Now Playing: GTAV

So got GTAV after being tired of waiting on the price to drop to $20. Why? Because in addition to seeing GTA4 flooding the PS3 shelves for years at $5-$10, I figured it would happen at a decent pace, and also I'm not a huge fan of GTA. I used to love the idea of playing it as a kid, but it was that one franchise that I was told would be off-limits until I was older, and now the open world concept has lost its common appeal for me. I love how supportive and good the dev is about their games, and I understand most of the appeal and how iconic GTA is as a destructive sandbox shooter, but in general the game kind of isn't my thing in most ways. Its missions felt tried and true or even watered down, the game's tone is littered in a combination of gang culture and a cynicism so nasty that its basically a living world format of those people who always moan about their life (a lot of it is played for laughs, but its still so constantly bitter that you might as well be chewing on a lemon and laughing in a mirror for the same effect), and the game just expects you to really commit to it to see the brighter side. The tone also held me back from liking any of the characters all that much, and so even with 3 swapable characters I kept just thinking of how much cooler Saints Row's protagonist was and customizable at that. Despite all that, I still retain some sense of an interest though.... but its certainly not a $60 launch one. In the PS3 release days I rented it, and later borrowed it from a friend, but it never stuck out to me as a must have.

So why am I back? Well for starters, the remaster is a true effort forward. Consistent FPS view & actions in a world this big, so much more clarity and visual polish, and additional content on top of the already big list of patched content, and that's just wow. It feels like one of those cases where a whole new game engine is being tested within the works of a pre-existing game. So far I've found a couple nitpicks with the 1st person view, but its genuinely is good. The graphics definitely look clearer, and while GTAV doesn't have any art style nor consistent environmental beauty, the more I see it the better it looks as I see more. Besides even just being so clear is an achievement considering I can walk up to some generic store building and read every poster cluttering its covered windows.

The next line of logic is... well, good work pays off. Rockstar has made a massive game full of constant updates, mass player freedom, and lots of ways to play the game. Its kind of hard to ignore all the fun people talk about having, watching youtube videos of a chain reaction of NPC chaos in how they react to one explosive accident, or hearing about people talk about that secret they found or what they did with cheat codes. Between all that and the new content, I've built a desire to truly get into this game and hopefully become immersed. I want to uncover the large world, want to build up my characters and have tons of cool stuff to play with, and want that ability to have a game where I can go from walking nature trails with animals one second, destroy 10 cars the next, and then record my day's work in the video editor to make a cool cinematic car stunt video. GTAV has a bit of everything, and its all polished and nice enough that there's just no substitute. Even if its not my go-to thing to do, I've just decided it was time to play and actually own a GTA game for once and there's never been a better time than GTAV for current systems.

So far I've done a few of the opening missions. Unfortunately it looks like my first day or two will be spent retreking ground in the campaign. Not a huge fan of that, but at least I've got some fresh perspective and the updated 1st person mode to do so with. Eventually I'll get to a good point, and just start free roaming, or fooling with cheats for a good laugh. Maybe I'll even try online where I can make my own character and forget about the underwhelming story ones as I start doing a bit of role-play. Who knows. Well, got to go steal a bike back for one of Franklin's early missions. Despite still feeling like I'm in the tutorial-zone of the game, I'm still smiling and happy to be back.