/vr/ - Retro Games

>>10354441
its intentionally depressing, its new york. i like the aesthetic but other than that its easily the weakest 3d gta imo. depends on what you're looking for i guess.

>>10354441
I tend to replay 3 once every few years, which is something I can't do with vice City or sa. It's definitely the atmosphere, it's fucking choice. The missions are fun and not like vc bullshit, it also seems like the driving in vc is fucked going straight from 3 to vc. I never really got into sa that much.

>>10354441

III = VC >> San Andreas

>>10354864
SA > VC = 3

>>10354891

>>10354441
>>the game feels depressing as fuck for some reason, don't know if it's intentional or not. Liberty City is a literal shithole

GTA 2 feels very depressing too, believe it.

>>most missions are kind of basic and boring, like the first two entries but in 3D. No 'dungeon'/level-type shit like in VC or SA, you just drive around the city, kill and steal, that's it

At least they are easier than the missions of Vice City and San Andreas. Those ones are frustrating as hell(mostly the airplane ones and limited time ones).

>>10354441
Back in the day III was the only one of the GTA games released on the PS2 that I didn't finish. Maybe it was the lack of map and other QoL features.

Sometimes I feel like beating it on the PS2 or OG Xbox just for completeness but I haven't got around to it.

>>10355286
>At least they are easier than the missions of Vice City and San Andreas
Yet somehow 3 is more frustrating to play due to the lack of the big map in the options menu. I swear I couldn't even find an Ammu-Nation when I needed it. Or a Pay-n-Spray. It's like in classic RPGs and action-adventure games where you just have to remember where stuff is. There is a certain charm to it though I won't deny. Also the third island is a complete clusterfuck and a pain in the ass to navigate. So yeah, this game's biggest 'problem' compared to VC and SA is that you actually have to learn the map to succeed

>>10354441
>>Claude acts like a complete sociopath, don't even know what his motivations are as opposed to Tommy and CJ. Barely any plot in the game, you just work for someone, then you are tasked to kill them and Claude is like 'oh okay'
As it should be.

>>10355450
>>10355335
You're supposed to drive around and engage with the city. You learn the layout of it yourself, and all the routes and shortcuts. Thats actual immersion. The checklist nature of the later games is one of their weakpoints

>>10355450
Ironic because I found GTA III's map to be easy to remember and navigate around compared to the one on VC and SA. I even know where the Pay n' Spray and Ammu-Nation buildings are at without having to follow the minimap.

>>10354441
I don't see its world as depressing, but as rough and empty compared to VC and SA
>>10355450
The map is tiny compared to SA and VC

>>10355450
The map's pretty easy to memorize. Shoreside Vale has a weird layout, but it doesn't take long to get the hang of it
>>10355761
Liberty City is about the size of, if not bigger than Vice City. Shit, Washington Beach takes up half of Vice City's first island, and it's just a huge empty beach

>>10355830
yeah, but lets not forget that Shoreside Vale is partly inaccessible as well

>>10355840
This map isn't true to the scale of all three areas

>>10355851
How big is the difference in scale? I think SA is actually bigger

>>10355587
>>10354441
I agree that Claude being a psycho works in the game's favour. Tommy Vercetti and Toni Cipriani also work to a lesser degree because they're meant to be jaded killers by the time you take over and it's obvious they only care about money and power.
It's when you get protags like Vic Vance who, while a cool character, is too 'nice' to be a GTA lead IMO.
Back to OP's point in general about what I think of GTA3, I played it again last year along with the other PS2 and PSP games and was surprised how much I enjoyed GTA3. I thought I might miss stuff from Vice City and SA, but I really didn't. The game is just well designed and really fun to play regardless of what came later. The atmosphere as you said is also unique in the series and just as much as VC has the 80s and SA has the 90s feel, GTA3 has a very distinct early 2000's feel. Some anon on here described it as game that "feels like it took place on September 10th, 2001". I kind of agree with that, it's got that sense of everything is about to go downhill.

>>10355867
Yeah, SA is easily 1.5x larger than it is on that map

>>10354441
i havent played any gta game in many years but this is the only one i'd even be interested in replaying. i thought the sequels got progressively worse, and just packed full of more and more retarded shit. gta 3 feels like it has the perfect amount of content and i appreciate the silent protagonist. im just here to play the stupid crime simulator, i dont care about overblown stories.

>>10355450

I felt GTA 3 easy to navigate and remember where are the important places in few time. While in San Andreas i often got lost because is a giant piece of earth and sea.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqpTq9_rf_Q&pp=ygUYZ3JhbmQgdGhlZnQgYXV0byAzIHRoZW1l

>>10355840
has someone ever managed to merge all the maps in one game? maybe a mod for SA or something

>>10356980
That would be cool, especially if you could play online like in MTA or SAMP. Never played GTA 5 online but its map admittedly fucking sucks and not interesting to explore with friends at all, even GTA 4 was 100 times better for that shit

>>10356980
>>10356989
Several times, several times, the best one was GTA Underground because it had the maps of almost every R* game for PS2, and custom cities they were working on, only to get DMCA'd and this wasn't a small endeavor either, it had custom radio stations and all that shit, when you went to Liberty you heard the Liberty Radio.
Here's the latest trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1W1rxzzqZj4

Honestly, its hard to put into words just how signficant GTA III was when it came out

I'd played 3D games before, but playing GTA III for the first time remains one of the single most vivid experiences of absolute freedom I've had in vidya in my life

The in-game radio, the seamless day/night cycles, the choice of being a law-abiding citizen or the consequences of getting wanted since your murdered a man in broad daylight versus if you did it in a secluded area, the fact that you could chose to engage with the story missions or completely ignore it and be a taxi driver who shuttled people around Portland, walking the streets of chinatown in the drizzling rain as you explored every nook and cranny of its seemingly endless streets.

Liberty city was a genuine living and breathing world that kept turning even when you weren't looking.

By todays standards, its laughable with its small sandbox, limited amount of activities and janky controls, but at the time, GTA III truly felt like the game where "You could do anything".

>>10355450
That's intentional. First island is easier to navigate, second is harder, third is the hardest.

Contrary to San Andreas and later titles which have huge maps, the ones in 3 and VC are more intuitive. You ARE supposed to scout the maps and learn the layout. This is what criminals do in the real world.

>>10357026
Yeah GTA3 is one of the greatest games I ever played. I don't want to play it now, but playing it when it first came out it was pretty crazy.

>>10357026
This but with San Andreas, I played it before 3 and Vice City. Still think it's one of the greatest open-world games. I've of course seen its map compared to the ones from various modern games but I don't know really, it still feels fucking huge when I'm playing the game

>>10355882
>It's when you get protags like Vic Vance who, while a cool character, is too 'nice' to be a GTA lead IMO.
complaints like these are why they made cuhRAAAAAZY trevor in V

>>10354498
lookng back, there was absolutely nothing else like it at the time. it was really groundbreaking, in the scope and scale of everything. the shitty aiming controls and driving were overshadowed by how BIG the game was and how you could really do almost anything

>>10356980
Yes
https://www.youtube.com/@starsandstripesdev

>>10357301
Wait what in the actual fuck is the rest of this map supposed to be?

>>10354441
GTA3 is very much a more 3D version of GTA1/2 and plays very similarly to those games, it's pretty damn fun but people seem to look at it compared to VC and SA which are nothing like 3 in terms of the goals.

GTA3 is a great game and probably my personal favorite of the 3D era games, unless we are counting VCS. LCS is what most people wanted 3 to be and it's a fine game but it comes off as werid to me.

Vice City and San Andreas are technically and narratively superior to 3 but they lost some of the old school pure gameplay as a result and that's fine since they are still great games that made a lot of good additions.

Only thing I genuinely do not like about GTA3 is some of the side activities but those barely matter and at least half of them are still fun so it hardly matters.

>>10357306
Countryside and other american cities like D.C., Dallas and Chicago

>>10357026
The killer combo at the time was GTA 3 and Morrowind (fantasy GTA 3).
Believe it or not, open world games actually were interesting at one time. Problem is they kept making them bigger and emptier.
What someone in this thread complained about (having to memorize locations) is actually a great strength of GTA 3. You memorize the city then have go to escape routes when the cops come after you, to both star icons and spray shops. Makes you really feel like a master of your craft (crime).

>>10354441
This reads like a zoomer or literal millennial boomer normalfag who played GTA3 for the first time.
>the game feels depressing as fuck for some reason, don't know if it's intentional or not. Liberty City is a literal shithole
No shit, it's based on pre Giuliani/pre 9/11 NYC mixed with films and TV shows made from that time, it was a crime ridden shithole
>Claude acts like a complete sociopath
Oh my science the career criminal acts like le sociopath ahhh im going insane
>most missions are kind of basic and boring
Yeah it was DMA's forst 3D entry with the basic top down games from before as a reference no shit it will feel unrefined.

In short OP is gay and retarded as always.

>>10357581
What a retarded worthless /v/-tier post, good job

>>10357581
I agree, op is a cum guzzling zoomer fool

>>10354441
Modern GTA is closer to VC in structure and tone, as other anons have said 3 is more like an in-between from the older top-down games.

>>10357592
What a retarded hug boxy reddit tier post, good job

>>10357691
Stop samefagging you retarded ape, get lost

The leap from III to VC felt larger than the leap from VC to SA.

>>10357710
No it didn't. Vice City was basically a GTA London-style mission pack for 3, and San Andreas was triple the size with NO loading screens between islands AND improved graphics.

Do you like Vice City Stories?

>>10357693
Cry me a river with your non existent arguments and childish retorts

>>10357710
the fuck? the difference in controls alone was a world of difference from VC to SA

>>10357710
This is just wrong, and SA is my least favorite of the three.

>>10357710
Definitely did not. VC felt barely bigger. SA felt way too big.

>>10355840

No doubt why i always got lost when playing san andreas: that place is HUGE

>>10357784
It's more how roundabout the map design is. You can't really go straight to somewhere, you gotta meandre around mountains and lakes and stuff. The only highway that takes you straight from one town to another is the LS Freeway which goes to Las Venturas, but that isn't unlocked until very late in the game.

I think the simplicity helps the game a lot. VC and SA get too deep into unfun shit, while 3 is just plain and simple "go have fun" shit.

I remember playing GTA3 when it came out. It was absolutely mindblowing, I don't think I ever experienced the same feeling of awe with any other game. Sadly I couldn't complete the game because my computer broke, and I didn't get a new one until much time later.
For some reason I never got to install the game in that new computer, and I eventually forgot about it. I installed it in 2021, when the remaster was announced, because I thought it'd be a good time to revisit it. It's obvious that the state-of-the-art graphics aren't nearly as impressive now, but I still think it was a great game anyway, I enjoyed it a lot.
I do have to admit that playing VC and SA and then coming back to III makies it a bit worse. Minor details like not being able to escape a car on fire, or not being able to move the camera while driving, become much more annoying after you play a game that is mostly the same but without those annoyances. I think the games must be replayed strictly in order.

Interestingly, in these nearly 20 years I had replayed many other games, both older and more recent, but not this one, so I got an extra experience out of it, replaying the game 20 years later was like going back to a place you haven't visited in a really long time. I still remembered (most of) Portland, I knew where to go even though I hadn't seen those streets in ages, it was a surreal experience.

>>10354441
>Liberty City is a literal shithole
Yes.

>Claude acts like a complete sociopath, don't even know what his motivations are as opposed to Tommy and CJ. Barely any plot in the game, you just work for someone, then you are tasked to kill them and Claude is like 'oh okay'
Because he has virtually no personality at all, he isn't really a character in any sense, just your player. Of course, this also kind of works in interpreting Claude as some sort of uncaring and emotionally numb 'automaton' kind of person, beyond just being a sociopath.

>>10355450
Maybe it's because I played it absolute fucking lots, but I really didn't have much trouble navigating Liberty City.

>>10355840
This image is fucked in scale and in concept, San Andreas is huge, and this would make precious little geographic sense. I guess though that the game worlds are all in this vast empty ocean which isn't really realistic to begin with, so some absurd bridge way going between these three regions is about as suitable as an abstraction.

>>10354441
yeah you are right. the one anon who is obsessed with the tone of this game is probably all over this thread but youre right. it was great for its time, but sequels fleshed out the best parts of this and made it better. the radio is also very repetitive compared to other games

>>10357301
That's pretty fucking cool. Huge fucking task ahead of you to build up all the inbetween shit though, even a condensed America like that
I hope there's actual commitment here.

Grand Theft Auto was basically DMA Design becoming Rockstar Games in game form.
They made shit like Lemmings, Body Harvest, Space Station Silicon Valley (just to name the titles relevant to North America).

They were a quirky British developer, whose staff probably grew up on ZX Spectrums. When you want to see quality in old western development, there's probably some pedigree of them learning or using things like the commodore 64 and the ZX. Economizing drive space, and giving the hardware all she's got.

>>10354441
>the city meant to be post-9/11 New York is depressing for some reason
>the main character of a game about murdering people acts like a heckin' sociopath
Fuck I hate zoomers

>>10358459
It was in development long before 9/11 and they did fairly little to change it in response, you kneejerking ballgargler.

>>10358459
I smell borough trash or something like it.
They didn't make that game so that you could fucking commiserate. Shut the fuck up.

>>10358459
>game that was delayed because of 9/11 was a post 9/11 world
back to youtube kid

>>10358459
The game came out three weeks after 9/11. The only things they changed was a mission involving crashing a plane into a building to assassinate a politician, and they made the Dodo unable to maintain flight (without playing with the broken physics). That's the only shit they could afford to change

>>10358492
It was a literal thing and thanks for referencing it.
They literally REMOVED pilotable planes. What more do you want?

>>10354441
The last two points are understandable, it was the first of its kind, when it came out I remember I took my time to play the main missions and had fun killing everyone. Never felt the atmosphere depressing though , go play 4 after you're done with this one, OP.

>>10355450
You know remember espresso to go where you had to find all the stalls, remember where they are, then calculate the route to finish with 3 seconds left.

>>10358487
nigger I'm from the West Coast and have never been to New York fagboy

>>10358490
I'm 35 retard

>>10358690
You talk like 12

>>10358478
waahh wahh I can't handle someone making a point so I call them a fag wahhhhhhh

>>10357718
Vice City even started development as a GTA 3 expansion pack. It was clearly rushed toward the end, too, with the asset missions padding out the final act of the game

I don't really mind the simplistic mission structure since it's usually a lot more freeform
the most famous example is definitely Farewell 'Chunky' Lee Chong, where you can do the mission the "intended" way (run up to him, get into the car chase), shoot him from a distance, plant a car bomb in his car and then trigger the chase so he blows himself up, etc

Anon, why do you think mods like SA-MP are still funnier to play with friends than gta 5 online? I always wondered why modern online games feel like a single player with bots. No one talks in lobbies, no chat. While in samp you had a feeling that people where actually in the present moment, playing the game with you.

>>10358594
The stalls showed up on the mini map, no?
Definitely one of the toughest missions though.

>>10359173
I felt that way a bit with Sayonara Salvatore. I think the intended way to do it was to snipe him from a distance, but my friends and I always used to get into mad car chases and shootouts.

>>10359173
it sucks that they started to do away with such mission freedom after gta3

>>10355696
>You learn the layout of it yourself, and all the routes and shortcuts. Thats actual immersion.
?
>>10357036
>You ARE supposed to scout the maps and learn the layout. This is what criminals do in the real world.
??????????????????????
A map was included with the game, so obviously a map was intended to be used. The devs obviously just didn't think of adding an in-game version until later.

Salvatore is alive.

>>10360720
They did but it's throughout 3 islands so the minimap is pretty much useless.

>>10360720
Kingdom Come is still harder.

>>10360770
you weren't supposed to pause the game, get up and get the box, place yourself on the map and figure out your route every single time you needed to get to a pay n spray.
The map that comes with the game is just a novelty item and the backside is a poster to hang up

>>10354441
The early days of GTA were like this: dark. Very motherfucking dark. They were pretty straightforward about crime: it's ugly, dirty, disgusting, depressing and it will put you down. That's the life of a criminal.

GTA 2 is A LOT worse than III. It's much more depressing, lonelier and emptier. But III still did a pretty good job capturing this atmosphere

From Vice City onwards, Rockstar began glamourizing crime, which works fine for a videogame, but is also pretty much a lie and non realistic at all

So I actually kinda like the darkness of the old GTA games

>>10362275
>So I actually kinda like the darkness of the old GTA games
As it is very realistic**

>>10362275
>>10362276
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pioFnjeQW0g&list=PLffQpMcmLcI8cx0yy6NXnMFLx7l4fxQ7M

GTA 2's main theme perfectly conveys this atmosphere I'm talking about. That's crime, bitch, it's bad, wrong, evil and will take you to hell

>>10362254
No, because hopefully you will remember the general region of each Pay N' Spray and the map will not be needed, like training wheels on a bicycle.
Stop this silliness. There is nothing wrong with maps, in-game or otherwise.

>>10354441
>>the game feels depressing as fuck for some reason, don't know if it's intentional or not. Liberty City is a literal shithole

GTA 2 is by far the most depressing GTA of all. All your bosses are scum. The main character keeps killing and destroying everything and has no friends or familiars as is he were the t 1000 from terminator 2. The ambience is always dark with few lights around, as if the main character is always working at night or at least at evening. The music feels boring and empty. When you get a game over you can see a grave wich obviously is your grave in cemetery. And finally, you do not get a happy ending after you finish the game.

For me, it's chatterbox. I will never forget Fernando's new begginings
>and you, janice, why are you so ugly? Your husband, does he make no happy?

>>10362575
chatterbox is still just as hilarious as it was back then

>>10362575
my favorite is
>BLOX BLOX BLOX BLOX

>>10362830
>>10362575
Yes chatterbox is fucking fantastic. Fernando new beginnings reminds me of rauls wild kingdom

>>10363001
https://youtu.be/Pb8C7dxTGRM?si=AiI0z-mZG298_C3g

>>10362830
Chatterbox is even funnier now that most of the shit they were mocking or writing to be absurd have actually happened and/or taken as normal everyday living

>>10362573
gta 2 is also the only cyberpunk gta rockstar ever made. it was very inspired by the hard boiled comic from miller and darrow which i only found out very recently it totally makes sense though

>>10362573
I need to replay this again, used to play the shit out of it before GTA3 came out, but I was too crap at the game to get very far.
The twisted sense of humour was good too, like the overly happy announcer.

>>10362275
It helps that Tommy and CJ are pretty charismatic and they also dealt bigger assholes than them most of the time, 4 was the most realistic on that regard, but 5 fucked it up.

MSX FM still remains my favorite radio station despite normalfags clowning the shit out of it and the MC.

>>10363519
Is that the techno one that he's singing fast? Love that shit.

>>10354441
>the game feels depressing as fuck for some reason, don't know if it's intentional or not. Liberty City is a literal shithole
It has that specific GTA 3 je ne sais qois. Je ne sais fog, if you will.

>>10363530
Yes, the one where the MC continuously raps over a Drum n' Bass mix.

GTA3 goes to shit the moment every single gang turns against you and you can't even drive for 10 seconds without people going aggro on sight.

>>10363659
this never actually happens

>>10363665
He's exaggerating, but it's not exactly very smooth to go around Portland once you've made an enemy of both the Mafia and the Triad.

>>10363659
>>10363692
I like it as a mid game difficulty bump, but it absolutely sucks if you didn't know about it beforehand and still have optional tasks to do for 100% completion.

>>10354441
Best gta in terms of difficulty

>>10363659

And the worst parts is the zones with leones: they can destroy your car with a single shotgun shoot and you die instantly inside the car. After the "sayonara salvatore" mission i did not wanted to go close to the leones area anymore.

>>10359345
It might be the size of the map compared to how many players are allowed, a good samp server can have 100+ only in a single city(which is smaller than gta 5's LS) without private instanced missions/heists etc.
It's probably because SA-MP/MTA are federated instead of a single service with a single management that's motivated by money instead of passion. Don't like it? Just switch servers or host your own
as for the last statement you can still find NPCs that only grind jobs and dislike pvp but they're less frequent. It's simple really: very few americans play samp/mta so they don't have the manpower to pollute how the game is made/managed, most hosts are competent europeans

GTA 3 is more arcadey with secrets littered across the map. Some items placements is good to know to develop your own getaway path, which for me makes it superior GTA.

There is no point of learning and checking out behind the corner in any other 3d gta, city is too big and too useless

>>10364360
Vc has just as many possibly more secrets than 3.

>>10364360
>>10364379
Yeah Vice City seemed to carry that over really nicely, even with the unique stunts and stuff you can do on bikes in particular.
I think it was San Andreas where it really started to feel like the world was huge but there was lots of empty spaces that were just a chore. Still a good game though.

>>10364469
do you guys know how "stories" games are in this regard? Only ones i haven't played

>>10364661
Vice City Stories is pretty good. Vic Vance is like a proto Niko.

>>10354441
It's very basic, I even thought so at the time. Sure, I was impressed by the 3d environments, but the game just doesn't have the same kind of staying power as GTA 1 and 2 had. GTA3 was utterly obsolete as soon as Vice City came out.

>>10354441
When it came out, it was awesome. I don't think 3 or VC aged very well at all, I actually hated VC.It's hard to explain why, especially once you get the mansion it just pissed me off. SA was easily the best.

>that fucking mission where you have to kill the yakuza boss on top of the car park
I never managed to do that under 8-10 times except once when I replayed it a few months ago. Did it on the first try, I couldn't believe it. THEN THE FUCKING GAME FROZE WHILE I WAS ON MY WAY TO SAVE. I was literally seething.

I haven't tried playing this game seriously in almost 20 years. I think I sat down with this game last on xbox back in late 2005 after playing it through on PS2 with cheats in 2002, and then deliberated on getting it for PC from 2007-2019. I really need to play it through properly.
Also it is crazy to me this game is being discussed here, when I started posting on 4chan this game was barely 7 years old

>>10364301
I do wonder why the mafia is so intent on killing Claude, it's not like he killed the head of their organization or anything.
In all seriousness I never understood this complaint, there's literally no reason to be driving around saint marks by the time you do that mission, the only things there worth grabbing are armor, and AK and an SMG. All of which you could buy or grab from one of the other 300 areas they are at on the map. The one single mission where you need to go back to that area for they don't carry shotguns and are generally too busy fighting the cartels to bother you.

GTA3 definitely aged better than VC, after having just replayed them both. I haven't moved on to SA yet, but the city was so much more fun to explore and move through in 3. VC only has two major islands instead of three, and you unlock the second one just a small ways into the game.
You don't feel like there's as much to look forward to, compared to GTA3, which does a good job of slowly sending Claude into new territories, contact with new gangs, etc. VC instead opens up the whole map almost from the start, which means that everywhere is getting stale at the same rate. The north-south design of the major/fastest roads means that you tend to take the same routes to navigate the city for almost every mission. The alleyways are more cramped than in GTA3 and the camera isn't up to the task. There is water sprinkled everywhere, which is instant death for Tommy, so you are disincentivized to travel on roads where you can be easily pushed into it. Many large areas only exist as landmarks are for use in a single mission, but are empty and wasted space on the map otherwise. So you don't have practical options like GTA3, and it starts to feel like a tiresome daily commute.
I remembered property acquisition as being more interesting, it's actually a fairly small part of the game. VC had longer missions, with multiple phases, which could be frustrating. If you attempt a really long mission and fail close to the end, you have to go through the entire thing from the start. GTA3's tricky missions could be repeated relatively quickly, so you weren't wasting time. The NPC spawning was also ass in VC, (dis)appearing in < 1 second.
They must have heard a lot of complaints about the aggressive gangs in GTA3, because VC has barely any gangs and they don't do anything nor occupy much territory. You don't feel like Tommy really has any opposition, whereas Claude was clawing his way through. Tommy and the other characters are probably more interesting than those of GTA3, I'll give it that.

>>10365479
>I do wonder why the mafia is so intent on killing Claude, it's not like he killed the head of their organization or anything.

he killed one very important member.

>>10364661
Not quite as good in terms of secrets, but they're still there. LCS has some hidden missions and the hidden packages again, but some are just cash rewards which are kind of dull. VCS had the 100 collectibles and has a lot of property missions which can be fun, but again only really give cash rewards it seems.
Definitely check out the 'Stories' games, I loved them. It was really surreal to be playing these full blown 3D GTA games that I has such little knowledge of all these years later, like I'd uncovered a secret lost game (I know they were popular, but they were new to me).

>>10365479
There's not many reasons to go there, but you will end up there if you're collecting the hidden packages or sometimes if you're trying to do vigilante/ambulance/firetruck/taxi missions.
You can do those in other islands I guess, so it's not a big deal, but yeah.

>>10365004
Its really not that hard you just get a cartel cruiser and just ram him and just ramp off the building even 6-year-old me did back in the day.

>>10354441
Probably because the time you played it first was depressing

Wasn't for me so I enjoy it and it feels happy, not depressing

>>10354498
No way. Vice city and San Andreas were the worst. V sucks too

>>10365536
>The NPC spawning was also ass in VC, (dis)appearing in < 1 second.
this was the one thing that really annoyed me when i replayed it

>>10366782
I have no idea how that made it past testing
>Parked by the sidewalk with no one around, do a drive-by shot to kill someone on your right
>Camera goes forward again, you start to reverse, but now there are pedestrians all over, including an officer who immediately yanks your door open and busts you
and I have no idea how many times I ran into
>driving some POS car around, you're on a mission with a timer
>a sweet one drives just past you and stops at a light
>immediately slam on the brakes, exit your car and turn around
>the car you saw has vanished
>turn back around, your original car has now also vanished
>proceed to sprint toward your objective because now no cars at all are spawning on the street for at least a minute for some reason
I don't remember it being that bad on the PS2 when I was younger, but the PC port was no joke, it constantly happened. The GTA3 port didn't have that issue.

>>10354441
>the game feels depressing as fuck

When that game came out I was hardcore addicted to it, but then I started noticing that when I put it down, there was this emptiness inside me that I couldn't explain. None of the other GTA games had that effect on me. In fact no other game had that effect on me.

This mf'er slaps your gf's arse at the bar. what do?

>>10363519
MSX and Rise are my favorite stations and they can't exist in any other game without feeling off.

>>10366986
It has a very bleak, cynical atmosphere, even with the humor. Absolutely. If that's what you mean. Fallout is similar, perhaps? Potentially also some of those darker adventure games, like Sanitarium or I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream, but I can't remember. Maybe even VTMB or Max Payne, although the moment-to-moment feeling is quite different.

>>10365618
Ma Cipriani missions are pretty fun. And, I don't know if it's just the ps2 version, but I usually find the pedestrians doing weird shit.

>>10366436
Yeah OK bro let's just forget about the other guys who're shooting you with uzis, AKs and even a fucking shotgun that can almost instakill you.

You know. There are so many unused areas from the liberty city map that could've been really cool to do missions on. This is the problem I have when it comes to the trilogy. So many map pieces that have their potential go to waste.

>>10354441
I replayed it recently as well and yeah I agree, the missions are extremely basic, it almost feels like an arcade game filled with random challenges rather than some kind of a coherent story. Never bothered me back in the day.
As for Liberty City, it's NY, it's a depressive shithole in every vidya depiction. I don't know why so many people think it's a nice place.

>>10369054
It would have been the shit if they released some form of multiplayer for the 3d era games. I know they had the 2p mode in SA, but I only ever did that a couple times. Seemed pretty limited from what I remember.

>>10367141
>remember the first 3D GTA?
>oh yeah it was much like a Harlan Ellison novel
you are literally brain-damaged.

>>10369069
Lots of people seem to like it, I think because
>DUDE i just LOVE the hustle and bustle of the big city, it’s so DYNAMIC

>>10369069
>>10369138
NYC sounds like one of those places are that are cool to visit if you have the cash to enjoy the tourist traps, but sucks to actually live in.

>>10369164
as someone who lives close to NYC, yeah
New Yorkers are just fucking miserable obnoxious assholes 90% of the time

>>10369054
Time for SA stories.

>All those days they pass you by
>If you don't change
>If you don't CHAAAAEEEAAANGE

>>10370209
I played GTA III for the first time several years back, and that song motivated me to quit drinking

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tk8ynDToI5I

>>10370237
That's great to here anon. Played this game for the first time last year as a 97 zoomer I skipped right to VC and SA growing up. The song lyric is suprisingly introspective, definitely makes me feel the need for change in my own life and that it's been starting to pass me by, and drinking is one of those things I've been working on. Really though I need a career change. Somehow fell into working as a Security Guard and its the most dead end shit on Earth.

I know this is off topic but if any anons have advice for a 26 y/o who is moderately good at computers but can't code I'm listening. I am going to try to take that Comptia A+ this weekend wish me luck.

This is a good game.

Played it recently on Xbox. Something about the atmosphere and music in 3 really sticks with me compared to vice city and San Andreas.

>>10360770
a physical map was added for flair and (occasional) reference, but that is quite obviously not how the game was intended to be played at the time of release. GTA III was still in the early days of open world gaming, and it was entirely possible to memorize the entire city. Which is what you did. You played it for a few weeks and just learned where the streets go to. It's a pretty small map, look for yourself:

https://noclip.website/#GrandTheftAuto3/0;ShareData=ANt=gUozw=UA+;O969u/=a~&ELur&gUmSB3T{a20WKx,BUqhnr9S5c=Ufl{eV[

>>10370237
I love this song. Too bad the radios aren't longer, they can get repetitive very fast, it was also my problem with the Stories games.

>>10370696
Do you have any prior experience with IT jobs? There's always the option to start as a help desk peon and work your way upwards (it's a very common thing here, that's how I started too).
It can be a good way to get look into how IT companies work, find areas you might be interested in, but it can be very mentally taxing and you should do it only for a few years max.

>>10354441
ONE OH ONE POINT ONE MSX FM IN YOUR MANOR

Just played through probably half of the starting Los Santos section of San Andreas, and man, it's such a drag of a start compared to the prior two games. The justifications for half the missions are basically not even there, and the player usually doesn't get anything for their time except an imperceptible amount of respect. Not even a hundred bucks or anything, even though they constantly make you drive back and forth past safehouses you can't remotely afford, but would be convenient to access the more remote mission sites. Makes the start of the game feel like it's just crawling along, basically a huge tutorial, with very little payoff for the player.
Then on top of that they constantly swap out your equipped gear, sometimes causing you to lose all of your ammo. They added a bunch of "simulation" stuff to make the world feel more complete, but all of it's garbage. Why would anyone play the basketball minigame, the arcade games, etc.? The girlfriend system doesn't really promise to be worthwhile either. At least CJ can fucking swim and hop walls.

the GOAT of GTA radio stations at just 9:41 long.
more bangers per capita than any other station
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hc7Pmpq-82U

Does anybody know who's the singer for 'Craig Gray - Fade Away'?

>>10367569
Dude it really isn't that hard you just go in and run him over you don't have to be a mad retard about it.

>>10365004
>>10367569
You're fucking retarded. I would understand if you were complaining about Bomb Da Base Act II but Waka-Gashira Wipeout? Fuck off.

>>10374029
Tried to replay SA a few years back and the pacing of the story is really fucking shit. I gave up on it after San Fierro.

>>10374062
Stuart Ross.

>>10374432
>Stuart Ross.
He ain't the singer

>>10374440
That's literally what the manual says: https://media-rockstargames-com.akamaized.net/rockstargames-newsite/img/manuals/en_us/GTATrilogy_GTAIII_PS2_Manual_M01.pdf

What does Claude live for?
What are his hobbies? What kind of food does Claude eat? Does Claude workout? What does he think of music?

He might or might not be Claude Speed.

>>10374029
The only benefits of the GF system are keeping your ammo after getting busted/wasted. Even then, in my experience accumulating more than 9999 ammo in any weapon makes it more likely your save would randomly corrupt, so it's arguably better to just purge ammo via getting busted.

>>10374445
Every track of his has a different voice. One of them is even performed by a female.

>>10374485
You cannot be this fucking retarded. Read the fucking manual.

>>10357207
Yup, and it only shows R's lack of nuance.
It's like someone complained that their meal needs more salt, so the chef gets angry and empties the salt bag in front of them.

>>10363173
There has to be a PetsOvernight.com style service active somewhere in America today.

Playing GTA 3 is like a constant fever dream in the sense you're navigating pre-9/11 New York. Rockstar made one of the most cutting edge games possible at the time to celebrate how far gaming had come to that point and depicting what many would describe as the peak of western civilization. The grime just made it feel more real. After GTA III, there was no way they could make a sequel set in the present day, lest it be marred with the war rhetoric that even Star Wars couldn't escape. Neon 80s nostalgia basically started the day Vice City released because no one wanted to live in the 2000s anymore. That was around
the time I first heard NES/SNES players refer to themselves as "retro gamers". That's about when TV shows started to accurately portray pixel graphics. The same year we got San Andreas, the AVGN would make his first episode.

>>10374583
>Star Wars
>war rhetoric
Even the franchise that is 50% war by name couldn't avoid rhetoric around war? Tell me it ain't so!

>>10363659
thats what makes gta3, gta3. the cops are extremely aggressive and suicidal, and the difficulty is to the roof as you go into the mid game

Wish we had more 3D-era grand theft auto games or clones.

>>10360720
You have to get somewhat near them before they pop up. There were a few late - game missions that really forced you to learn the map. It's a good thing.

>>10354441
>>Claude acts like a complete sociopath, don't even know what his motivations are as opposed to Tommy and CJ. Barely any plot in the game, you just work for someone, then you are tasked to kill them and Claude is like 'oh okay'
he's more or less meant to be a blank slate like most silent protags while later GTA protags were more homages to movie characters.

the most we see of claude's personality is in the GTA2 movie and even then he's still rather mercenary if you pay attention to what's going on like rescuing a triad boss's son only to drive a hit squad to the restaurant where the triad boss is celebrating his son's safe return

>>10374583
honestly GTA4 felt more lively and immersive which is why people hated it for not being like the 3D era games.

also you're pretentious and unironically autistic.

>>10377932
GTA IV is hated because it's fucking boring.

>>10374342
>>10374432
>doing thing and doing the same thing while there are a millions goons trying to kill you is the same

>>10378407
You genuinely are retarded, the mission is fucking simple.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GX442AxOzEQ

>>10378412
>see my cherrypicked attempt? this proves that I'm right

>>10378425
>cherrypicked attempt
Here's a few more videos of that same mission (some are from the AIDS Definitive Edition but that's not really relevant here) just to show that you are talking out of your anus:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIYMZb7RtQo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UW8qhE74ZP8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8q6pm97xzs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70dzqPGeLEg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmfV0YUhcH
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zK1JaC17mW8

Why can't you accept you're fucking retarded?

>>10378425
Have to say anon, my last time through I just plowed over the fucker and got out in 1 go too. You're BTFOing yourself harder with every post.

>>10374432
Bomb Da Base is a retard filter. They give you a rooftop with full view of the boat, and 8-Ball even explicitly tells you "I'll hang out til you fire the first shot."
All you have to do is get on the roof, scope out where all the enemies are beforehand, and then easily pick them off in order.
Your average grogtard just headshots the first cartel member he sees, and then bitches about bad design when 8-Ball gets gunned down by the 6 cartel he didn't even know existed

>>10370109
I want a game about Caesar so bad.

>>10378791
Maybe I was going off when I played it for the first time on PS2. I remember being fucking useless at gunning them down.

But even so it's a lot more than running someone over. That was the point I was making.

>>10378821
The issue with bomb da base is that they give you a weapon you've almost certainly not used to that point unless you scrounge around every single inch of the city, and then they immediately force you to use it in a timed mission with an uncontrollable AI. Combine this with the grogtard mentality I was talking about and you have the recipe for a filter mission.
The train in SA is the same way. You're given a bike for the first time that you have no skill with, and then most people just glue themselves to the side of the train like retards, instead of being off to the side of it so the AI can hit things.
Because both these missions are early in the game that everyone plays them, they gain infamy even though there's tons of much harder or way more poorly designed ones later in the game.

>>10378842
Yeah, that's true. I was useless at Wrong Side of the Tracks as well, distinctly remember cheating with a jetpack to pass the mission. God I was stupid.

Semirelatedly, can someone explain why Wrong Side of the Tracks is so famous? I've played through SA three or four times, and it's always been as simple as (most) of the other intro missions. You just ride alongside the train for a couple minutes, Smoke shoots them all, and then you ride back home. I've never seen a twist or anything, and the guys on the train seem to have terrible accuracy when trying to shoot back.
The one that catches me by surprise is House Party. I thought it would be a dance mission or something, to celebrate such a goofy quest chain with OG Loc, but instead you get rushed by more than a dozen Ballaz from multiple directions. If you happen to be standing in a bad place when a new wave spawns, they can mow you down in a couple seconds before you can reach cover.

>>10378950
>>10378842 explains it. People keep riding too close to the train so Smoke can't shoot the Vagos.

>>10378436
>>10378591
My experience says I'm right so I'm still winning. Every other mission is piss easy compared to this one.

>>10378842
Bomb da base is considered difficult because the rifle is garbage on consoles. This is it, this is the reason. With m+kb controls it's easy as hell. The actual hardest mission in the game is espresso 2 go
As for that infamous train mission in SA I've heard Smoke's AI is very dumb in the original PS2 version. Once again, easier on PC (maybe Xbox too)

>>10379001
You tried to do the mission on foot didn't you?
The whole point of the mission is to do it in a Cartel Cruiser so they Yakuza think it was done by the Colombians. It's absolutely piss easy as illustrated by every video posted of ITT.

>>10366754
This isn’t /v/, so you don’t have to worry about being a try hard contrarian.

>>10379001
>My experience says I'm right so I'm still winning
You cannot be using this as an argument unless you are brain damaged.

>>10379046
You started your whole argument stating it's easy because you have no difficulties with it but when I do it then it's NOOOO YOU CAN'T DO THAT!
You got BTFO, take the L.

>>10379028
There is literally a 95% chance your car will catch fire or even blow up during the 3 seconds it takes to run over that faggot and get to the ramp.

>there are people who get filtered by a literal target practice mission with a rifle
holy shit

>>10379067
>You got BTFO, take the L.
The only person who has been blown the fuck out is you. You're either a masochist or genuinely retarded; nobody else would be embarrassed like this repeatedly unless they enjoyed it or are legitimately too stupid to understand why their complaint makes zero sense.

I posted multiple videos of people passing the mission with zero issues whatsoever. You ignored it as cherrypicking. I did not exclusively rely on my experience unlike what you have been doing.

>There is literally a 95% chance your car will catch fire or even blow up during the 3 seconds it takes to run over that faggot and get to the ramp.
Now I know what you're doing with that mission. You're doing what DarksydePhil did and repeatedly damaged the car beforehand because you can't drive and then getting blown up: https://youtu.be/cA8448YYqgU?t=4528

>>10379067
>Doesn't know about the bulletproof Carterl Cruiser you can acquire
git gud fagget

>>10379102
I'm an expert driver althoughbeit. It's the hardest mission, period. You literally can't name a harder one.

>>10379303
>relying on cheat tier techniques
>git gud
The irony.

>>10379345
>Cheat tier
>It's a vehicle you can pick up in game in a previous mission.
git
gud
FAGGET

>>10379345
>It's the hardest mission, period. You literally can't name a harder one.
Espresso-2-Go!, a mission so difficult DMA Design had to tone down the gang weapons otherwise it would be impossible to complete.

>>10379098
>tfw on Xbox the Sniper rifle is ridiculously sensitive
Okay, bitch.

>>10354441
>depressing
You can't let games get you down like this.

>>10363659
>MOOOOOOOOM I'M GETTING FILTERED!!!

>>10379358
It wasn't intended for personal use so it's cheating.

>>10379373
>well yeah this mission is piss easy but it could be impossible with some changes so it's harder!
20 IQ post

>>10379428
>playing any shooting games with a fucking controller
lmfao, are you a boomer or just retarded?

>>10367102
>LIVE! From the Planetarium!
I just listened to the full Rise FM mix and it's still just as good as it was 20 years ago.

>>10369069
I like IVs Liberty because it reminds me of New York, there's a certain grit that the rest of North America lacks.
>>10369138
It's the only city worth visiting in the Western Hemisphere, they like it because they don't have any hobbies and need socialization. There is a certain subset of New Yorkers that take pride in it being a shitty place to live.
>>10369164
The tourist traps are the worst part, there are enough free things to see in the city that you wouldn't spend more than a ticket for the subway.
>>10369442
Suck a dick, jersey sucks. It's more like 99% of the time.

>>10381629
>Espresso-2-Go!
>piss easy
Destroying a number of coffee stands across the map in a time limit is objectively more difficult than running someone over.

Why do you keep digging this hole? Why do you refuse to accept you're completely wrong about Waka-Gashira Wipeout being the hardest mission in the game?

This is surely has to be trolling at this point. I cannot believe someone is as braindead as you are.

>>10378294
That's what I thought when I first played it and I ended up playing the Saints Row games instead. But after I got bored of SR's absurdity I went back to GTA4 and found myself really immersed, I actually think it's my favorite GTA now.

You should try it again with a new perspective if you haven't yet. It still holds up, nothing has felt as grounded in reality besides the RDR games but they're such a different setting.

>>10381913
>played Saints Row
No fucking wonder you found GTA IV realistic.

>>10381913
Looking back at it Saints Row was such a fucking shit series. Even True Crime was more enjoyable. Hate it or love it, as an open-world action-adventure title GTA 4 is head and shoulders above SR. Sorry for bringing up not retro but the only bad thing about GTA 4 is that they got rid of the arcadey driving mechanics. And even then some people love it

>>10379373

That mission isn't hard if you scope out the location of the stands before killing one and starting the timer.

>>10381756

This mission ALSO isn't hard. You run him over and there is a clean route to ramp off of the building. Just show up with your car undamaged and it's not hard.

>>10383357
SR2 is the natural progression of the gta3/VC.san andreas formula

>>10383449
>This mission ALSO isn't hard. You run him over and there is a clean route to ramp off of the building. Just show up with your car undamaged and it's not hard.
Did you miss the entire conversation beforehand?

What's the weirdest shit you've seen in the games? Only can confirm night ufos and "ghost" cars in the woods.

>>10381735
>Jersey
how dare you assume I'm from that shithole
i'm from CT

>>10383727
Holy fuck, I remember staying late at night on weekends reading rumours about bigfoot in SA...

>>10383727
I can't remember which game it was but there was a building where people would endlessly spawn on the roof and walk off to their deaths

>>10383489
I agree.

>>10357301
That is way too ambitious and makes for an ugly map.

>>10381756
>Destroying a number of coffee stands across the map in a time limit is objectively more difficult than running someone over.
No it isn't. It would be if there were a billion guys shooting at you throughout the mission like in waka-gashira. You are coping hard.

>>10355450
The map came in the box with the game disc. Just look at it there instead of relying on an in-game map.

You do still have your boxed copy, right?

>>10385474
>It would be if there were a billion guys shooting at you throughout the mission like in waka-gashira.
That is literally what happens in Espresso-2-Go!

>You are coping hard.
Complete lack of self-awareness there. You have been seething over that one mission for a week in this thread. You are not normal. I would say you were a huge troll but clearly you are completely mentally defective.