i don't know if this is an unpopular opinion on here but i really, really can't stand gta 5 anymore. i've completed it 3 times since its release, and my dislike of it has grown the further left i've gone. apart from the outright bigoted ""jokes"" in the game, (which are enough to condemn it in my eyes) i just can't force myself to watch its non-committal satire that's so broad and blurry that it makes any interpretation of it plausible. there was one analysis of the game on youtube that brought up the same thing, and ofc there were people in the comments unironically saying "the game makes fun of everyone equally, it's like south park!!"
also, jesus christ, every character is so goddamn loud and obnoxious and unlikable. even the villains are bland. in every other gta game i've played, i've either liked or even loved the main character. in gta 5 it's just hard to watch a lot of the cutscenes because of how unlikable the main characters are. i dunno if that's on me though, i feel like most people loved them.
the gameplay is also less enjoyable than something like gta 4 for me personally. the combat, for example, lost so much of its appeal when they toned down the euphoria physics engine for npcs. in gta 4 (and rdr2 for that matter) enemies reacted very believably when shot, or pushed, or punched. i have no idea why they took that away from gta 5. the driving is good, at least, although i also learned to love the gta 4 driving system which was hated by most people it seems.
i could talk about gta online but we all know that shit sucks
For me the most offensive part of the game is that it really obviously, with a complete lack of subtlety and in the most obnoxious way possible, critiques American culture for being vapid and empty while also being vapid and empty itself.
I specifically enjoy stories about unlikable characters so I didn't necessarily mind that part of it, but I got tired of Trevor's schtick pretty fast. "I'm a wildly violent toddler-man, watch my antics" just gets boring pretty quick.
The characters have nothing to achieve.
Part of the fun in GTA (to me anyway) was always the increasing wealth and wackier/deadlier missions as the game progresses.
Franklin is the only character who has any real chance for growth because Michael has already won, and Trevor doesn't care if he wins because he just likes the violence. You do one mission about halfway through the game and go from a small house you live in with your aunt to literally Vinewood hills mansion.
The thing that really kicks the story off is a full blown heist where you rob a jewelry store and it's honestly too big a job for that early in the game.
Earlier GTA games would have you throw a brick at some guys window, or go collect some money from someone and you'd get given a bat and a pistol to smash up their car.
San Andreas basically has a character call up CJ when you're doing criminal enterprise shit and be like "hey remember when you actually cared about your gang members and Los Santos? Fuck you!". It's an important part of his character and the story.
GTA online feels like it has way better progression. Early missions are doing gangbanger shit and then 100 levels later you're flying a jetpack to go kill fake Elon Musk who wants to end the world with his evil AI.
I genuinely think every single heist is just taken straight from a movie.
The subtle option for the gold heist is literally The Italian Job.
unironically saying “the game makes fun of everyone equally, it’s like south park!!”
The worst part is, to my recollection, it doesn't make fun of everyone equally. Anyone or anything left of centre is given a far more vicious treatment than anything right wing. The right wing stuff is treated with kid gloves and just almost over the top with comedy (like the right wing politician that wants to nuke France just for fun) while giving off an "Aw shucks" kind of air, while any of the left wing stuff is treated as if it's the worst possible shit and just worthy of pure mockery at all times, but in a far more realistic and grounded way.
And people want a GTA with a female protagonist. I'm sure Rockstar would do that with the necessary tact, 110%, given their track record. It would be a nightmare.
RDR2 is somehow one of the most class conscious games I've ever played and I wasn't expecting that at all. I thought it was just going to be a juvenile silly cowboy game (which it kinda is)
I’ll second that gtaIVs driving was very enjoyable. GTA IV had heart. GTA V lacks all that heart. With Niko you felt a man broken by war and violence forced to continue that violence because violence in turn follows him.
With GTA V there is no heart. It’s just a shitty interactive oceans/Italian job/etc
i will never forgive rockstar for nerfing the euphoria physics and the car destruction in gta 5. i love gta 4 i just hate that it runs like dogshit on pc
i have a few thoughts:
- Trevor Phillips is basically the same character as Rick Sanchez except he's not being written by someone who is using fiction as a substitute for self-improvement
- the only good relationship in that game is between Lamar and Franklin. it's sweet and the new DLC improves and expands upon it
- speaking of the new DLC, I have spoken many times on here about how fucking awful that story was. GTA V has ceased to even be the vanilla ice cream of gaming and has now just become a vehicle to jerk off a 50-year-old serial abuser multimillionaire and pretend he has any relevance in modern culture. legitimately it feels like he just asked to be the most badass one in a game about murderers. the conclusion of the story is Dr. Dre rapping with his little buddy before you go fetch a guy for him to murder with his golf club. i'm definitely not educated enough to get into it but it's fucking painful to see that the only real tools the guy has are a ridiculous amount of money to pay people who actually work and a golf club, a literal symbol of his wealth and status
well, the game was released almost a decade ago at this point, and i wasn't that critical about things in general back then. my last playthrough of the game was several years ago at this point
