Milliion doller question: GTA IV vs GTA Sanandreas

Well, after really long time later I played GTA Sanandreas and you know what I am completely surprised that I still love to play this game and suddenly I reaize that this game is much more better than GTA IV. GTA SA in run better on the pc than GTA IV and GTA SA mission is full of variety. Where GTA IV mission is some thing like go shoot and bang them up, nothing else or nothing less. Though I have to admit that GTA IV have much nicer look than GTA SA. But still I like GTA SA more than GTA IV.

I feel like GTA4 totally nailed the feel of the city, and got the atmosphere perfect for a GTA game (surely thanks to the advanced engine), but San Andreas was the peak of GTA games, for sheer variety of fun stuff to do. That's why I'm more excited for GTA5 than I ever was for any other GTA game.

GTA IV is fun, but it did not keep me playing like San Andreas did/still does.

GTA: SA was arguably the best in the series, albeit ugly. The new game looked better but was constrained due to the the city environment and focus on realism . GTA V might just be awesome, with more activities/ jets etc.

san andreas started brilliantly but then went downhill rapidly.

i'll pick iv

san andreas started brilliantly but then went downhill rapidly.

i'll pick iv

Macutchi

Going back to San Andreas feels off to me now, the simplicity of the cities, the weak physics, the bad animations... Even the story feels stupid now with all that gangsta crap. The missions are more varied, thats true, but many of them are badly designed and I didn't enjoy them.

I loved it back when it came out in 2004, but I think it hasn't aged that well. GTA IV is just superior in many ways, and GTA V will make even the most nostalgic gamers forget about GTA SA.

Personally I prefer IV, but both are great. I feel like IV went in the direction Rockstar has always wanted to go in for the series, giving us this great living, breathing city we couldn't get last generation with actual fun gameplay (whereas before, the shooting and driving mechanics were always rather bland and stale). Plus I definitely prefer the focus on polish and attention to detail over sheer amount of content, much of which wasn't even very well done in previous games.

V I'm excited for simply because it looks like it's combining the crazy factor of San Andreas in it's world design, content and missions, while retaining the storytelling and characterization improvements we got in IV.

[QUOTE="Macutchi"]

san andreas started brilliantly but then went downhill rapidly.

i'll pick iv

dreamerdonkey

ok well just because i'm bored -

if you mean proof, i mean that the game started off well in the hood; great gangsta theme, left you with a cliffhanger of discovering big smoke and ryder had betrayed you with the green sabre mission - all brilliant.

then the next thing you know, your wannabe gangster CJ - instead of rescuing his brother from jail - is chasing hippies for combine harvesters, performing ridiculous robberies with the most detestable woman in the world (why would you even go near her?), racing a blind asian guy through the countryside (wtf), and moving towns to open a mechanic / garage with a pot smokin hippy you just met.

i don't recall those sort of storylines from menace2society, boyz in da hood, juice etc but then maybe thats just me....

then it was all about stretching out that story to be as thin as possible. to cram in as much as they humanly could. overkill.

jack of all trades master of none.

plus CJ was literally the most stupid protaginist ive ever played as.

and the driving. my god the amount of driving was excruciating.

that enough for ya? :roll:

San Andreas was fun to explore, but story wise, it was too long for its own good, LS was great, SF was decent, but LV was mediocre at best and more of a chore to play.

GTA IV is the perfect GTA so far, there is no other modern (city environment) game anywhere with such an atmosphere and extremely alive game world.

San Andreas is one of the most over-hyped games ever made. I was just saying to someone, just because you have a lot of stuff to do in a game doesn't mean that any of it is actually good. People harp on about the variety when they are just basic mini games that blind people from how tedious the game actually is. There are long, long stretches in that game where you will have to travel to a mission...to start it. If you fail, you go all the way back. Add in some terrible controls and pointless missions and its a tough slog.

IV on the other hand is the GTA game I've always wanted to play. Jaw-dropping city, brimming with incredible details. Almost every mission is well thought out and refined. There are game changing touches, like the mobile phone and situations I've never seen before. One of the favourites of the generation.

San Andreas is one of the most over-hyped games ever made. I was just saying to someone, just because you have a lot of stuff to do in a game doesn't mean that any of it is actually good. People harp on about the variety when they are just basic mini games that blind people from how tedious the game actually is. There are long, long stretches in that game where you will have to travel to a mission...to start it. If you fail, you go all the way back. Add in some terrible controls and pointless missions and its a tough slog.

IV on the other hand is the GTA game I've always wanted to play. Jaw-dropping city, brimming with incredible details. Almost every mission is well thought out and refined. There are game changing touches, like the mobile phone and situations I've never seen before. One of the favourites of the generation.

biggest_loser

[QUOTE="biggest_loser"]

San Andreas is one of the most over-hyped games ever made. I was just saying to someone, just because you have a lot of stuff to do in a game doesn't mean that any of it is actually good. People harp on about the variety when they are just basic mini games that blind people from how tedious the game actually is. There are long, long stretches in that game where you will have to travel to a mission...to start it. If you fail, you go all the way back. Add in some terrible controls and pointless missions and its a tough slog.

IV on the other hand is the GTA game I've always wanted to play. Jaw-dropping city, brimming with incredible details. Almost every mission is well thought out and refined. There are game changing touches, like the mobile phone and situations I've never seen before. One of the favourites of the generation.

DanielDust

Same detail goes into the pedestrian models too, there are hundreds of them with many variations; hats, glasses, different clothes that are randomized, making the pedestrian never seem quite the same.

It's also insane how much lines they recorded for IV, every pedestrian has hundreds of lines and even after playing the game for four years I still hear ones I never noticed before.

Then there's also the physics; The dynamic deformation of the vehicle models for example, which is just incredible for an open world sandbox game, most racing games don't even have this. Euphoria ragdoll engine is also far ahead of anything out there, it's not quite perfect in IV, they tweaked it for RDR and Max Payne 3, but it's definitely ahead of anything in the genre.

Yep, pedestrians are what make the city extremely alive, a lot of them having their own daily routines (talking on the phone, jogging near or in the park, sitting on benches discussing with other AIs, fighting, having an argument, etc), independent from the ones that only walk around aimlessly (other games simply have a zerg of peds walking and waiting to be hit by cars), the food stands also add to it, with vendors shouting hotdogs and such on the streets, or near restaurants employees having a smoke in the back or playing games and many other examples, even the ones driving have lots of variations, I love when somebody causes an accident and if a police car is near they start chasing that car, random traffic accidents, etc, a lot of work went into those.

What I felt lacking (the GTA series in general) and I'm surprised somebody else beat them to it, tho I also respect these devs for what they accomplish with their open world games, Ubisoft and their snow in AC 3, that's what I always though R* would be the first to implement, hopefully they include such a feature in a sequel, with even more detail and complexity.

When it comes to missions,SA>IV.

When it comes to environments and story,IV>SA.

BoGT combines the best from both and is the best gta made till date.I hope 5 will be like BoGT and not IV.

I hope it will be more in the style of San Andreas regarding features and freedom.

Vice City

I've always enjoyed GTA IV. The city is full of life. You could just walk down a street and see a cop randomly arresting and chasing after a suspect, or someone getting hit by a car because the AI are idiots and thats the way R* actually wants to portray them.

San Andreas was great too, having a lot of rpg elements added to it. It was fun cycling from home to the gym, beat up someone on the way to show your manliness then grab some fast food.

Vice City

Darth_Kane

this

Going back to San Andreas feels off to me now, the simplicity of the cities, the weak physics, the bad animations... Even the story feels stupid now with all that gangsta crap. The missions are more varied, thats true, but many of them are badly designed and I didn't enjoy them.

I loved it back when it came out in 2004, but I think it hasn't aged that well. GTA IV is just superior in many ways, and GTA V will make even the most nostalgic gamers forget about GTA SA.

Ben-Buja

I don't mind those issues, i put my mindstate to the release of the game and just enjoy it for what it is. Graphical mods alleviate the situation aswell. But i can see one being frustrated.

C'mon now. That gangsta crap isn't any different than that italian mafioso crap. The story was actually pretty good, they nailed that early 90s black community atmosphere, it actually began to feel nostalgic playing that game. Up until a point a quarter into the game. Wen it reached that point, it became ridiculously stupid.

I agree on your last point. GTA V will surpass San Andreas's reputation of being the GOAT of GTAs, and it'll surpass GTA IV.

I just hope GTA V's cities will be just as condensed as GTA IV and the country areas filled with lots of details not like the LV island in GTA SA where you only had the city, an airfield, small canyon with some trailers and an army base, since the size of the map sounds outrageous.

GTA 4 was better, Vice City was best

gta SA all day long

gta 4 was cool but it got old fast.

I had alotmore funin GTA San Andreas 

I really prefferd GTA IV, I felt San Andreas tried to do too many things and ended up missing the mark on a lot of them. GTA easily takes charecters, story and setting IMO

And Vice City was better than both (so was Saints Row 3 ) 

GTA IV, I have never played a game with such enjoyment, Euphoria does half of the stuff to satisfy you,
GTA V will be the combination of GTA IV and GTA SA making it the best GTA to date. 

[QUOTE="DanielDust"][QUOTE="biggest_loser"]

San Andreas is one of the most over-hyped games ever made. I was just saying to someone, just because you have a lot of stuff to do in a game doesn't mean that any of it is actually good. People harp on about the variety when they are just basic mini games that blind people from how tedious the game actually is. There are long, long stretches in that game where you will have to travel to a mission...to start it. If you fail, you go all the way back. Add in some terrible controls and pointless missions and its a tough slog.

IV on the other hand is the GTA game I've always wanted to play. Jaw-dropping city, brimming with incredible details. Almost every mission is well thought out and refined. There are game changing touches, like the mobile phone and situations I've never seen before. One of the favourites of the generation.

Ben-Buja

Same detail goes into the pedestrian models too, there are hundreds of them with many variations; hats, glasses, different clothes that are randomized, making the pedestrian never seem quite the same.

It's also insane how much lines they recorded for IV, every pedestrian has hundreds of lines and even after playing the game for four years I still hear ones I never noticed before.

Then there's also the physics; The dynamic deformation of the vehicle models for example, which is just incredible for an open world sandbox game, most racing games don't even have this. Euphoria ragdoll engine is also far ahead of anything out there, it's not quite perfect in IV, they tweaked it for RDR and Max Payne 3, but it's definitely ahead of anything in the genre.