The GTA IV Thread

[toastman]

Yeah I need to hop on it as well if I'm going to be able to get the Liberty City minute.

[JuddWack]

Wow! I checked last night. Can't believe I'm only at 30%. I played a lot of online though.

[ace]

And I'm back in. Heh, it's funny, I find myself appreciating the city even more now that I've taken a break, but I hate the combat system more than ever.

[Skynet]

I've noticed a few problems when trying to get people into games or keeping them in it.

I've read it could be a NAT issue depending on how strict your settings are. My settings are on OPEN so it's all good. But I'm having problems connecting certain individuals in the game and keeping everyone in. Anyone know more of this?

[ace]

It's a lot slower moving than previous GTA titles. Not sure if this is a bad thing yet.

[Nyarlathotep]

Quite a few people I know have complained that it's 'just GTA3 again in higher res' and miss the scale of SA, but I particularly appreciate the new gunplay and police system.

Fighting large groups of people used to be a real chore as you'd end up fighting the controls almost as much as the NPCs, but with the new 'half manual' lockons where you can do bodypart specific targetting, and the new cover mechanics, I quite enjoy taking out rooms full of people with assault rifles with well placed pistol headshots. I wish fire escapes were easier to get onto so I could make more use of my sniper rifle though - I think Crackdowns use of verticality spoiled me.

As for the Police system, outrunning the police and seeing their 'zone of influence' and where new patrol units are located on the minimap and finding clean escape routes is so, so, so much better than the old 'speed to the pay & spray' mechanics, as is seeing civilians and officers call in crimes to escalate your wanted level rather than the psychic police force of previous games.

[Specially Cork]

Finally got this game, glad I was easily able to.

My only real gripe so far is some of my favourite "extras" like the pizza and taxi missions are now missing. It's only a minor gripe in relation the rest of the game, but they're easily-implementable things that could be played if you liked them or happily ignored if you didn't.

[az_bont]

My only real gripe so far is some of my favourite "extras" like the pizza and taxi missions are now missing. It's only a minor gripe in relation the rest of the game, but they're easily-implementable things that could be played if you liked them or happily ignored if you didn't.

I know that after a mission somewhere in the middle of the first island you unlock access to police car computers, which allow you to undertake "vigilante" missions--I've not tried them yet, but they at least sound very much along the lines of what was available in previous games.

[mrandyk]

My only real gripe so far is some of my favourite "extras" like the pizza and taxi missions are now missing. It's only a minor gripe in relation the rest of the game, but they're easily-implementable things that could be played if you liked them or happily ignored if you didn't.

I know that after a mission somewhere in the middle of the first island you unlock access to police car computers, which allow you to undertake "vigilante" missions--I've not tried them yet, but they at least sound very much along the lines of what was available in previous games.

They are better in this game, a lot better. You look up one of the most wanted people and then they are on your radar and you hunt them down. And there is no time limit to work against.

[toastman]

I just have the final mission to complete (and missed the Liberty City Minute achievement by 3 hours and some change).

The targeting system and I have problems. Sometimes, it'll snap to a guy who is actually further away or keep locking on the same guy no matter where I'm aiming. But I've become halfway decent at manual targeting. And it's not like grenades are a precision tool.
The cover system works two ways. One, you will get shot less. Two, you will hit less. Especially for enemies that like to blind fire. I kinda liked San Andreas where I would get my auto-rifle skill up to the max and be able to pick people off before they came in range. Here, I have an alternate strategy. Throw grenades. This really worked on the mission that took place at a car dealership type place. The cover system has its quirks as well. Sometimes it'll pick the wrong edge or wall and it is a bitch about letting me off.

And thinking about San Andreas and this game made me realize that I want to play both at the same time. So, here's to Rockstar bringing in some of the bits from San Andreas to the next game in the series.

BTW, when should we organize a DCEmu(.org) event type get together on Live. I'm good for weekends.

[Skynet]

Myself and JuddWack have played a couple of games, but nothing too great yet.

[ace]

IHere, I have an alternate strategy. Throw grenades. This really worked on the mission that took place at a car dealership type place.

Absolutely. The fact that you can carry 25 of them make this an especially effective tactic. It's great not having to horde my grenades for those special encounters. I use them in almost every situation in GTA IV. Clearing rooms, against cops, blowing up cars (and the enemies in and around them), etc. Inside, outside, it doesn't matter. Now if only the RPG had the same capacity

The cover system has its quirks as well. Sometimes it'll pick the wrong edge or wall and it is a bitch about letting me off.

*Nod*

It fluctuates from decent to horrendous. I tend to move around a lot in combat because I hate having to "camp" the NPC enemies because they refuse to come out of hiding. It's really frustrating to lose 80 per cent of my health because the game decided to place me directly in the line of fire instead safely behind the cover that my crosshair was coincidentally aimed directly at. And then, as you said, you aren't always able to "un-stick" yourself from the wall.

BTW, when should we organize a DCEmu(.org) event type get together on Live. I'm good for weekends.

Absolutely. I don't really have weekends, but so long as I'm not on shift it doesn't matter anyways.

[toastman]

That last mission can eat my balls.

Chasing the SUV through the streets. No problem. Only failed it once and that was on my nth attempt of the mission.
The assault on the warehouse. Easy. Good cover, cars to blow up, but otherwise pretty open.

That fucking motorbike chase on the beach. Giving me a shitty ass Sanchez and expecting me to zip along the beach and hit a fucking ramp on a slight curve is just being a little bitch. Not to mention the 10 times I could've pegged this guy with either a grenade, rocket, or assault rifle. This part was artificially hard for no reason but to make the mission "challenging". It wasn't, it was cheap.

The helicopter chase and subsequent shoot-out at Happiness Island were nothing. It's just that damn motorbike section.

[MulletMan13]

That fucking motorbike chase on the beach. Giving me a shitty ass Sanchez and expecting me to zip along the beach and hit a fucking ramp on a slight curve is just being a little bitch. Not to mention the 10 times I could've pegged this guy with either a grenade, rocket, or assault rifle. This part was artificially hard for no reason but to make the mission "challenging". It wasn't, it was cheap.

Hrmm I got the whole thing done my first time through... didn't think the bike part was difficult at all... if it was a different bike it would have been much more difficult. In any case, I don't think that it was artificially challenging... by the end of the game you should have the skills to get it done. Also I don't remember flooring it the entire time on the beach... but I do remember it was really flat and the ramp was super easy to find.

[toastman]

That fucking motorbike chase on the beach. Giving me a shitty ass Sanchez and expecting me to zip along the beach and hit a fucking ramp on a slight curve is just being a little bitch. Not to mention the 10 times I could've pegged this guy with either a grenade, rocket, or assault rifle. This part was artificially hard for no reason but to make the mission "challenging". It wasn't, it was cheap.

Hrmm I got the whole thing done my first time through... didn't think the bike part was difficult at all... if it was a different bike it would have been much more difficult. In any case, I don't think that it was artificially challenging... by the end of the game you should have the skills to get it done. Also I don't remember flooring it the entire time on the beach... but I do remember it was really flat and the ramp was super easy to find.

Maybe I don't drive bikes enough, but I found the motorbike to handle pretty squirrelly in the sand. Anyway, I uploaded a portion of the map with the route in yellow. The red circle is the little jump you have to make. That jump gave me problems. I found myself in the water several times. I lost the bike on the landing at least twice and subsequently lost the guy. The green marker is what I will call "the barrel of doom". That barrel threw me off enough to cause me to either miss the ramp completely, or take the ramp wrong and miss the jump.

Only three times did I fail the mission due to other reasons. One time, I went up the road instead of heading towards the ramp. This was the first time I had gotten that far and I was tired of the damn beach. Another time, I had actually destroyed the car we were in during the first section. Lastly, I landed the helicopter in the water. I had gotten mixed up and started pressing A instead of the left trigger to achieve lift. Didn't work.

It could be my bike handling skills in general. I also had a little difficulty on the Faggio chase through Middle Park. When scoping out vehicles, I usually take a muscle car or sports car if I can find one. I can drive those like a madman. With bikes, I usually see how far I can fly off of them.

[Jeeba Jabba]

Can anyone tell me if it's possible to turn off the auto-aim?

[sixteen-bit]

Options > Controls > Auto Aiming > Off
Should do it, no?

[pixel]

I want to do some live. I'm open after 5 pm CST on weekdays, weekends whenever.
Tag: bigpixl

[Specially Cork]

I think the single improvement I enjoy most about this game is the driving. For a game that relies so heavily on moving about in a car, the past GTAs have all been quite dull in that respect. Now everything has a bit more weight to it and I feel like my driving skill has a lot more control over what happens. I just like cruising the streets doing nothing much at times.

[pixel]

I think the single improvement I enjoy most about this game is the driving. For a game that relies so heavily on moving about in a car, the past GTAs have all been quite dull in that respect. Now everything has a bit more weight to it and I feel like my driving skill has a lot more control over what happens. I just like cruising the streets doing nothing much at times.

Absolutely. There's much more to driving now. While it's more complex, it's easier for me drive simply because it feels so natural.
Personally, I like chases and get aways a lot more now.