, police cars, and ambulances although I have yet to confirm that.

I believe I read there are these things still. I know with the police cars, you can access the in-car computer and hunt down the criminals on the most wanted list (I think this was mentioned above somewhere).

How do you access the computer while in the car?

 

[SuperjetMatt]

For 360, it's LB.

 

[tdawg]

Originally posted by: SuperjetMatt

and 2 were from that crack addict that shows up as a blue person on the mini map.

I talked to that guy once, and was thinking WTF?
I don't think he gave me mission.

The first time I saw him he just made fun of me and then gave me $100. The next time I found him he was completely cracked out and needed a ride to pick up some more crack. When I dropped him at his final destination, he gave me something like $150.

I want to take out some other criminals, but I can't ever catch them when I hear the women screaming (I'm assuming that's how you find them?). I did beat the crap out of some guy on a corner that I thought was doing something to make some woman scream. I saw her tearing down the street after I beat him down.

 

[bucwylde23]

does anyone know how many collection items there are? I do know that there are 200 "flying rats" to kill which I need 199 more of.

Haven't seen anything else yet.

 

[buck]

I am thinking of buying that big manual, is it helping anyone else?

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: tdawg
So, how are you guys getting missions? I think I've only had three or four, and 2 were from that crack addict that shows up as a blue person on the mini map. The other was saving Roman from the loan sharks in the park and chasing down that guy with the knife (cut him up good for the hassle of the chase).

Other than that, I just kill time with Michelle or Roman. I really like the mini games--I've bowled, played pool, and dominated Roman at darts (in my head I could hear that British darts announcer from Fox Sports say 180, when I scored that). But it feels like I've lost contact with the story or something and it's not progressing. Any ideas?

Keep doing missions for Roman and it'll unlock missions from two other guys pretty soon.

 

[tdawg]

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: tdawg
So, how are you guys getting missions? I think I've only had three or four, and 2 were from that crack addict that shows up as a blue person on the mini map. The other was saving Roman from the loan sharks in the park and chasing down that guy with the knife (cut him up good for the hassle of the chase).

Other than that, I just kill time with Michelle or Roman. I really like the mini games--I've bowled, played pool, and dominated Roman at darts (in my head I could hear that British darts announcer from Fox Sports say 180, when I scored that). But it feels like I've lost contact with the story or something and it's not progressing. Any ideas?

Keep doing missions for Roman and it'll unlock missions from two other guys pretty soon.

Does he call you and give you missions? Every time he calls me, it's just to go do something, like darts, or to eat.

 

[Xavier434]

Originally posted by: buck
I am thinking of buying that big manual, is it helping anyone else?

I have not looked at the manual, but if I were you I would just wait a couple weeks to see what the internet has to offer which will probably be everything in the manual and more. Of course, having a book in front of you to flip through can be very convenient depending on your setup.

 

[SuperjetMatt]

Does he call you and give you missions? Every time he calls me, it's just to go do something, like darts, or to eat.

IIRC, once you played a few missions for Roman, missions for Vlad open up.
Also, Roman has you drive Jacob - after that, you can work for Jacob.