Florida Man: The Video Game
December 4, 2023 5:41 PM Subscribe
Rockstar has officially released the first trailer for Grand Theft Auto 6.
The first new mainline entry in over ten years, the series returns to Vice City. In other news, I will be in my 40s when the game comes out. Oof.
The first new mainline entry in over ten years, the series returns to Vice City. In other news, I will be in my 40s when the game comes out. Oof.
I'm interested to see what this will be like with Dan Houser gone. I presume it will be less masculinity-disappearing-up-its-own-boomer-ass kind of usual GTA bullshit, but will it have anything else to say at all.
posted by fleacircus at 5:58 PM on December 4, 2023 [7 favorites]
posted by fleacircus at 5:58 PM on December 4, 2023 [7 favorites]
I will also be in my 40s when this game comes out
But then I was in my 40s when I woke up this morning
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 6:09 PM on December 4, 2023 [21 favorites]
But then I was in my 40s when I woke up this morning
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 6:09 PM on December 4, 2023 [21 favorites]
21+ million views in 3 hours. That must be some kind of YouTube record, no?
posted by milnak at 6:11 PM on December 4, 2023
posted by milnak at 6:11 PM on December 4, 2023
> I will also be in my 40s when this game comes out. But then I was in my 40s when I woke up this morning
“Rockstar used to create good games. They still do, but they used to, too.”
posted by milnak at 6:12 PM on December 4, 2023 [16 favorites]
“Rockstar used to create good games. They still do, but they used to, too.”
posted by milnak at 6:12 PM on December 4, 2023 [16 favorites]
The graphics look incredible.
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 6:24 PM on December 4, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 6:24 PM on December 4, 2023 [2 favorites]
So, how reasoned will the fanbase's response be over the reveal that this game will have a female protagonist?
posted by NoxAeternum at 6:30 PM on December 4, 2023 [7 favorites]
posted by NoxAeternum at 6:30 PM on December 4, 2023 [7 favorites]
It should have subtitle:
GRAND THEFT AUTO 6
Florida Man
posted by fatbird at 6:51 PM on December 4, 2023
GRAND THEFT AUTO 6
Florida Man
posted by fatbird at 6:51 PM on December 4, 2023
GTA:VC was the only game in the series that I attempted; I got stuck on the mission that involved golf carts and never went back to it. The soundtrack owns, too.
My biggest hope for this new one is that they took a lot of inspiration from Carl Hiassen (hey, I can dream, right?). Like fleacircus notes, this being a post-Dan Houser GTA will automatically make it interesting.
posted by May Kasahara at 6:55 PM on December 4, 2023 [4 favorites]
My biggest hope for this new one is that they took a lot of inspiration from Carl Hiassen (hey, I can dream, right?). Like fleacircus notes, this being a post-Dan Houser GTA will automatically make it interesting.
posted by May Kasahara at 6:55 PM on December 4, 2023 [4 favorites]
i know this will sound weird considering i'm talking about GTA but
i never ever got into GTA5 at all because the characters i was forced to inhabit were monsters. i'm not sure i even paid the fun tax (ie made it out of the tutorials) because i just... didn't feel like murdering a shitload of cops, which was what i had to do to progress in the game.
by contrast, i loved GTA4 and played the hell out of it, for hundreds of hours. looking back with cloudy memories, i loved almost everything about it, except the dumb diamond heist plot but even that was still kind of interesting the way they had you experience it from different factional angles if you played all the DLCs. i especially fondly remember coming home from a stressful irl work day, smoking up, and just riding the subways or in taxis for hours, watching the city slide by. except for the motorcycle gang guys, i don't recall having a feeling of being put off or disimmersioned by the violence but i was a lot younger then.
for me Nico Bellic and Luis Fernando Lopez were sympathic characters that i could find something to identify with, and in a way i felt like when i was the player, controlling their actions and not going on unhinged murder sprees, i was channeling from myself to them a feeling of peace and normalcy that was lacking in their day-to-day lives. i got to be this otherworldy angel from a higher dimension, descending on these damaged, tormented men and granting a respite of temporary serenity as i made them tour peacefully around the city as passive observers instead of their usual role of chaos Protagonists.
i never felt that at all in GTA5.
posted by glonous keming at 6:58 PM on December 4, 2023 [32 favorites]
i never ever got into GTA5 at all because the characters i was forced to inhabit were monsters. i'm not sure i even paid the fun tax (ie made it out of the tutorials) because i just... didn't feel like murdering a shitload of cops, which was what i had to do to progress in the game.
by contrast, i loved GTA4 and played the hell out of it, for hundreds of hours. looking back with cloudy memories, i loved almost everything about it, except the dumb diamond heist plot but even that was still kind of interesting the way they had you experience it from different factional angles if you played all the DLCs. i especially fondly remember coming home from a stressful irl work day, smoking up, and just riding the subways or in taxis for hours, watching the city slide by. except for the motorcycle gang guys, i don't recall having a feeling of being put off or disimmersioned by the violence but i was a lot younger then.
for me Nico Bellic and Luis Fernando Lopez were sympathic characters that i could find something to identify with, and in a way i felt like when i was the player, controlling their actions and not going on unhinged murder sprees, i was channeling from myself to them a feeling of peace and normalcy that was lacking in their day-to-day lives. i got to be this otherworldy angel from a higher dimension, descending on these damaged, tormented men and granting a respite of temporary serenity as i made them tour peacefully around the city as passive observers instead of their usual role of chaos Protagonists.
i never felt that at all in GTA5.
posted by glonous keming at 6:58 PM on December 4, 2023 [32 favorites]
I've been debating an upgrade to my 10 year old gaming PC to see some if there are performance improvements in some large Cities Skylines maps I've been working on off-and-on over the past decade.
This game may get me there.
If only so I can yell JACK-SON-VILLE !!! JAGUARS!!! RULE!!! while throwing a Molotov cocktail at a beach in order to get out of a jam.
posted by midmarch snowman at 7:24 PM on December 4, 2023 [25 favorites]
This game may get me there.
If only so I can yell JACK-SON-VILLE !!! JAGUARS!!! RULE!!! while throwing a Molotov cocktail at a beach in order to get out of a jam.
posted by midmarch snowman at 7:24 PM on December 4, 2023 [25 favorites]
I've been debating an upgrade to my 10 year old gaming PC to see some if there are performance improvements in some large Cities Skylines maps I've been working on off-and-on over the past decade.
I, uh, have some mildly distressing news.
posted by kbanas at 7:32 PM on December 4, 2023 [16 favorites]
I, uh, have some mildly distressing news.
posted by kbanas at 7:32 PM on December 4, 2023 [16 favorites]
"Rockstar Games has confirmed that, at least at launch, the company's long-awaited open-world crime sim, Grand Theft Auto VI, will launch on Xbox Series X/S and PS5 only, with no mention of a PC version." says Kotaku.
posted by kbanas at 7:33 PM on December 4, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by kbanas at 7:33 PM on December 4, 2023 [3 favorites]
I will begin my career in crime in the most Haissen way conceivable, by stealing wheel chairs from old people and the disabled.
And I'll cackle gleefully the whole time.
posted by Keith Talent at 8:32 PM on December 4, 2023 [1 favorite]
And I'll cackle gleefully the whole time.
posted by Keith Talent at 8:32 PM on December 4, 2023 [1 favorite]
NB: I have never played any incarnation of GTA and so forgive me for the lack of detail.
Lin-Manuel Miranda is apparently such a fan of whichever GTA was set in Los Angeles that once when he was driving in Los Angeles for real and got lost, he was able to reorient himself by recognizing landmarks from the game.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:44 PM on December 4, 2023 [1 favorite]
Lin-Manuel Miranda is apparently such a fan of whichever GTA was set in Los Angeles that once when he was driving in Los Angeles for real and got lost, he was able to reorient himself by recognizing landmarks from the game.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:44 PM on December 4, 2023 [1 favorite]
i never ever got into GTA5 at all because the characters i was forced to inhabit were monsters.
GTA5 was suffused with an unsettling kind of winking half-irony. Like: "This game is terrible and these characters are terrible! But isn't that because the world is terrible? And doesn't that make you kind of terrible for enjoying it? Huh? Yeah, you love that shit, don't you?"
posted by dephlogisticated at 8:46 PM on December 4, 2023 [5 favorites]
GTA5 was suffused with an unsettling kind of winking half-irony. Like: "This game is terrible and these characters are terrible! But isn't that because the world is terrible? And doesn't that make you kind of terrible for enjoying it? Huh? Yeah, you love that shit, don't you?"
posted by dephlogisticated at 8:46 PM on December 4, 2023 [5 favorites]
I played part of GTA 4 and just could not get into the actual gameplay controls. The aiming is a weird snap-to-target thing that I just couldn't click with. "Running" felt like I had a load of something in my pants. The open world was cool to run around in, but I got to some "mission" (encounters that advance the story) where I was infiltrating a warehouse full of drug dealers, and the game basically insisted that I enter and do the mission in one specific way.
I just couldn't do it. There were guys up on catwalks or rafters shooting, guys on the main floor shooting. All the while running like my pants were loaded. There was no option to enter through the back, or show up at night or climb in a window. It's like they had a movie scene in mind and I had to play it out a certain way. I just found it frustrating. And I play Souls games... I'm used to difficult, demanding games. I just couldn't click with the game at all. Put it down and never touched it again.
Now, I did play through Red Dead Redemption 2, which was pretty magical, actually. It also had some of these "mission" zones that demanded a specific approach, but it felt more forgiving. Overall I liked RDR2 but I thought it was just too long, got way too convoluted and had a ridiculous amount of coincidences for a cowboy story (go to Cuba and run into some of the same people you knew/met in some dinky town in the wilderness of Arizona? Really?). Should have just been a cowboy simulator, but I guess the public demands "epic, sweeping, world-changing stories." The best parts of that game were just doing cowboy exploring and finding stuff and encountering weirdos.
Anyway, this looks like it will be interesting, but I'll only play it if it controls more like a video game and less like a movie-scene simulator.
posted by SoberHighland at 8:50 PM on December 4, 2023 [3 favorites]
I just couldn't do it. There were guys up on catwalks or rafters shooting, guys on the main floor shooting. All the while running like my pants were loaded. There was no option to enter through the back, or show up at night or climb in a window. It's like they had a movie scene in mind and I had to play it out a certain way. I just found it frustrating. And I play Souls games... I'm used to difficult, demanding games. I just couldn't click with the game at all. Put it down and never touched it again.
Now, I did play through Red Dead Redemption 2, which was pretty magical, actually. It also had some of these "mission" zones that demanded a specific approach, but it felt more forgiving. Overall I liked RDR2 but I thought it was just too long, got way too convoluted and had a ridiculous amount of coincidences for a cowboy story (go to Cuba and run into some of the same people you knew/met in some dinky town in the wilderness of Arizona? Really?). Should have just been a cowboy simulator, but I guess the public demands "epic, sweeping, world-changing stories." The best parts of that game were just doing cowboy exploring and finding stuff and encountering weirdos.
Anyway, this looks like it will be interesting, but I'll only play it if it controls more like a video game and less like a movie-scene simulator.
posted by SoberHighland at 8:50 PM on December 4, 2023 [3 favorites]
They're doing prestige again, ala RDR2. It'll be Florida zany, but more Atlanta, Barry, Ozark in vibe. Looks incredible. Every hundred of million of dollar will be in there to wander across.
posted by chainlinkspiral at 8:58 PM on December 4, 2023
posted by chainlinkspiral at 8:58 PM on December 4, 2023
i especially fondly remember coming home from a stressful irl work day, smoking up, and just riding the subways or in taxis for hours, watching the city slide by [in GTA4].
I did something similar in GTA5, which was getting in a car and just going for a long drive on the highway, listening to music. Especially at night. I haven’t owned a car in many years and generally don’t miss it, but I do sometimes miss going out for those kinds of drives like I did when I was a teenager, and GTA5 was a way to simulate that.
While I’m a fan of Rockstar’s games I recognize that there’s a lot their games can be criticized for. But man are they good at creating immersive environments. Los Santos in GTA5 and the various states of RDR2 are places I return to sometimes just to wander around in. Looking forward to doing the same inFlorida Leonida.
posted by good in a vacuum at 9:03 PM on December 4, 2023 [1 favorite]
I did something similar in GTA5, which was getting in a car and just going for a long drive on the highway, listening to music. Especially at night. I haven’t owned a car in many years and generally don’t miss it, but I do sometimes miss going out for those kinds of drives like I did when I was a teenager, and GTA5 was a way to simulate that.
While I’m a fan of Rockstar’s games I recognize that there’s a lot their games can be criticized for. But man are they good at creating immersive environments. Los Santos in GTA5 and the various states of RDR2 are places I return to sometimes just to wander around in. Looking forward to doing the same in
posted by good in a vacuum at 9:03 PM on December 4, 2023 [1 favorite]
I'm interested to see what this will be like with Dan Houser gone. I presume it will be less masculinity-disappearing-up-its-own-boomer-ass kind of usual GTA bullshit, but will it have anything else to say at all.
posted by fleacircus at 8:58 PM on December 4
Boomers were the ones holding congressional hearings about video game violence. I've always seen the GTA games as a cultural product of Gen X. And I say that as a millenial who found the nihilism of GTA V pretty creaky.
posted by ZaphodB at 9:17 PM on December 4, 2023 [8 favorites]
posted by fleacircus at 8:58 PM on December 4
Boomers were the ones holding congressional hearings about video game violence. I've always seen the GTA games as a cultural product of Gen X. And I say that as a millenial who found the nihilism of GTA V pretty creaky.
posted by ZaphodB at 9:17 PM on December 4, 2023 [8 favorites]
What do you mean Arthur runs into the same people? Who does he run into from the continent besides the crew that came with him?
posted by oddman at 9:58 PM on December 4, 2023
posted by oddman at 9:58 PM on December 4, 2023
You make everyday feel like kindergarten.
posted by fairmettle at 10:16 PM on December 4, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by fairmettle at 10:16 PM on December 4, 2023 [1 favorite]
i never ever got into GTA5 at all because the characters i was forced to inhabit were monsters
I have to tried to play it a few times and that is why I can't play it, either. It not only lacked the tongue-in-cheek fun of the previous versions, it was made that way, and it rubs its hate of the world in your face when you play. That's no fun, at all.
One thing I loved about GTA: Vice City was riding around on the scooter. Just that pleasure of exploring a kind-of open world for a bit at 2am on a Faggio, no cares in the world. I'm looking forward to that again, once it comes out on PC (or maybe even Mac, they have much better graphics these days, except that few devs target them).
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 11:37 PM on December 4, 2023 [6 favorites]
I have to tried to play it a few times and that is why I can't play it, either. It not only lacked the tongue-in-cheek fun of the previous versions, it was made that way, and it rubs its hate of the world in your face when you play. That's no fun, at all.
One thing I loved about GTA: Vice City was riding around on the scooter. Just that pleasure of exploring a kind-of open world for a bit at 2am on a Faggio, no cares in the world. I'm looking forward to that again, once it comes out on PC (or maybe even Mac, they have much better graphics these days, except that few devs target them).
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 11:37 PM on December 4, 2023 [6 favorites]
Okay I think glonous keming and the rest of you who like to just peace out in these games will appreciate this.
There’s this immersive PC hunting simulator called theHunter: Call of the Wild and the maps in it are just beautiful if you have a nice enough graphics card. After a pretty short while I got tired of trying to grind my way through all those lovely animals.
So now I just take a walk. I carry my camera, binoculars, scent masking spray and a bag of dog treats. Rougher and I see a lot of wild animals and the fall foliage is wonderful. Every once in a while we happen upon a shed antler or an artifact.
The weather changes but the season is always the same. I read that you can get a retriever now but I love my hound and we just go roving through nature all over the world.
Sometimes wolves or large predators come after me and if I were armed I might have defended myself, but it’s their territory, not mine, and I will forever live again. Rougher always gets away and she’s faithfully waiting for me when I revive so I’m never worried about her.
What a life.
posted by Ice Cream Socialist at 12:34 AM on December 5, 2023 [27 favorites]
There’s this immersive PC hunting simulator called theHunter: Call of the Wild and the maps in it are just beautiful if you have a nice enough graphics card. After a pretty short while I got tired of trying to grind my way through all those lovely animals.
So now I just take a walk. I carry my camera, binoculars, scent masking spray and a bag of dog treats. Rougher and I see a lot of wild animals and the fall foliage is wonderful. Every once in a while we happen upon a shed antler or an artifact.
The weather changes but the season is always the same. I read that you can get a retriever now but I love my hound and we just go roving through nature all over the world.
Sometimes wolves or large predators come after me and if I were armed I might have defended myself, but it’s their territory, not mine, and I will forever live again. Rougher always gets away and she’s faithfully waiting for me when I revive so I’m never worried about her.
What a life.
posted by Ice Cream Socialist at 12:34 AM on December 5, 2023 [27 favorites]
One thing that will be interesting to see is how gta/rockstar deals with the growing criticism of capitalism. To be clear, I’m not expecting much from the most high-earning piece of entertainment’s sequel, but I’m not sure how you can write a story about the underbelly of American culture in 2023 without some inherent Marxist critique.
posted by The River Ivel at 12:59 AM on December 5, 2023 [5 favorites]
posted by The River Ivel at 12:59 AM on December 5, 2023 [5 favorites]
> I presume it will be less masculinity-disappearing-up-its-own-boomer-ass kind of usual GTA bullshit, but will it have anything else to say at all.
The target audience will again be, approximately, 13-year-old American boys & [parent]'s credit card so .. more of the same.
> "Rockstar Games has confirmed that, at least at launch, the company's long-awaited open-world crime sim, Grand Theft Auto VI, will launch on Xbox Series X/S and PS5 only, with no mention of a PC version." says Kotaku.
I went looking specifically for an official PC mention earlier today and thought I had found it. Shrug. GTA VI PC 2026. Maybe.
posted by user92371 at 1:55 AM on December 5, 2023
The target audience will again be, approximately, 13-year-old American boys & [parent]'s credit card so .. more of the same.
> "Rockstar Games has confirmed that, at least at launch, the company's long-awaited open-world crime sim, Grand Theft Auto VI, will launch on Xbox Series X/S and PS5 only, with no mention of a PC version." says Kotaku.
I went looking specifically for an official PC mention earlier today and thought I had found it. Shrug. GTA VI PC 2026. Maybe.
posted by user92371 at 1:55 AM on December 5, 2023
I really, really hope one of the in-game radio stations is all 80s, all the time. I've got fond memories of tearing around Vice City's streets in a sports car listening to Blondie's "Atomic".
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 3:06 AM on December 5, 2023 [6 favorites]
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 3:06 AM on December 5, 2023 [6 favorites]
i never ever got into GTA5 at all because the characters i was forced to inhabit were monsters.
I didn't get far enough to call them monsters but they seemed like boring jerks.
It's weird, I don't know where the line is. I never minded The Boss or Pierce and Fun Shaundi and Serious Shaundi from Saint's Row (though I can only take Johnny Gat in small doses), but the characters in GTA5 just pushed my nope button somehow.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 4:02 AM on December 5, 2023 [2 favorites]
I didn't get far enough to call them monsters but they seemed like boring jerks.
It's weird, I don't know where the line is. I never minded The Boss or Pierce and Fun Shaundi and Serious Shaundi from Saint's Row (though I can only take Johnny Gat in small doses), but the characters in GTA5 just pushed my nope button somehow.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 4:02 AM on December 5, 2023 [2 favorites]
Same. I didn't love playing the characters in GTA5 and storyline left me cold. I abandoned the story during the torture scene and instead took to wandering around and just sort of vibing out, stealing vehicles, testing the physics, listening to the radio, exploring the terrain, taking the jetski out. But it's been years since I picked it up and I never touched GTA online, even though there's a ton of content there.
So I'm hoping GTA6 picks up the best things about RDR2 -- great characters, a meaningful story, cohesive worldbuilding, a ton of things to do/collect/explore, and lots of weird/deeply upsetting little mysteries to discover outside of the storyline.
There's long been speculation about a female protagonist for either GTA6 or RDR3 (if that ever happens) and I'm excited about that coming true.
posted by mochapickle at 4:39 AM on December 5, 2023 [2 favorites]
So I'm hoping GTA6 picks up the best things about RDR2 -- great characters, a meaningful story, cohesive worldbuilding, a ton of things to do/collect/explore, and lots of weird/deeply upsetting little mysteries to discover outside of the storyline.
There's long been speculation about a female protagonist for either GTA6 or RDR3 (if that ever happens) and I'm excited about that coming true.
posted by mochapickle at 4:39 AM on December 5, 2023 [2 favorites]
Rumor mill says that GTA6 will run on a live service model. Given the oodles of money that GTA Online makes, this would not be at all surprising if it comes to pass.
Anyway, I'm in South Florida right now and also grew up here, so I thought about it a bit last night and came up with a short list of things that I hope this new GTA makes fun of and/or references, either vaguely or specifically:
- Art Basel
- Boat parades
- Licking toads
- Publix (fondly, I hope. I've been there nearly every day since arriving)
- The Golden Glades Interchange, the most notorious bit of roadwork in the area, and maybe the entire Southeast
I'm sure I could think of a lot more if I really put my mind to it. Do this hellstate proud(?), Rockstar.
posted by May Kasahara at 5:23 AM on December 5, 2023 [6 favorites]
Anyway, I'm in South Florida right now and also grew up here, so I thought about it a bit last night and came up with a short list of things that I hope this new GTA makes fun of and/or references, either vaguely or specifically:
- Art Basel
- Boat parades
- Licking toads
- Publix (fondly, I hope. I've been there nearly every day since arriving)
- The Golden Glades Interchange, the most notorious bit of roadwork in the area, and maybe the entire Southeast
I'm sure I could think of a lot more if I really put my mind to it. Do this hellstate proud(?), Rockstar.
posted by May Kasahara at 5:23 AM on December 5, 2023 [6 favorites]
Count me in as someone who absolutely loved the storyline, setting and characters of GTA4. To this day, when I'm driving into / out of NYC, I yell "look, the Plumber's Skyway!" I am also known to utter "Cousin Roman!" on occasion. And Brucie... oh, Brucie.
GTA5 was fun in an arcade sort of way but none of the events or characters stuck out to me and I can't really recall any of the events. And, yeah, they were all monstrous nihlists.
posted by grumpybear69 at 5:33 AM on December 5, 2023
GTA5 was fun in an arcade sort of way but none of the events or characters stuck out to me and I can't really recall any of the events. And, yeah, they were all monstrous nihlists.
posted by grumpybear69 at 5:33 AM on December 5, 2023
GTA is very far from being my sort of game BUT, some of the challenges nerdcubed sets for himself are fun to watch.
posted by polytope subirb enby-of-piano-dice at 5:37 AM on December 5, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by polytope subirb enby-of-piano-dice at 5:37 AM on December 5, 2023 [2 favorites]
Florida Man: The Video Game
We're doing the best we can down here in Florida, especially in the blue counties. People see the Weird News about a meth lab blowing up near an alligator farm and presume the whole state is like that. Years of people using that damn Bugs Bunny-with-a-saw GIF have really made me bitter towards the whole "HAW HAW! Florida sucks!" mentality. There are good people here too.
posted by Servo5678 at 5:38 AM on December 5, 2023 [8 favorites]
We're doing the best we can down here in Florida, especially in the blue counties. People see the Weird News about a meth lab blowing up near an alligator farm and presume the whole state is like that. Years of people using that damn Bugs Bunny-with-a-saw GIF have really made me bitter towards the whole "HAW HAW! Florida sucks!" mentality. There are good people here too.
posted by Servo5678 at 5:38 AM on December 5, 2023 [8 favorites]
One thing I loved about GTA: Vice City was riding around on the scooter. Just that pleasure of exploring a kind-of open world for a bit at 2am on a Faggio, no cares in the world.
Roadrunner, roadrunner
Going faster miles an hour
Gonna drive past the Stop 'n' Shop
With the radio on
posted by RonButNotStupid at 5:45 AM on December 5, 2023 [2 favorites]
Roadrunner, roadrunner
Going faster miles an hour
Gonna drive past the Stop 'n' Shop
With the radio on
posted by RonButNotStupid at 5:45 AM on December 5, 2023 [2 favorites]
I’m not sure how you can write a story about the underbelly of American culture in 2023 without some inherent Marxist critique.
The only way to get ahead in GTA V was to steal everything, kill anyone and run around in circles in the desert to infiltrate a cult. How is that not a critique of capitalism?
posted by biffa at 6:12 AM on December 5, 2023 [2 favorites]
The only way to get ahead in GTA V was to steal everything, kill anyone and run around in circles in the desert to infiltrate a cult. How is that not a critique of capitalism?
posted by biffa at 6:12 AM on December 5, 2023 [2 favorites]
So, how reasoned will the fanbase's response be over the reveal that this game will have a female protagonist?
guess you didn't read the YT comments... i thought people complaining about woke was an internet exaggeration... nop
posted by kokaku at 6:16 AM on December 5, 2023
guess you didn't read the YT comments... i thought people complaining about woke was an internet exaggeration... nop
posted by kokaku at 6:16 AM on December 5, 2023
Surprised not to see more discussion of GTA Online here. That game has absolutely poisoned Rockstar and this franchise. It's made them $7.7B in ten years and folks are having fun with it, so huge success. But gamewise it's absolutely boring and the microtransaction product model is predatory and awful.
Which is weird because GTA 5 itself is such a masterpiece. Even more important to me, Red Dead Redemption 2 is one of the best video games ever made. It truly transcends the genre, being both an amazing game and a really well acted and written cinematic experience. But RDR 2 went basically nowhere because Rockstar was so focussed on the $$BB coming in from GTA 5. For some reason the horse game never quite caught fire like the car game did, I think because it was slower and more contemplative.
In an alternate universe Rockstar would have given RDR 2 the GTA 3 treatment. Make 3 games with the same engine and game design concepts, told different stories with different protagonists.
So here we are in the post-Houser Rockstar Games with a GTA 6. I really, really want this to be good. The trailer looks fantastic. But the only way this game is going to work for the business is if they do whatever thing they did with GTA Online and do it again. Which is totally at odds with the masterpiece of storytelling and game creation the previous installments achieved.
posted by Nelson at 6:20 AM on December 5, 2023 [11 favorites]
Which is weird because GTA 5 itself is such a masterpiece. Even more important to me, Red Dead Redemption 2 is one of the best video games ever made. It truly transcends the genre, being both an amazing game and a really well acted and written cinematic experience. But RDR 2 went basically nowhere because Rockstar was so focussed on the $$BB coming in from GTA 5. For some reason the horse game never quite caught fire like the car game did, I think because it was slower and more contemplative.
In an alternate universe Rockstar would have given RDR 2 the GTA 3 treatment. Make 3 games with the same engine and game design concepts, told different stories with different protagonists.
So here we are in the post-Houser Rockstar Games with a GTA 6. I really, really want this to be good. The trailer looks fantastic. But the only way this game is going to work for the business is if they do whatever thing they did with GTA Online and do it again. Which is totally at odds with the masterpiece of storytelling and game creation the previous installments achieved.
posted by Nelson at 6:20 AM on December 5, 2023 [11 favorites]
I played Grand Theft Auto a few times, and thought it was fun. But then the franchise abandoned the sensible top-down perspective for trendy 3D, and I lost all interest.
posted by Faint of Butt at 6:24 AM on December 5, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by Faint of Butt at 6:24 AM on December 5, 2023 [2 favorites]
We'll see if I wind up getting this. I bought a brand new PS2 Slim the day San Andreas came out so I could play that immediately; had a friend who got the first flat screen I saw in person the day GTA4 came out, and picked up 5 on release day. And ... I haven't really enjoyed the games since San Andreas.
Generally the games have had incredible feeling worlds, especially GTA4 & 5. But the worldview, at some point, went from "cheerfully cynical" to "extremely bleak". I think part of that is that higher resolution means the bystanders are a lot more realistic; it's less fun to go on a rampage when the people are made out of 30,000 polygons instead of 300. A bigger part is that edgelord style of the early Aughts has aged extremely poorly.
There's a possibility that this game goes extremely hard with its critiques, and doesn't care about pissing off the sort of people who unironically call Florida "the land of the free". Maybe it takes on a bit more of the RDR-style morality stuff, where you can go on rampages but there are lasting consequences in how other characters see you. But if it's more of the same "characters who tell you they hate violence as they commit lots of violence" stuff (Niko Bellic and his friends were not really characters I enjoyed spending time with, not that I liked the GTA5 characters much either), I don't think I'm going out of my way to get a ninth generation console just to play this game.
posted by thecaddy at 6:41 AM on December 5, 2023 [3 favorites]
Generally the games have had incredible feeling worlds, especially GTA4 & 5. But the worldview, at some point, went from "cheerfully cynical" to "extremely bleak". I think part of that is that higher resolution means the bystanders are a lot more realistic; it's less fun to go on a rampage when the people are made out of 30,000 polygons instead of 300. A bigger part is that edgelord style of the early Aughts has aged extremely poorly.
There's a possibility that this game goes extremely hard with its critiques, and doesn't care about pissing off the sort of people who unironically call Florida "the land of the free". Maybe it takes on a bit more of the RDR-style morality stuff, where you can go on rampages but there are lasting consequences in how other characters see you. But if it's more of the same "characters who tell you they hate violence as they commit lots of violence" stuff (Niko Bellic and his friends were not really characters I enjoyed spending time with, not that I liked the GTA5 characters much either), I don't think I'm going out of my way to get a ninth generation console just to play this game.
posted by thecaddy at 6:41 AM on December 5, 2023 [3 favorites]
As someone who doesn’t play videogames, I would like to ask about the 2025 release. That seems very far off for any medium. Yes yes GTA is hot stuff and has been around forever. But still, why that long of a lead time?
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 6:46 AM on December 5, 2023
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 6:46 AM on December 5, 2023
I'm still waiting for them to really take the series back to its roots and make GTA Dundee.
posted by offog at 7:31 AM on December 5, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by offog at 7:31 AM on December 5, 2023 [3 favorites]
Absolutely unrelenting Scottish slang and can't-use-voice-commands Scottish accents, and loads of plotlines that are utterly incomprehensible to anyone born anywhere else. The main quest's midpoint is conquering England and renaming it Wee Scotland, the rest of the questline after that involves running the re-education camps set up to teach the Wee Scottish proper diction and digging a hole all the way to Hell to double-kill Thatcher.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 7:58 AM on December 5, 2023 [12 favorites]
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 7:58 AM on December 5, 2023 [12 favorites]
Whole game is subtitled, all subtitles read "?????"
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 7:59 AM on December 5, 2023 [8 favorites]
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 7:59 AM on December 5, 2023 [8 favorites]
Huh. My thoughts haven't actually changed that much since 16 years ago. I was a little more positive about where the series could go emotionally, but I still wasn't sure if I was going to get a new console just for this one.
(I was a little more positive on the game's ability to deliver satire, and I was also more elegant in my writing--though I also remember that I would spend 90 minutes making sure a comment was perfect before I submitted. Getting older is interesting in a lot of different ways.)
posted by thecaddy at 8:14 AM on December 5, 2023
(I was a little more positive on the game's ability to deliver satire, and I was also more elegant in my writing--though I also remember that I would spend 90 minutes making sure a comment was perfect before I submitted. Getting older is interesting in a lot of different ways.)
posted by thecaddy at 8:14 AM on December 5, 2023
It looks like Vice City Florida has better bike lanes than real Florida.
I recently rediscovered Crazy Taxi at an arcade and remembered how much fun it was to drive around the hills of San Francisco with an amazing soundtrack, without having to murder civilians and run from the police.
posted by autopilot at 8:20 AM on December 5, 2023 [4 favorites]
I recently rediscovered Crazy Taxi at an arcade and remembered how much fun it was to drive around the hills of San Francisco with an amazing soundtrack, without having to murder civilians and run from the police.
posted by autopilot at 8:20 AM on December 5, 2023 [4 favorites]
I would like to ask about the 2025 release.
AAA video games have just insane development cycles now, so it isn't unusual for games to be announced years in advance. Instead of the movie industry model of a huge team of roving professionals that knock a movie out pretty quickly even with $100 million+ budgets, video game teams stay relatively small but work for years. Also, Rockstar markets the hell out of GTA games, so this is just the opening salvo.
posted by netowl at 8:25 AM on December 5, 2023 [3 favorites]
AAA video games have just insane development cycles now, so it isn't unusual for games to be announced years in advance. Instead of the movie industry model of a huge team of roving professionals that knock a movie out pretty quickly even with $100 million+ budgets, video game teams stay relatively small but work for years. Also, Rockstar markets the hell out of GTA games, so this is just the opening salvo.
posted by netowl at 8:25 AM on December 5, 2023 [3 favorites]
AAA video games have just insane development cycles now, so it isn't unusual for games to be announced years in advance. Instead of the movie industry model of a huge team of roving professionals that knock a movie out pretty quickly even with $100 million+ budgets, video game teams stay relatively small but work for years. Also, Rockstar markets the hell out of GTA games, so this is just the opening salvo.
Plus, wasn't there some sort of asset leak or something a little while back? I feel like after a point their hand was forced.
It's like this trailer - it was supposed to come out tomorrow, right? And then it leaked and they were like, "Welp."
I saw a tweet from a developer at Rockstar that was basically like, "Hey, was really looking forward to watching this premiere on the 6th at work with the rest of the devs so we could have a communal experience of witnessing the first tease of everything we've worked on but that got completely ruined so that's awesome."
Bummer, man.
posted by kbanas at 9:23 AM on December 5, 2023 [2 favorites]
Plus, wasn't there some sort of asset leak or something a little while back? I feel like after a point their hand was forced.
It's like this trailer - it was supposed to come out tomorrow, right? And then it leaked and they were like, "Welp."
I saw a tweet from a developer at Rockstar that was basically like, "Hey, was really looking forward to watching this premiere on the 6th at work with the rest of the devs so we could have a communal experience of witnessing the first tease of everything we've worked on but that got completely ruined so that's awesome."
Bummer, man.
posted by kbanas at 9:23 AM on December 5, 2023 [2 favorites]
The thing to know about GTA Online is that* it is crawling with losers who have better third-party "hacker" mods than you can possibly defend yourself against with other third-party mods, and those losers will not merely orbital-bomb you until you log off—no, that is pedestrian; they will crash your entire game, forcing you to sit through the interminable load time again if you want to try to get to a server without any such losers, of which there are of course none. If you can go ten minutes without attracting their attention, you've won the GTAO lottery, but of course, nothing game-wise can actually be accomplished in ten minutes.
Thus, the only way to enjoy GTAO is to inhabit a private server, alone, every time—which prevents you from doing almost all of the online-only missions. And while you would still have access to the online-only properties and vehicles, if you spend enough time on GTA5-mods.com, you can have those in regular single-player anyway. So there's actually no point at all to going Online unless you're working on a dissertation about antisocial behavior or something.
(* = It wasn't always like this, but it was like this about 3-4 years ago, the last time I bothered with it. At that time, all signs pointed to Rockstar showing zero interest in actually reining that behavior in, presumably because of VI, and because GTAO remained a golden goose.)
posted by CheesesOfBrazil at 9:37 AM on December 5, 2023 [4 favorites]
Thus, the only way to enjoy GTAO is to inhabit a private server, alone, every time—which prevents you from doing almost all of the online-only missions. And while you would still have access to the online-only properties and vehicles, if you spend enough time on GTA5-mods.com, you can have those in regular single-player anyway. So there's actually no point at all to going Online unless you're working on a dissertation about antisocial behavior or something.
(* = It wasn't always like this, but it was like this about 3-4 years ago, the last time I bothered with it. At that time, all signs pointed to Rockstar showing zero interest in actually reining that behavior in, presumably because of VI, and because GTAO remained a golden goose.)
posted by CheesesOfBrazil at 9:37 AM on December 5, 2023 [4 favorites]
> which prevents you from doing almost all of the online-only missions
that was their intention, but they changed their policy (i believe) last summer wrt limiting the solo online experience and now you can do just about everything as solo online/with just friends online.
of course, the modders were on that, developing a way to tunnel into private/solo/friends-only sessions. rockstar's standard/typical reaction: [silence here].
there are white-hat modding programs that take a set of ip addresses and prevent other modders from joining, but that was extending too much trust for me.
i quit around that time as well, the flood of modders was endless and one of rockstar's updates removed some anti-cheat protection method(s). cue eye roll/uninstall.
posted by user92371 at 10:45 AM on December 5, 2023 [2 favorites]
that was their intention, but they changed their policy (i believe) last summer wrt limiting the solo online experience and now you can do just about everything as solo online/with just friends online.
of course, the modders were on that, developing a way to tunnel into private/solo/friends-only sessions. rockstar's standard/typical reaction: [silence here].
there are white-hat modding programs that take a set of ip addresses and prevent other modders from joining, but that was extending too much trust for me.
i quit around that time as well, the flood of modders was endless and one of rockstar's updates removed some anti-cheat protection method(s). cue eye roll/uninstall.
posted by user92371 at 10:45 AM on December 5, 2023 [2 favorites]
I might need this Florida simulator in my life. The real thing being inaccessible to me for the foreseeable future, and all...
In real life, all I would have to do to gain notoriety is try to use a public bathroom.
posted by tigrrrlily at 11:35 AM on December 5, 2023 [5 favorites]
In real life, all I would have to do to gain notoriety is try to use a public bathroom.
posted by tigrrrlily at 11:35 AM on December 5, 2023 [5 favorites]
My issue with console gaming these days, which arose when I moved away from "unlimited data", is that if I get a PS5 I'll have to use most of my monthly data allotment to "update" it when it's first plugged in, then another months' data to download the updated game, even if I bought the disc.
posted by achrise at 11:50 AM on December 5, 2023
posted by achrise at 11:50 AM on December 5, 2023
GTA releasing on vi before emacs or Visual Studio Code ---this is going to be the most controversial GTA game yet.
posted by interogative mood at 12:11 PM on December 5, 2023 [9 favorites]
posted by interogative mood at 12:11 PM on December 5, 2023 [9 favorites]
San Andreas is my favorite game. Like Lin-Manuel Miranda, my conception of Los Angeles is so inextricably tied to that game that no matter how much time I spend there in real life, my brain has never stopped sending me "This is just like GTA!" pings approximately every five minutes while there.
(This is the closest I have ever come to doxing myself on Metafilter--anyone who knows me in real life has probably heard me say "This is just like GTA!" and/or "I'm thinking 'This is just like GTA!' at least five times more often than I'm saying it, by the way")
I didn't like the driving in GTAIV as much, and found the map a little confusing, even though NYC was my actual city.
GTAV felt zippier, and I liked returning to San Andreas. While I'm generally fairly chill about the violence you have to do in these games, I did absolutely hate the torture scene. I get that it's kind of the point, but I still hated it. I thought Franklin was all right as a character, but didn't like him as much as CJ.
Back to San Andreas--I was in my early-mid 20s when I played it, pretty online but not in gaming spaces. I loved the game and thought it would be so fun if you could play as a female character, like maybe Catalina. I did some googling to see if other people thought the same--BOY HOWDY, THEY DID NOT! It became very clear that even suggesting GTA should have an optional playable female character would be...not physically safe to do, nearly a decade before gamergate.
It's bittersweet to see that finally not matter to RockStar now I'm in my 40s and with all the ways the media landscape has changed since then. I'm not sure how I'll play it--I don't have a PS5 or XBox, and even if it did come out on PC, I don't have a gaming PC or even a steamdeck either. I don't really want to play video games on a TV anymore--I'd rather play handheld or on a laptop. But I guess I have some time to figure it out.
posted by lampoil at 1:17 PM on December 5, 2023 [4 favorites]
(This is the closest I have ever come to doxing myself on Metafilter--anyone who knows me in real life has probably heard me say "This is just like GTA!" and/or "I'm thinking 'This is just like GTA!' at least five times more often than I'm saying it, by the way")
I didn't like the driving in GTAIV as much, and found the map a little confusing, even though NYC was my actual city.
GTAV felt zippier, and I liked returning to San Andreas. While I'm generally fairly chill about the violence you have to do in these games, I did absolutely hate the torture scene. I get that it's kind of the point, but I still hated it. I thought Franklin was all right as a character, but didn't like him as much as CJ.
Back to San Andreas--I was in my early-mid 20s when I played it, pretty online but not in gaming spaces. I loved the game and thought it would be so fun if you could play as a female character, like maybe Catalina. I did some googling to see if other people thought the same--BOY HOWDY, THEY DID NOT! It became very clear that even suggesting GTA should have an optional playable female character would be...not physically safe to do, nearly a decade before gamergate.
It's bittersweet to see that finally not matter to RockStar now I'm in my 40s and with all the ways the media landscape has changed since then. I'm not sure how I'll play it--I don't have a PS5 or XBox, and even if it did come out on PC, I don't have a gaming PC or even a steamdeck either. I don't really want to play video games on a TV anymore--I'd rather play handheld or on a laptop. But I guess I have some time to figure it out.
posted by lampoil at 1:17 PM on December 5, 2023 [4 favorites]
LOL, Gamers Are Nervous ‘GTA 6’s Female Protagonist Is Trans
posted by brundlefly at 1:22 PM on December 5, 2023 [6 favorites]
posted by brundlefly at 1:22 PM on December 5, 2023 [6 favorites]
Ideally, they will Never Know.
Ever.
Their peepees will just have to do what they're gonna do.
Unfortunately, Rockstar's reassurance / denial coming in 3...2...1...
posted by tigrrrlily at 3:00 PM on December 5, 2023 [1 favorite]
Ever.
Their peepees will just have to do what they're gonna do.
Unfortunately, Rockstar's reassurance / denial coming in 3...2...1...
posted by tigrrrlily at 3:00 PM on December 5, 2023 [1 favorite]
Metafilter: Their peepees will just have to do what they're gonna do.
posted by aspersioncast at 4:15 PM on December 5, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by aspersioncast at 4:15 PM on December 5, 2023 [2 favorites]
Lin-Manuel Miranda is apparently such a fan of whichever GTA was set in Los Angeles that once when he was driving in Los Angeles for real and got lost, he was able to reorient himself by recognizing landmarks from the game.
San Andreas is one of the best games ever made
Seriously
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 4:47 PM on December 5, 2023 [3 favorites]
San Andreas is one of the best games ever made
Seriously
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 4:47 PM on December 5, 2023 [3 favorites]
"Go Woke, Go Broke" is genuinely one of the stupidest sayings I have ever heard. Disney, ABC, Google, Apple, and Budweiser (for instance off the top of my head) went broke?
Is there even one example of a company "going woke" (supporting or representing an underrepresented or minority type of person or sexual identity/orientation) and then "going broke" as a result of it?
posted by SoberHighland at 6:52 PM on December 5, 2023
Is there even one example of a company "going woke" (supporting or representing an underrepresented or minority type of person or sexual identity/orientation) and then "going broke" as a result of it?
posted by SoberHighland at 6:52 PM on December 5, 2023
Spraaang break... sprang break forever
/James Franco voice
posted by tovarisch at 6:57 PM on December 5, 2023 [2 favorites]
/James Franco voice
posted by tovarisch at 6:57 PM on December 5, 2023 [2 favorites]
Is there even one example of a company "going woke" (supporting or representing an underrepresented or minority type of person or sexual identity/orientation) and then "going broke" as a result of it?
I mean as a causal thing, I doubt it, but that's the thing about smaller companies is a nonzero proportion of them will go broke if you wait long enough.
posted by juv3nal at 6:59 PM on December 5, 2023
I mean as a causal thing, I doubt it, but that's the thing about smaller companies is a nonzero proportion of them will go broke if you wait long enough.
posted by juv3nal at 6:59 PM on December 5, 2023
Sure, but bigger companies tend to be able to hold out for longer so the wait times are longer.
posted by juv3nal at 8:05 PM on December 5, 2023
posted by juv3nal at 8:05 PM on December 5, 2023
Will we have anything remotely similar to K-Chat?
Wolves and deer's have no concept of jealousy of someone else's success. That's the Genestistic variation between homoerectus and spider monkeys. Jealousy and fur and stuff.
posted by credulous at 9:23 PM on December 5, 2023
Wolves and deer's have no concept of jealousy of someone else's success. That's the Genestistic variation between homoerectus and spider monkeys. Jealousy and fur and stuff.
posted by credulous at 9:23 PM on December 5, 2023
I think maybe some of you who bounced off of the enormous amount of cynicism in GTA V would enjoy Cyberpunk 2077. Sure, the setting is a tremendously shitty corporate dystopia, but the people caught up in it are lovingly portrayed as properly three-dimensional characters, with hopes and dreams and faults and blind spots and occasional kind moments. It's leagues ahead of GTA while still being technically a satire of modern America.
posted by Harald74 at 2:08 AM on December 6, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by Harald74 at 2:08 AM on December 6, 2023 [2 favorites]
I played GTA V, and it was kind of a strange mixture of open world, yet story missions could be very rigid and on-rails. I found the on-rails portions of the game frustrating, but the open world driving around vibing part was enjoyable.
Seconding what Harald74 suggested. Cyberpunk 2077, while being a dystopian satirical carrying forward of hypercapitalism, has human characters. You are also allowed to play the game how you choose, and can make your own character who makes their own choices. You can play non-lethally if you choose, and many stories in the game allow you to let people go instead of giving them a worse fate.
posted by Fleebnork at 7:14 AM on December 6, 2023 [2 favorites]
Seconding what Harald74 suggested. Cyberpunk 2077, while being a dystopian satirical carrying forward of hypercapitalism, has human characters. You are also allowed to play the game how you choose, and can make your own character who makes their own choices. You can play non-lethally if you choose, and many stories in the game allow you to let people go instead of giving them a worse fate.
posted by Fleebnork at 7:14 AM on December 6, 2023 [2 favorites]
Oooh... See, I'm so interested in Cyberpunk 2077 but the first-person just sinks me. I tend to get dizzy/barfy from that perspective whenever I try -- any FPS, Outer Wilds, Portal, all of them just abandoned to the graveyard of my hard drive. I wish I knew how to fix that. Are there other similarly third-person games to try?
posted by mochapickle at 7:52 AM on December 6, 2023
posted by mochapickle at 7:52 AM on December 6, 2023
Oooh... See, I'm so interested in Cyberpunk 2077 but the first-person just sinks me. I tend to get dizzy/barfy from that perspective whenever I try -- any FPS, Outer Wilds, Portal, all of them just abandoned to the graveyard of my hard drive. I wish I knew how to fix that. Are there other similarly third-person games to try?
My wife has this problem and it really bums her out. I mean, it really bums us both out because she's missing out on a ton!
One thing we've found through lots of trial and error is that - for her - the situation can be improved somewhat by modifying the game's FOV (field of view) setting. Most games have this as a modifiable setting - either in the game menus or, sometimes, via a text-based configuration file. Setting the field of view to a higher value than normal changes something in how her brain processes the first person view that makes her less want to puke her brains out.
If you Google you'll find an assortment of resources to learn more. I wish I could promise you that it would help you, but obviously I can't. It's worth a try, though!
posted by kbanas at 8:28 AM on December 6, 2023 [1 favorite]
My wife has this problem and it really bums her out. I mean, it really bums us both out because she's missing out on a ton!
One thing we've found through lots of trial and error is that - for her - the situation can be improved somewhat by modifying the game's FOV (field of view) setting. Most games have this as a modifiable setting - either in the game menus or, sometimes, via a text-based configuration file. Setting the field of view to a higher value than normal changes something in how her brain processes the first person view that makes her less want to puke her brains out.
If you Google you'll find an assortment of resources to learn more. I wish I could promise you that it would help you, but obviously I can't. It's worth a try, though!
posted by kbanas at 8:28 AM on December 6, 2023 [1 favorite]
Cyberpunk is an RPG at heart, isn't it? GTA and RDR very much aren't. They feature big, open worlds, but ultimately you're playing to experience a specific story about a specific set of characters. Sure, CRPGs have that, too, but the expected experience is way different.
For me, what I like about Rockstar games is the combination of free-roam and on-rails play. I want a single, cohesive story. Sure, sometimes it's a sprawling mess, and sometimes the missions are "shoot a thousand interchangeable enemies to get the McGuffin", but it's a mostly straight line from start to finish with some fun optional junk sprinkled in. I have no interested in gang wars or driving a taxi or collecting packages, but clearly lots of people do, so good for them that it's there.
I'm not really bothered by the nihilism of GTA V because ... [gestures around] ... and I fully expect GTA 6 to go full-bore Flori-duh with some token woke-shaming because Gen X gonna Gen X. But I am still here for it. Rockstar's humor doesn't always hit for me, but the meat of the thing is usually enough to keep me going.
Anyway, I am beyond stoked for this game, and also beyond bummed that "2025" probably means Q4 at best, and more likely 2026.
posted by uncleozzy at 8:34 AM on December 6, 2023
For me, what I like about Rockstar games is the combination of free-roam and on-rails play. I want a single, cohesive story. Sure, sometimes it's a sprawling mess, and sometimes the missions are "shoot a thousand interchangeable enemies to get the McGuffin", but it's a mostly straight line from start to finish with some fun optional junk sprinkled in. I have no interested in gang wars or driving a taxi or collecting packages, but clearly lots of people do, so good for them that it's there.
I'm not really bothered by the nihilism of GTA V because ... [gestures around] ... and I fully expect GTA 6 to go full-bore Flori-duh with some token woke-shaming because Gen X gonna Gen X. But I am still here for it. Rockstar's humor doesn't always hit for me, but the meat of the thing is usually enough to keep me going.
Anyway, I am beyond stoked for this game, and also beyond bummed that "2025" probably means Q4 at best, and more likely 2026.
posted by uncleozzy at 8:34 AM on December 6, 2023
Cyberpunk is an RPG at heart, isn't it? GTA and RDR very much aren't.
Cyberpunk tried to be both things. The early marketing was all about showing Night City as being like the next Los Santos or something, a living open world that you could explore and have adventures in. The result, well, was an outright disaster at launch where the game engine didn't work. Even when they got that fixed (with 1.5) the open world stuff still felt pretty shallow. Cyberpunk does have the Ubisoftish open world formula where you can wander around and find things to do in any corner of the map but the game's real strength is in its very well written stories in both the main missions and the side quests.
Thinking about GTA VI has made me realize how far open world game design has gotten. When GTA III came out it was absolute novelty that you could just take off and have fun making mayhem anywhere in the map. They didn't invent the idea but they did it better than anyone other than Bethesda, thanks in large part to the excellent world design where every street had personality and character. (But not much to do, honestly, it took a few iterations to hit on the Ubisoftish thing where there's interesting side missions everywhere.)
Anyway it makes me wonder what GTA VI will bring to the table. Because "you can go anywhere and murder hookers or try to land a stunt in the janky driving physics!" isn't really going to excite anymore, that's table stakes for 100s of games like this now. RDR 2 and GTA V distinguished themselves with really excellent cinematic production, motion capture and voice acting and to a lesser extent, the writing. Wondering if GTA VI is going to go further in that direction.
I fear it may go the other way, to trying to emphasize the open world unscripted gameplay. Because that's what's going to sell all the Shark Cash Cards for the online game that is presumably their real business focus.
(Also curious if GTA will revisit the sexuality. Despite the stupid controversy, Hot Coffee was really kind of a sweet and gentle bit of sexual minigame. Meanwhile Baldur's Gate 3 is out there with the same 17+ rating as GTA but the horniest mainstream game we've ever seen. Where circumcision is one of the visible character design choices and the game regularly has you knocking boots by the campfire with demons from Hell having kinky homosex. And it's been a huge hit!)
posted by Nelson at 11:27 AM on December 6, 2023 [1 favorite]
Cyberpunk tried to be both things. The early marketing was all about showing Night City as being like the next Los Santos or something, a living open world that you could explore and have adventures in. The result, well, was an outright disaster at launch where the game engine didn't work. Even when they got that fixed (with 1.5) the open world stuff still felt pretty shallow. Cyberpunk does have the Ubisoftish open world formula where you can wander around and find things to do in any corner of the map but the game's real strength is in its very well written stories in both the main missions and the side quests.
Thinking about GTA VI has made me realize how far open world game design has gotten. When GTA III came out it was absolute novelty that you could just take off and have fun making mayhem anywhere in the map. They didn't invent the idea but they did it better than anyone other than Bethesda, thanks in large part to the excellent world design where every street had personality and character. (But not much to do, honestly, it took a few iterations to hit on the Ubisoftish thing where there's interesting side missions everywhere.)
Anyway it makes me wonder what GTA VI will bring to the table. Because "you can go anywhere and murder hookers or try to land a stunt in the janky driving physics!" isn't really going to excite anymore, that's table stakes for 100s of games like this now. RDR 2 and GTA V distinguished themselves with really excellent cinematic production, motion capture and voice acting and to a lesser extent, the writing. Wondering if GTA VI is going to go further in that direction.
I fear it may go the other way, to trying to emphasize the open world unscripted gameplay. Because that's what's going to sell all the Shark Cash Cards for the online game that is presumably their real business focus.
(Also curious if GTA will revisit the sexuality. Despite the stupid controversy, Hot Coffee was really kind of a sweet and gentle bit of sexual minigame. Meanwhile Baldur's Gate 3 is out there with the same 17+ rating as GTA but the horniest mainstream game we've ever seen. Where circumcision is one of the visible character design choices and the game regularly has you knocking boots by the campfire with demons from Hell having kinky homosex. And it's been a huge hit!)
posted by Nelson at 11:27 AM on December 6, 2023 [1 favorite]
Also I just saw this tweet about the scope of the game and if that's true... Woooo-boy.
(The tweet, if you don't want to go over there, reads, "GTA 6 will take place in the entire state of Florida, not just Miami and its surrounding areas.")
There is no link to anything substantiating that claim, but it's interesting all the same.
posted by kbanas at 5:47 PM on December 6, 2023
(The tweet, if you don't want to go over there, reads, "GTA 6 will take place in the entire state of Florida, not just Miami and its surrounding areas.")
There is no link to anything substantiating that claim, but it's interesting all the same.
posted by kbanas at 5:47 PM on December 6, 2023
I will golf clap for them if they include the speed traps in Waldo and Lawtey.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 6:55 PM on December 6, 2023
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 6:55 PM on December 6, 2023
Kotaku has a list of ripped from the Florida Man headlines segments in the trailer.
posted by NoxAeternum at 9:29 PM on December 6, 2023
posted by NoxAeternum at 9:29 PM on December 6, 2023
To me, playing a GTA game is like wanting to go for a bike ride but you have to listen to the audio book of The DaVinci Code while you ride and every 2 miles you have to stop and watch a scene of The DaVinci Code movie and then do 10 curls with your bike or balance it on your head for 30 seconds or some other ridiculous thing before you're allowed to get back on the bike and ride.
Except the story's not actually as good as The DaVinci Code.
Why is there a bad movie in my video game?
posted by straight at 9:42 PM on December 6, 2023 [1 favorite]
Except the story's not actually as good as The DaVinci Code.
Why is there a bad movie in my video game?
posted by straight at 9:42 PM on December 6, 2023 [1 favorite]
Also laughing at all the people dancing to Tom Petty who would definitely not be dancing to Tom Petty.
posted by straight at 9:46 PM on December 6, 2023
posted by straight at 9:46 PM on December 6, 2023
But then the franchise abandoned the sensible top-down perspective
The most Gen X comment. I liked their 7", before they got big
posted by eustatic at 8:34 AM on December 9, 2023 [1 favorite]
The most Gen X comment. I liked their 7", before they got big
posted by eustatic at 8:34 AM on December 9, 2023 [1 favorite]
LOL, Gamers Are Nervous ‘GTA 6’s Female Protagonist Is Trans
posted by brundlefly at 1:22 PM on December 5
I laughed, I cried, I suspected that this rumor from a reddit post must be part of the marketing strategy
posted by eustatic at 8:38 AM on December 9, 2023
posted by brundlefly at 1:22 PM on December 5
I laughed, I cried, I suspected that this rumor from a reddit post must be part of the marketing strategy
posted by eustatic at 8:38 AM on December 9, 2023
all the people dancing to Tom Petty who would definitely not be dancing to Tom Petty
"Don't come around here no more" does seem to fit the Florida zeitgeist from where I'm looking
posted by tigrrrlily at 10:30 AM on December 10, 2023
"Don't come around here no more" does seem to fit the Florida zeitgeist from where I'm looking
posted by tigrrrlily at 10:30 AM on December 10, 2023
did anyone play True Crime: Streets of LA for the PS2. Back then, I marveled at how the entire city of Los Angeles was recreated faithfully, and it would take literally 20 minutes to drive a full speed from end to end (which is impossible in real life of course). The map for GTAV still didn't achieve that size, but True Crime games are very bare, with few things to do across the huge map.
posted by numaner at 7:09 AM on December 12, 2023
posted by numaner at 7:09 AM on December 12, 2023
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I do hope they reprise the LifeInvader storyline.
posted by credulous at 5:55 PM on December 4, 2023 [2 favorites]