Wdym GTA is overrated?

[Deleted member 77791]

I can confrim GTA made me relaise im beyond stupid im so dumb it´s a wonder im alive.

35 years of gaming played over 600 games beaten nearly 400 games. And I can´t still understand how GTA series is the most beloved of all time the first 3 games where basic fun at best. The rest of the game just same shit over and over with better graphics new playable charter and slightly different story. It´s like Pokemon and COD. You played one you played them all.

I do personally love GTA San Andreas because it's more than a GTA game in my mind. It's like a great adventure book you can play. It's the only game offer you variety of so much missions and situations as its gameplay offers a high sandbox fun. Eventually an ordinary guy from the hood find himself being used like a special agent between multiple cities as there is decent character development here you will never see in other GTA games. And then he returns to his home and stays for what's left of his family by making a new family mixed with his own old family.

I don't mean to say GTA SA situation and story is peak in video gaming, I think it in the context of GTA series.

First GTA games is "go there, kill him and steal that car."

GTA 3 has a lifeless empty character who doesn't even talk. It's like being a freelancer simulator in the illegal scene.

GTA Vice City has a character talks too much. Just shut up Tommy, show me the money or you'll be killed by Sonny so don't go home crying for your mommy. This is all the game is about with crazy missions but they were fun, man. There are really memorable ones.

GTA San Andreas is different thing. CJ is very relatable character for many reasons that require me to write about all of the game to explain why. When CJ talks I sit and listen lol. You start the game and see CJ had to return to the damn city he escaped for a better life by saying "Oh shit here we go again." but then he stayed because of his family by self-sacrificing himself, damn that's really a decent character writing. Great change compared to Tommy. As the game continues the sense of adventure keep changing and I do assure you nothing you experience in GTA San Andreas is something that you will ever experience in any other game. You will never be chased by police helicopter and saw police murder each other just to catch you by making each other go in pieces. You will never follow that damn train with a person who rides motorbike for you. You will never jump from other plane from another plane -> get inside and kill people without making the plane crash. You will never kill a person you love who want to kill you because he is corrupted so much because of money he still wanna kill you despite he loves you so much. Hideo Kojima stole the idea for emotional boss fight for MGS3 from GTA SA but it wasn't as striking as GTA SA lol. I especially cried when after that boss fight in GTA SA this song played: "I gave my life, not for trains, but for number 7" lolol

However I gotta admit I really loved to immerse myself into the story of "I have no idea who plays with me like a fiddle" story and CJs character development that he showed who is the boss is very remarkable point in video game history.

GTA 4 is all about your cousin. Cousin and the cousin.

GTA 5 is all about heists. There is an ordinary young man. An ordinary old man. And there is extraordinary man who exist just because at the time crazy characters were very popular. If Rockstar had wanted to create a character about what people wanted in GTA SA they wouldn't make CJ exist. They wouldn't write a story like that. In the end future of GTA could have ended with GTA San Andreas if it weren't a video game like that.

So why I love GTA San Andreas? I do love the diverse gamemap and sandbox fun I do have, but I also love CJ. There is no such a character you will ever see in anything. Playing as such a character and experiencing his life is not something you will experience in any other game. I love CJ but no homo damn lol.

 

[TruxtonTatsujin]

I like the PS2 era games for their more arcadey feel, but once they tried to get more realistic and grounded with 4 onward I stopped caring. These games are nowhere near my favourites though, so in that sense I can say they're "overrated"
also shout out to the Dreamcast port of GTA2, it's pretty good.

 

[Nebulon_Galaxy]

GTA games are overrated to hell and back, sure the freedom at the time was revolutionary to some degree. But coming back to them with the original hardware and television at the time. The games are tedious. Most of the missions in VC and 3 are just steal X or Kill y. No variety in the way to tackle the missions, mission structure is hand holding. They do try to mix it up with a race or a RC mission. But those are few and far between.
Collectibles? You can scatter collectibles in any game and claim the length could be justified. Sadly ALL GTA collectibles are unneccassary and unfun. Bloats the games and the unlockable is useless when a cheat code can do the same with a fraction of the time spent collecting.
San Andreas is the same, only exemption is that the mission variety has been fixed but still no way to handle the missions you want.
GTA4 is one of my favorite games of all time, and they still havent fixed any issues that persist in these games. Rockstar has made sure they hold your hand extra hard going forward with Red Dead Series and GTA 5+.

In the end, these games are nothing more than 6 out of 10 games. People praise these for the story or the soundtrack yet no one talks about the gameplay. They shrug it off or ignore it. The issue is in the plate and yet they eat around it.

 

[Deleted member 77791]

San Andreas is the same, only exemption is that the mission variety has been fixed but still no way to handle the missions you want.

My brain crashed with BSOD due to I_have_no_idea_what_you_mean 0x00000050 error lol.

If a mission asks you to kill a person you have many ways to do it.

If a mission ask you to go somewhere you have many ways to do it.

Some missions require their own narratives to keep intact. Yes, it may be bothering when you should only drive Big Smoke's car because he refuse to get out of the car despite it's on fire because he really loves his car enough to die in it, but it's very realistic, man. There are really tons of people like that lol.

Some missions ask you to jump from plane to plane to enter it. I have no idea how else you can do it when the mission already force you to do it in the best way possible.

Though I may agree on it would be great to skip some missions, but then it added into the character narrative on all the BS CJ has to do for a better life he always dreamed. He self-sacrificed his life by expecting to lose his future but at least not his family but in the end he earned lots of stuff most of us cannot dream of but we are blessed with not having such a BS past he has to live with lol. Sometimes life gives us no choice so we fail in life if we don't do what we have to do perfectly in one way, so not wanting a game to be realistic is not realistic for me. This is also a game for it has its own rule you have to play by hence it's a game. To me your argument seems like "I dislike chess because pieces cannot move in the way I want.". Disliking chess because how boring the game is realistic reason, not because of the game's rule rather for the fact that it's a game. Then your argument becomes "I dislike this game because it's a game so I wish it wasn't a game" then what you would play when it's not a game? When video game industry already killed video gaming by spamming non-game rubbish programs, your argument makes an exclamation mark of fundamental reason for why video game industry died, because non-gamers don't want games to be a game. They want to walk, listen to pointless dialogues, virtual date with digital women and watch 3 hours cutscene.

If you expect Deus Ex 1 gameplay, it would be great if a GTA were an immersive sim but it's beyond of what Rockstar was ever capable of, especially too much to expect from the new generation Rockstar.

As for collectables, I'm the guy who bought every clothes in the game lol. I completed every graffiti stuff. I collected every horseshoe. I collected.. IDK what they were underwater lol. They were useful. It gave you benefits for the weird sense of RPG aspect of the game lol. It was satisfying to play a legit game without cheating, man. GTA SA is fun without cheats but more fun with cheats.

Then you would really hate GTA 4 and 5 more and in comparison GTA SA would be the best game ever developed lol.

 

[BladeEXE67]

My first GTA was San Andreas on PC, as a kid, to me it was a sandbox to fuck around, see how long you can hold up before the military gets you. This forever stuck with me and I could never bring myself to actually play the story. There are far better games like May Payne or Skyrim that keep me engaged. I played GTA V for a while, GTA Online was a shameless cashgrab and having GTA 6 mentioned everywhere on the net is really annoying. There are people that don't care about GTA 6, I am more hyped about the new Onimusha.

 

[Deleted member 77791]

My first GTA was San Andreas on PC, as a kid, to me it was a sandbox to fuck around, see how long you can hold up before the military gets you. This forever stuck with me and I could never bring myself to actually play the story. There are far better games like May Payne or Skyrim that keep me engaged. I played GTA V for a while, GTA Online was a shameless cashgrab and having GTA 6 mentioned everywhere on the net is really annoying. There are people that don't care about GTA 6, I am more hyped about the new Onimusha.

You have discovered the core fun of GTA series that's killed after GTA SA: Finding a tank -> wrecking everywhere -> surviving as long as you can by raising the heat all the way by genociding the whole army lol.

 

[Nebulon_Galaxy]

My brain crashed with BSOD due to I_have_no_idea_what_you_mean 0x00000050 error lol.

If a mission asks you to kill a person you have many ways to do it.

If a mission ask you to go somewhere you have many ways to do it.

Some missions require their own narratives to keep intact. Yes, it may be bothering when you should only drive Big Smoke's car because he refuse to get out of the car despite it's on fire because he really loves his car enough to die in it, but it's very realistic, man. There are really tons of people like that lol.

Some missions ask you to jump from plane to plane to enter it. I have no idea how else you can do it when the mission already force you to do it in the best way possible.

Though I may agree on it would be great to skip some missions, but then it added into the character narrative on all the BS CJ has to do for a better life he always dreamed. He self-sacrificed his life by expecting to lose his future but at least not his family but in the end he earned lots of stuff most of us cannot dream of but we are blessed with not having such a BS past he has to live with lol. Sometimes life gives us no choice so we fail in life if we don't do what we have to do perfectly in one way, so not wanting a game to be realistic is not realistic for me. This is also a game for it has its own rule you have to play by hence it's a game. To me your argument seems like "I dislike chess because pieces cannot move in the way I want.". Disliking chess because how boring the game is realistic reason, not because of the game's rule rather for the fact that it's a game. Then your argument becomes "I dislike this game because it's a game so I wish it wasn't a game" then what you would play when it's not a game? When video game industry already killed video gaming by spamming non-game rubbish programs, your argument makes an exclamation mark of fundamental reason for why video game industry died, because non-gamers don't want games to be a game. They want to walk, listen to pointless dialogues, virtual date with digital women and watch 3 hours cutscene.

If you expect Deus Ex 1 gameplay, it would be great if a GTA were an immersive sim but it's beyond of what Rockstar was ever capable of, especially too much to expect from the new generation Rockstar.

As for collectables, I'm the guy who bought every clothes in the game lol. I completed every graffiti stuff. I collected every horseshoe. I collected.. IDK what they were underwater lol. They were useful. It gave you benefits for the weird sense of RPG aspect of the game lol. It was satisfying to play a legit game without cheating, man. GTA SA is fun without cheats but more fun with cheats.

Then you would really hate GTA 4 and 5 more and in comparison GTA SA would be the best game ever developed lol.

i dont understand you got the assumption that I would hate chess cause "the pieces dont move in the way i want" Your assumptions are baseless and serves nothing but too bloat the already bloated response that could be discussed in a matter of several sentences.

But enough of sentence structuring, The complaint stems from 5 whole games and nothing changed in mission structure. It seems you didn't read the rest of my comment, since you assumed that I don't play video games cause the game is too "Video Gamey" or "The game doesn't move the way i want". Which is false, I just want more ways to tackle missions besides, kill X with Z instead of Y.

"Then you would really hate GTA 4 and 5 more and in comparison GTA SA would be the best game ever developed lol."
I assuming you didn't read the rest of my post, so I'm not gonna discuss this with you at this point.

 

[ciro64]

Bro you get to shoot and run over people in a big city since when that's overrated

I'll definitely defend it was groundbreaking for its time at least, but I still had lots of fun with GTA V's online despite its faults, I'm hoping that the next installment will fix those

 

[Deleted member 77791]

i dont understand you got the assumption that I would hate chess cause "the pieces dont move in the way i want" Your assumptions are baseless and serves nothing but too bloat the already bloated response that could be discussed in a matter of several sentences.

But enough of sentence structuring, The complaint stems from 5 whole games and nothing changed in mission structure. It seems you didn't read the rest of my comment, since you assumed that I don't play video games cause the game is too "Video Gamey" or "The game doesn't move the way i want". Which is false, I just want more ways to tackle missions besides, kill X with Z instead of Y.

"Then you would really hate GTA 4 and 5 more and in comparison GTA SA would be the best game ever developed lol."
I assuming you didn't read the rest of my post, so I'm not gonna discuss this with you at this point.

I see. I agree to disagree then. No hard feelings. I was too blinded by my love for GTA SA lol.

 

[hfjshgshsg]

I dont think one should care about the opinion of strangers regarding the things they care. Since i dont know you, this also means that i dont think you should care about what I'm saying. When it comes to gta it does not offer the type of experience that i enjoy. Is it overrated? I never played so i dont have a way to know.

 

[Den MDM Den MDM]

By the way, I finally got to do the 12 paramedic levels on GTA 3 to get the 100%

OMG did they fuck up there, I couldnt go past level 5 sober but I had some nice skills there. Thankfully they used checkpoints in latter games, cuz doing all that in one go is diabolical

Post automatically merged: May 18, 2025

I dont think one should care about the opinion of strangers regarding the things they care. Since i dont know you, this also means that i dont think you should care about what I'm saying. When it comes to gta it does not offer the type of experience that i enjoy. Is it overrated? I never played so i dont have a way to know.

That's a good one too. I was just curious about how different our perceptions were, even though none of us know each other it's nice to share opinions as long as it doesn't turn into pointless arguments!

 

[Deleted member 77791]

By the way, I finally got to do the 12 paramedic levels on GTA 3 to get the 100%

If you wanna unlock a cool taxicab do the taxi side content until it unlocks lolol.

 

[Den MDM Den MDM]

If you wanna unlock a cool taxicab do the taxi side content until it unlocks lolol.

Oh yes I already got the borgnine. It's cool but it would have been better if you got it at 50 fares or something so you could actually use it to continue the taxi missions until 100. It looks very nice tho, and the handling is really cool so can't complain

 

[RashFaustinho]

Personally I miss the feeling of the PS1 and PS2 titles.

After the switch to GTA 4 and the new engine, sure, it's all pretty to look at and Niko/Trevor/Franklin/Franklin move all like real men!
But... That's part of the problem for me. That side of realism doesn't really appeal to me.

I like that in GTA 2 protag was a one man army. In Vice City, Vercetti was Usain Bolt, his running speed was absurd! In San Andreas, CJ is pretty ridicolous as well.
They all had unrealistic movements/animations, and this allowed the "combat" to feel incredibly fast paced.

In the HD GTAs, instead, it all feels slower, more sluggish. I don't know how Online is, I never touched it, maybe with all the stuff that is there that feeling goes away.

 

[WokiBakoki]

I think 5 is overrated as hell, but San Andreas and Vice City are both smash hits. Absolutely adore them. No game gets more jank forgivness from me than Vice City because it's still fun and brimmed with personality. That soundtrack is just gold and both those games are full of qwirks I wish more games adopted now.

Unrealistic and very simple, yes. But static upgrades for finishing the side hustles. Beating the 12 Paramedic missions in one shot in VC gives you unlimited sprinting stamina, like imagine how much time you'd save in BOTW if you could do that! Collecting secret hidden goods unlocks bonuses like free weapons at your base to save needing to restock or find them yourself. Again, using BOTW as an example. Imagine if every 50 Koroks you got a new respawning weapon or piece of armour to own. PS2 GTA is on the surface, a very basic game. But they don't even tell you about half the things that are waiting for you out there. Iniviting and rewarding you for exploring and enjoying all the stuff besides the main missions.

Devs nowadays don't trust gamers to have the intuition and natural thirst for getting the most out of a game themselves. Back then it was all about finding stuff yourself and sharing it with friends who also play the game. It makes ya think "what else is this game hiding from me?" and it's sort of a lost art now that you just Google everything the game doesn't outright tell you. Those games built the massive hype, expectations and success of the franchise, and 5 is the blank slate to infinitely squeeze money out of suckers who don't know any better.

5 is overrated because it stands on the shoulders of genre definers to be a platform for a never ending monitisation loop. The single player is... Fine. But both devs and players aren't what they used to be. They sacrificed the opportunity to have a more exciting open-world playground that some players don't enjoy to the fullest in exchange for a more linear and empty world where you never get lost and never miss anything. As well as it being less stylised and more of a canvas to build as much online expansions and DLC content as they want.

 

[Dannzy]

I can not understand a statement about the whole series being overrated, every release was not only a milestone but a game that holds up well despite the age, especially starting with GTA III.

GTA V though is definitely a letdown, as already mentioned above, the game is mainly a framework for the multiplayer component that simply drives you to grind rather than have fun, with the single player suffering due to severe streamlining of the game's systems in favor of making sure you do everything as intended from beginning to end. The only notable aspect of GTA V is that it ran fairly well for its polish in the Xbox 360 and PS3, and the game has a notorious amount of dialogue, but the story is messier and less relatable than other entries so all we're really left with is a game that's simply fancy but not deep, and yet it has catapulted itself into the most profitable media property ever made regardless.

 

[foxpaws]

Personally I would tell you that the PS2 games existed in a time that they were the most relevant in western game culture. We needed games that offended people to protect the freedom of people to male said games however GTA since around V does not garner the same controversy as it once did. It does still exist as a sature of American culture but after people ran through the campaign the aggressive push toward multiplayer had put Rockstar's priorities into perspective and soured me on the series.

I would tell you that the new game will probably be likely the same case, once again milked for its multiplayer for another decade with Rockstar having little to show for it and GTA's place in gaming becoming as pointless as modern day South Park. Both series that still they still satirize our current culture but are unnecessary today and exist only to capitalize on their established presence in their respective industry.