Grand Theft Auto V

[Hockey_Ninja]

Thinking of getting this game. Does it stack up well compared to San Andreas or is it better?

[Jbo]

Better

[Russic]

I'm very early on, but if what I've seen keeps up this will easily be the best in the series.

[Regulator75]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

So here's my foray into wandering. I stumble across the airport, find and hijack a private jet, and start exploring the map. I do a counter-clockwise loop around the small town at the very top, and as I'm heading back along the west coast I spot what looks like another airport. So I do a flyby until I realize that it's a military base and I'm now at an instant 4-star wanted level and two missiles are locked on me. Somehow I manage to avoid the first, but the second hits and takes out my left engine. I manage to limp along and lose the cops/military, make my way back to Los Santos and then the other engine dies. I'm now in a big glider trying to somehow land in the middle of the city without killing myself. I spot a freeway and manage to make an almost perfect landing, until my wing clips a truck and I blow up and die

God I wanted so badly to walk away from all of that unscathed.

This really makes me want to go buy this game.

[Max Cow Disease]

I'm about halfway through the story aspect of the game and it's easy for me to declare at this point that this is by far the best game in the series, by a nearly inarguable margin. I mean, even if you have a certain affinity for one of the particular plots/characters or whatever in the past games, V seems to do everything that those games do, but amped up, refined, and perfected.

The visuals, physics, detail, story-writing, environment, weapons, etc. are all where they should be. The story and its associated missions are fun, but simply messing around and doing whatever is also more fun than it's ever been. It combines many of the positive elements from Red Dead and other Rockstar games into one hulking megalodon of a game that's had me uncontrollably soiling myself for 5 days straight now. The sight of Los Santos' city lights from a hilltop or whilst flying around at dusk is simply a sight to be seen by any videogame-playing eyes.

This should be recommended to everyone, and I do recommend it to everyone, including children, adults, the ill, and the extremely elderly.

[KelVarnsen]

Sticky bombs are a lot of fun.

[Yamer]

As expected:

The most amazingly thought out, gritty, powerful game of the series...and they did it at the tail end of this generation of gaming. The story is entertaining as all hell, the characters are varied and compelling, and the missions are complex and engaging. The sheer multitude of side-activities and missions means that you won't soon finish the game or get bored while doing it. Most everything has taken a marathon's step up from GTA IV...

However...

The flying missions have a long, LONG way to go before I ever enjoy them. I am at Trevor's first (of what I can only assume are a long line of) flying missions, and I am absolutely discouraged and frustrated at the mechanics and lack of instruction. They have made no headway in terms of making the flying in the game accessible for casual users, and expect you to be fluent/experienced in the advanced flying controls of the game right off the bat. The game offers no tutorial, no instruction, and no easing into the flying portion of the game. The slightest mistake results in a failure of the mission, and the checkpoint system has seen just as little improvement as GTA IV. I hate redoing 5 minutes of pointlessness because I failed at 5 seconds of gameplay (especially if that means having to deal with the ludicrous flying controls of the GTA series). Thankfully this version allows you to skip this atrocious portion of the game upon 3 mission failures, and I will happily dive into the ground or steer into a mountain (taking a meaningless bronze) to skip any and all flying missions in this game. This has been the downfall, IMO, of every iteration of this series, and continues to be the most frustrating aspect of it into 2013.

Sorry to bitch, but I hate....HATE the abysmal flying controls Rockstar implements in these wonderful and outstanding games. It ruined what should have been incredible memories of San Andreas, and it has already tainted this crowing achievement in gaming history.

[flamesfan6]

Originally Posted by Yamer

As expected:

The most amazingly thought out, gritty, powerful game of the series...and they did it at the tail end of this generation of gaming. The story is entertaining as all hell, the characters are varied and compelling, and the missions are complex and engaging. The sheer multitude of side-activities and missions means that you won't soon finish the game or get bored while doing it. Most everything has taken a marathon's step up from GTA IV...

However...

The flying missions have a long, LONG way to go before I ever enjoy them. I am at Trevor's first (of what I can only assume are a long line of) flying missions, and I am absolutely discouraged and frustrated at the mechanics and lack of instruction. They have made no headway in terms of making the flying in the game accessible for casual users, and expect you to be fluent/experienced in the advanced flying controls of the game right off the bat. The game offers no tutorial, no instruction, and no easing into the flying portion of the game. The slightest mistake results in a failure of the mission, and the checkpoint system has seen just as little improvement as GTA IV. I hate redoing 5 minutes of pointlessness because I failed at 5 seconds of gameplay (especially if that means having to deal with the ludicrous flying controls of the GTA series). Thankfully this version allows you to skip this atrocious portion of the game upon 3 mission failures, and I will happily dive into the ground or steer into a mountain (taking a meaningless bronze) to skip any and all flying missions in this game. This has been the downfall, IMO, of every iteration of this series, and continues to be the most frustrating aspect of it into 2013.

Sorry to bitch, but I hate....HATE the abysmal flying controls Rockstar implements in these wonderful and outstanding games. It ruined what should have been incredible memories of San Andreas, and it has already tainted this crowing achievement in gaming history.

After the first flying mission you can go to the flying schools with your characters where it teaches you the basics

I find the plane controls fine and don't mind them .. helicopter though - definitely not liking them

[Hemi-Cuda]

Originally Posted by Yamer

As expected:

The most amazingly thought out, gritty, powerful game of the series...and they did it at the tail end of this generation of gaming. The story is entertaining as all hell, the characters are varied and compelling, and the missions are complex and engaging. The sheer multitude of side-activities and missions means that you won't soon finish the game or get bored while doing it. Most everything has taken a marathon's step up from GTA IV...

However...

The flying missions have a long, LONG way to go before I ever enjoy them. I am at Trevor's first (of what I can only assume are a long line of) flying missions, and I am absolutely discouraged and frustrated at the mechanics and lack of instruction. They have made no headway in terms of making the flying in the game accessible for casual users, and expect you to be fluent/experienced in the advanced flying controls of the game right off the bat. The game offers no tutorial, no instruction, and no easing into the flying portion of the game. The slightest mistake results in a failure of the mission, and the checkpoint system has seen just as little improvement as GTA IV. I hate redoing 5 minutes of pointlessness because I failed at 5 seconds of gameplay (especially if that means having to deal with the ludicrous flying controls of the GTA series). Thankfully this version allows you to skip this atrocious portion of the game upon 3 mission failures, and I will happily dive into the ground or steer into a mountain (taking a meaningless bronze) to skip any and all flying missions in this game. This has been the downfall, IMO, of every iteration of this series, and continues to be the most frustrating aspect of it into 2013.

Sorry to bitch, but I hate....HATE the abysmal flying controls Rockstar implements in these wonderful and outstanding games. It ruined what should have been incredible memories of San Andreas, and it has already tainted this crowing achievement in gaming history.

I don't understand this, what is so hard about flying? After stealing a jet at the airport I found it quite simple to control, if you've ever played any type of flying game before the controls are quite intuitive. Hell I think the fact that you can have both your engines die yet still land successfully is a testament to how well done it is. And Trevor's first flying mission has a plane that's probably the easiest to control in the game. You weren't trying to go under all the bridges were you? Because that's an optional objective to get a gold medal in that mission, it's not required and it's far easier to fly high enough to miss any obstacles

[Hemi-Cuda]

Originally Posted by Regulator75

This really makes me want to go buy this game.

My next interesting tale was a random event that had a really drunk couple ask Trevor for a ride back to their motel. You could do that and have them give you a few bucks, or you can take them to a secluded cult compound way out in the mountains and sell them to slavery. So of course I do the later. On the way there before they realize anything's amiss the couple starts banging in the backseat, and Trevor asks if he can join in (sadly that gets them to stop). So after dropping them off to whatever horrible fate awaits them (and a quick $2000 reward), I start driving down the mountain and try to take a shortcut. It fails miserably and I get my vehicle wedged in a small creekbed. So I get out and prepare to start hoofing it down the mountain, only to hear an unmistakable growl that I remember all to well from Red Dead Redemption. Before I can even pull out my gun I get mauled by a cougar and die

There are certainly no shortage of interesting ways to get yourself killed in this game

[Żoso]

This game is unreal. I've logged at least 18 hours of playing time since I bought it on Friday and I still haven't covered two thirds of the map.

[Yamer]

Originally Posted by flamesfan6

After the first flying mission you can go to the flying schools with your characters where it teaches you the basics

I find the plane controls fine and don't mind them .. helicopter though - definitely not liking them

Which, logically, are (some) aspects which should probably precede the first mission you are in the air.

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

I don't understand this, what is so hard about flying? After stealing a jet at the airport I found it quite simple to control, if you've ever played any type of flying game before the controls are quite intuitive. Hell I think the fact that you can have both your engines die yet still land successfully is a testament to how well done it is. And Trevor's first flying mission has a plane that's probably the easiest to control in the game. You weren't trying to go under all the bridges were you? Because that's an optional objective to get a gold medal in that mission, it's not required and it's far easier to fly high enough to miss any obstacles

Which is probably a big reason why I can't wrap my head around how to fly in these games. I avoid flying games like the plague, mostly because they are soul crushingly boring (Flight Sims) or require such precision and dedication to figuring it out that it detracts from the enjoyable chaos in other parts of the game (GTA). The only game where I actually liked flying, and did it often, was Saints Row 3...and that's mostly because the game was such an outrageous parody of the genre that its only aim was to make every aspect of it fun and simple (as the flying certainly was).

As for this mission, I had no trouble getting off the ground (although I guess you can't steer on the ground for some reason) but I had a huge initial problem with just controlling the plane (I didn't even let myself think of flying under bridges or anything crazy like that). After 3 go-throughs I eventually got a bit of the hang of flying it and somewhat keeping it steady, but damned if I could figure out how (or even where) to land at the conclusion of the mission. The traditional gamer personality in me wanted to keep going till I finally got it, but the pragmatist took over and realized the time, energy, and frustration just wasn't worth it. I remember how crazy I drove myself over the flying missions in the last 2 games.

Hey, I'm just not good at flying in video games. I know that, and I know that's why I don't like when flying is part of a game I really want or like to play. It's not very encouraging to know that this was probably as easy a mission that you will get, and that helicopters (a huge part of the last 2 games) are even worse.

Probably won't stop me from playing...the game outside of this is completely awesome...but it's still "grind my gears" worthy.

[Sainters7]

Originally Posted by Max Cow Disease

I'm about halfway through the story aspect of the game and it's easy for me to declare at this point that this is by far the best game in the series, by a nearly inarguable margin. I mean, even if you have a certain affinity for one of the particular plots/characters or whatever in the past games, V seems to do everything that those games do, but amped up, refined, and perfected. The visuals, physics, detail, story-writing, environment, weapons, etc. are all where they should be. The story and its associated missions are fun, but simply messing around and doing whatever is also more fun than it's ever been. It combines many of the positive elements from Red Dead and other Rockstar games into one hulking megalodon of a game that's had me uncontrollably soiling myself for 5 days straight now. The sight of Los Santos' city lights from a hilltop or whilst flying around at dusk is simply a sight to be seen by any videogame-playing eyes. This should be recommended to everyone, and I do recommend it to everyone, including children, adults, the ill, and the extremely elderly.

But the question is...is it better than Saints Row 4?

[PIMking]

Originally Posted by flamesfan6

After the first flying mission you can go to the flying schools with your characters where it teaches you the basics

I find the plane controls fine and don't mind them .. helicopter though - definitely not liking them

I hate the flying controls, I'm pretty damn good on Battlefield in the air but not so much here

[TorqueDog]

Flying the planes is super easy, it's those goddamn helicopters that suck. They should have taken a look at the helicopter controls in Just Cause 2. They're a lot better.

[gottabekd]

This GTA incarnation finally feels complete. The environment, the gameplay, the driving, the detail all feels very polished. And man am I loving how people react to you in the world. Jump the fence and come across two topless women sunbathing: they scream and run away. Give some dude with a dog a stiff shoulder on the street: he sics his dog on you. Punch somebody to death out in public: bystanders call the cops on you. Really helps with immersion, making you feel like you are a part of a living city, rather than just a crazy lunatic with a bunch of playthings.

As for flying, I found the planes were pretty simple to control. I have only come across the helicopter in flight school, and did have some trouble with that.

[Vinny01]

RLOD just hit my PS3 so no NHL or GTA for me and just waiting out the PS4 release

[Finny61]

Originally Posted by gottabekd

Punch somebody to death out in public: bystanders call the cops on you. Really helps with immersion, making you feel like you are a part of a living city, rather than just a crazy lunatic with a bunch of playthings.

Bystanders don't stand there with cellphones and record video like idiots? Left disappointed.

[PIMking]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

My next interesting tale was a random event that had a really drunk couple ask Trevor for a ride back to their motel. You could do that and have them give you a few bucks, or you can take them to a secluded cult compound way out in the mountains and sell them to slavery. So of course I do the later. On the way there before they realize anything's amiss the couple starts banging in the backseat, and Trevor asks if he can join in (sadly that gets them to stop). So after dropping them off to whatever horrible fate awaits them (and a quick $2000 reward), I start driving down the mountain and try to take a shortcut. It fails miserably and I get my vehicle wedged in a small creekbed. So I get out and prepare to start hoofing it down the mountain, only to hear an unmistakable growl that I remember all to well from Red Dead Redemption. Before I can even pull out my gun I get mauled by a cougar and die

There are certainly no shortage of interesting ways to get yourself killed in this game

I punched the dude and took his money, there was a poster earlier that stated that someone asked for his help and they shot him. So I had that happen and shot the dude as soon as he came around the corner.

I was trevor and I went up to some car and all of a sudden I woke up in my underwear on train tracks. WTH was that?

[flamesfan6]

Originally Posted by KelVarnsen

So I just learned Trevor gets free ammo and guns at the gun store near his house. I am going on one hell of a rampage tomorrow.

he does? In the store it mentions it's free in the dialog.. but then isn't when actually buying the ammo, am I missing something?