Thoughts on GTA:SA

[Brad2600]

I'm also stuck at the mission where you have the lowrider contest. Blah.

 

I decided to do some exploring. I really like this game. It has a big GTA3-feel to it, due to having to earn respect from other gangs.

[kisrael]

I've only tried it twice, but there's this long "backroads" race that seems like its going to be a challenge, 'cause misturns lead you into the river...

 

I think they've toned down the AI of the drivers a bit, and usually this game seems pretty "fair"...if an enemy driver gets stuck, he doesn't magically warp to the right behind you...

[AncillaryDrone]

About the lowrider mission...

 

I had a lot of problems with this one until I discovered there is a lowrider about half a block away from the house where you start the mission. It's not the fastest lowrider, which actually helps, and it handles very well, which helps a great deal. It's parked in between two houses up the street from where you start the mission, that's all I remember.

 

I passed it on one try with this car.

[xenomorpher]

Im not on the low rider mission yet but I hate the racing ones. The one where you had to catch Freddy on a motorcycle was not fun at all.

[Stingray]

About the lowrider mission...

 

I had a lot of problems with this one until I discovered there is a lowrider about half a block away from the house where you start the mission.  It's not the fastest lowrider, which actually helps, and it handles very well, which helps a great deal.  It's parked in between two houses up the street from where you start the mission, that's all I remember.

 

I passed it on one try with this car.

 

Is it on the same street as where you start the mission? This race is kicking my butt. It's way too easy to spin those cars out and way too hard to get them pointed in the right direction again. I got so close to winning it last night. I was in first and the car behind me spun me out going around the last corner right before the straightaway down the pier. I just wanna finish this mission and get on with the game.

 

-S

[Cobra Commander]

Get a "broadway" and do the pimp missions, and you'll be more familliar with it to use in the lowrider race. I tried the race earlier (last friday) and sucked, I was driving a 'voodoo" with hydraulics, bad chioce. I did it yesterday and it was easy in the "broadway". I think familiarity with a car and my driving skill stat made all the differance.

 

I just hung back a little at first, and let a few cars wreck and then pullaway. I broke a little early to ensure I made the turns correct and that was it.

[+Random Terrain]

So just about everyone who has played it likes it so far? Pretend you can't finish that race. Is it still worth the price since there are other things to do?

[Brad2600]

Im not on the low rider mission yet but I hate the racing ones. The one where you had to catch Freddy on a motorcycle was not fun at all.

 

I agree. He was a pain in the ass to catch. I would say that you should find an UZI and when the race starts, shoot at him until you knock him off the bike. I'm going to try this later.

[Brad2600]

So just about everyone who has played it likes it so far? Pretend you can't finish that race. Is it still worth the price since there are other things to do?

 

Yes, very much so.

 

I got bored so I went to a gym to work out and improve my stamina and other stats.

 

Though I noticed that you can no longer hold up stores. I tried holding up the Pizza joint and nothing happened.

[xenomorpher]

Im not on the low rider mission yet but I hate the racing ones. The one where you had to catch Freddy on a motorcycle was not fun at all.

 

I agree. He was a pain in the ass to catch. I would say that you should find an UZI and when the race starts, shoot at him until you knock him off the bike. I'm going to try this later.

 

After 4 tries I caught up to him and I fell of the bike ( STUPID CARS) and thought "Cripe! Im going to lose again!" then it turns out I was at the exact place where Freddy gets off and I let him have it.

[+Random Terrain]

So just about everyone who has played it likes it so far? Pretend you can't finish that race. Is it still worth the price since there are other things to do?

Yes, very much so.

 

I got bored so I went to a gym to work out and improve my stamina and other stats.

 

Though I noticed that you can no longer hold up stores. I tried holding up the Pizza joint and nothing happened.

Thanks. I was just looking at some other web sites about the game and saw this information:

 

Swimming has now been implemented but wont be a big part, however some missions will include it.

 

Police can hold on to the back of your car to try and catch you.

 

Police helicopters can aim their blades near the ground to stop your car or cut you up.

 

There will be more cars and pedestrians on the screen at once.

 

There are now many different ways to complete missions.

 

In Las Venturas you can buy and build a casino then gamble in it with others.

 

You need to eat to retain your stamina. If you eat too much fast food, you become fat and pedestrians mock you for being fat. You also run slower. To remedy this, you can go to a gym to exercise.

 

There will be a barber and you can get your hair cut and people comment on how it looks.

 

You can now rob homes. The robberies will require skill and planning, however.

 

You can recruit gang members and use them to do four person drive-by’s.

 

Car-jackings will have a much more sinister and threatening vibe to them.

 

Being a Gang Member only makes up about 15% of the total game.

 

Carl and the Orange Grove Families can take over areas and generate money from them. One of the many things that will add to the replay value after the game has been 'completed'.

 

If you drive a vehicle into the water, you have two choices, climb out of the window and swim to shore, or stay in the car and sink, where you will have a certain amount of underwater stamina.

 

There are parts of the game where you will work as a gang, and parts where you will work alone.

 

The game is now very non-linear, and depending what choices are made, it will be rare for 2 players to have the same type of game. The missions will be the same, but so much can change depending on choices you make.

 

There will be In-Breds and Degenerates in the Countryside and some missions will reflect the contrast between the towny and the country people.

 

You can see various different facial expressions on characters.

 

There are now many more ways to complete missions. You could run straight in shooting, or sneak through the shadows and pick off the enemies one by one.

 

When the player only has one wanted star, hiding in the shadows should be enough to throw police off your trail. The player must tap the X button on the bike in order to pedal faster.

 

The camera will automatically zoom behind the player at the touch of a button and the player then has the ability to freely target using the analogue stick. The auto-target will still be a part of the game though.

 

The game will take at least three times longer to complete than Vice City.

 

At least once every couple of days your characer has to eat. If you skip meals he will be come weak, and if you feed him too much he gets slow and then gets fat. There is a wide selection of places to eat... so what you eat counts as well. Strength will effect his punches, but bulk up at the gym too much and he will lose speed.

 

For the first time in a series the game will adjust its diffculty if the player becomes stuck. Rockstar assures that that the adjustments will be minimal and almost invisible to the players, so the missions won't become a breeze.

 

There are a lot more mini games.

 

You can wear a lot of new clothes.

If that list is true, it does adjust the game to match your skill level (even if it's minimal). Minimal adjustment is better than no adjustment and having more than one way to complete missions makes me happy! They seem to be getting closer to exactly the kind of game I want to play. It's not perfect, but it sounds a lot better than what has come before.

[Artlover]

I think Rockstar may have gone somewhat overboard with the "gansta" lingo. Maybe it's because I'm a white guy from Oklahoma, but I can't follow half of what's being said. I can usually pick up the general idea of what I'm supposed to do, but often I'm just totally lost during the cutscenes.

 

FYI, the dialog is accurate. (Finally played it).

[Artlover]

Oh, and I just found the arcade machine in the 24/7 convenience store. It is called "They Crawled From Uranus"  My first game I only got 7890 and I thought I was doing okay

 

6110 for me.

[Brad2600]

@ Random Terrain- You should be able to find cheat codes already if you get stuck but it cannot possibly be that hard if the difficulty level has a minmal level of adjustment.

 

If I were you, I'd get an afro and kick things apart Snoop Dogg style. That's how I do it, as the CJ I play as has an afro and and works out in the gym.

[xenomorpher]

@ Random Terrain- You should be able to find cheat codes already if you get stuck but it cannot possibly be that hard if the difficulty level  has a minmal level of adjustment.

 

If I were you, I'd get an afro and kick things apart Snoop Dogg style. That's how I do it, as the CJ I play as  has an afro and and works out in the gym.

 

I was going to get an afro and run around half naked shooting things but at the barbershop I couldnt find it. Does it go away on the menu over time

[Brad2600]

I still have the afro so I don't think it goes away.

 

My character resembles Snoop quite a bit too.

[kemsted]

Ok, for whoever was wondering where pilot school is, its in San Fierro. Its called the airstrip and you have to purchase it for $80,000 before you can take the school. The jet in the airport was pretty easy to fly, you just have to back it up onto the runway, start going and pull back. If you can get it off the ground, pull up the landing gear with L3 I think and youll have a lot more speed. If you fly to the other islands, dont go over the "No Fly Zone" unless you want to die.

 

-kemsted

[+Random Terrain]

Ok, for whoever was wondering where pilot school is, its in San Fierro. Its called the airstrip and you have to purchase it for $80,000 before you can take the school. The jet in the airport was pretty easy to fly, you just have to back it up onto the runway, start going and pull back. If you can get it off the ground, pull up the landing gear with L3 I think and youll have a lot more speed. If you fly to the other islands, dont go over the "No Fly Zone" unless you want to die.

Thanks for telling us. I couldn't find that info using Google. I will put your tips in a Notepad file to read again after I buy the game.

[Stingray]

If that list is true, it does adjust the game to match your skill level (even if it's minimal). Minimal adjustment is better than no adjustment and having more than one way to complete missions makes me happy!

 

Maybe it does get slightly easier. I finally got past that race, and it was a piece of cake this time. However, I used the car that AncillaryDrone recomended so that could have been why it seemed so much easier. That car definitely handles a lot better than any of the other lowriders I tried.

 

I'm now working on the chase Freddy down on a motorcycle mission. I'm glad to hear that he does eventually get off. I've been trying to chase him a and shoot him with an Uzi at the same time, which is causing me to wreck and lose him. Sounds like if you just keep up with him, he'll get off his bike and you can get him then.

 

Oh and in answer to your question. Random Terrain, yes this one is well worth getting. I can't wait to open up the other cities.

 

-S

[+Random Terrain]

If that list is true, it does adjust the game to match your skill level (even if it's minimal). Minimal adjustment is better than no adjustment and having more than one way to complete missions makes me happy!

Maybe it does get slightly easier. I finally got past that race, and it was a piece of cake this time. However, I used the car that AncillaryDrone recomended so that could have been why it seemed so much easier. That car definitely handles a lot better than any of the other lowriders I tried.

 

I'm now working on the chase Freddy down on a motorcycle mission. I'm glad to hear that he does eventually get off. I've been trying to chase him a and shoot him with an Uzi at the same time, which is causing me to wreck and lose him. Sounds like if you just keep up with him, he'll get off his bike and you can get him then.

 

Oh and in answer to your question. Random Terrain, yes this one is well worth getting. I can't wait to open up the other cities.

Thanks. And thanks for mentioning AncillaryDrone's tip. I forgot to add that to my Notepad file. I'll do that right now.

[kisrael]

The game is now very non-linear, and depending what choices are made, it will be rare for 2 players to have the same type of game. The missions will be the same, but so much can change depending on choices you make.

 

For the first time in a series the game will adjust its diffculty if the player becomes stuck. Rockstar assures that that the adjustments will be minimal and almost invisible to the players, so the missions won't become a breeze.

Huh. It might be hard to tell but it still seems pretty linear to me overall.

 

Also, I wonder if my usual chicken strategy of reloading after every failed missions means I don't get the little tweaks they're talking about...

[Stingray]

Also, I wonder if my usual chicken strategy of reloading after every failed missions means I don't get the little tweaks they're talking about...

 

Ah, I'll bet it does! I didn't think of that. I do that as well. I'm going to try not reloading after mission failure on the chase Freddy mission and see if it seems to get any easier!

 

-S

[kisrael]

I think the first time I played through VC I never "lost" a mission, always reloaded. So you end up with tons of weapons and cash, but it's kinda joyless. My second time through, I learned to trust the "try it again" system, and knew where to get a decent basic arsenal, and even a rocketlauncher or two. I'm somewhere in between right now in GTASA.

 

Man, the amount of content in this game, weapons, vehicles, locations, minigames...it's pretty astounding. I'm a little behind on the GTA clones and other platformers...does any other game even come close to that kind of variety?

[Stingray]

Man, the amount of content in this game, weapons, vehicles, locations, minigames...it's pretty astounding.  I'm a little behind on the GTA clones and other platformers...does any other game even come close to that kind of variety?

 

I'm pretty behind on that as well. I've never even tried any of the clones, as the original has always been as good as it gets IMO. I'm happy that San Andreas has lived up to the legend.

 

Speaking of content though. I've only ever found one of the icons that will lower your wanted level by one star. There don't seem to be nearly as many of those as there have been in past GTAs, or if there are they're much better hidden.

 

-S

[kisrael]

Speaking of content though. I've only ever found one of the icons that will lower your wanted level by one star. There don't seem to be nearly as many of those as there have been in past GTAs, or if there are they're much better hidden.

I think I've found 2 or 3, maybe, but couldn't tell you where.

 

So far in the game (about half way through "badlands" which is the first set after the original Los Santos missions) I haven't missed 'em that much.

 

Also, I think sometimes stars are likely to go down by themselves, not just the first one. Don't quote me on that however.

 

Pay N Sprays still seem to be the best bet..."oops, call off the manhunt...we're after the black musclebound guy in green pants driving the blue chevy that we saw go in here, not the black musclebound guy in the green pants driving the red chevy we're watching leave..."

 

(I also liked how you could dodge the cops in VC by changing outfits...even if it was the same outfit..."whoops boys, we're mistaken, the guy we were after clearly had a mustard stain on his collar, and this guy's shirt is immaculate")