henke on 2/9/2009 at 06:47
Quote Posted by gunsmoke
They are on the downslide, as far as I am concerned
I do not get that impression at all. IV was a very deliberate step down. They
could have had it jam-packed with bicycles, airplanes, pizza-delivery missions and all that stuff and done a half-assed job at it. But instead they decided to get back to basics and refine the bare essentials. The new engine, the combat, the driving, and the multiplayer. And if you're not playing, or just didn't like, the GTA IV multiplayer I can understand how you might feel short-changed. I was feeling the same way a year ago. Then I tried out the MP and I've been playing it ever since, taking a few weeks break now and then but always coming back to it. It is the sole reason I got a year subscription to XBox Live Gold (AND re-newed it again a few weeks ago). To me, there's nothing in the action-genre that compares to GTA IV multiplayer(GTA Race & Deathmatch modes specifically).
The following DLCs and sequels will have plently of room to add all that extra stuff now that they have the engine and the basics down.
EvaUnit02 on 2/9/2009 at 08:43
Quote Posted by henke
And if you're not playing, or just didn't like, the GTA IV multiplayer I can understand how you might feel short-changed.
It was poorly implemented. What kind of genius comes up with the stupid idea of not having
any form of local multiplayer? No multiple players on the same console (i.e. splitscreen), no LAN support.
henke on 2/9/2009 at 11:44
Splitscreen can be quite resource-heavy you know. Especially with an open-world game like GTA. If the two players are in different parts of the city the geometry for both parts will have to be loaded at the same time. The game is optmizied for one player so in order to make splitscreen viable they'd have to somehow halve the textures, the geometric detail and the number of physics-enabled objects for each of the half-screens. Splitscreen would be nice but I don't think it's something we can realistically expect with a game like GTA4.
And LAN? Alright... I can see how people would be pissed that they left that out. :erg:
EvaUnit02 on 2/9/2009 at 13:55
Quote Posted by henke
Splitscreen can be quite resource-heavy you know.
Thank you, Cpt. Obvious.
Quote:
Splitscreen
would be nice but I don't think it's something we can realistically expect with a game like GTA4.
Quit talking bullshit, of course it would be realistic. Have you ever played a 3D PC game before? They usually have a series of tiered graphical detail settings. It would perfectly viable to use the same approach to achieve splitscreen on modern console games. Or alternatively render the "two windows" at lower resolutions and then upscale - ya know, no different than how 90% of modern console games achieve resolutions of 1080p.
Kuuso on 2/9/2009 at 14:44
I don't think I've seen a single post by EvaUnit that has had a nice tone.
Tenkahubu on 2/9/2009 at 15:46
Doesn't like to be disagreed with.
Without differing opinions you can't really have discussion.
Without discussion I suppose that most threads would be purely informative.
See?
henke on 2/9/2009 at 16:32
Quote Posted by EvaUnit02
Quit talking bullshit, of course it would be realistic.
It is realistic to say that it would be technically possible.
It is
not realistic to expect the developers to do that, for exactly the reasons that you, and I, stated.
The splitscreen-mode would be a lot uglier and possibly with simplified physics. Programming it, making extra textures, and tweaking it would take time away from developing other features. And in the end people would bitch and moan about PS1-graphics, and I CANT BELIEVE ROCKSTAR WOULD FUCK UP LIKE THIS, and HOW DID THIS GET THROUGH QA?!?!?
SubJeff on 2/9/2009 at 16:53
Agreeing with henke itt.
Evaunit stop being silly.
Mr.Duck on 3/9/2009 at 04:13
I had a ball with GTA IV even if the ending didn't offer real closure (either of'em), or a happy one for that matter (...as happy as a man like Niko can get...).
Had tons of fun with The Lost & Damned, loved the new bike tweaks and weapons. Didn't liked that you couldn't use these in vanilla GTA IV.
Ballad of Gay Tony seems slick. We shall see what it offers (I hope less male genitalia...).
Lovely way to extend the game's shelf life (not that it -really- needs to, with MP and...it's GTA, ffs...).
:)
henke on 4/11/2009 at 07:25
Started playing this yesterday. Seems like R* have been listening to all the people complaining about GTA4 being too realistic and dull. TBOGT certainly feels more like VC/SA than GTA4. One of the first missions has you hitting golfballs at a guy strapped to a golfcart to get some info out of him, then the guys friends show up and a golfcart-chase along the boardwalk ensues. The characters(including Bruce's even more annoying big brother) seem to be a lot more exagerated and cartoonish as well.
People don't seem to hassle you on the phone as much as in GTA4, during my 2-3 hours of playing I only got 1 call from my friends to go out drinking. We also went back to the drivingrange and played some golf. That was pretty fun even though the game-mechanic is basically just pool on a much larger scale. Haven't tried out the other minigames or the activities at the club yet. Did go a few rounds in the underground fightclub though and was disappointed that the fightingmechanics don't seem to have been updated at all. The story also has failed to draw me in so far. Hopefully just a slow start.
Too early to say too much but I will report back with impressions as I play through it over the next week(s). :)
