grand theft auto 3, classic or dud?

- can't use the arrows to steer a car
- seems to take longer to load each game/section of dialogue than I remember Three doing, so more waiting around.

Otherwise, it is classic enough to make me consider buying my own PS2, which means it's pretty darn classic.

you're probably going to hate San Andreas then.

I had a college roommate in 1993 who talked incessantly about how "virtual reality" would take over and you would be able to fuck Pam Anderson or Cindy Crawford inside a video game. Estimated time for this? The year 2000.

I like GTA3 all right. If there's one thing I don't like is not being able to climb shit (I got San Andreas first.) Also, the echoey effects of the bystanders' voices creep me out a little. And I had to turn off those tracer effects.

A vers. of the 3D game set in '60's London could be pretty good fun, actually, but a version set in Ancient Rome would be the best.

Like "Vice City", the thing that most impresses me about it is the sense of it being a real place. It's kind of a believable location. I still don't like it as much as "Vice City" though, mostly because there's a thread of twisted humour running through "Vice City" that seems absent, or at least not very well developed in "GTA3". I think it needs the humour because the subject matter is a bit of a mnoral black hole, to be honest. Plus the music in "Vice City" was much, much better. The music in "GTA3" is OK, I guess, though I sringe everytime I pick up a car that's tuned to MSX FM. That's some fucking unlistenable shit right there.

The third island has some great missions, like the collecting of the fallen gold bars in the road. the more you pick up the heavier the car gets and harder to drive.

A vers. of the 3D game set in '60's London could be pretty good fun, actually, but a version set in Ancient Rome would be the best.

-- Pashmina (vietgrov...), April 5th, 2005.

Sim Caligula!

this may be a really dumb question but where or what the hell are GTA 1 and 2?

Just got IV. It's nice, and looks scarily real in parts, but yeah I miss hearing "Owner of a Lonely Heart" while cops chase my Ferrari down the beach.

San Andreas 4 life

GSF 4 LIFE

Head Radio and Lips 106 are now on Spotify, minus the DJ announcements.

http://open.spotify.com/album/6bJvflJ40TDElA6gURc78u

https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/ny-metro-police-officer-hurt-pursuit-20190228-story.html

Replaying on my phone. It took me about 30 attempts to pass “kingdom come,” the mission on Staunton island where you are in a parking lot surrounded by “spanked up madmen” with bombs strapped to their chests, laughing and saying “special delivery!”

Can’t find the entrance to the police station

if i'm thinking of the right game, get arrested and you'll get delivered there

Holy shit, this brings back memories. My wife's cousin got us a PS2 for our wedding present in 2002. I only ever bought two games for it: this and Gran Turismo 2.

My wife and I still call Staten Island Stauton Island.

Favorite vehicle anyone? Stinger, Rumpo, and Banshee. IIRC, when you got in a Rumpo, it was always tuned to the Jamaican station.

Police station on the middle island has that sunken car park iirc, there's a small side road off one of the main streets that slopes down into it? I may not rc, it's been a looong time.

Great mission late in the game, “bait,” where you have lure three Cars with 4 Armed Colombians in each around shoreside vale to a trap with 5 yakuza dudes who are on your side

does anyone prefer the original head down gta's to the recent ones?

15 years later but yes, GTA 1 was the best, used to do LAN games of this with my friends in college. Never got into GTA 3+ but 1 and 2 were my jam- especially 1. Classic.

I think if I'd known of the existence of GTA III's Ghost Town back then I would have spent a lot of time dreaming about it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRShBEGKRqQ

In the late-game yakuza mission “s.a.m.,” you are tasked to use a rocket launcher to shoot down a plane as it lands at Francis International airport. You must travel by yacht to the checkpoint, a buoy off the end of the runway.

When you arrive, you have about a minute to decide to either stand on the back of the boat and wait for the plane’s approach or to consider the possibility of another vantage point. A quick cruise around the vicinity leads to the discovery of a lone, belligerent Colombian gunman (“it’s no thing to kill you”)— as well as a gently sloped boat ramp, which conveniently leads up to the runway. With some speed you can gun the boat up the incline and get off onto the siding without fear of falling in the water.

At the top of the ramp there’s a Cartel Cruiser with 3 soldiers on guard, shamelessly brandishing their AK-47s. Blasting the gunmen with the rocket launcher from a distance seems like a safe bet. But that vehicle could come in handy, perhaps? More elegant is to snipe the three, then proceed gingerly up to the landing strip.

You’ll now have ample time to equip the rocket launcher and wait for the approach. The plane is quick; even with the advantage of a longer lead time down the runway, you’ll need to stay sharp to tag it. When it explodes, eight packages of drugs will fall to the ground, which you will need to collect with haste, as your wanted level spikes to four stars, drawing a police helicopter to hover overhead and take shots at you. Hope you brought your body armor.

Packages acquired, you’ll want the safety of that vehicle to help you get to your destination, the construction site in Staunton Island where the yakuza are hanging out.

The Cruiser is a slow car with a high center of gravity — make the best of it as you head the only way possible — down the runway. Don’t mind the other two gangs of Columbians that are parked nearby, or the random keystone kops that are now hunting you as you speed towards the exit under the wings of 747s.

As you emerge onto the street, you have a choice to take the bridge or the tunnel, both of which will bring you back to Staunton. The tunnel might sound attractive, as it provides natural defense against the helicopter. However, it’s tight; the reckless fuzz won’t hesitate to force you into the walls and traffic barriers. With limited room to maneuver, the environment is ideal for pile-ups and cars catching fire. So, instead, the bridge.

Or — to a pay-and-spray. There’s one just up the way in Shoreside Vale, past a couple of hastily placed police van roadblocks. Once you’ve got your new engine and paint job, “the cops won’t recognize you,” and you can proceed safely back to Azusa.

I finished this game, and yet, I don't remember any of these missions.

I believe I have have played every GTA (except for that Brit spinoff version of 2) and have played quite a lot of most GTAs but I have yet to finish a GTA.

I remember that s.a.m. mission being really hard, trying to escape from the cops at the end

grew up on many gta games but gta v was totally fucking horrible, gameplay and story-wise. absolute dogshit. i got extremely smitten with rdr2 though. their swan song? somehow it had actual heart instead of the usual misanthropy and cynicism. was very well done. i dunno if dan houser departing the studio bodes well or if it means they descend into 15 hour campaigns and constant online add-ons etc

can't see how R* are encouraged to build a new engine for next gen since the one they have been using for 20+ years has worked out pretty well for them! extra dire that gto/gta v is going to be a launch title for the ps5 lmao. they have the resources, skill, talent, and vision to take things to a new place but i don't think they will do it because they have no motivation to do so

https://i.imgur.com/pW5S50E.jpg

Different vantage points of the chopper in the last mission, “the exchange.” https://i.imgur.com/w38A6uU.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/PSgjxhs.jpg

The toughest part of this mission is finding the entrance to the dam.

the storyline for gta V was dogshit and i am tired as fuck of their shit - in terms of plot, dialogue etc. - at this point but I honestly really enjoyed the gameplay and thought, at the time, that the rendering of LA/SoCal was amazing - lots of "wow I've been here" moments for me. I would absolutely lap up gta 6

I don't remember GTA 3 missions at all. I seem to remember that compared to vice city and San Andreas it really wasn't that great but it was so long ago - 19 years! - it's hard to say

I kinda think GTA3 had the best mission design of them all

I didn't play GTA3 at the time - I didn't own a PS2 until after Vice City came out. I absolutely loved Vice City and San Andreas, my housemates and I would spend hours playing it communally, but when I went back and had a go at GTA3 it already felt too primitive compared to its sequels. Not being able to get into water without dying was a deal-breaker.

Calstars you should play Liberty City Stories too (not the gtaIV dlc), I'm not sure what platforms it's available for though (I got if for ps2 and vita). It's a truly great tribute to GTA3 in my opinion, using the same map with some alterations here and there.

And it has an absolutely obscene amount of side missions / collectibles

Played it back in the day, in fact bought a PSP to do just that as I believe that was the original platform it came out for.

Yeah, I'd rep for GTA3, the other two of that generation were great too, but something about the balance of discovery vs storyline pulls me in.

Not being able to get into water without dying was a deal-breaker.

It's a game - one of the rules of the game is don't fall in the water.

It was a shit rule. I remember a PS2 Spider-Man game having the same infuriating rule.

It's a game - one of the rules of the game is don't fall in the water.

But it's a game that was revelatory in how it created a living, breathing world, and only reminded you you were playing a game when you fell in the water and suddenly OMG DEAD. If you came to GTA3 from the later iterations that were published only a year later, that difference is jarring.

[hang on, was it San Andreas that introduced swimming?]

Actually enjoyed a session on VC last night, even getting through Demolition Man with no probs. I think out of the three games this one visually benefits the most because of it's intense colour palette.

Tried the GTA3 version for the first time, just meh really. Still has frame rate issue unbelievably.

San Andreas is the most buggy from what I've seen, of course it's the bigger game with more scope for stuff to go wrong (a lot of polygon clipping in areas, ie car tyres clipping through roads) but I don't enjoy the enhanced cartoony experience for this one. There's also some annoying glitch when climbing over fences where your character gets a little stuck on the other side. On top of things I've already mentioned I'll stick to playing this on the ps2 thanks.

I did demolition man first time too this go round! Although the camera kept showing the floor above the chopper, completely obscuring it

I really wish I'd played all the way through GTA 3 properly when it came out when it still had that incredible novelty to it, it's too rudimentary to persevere with if you get stuck in an annoying mission in 2021

I'm not touching San Andreas, unless I get a sudden hankering to see a man with five joints in his arm ride a bike

hahaha yeah i rode a mountain bike for the first time last night and what the holy fuck at the animation ?!

They stuck an extra 30 seconds on Demolition Man iirc.

I'd be interested in understanding more about the financial decisions that drive these shitty, broken games to market. You know that these people know that the game is unfinished and is just gonna get torn to shreds. What makes this keep happening beyond all good judgment?

hmmm what could it be

I read that the demolition man timer was changed to 7:30 from the 2nd ps2 pressing onwards, but when I did it this go round it just...wasn't that difficult anyway? Maybe the reps I got in aged 19 still count 💪

This GTA 5 "glitch"/legitimate speedrun technique youtube threw at me made me laugh more than most of the San Andreas stuff

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBbxlP6NXXs

It's really not a difficult mission, just a bit tedious which nobody ever looks forward to.

xxpost I just mean like...do the bean counters have a formula worked out wherein they know that X number of people will inevitably plop down cash for a new/refurbished entry in a popular franchise even if said entry winds up being the gaming equivalent of dancingbaby.gif, such that they can afford to alienate Y number of customers who will swear off said franchise forever (until they begrudgingly plop down cash for the next entry)

That was my theory as well, they'll have done some kind of cost analysis which justifies it on the basis that the amount of copies they'll shift purely off the back of nostalgia & brand recognition will be enough to outweigh the inevitable backlash and negative reviews. Multiply sales across every current available platform and it's bound to make enough of a profit (especially at the ludicrous AAA pricepoint of 60 bucks) that the shareholders will be satisfied regardless of the lack of quality of the end product.

Interested to see how this plays out as it's a real test of that kind of math. What's more confusing is, no one at all was waiting on this. Why would they rush it out the door? It doesn't make any sense. Yeah maybe something about more profit for the current quarter.

I'm watching a dude on Twitch play it (haven't heard him complain about bugs or glitches much) and the radio stations ("I wanna talk about taxes" - "the lone star state?" // "the name's Laszlo" - "so yeah, Leslie...") & the fake ads ("Do you want a kitten? (meow)" "we have manatees (sheep sound), white rhinos (sea lion sound) - petsovernight.com") are still 100% CLASSIC

I'm not sure anyone is swearing off GTA VI based on another studio doing a shitty job, tbf.

Yes the stations are great across the board. I esp love the gta 3 stations. Some of those fake pop songs on head radio and Lips 106 are really good !

Rockstar comments finally

tldr=
Big apologies
Admission that games aren't up to scratch, patches will be made (one soon)
Please stop abusing members of Rockstar Dev teams on social platforms
Classic versions will be up on Launcher, free to people who buy the Definitive versions before June next year

the patch = everybody will be sent a refurbished PS2 and the original Grand Theft Auto 3

or a kitten in a box

access to the original games a big hint that this is not gonna get super fixed

I mean the actual project was so fundamentally unambitious, it's hard to see what would've been £55/$60-worthy about it even if it had successfully cleared the low bar they set for it. It is a bummer given how many good remasters there have been in recent years

Astute observers will have noted that I am describing as very poor value for money a compendium I have also posted several firsthand gameplay experiences from. I quite simply woke up from a nap on Sunday and found that it was installed on my hard drive. It's crazy

I got 97 hidden pacakge!

but now i'm at the point where my mind is playing trickseez, "did i already get that one?" "did the game save properly after finding those ones?" and trying to remember all the locations and falling for the trap of false locations where there never was a package. Fucked if I know where these last 3 are. will continue tomorrow...

Console update out

Fixed an issue where the game would restart from the beginning when selecting to retry from the last checkpoint on the Mission High Stakes, Low Rider

I would have raged so hard...

https://i.imgur.com/EhvCFsp.png

Honest mistake

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Rd2huQTNh0

Yeah cannot 100% Vice City due to that Gun Runner mission being totally fucked

https://www.mixmods.com.br/2021/11/vcde-fix-gun-runner-softlock-missao.html?m=1

This purportedly fixes it, though I think by auto-completing the mission at a point before the bug rather than actually letting you do it properly

They also have a mod that puts all the removed songs back in that works fine

https://i.imgur.com/JL7xlMK.jpg

Lol

Do the new versions let you play your own station by putting mp3s in a folder, like the original?

just curious.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jKDn-jOq-E

Coolest way to kill Salvatore

this game was so immersive. the 'fake pop' songs on the stations were such hits! it's weird to get nostalgic for in-game landscapes... cruising around the second island, sunset, lips 106...

“I hear the lead singer just got out of rehab and is ready to date your sister” -dj Michael hunt

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ev7FqNa5rD0

No lie, I think the majority of my time playing GTA3 was spent in a tank with the gun reversed, trying to blow myself up hills.

The Trashmaster is the poor man’s tank

always complete the Paramedic missions before you piss off any of the gangs

https://i.imgur.com/9yVvhFL.jpg