Beat GTA V. Story is awful. (NO SPOILERS)

[ladelsofgravy]

Huge GTA fan. Got GTA5 at midnight release. Beat it. The GAME PLAY is perfect, flawless, amazing. But it's the STORY that's the major shortcoming. I won't spoil anything but here are the problems I've had with it.

The story is predictable, down to the climax. The fact that Rockstar's trailers revealed a bit too much also dampens some moments.

Character behaviors are inconsistent, just as the Gamespot review said. Many major plot points are contrived, artificial and it's doubtful they would actually happen. Twists often happen abruptly and the gravity of those events isn't well conveyed.

The game has an identity crisis between serious drama and the absurd hilarity. It's not that mixing funny and serious is bad. Look at Portal 2, for example, or the previous GTA games like San Andreas. GTA V often times, after behaving like a carefree surreal fantasy action movie, expects me to become emotionally vested all of a sudden, when I just can't.

An example of this is Michael's family. They're through and through funny american stereotypes made to be laughed at, but at certain points of the game, the game intends to have you emotionally care about them as if they've all of a sudden became real people.

There are some real winners like the supporting characters, but some characters just don't work. Trevor is immensely entertaining, but his maudlin attempts at being emotional are just tough to take seriously. Franklin was never any more than a CJ clone. And the villain(s), I'll just say, they're forgettable.

The ending is a cliche and lazy copout that moreso made my eyes roll than get a serious reaction out of me.

The entire story gave me a headache. It was too persistent to be just a random comedy and it was too flippant to be taken seriously. For all it innovates, it's in too many ways a cliche.

I would still give the game a 9/10, and suggest that if you don't take the story too seriously, you'll love the open world and the great missions which are both second to none.

[PAINKILLƎR]

Nothing can be worse than SA's story.

[ladelsofgravy]

Nothing can be worse than SA's story.

I really enjoyed San Andreas story.

[Spyder]

i dont care about a games story really. if the game play is great. then its a good game lol

[whtcrack]

You should send me a PM and tell me how it ends.. lol

[Flamez]

Enjoy the motherfuckin' game man in any GTA game I don't just do missions, I explore everything there is to do in the game. I love going on killing sprees fucking shit up. Only thing I need is the game which I'll get next Friday.

[ladelsofgravy]

i did enjoy the game. but the bulk of the game is the narrative. and that disappointed.

i'm moreso upset because three character perspectives as well as a brilliant concept of doing heists should have led to an amazing plot.

[ladelsofgravy]

No shit that you didn't enjoy it, you only did fucking missions 24/2. Look at everybody else, we're exploring the map,doing stocks,hunting and w/e the fuck else is available. If you are such a big gta fan as you claim to be, you should know that your way is not how you should play it.

did i not say the overworld is great?

[Ka0t1c]

cool story, now send me the game...i'll return it

[Kill You]

Bitch bitch bitch.

The story, so far, is awesome to me. Video games aren't meant to be reality. Of course it will be farfetched. You expected reality? Go outside and rob a car and see what happens.

[ladelsofgravy]

Bitch bitch bitch.

The story, so far, is awesome to me. Video games aren't meant to be reality. Of course it will be farfetched. You expected reality? Go outside and rob a car and see what happens.

you misunderstand. it's not that realism is good or bad, or that fantasy is good or bad. and combining them isn't inherently bad. it's that the combination is messy here. it's like rockstar expects me to take it seriously half the time, when i can't.


in the end, i felt like Rockstar expected me to sympathize for the characters, where i simply couldn't. for example, if trevor does something outrageous which puts michael's life in serious danger, am i supposed to laugh for trevor or empathize with michael.

[Kill You]

Rockstar doesn't expect you to take it serious at all, that's the point. They want you to have fun.

So, the story was bad to you because you couldn't sympathize with the characters? That doesn't equal a bad story, since many other gamers have sympathized with them especially. It just means you don't really like it. I, on the other hand, love it. I think it's a great story.

[ladelsofgravy]

Rockstar doesn't expect you to take it serious at all, that's the point. They want you to have fun.

So, the story was bad to you because you couldn't sympathize with the characters? That doesn't equal a bad story, since many other gamers have sympathized with them especially. It just means you don't really like it. I, on the other hand, love it. I think it's a great story.

That's not the only reason. Certain parts of how the story comes together feel artificial and contrived. And there are many occasions where the characters do things that they wouldn't do.

GTA5 tries to mix South Park with the Sopranos and it feels like an identity crisis. Sure San Andreas mixed funny and serious, but they kept those parts seperate, with the humor just serving as a comic relief after a serious moment. They were never fused together.

Maybe I'll appreciate it once I play it again.

[Kill You]

Idk, I guess you just don't enjoy it. I won't knock you for that, it's just GTA 5 doesn't take itself too seriously. It's supposed to take the American dream and American values and just blow them out of proportion. Every GTA has done that. This isn't so different from the past ones. I think this one tells a much better story than any of them tbh. That's just me though.

Doesn't mean the story is awful, I wish you'd change the name of the thread to "disappointing" instead "awful" lol it is FAR from awful.

[ladelsofgravy]

You're right. To say the entire story was awful was an exaggeration, a provocative one. Some PARTS of it are awful, but not the entire thing.

I think when all is said and done, GTA5 has a good story. But just not an excellent one. I just think it stands out because everything else about the game is good.

Graphics - A+
Driving - A+
Gunplay - A+
Missions - A+
Heists - A+
Story - B or C

It's mainly the ending(s) that bother me. Of the three possible endings, two of them are a boring cliche. And one of them contains a really corny speech on capitalism as the finale.