Thought of the Day: GTA

[zero]

I figured with my video games becoming mainstream thread, every couple days or so I'll pose a new question/thought/whatever to spark video game discussion. Lame? We got this forum, let's use it.

So anyway, with all that out of the way let's talk about Grand Theft Auto. Some of you guys will disagree, but San Andreas was the best game of 2004. But my question to you is, what can Rockstar do for the next game? How do you improve upon perfection?

[tristy]

I'd like to see Rockstar do a GTA: Russia game, where you're either with or against the Russian KGB. Or the KKK.

Anyways, I disagree with GTA: SA being the best game of 2004, but that's for another time, now isn't it?

[LL!]

No game is perfect. The GTA series is getting quite close, yes, but there are so many things it can improve upon. There's also so many scenarios out there they can do. In fact, I have an idea to mix two Rockstar-made games in GTA and <GAME>, but am debating whether to actually send them an e-mail because I feel they might just pass it on by. Do you think they'll actually take suggestions? (Reason I don't say is because I don't want anyone trying what I'm SERIOUSLY trying to do. So what if I'm paranoid?

Anyway, so many options are still open. Hell, they seem to have a fascination with aliens. Make a futuristic GTA flying cars would be awesome. GTA is far from over, let me tell you.

[apsham]

I think they should definatly move the game out of the country... they've done all the cities in the original game, so why not do the expansion with a GTA London? An asian city would be fine, and obviously I would love GTA Canada...

[naiwf]

Two words: GTA: NYC

We've got all kinds of landmarks that would be good to infiltrate or blow up, and we're close to Atlantic City/The Jersey shore for the seedy Sopranos style underworld. Toss in that you could always get exiled to a shitty city like Philly or Pissburgh at some point, and I think that would be a pretty cool way to build on the tri-city idea from GTA: SA. I don't think a different country would work from a logistical standpoint unless they had airports where you could instantly go from say England to France or Germany etc.

[triplexpac]

I'd like to see them fix up the game engine a bit more. They have lots of things to do, but the controls have always seemed iffy to me.

[Cactus Drags]

Different choice of characters, different missions depending on the results of previous missions and stuff (so it branches out). If they're keeping up the customisation thing, they need some more and better clothes and hairstyles.

Easier flying

A new country would be nice, maybe in a different time period.

[apsham]

I don't think they should go too far back, the problem with Mafia was that while the era and footplay was fun, the cars were just too damn slow.

[Cactus Drags]

Future GTA then, with hovercars and lasers

[tristy]

I'd still like to see a Russian or Japanese based GTA. naiwf's idea sounds good too.

I'd love to see a 1920's New York GTA or something, with the Tommy Guns and black suited gangsters and whatnot. That'd be pretty cool.

[JStarr]

Two words: GTA: NYC

We've got all kinds of landmarks that would be good to infiltrate or blow up, and we're close to Atlantic City/The Jersey shore for the seedy Sopranos style underworld. Toss in that you could always get exiled to a shitty city like Philly or Pissburgh at some point, and I think that would be a pretty cool way to build on the tri-city idea from GTA: SA. I don't think a different country would work from a logistical standpoint unless they had airports where you could instantly go from say England to France or Germany etc.

←

Excellent idea, but since Liberty City was meant to be loosely based on NYC, Rockstar might not want to retread familiar ground, even if they could expand on it tenfold. Hell, I'd still buy it.

One thing that I'd like to see...each city that we've visited in the last three games has had a stadium, whether football or baseball...but nothing to really do there. I'd love to see a stadium used as an asset property, where you finish a strand of missions, then make cash from a cut of the team. How cool would it have been to see Tommy Vercetti clockin' dollars from a piece of the Vice City Mambas, maybe through a Last Boy Scout-style mission where he blew some fucker's head off right in the middle of a game? While disguised as a player, no less? Or Carl Johnson playing third base for the Las Venturas Bandits?

Just imagine the wanted level, though...what with the 40,000 or so witnesses and all...

[zero]

I always thought Liberty was more like Chicago with a little NYC in there. I think NYC (or a fictional city name) blended with Jersey and Philly is excellent. naiwf gives the goods as always. Times Square in GTA would be fuckin sweet.

The problem with going too far back or into too obscure of a foreign country: the soundtrack. GTA's soundtrack is a big deal now, you go into the 20s or Russia, the soundtrack is gonna suffer.

But locales aren't necessarily improvements... making them bigger is, but where the game is set wasn't all I was talking about. What kind of gameplay enhancements can we see? How much farther can they take the series? Vice City was really like an expansion pack of GTA3 but San Andreas was mind blowingly huge. How can they avoid making the next game an expansion on SA?

[Jonny D]

I think a change of country is in order. Moving to either to London, Moscow, or nywhere else around the world would be a improvement in my opinion.

[LL!]

If they want to do that, they can easily top it with one whole sacrifice and that's the soundtrack. Sure, selling the soundtracks aside might get them some extra bucks, but it's the game that counts. What I'm getting at is they need to start thinking about doing some awkward ideas like the future GTA. People will love it and then they can go back to the city thing and people will still love it. As long as it has a story to tell it will be enjoyable.

[tristy]

If they were to ever do a GTA set in Germany, they could easily have an all German soundtrack with such names as Rammstein and KMFDM.

But that wouldn't sell much.

[LL!]

Quite honestly how good do those soundtrack compilations do in the market? I mean people can quite easily do it themselves.

[tristy]

I don't know if they are right now, but maybe make the XBOX GTA's where you can have the Custom Soundtrack option that the Box offers.

PS2 needs something like that.

[zero]

Quite honestly how good do those soundtrack compilations do in the market? I mean people can quite easily do it themselves.

←

Selling the soundtracks isn't just the point... the music being in the games matters just as much. They're not going to do a GTA game without a huge soundtrack.

[naiwf]

I don't think Zero meant specifically selling the soundtracks, I think he's talking about having music that fits the time in the background. It would be a horrible mistake to remove the music from the game as it adds another level of immersion.

The only way I think they could improve the game would be to do something like they've done in the past with Heroes of Might and Magic games where you play as one character for a while, and then switch to someone else in the storyline for another period of time before the climactic part where they meet as allies or enemies in the end.

[LL!]

I see your point, but if the "era" of the game doesn't call for music then, well, they'll have to use music that actually fits. As a futuristic GTA will go I guess they can get some music from the past for the flying cars, but it wouldn't be necessary due to the overpowerment of the other features in the game.