c/d s/d: the GRAND THEFT AUTO series

One of my favorite gags in Vice City: Note the names of the self-help guy's seminars:

Motivate, Demonstrate, then Motivate Again

Think, Hold that thought, Complete

Learn, Start, Doing

har har har.

I never hated on the eating in SA. In other games, when your health levels get way down, you have to run around looking for a health packet or something. In SA, it was never too difficult to find a Burger Shot or Stacked Pizza to get your health bar raised.

I thought the dialogue in SA was funnier (german DJ, james woods), but it didn't strike me until v. recently how good some of the stuff in VC is. i'm so used to just ignoring all the "lol BJ69GAY" humor that i never noticed a lot of fairly subtle jokes.

the more i think about it, the more impressed i am with the middle island from GTA3. it was just an uncannily evocative environment, and all the missions on that island took advantage of the fact. i really didn't see anything like that at all in VC, it was visually attractive but it never felt like anything more than a lego city to me.

VC was how I got my friend addicted to the series. She's run a motorcycle into a ramp or a bus or a building, watch the guy fly, and laugh and laugh.

I LOATHE the 3rd island on GTA3. Fuck uphill roads & having a savepoint out in the boonie hoods.

That's pretty much where I began my GTA3 hiatus.

It was cool in GTA3 when you got onto the 2nd island, but not the 3rd, not knowing anything about it, you could stand on the bit of parkland next to the sports stadium, and look across the gulf using the sniper rifle scope - you could see the arched bridge & the dam in the distance - wow that looks great, but it was a bit of a let-down when I got there. It felt a bit unfinished in some way. Also, the layout is confusing, I keep getting lost.

Also, wtf is the sports staduim for? there's no way of getting into it, is there, apart from mastering flying the dodo, which I gave up on after 2 nights, fuck that, it's no fun at all. Is there anything in it, dodo masters?

There's that whole thing in GTA3 about the missing mission as well, the story (which is kind of credible, once you untangle it from all the fluff about "carcer city") being that as originally envisaged, there was amission where you had to hijack/steal a plane and fly it into love media's skyscraper. Obviously, I can see why they pulled that bit & clipped the dodo's wings, but it's still annoying that there's a/ a bit missing and b/the dodo is (nearly ) unflyable.

It reminds me of the old spectrum game "dun darach" where if you mapped the city out, there was a missing section in the middle - the red light district, apparently pulled b/c of distribution fears!

I might pick up SA on the way home tonight.

Funnest thing in VC, which never gets old, no matter how many times I do it - get a pjc motorbike, ride to the docks, then blast all the way northwards on the dual carriageway, ignore the one-way system bit via the biker's bar, just keep going str8ahead past the fire station, go up those outside steps across from the ammu-nation, then wheee! up over the road & on to the roof. Great.

OTM. Or take the right and smash into the window of the bike shop!

there's not much in the stadium, i crashed my dodo in there once. the graphics are a bit fucked up obv not expecting people to get in there. there's like a two layer graphic for the pitch, I just ended up falling below it.

yeah i totally kept getting lost on the third island, it's a nightmare and don't even bother attempting the paramedic mission there.

I went back to GTA3 for a bit this afternoon. First time I had played it since last September.

I just don't like that third island. The two halves that are connected only by the one bridge (or by going underground which always invites disaster) completely suck.

I did have fun messing around on the drawbridge thingy. If you can get someone out of their car on the bridge, when it goes up, the person sinks into the pavement as the bridge rises. Or - if you stand in front of an automobile and wait until the bridge goes up, step out of the way, and sometimes the car will keep driving off the edge and float on back to Staunton Island.

I also drove a Perennial into the subway, parked on the tracks, waited for a train to smash into it, got on the train, and watched the explosion as we pulled away from the station.

I've got 19 more missions to go. Haven't even seen anything close to resembling this dodo thing.

Considering that GTA 3 was release at the end of October 2001, I really can't see how Pashmina's rumour can be true at all. Apart from anything else, It would be daft to take proper flying out. I mean, no-one's going to beat the game up just for something you _can_ do with it. Oh, hang on...

From imdb.com, of all places:

Bill Fiore was cast in the role of Darkel, which made it into the pre release version. But for undisclosed reasons, the producers decided not to include him in the final version, which has become the subject of hot debate for fans. The most popular reasons for his absence include: Darkel was going to be a revolutionary street urchin who vowed to bring down the city's economy. Rumour has it, is that many of his missions were based on terrorism and even included an aeroplane explosion. Thus, due to the games releases proximity to the events of [September 11], he was promptly removed from the final version. The final and most popular reason, stems from the fact that Darkel was originally going to give out Rampage esque missions and even had his voice recoreded for this part. Rockstar games then decided that they would like to go back to the original system of giving out rampages as featured in Grand Theft Auto and Grand Theft Auto 2.

Also, Originally the police cars were going to use the NYPD blue and white paint scheme. A few screenshots of them can be seen in the map/poster that comes with the game (the best one is right under the word "Liberty" in the title "Welcome To Liberty City"). It is believed that the police cars were changed to the standard black and white paint scheme to make them not look like the NYPD cars because of the terrorist attacks on the USA of 11 September 2001.

I heard the skyscraper rumour the other day for the first time. I can believe some missions and characters could be removed for being a bit terrorist, but I find it hard to believe you had to do that. After 11th September you had people quoting fake Nostradamus quatrains about "two brothers" that vaguely sounded like the event as if he had psychically predicted it, and weird things in Wingdings. If there was a game where the programmers had spent months making a situation where you fly a plane into a skyscraper in a city based on New York shortly before it had happened, you'd never hear the end about how Rockstar had spookily predicted it.

I guess I'm one of the few people who really loved Staunton Island. The save point is stupid, but in a weird way it's in the right place since it has easy access to the tunnels and is conveniently located for the late missions. I loved the hills and awesome jumps.

Vice City's map, for me, was always its main drawback, as it is largely flat with grided streets. Andreas was the perfect mix, with grided cities and winding country roads and freeways.

I prefered the plot of III the best, especially the fact that you don't talk, as it always creeps me out when Ray Liotta chimes in with some catchphrase as I'm crushing some grandma's skull.

I played a bit more of San Andreas again over the christmas break, and it really does rule over GTAIII and Vice City for playability.
In fact I found the game mechanics of GTAIII so annoyting that I got nowhere with it. Vice City was a bit more playable, if still far too awkward for it to be truly enjoyable.

VC and GTA3 certainly miss the fluid 360 viewing mechanism from San Andreas I feel, not to mention all the other extra abilities your player has when on foot, but on PS2 I found myself to be quite fluid with the controls of Vice City and don't have any complaints with it.

Since this thread started I've been playing SA quite a bit, in fact found two more tags at the weekend. Having lots of fun with the handheld gattling gun and the police choppers, not so much fun for the choppers mind.

That gattling gun... good times.

the minigun is great, if not super useful. in vice city it was a pretty problematic weapon, because it could shred things to pieces in a heartbeat, but you couldn't actually aim the fucking thing. there was an extremely unreliable auto-aim but it never worked in the way you wanted, when you wanted. it's a lot of fun to use in both games though, in terms of sheer badassery. heat-seeking rockets obv. most useful heavy weapon though

Can I thank you schmucks for getting me to pick up San Andreas again in an effort to get 100%? TENDINITISVILLE, HOORAY.

This thread made me go back. Just spent the evening dogfighting and had really trouble getting to sleep due to excitement!

Still can't finish last mission though.

One thing I never got in SA was where you legally get the heat-seeking rocket-launcher. I've seen it with the codes of course, but it's the one weapons I never managed to find otherwise. Where it is?

Seems like there was one between a couple of buildings at San Fierro's airport, but it's been awhile.

that's right, in between the tanker looking structures, there's also one back at Toreno's house where you start the monster truck race. It appears there after you've completed his missions, as well as the normal rocket launcher, the gattling gun, and the flame thrower.

Really? I'll be goddamned. Imagine not noticing something like that.

yeah, i remember like... immediately after i got to San Fierro i would use an nrg to jump into the airport, grab the heat-seeking rockets, zoom out and back up the mountain to jump back in, by which time it had respawned, etc. etc. not terrifically useful, but it made it a lot easier whenever i wanted to stop the game and shoot down a shitload of helicopters.

i'm marginally tempted to replay this game now, just to do the story missions again. is this what madness is like?

I never knew that about Toreno's house. I'll look tonight. Anyone any clue on how to get gold on the parachute thing in flight school. Went back last night to it and just can't seem to do in less than 58 seconds!

don't open your chute when it says, wait a little bit longer. then use the pull-down control to get closer to the target. i think, been a while.

or maybe use the push-forward option before your chute has opened? to get down a bit faster.

I've done both. It's all just a matter of guessing I suppose. It's the only one that I can't do properly. That and circle the fucking airfield and land grrrrr!!!

circle and land is really annoying, takes ages to circle and then you just fuck up the landing.

Always. The plane just bounces like hell. Still, had a funny moment yesterday where I just thought I'd try and get all gold in boke school. Too easy really, don't know why I couldn't before!

DEAR "BARNSTORMING" RACE,

I HATE YOU WITH THE HEAT OF A THOUSAND SUNS AND IF I COULD I WOULD SHOVE A KOMODO DRAGON UP YOUR ANUS UNTIL ITS HEAD CAME OUT OF YOUR MOUTH AND THEN IT WOULD SLOWLY EAT YOU.

xoxo
(>")>

That's the one race I haven't completed yet.

t(^o^t)

Oh god - there are SO many races I need to complete in SA. That one all around San Fierro's not gonna get done for a while.

The long ones ain't too bad if you just take it easy, the computer cars end up trashing themselves.

The races I struggled with were the short NRG bike one on los santos, if you went too fast up the hill the bike did some crazy things and you'd fall off. And the Freeway one, again on LS, because the car is so fucking awful to drive!

The bike races pissed me off b/c you can't shoot your competitors.

never did beat any of the figure 8s

Vinewood.

I actually gave up on the races, I thought that the tightening of the chest and tingling in my arms wasn't a good sign!

Despite failing to complete any of the games (or even come close with the last two) I love reading GTA threads. Lots of people who've mostly never met getting all nostalgic about going to the same places and reminiscing about doing the same things in slightly different ways.

My fondest memories are of GTA3 as it's the one I got most of the way through.

I remember being stuck on a race mission on GTA3 and ended up stealing a fire truck and parking it across the road in front of the other three cars before it started.

My favourite between missions carnage was going up on the roof above the nightclub (Luigi's? The first missions guy) and taking out everything that moved until I ran out of rockets for the helicopters, then jumping off the roof into a swarm of cops and trying to jack a car and make it to the paint and spray.

I'm also kinda miffed re: GTA3 because I never finished all the Mafia missions - both times I played GTA3 (once when I first bought it, once about 18 months later), I started the KILL MUTE GUY mission before I could complete the bankheist mission for Michael Rapaport.

"Hey I'm bored! When yer gonna drill me?"

the race tournaments were the easiest part of SA! i mean, once you've mastered the 8-track there's basically no race that can confound you. in ANY of the races you can pretty much assure yourself of a win by getting an early lead and driving conservatively the rest of the way. use the PIT maneuver every now and then if necessary. and obviously always drive in first-person. and use the map often to make sure you know in advance where the next two checkpoints are gonna be.

First person! Fuck that! I need to see the clowns that are turning right from the leftmost lane. But, yeah, getting a lead and playing it (somewhat) safe is the key. I tried the 8-track ONCE. And died.

dude, once you go 1st person you NEVER GO BACK. i think the actual physics of the game change in that view, because you get much subtler reactions from the car when performing the same joystick movez you were using earlier. i won almost all the race tournaments in one try this way. (the bike ones were probably pretty hard though, i don't remember)

ADE, did you even see my new ilx name :(

LOLOL NO, FUCK

WELL.

I'M NOT CHANGING MINE >:[

TAKE THAT BARNSTROMMING. AND YOU TOO VINEWOOD.