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[Aenima]

GTA4 has the best story, character and physics, but GTA to me needs to deliver a good amount of tools for sandboxing, and with all the diferent vehicles and activities, GTAV is the best for me. GTA Online deliver even better sandboxing if you avoid public lobbies.

Vice City is also one of my favorites.

 

[MMaRsu]

Absolute dogshit

Flat, empty, boring looking world.

What? You don't like bowling, cousin?

I think GTA Iv is a great game, but I dont think its the best GTA. For that it just misses too many features, and besides the main missions, there is barely anything to do in Liberty City.

 

[Guilty_AI]

GTA2 > other GTAs

 

[A Most Virtuous Cat]

Amen! It did soo much right. While GTA V was a good evolution, it downgraded in more than one area which makes it an inferior game when compared to GTA4.

 

[AGRacing]

I fired this up on Xbox backward compatibility months ago and just played again tonight. The framerate bump really helps playability.

I can't believe how much I'm enjoying it vs. when it released. I originally owned the game on PS3 and couldn't get into it.

So now I fire it up in 2023 and notice:
-The world is interesting. It has a charm carried over from GTA3 sometimes.
-I heard Ricky Gervais on the radio... And then found him at a comedy club doing standup! Cool!
-Even better. . I heard Patrice O'Neal on the radio!
-The radio is better than I remember. I think it's likely I broadened my musical horizons since the game came out.
-There are "in game physics" wow moments that truly blew me away in this .. and made me realize this is an overlooked aspect of many modern games.
-The gun play (at 60fps anyway) is quite good.
-The environment feels more alive. Dense pedestrian traffic in areas that feel like there's actually a purpose pedestrians would be there for. Ie. Parks and restaurants. Pedestrian conversations and events.
-the phone is there and it is used to good effect... BUT it's not IN YOUR FACE anywhere NEAR to the degree that it is in V.
-The characters are more fun to deal with for me. I usually just found myself annoyed in V.... Sometimes even with the "protagonists".


If you're like me , maybe early 40s.. and just find yourself annoyed with the state of new games in 2023.. maybe kick back and have some fun with this. Even if you weren't ready for it when it came out (like I apparently wasn't).

 

[CGNoire]

GTA 4 physics/car damage wasn't perfect but it was miles better than GTA 5. I wish GTA 6 would be more like 4 than 5..Driving a car is kinda boring and too arcadey in 5.


Also can't wait for GTA to return in New York.If GTA 7 happens in NY, it will probably be released in 7-10 years in time for PS6.Can't even imagine what they would do with(hypotheticaly) 16/32c CPU,32gb+ RAM, 60TF+ GPU, ultra fast 15gb+/sec SSD

Agree. Get the top speed driving mod. Its still far from gtaiv but it fixes some issues with unrealistic inertia since gtav doesnt really have that. I miss gta iv bike physics

 

[DragoonWalker]

Like every R* project since forever, a beautiful open world in search of an functional game to go with it. The driving, in the moments it all clicks together, can be exhilarating though, kind of like an evolution of the old driver games, and makes you feel you're playing one of those 70s-90s movie car chases.

If GTAIV had of committed to its serious story with lower stakes, I'd agree. The first couple of hours is Rockstar's best work - period. But, they wanted to have their cake and eat it too. Rolling with Niko doing petty crimes to bail out your cousin from his debt, set in the world they built with GTAIV, would make for one hell of a game. But before you know it, you're doing GTA shit again: gunning down 50 people in a single mission, blowing up cars with rocket launches, nuking the entire police force during a bank robbery. The whole "Has Niko lost his soul?" grounded stakes falls flat under the sheer scale of the barbarism the game throws at you. GTAV revels in its insanity, and San Andreas goes all in on its premise. GTAIV hedged its bets, and its weaker for it.

Ah man this really makes me wish there were more competitors to GTA. There's still so much potential to the urban open world genre, but I imagine it's too costly to build these things, so all we got is Watch Dogs and Saints Row which haven't had the best latest entries to put it lightly. The first watch dogs came the closest to feeling like a serious urban crime sim, but even then it's got those video game moments.

 

[Ozzie666]

Vice City for me. Selling drugs to kids in the ice cream van mission always cracks me up. 80's is always the best, best music, great voice cast.

i honestly think all the GTA games beyond 3 were too bloated and full of content and activities. Nothing compares to the original GTA3 and that feeling when it came out.

 

[Moses85]

Thread can be closed now.

 

[anthraticus]

San Andreas is the greatest GTA of all time

If VC had the improved controls, camera, mechanics...like being able to climb over stuff, swim, things like the addition of bicycles was great...

Because setting wise, atmosphere, music.....Vice Ciry is far and away the best.

 

[SkylineRKR]

I think it depends on what you look for in a GTA, or when you jumped in. I hated IV, but 2 of my friends still say its their favourite. One of them started the franchise with IV and found it story and character wise far better than V, another is GTA player from first hour and enjoyed it for the same reason but added that V's protag changes were annoying and broke immersion.

My fave is VC but the problem is that it aged badly. Its a hard sell nowadays. My second best is probably San Andreas. It was impressive how many things you could do in this PS2 game. Also aged badly though.

Interestingly though the driving was shat on in IV, but it was for me one of its better parts. It felt more heavy and suspension focused than other GTA games, it was kind of like Driver. Maybe a lot of the GTA crowd want the arcade controls.

 

[lynux3]

The only GTA Rockstar snubs year after year. I’m ready for that remaster.

 

[fatmarco]

The only GTA Rockstar snubs year after year. I’m ready for that remaster.

After that Trilogy remaster, do you really want this game "remastered"?

 

[AlteredForms]

Probably my second favourite game in the entire franchise. I will say that writing a tragic hero was a mistake when GTA is all about blasting people. If they had included a method of beating every mission without killing anybody and rewarding you with a coveted achievement then that would have been awesome.

 

[Kev Kev]

I like GTA5 the best. But for me that’s not saying much because I really didn’t like GTA5 all that much.

I’m really hoping for a tweaking of the GTA formula with GTA6. I still want it to be the same, but make the movement, shooting and general feeling of controls better. If it feels better than I’d be cool with everything else they do in terms of missions, stealthy sections and shoot outs, but as it is now GTA5 feels clunky and I can’t stand it.

 

[GamesDontSuck]

I'd agree gta4 is the best. It has a lot of charm about it.

 

[anthraticus]

One of the best things about the older ones was just putting in codes like....make pedestrians attack, make them riot, drive aggressively, spawn all these weapons and in effect create this 'riot mode' that was a fucking blast to play.

We'd take turns passing the controller around seeing how long you could survive (while causing mayhem too, of course) Don't know why they get rid of fun stuff like that.

 

[anthraticus]

Saints Row 2 actually felt more like a continuation of the older style GTA games than 4 & 5 did. Too bad that series went overly try hard and got goofy as fuck after that. 2 was great.

 

[Pelao]

It's the one I've replayed the most along with Vice City. You are absolutely correct, OP.

 

[digoutyoursoul]

I like five but I have to agree, they nailed the atmosphere in particular. The Lost DLC was pretty great too.

 

[F31 Leopard]

I think San Andreas was the best. You had 3 different cities, could customize cars, do things like work out and get buff or eat to get obese, lowrider competitions, have girlfriends go clubbing, gang turf was etc. There was so much to do. I really want a full fledged remaster not like the crap we got in the trilogy release.

 

[yamaci17]

I like five but I have to agree, they nailed the atmosphere in particular. The Lost DLC was pretty great too.

yup. eflc + blood and wine/hos are how "dlc" should be.

 

[AJUMP23]

It is probably my favorite GTA Story.

 

[Tg89]

you want to go bowling cousin?

 

[digoutyoursoul]

I remember the excitement as the first teaser trailer was about to be shown , talking to people online that day/night waiting for it to be released, it was around midnight UK time and all the forums were ablaze with excitement. Rockstar with the “getalife” joke too

 

[Cashon]

I agree with this. I went back and beat both GTAIII and Vice City a couple of years ago, and neither aged well at all. Tried to get into San Andreas as well, but maybe was burnt out on the dated gameplay after III and Vice City.

V, while certainly the best-looking by a few hundred miles, had a story that is amusing but kind of interesting. Lots of stuff to do in the world, but no real reason to. And I hate the driving.

IV however has the best mix of almost everything. Excellent characters, well-written story, fun gameplay and fantastic physics. Driving was almost perfect.

The graphics do not hold up at all though. Likely because of the physics hogging up the resources. There's a weird, painterly effect on all distant objects that is kind of cool, but it also doesn't really fit the realistic style of the game. And the character models look like college students tried making humans out of clay.

 

[ShadyAcshuns]

So... "best" means "worst" now?

 

[lynux3]

After that Trilogy remaster, do you really want this game "remastered"?

Absolutely.

 

[nkarafo]

It also has the worst performance, technically, and it's one of the worst PC ports ever made.

It does have the best looking city though.

 

[Draxon Gamer]

I think San Andreas was the best. You had 3 different cities,

4 cities actually.

 

[fart town usa]

It really is. I actually don't really care for most of the characters but man, the physics and AI are absolutely brilliant. I always say it in GTA4 threads but my younger brother is a total master at the game and would manipulate the shit out of the cops and pedestrians. Seriously entertaining beyond belief. He'd try the same in GTAV and the mechanics simply weren't there, massive downgrade across the board.

Edit- it's worth keeping mind too that GTA4 came out during the height of the War on Terror and the game is a brilliant parody of that. I feel like that's one of the reasons the game is so gritty and dour. Patriot Radio station shows that too. Game is amazing and I've honestly never enjoyed actually playing it but entertaining as hell to watch.

 

[Cherrypepsi]

GTA2 > other GTAs

Seriously I wish they'd make another one like this. The 3 gang districts and the respect system, what a great atmosphere this game is (if you choose dusk over noon)

 

[cinnamonandgravy]

here's me playing gta4⠀⠀: )

here's me playing gta5⠀⠀>: (

 

[digdug2]

I still remember the first time that I hopped into a car, sped away before Niko could put on a seatbelt, then almost immediately ran headfirst into something. Niko then proceeded to fly through the windshield. Talk about a holy shit moment.

 

[Patrick S.]

Yeah, I love it. Sadly the PC version is ass. To this day it runs bad. And I don't know if it's specific to the PC version, but the last couple times I played it on PC I noticed this weird issue that a portion of the other cars' tires is sunk into the ground, and when the cars come closer, they pops upwards a few centimeters and the tires come out of the asphalt. It's super distracting and I can't unsee it.

What I dislike is the brown tint of everything, which was a fad during that era that really made games much more ugly than they needed to be. Wonder if on PC you can get better colours using something like Reshade, as I did back then for Fallout 3 and NV to get rid of the green tint of 3 and the yellow tint of NV...

Shame I can't play it on my PS5. I mostly keep my Xbox One X for Red Dead Redemption 1 and GTA IV.

 

[Kerotan]

All GTA from 3 onwards are truly special but my God a GTA IV plus GTA remaster or remake would be something else.

 

[PSYGN]

GTA 3 and GTA 4 were more revolutionary for the series, whereas the other games were more evolutionary. I am hoping GTA 6 does something to put it into the revolutionary tier, but the leaks so far (which I know isn't much to go by and is too early to judge) looks more like an evolutionary release.

 

[IntentionalPun]

It's my least favorite.

They ripped out a bunch of fun progression systems like buying property, getting rewards for beating ambulance missions, taxi missions, etc. (that weren't useless cash) and then put a bunch of focus on the absolute worst part of San Andreas, the dating bullshit.

 

[German Hops]

SA > VC > III > IV

I still haven't played 5 yet..

 

[Raonak]

big nope.

GTA:SA is the king

 

[CGNoire]

Because of the Physics quality of both driving and props itzs my favorite racing game of all time. I must have put in 300+hrs just racing around the city listening to music trying to create the ideal driving action sequence sometimes just spiniing my camera in circles endlessly while going full speed the opposite side of the highway using just intuition to dodge cars and succeding at a psychic level since id spent so much time driving that i had the timiningz of all the spawning cars sub conciously memorized and could doge on just feel alone . Crazy times. Need to reinstall.

 

[Spukc]

I enjoyed 4 multiplayer way more..
but 5 story writing made gaming as a story medium more mature..

Then the last of us came along

 

[Rockondevil]

I had a lot more fun in Vice City. And I prefer San Andreas and V above IV too.

 

[flying_sq]

The game grew on me over time, but I had tons of fun with the crazy physics from Vice City.

 

[kiphalfton]

i dont know how you guys feel but i am so full of gta after hearing a decade only gta v, gta v, gta v.

I wouldnt give a shit if gta 6 never releases. Especially since dan houser is gone. I dont think the new rockstar has what it takes to pull off a Rdr 2 at all again. Especially gta was always satirical of american politics in a fun way. You think they will do that now? They could rockstar is to big to fail but lets be honest the new Rockstar sucks.

But dat ass tho

 

[thefool]

Vice City > GTA 3 > GTA > GTA 4 > GTA2 > San Andreas
I skipped 5.

 

[{insert code here}]

Well GAF it appears we've found the Russian spy.

 

[Rocco Schiavone]

best story
best main character
best writing

Sorry.

 

[Azelover]

It's a good game, but I liked Vice City more.

Everybody is entitled to their opinion..

 

[MirageMew2]

From uptown NYC, not the parts you see in the Spider-Man games or whatever and GTA 4 (and even Chinatown Wars) is to this day the only games that have featured my relatively obscure neighborhood in generous detail. Everything from the South Bronx to Queens to East Jersey to this day has yet to be replicated in another NYC centric open world and it’ll always hold a special place in my heart for it.
Liberty City is way over due for some current gen love.