Where are my Satellite Guy's gamers at?

[Zookster]

I really enjoyed Sleeping Dogs (my first open-world game involving a modern-day crime-world environment), and even just bought the DLC for it this week, so I'll be interested to hear how it compares to GTA V, as Sleeping Dogs is really my only point of reference for that type of game.

 

[yourbeliefs]

I really enjoyed Sleeping Dogs (my first open-world game involving a modern-day crime-world environment), and even just bought the DLC for it this week, so I'll be interested to hear how it compares to GTA V, as Sleeping Dogs is really my only point of reference for that type of game.

Really, EVERY open world game is in some way a clone of GTA, or at least share a good portion of the DNA. GTA though has more of a focus on social commentary and satire in it's story telling, not to mention everyone drives on the right side of the road. SD is more of a serious focus, while GTA focuses more on different styles of gameplay as well as humor, and Saints Row focuses MUCH more on humor/satire and crazy styles of gameplay.

 

[king3pj]

Really, EVERY open world game is in some way a clone of GTA, or at least share a good portion of the DNA. GTA though has more of a focus on social commentary and satire in it's story telling, not to mention everyone drives on the right side of the road. SD is more of a serious focus, while GTA focuses more on different styles of gameplay as well as humor, and Saints Row focuses MUCH more on humor/satire and crazy styles of gameplay.

Yep. There may have been other open world games before it but for all intents and purposes GTA III started the open world genre as we know it.


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[Zookster]

Really, EVERY open world game is in some way a clone of GTA, or at least share a good portion of the DNA. GTA though has more of a focus on social commentary and satire in it's story telling, not to mention everyone drives on the right side of the road. SD is more of a serious focus, while GTA focuses more on different styles of gameplay as well as humor, and Saints Row focuses MUCH more on humor/satire and crazy styles of gameplay.

I'm glad you mentioned that. I actually didn't realize social commentary and satire were part of the GTA equation. My limited (mis-)understanding was that the games were about some thug trying to rise in stature in the criminal underworld by committing a host of crimes and beating up or running over prostitutes, hence the reason I really never bothered checking them out.

 

[yourbeliefs]

I'm glad you mentioned that. I actually didn't realize social commentary and satire were part of the GTA equation. My limited (mis-)understanding was that the games were about some thug trying to rise in stature in the criminal underworld by committing a host of crimes and beating up or running over prostitutes, hence the reason I really never bothered checking them out.

Well, there's that as well, but as I said previously, the game wouldn't be the juggernaut that it is if that's ALL it was about. There's high production value, and you can literally get lost and spend hours on the side activities you can take a part of. The media and conservative groups like to "hate" the game for the misconceptions you listed, and gamers love to defend it for the reasons I gave. It definitely deserves your attention.

Well, my installation is just about done, so I'm off to see if 5 years and hundreds of millions of dollars by Rockstar was worth it.

 

[king3pj]

Well, there's that as well, but as I said previously, the game wouldn't be the juggernaut that it is if that's ALL it was about. There's high production value, and you can literally get lost and spend hours on the side activities you can take a part of. The media and conservative groups like to "hate" the game for the misconceptions you listed, and gamers love to defend it for the reasons I gave. It definitely deserves your attention.

Well, my installation is just about done, so I'm off to see if 5 years and hundreds of millions of dollars by Rockstar was worth it.

That's the thing. As far as I can remember there aren't any missions that actually tell you to murder hookers. The point of GTA games is freedom to do whatever you want including murdering anyone you walk past on the street. You occasionally walk past hookers on the street in GTA and some people choose to murder them. The media members who know nothing about games then decide that GTA is all about murdering hookers and cops when most of the actual missions are about taking down other gang members. GTA still gets a bad rap from the media for being the first big game to offer this kind of freedom back in the PS2 days.

You can also murder every pedestrian you walk past in the inFamous games, which are GTA clones plus super powers by the way too, but no one in the media attacks them for it. You definitely aren't a good guy in GTA games but you aren't really a mass murdering psychopath either unless you choose to be.

Anyways enjoy the game! I am anxiously awaiting the email from gamefly saying mine is on the way. I just hope it takes a week or two instead of a month or two. Who knows with the ridiculous popularity of these games.

 

[Zookster]

That's the thing. As far as I can remember there aren't any missions that actually tell you to murder hookers. The point of GTA games is freedom to do whatever you want including murdering anyone you walk past on the street. You occasionally walk past hookers on the street in GTA and some people choose to murder them. The media members who know nothing about games then decide that GTA is all about murdering hookers and cops when most of the actual missions are about taking down other gang members. GTA still gets a bad rap from the media for being the first big game to offer this kind of freedom back in the PS2 days.

You can also murder every pedestrian you walk past in the inFamous games, which are GTA clones plus super powers by the way too, but no one in the media attacks them for it. You definitely aren't a good guy in GTA games but you aren't really a mass murdering psychopath either unless you choose to be.

Anyways enjoy the game! I am anxiously awaiting the email from gamefly saying mine is on the way. I just hope it takes a week or two instead of a month or two. Who knows with the ridiculous popularity of these games.

Sounds like the Hitman Absolution game I'm playing right now (minus the open world). I can kill anyone I want or no one, other than the mission targets (who are all bad people). And I'm in fact rewarded for not killing other people (Silent Assassin ranking). Not that a Hitman game would ever be confused with a family friendly game. But you don't hear it mentioned in the same breath as other games that are the target of media moralists' ire. It'll be interesting if a new GTA game stirs up that debate again. Fortunately (if there's anything fortunate about it) this latest mass killer in DC wouldn't have had GTA V in his console yet.

 

[yourbeliefs]

So I'm a few hours into GTA V and here's some early impressions..

First off, this game looks like it's been in development for 5 years. Everything screams high production, which is by no means a bad thing. There is definitely a difference between Los Santos and Steelport (Saints Row 3.) LS feels more like a real, live vibrant city, while SP feels more like a place where cars and people are sprinkled in as necessary. Speaking of SR3, it was a little annoying having to adjust from SR3's controls back to GTA. It didn't help that SR3 had the run button where GTA had the weapon switch, which got real annoying in a few gun battles. I also had to adjust to the more realistic car physics and handling. I spun out a number of times thinking I was still playing SR3 and it's insane drifting mechanics. I also had to adjust to the gunplay, which surprisingly lets you lock on to enemies simply by readying your weapon. This can be disabled, but at that point you're just making the game harder for yourself. The gun play works well enough, but I wouldn't call it a game changer (no pun intended) by any means.

The radio stations received a major upgrade. For one, there's more of them, and now they actually display the song that is playing. Can't comment on their content too much, although I have fallen in love with WCC, which is West Coast Classics. It only plays West Coast Rap songs from the 90s, AKA the golden age of rap from that area. The first car I got into had that station on, and it was playing NWA's "Appetite for Destruction." You don't get much better when it comes to first impressions.

Voice acting and character emotions are top notch as usual. I've only dealt with Micheal and Franklin so far, and my exposure to Trevor has been minimal. M & F seem to work well together and in their environments. As far as the whole misogyny controversy goes, I have to say that I haven't seen anything yet that I would use as evidence to counter that argument. It's also a little creepy that Mike's wife has the same name as my oldest daughter, and I had to cringe when Mike yelled at his daughter to do something she didn't want to do and he responded to her complaints with "Tough Tits!"

Speaking of complaints, I do have a few so far. For one, apparently when they were testing this game, they only used computer monitors or small tvs or they just didn't care about people being able to read tutorial messages. The text for them appears on the top left of the screen in a very small font that isn't easy to read even when you are paying attention to it, and since most of the time you'll be focusing on the very center of the screen, it's very easy to miss the messages the game is giving to you. On my 50" Plasma this has been more of a chore than it needs to be, and from what I can tell there is no option to change it. And on the topic of wanting change, I guess during the 5 years of development the idea of custom button controls never came up because once again you can't change them outside of a few presets. It would have been nice if I could change my controls to match that of SR3, but I suppose I can't have it all. Also, apparently everyone in this game is in a big f*cking hurry to get somewhere, because it seemed like whenever I was on a mission with someone they constantly complained that I was moving too slow, and that was during the times they weren't saying something else that made me want to punch them in the face. One of my early companions was saying stuff that was so annoying and dumb that I honestly hope he gets killed during one of the missions just so I don't have to deal with him anymore. Finally, as is common with the GTA console games, loading times suck.

Overall though I am having quite a bit of fun. I haven't dealt too much into the side missions and diversions because I want all 3 characters available before I delve into that part of the game. I am interested to see where this story goes and how all 3 characters end up melding with each other. All I know is so far I don't regret my decision to get the game on release day as opposed to waiting for it to arrive from Gamefly.

 

[yourbeliefs]

Well... looks like the honeymoon is over...

I just rage quit GTA V in a manner I haven't felt since The Last of Us. Some of this may just be growing pains, but it still doesn't change the fact that they're still annoying...

First off, the cops in this game got a MAJOR AI upgrade. I read in 1 place that said that the cops in this game do NOT f*ck around, and they really don't. Cops in this game stick on you like a needy obsessed girlfriend. Getting rid of the cops can feel like trying to get rid of AIDS. The discrepancy in the cops difficulty between 1 Star and 2 Star wanted level is about as wide as the Grand Canyon. Shaking the cops is NOT easy in this game. I've spent easily 5-10 minutes within missions getting rid of my wanted level. This isn't helped by the fact that early on you are given missions to steal certain vehicles that are basically commercial vans that handle like crap and are similarly as slow. It really feels like at times that the AI is just TOO good to where it makes the game less fun. Hell, one time I got out of their sight and then drove into an underground parking garage to hide and I was STILL found. I really hope Rockstar releases a patch that lowers the difficulty to a level under "World's Wildest Police Chases Level of Pursuit."

The increased odds of cops making all your plans fall through is only exacerbated by the fact that NO ONE at Rockstar thought it might be a good idea to add a "restart from checkpoint" feature like Saints Row 3 had. Very often you'll find yourself in situations where you're f*cked and need to start over, but the only way to start over is to intentionally fail said mission and then restart it from there. This can be time consuming as well as annoying, and if nothing else it does nothing to boost player morale.

Still, so far these issues aren't enough to make me stop playing the game, but godDAMN they frustrate. I'm not saying I would prefer a game where I can easily beat all the missions in 1 shot without breaking a sweat, but I also don't think I should be getting so frustrated less than 5 hours into the game.

 

[yourbeliefs]

This sums up the cops experience pretty well:

 

[Scherrman]

The more I read about the game the more I want to play it.

 

[yourbeliefs]

Well enough GTA V for now..

Before I got my hands on that I was working my way through, and have now finished Mark of the Ninja, an indie 2D side scroller stealth game.

My relationship with stealth games hasn't been exactly what I would call a loving relationship, or at least it's not up there with my other lovers like FPS, 3rd person shooter, open world, anime dating simulators, etc. So while I dipped into this pool with my big toe, it wasn't long before I was taking cannonballs into the deep end. The game is very immersive, although the plot is not. Long story short, you're a ninja in a clan that has been wronged so it's up to you to kill some people to make things right. There's more to it than that, but like the Shank games (they are made by the same people) the story takes itself WAY too seriously, and the lack of integration of it within actual gameplay made it very hard for me to follow and/or give a real sh*t.

Anyways, said gameplay is the bread and butter of this game and it does it's job well. You have to hide within darkness, go in cover, hide in vents, hang off ceilings, etc in order to evade being spotted by guards and other undesirables. The game does give you a chance to get out if you are spotted, which is a nice touch and removes one of the things I HATE in certain stealth games. The game actually encourages you NOT to kill people by giving you a major bonus at the end of the stage if you pull it off, but that's contradicted by the fact that over 2/3rds of your available upgrades are just better ways to kill people. It's like rewarding Aerosmith for a successful tour by giving them a gift certificate to a liquor store. I was never able to go through without killing because A: killing feels very rewarding (boy that sounded bad coming out) and B: nearly every time I did it I kept yelling this line aloud.

Of course, not everything is perfect in this game, but the complaints are minor. For one, it is a fairly short game, clocking in at about 8 hours for me, but a more competent stealth player can probably do it in shorter time. Added replay value can be achieved by replaying the missions for better scores along with the Game+ mode that lets you keep your goodies but ramps up the difficulty. Also, going back to the game's lackluster plot, the ending, or rather endingS, suck. At the very end of the game you are given a choice, and regardless of what you decide, you are treated to a scene that lasts about 20 seconds and then the credits roll. I suppose I would have been more bummed if I were more invested in the story, but given the ramifications of the decision you make at the end I expected something that was longer than one of my typical pisses.

Still, these complaints are minor and should not dissuade anyone for checking this game out. It's currently a part of the Humble Bundle which lets you pay what you want for it. You could pay $1, but if you paid $5 or more you'd get 10 extra games. And quite frankly $5 for this game alone would be undercutting its value. If you have a PC there's no excuse to not get this game. It is also available on Xbox Live Arcade, but it is $15 there.

?I give it a B.

 

[king3pj]

GTA Liberty Stories is free on the Vita for Plus members starting today. I know it's a PSP port, but does anyone know if that would serve as a good introduction to the series?

I just played a few missions of Liberty City Stories while watching the Thursday night football game. I have never played these PSP GTA games but it immediately brought back some good memories. It feels just like GTA III and you even start with the same hideout. Now it looks pretty terrible but this is a PSP game and we can't expect it to hold up to the games actually made for Vita. I don't think it looks all that much worse than GTA III either.

It's pretty cool playing an open world game like this on the Vita even if it is dated and ugly at this point. I would absolutely love a modern GTA Stories game actually built for the vita. I don't think there is anything like it available.


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[Zookster]

I just played a few missions of Liberty City Stories while watching the Thursday night football game. I have never played these PSP GTA games but it immediately brought back some good memories. It feels just like GTA III and you even start with the same hideout. Now it looks pretty terrible but this is a PSP game and we can't expect it to hold up to the games actually made for Vita. I don't think it looks all that much worse than GTA III either.

It's pretty cool playing an open world game like this on the Vita even if it is dated and ugly at this point. I would absolutely love a modern GTA Stories game actually built for the vita. I don't think there is anything like it available.


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A larger memory card really needs to be my next gaming related purpose. With Uncharted still taking up most of my 4GB card, it's impossible for me to easily sample these new free games that come along every month so I can satisfy my curiosity.

At any rate, regarding the earlier discussion of violence in video games as it pertains to GTA V, I just happened across this interesting take from PBS's gaming podcaster: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9FL...ew-vl&list=PLRfJP25LI5vTT6qHBm9hmYrT4WMXDROc0

I love his comment to the effect that if the original makers of the chess board game could have made a game like Battlefield 3, they probably would have.

 

[king3pj]

I played pretty late last night to finish up Saints Row 3. The ending was a bit of a letdown story wise but that was one of the least important parts about this game. I cam confidently say that I like SR3 better than GTA IV in every single way. The driving is more fun and less frustrating, the shooting is like a decent 3rd person shooter instead of a weird lock on system, and the missions are more fun. Basically Volition made a GTA clone but stripped out all the parts that weren't fun in the process. Now, to be fair, SR3 is a newer game than GTA IV so they got to see what Rockstar did and then try to improve it.

I am itching to play GTA V now. I also really want to play SR4 but I think I need to play something in between two Saints games to keep it fresh. I am still trying to hold out on GTA and wait for gamefly to ship it to me. I have many other PS3 games I want to finish before I get my PS4 so it seems silly for me to pay full price for another PS3 game right now. The more I hear about GTA the harder it gets to wait though. We'll see if I can make it.


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[yourbeliefs]

You should do what I did: find a random game in your Steam library that you haven't played yet (which I'm sure you have given how many bundles you've taken advantage of) and get into it. That's how I got into Mark of the Ninja and I very much enjoyed that game.

 

[king3pj]

You should do what I did: find a random game in your Steam library that you haven't played yet (which I'm sure you have given how many bundles you've taken advantage of) and get into it. That's how I got into Mark of the Ninja and I very much enjoyed that game.

Yeah it might be a good opportunity to play Bastion. I only messed around with it for a half hour or so but I really like what I have seen so far.

I have Mark of the Ninja waiting for me too. I really liked Shank which is one of their earlier games. It looks similar except Shank doesn't have the stealth elements. It is a pure beat em up.

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[Zookster]

This is one of the things I like about PS Plus. I probably have at least 25 games in my download queue I haven't touched yet. I'm actually itching to play Galaga Legions after I finish my hard run through Hitman Absolution, and all this talk of open-world mayhem in SR3 and GTA V has me moving SR3 up on my interest list. After such a trying stealth experience like Hitman, it will feel good to just cut loose.

 

[king3pj]

This is one of the things I like about PS Plus. I probably have at least 25 games in my download queue I haven't touched yet. I'm actually itching to play Galaga Legions after I finish my hard run through Hitman Absolution, and all this talk of open-world mayhem in SR3 and GTA V has me moving SR3 up on my interest list. After such a trying stealth experience like Hitman, it will feel good to just cut loose.

Yeah, I mean it obviously all comes down to you and what order you have your backlog ranked in. I would definitely give SR3 a try especially since it is free. I played the PC version and as you can see from my posts I had a great time with it. Just don't go in expecting a deep story. That is the one area I will say GTA IV did better than SR3.

I'm still patiently waiting for gamefly to send out my copy of GTA V so I can see if they took the open world throne back from Saints Row. Just about everything I have heard makes it sound like they have but I can't wait to see it for myself.

As for what I'm playing now, I still have plenty of PS3 games I wanted to finish before the PS4 comes out. I have been trying to save most of my steam library for the down time that always comes a few months after a system launches where no games are coming out. That being said, instead of finishing inFamous 1 and 2, Uncharted 2 and 3, etc... I'm playing Mass Effect again. I have mentioned this before but Mass Effect is probably my favorite gaming franchise of all time. I know most people would go with something from the NES or Super Nintendo days but for me nothing tops Mass Effect.

I really wanted to start over with a brand new Sheppard and play the whole trilogy with a different skill set than I used the first time. As much as I wanted to do that we are talking hundreds of hours and I will never get to the rest of my library if I start that now. I decided just to jump into ME3 to get my fix and see where it goes from there. I haven't played any of ME3's DLC so maybe I'll pick a few of those up too.

 

[Zookster]

... I'm playing Mass Effect again. I have mentioned this before but Mass Effect is probably my favorite gaming franchise of all time. I know most people would go with something from the NES or Super Nintendo days but for me nothing tops Mass Effect.

I really wanted to start over with a brand new Sheppard and play the whole trilogy with a different skill set than I used the first time. As much as I wanted to do that we are talking hundreds of hours and I will never get to the rest of my library if I start that now. I decided just to jump into ME3 to get my fix and see where it goes from there. I haven't played any of ME3's DLC so maybe I'll pick a few of those up too.

Mass Effect is definitely my favorite franchise, too, as I'm sure I've mentioned in this thread more than once already.

I've platinumed all three ME games on the PS3 and am currently three-quarters of the way through my fourth ME2 playthrough with my first Shepard imported from ME1, an engineer, as I had never played that class before. I've put that campaign on hold, however, as I patiently await an ME3 DLC sale or GOTY/special edition release, so I can do a full ME3 run with this same Shepard and with all the DLC installed. Playing the ME3 DLCs with Shepards I already finished the game with just doesn't hold the same interest for me. As a PS3 person, I was spoiled with getting most of the playable DLC included with the vanilla version of Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2 (I only had to pay for Arrival, which was easily worth $7, and Pinnacle Station couldn't be ported). But the prospect of paying $50 for what I understand to be less than 15 hours worth of ME3 DLC content gives me pause, as much as I love the franchise. It's worth noting in that regard, however, that there's a special offer until 10/29, where you'll receive a $10 PSN credit for every $50 spent between now and that date.