Silencer, on 06 May 2013 - 11:06 AM, said:
MTS, on 06 May 2013 - 09:01 AM, said:
*snip* all the "realism" and pretty graphics.
That, right there, answers your question, does it not?
Not really. A big theme of GTA IV is the pursuit of money, and about America as the land of opportunity. Niko spouts that his sole motivation is money in like every cutscene he's in.
And yet there's virtually nothing to spend it on. My favourite part about Vice City was that you could use the money you earned to buy businesses, you had plenty of missions that actively contributed to growing that business, and so you saw your empire grow, and had an active hand in doing that. San Andreas was very similar in that regard, and even had an RPG-like system of character improvement and customisation. In GTA IV on the other hand you basically play errand boy for the entire game, you're not really contributing to anything that's yours. Your cousin owns a cab business, and as your fortunes rise and fall so do his. How hard would it have been to integrate your contribution to his success in the missions? You earn the money that he spends after all, yet it's him that bloody buys everything, even the safehouse in Algonquin that it's continually stated that you need. Everything gets given to you, you don't actually
earn anything for the entire game. It would have been much cooler if you actually had to invest the money you earned by working for the Russian mob, for instance, and you had to actually grow the cab business yourself. Then certain events in the game would have had much more impact. Hell, you never even
see Roman's cabs in the game unless you ask to. As it stands the only things I spent money on were cab fares and the occasional clothes purchase, and that's peanuts. I think a good example of the difference is
I suppose my point is that from a story perspective, I couldn't care less about Niko Bellic's rise to power, whereas Tommy Vercetti and CJ had much better stories because you were much more involved in that rise. The graphics argument doesn't cut it I don't think because the things I mentioned are in the grand scheme of things not huge or even big changes, like being able to go to the gym and change your physique, or being able to buy better cars for the cab business. I honestly don't see how you could look at San Andreas and Liberty City side-by-side and think that the latter is even
close to better.
Antiquis temporibus, nati tibi similes in rupibus ventosissimis exponebantur ad necem.
Si hoc adfixum in obice legere potes, et liberaliter educatus et nimis propinquus ades.