The Grand Theft Auto Series

I played gta2 when i was way to young to know how to play it the proper way. Gta 3 was such a big thing back then at school. Everybody was talking about it and it blew up even more when VC was announced. I got a ps2 with the dual pack (3 and VC) for christmas. Ignored 3 completely and dove straight into VC. I think my love of the 80s came from that game! Still my favourite gta of all time!

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Been with the series since the very beginning. Played GTA1 and London (no idea if 69 or 61) around the time I was 10 on my cousins´ PC. Naturally we had no idea the game actually has a story and missions, we just enjoyed causing a rampage around town with a tank and all the other fun tools. I kinda skipped GTA2, only played it a handful of times at my other cousins´ place, but somehow it didn´t appeal to me back then as much as the first game. If I ever find the time in my gigantic backlog, I´d like to revisit both games and maybe even try to do the story.

GTAIII was obviously the Big Kahuna back in the day. It was an absolute revelation and a must-play for me and all the boys (alongside the first Mafia). The city felt enormous, the possibilites endless, and most of the time we would just activate the tank cheat and cause carnage, see how long we can last before the cops/FBI/military get us. Or try and fly that damn Dodo. I was running a cracked pirated copy back then (as was customary :sweat_smile: ) which didn´t allow to load saved games, so I actually had to force myself to do the story in one sitting. Thank god it was so short compared to today´s open world games… :laughing: (mind you this was in the pre-YouTube, internet infancy days, so I actually had no idea how long it is and just went in blind)
III probably aged most poorly out of the 3D era trilogy, and is my least favourite of the bunch, but I still enjoy the gritty atmosphere (and Frank Vincent) and love the game for what it is.

Vice City just improved on everything. The city was bigger, brighter, more alive. The music and atmosphere were fantastic, the cast was fantastic (it was so much better to have a protagonist that can actually talk, and Ray Liotta absolutely nailed it), there was a bunch of new weapons, and this time you could actually fly helicopters and a plane (I´m the flying type in video games, so this was a massive upgrade for me, particularly the Hunter). Didn´t get all the Scarface references until I´d actually see the movie a few years later, and it made an already cool game even cooler. One of the games of my childhood.

Had great expectations towards San Andreas and it didn´t disappoint. Again, fantastic music, atmosphere, cast, recurring characters from previous game, better gunplay, swimming(!), an even bigger open world with three distinct major cities and various small towns and biomes, and a ridiculous amount of stuff to do in it (for the time) without it ever feeling repetitive or boring. Flying around San Andreas in a Hydra at full speed and doing stunts while listening to Running Down a Dream or Eminence Front never gets old for me. The weapon sounds were just awful though and it was getting a bit too ridiculous at times.

The last one I played was GTAIV (+EFLC), and that only happened three years ago when I got myself a new laptop and finally joined the Steam/GOG club. It was one of the first games I bought on Steam (along with the classics), only to find out they had axed the soundtrack only a month or two before that lol. Obviously I was already familiar with the basic story and how it ends, but that didn´t prevent me from enjoying it. I found the shift towards a more realistic and serious tone compared to San Andreas to be a step in the right direction (although TBoGT kinda regressed on that), as it helps the game to stand out. And the amount of detail still staggered me despite it being a 10 year old game. Plus it has a Czech actor - Karel Roden - among the cast, which is a cool bonus for me lol.
On the downside, Niko feels too much like a ragdoll (Johnny and Luis have less of a problem in that regard) the PC optimisation is piss poor (notoriously since release) and I´m not a huge fan of that brown/grey filter most games from the late 00s tended to have. Also, I have to say I didn´t have that high of an opinion of it after my first playthrough, likely because I went through it pretty fast (got really engaged in the story). I considered it great, but not VC/SA-level great. On the second playthrough however, I approached it more as the “fresh Eastern European immigrant turned mob hitman” simulator/RPG it is, played slower, experimented and found out about all the cool alternative strategies and side stuff, which made me appreciate it a whole lot more. An amazing game.

And now for those I haven´t played yet…

Liberty City Stories and Vice City Stories I have sadly never played (though I´m familiar with their story and premise) as I´m a PC player who never had a console, but am hoping to eventually give them a go some time soon via emulation. Same goes for Chinatown Wars. And while I have GTAV (the story of which I of course also know) and would love to play it, my consistent lack of disk space coupled with the fact that this thing requires a 100+ GB of storage largely because of Online (which I have absolutely no intention of playing and would therefore prefer not to install if possible) has so far been preventing me from doing so :joy:

Anyways, I´m gonna leave it here with a video from my (third) favourite Aussie:

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He played Faustin. Wish R* had him as one of the final bosses instead of Pegarino in GTA 4. Way more interesting with a more developed backstory than Pegorino which is introduced very late in the plot. He usually ends up as the final boss for me since I don’t like the other ending (even though I believe R* should have made only one ending and go with it since it’s more impactful).

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It´s always quite funny for me to hear him in that role because he speaks with a Czech accent :joy:
What surprised me though is that he voiced not only Faustin, but also the fixer (with a really good American accent) who gives you the phonecall assassination contracts in Alderney.

Completely agree that Faustin is a much more interesting and more developed character than Pegorino. Really a shame that he gets killed off so early in the story…

Pegorino usually ended up as the final boss for me as well for the same reason, but he´s very anticlimactic in that role. Dimitri is much better, but I hate the warehouse shootout mission before that, plus canonically I just don´t see Niko passing out on the opportunity to waste him on the ship after all he did to him. Money or no money.

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This has to be one of the weirdest bugs ever. :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

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Not even close :stuck_out_tongue:

Something extremely wrong happened during development. These games clearly haven’t been tested properly. As someone that worked as a QA tester, there is no way that these issues haven’t been noticed by Grovestreet Games…

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BC Ray Liotta was the main character.

Actually the whole cast was good. The gameplay wasn’t much better than GTA 3, but the story was more fun and the characters were 10x better.

Edit: so I watched the video. That’s pretty much what he said too :joy:

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Modding is making a night and day difference.

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I‘ll stick with my pick.
But of course i didnt went through all of 90 mins of video you posted. :grimacing:

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What’s your favorite radio stations in the 3D universe trilogy that you end up listening the most while playing these games?

GTA III

  • Head Radio
  • Double Clef FM
  • K-JAH
  • Rise FM
  • Lips 106
  • Game Radio
  • MSX FM
  • Flashback 95.6

0 voters

Vice City

  • Wildstyle
  • Flash FM
  • Fever 105
  • V-Rock
  • Radio Espantoso
  • Emotion 98.3
  • Wave 103

0 voters

San Andreas

  • Playback FM
  • K-Rose
  • K-DST
  • Bounce FM
  • SF-UR
  • Radio Los Santos
  • Radio X
  • CSR 103.9
  • K-JAH West
  • Master Sounds 98.3

0 voters

Favorite talk radio

  • Chatterbox FM - Lazlow (GTA III)
  • K-Chat - Amy Sheckenhausen (GTA VC)
  • VCPR - Maurice Chavez (GTA VC)
  • WCTR - multiple hosts (GTA SA)

0 voters

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Man, picking one choice for VC and SA is hard. I went with Fever for VC, but I feel like I have a night (Fever/Flash) and day (Espantoso) division there… (also V-Rock when doing Vigilante missions in the Hunter)

Same in SA, where it depends on location: RLS in LS, SF-UR in SF, Master Sounds in LV, and K-DST in the countryside and when flying (though K-DST is definitely my favourite of the bunch).

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MSX all the way, especially in LCS.

I think I liked Wildstyle in VC the most but all stations are worth listening to. Same in SA to the point I can’t decide on a favorite there.

Never been a fan of the chat stations but I guess these are harder to like when you are not very good at English yet.

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Those were always the best, I’d even stop somewhere or just drive around the map just to listen to them. The commercials were also great :grin:

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“Remember: I am Fernando Martinez. Dial cinco, cinco, cinco, nueve, dos, nueve, dos.”

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Me making memes.

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Before we knew the remakes were shit I played both Stories titles on the PSP and both hold up well.

LCS is difficult and rough but fun in the way GTA3 is.

VCS is still top tier and I wish Rockstar remembered it existed.

(Hint hint I have reviews of these games)

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You should post your Chinatown Wars, Liberty City Stories and future GTA review videos here :smiley:

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People stop me on the street and say “what’s wrong with me? Silk shirt, chest hair, enough after shave to drown a household pet and still I can not get a woman… remember every woman knows if you can’t support a medallion, you can’t support a family”
:joy:

I love Fernando Martinez!!!

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It’s all Godd!

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