GTA 5 review...

[Black Diamond Vol]

It's hard to tell for sure, but I think they kinda like it.
http://m.ign.com/articles/2013/09/16/grand-theft-auto-v-review

[VinnieVOL]

It's hard to tell for sure, but I think they kinda like it.
http://m.ign.com/articles/2013/09/16/grand-theft-auto-v-review

What are you looking forward to most?  I never realized GTAIV was looked upon as it is in these reviews, as a disappointment.  I mean, I've said before that IV never "grabbed" me like the PS2 GTA titles, but I can see that this may be general consensus and I guess I'm just encouraged that these reviews seem to be saying "you know those things that GTAIV was never really great at, yeah.. GTAV fixes them".

I'm happy to read that the driving mechanics are improved over IV.  I guess I just can't wait to dive into this huge map and just run around.

Loved this part:  "San Andreas’s extraordinary sense of place is heightened by the fact that so much of it isn’t on the map. There’s so much going on that it’s easy to find things organically, rather than spend your life following a mission marker."  I LOVE games where you just happen upon something interesting, this is what separates average sandbox games from the great ones.

I didn't preorder it but I'll definitely be picking it up tomorrow.

On a side note, which world is bigger.. GTAV or Skyrim?  I admit, I've never tried Skyrim because it just doesn't seem like my thing.  But my PS3 coworker swears by it and no matter how much I try to play up any game he always comes back with some form of "Skyrim's better".  I know Skyrim is universally acclaimed, but still...   

[Black Diamond Vol]

What are you looking forward to most?  I never realized GTAIV was looked upon as it is in these reviews, as a disappointment.  I mean, I've said before that IV never "grabbed" me like the PS2 GTA titles, but I can see that this may be general consensus and I guess I'm just encouraged that these reviews seem to be saying "you know those things that GTAIV was never really great at, yeah.. GTAV fixes them".

I'm happy to read that the driving mechanics are improved over IV.  I guess I just can't wait to dive into this huge map and just run around.

Loved this part:  "San Andreas’s extraordinary sense of place is heightened by the fact that so much of it isn’t on the map. There’s so much going on that it’s easy to find things organically, rather than spend your life following a mission marker."  I LOVE games where you just happen upon something interesting, this is what separates average sandbox games from the great ones.

I didn't preorder it but I'll definitely be picking it up tomorrow.

On a side note, which world is bigger.. GTAV or Skyrim?  I admit, I've never tried Skyrim because it just doesn't seem like my thing.  But my PS3 coworker swears by it and no matter how much I try to play up any game he always comes back with some form of "Skyrim's better".  I know Skyrim is universally acclaimed, but still...   

IIRC, GTA4 wasn't viewed as a disappointment at the time it came out.  In fact, I think IGN gave it a 10 as well.  And everyone I've talked to besides you think it's the greatest thing since sliced bread, so I figured I was just in the extreme minority. 

I'm just looking forward to exploring that world the most.  I like the idea of a combo urban/rural environment as opposed to all urban all the time like in GTA4.  What's the point of having a Ferrari if you can't take it out on the open road every once in a while?  And for video game purposes, I just think that LA is a far more interesting city than NY. 

And they're absolutely right about the in-mission checkpoints.  That drove me CRAZY in the last game.  I remember one mission in particular late in the game where you started out in one corner of the map, had to drive down to the opposite corner to pick up your friend, drive another long distance to pick up a box truck, then drive to a well-guarded boathouse, shoot up the place, and steal a boat.  Once you got there, you were outgunned like 50-2, so you were probably going to die.  A lot.  I failed that mission probably 10 times, and every time I had to start at the very beginning and do all that driving all over again.  I was about to pull my hair out over that one.  I mean, they had checkpoints in Vice City and San Andreas, so why couldn't they do it in 4?   

The reviewer says that this is the biggest world ever in a game.  I'll have to see for myself, but I'll be very surprised if it's bigger than Skyrim.  The thing about Skyrim is not just the sheer size of the world (it IS huge), but that there are literally hundreds of hidden caves, tombs, dungeons, mines, etc. to explore that aren't even on the map.  And every single building in the game can be entered and explored.  That's something that GTA has never done.

I'll be picking it up after work tomorrow, and I'm off on Wednesday, so I'll probably be playing it all day.  Can't wait

[VinnieVOL]

IIRC, GTA4 wasn't viewed as a disappointment at the time it came out.  In fact, I think IGN gave it a 10 as well.  And everyone I've talked to besides you think it's the greatest thing since sliced bread, so I figured I was just in the extreme minority. 

I'm just looking forward to exploring that world the most.  I like the idea of a combo urban/rural environment as opposed to all urban all the time like in GTA4.  What's the point of having a Ferrari if you can't take it out on the open road every once in a while?  And for video game purposes, I just think that LA is a far more interesting city than NY. 

And they're absolutely right about the in-mission checkpoints.  That drove me CRAZY in the last game.  I remember one mission in particular late in the game where you started out in one corner of the map, had to drive down to the opposite corner to pick up your friend, drive another long distance to pick up a box truck, then drive to a well-guarded boathouse, shoot up the place, and steal a boat.  Once you got there, you were outgunned like 50-2, so you were probably going to die.  A lot.  I failed that mission probably 10 times, and every time I had to start at the very beginning and do all that driving all over again.  I was about to pull my hair out over that one.  I mean, they had checkpoints in Vice City and San Andreas, so why couldn't they do it in 4?   

The reviewer says that this is the biggest world ever in a game.  I'll have to see for myself, but I'll be very surprised if it's bigger than Skyrim.  The thing about Skyrim is not just the sheer size of the world (it IS huge), but that there are literally hundreds of hidden caves, tombs, dungeons, mines, etc. to explore that aren't even on the map.  And every single building in the game can be entered and explored.  That's something that GTA has never done.

I'll be picking it up after work tomorrow, and I'm off on Wednesday, so I'll probably be playing it all day.  Can't wait

Yes, I vividly remember the boathouse mission you are referring to.  Drove me CRAZY, pun intended.

[Creek Walker]

Looking forward to it.

[VinnieVOL]

Woke up early this morning and went ahead and went into Walmart around 5:30am and picked it up.  After reading all the preorder bonus info the only thing I was relatively interested was the blimp offering as I thought that might be interesting.  But I didn't preorder and just walked into Walmart this morning to get it.  Get to work and open the package and the blimp code is in there.  After finally getting the map completely unfolded, I just laughed.  I can see this game is going to keep me occupied for a while.   

[Black Diamond Vol]

Woke up early this morning and went ahead and went into Walmart around 5:30am and picked it up.  After reading all the preorder bonus info the only thing I was relatively interested was the blimp offering as I thought that might be interesting.  But I didn't preorder and just walked into Walmart this morning to get it.  Get to work and open the package and the blimp code is in there.  After finally getting the map completely unfolded, I just laughed.  I can see this game is going to keep me occupied for a while.   

Lol.  I went Gamestop on Sunday to trade in some old games, and the sign in their window said the blimp was a Gamestop exclusive.  Guess not.

[VinnieVOL]

Lol.  I went Gamestop on Sunday to trade in some old games, and the sign in their window said the blimp was a Gamestop exclusive.  Guess not.

Yeah, had to chuckle at that one.

[Black Diamond Vol]

XB360 owners be sure and read this before installing.  Don't install the "play" disc.

http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/09/16/dont-install-grand-theft-auto-vs-xbox-360-play-disc

[Black Diamond Vol]

Check this out...

http://m.ign.com/wikis/gta-5/Solving_the_Mystery_of_Mt_Chiliad_in_GTA_5

[VinnieVOL]

Well so far it's very fun.  Love the controls.  I'll have to be clever when I play it, as my 2 year old loves to climb in my lap and watch me play games.  And he's at the age where he's starting to repeat what he hears, so....   

[Black Diamond Vol]

Well so far it's very fun.  Love the controls.  I'll have to be clever when I play it, as my 2 year old loves to climb in my lap and watch me play games.  And he's at the age where he's starting to repeat what he hears, so....   

It's really funny, too.  Have you done the first mission with the dog yet?  If not, let's just say that your dog gets, uh, distracted.

[VinnieVOL]

It's really funny, too.  Have you done the first mission with the dog yet?  If not, let's just say that your dog gets, uh, distracted.

No, not yet.  But I read about I think.   

[Black Diamond Vol]

Well, I completed the first big heist before I went to bed last night, and I'm about dive back into it.  Here are my initial impressions.

It's easily the best looking GTA game yet.  This series has never been known for its graphical brilliance, but GTA V may be as good as it gets for current gen consoles.  It tops any of the Battlefield, Assassin's Creed, or Crysis games that I've seen.  The movement of people and their facial expressions is second only to LA Noire.

Rockstar games always have great voice acting and written dialog, but this sets a new standard.  It really is movie-quality.  

I've done a little exploring.  I've traveled all the main roads, but the interior of my map is still pretty much empty.  I think the world itself is indeed bigger than Skyrim- but I would still say that Skyrim has more to explore because of all the hidden locations and buildings that you can enter.  

While there are very few in-game load screens, the wait to start a new game or to restart after failing a mission is agonizing.  I'm guessing this is due to not having installed the game disc.  IGN says that you can still install it on a flash drive (8G minimum) with no issues, so I guess I'll have to run out and get one.  Or better yet, Rockstar can come out with a patch and fix this issue.

[VinnieVOL]

Well, I completed the first big heist before I went to bed last night, and I'm about dive back into it.  Here are my initial impressions.

It's easily the best looking GTA game yet.  This series has never been known for its graphical brilliance, but GTA V may be as good as it gets for current gen consoles.  It tops any of the Battlefield, Assassin's Creed, or Crysis games that I've seen.  The movement of people and their facial expressions is second only to LA Noire.

Rockstar games always have great voice acting and written dialog, but this sets a new standard.  It really is movie-quality.  

I've done a little exploring.  I've traveled all the main roads, but the interior of my map is still pretty much empty.  I think the world itself is indeed bigger than Skyrim- but I would still say that Skyrim has more to explore because of all the hidden locations and buildings that you can enter.  

While there are very few in-game load screens, the wait to start a new game or to restart after failing a mission is agonizing.  I'm guessing this is due to not having installed the game disc.  IGN says that you can still install it on a flash drive (8G minimum) with no issues, so I guess I'll have to run out and get one.  Or better yet, Rockstar can come out with a patch and fix this issue.

On the PS3 and it being only one disc I didn't encounter any major loading times, so you might be right on the game disc.  I didn't play as much as I wanted to because like I said my son wanted to be on my lap and I kept getting sideways looks from my wife at ever F bomb so I'll likely have to do much of my gaming late or early in the mornings with this one.  The first few missions were thrilling though and seemed to capture me the way the older GTA titles use to.     I'll give a more thorough review when I've played some more.  But so far driving is a lot better than GTA IV!

[Creek Walker]

I really haven't noticed much in the way of driving improvements from GTAIV but I appear to be alone in that sentiment, so I'll take everyone else's word for it.  It's definitely a more realistic graphical experience. Switching back and forth between characters takes a little getting used to but it's good because you can immerse yourself into the life story of more than one person. And it's easy to immerse yourself in their stories because the voice acting and dialogue is so good. From a satirical standpoint, GTAV is even better than GTAIV, and GTAIV made great use of satire. I do wonder, though, if it's really necessary to go so overboard with the PG-13/R dialogue. I don't expect PG dialogue; that wouldn't be realistic. But is it really necessary to have 8 F-bombs in a 10-word sentence?

I haven't gotten deep enough into the game to form an opinion yet (just scoped out the jewelry store). But so far it seems like the missions are going to be repetitive like they were in GTAIV. My biggest gripe in GTAIV was that the missions always seemed to involve chasing someone down the freeway. But, for me, the beauty of the GTA series isn't the missions themselves but the huge worlds and the sandbox style of play that you can immerse yourself in for hours without ever playing a mission.

So far I haven't been blown away by it, but that's mostly because I've literally played GTAIV over the years until it became boring.

[VinnieVOL]

I really haven't noticed much in the way of driving improvements from GTAIV but I appear to be alone in that sentiment, so I'll take everyone else's word for it.  It's definitely a more realistic graphical experience. Switching back and forth between characters takes a little getting used to but it's good because you can immerse yourself into the life story of more than one person. And it's easy to immerse yourself in their stories because the voice acting and dialogue is so good. From a satirical standpoint, GTAV is even better than GTAIV, and GTAIV made great use of satire. I do wonder, though, if it's really necessary to go so overboard with the PG-13/R dialogue. I don't expect PG dialogue; that wouldn't be realistic. But is it really necessary to have 8 F-bombs in a 10-word sentence?

I haven't gotten deep enough into the game to form an opinion yet (just scoped out the jewelry store). But so far it seems like the missions are going to be repetitive like they were in GTAIV. My biggest gripe in GTAIV was that the missions always seemed to involve chasing someone down the freeway. But, for me, the beauty of the GTA series isn't the missions themselves but the huge worlds and the sandbox style of play that you can immerse yourself in for hours without ever playing a mission.

So far I haven't been blown away by it, but that's mostly because I've literally played GTAIV over the years until it became boring.

Yeah, I think they went way overboard on the F bombs and I didn't even spend an hour on it yesterday.

[Black Diamond Vol]

If you think the profanity is bad now, just wait until you meet Trevor.

[VinnieVOL]

If you think the profanity is bad now, just wait until you meet Trevor.

I'm gonna have to just play with my headset, it looks like.   

[Black Diamond Vol]

Oh, and prepare to die a lot when you start doing Trevor's missions.  He likes to do things like take on entire motorcycle gangs all by himself. 

[Black Diamond Vol]

Ok, that was weird.  Very, very weird.  You guys will know exactly what I'm talking about when you get there.

[Black Diamond Vol]

I've seen at least two Breaking Bad references so far.

[Creek Walker]

I really like the rural component to the world instead of strictly urban. It adds an entire new dimension.

[VinnieVOL]

So yeah, this game blows all previous GTAs away.   

[Black Diamond Vol]

So yeah, this game blows all previous GTAs away.   

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