GTA: The Trilogy - Definitive Edition

[CyberCubed]

I'm about 20ish missions into the main story of GTA: SA so far. One reason I like these games is it lets you step into the life of a black gangsta gangbanger without dying in real life. So I am "shooting up in the hood" and saving my fellow homies and "popping some fools" on the opposing side like those Ballas.

Also the black cop who is constantly keeping CJ on his toes makes me laugh. These games are even more relevant in 2021 than they were in 2004. And then you have the hispanic spanish guy dating CJ's sister saying, "ese" every other sentence.

God everything I learned about black and hispanic people I learned from playing GTA games. So this is what life is like, "on the other side."

[neatoman]

Gotta love the irony that the earliest game in this "Trilogy" collection is the third game in the series, even outright says it's the third one in the title.

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by neatoman

Gotta love the irony that the earliest game in this "Trilogy" collection is the third game in the series, even outright says it's the third one in the title.

GTA3, GTAVC, and GTASA definitely comprise the closest thing to a trilogy GTA has ever known. And nobody cares about GTA1 or 2. They're not even really playable, even when they came out.

[shredder orokusaki]

iread it has many technical problems . Is it true? shoud i play it now or wait? i still have to finish guardiands of galaxy ans psychonaut 2 which are the games i play now.

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

I'm about 20ish missions into the main story of GTA: SA so far. One reason I like these games is it lets you step into the life of a black gangsta gangbanger without dying in real life. So I am "shooting up in the hood" and saving my fellow homies and "popping some fools" on the opposing side like those Ballas.

Also the black cop who is constantly keeping CJ on his toes makes me laugh. These games are even more relevant in 2021 than they were in 2004. And then you have the hispanic spanish guy dating CJ's sister saying, "ese" every other sentence.

God everything I learned about black and hispanic people I learned from playing GTA games. So this is what life is like, "on the other side."

Everything I enjoyed about San Andreas the first time around until I stopped playing it is kind of coming back to me now. Yeah, those first 10-15 missions around Grove Street are the best times in the game. As soon as Tenpenny (Samuel L. Jackson's cop character) banishes you to another county the game really seems to flounder. I really wish it would have just stayed on that, the Grove Street stuff, and around that. GTA5 sort of dips its toe into those sort of missions as well, without committing.

When I was originally playing the game, I was just getting out of living with a couple of guys who fancied themselves 74 Hoova Crip gangsters in the greater Seattle area. They talked just like that, carried on just like that, and would fantasize about a lot of the stuff that happens in those earliest missions often. "Menace II Society" was always on the TV on repeat. So it was very much "Hood Simulator" in the best possible way, just coming out of the 90s focusing on a very specific spot in the 90s that was still resonating.

Originally Posted by shredder orokusaki

iread it has many technical problems . Is it true? shoud i play it now or wait?

If you can, I guess give it about a month or so. I'm up to the "Woozie" missions now, which now makes me wonder where exactly I left off last time because these seem familiar now as well. But while there IS bugs, nothing is really making me regret playing this at this stage.

[Sumac]

Originally Posted by shredder orokusaki

iread it has many technical problems . Is it true? shoud i play it now or wait? i still have to finish guardiands of galaxy ans psychonaut 2 which are the games i play now.

It seems games are playable, but not good ports / remakes.

[neatoman]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

GTA3, GTAVC, and GTASA definitely comprise the closest thing to a trilogy GTA has ever known. And nobody cares about GTA1 or 2. They're not even really playable, even when they came out.

Sure but Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection still includes Street Fighter I, despite being terrible.

[Sumac]

Originally Posted by neatoman

Sure but Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection still includes Street Fighter I, despite being terrible.

GTA 1 and 2 are too different from next games in the series.

[neatoman]

Originally Posted by Sumac

GTA 1 and 2 are too different from next games in the series.

And the MSX Metal Gears are pretty different from the subsequent games too, still included in the collections (albeit as a bonus in MGS3 but still).

Whatever, my point isn't that GTA 1 and 2 should replace the two games released after GTA 3 in this collection, or even that they need to be included at all. I'm fine with a collection of the PS2 games and nothing else. To bring it back to my Street Fighter example, had it included SF 4 instead of SF 1, it would have been a much stronger collection.

All I really meant was that it is funny that this is called "The Trilogy" when the earliest game included is literally titled "III", it just the fact that I find it humorous. Had this collection been called "GTA: Turn of the Millenium Collection" or something else that didn't draw attention to something so erroneous, it wouldn't have caught my attention.

[Sumac]

Originally Posted by neatoman

And the MSX Metal Gears are pretty different from the subsequent games too, still included in the collections (albeit as a bonus in MGS3 but still).

Metal Gear MSX games are part of the same story and have the same protagonist as MGS1, 2, 4. Also, they have never been available outside of Japan, before their release as part of MGS3.

GTA1 and 2 are standalone stories, which, outside of general gameplay mechanics, have very little to do with GTA3 and beyond.

Originally Posted by neatoman

To bring it back to my Street Fighter example, had it included SF 4 instead of SF 1, it would have been a much stronger collection.

SF4 had its own standalone releases, which are still available everywhere and most other games in collection hadn't, outside of random ports and collections here and there.

Originally Posted by neatoman

All I really meant was that it is funny that this is called "The Trilogy" when the earliest game included is literally titled "III", it just the fact that I find it humorous.

But it is a trilogy, as it includes three games.

[neatoman]

Originally Posted by Sumac

Metal Gear MSX games are part of the same story and have the same protagonist as MGS1, 2, 4. Also, they have never been available outside of Japan, before their release as part of MGS3.

GTA1 and 2 are standalone stories, which, outside of general gameplay mechanics, have very little to do with GTA3 and beyond.


SF4 had its own standalone releases, which are still available everywhere and most other games in collection hadn't, outside of random ports and collections here and there.


But it is a trilogy, as it includes three games.

... OK? I don't understand why I need to keep trying to explain this, I don't actually care that the first two games are excluded and I don't have a problem with a collection that is just the PS2 games. It does not really bother me. I think the first two games could have been included but that is not an actual concern for me. I also understand why the collection even has the name it does and don't actually care that much either.

It is just the fact that what is marketed as a trilogy starts off with what is explicitly part 3 is funny to me. That's it, I just find the title humorous.

[Leo656]

If anything GTA IV, Ballad of Gay Tony and The Lost & Damned would be the three games best marketed as a "trilogy", since they actually have story threads which connect them. Although yes, the latter two aren't full games by comparison. But still.

GTA III, Vice City, and San Andreas actually aren't so much a "trilogy" as they are "the three GTA games that came out the closest together and share the most gameplay elements between them." I mean they take place in altogether different decades and don't have much storyline connective tissue at all.

I'm actually a bit surprised that IMJ hasn't popped in yet to declare that the three games in this trilogy are not "really" a trilogy, since he's rightly pointed that out about other things often. But since he hasn't I will: This is a FAKE GTA trilogy.

[Andrew NDB]

You're kind of making the point against you there. There is very little/almost no connective material between ANY GTA games... but at least between GTA3-GTASA it's the same engine. GTASA also sets up the main villain of GTA3 and the beginning of that game. I've never played much of VC so I can't comment there.

And no, certainly the two DLC mission packs for GTA4 don't count as standalone titles.

[Leo656]

You barely played Vice City? That was the best one! WTF man?

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by Leo656

You barely played Vice City? That was the best one! WTF man?

If memory serves, I got stuck/bored with a mission where you have to remote control a toy helicopter. And at that point I don't think I dug the vibe much (though I loved the hell out of Scarface: The World is Yours, similarly set in a 1980s Miami). I'd probably appreciate it a lot more now.

[Leo656]

Oh, yeah, that mission sucked because of the controls and the camera. I had to take a break at that part too but I finally muscled past it.

After that nothing sucked until the racing section of the final mission. THAT part would probably drive you crazy since you already aren't a huge fan of the racing sections, AND the fact that succeeding at it was mostly random (the game explicitly cheats on that part of the mission and as I've mentioned before the developers admitted that it's all up to luck and not skill, the worst kind of "challenge" in a video game). If you keep at it, eventually you'll win, but man... I really, REALLY hope the new version fixed some'a that sh*t. I loved the game but 1% of it had me ready to put my fist through the wall, can't lie.

I liked III, VC and SA a great deal but I admit that being partial to the 1980s aesthetic is what put that one way over for me. "Vice City Stories" was great, too. "Smaller", since it was a PSP port. But still very good and complemented the original VC perfectly.

[CyberCubed]

Well I finished the main story of GTA: SA and I'm shocked how short it was. It only took me 5 days. For some reason when I was younger it felt like the story went on for much longer, I guess it's because open world games back then were rarer. The added checkpoints in missions if you die definitely helped though, although there were still some missions that needed a checkpoint halfway in that still didn't have it so it was annoying to re-do some old stuff.

Obviously I'm not going to 100% all the extra stuff, like doing 100 graffitti tags or that nonsense, but I did all the driving school missions too for the car, motorcycle, boat and flight school. Also constantly defending your hood from ballas but that just keeps going with enemy waves. Only other thing to do is some police car/ambulance/taxi missions, but that shouldn't be too long.

Again, really surprised how short the game was. In my mind this game was like 100 hours long, I feel like I beat it in 20 hours. Granted I guess most of the extra time just comes around from roaming around the city causing chaos but I always shoot for the main story anyway. I'll play around a little bit for extra afterward.

[AquaParade]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

Everything I enjoyed about San Andreas the first time around until I stopped playing it is kind of coming back to me now. Yeah, those first 10-15 missions around Grove Street are the best times in the game. As soon as Tenpenny (Samuel L. Jackson's cop character) banishes you to another county the game really seems to flounder. I really wish it would have just stayed on that, the Grove Street stuff, and around that. GTA5 sort of dips its toe into those sort of missions as well, without committing.

I'm about 5-10 hours out of Los Santos, and I have to agree that the game has sort of floundered since. I think one thing you really miss out on as you leave the area of the game are the gang mechanics. No more rounding up members to go collect some cash from rivals or claim turf, which is one of the coolest new elements in San Andreas.

I also think it has to do with the fact that the mission design just starts to repeat itself. There is only so much fun to be had with the gameplay mechanics the game offers. The biggest joy of the game is exploring the world and story, but the missions tend to wear thin after a while. I believe I'm in the final city in the game (San Fieros), but I'm not sure I'm going to go back, unless I would be missing out on something significant that I'm unaware of.

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

Also constantly defending your hood from ballas but that just keeps going with enemy waves.

I forgot that this option goes away after Tenpenny banishes you to the other county. Does it come back later on?

Originally Posted by AquaParade

I'm about 5-10 hours out of Los Santos, and I have to agree that the game has sort of floundered since. I think one thing you really miss out on as you leave the area of the game are the gang mechanics. No more rounding up members to go collect some cash from rivals or claim turf, which is one of the coolest new elements in San Andreas.

Right. Why introduce that whole feature only to take it away literally only about 5 missions later?

It always should have been about bringing up the Grove Street gang as a true force to be reckoned with, then evolving it beyond a mere street gang on the bigger stage, until your core gang (and yourself) are business people in a high rise building who are giving orders to the street-level gang while collecting tons of cash. That would have been epic and, I think, more in line with what people would expect to see after the first parts of the game.

I also think it has to do with the fact that the mission design just starts to repeat itself. There is only so much fun to be had with the gameplay mechanics the game offers. The biggest joy of the game is exploring the world and story, but the missions tend to wear thin after a while. I believe I'm in the final city in the game (San Fieros), but I'm not sure I'm going to go back, unless I would be missing out on something significant that I'm unaware of.

I just finished the Woozie mission where you have to have at least 20% lung capacity first, to then go and plant a bug on a tanker ship. So, however far along that is.

[CyberCubed]

Worst part of the game is the last story mission doesn't unlock unless you have 35% of the hood taken over from the Ballas gang. I didn't bother to do any of those turf wars throughout my playthrough so I had to spend 2 hours straight just getting through that just so the last story mission would unlock. It was just boring tedious busy-work.

Also the last story mission is long and hard as hell, even with checkpoints. The fact that they can destroy your car in the chase and it's so hard to aim since it's on-rails is nonsense.