Minigame/Activity Discussion

[Joe King 62]

In the new screens it's pretty much confirmed tennis will be a playable activity. GTA IV we had bowling and shit, we could do all sorts of friend activities. I got to ask, does anyone actually care about that sort of thing? I thought the whole friendship thing in IV was really really boring - except getting drunk, that was fun.

I hope I am not the only one that thinks Rockstar shoudnt waste their time making these sort of activities and instead concentrate on fun things like burglary, drug dealing, raiding warehouses, hijacking trucks full of stuff you can sell on the black market, arms dealing/smuggling, gang wars.. etc. Betting on horses and card games were great in SA, alot more fun than bowling with Roman.

The truth is, Im not that excited about GTA V if its going in the same direction as IV. Instead of "hey cousin, lets go bowling" every 10mins, it will be "hey Ned Luke, lets play tennis".

Edited November 4, 2012 by Massacre
Changed title. Now a general activity discussion.

[snoepzakje12gta5 27]

You have a good point I never heard or read from someone that they like those things like bowling or that they are exited for it in a next gta game. Probaly alot of people want rockstar to only focus on rob people,dealing drugs ect...

[Samurai_tbag 27]

The truth is, Im not that excited about GTA V if its going in the same direction as IV. Instead of "hey cousin, lets go bowling" every 10mins, it will be "hey Ned Luke, lets play tennis".

I really don't know why people moan about that when you can just turn your phone off?

[TuomaZ 41]

The truth is, Im not that excited about GTA V if its going in the same direction as IV. Instead of "hey cousin, lets go bowling" every 10mins, it will be "hey Ned Luke, lets play tennis".

I really don't know why people moan about that when you can just turn your phone off?

True.

I have nothing against to some activities, they just to need make them more fun. That motorcycling in mountains seems to be pretty fun.

[Joe King 62]

The truth is, Im not that excited about GTA V if its going in the same direction as IV. Instead of "hey cousin, lets go bowling" every 10mins, it will be "hey Ned Luke, lets play tennis".

I really don't know why people moan about that when you can just turn your phone off?

my point is - why didnt rockstar use the time and effort they took in making that feature, to make something more exciting like getting calls like "hey man, lets go raid a gang hangout" or something.

[Samurai_tbag 27]

Because GTA IV was about realism. The simple things, like going bowling, or playing darts, are pretty entertaining for an Eastern European immigrant that had survived some of the most gruelling combat.

I'm not going to lie, I didn't enjoy them, but I just declined when they asked, or turned my phone off. I don't see why that's a problem, and it's even more frustrating that game critics used that aspect as leverage against the game, when they didn't even mention that you can turn the phone off.

[ManBeast 6]

I don't care how many or what activities are in the game as long as I am not getting pestered by people to go and play with them.

I know you can turn the phone off in GTA IV, I always turned it off on my way to start a mission so I would not get interupted on the way there, but if you leave your phone off long enough you get text messages from your friends complaining about it and their 'like' stat begins to drop which blocks their special ability until you take them out or whatever.

The only time I want to recieve calls in V is to start a mission or recieve important information, no dinner dates.

Also, I'd be fine if the player character could phone people to go and do stuff like that I just don't want it the other way around.

[Guest Marney-1]

"A bold new direction in open-world freedom" could well imply the player will have a choice in whether or not to take part in these leisure activities.

Don't complain that R* have included a particular activity you don't like, be greatful it's there just in case you ever fancy trying it.

[Rayge 689]

I'd sure give it a try, maybe it will be fun. But to me, Motorcross through vast countryside, parachuting, flying aeroplanes and biking in the city are far more appealing.

[Ace Of Spades 1182]

i think tenis would be funer with a live grenade

[Samurai_tbag 27]

Potential for tennis racket melee weapon?

[UlanBator 40]

I would play milkshake bowling like Daniel:

"We are brothers..."

[Iconoclast 6]

I sure as hell am always up for a game of tennis!

And as for the rest, bare in mind that IV was in lots of ways a test of where they could take the series. They implemented a lot of good stuff, but on a small scale. E.g. moral choices... there were few and didn't really affect the outcome too much (except for a small alternate ending and a couple of extra sidemissions) The friend thing they took over from SA and built on that, I'm sure they listened to the community feedback afterwards and fine-tuned that so it happens less frequently, you just call up someone instead of vice versa or there's a bigger reward when agreeing to this.

In any case, I can't wait to go on various types of triathlon in the countryside! :-)

[Ku Zi Mu 1194]

I didn't mind the friend feature that much, it was the activities that sucked.

Since we're talking about activities.. Does anyone remember the Cluckin Bell Marathons on the weekends in SA? I hope those make a return in GTAV. I really enjoyed those. They sort of had em in GTAIV TBoGT but without the swimming, running and biking.

[DuPz0r 5361]

Why not, the more activities the better imo. As long as the core gameplay is polished first, i'll happily play 10 random activities towards getting 100%

[G-Lock 5]

Because GTA IV was about realism. The simple things, like going bowling, or playing darts, are pretty entertaining for an Eastern European immigrant that had survived some of the most gruelling combat.

I'm not going to lie, I didn't enjoy them, but I just declined when they asked, or turned my phone off. I don't see why that's a problem, and it's even more frustrating that game critics used that aspect as leverage against the game, when they didn't even mention that you can turn the phone off.

You said exactly what I thought!!

I don't care how many or what activities are in the game as long as I am not getting pestered by people to go and play with them.

I know you can turn the phone off in GTA IV, I always turned it off on my way to start a mission so I would not get interupted on the way there, but if you leave your phone off long enough you get text messages from your friends complaining about it and their 'like' stat begins to drop which blocks their special ability until you take them out or whatever.

The only time I want to recieve calls in V is to start a mission or recieve important information, no dinner dates.

Also, I'd be fine if the player character could phone people to go and do stuff like that I just don't want it the other way around.

The dropping of the stats are there to give you incentive to actually do the activities. As for me I only did Lil Jacob and Dwayne (ofcourse I killed PX for his crib!!), because I enjoyed the mobile gunstore and the back up option. As for the rest I declined. So I cant really say it bothered me at all, it just gives you the choice wether or not to go on the repective activity.

I sure as hell am always up for a game of tennis!

And as for the rest, bare in mind that IV was in lots of ways a test of where they could take the series. They implemented a lot of good stuff, but on a small scale. E.g. moral choices... there were few and didn't really affect the outcome too much (except for a small alternate ending and a couple of extra sidemissions) The friend thing they took over from SA and built on that, I'm sure they listened to the community feedback afterwards and fine-tuned that so it happens less frequently, you just call up someone instead of vice versa or there's a bigger reward when agreeing to this.

In any case, I can't wait to go on various types of triathlon in the countryside! :-)

FUCK YES!

[Joe King 62]

everyone seems to have missed the point. its not a case of "dont do the activities if you dont like them"

the truth is theres only a certain amount of stuff you can put into a game and rockstar are wasting it on crap that no one ever uses.

imagine gta iv if they made something really fun to do instead of the friend bullshit. something that takes the same amount of time and effort to make. outside of story missions, what is there to do in gta iv? just a few sidemissions that cant be replayed and the friendship thing. not much else other than that.

[Rayge 689]

everyone seems to have missed the point. its not a case of "dont do the activities if you dont like them"

the truth is theres only a certain amount of stuff you can put into a game and rockstar are wasting it on crap that no one ever uses.

imagine gta iv if they made something really fun to do instead of the friend bullshit. something that takes the same amount of time and effort to make. outside of story missions, what is there to do in gta iv? just a few sidemissions that cant be replayed and the friendship thing. not much else other than that.

In case you for whatever reason didn't see the other 5 screenshots, they were action packed with "leisure" activities; just to name a few; biking, parachuting, motorcross racing, street racing (presumably), flying planes, which are fun when done alone, or even with a friend.

I suspect they are releasing screenshots in "themes". Currently it's the leisure and stuff like that, maybe next it will be crime, or combat or whatever else the game has to offer. Just wait and see.

[Cameron 15]

motorbike off mountain

do 2, cout em' 2, front flips

bail

parechute

put on sun glasses like a CEO

[gmt 60]

I am.

And I was quite happy with these sidkicks in every GTA that had them, be it the sidemissions in the previous titles or just the "stupid" stuff like dating in SA/4.

apart from getting you deeper into the game world, it also adds to the gameplay. I mean, what use is an open world game if the world is dead and barren? also, if I want a game that pulls me through the story and has nothing else to offer, I can also buy a random shooter

[Guest Marney-1]

What we've seen in the screens so far is just a tiny selection of what's in store.

[-Hussain- 62]

Apart from the normal side of missions like taxi and police. I would like side missions with pedestrians expanded. The ones in gtaiv were good but too short but they did have an impact on the news on the radio which I liked, especially the serial killer guy (can't remember his name).

Burglary missions would be good, and drug dealing, but other than drug delivery runs I can't see how drug dealing could be implemented, it would be boring standing on a corner of a street waiting for addicts to come and buy. I would like greater involvement in business ownership/management, similar to San Andreas, these could be effective side missions.

[ManBeast 6]

Yeah Eddie Low! Agreed that things like that should be expanded...

[Rayge 689]

I sense this sidetracking into another generic "what do you want in GTA 5" post with the answers coming up.

I'm sure Rockstar won't make your friends call every 5 minutes asking to do boring stuff, it got a lot of complaints and there would be no reason to keep it.

[Massacre 7646]

I like how people are assuming you can play tennis. Peds do plenty of things you can't do; sitting on a bench, playing a saxophone, carrying an umbrella, other shit I don't remember. Don't be so quick to think we get a boring new minigame just because it's in a screenshot. R* is likely just showing off new ped interactions.