76 replies to this topic

[OcramSeattle]

That sounds great! I can hardly wait to see the world of GTA V!

Edited by OcramSeattle, 08 February 2012 - 11:49 PM.

[GMT]

ZMT123, on 08 February 2012 - 08:14 PM, said:

OcramSeattle, on 08 February 2012 - 01:45 AM, said:

If GTA5 is limited to only Los Santos, it must be comparable in size to LA in LA NOIR.

The GTA V map is going to be MUCH bigger than the LA Noire map, because it will contain countryside. Also, Rockstar said on Twitter, the GTA V map will be huge.

pure speculation. LA Noire map is 8 sqm, GTA4's map 6 sqm, RDR is about 2.5 times the map of GTA4.
R* is always keen on making bigger maps every game so I say this happens again here, with a twist:
My guess on the GTA5 map is bigger than GTA4, slightly bigger than LA Noire, but smaller than RDR due to the fact that a city with all the complex geometry and different buildings takes much more physical resources than a vast but "empty" (as in nothing but fauna and flora) landscape. of course you can create enormous maps of a city, but not without autogen, that's how True Crime LA was able to give us 240sqm of LA at 1:1 scale... but not 1:1 detail.
Also, keeping in mind that the game is most likely to be released on current gen consoles, there's a harsh limit in space due to the eck bock. LA Noire came on 3 discs (mainly, but not only due to the motion scan technology) and this was one of the major letdowns on this console. People are not quite willing to swap discs (anymore at least, used to be standard issue back when I was a kid, thinking of Wing Commander on 3000 discs... at least that's how it felt) so producers that want to release on this console gotta make compromises...
Anyway, to name a figure I think of 10 to 12 sqm, with the city being something between 1/3 and 1/2 of the map.
Although I must say, everytime I watch the trailer I get stuck at the few overview shots that make LS look considerably small...

on a sidenote, R* answered 2 questions about GTA5 in their latest Q&A:
first one was asked a couple times in different variatons, going for when there will be more info on it. answer:

Quote

First of all, we’d like to again thank you and everyone out there for the amazing response to the debut Grand Theft Auto V trailer. We know that there are a ton of questions you all have about the game, including release date and lots else.
Right now, we are very hard at work on the game and are excited as well to show and tell you more as development progresses - expect that we'll be talking much more about GTAV starting at some point in a few months’ time.
Please hang tight until then and thank you all for your patience and support!

a few months' time. are you frakking serious?? looks like they wont give us anything until the max payne 3 campaign is about to be done with. Oh my I'm already sick with all the (all too often pointless) speculations and fakes on the interweb now, how should I mess with the next few months? fare the well online-life...

next question was the more interesting question about whether it'll be in fact Los Santos only or it'll include SF and LV aswell. The answer (probably driving quadrillions of San Andreas fanboys hoping for GTA5 to be San Andreas 2.0 into suicide):

Quote

As we revealed in our announcement about the game being officially in full development, Grand Theft Auto V is set in the city of Los Santos and its surrounding hills, countryside and beaches – and it will be the largest and most ambitious open world game we’ve ever created...

the way they stress this statement ever since the trailer was released, I guess they're freaked out about all the questions concerning San Fierro and Las Venturas aswell. It's at least the 3rd time they officially announce the game to be set in Los Santos... I have a feeling they are serious about this and wont come forth with San Andreas 2.0
But tbh, I think it'll take until the very release of the game till even the last one understands the meaning of "Los Santos and surrounding countryside"...

Edited by GMT, 13 February 2012 - 06:47 PM.

[Larks2242]

Huge could mean alot of things, need a much less vague definition of the map size.

Edited by Larks2242, 13 February 2012 - 09:10 PM.

[OcramSeattle]

I thought the Xbox could save things from the games so you only need one disk to play?

[GMT]

not for LA Noire, you had to swap the discs, and from what I heard and read every now and then this was/is a very controversial issue. Now, again, the main reason was the amount of data for the motion scan and I recon this won't be seen in GTA5, but still the disc space of the eck bock slows down. Not quite in terms of storytelling (I recently fiddled with the script file of San Andreas which is just 2mb in size) but when it comes to visuals.
My guess is we get a one disc GTA5, probably at the disc limits of the eck bock, but who cares?

[suomi2005]

GMT on what basis does LA Noire ask you to swap disks, is it when you get to a certain point in the story or when you move into a certain part of the map? Just curious to know .

GTA V looks that it will in fact have a lot of rural areas when I watch the trailer. The wind farms, oilfields, vineyards and the mountains and the forests. At least from the trailer the rural areas seem to have a lot of variety and it would be weird for me if those landscapes in the trailer would only take up 1/3 or 1/2 of the map. I would easily think that the rural area will be bigger than Los Santos itself.

Los Santos seems big too there seems to be very much variety more than in GTA 4. If you think about it also Liberty city (based on NYC) which is a densely built city and Los Santos (based on LA)which is a lot more spread out city with much more suburban sprawl. I hope R* is trying to replicate this aspects of real life LA in Los Santos.

Just wanted to share my view on what I think about the game so far

And who knows if R* surprises us whit DLC in the form of adding maybe an expansion with San Fierro. That would be awesome but not probably likely. I was very happy with the expansions for RDR(Undead nightmare) and GTA 4( Episodes from Liberty city)and we probably see similar DLC like this for GTAV and not new environments.

Edited by suomi2005, 14 February 2012 - 12:41 PM.

[GMT]

as I dont have an xbox, I can't answer that question, but I feel like I have read somewhere that it's a matter of story progression to swap the discs.

Good that you mention the sprawl of Los Angeles. That's another problematic point. hard to balance between accuracy and purpose here. While it is interesting from a recreational point of view and certainly would add to the atmosphere, I guess too much sprawl will spoil the gameplay.
LA Noire is maneuvering hard at the limits of what's ok if you ask me. What goes in favor of LA Noire's map is the fact that it's a very accurate recreation of a city as it was 70 years ago so the comparison between then and now is a huge driving factor.
The comparison between LS and LA can't compare to this as it will be more like a memory of the city rather than a replica, to suck in the atmosphere and the "feeling" of LA, supported by popular landmarks and geography. While you can go landmark hunting aswell (and probably easter-egg / R* humor hunting) it won't hold the same appeal as cruising down the roads of LA Noire... at least that's what I think.

I just took a look at the last scene of the trailer again, you can cleary see how the city spreads north-south but the east-west dimension seems rather small. what adds to that is the scene with the oil derricks where you can easily spot what looks like the appartment blocks at the marina del rey at the far horizon, so to say the western limit of the city, while the oil derricks you look from seem to be the eastern limits of the city.
I hope perspective deceives me here or we're looking at an incomplete alpha version of the map (some shots suggest it's not final, especially the highrise with the blimp over it seems to change location; compare the overview shots with the shot from the golfcourse) but as of now, the city looks smaller than Liberty City.

As for DLC, it's very very unlikely that it'll come in the shape of San Fierro or Las Venturas. To keep the state of San Andreas authentic, such a city must be at least the size of Los Santos and other than the EFLC DLCs must be delivered with the DLC, skyrocketing the mass of data. We might get some DLC in terms of storytelling, but not in terms of location.
IF we ever get to see SF or LV, it'll be in a new game. Either a subpart of a GTA5 series, or as GTA6,7 and so on, although I feel like chances are much higher that, if a GTA6 directly follows GTA5, it'll be Vice City.

[OcramSeattle]

Of course you must realize that the Grand Theft Auto version of America is vastly different from real USA.

[GMT]

uhm... yes of course it's different? don't quite get the context to be honest.

anyway, the PS3 UK hopepage (and only this subpage of playstation) already lists GTA5 as a game (linkie, click it as long as you can, doubt the info was to be released just yet), so I guess it can be considered a confirmation for the game to be released on current gen consoles. Although one must be a little careful here, they state no network gaming but it's already confirmed to have online multiplayer

Edited by GMT, 15 February 2012 - 04:53 AM.

[OcramSeattle]

I am saying that you can expect Los Santos to be as different from LA as Liberty City is from NYC, possibly moreso. GTA5 will be somewhere between GTA3 San Andrés and LA NOIR in realism with a larger map than LA NOIR.

Vice City is also extremely different from Miami. Of course, a San Fierro expansion might generate controversy if the Queens neighborhood is rendered with all the technology possible from the GTA Ballad.

Edited by OcramSeattle, 15 February 2012 - 03:56 PM.

[GMT]

of course it isn't. I dare to say everyone who hasen't realized this by now should seriously consider a reality check.

Liberty City, Los Santos, San Fierro, Las Venturas and Vice City are characterized immitations of their real-life counterparts, and the whole world of GTA is nothing but an exaggerated aswell as ironic and stereotypical (and therefore somewhat critical) view on us society... plus the little extra to make it an interesting experience in terms of storyline.
But that's the reason why you can't deny real world inspiration at all in this game, literaly visible in the setting.
Throughout the series we see how much closer the setting got to the original inspiration. Just compare how Liberty City looked like in GTA3 and how it does in GTA4, I guess we can expect the same with the change from San Andreas' Los Santos to 5's Los Santos, although SA's Los Santos was already a very well captured inspiration of el pueblo de nuestra senora la reina de los angeles del rio porciuncula. But what limited this picture was the size available due to the fact that R* wanted to represent a state. Now with the more than obvious way of one big city only, they got more room to play with and therefore can digg deeper into presenting us a fictional city capturing the spirit (and sights and layout and whatnot) of LA.
I guess Los Santos will walk down the same lane Liberty City did in terms of authentic feeling. I mean, fire up GTA4 and start to breath in Liberty, you get a nose full of New York with a note attached "remember I am 'only' Liberty"... that's what R* wanted to do and achieved if you'd ask me (I can remember reading an article that stated over 600 hours of film material only showing the sky above NYC so R* can get the colors and lights of the sky right).

either way, I so can't wait for more info on GTA, but the Q&A article pretty much my worst expectation, nothing new till MP3 is out

[Adooxx]

i like GTA for a lot of things, storyline, graphics, gameplay but most of all for those small things they add. Stuff they add on some billboards or in grafitty. Sometimes I have to laugh 10 minutes after some ironic stuff they added.

GTA = one of the best games ever.

[OcramSeattle]

I never owned GTA but I have played with friends. I remember there was a neighborhood with a jet pack and there was an overpass with streetwalkers on the sidewalk who will walk to you if you honk at them and will either get in your car or on their knees after you pay them.

[GMT]

you should seriously consider playing it. despite all controveries around it, it's a piece of videogame history and also redefined gaming to a certain extend as it made open-world games popular among the masses

EDIT: on a sidenote I stumbled over a 2 weeks old statement from Take2 boss Strauss Zelnick, who says 5 will be released in T2's upcoming fiscal year, ending march 31st 2013 and that the game is "making great progress" and that it "promises to continue Rockstar's incredible track record of delighting fans by raising the bar in interactive entertainment".

Edited by GMT, 17 February 2012 - 08:09 AM.

[suomi2005]

Although I love open world games I cant avoid a feeling I have been getting while playing many of today's open world games and that feeling is been there done that. Many sandbox style games seem to be built the same way as last gen and it seems hard to come up with something new. I really hope that GTA V is going to bring us at least something new or something that sets it a part from past GTA games and other open world games. It would have been even more exciting if R* would have come up with a completely new and unexplored city for their next game maybe even venture into uncharted territory by making a GTA game set in Europe or Asia. Nonetheless I will be excited to see Los Santos reimagined for current gen consoles just like Liberty city was.

I know there was a GTA London

Edited by suomi2005, 17 February 2012 - 08:17 AM.

[GMT]

that's true... but you can't reinvent the wheel either, you can only change it's looks.
When we take a look at certain open world games, they all come with different approaches to it, suiting the needs of the story.
this counts for the way you move aswell as for character customization and development aswell as for things you can do (interactions with the environment).
But on the bottom line, they stay open world and/or sandbox games. Just like a shooter stays a shooter, an rpg stays an rpg and an rts remains an rts.
as funny as it sounds, but even open world games are confined in a certain way.

[biff]

I really hope they have a frying pan in the vanilla game(i will be playing it on xbox).