PURPOSE OF THIS THREAD: Mix and match mechanics from all existing GTA games to create the ultimate Grand Theft Auto.
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Between all the various Grand Theft Auto Games and Red Dead Redemption, R* has introduced a wide variety of gameplay mechanics. Many of these were changing as the series progressed, sometimes for the better, sometimes for worse.
This thread is about stitching together YOUR dream Grand Theft Auto game from the elements that came before. Ill start of course, but Im really interested in your little car-stealing Frankensteins. Join the fun! Oh, and while Im trying not to modify what already exists too much, feel free to make up systems from the ground.
GAME STRUCTURE
As much as enjoy the structure of contemporary GTA games, theres something in GTA2 that makes me return to it regularly. The level of freedom is astounding and feels fresh even today.
For those of you with short memory, both the original GTA and GTA2, while featuring dozens of missions, presented the player with only one critical goal: attaining a set sum of money. A patient player could finish each section by, for example, only stealing and selling cars.
Now, with all the non-violent money making opportunities of later games (like taxi or ambulance), you could complete a new GTA structured this way without killing anyone. Of course, not many people would find that very appealing, but more freedom is always a good thing, no?
I also like this system because the mechanic is very elegant. You can buy stuff to perform better, but at the same time youre actually getting away from your goal because youre spending cash. In GTA2, the player had to pay for saving, which made the whole design even more interesting.
Obviously, I would make two changes:
- No permanent death, as in GTA 1 or 2. If the player gets wasted, just take some money away from him and maybe lower the score multiplier. If the player gets busted, take the guns away, but for the love of god, let him buy them back, like in Vice City Stories!
- Reaching a milestone would not teleport the player to a wholly separate level, but simply push the plot forward and unlock either a new district of the city or even actually a new city, if something approaching the scope of San Andreas is doable this gen.
As for the missions itself, I would bring back the respect system from GTA2. The idea is that there are three factions in each district. The more you work for them or kill their enemies the more respected you are and you get harder, better paying missions. However, at the same time, you get negative respect from the opposing faction. That not only blocks their missions until you kiss and make up, but also makes them actively try to kill you and even send hitmen after you.
Now, I would like to have that back. Of course, since all the missions would basically be optional, not as many resources could be put into accompanying cutscenes and so on. One way to combat that would be to make sure that no factions gets completely destroyed during the game, so you can do missions for them even after completing the critical path.
Oh, and dont get me wrong - Im not advocating completely sacrificing the story for the sake of gameplay. Its just that most of the story would be tied to the main goal (getting progressively larger amounts of cash), with cutscenes playing after reaching each milestone. The plot and character relationships could be further developed through phone-calls.
Finally, some version of the honor system from RDR could be nice, especially because of the many ways to reach the goal, but it would have to fit the plot and I dont find it necessary.
WANTED SYSTEM
Id keep the Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars version. Id also add the bounty system from RDR for the factions the player had pissed off. Instead of paying the bounty at a train station, youd have to either pay tribute to the faction or do a couple of special missions for them.
GUNPLAY AND COVER
While still not perfect, I think RDR has the best gunplay of all open-world Rockstar games so far. Targeting could use some work, but at least it feels right. Its annoying in GTA IV how you can shoot a pedestrian five times in the stomach and hed still be alive. In Red Dead, I feel every shot matters. Even if an enemy survives a bullet to the chest, I can at least see that he just got hit in the chest. Feels good, mang!
Some form of Dead Eye would be perfect for shooting tires and fuel tanks. It could be kept to just one bullet, so the player would use the ability only on special occasions. Im also a fan of regenerating heath...
*ducks*
MEELE COMBAT
This pretty much sucks in all GTAs, especially the later ones. Id argue that Vice City Stories is the one-eyed game among the blind, so lets have that. Or better yet, Id cheat a little and use the fighting mechanic from The Warriors or Bully. These games got it right.
ASSETS
I like the Vice City Stories approach the most. However, in place of protecting the property from attackers, Id add optional missions that let the player make better profit from the asset. For example, firebombing a rival restaurant, recruiting girls for a porno studio, finding better cars for a taxi service and so on. Speaking of taxi services...
VEHICLE MISSIONS
Again, I think Chinatown Wars has the best implementation of vehicle missions so far. No need to mess with perfection. Some other things that Id keep from CW are the drug deals, online Ammunation and the ability to hijack transport trucks.
CHARACTER CUSTOMIZATION
I still think San Andreas did it best. Youd still have a set character, but you could change his hairstyle, clothes, add tattoos and so on. It could tie-in with the respect system.
CAR CUSTOMIZATION
San Adreas had this elaborate car customization system that I never used because I had a habit of crashing my car on the way to buy groceries. I think this could be remedied with a variation of Red Dead Redemptions horse hitching. Any car left at the garage would be considered owned (if it was acquired through theft, the player would perhaps have to hit a PaynSpray first). Then, if it were destroyed, it could be salvaged and repaired for a fee by making a phone call in other words, it would simply respawn at the garage. It would also be great if the player could call for his pimped out ride to be delivered to a certain place, like in Scarface.
FRIENDS AND GIRLFRIENDS
I dont hate how it was done in GTA IV. However, Id probably lessen the penalties for telling a friend off or maybe even eliminate them altogether and just make it harder to max out a relationship. Obviously, EACH friend or girlfriend should have an unlockable skill. There must be more incentive to hang out with virtual characters than an arbitrary game completion stat (although I know its enough for many boys and gals).
I think thats it. Please discuss and share your own views.
Or, alternatively, tell me theres no way youre reading all this and that its a cool story (bro). Then post gifs of people asleep on the keyboard. Thanks!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Between all the various Grand Theft Auto Games and Red Dead Redemption, R* has introduced a wide variety of gameplay mechanics. Many of these were changing as the series progressed, sometimes for the better, sometimes for worse.
This thread is about stitching together YOUR dream Grand Theft Auto game from the elements that came before. Ill start of course, but Im really interested in your little car-stealing Frankensteins. Join the fun! Oh, and while Im trying not to modify what already exists too much, feel free to make up systems from the ground.
GAME STRUCTURE
As much as enjoy the structure of contemporary GTA games, theres something in GTA2 that makes me return to it regularly. The level of freedom is astounding and feels fresh even today.
For those of you with short memory, both the original GTA and GTA2, while featuring dozens of missions, presented the player with only one critical goal: attaining a set sum of money. A patient player could finish each section by, for example, only stealing and selling cars.
Now, with all the non-violent money making opportunities of later games (like taxi or ambulance), you could complete a new GTA structured this way without killing anyone. Of course, not many people would find that very appealing, but more freedom is always a good thing, no?
I also like this system because the mechanic is very elegant. You can buy stuff to perform better, but at the same time youre actually getting away from your goal because youre spending cash. In GTA2, the player had to pay for saving, which made the whole design even more interesting.
Obviously, I would make two changes:
- No permanent death, as in GTA 1 or 2. If the player gets wasted, just take some money away from him and maybe lower the score multiplier. If the player gets busted, take the guns away, but for the love of god, let him buy them back, like in Vice City Stories!
- Reaching a milestone would not teleport the player to a wholly separate level, but simply push the plot forward and unlock either a new district of the city or even actually a new city, if something approaching the scope of San Andreas is doable this gen.
As for the missions itself, I would bring back the respect system from GTA2. The idea is that there are three factions in each district. The more you work for them or kill their enemies the more respected you are and you get harder, better paying missions. However, at the same time, you get negative respect from the opposing faction. That not only blocks their missions until you kiss and make up, but also makes them actively try to kill you and even send hitmen after you.
Now, I would like to have that back. Of course, since all the missions would basically be optional, not as many resources could be put into accompanying cutscenes and so on. One way to combat that would be to make sure that no factions gets completely destroyed during the game, so you can do missions for them even after completing the critical path.
Oh, and dont get me wrong - Im not advocating completely sacrificing the story for the sake of gameplay. Its just that most of the story would be tied to the main goal (getting progressively larger amounts of cash), with cutscenes playing after reaching each milestone. The plot and character relationships could be further developed through phone-calls.
Finally, some version of the honor system from RDR could be nice, especially because of the many ways to reach the goal, but it would have to fit the plot and I dont find it necessary.
WANTED SYSTEM
Id keep the Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars version. Id also add the bounty system from RDR for the factions the player had pissed off. Instead of paying the bounty at a train station, youd have to either pay tribute to the faction or do a couple of special missions for them.
GUNPLAY AND COVER
While still not perfect, I think RDR has the best gunplay of all open-world Rockstar games so far. Targeting could use some work, but at least it feels right. Its annoying in GTA IV how you can shoot a pedestrian five times in the stomach and hed still be alive. In Red Dead, I feel every shot matters. Even if an enemy survives a bullet to the chest, I can at least see that he just got hit in the chest. Feels good, mang!
Some form of Dead Eye would be perfect for shooting tires and fuel tanks. It could be kept to just one bullet, so the player would use the ability only on special occasions. Im also a fan of regenerating heath...
*ducks*
MEELE COMBAT
This pretty much sucks in all GTAs, especially the later ones. Id argue that Vice City Stories is the one-eyed game among the blind, so lets have that. Or better yet, Id cheat a little and use the fighting mechanic from The Warriors or Bully. These games got it right.
ASSETS
I like the Vice City Stories approach the most. However, in place of protecting the property from attackers, Id add optional missions that let the player make better profit from the asset. For example, firebombing a rival restaurant, recruiting girls for a porno studio, finding better cars for a taxi service and so on. Speaking of taxi services...
VEHICLE MISSIONS
Again, I think Chinatown Wars has the best implementation of vehicle missions so far. No need to mess with perfection. Some other things that Id keep from CW are the drug deals, online Ammunation and the ability to hijack transport trucks.
CHARACTER CUSTOMIZATION
I still think San Andreas did it best. Youd still have a set character, but you could change his hairstyle, clothes, add tattoos and so on. It could tie-in with the respect system.
CAR CUSTOMIZATION
San Adreas had this elaborate car customization system that I never used because I had a habit of crashing my car on the way to buy groceries. I think this could be remedied with a variation of Red Dead Redemptions horse hitching. Any car left at the garage would be considered owned (if it was acquired through theft, the player would perhaps have to hit a PaynSpray first). Then, if it were destroyed, it could be salvaged and repaired for a fee by making a phone call in other words, it would simply respawn at the garage. It would also be great if the player could call for his pimped out ride to be delivered to a certain place, like in Scarface.
FRIENDS AND GIRLFRIENDS
I dont hate how it was done in GTA IV. However, Id probably lessen the penalties for telling a friend off or maybe even eliminate them altogether and just make it harder to max out a relationship. Obviously, EACH friend or girlfriend should have an unlockable skill. There must be more incentive to hang out with virtual characters than an arbitrary game completion stat (although I know its enough for many boys and gals).
I think thats it. Please discuss and share your own views.
Or, alternatively, tell me theres no way youre reading all this and that its a cool story (bro). Then post gifs of people asleep on the keyboard. Thanks!
