Now that the dust has settled, what did we think of it? Too small? Too big? Just right?

does anyone in gta ever reference the fact they're living on an island?

>I will never explore this map for the first time again

it was so kino bros it felt endless when you were dropped into Los Santos for first time, V is soulless shit.

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I liked it, but I can see where people don't. The city felt too small despite being huge. San Andreas is still the de facto perfect GTA progression. You feel the progress happening when you move from the hood to the city, and then from the city to the boonies. You get to understand your surroundings, and even visit a knockoff Vegas. The progression is clear neighborhood to neighborhood. This is even present in GTA IV. In V, everything blends together because you can go anywhere from basically the start, and the story missions are so streamlined that you basically just follow along and get fed everything. There's no sense of motion or permanence, everything just stays still. No inciting incident like Smoke's betrayal or the cab shop burning down. Everyone just lives at home until they buy a bigger home. Nothing happens. It sucks. But it's fine, I guess. That's GTA V in a nutshell - It's fine, I guess.

and a couple dozen strangers and freaks missions of varying interactivity and memorability, kinda pathetic if you ask me

Better than 2077

IMO what really made SA's map work was there was a lot of little towns and settlements

In the city, the game tries its hardest to keep you on the road, it really doesn't want you cutting across anyones lawn or through an alleyway or you'll run into walls and dead ends. In the country its a lot less restrictive but there is so little to do other than drive. GTAs world in general is really empty though, so much of the city can only be reached on foot yet there is no reason to even bother cause 99 times out of a 100 there is nothing there, I remember specifically finding the dam and being disappointed that the only thing there is a health kit.

it started off okay but after the first heist in went full retard.

To be honest, even the cities in San Andreas aren't that great. They are just serviceable. The map is great overall, but you can tell the city design still needs work. Los Santos and San Fierro aren't exactly exciting locations on their own. I still think that Vice City might be the strongest city Rockstar has made, because there is such a clear contrast between the two sides that gives them a lot of character. The eastern side is lush with a beach and a golf course and richer with more clubs and lights, the western side feels more rundown with gangs and smaller homes, plus the freight depot and airport giving it a more business feel.

Rockstar since has not really been able to capture that same feeling...everything kind of just blends

This. All the little towns give the game Soul, even if there isn't really anything to do in them.

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form your own opinion you knuckle dragging mouth breather

Not enough city

The country side and mountains were always shit in GTA

SAN Andreas is probably less than half the size but feels way bigger as it has multiple mini cities

Good size, poorly utilized. Areas used for 1 story mission and nothing else, tons of hills/mountains. Nothing besides the heist happens in the northern most town, and I can only think of Lester's house in the bottom right of Los Santos itself

Then you have shit that only Online ended up using like the horse track, casino etc

Go back and play Vice City

It’s insane how small it is I never even noticed as a kid

Look at how little there is outside of LS, and even then LS doesn't even have THAT many missions. Many of these are just witnessing "funny" events.

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rockstar desperately needs more interiors in their cities. more clothing stores, more dance clubs, more restaurants, more businesses, more shady hideouts. even if just for atmosphere, but ideally some function too.

This
I really felt lost in a remote place far away from any big city despite the map being smaller than gta 5.
To be honest i really enjoyed the moment when you travel with Trevor to Los santos the first time, but it was the only instance when it felt huge

Strangers and freaks is my favorite part of the game. I think its because i like the more mundane feel rather than the super epic heists. I would like a whole game with just side missions

It depends on how good/varied they are. GTAV missions? 90% trash. RDR2 Strangers and Freaks missions? Mostly good I would say.

LV was the best city in GTA.

Change my mind.

>there is such a clear contrast between the two sides that gives them a lot of character. The eastern side is lush with a beach and a golf course and richer with more clubs and lights, the western side feels more rundown with gangs and smaller homes, plus the freight depot and airport giving it a more business feel.

That’s how Miami is in real life. They really captured it perfectly.

Peak size. I feel like this map literally could not be done again, it would be WAY too big because they'd make each city like 20x the size

Vice City is overrated garbage, zoomers suck it's dick because they think they'll sound cool and cultured for fawning over muh 80s muh 80s muh 80s. Top cringe. The only part of the Vice City map people praise the south eastern street with the beach and neon lights. Everything is so bland and forgettable, especially that atrocious western island. Most overrated game of all time.

This is why I miss losing your weapons when you fuck up. Sure you could call it a waste of time and just savescum but it gave you a reason to remember all the nooks and crannies of the maps and get yourself free shotguns and flamethrowers.
But what I really miss is cop bribes, I feel like memorizing alleyways that you can cut through to lower your wanted level to 2 stars then just driving to a change of clothes to lose them is more fun than just driving away from teleporting cops until they lose you.

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old-school GTA is dead and nothing can save it, the next instalment is going to be fully monetized and built from the ground up focusing on online only.

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stop projecting

No matter how hard people try to convince me that this map is actually small SA will never not feel like the biggest open world in any game I've ever played.

>This is why I miss losing your weapons when you fuck up.
Just date that Asian chick in San Fierro and you don't lose your weapons unless you get Busted.

The map is great, but they should have used it more if they were making an open world game.

i miss pay n spray. supposedly in GTA V you can lose your wanted level by going into los santos customs, but i was never able to enter with a wanted level

Correct.
VC was blown out of preportion by boomers back in the 2000's and now zoomers think they are cool liking it.

Vice City was bland and dare I say...
souless.

Seething zoomer exposed.

Is it ever explained why GTA maps are surrounded by water? Outside of technical limitations.

I agree with you. The map is actually great, on its own. Its just not used that well. But imagine if the story had segments that took place in a lot of the more remote and country areas, I think people would like this map way more.

Exactly

You can but cops have to have lost sight of you but there is only like 3 garages in the whole game so why even bother?

Not enough missions and side activities to flush out and use the whole map. The three MC gimmick already made the main story feel spread pretty thin, but then when you add in how quickly you could complete all the non-collectathon strangers and freaks missions it felt like there really wasn't a ton of content.

Just immersion, to prevent the you must turn back message.

I can't remeber if the 2D games were islands though. 2 was I think but 1 might have just had a hard wall in the cities.

Pretty much how I felt. Sure you can do shit outside the city but most don’t travel outside the concrete jungle. Most of the action tends to revolve around the city unless a mission is forcing you to travel outside the outside. Then it feels like such a pain in the ass.