Grand Theft Auto 4: What do you expect?

[Aaron C-T]

Yea.. I was playing some Multi Theft Auto: Vice City over the weekend, and Monday I read an article on Bully and Vice City Stories. It seems like the Grand Theft Auto series has kinda reached the point where there's not many things that they can add that will vastly change things.

The switch from 2D to 3D was one such change, and the addition of motorcycles (if I remember correctly) was a big thing with VC (among a few other things I've probably forgotten), and with SA it was the fact that you could get "girlfriends" and other such things. What exactly comes next? I figure we can use this topic to discuss what we expect and want from a next generation GTA game from both a single player and online perspective (assuming they go that route- and they'd better).

Single Player: Being that the new consoles have much more power it'd be great if you could actually destroy things with more realism. For instance, if I go up to a car and punch it a few times I want the windows to shatter, rather than the car to just crumble in random places that don't make sense for that specific action. It's also be pretty cool if you could do some "gangsta" things like ghostride the whip. It'd be awesome to have the car still going, get out to cap a bunch of people, and then hop back in the car. It'd be a lot more accurate than doing a driveby, and you'd be able to make faster getaways. And.. it'd just be plain kickawesome to do in a game. Not sure what else there'd be to do for the offline portion.

Online Player: I play MTA:VC quite a bit. In fact it's the only online game I play at the moment. I don't even play single player mode anymore, so I've got quite a few ideas here. First off, I'm thinking Rockstar should include multiplayer functionality this time around. I'm not thinking 40 players or anything stupid like that. Maybe 6, 8, 9, or 10 would do. I use those numbers because they're relatively small and easy to divide up into teams without having and fools hanging off the end. I'm not sure about modes really, but I figure deathmatch, racing, and a "cops-and-robbers" type thing might be cool. Nothing fancy. It'd also be really cool to do a ghostride in multiplayer as well, especially if there can be more than one person in your car. Wanted prices are a must I guess, maybe a ranking system, but all that really matters with multiplayer GTA is going up against people who can actually function in smart ways. So yea..

What about you guys?

[Aerosol]

i say add in the ability to rob banks.

no seriously. not as a mission. just go in and hold up the bank. and rob it.

[duckythemutant]

Honestly, I think SA did EVERYTHING that I wanted. I mean, when I played it, it just kept on going and going...to the point where you actually flew a jet fighter, which was the maximum point. I thought something like that would take a while to add in the GTA series, but SA just gave everything.

[Aaron C-T]

So then.. all that's left is online right? That's about my favorite part. Heck, even GTA2 Game Hunter is fun. Well.. depending on the ping of everyone involved.

[Aerosol]

As I told Scatta, I think an Outlaw system should be in order. if you're particularly ruthless in say...robbing a bank *cough*, it ups your outlaw rating. if you have an outlaw rating of 1, 1 star offences are now 2 star offences, and so on.

[DimensionWarped]

So then.. all that's left is online right? That's about my favorite part. Heck, even GTA2 Game Hunter is fun. Well.. depending on the ping of everyone involved.

No. There is always something extra to add. I am insisting right now that it is 100% foolish to think otherwise in any situation. No matter how much you have, you can always add enough to make everything seem like a whole other levels.

That said, I am expecting more emphasis on car modding, more interaction with the properties you buy and manage, possibly more in-depth RPG style stats now that people are familiar with and accepting the idea, more vehicles of course, more landbound vehicle types, more oddity vehicles (like the hovercraft in SA for instance), more planes, etc. One thing people find lacking in GTA is the variety of weaponry (its there, but it doesn't matter as much as it could).

Seriously though, I can think of a million things they could add. And if you notice the differences between VC and SA, they really aren't that huge, but there are enough of them to make the difference. GTA is a game about volumes, not quality, but those volumes become a quality that makes it awesome. So with that in mind, they will add enough small things to make a huge thing.

[Aaron C-T]

"No. There is always something extra to add. I am insisting right now that it is 100% foolish to think otherwise in any situation."

Well.. major. The only thing major I can think of is online. And I thought about car modding, but I figured most GTA fans would hate the idea. And as far as RPG-style stats yes. Being that I play this game for the online stuff, being able to mod my own car, edit my character, and do tons of other stuff would be awesome. But yea.. you're right.. there's always something to add.

[DimensionWarped]

And as I said, GTA isn't about anything major. There was nothing major in the change from GTA:VC to GTA:SA, but it seemed like a whole other level of game.

As for car modding turning fans, I doubt any fans would object to a completely optional addon.

[duckythemutant]

Well so far DW all you want is more of everything. Thats mostly what they give us in every sequel, more of everything. I think we should focus on new things.

So far all I can think of is a realistic first-person feature XD

[DimensionWarped]

Well, I believe that a good sequel is more of everything. A good spinoff is where you add new things, and another good sequel is when you take the best elements of a good spinoff and add a little more of everything to it.

Anyway, I think a realistic first person feature is another one of those little things I'm talking about. Its just another spiffy little addendum that makes the game more enjoyable rather than completely changing it.

[MidimanNull]

Jobs.

Jobs as being a cop, delivery boy, etc.

Even though GTA is a relatively high paced game, going around and doing jobs can be fun ( just like the taxi jobs, but instead of a beat up red taxi, you can get something worth your while, like an weapon that would take a long while to acquire )

[Aaron C-T]

"And as I said, GTA isn't about anything major. There was nothing major in the change from GTA:VC to GTA:SA, but it seemed like a whole other level of game."

Err.. so? I fail to see how this relates to me wanting something major to be added? Are you saying they shouldn't add online functionality because the that would be major and GTA is all about the small things? Like I said there's nothing really major to add, but online functionality. I don't care what the changes were between X & Y, I want online play. What are you trying to say here? The only thing I can really take from your response is "online is something major, and GTA isn't about major" which seems like a dumb way to look at things.

"Its just another spiffy little addendum that makes the game more enjoyable rather than completely changing it."

I guess.. but online functionality isn't just some little spiffy thing. It'd be classified as a major addition, unless I'm missing something. It's never been done fully and officially before. It'd offer an entirely new style of play to the series and would just generally add quite a bit to the gameplay I suppose. It won't completely change it, but it's not exactly something that's one of those "smaller details."

But like I said the only sensible thing I can take from your post is "online is major and GTA isn't about major."

[DimensionWarped]

And exactly how is online play any more major than anything else? Its just a small adaptation of the engine. Your post seriously leads me to believe you misuderstood me.

[1LT Worm]

I would totally love to see an undercover/private detective mod.

It makes all the evil seem more justified.

Of course, it's just a video game, so who cares about justification?

[MidimanNull]

%Verb%+%Noun%+%20Mod

Yay! sounds like fun, I approve (QouteAbove)

[Asuma]

Better car pyshics. More weather like snow, or tornados.

[1LT Worm]

Yeah, a changing weather system could be nice. Maybe even a seasonal system?

I'd add more options when starting up. Different gang/crime syndicate affiliation, different skills, different objects as disposal, different order of mission (and maybe some exclusive missions per character), etc.

Maybe. if you wanted to take this multiplayer, they could set it up so you and three (or whatever) friends could have a city, and you're all trying to take it over first. Every so often, the map would update to change gameplay options for opponents. (I don't know how much real time would tax the servers.)

It could also be played as an all-night LAN game. I would really love to do that.

[shadowgoten]

One thing. Havok Physics engine. Saints row had it, it made it a hell of a lot better and more realistic thanks to it. Plus you got to do the insurance fraud missions.

But Ducky is right, there really isn't much they haven't touched in terms of gameplay. I really thought GTA:SA was like the highest they could achieve. Everytime I see them push out a new game though, there's always some limit they're able to break. Just look at the PSP versions, they are both completely new games in terms of engine and features. The jump from liberty city to vice city is going to be huge in terms of technical power of the machine. Apparently they were able to pump out even more draw distance than they already have for the new game.

[DimensionWarped]

I still insist that the idea that GTA:SA touched all there was to touch in terms of gameplay is an incorrect view. They will keep suprising us for at least a while.

[shadowgoten]

I still insist that the idea that GTA:SA touched all there was to touch in terms of gameplay is an incorrect view. They will keep suprising us for at least a while.

Hence why I said "Everytime I see them push out a new game though, there's always some limit they're able to break."

[DimensionWarped]

Yes, but you also said, and I quote... "But Ducky is right, there really isn't much they haven't touched in terms of gameplay."

[Aaron C-T]

"And exactly how is online play any more major than anything else?"

Well.. if you add online functionality there are a ton of other options that open up along with it. Co-op modes, team play deathmatch, cops-vs-robber styled games, race modes, etc. As opposed to one smaller addition like SA's hovering cars. The impact online could potentially have on GTA is a bit greater than any of the smaller additions alone. Granted "online functionality" in itself isn't that big a deal, but depending on how they use that can make it much bigger.

[DimensionWarped]

Well they already had a number of multiplayer games in SA. In all regards, the differences between online multiplayer and offline multiplayer really only start to become prevalent with a large number of players.

So the only really... really big change I could think of that online play could bring would be making GTA go MMO.

[Aaron C-T]

DW: I haven't played much SA, so I'm not sure how that multiplayer actually worked. But the one time I did play it, I could only run around a small area or something that made me equally mad.

MMO? Wouldn't that be pretty damned hard being that there's so much stuff going on at once? Cars and people constantly moving around in the addition to people? GTA with online is vastly different. Even in GTA2 Game Hunter, playing with only one other person can be incredibly awesome providing you both have decent ping. And that's just two people running around, without the different factions (cops, robbers, sailors, etc). It's just more fun to play against each other in a huge environment as opposed to doing so in closed ones, and GTA definitely offers huge and open environments. By officially adding online to GTA4 the game changes. And of course, the change isn't that big if you only use two people. But why in the world would a company only provide functionality for two people when both systems can support four players (and the PS3 7 max)? It'd be a pretty big change, although I supposed it depends on what you mean by "large" because if you mean 40 like in Resistance Fall of Man.. well.. that's not what I'm talkin about. Even with only 3 or 4 players it's much different. You can play teams and do tons of other stuff that immediately makes the online portion much different from the offline.

[Eraysor]

Interesting question:

If GTA became an MMO, would it get more subscribers than WoW?