Grand Theft Auto V

[Kerr]

I know some people hated it, but I really liked GTA IV. Anyway GTA V is pretty darn great, I really recommend it.

Online launches tomorrow, hope it's good.

[Dirty Spaceman]

I have extremely high hopes for Online.... but those servers are definitely not even going to stand a chance on the first day.

[Kerr]

No, they really aren't. I wonder if it is even worth trying to play online for the first few days.

[scribbane]

We don't know that for a fact. Part of the strategy behind releasing online 2 weeks after the release of the game, I would assume, is to ensure they can prepare for the load of players. The game sold better than I imagine even they thought, and I would hope that they have used these 2 weeks properly and prepared the servers for the onslaught of $1 billion worth of players.

[Jeelius-Tei]

It will be out at some point...

Can't wait for the port then. Not sure if this was true, but I remember reading somewhere that it may not be ported until after Christmas, as to boost console sales.

[Generalno1]

online not working for me. can't log in after creating my character.

[The SheoDovah]

Rockstar's servers are struggling to handle the load. Would heavily reccomend giving it a week or two before trying again as they are in the proccess of trying to resolve the server issue. That said, i think they were overwhelmed by how many copies GTA 5 sold at launch and don't possess enough servers to handle the amount of people trying to access GTA:Online.

[Musicman247]

:

YouTube Link

[Kerr]

Annoying how you can't change physical appearance of an online character and have to make a new one instead. Anyway couldn't connect either, didn't expect to be able to anyway. I'll try again a while from now, play something else first.

Spoiler:

Michael is easily my favourite character of the 3. Trevor is a monster. Good character, but he's a terrible person.

Interesting having a Bisexual/Pansexual player character with Trevor. He's an insane one but still.

[sevenindasun]

I'm playing on the 360 and its almost flawless online, 5 min from dashboard and I was online.. Cop cars are a lil laggy but I haven't had no problems... Been playing for a few hours and at 20k.. Missions are harder and it's recommended to do this with a partner

[Dirty Spaceman]

I tried Online, and after a couple trips to the dashboard and back I actually got in. I can already tell that random player griefing is going to be my biggest gripe in this game. Also, it is ridiculous how low your health is at the start. I did the first holdup, and the very second I grabbed the cash I instantly died at the hands of a cop I didn't even see. It was almost like Call of Duty. And it took two shots for me to be murdered by a random player in what my best guess is was a drive-by.

[Kerr]

GTA IV was like that in online. Most people either killed you on sight or assumed you were going to kill them on sight. Actually teaming up with strangers was rare, but cool when it happened.

[The SheoDovah]

There is a passive mode where players are unable to kill each other. Free roam in GTA IV was a nightmare as it was pretty much kill or be killed.

[DikaSmausha]

I am still trying to actually play online.

[DorostheConqueror]

After experiencing the mess that is SP, I'm thinking I'll hold off on Online for the time being. I don't really give two craps about Grand Theft Warcraft in the first place, so I'm really hoping they don't just decide to dump SP support entirely. At least get the garages and stock markets working.

[sevenindasun]

Unless you are grouped up online is a mess... Randoms v randoms, stalkers waiting outside the stores for you to emerge and bang.. And forget walking around on foot to explore which much like the offline there isn't much reward for exploring anyways.. Online is basically co-op style dlc... More missions a bit tougher but good luck finding cool players to link up with who have mics and want to complete the story lines.. Basically it's a mosh pit of mini games for you to have fun with...

[scribbane]

Online is just awesome. The first mission/job/race thing is just getting ready to start and has been for the past hour or so! I've had so much restarting my console just trying to play, everyone should get in on this.

I kid, but I actually haven't been able to get it to work. I did manage to free roam at one point because the race trigger didn't appear so the game just let me wander, but it kept telling me to back to the race trigger. From my time free roaming, it seemed decent, though some of the UI had some problems. Ah well, it's day 1 and I still have some stuff to do in single player so I'll try Online again tomorrow when hopefully the player load is somewhat reduced.

[The SheoDovah]

It's probably going to remain that way untill next week due to the initial surge of players and Rockstar trying to either get more servers or sorting out the problems with it. Really wish i had access to PSN as i would love nothing more then to crash a plane into some UESPers. Will be interesting to see if their 500 missions claim will end up as being the truth or just PR [&@%!]. Also, i've heard they've cut co-op heists to sell as DLC. If so, then [&@%!] you Rockstar as that was easily the best part of GTA:Online. At least, it sounded like it would be excellent.

Here are my thoughts on the three characters.

Spoiler:

Micheal. very likeable and is determined to put his past behind him. Also a massive hyprocrite and cares for his family. Despite the fact that his wife [&@%!] a guy in his bed, his son drugged him and stole his car etc..

Franklin. Very likeable. Just wants to make some cash but not at the cost of his friends. Probably the most level headed of the trio as he rarely acts on impluse. He can betray either micheal or Trevor at the end but i think those endings are there just to please those who wanted to off either of the two as i think the canon ending is the Deathwish one.

Trevor. likeable to a degree but not in the sense that he is a good character. He is evil. He is hell on earth and [&@%!] crazy. And unpredictable. I can see that Rockstar saw Saints Row and went "so you did a physcotic main character? Well, we can do better." thus Trevor was created. He is generally an excuse for Rockstar to go over the top with his missions. He is also implied to be bisexual which would make him GTA's first bisexual PC. And it's always a mystery what he just did when you switch to him as it's unpredictable. From being chased by 6-12 police cars to waking up on an island in nothing but his underwear and socks surronded by dead bodies.

[Mattbott]

Trevor is my favourite character in this game, he's larger than life, freedom through violence lol

the other two are there to balance him out. I have found myself roleplaying each one differently, eg Michael doesn't do strip clubs for example. Didn't expect that from this game

[The SheoDovah]

On the first playthrough, Micheal didn't do strip clubs. On the current one, he does as i'm interested to see what his therapist will say. Also, i'm surprised that the private dances actually involve the strippers dancing without a bra one. :O Have been chucked out many times for violating the no touching rule.

[DorostheConqueror]

I was surprised to look out my car window and see a brutal rape.

Trevor is great; he pretty much makes the game. And am I alone in thinking that Michael is an allegory for Rockstar? There are plenty of internal allegorical references in this game (like Capalovaro or whatever that movie's called), but Michael and his crew seem to be particularly metatextual. I don't have time to type it all out right now, but if anyone else has noticed this, feel free to go first

[Mattbott]

There are plenty of internal allegorical references in this game (like Capalovaro or whatever that movie's called), but Michael and his crew seem to be particularly metatextual. I don't have time to type it all out right now, but if anyone else has noticed this, feel free to go first

you might have something there,

I think GTA has always operated on a couple of levels, but yeah i think Michaels character probably does resonate with certain people, tho i will need to pay more attention to elaborate lol

Michael is a psychotic adrenalin freak who only looks 'normal' next to Trev, though his witness prot persona is positively respectable in the GTA world. There's definitely a sniff of mid life crisis there and i am rooting for him and Amanda to get it going again and retire a happy family, but we will see, i am only 25% of the way through, i keep getting sidetracked into flying a biplane round the place as Trevor


the MP will settle down, I think it'll be more like RDR gameplay once people get stuck in and that worked pretty well

[Dirty Spaceman]

So the game started not letting me switch characters while I was playing story mode today. The D-pad down button is working fine, I tested it on the menus as well as the other D-pad-related functions. And I even switched controllers to see if that might be the problem - nothing. I'm hoping it's just automatically fixed when I pick it back up tomorrow, or else the game is pretty much broken for me.

[scribbane]

Not sure how I missed 2 of the under the bridge things, but now I have to go back through like all of them again just to get 2. [&@%!]. Bout to try the Knife Flights, but I suck at those so this will be interesting.

[The SheoDovah]

Epic, you may be unable to use the other two due to you having reached a certain point of the story. It should tell you if you can't use them as it sounds like that is what is preventing you from using them.

It turns out that you can flip people off. Just switch to unarmed when you are driving and press L1 or L trigger and you'll flip them off.