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GTA IV is still the best HD GTA game

NoKisum

NoKisum

Member
Nov 11, 2017
4,913
DMV Area, USA
In regards to the HD era:
  1. GTA V
  2. GTA Chinatown Wars
  3. The Ballad of Gay Tony
  4. GTA IV
  5. The Lost and Damned
EDIT: Looking back at this, I feel like I'd flip IV and Gay Tony depending on my mood of the day.
 
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ThisIsBlitz21

Member
Oct 22, 2018
4,662
"less movement options"? Bruh, GTA V had planes, ATV's, Submarines, dirt bikes, forklifts, you name it. This one is like objectively not true.
 
Jawmuncher

Jawmuncher

Crisis Dino
Moderator
Oct 25, 2017
38,506
Ibis Island
Outside AI,Physics, & Shooting. I felt everything GTA 4 did was worse than San Andreas. I know that's not HD, but the feeling has never left playing the new HD ports.
 
Raskol

Raskol

Member
Sep 5, 2018
690
Will never understand why this game is so divisive. I too love the driving physics. The narrative, characters, city design are all so strong too. This will probably always be my favourite GTA game.
 
Indelible

Indelible

Member
Oct 27, 2017
13,680
Canada
I thought it was a solid game but the controls felt wonky to me, GTA V felt so much better to play and it had better characters and story.
 
Piggsy

Piggsy

Banned
Oct 28, 2017
640
I think IV gets inmersion right. Even the driving had a part on that. The story felt very human, and making the wrong choices actually make you feel bad. Niko is the second best character in the franchise only after Tommy.

The shootouts felt borrowed from the Radical's Scarface game, banter and all. And i couldn't ask for anything more.

I would suggest trying the PC version, bad port and all, it is miles ahead of consoles.

V feels like it was made by a room of shareholders to please all the people asking for San Andreas HD with arcade driving.
 
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endlessflood

endlessflood

Banned
Oct 28, 2017
8,693
Australia (GMT+10)
I disagree very strongly. The Euphoria implementation in IV was amazing, but it also hurt gameplay (you can't even ride on top of vehicles! In GTA!). The graphics were also pretty awful on console in comparison to V (which looked amazing).

The most egregious problem was the driving physics though - driving was a chore, which is not a good thing in a GTA game that is mostly about driving. The body roll was beyond ridiculous. I enjoyed driving the Comet, and nearly everything else felt awful. Contrast that with V, where nearly every vehicle in the game is fun to drive.

The story was very odd too. There's always going to be a big disconnect between the story and gameplay in an open world sandbox game like GTA, but it felt like the story direction in IV actually went out of its way to emphasise the disconnect.
 
Stat

Stat

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,169
The multiplayer was way better in IV than V.

I will say GTAIV didnt have the polish that GTAV had, but it had a lot of character.
 
DeliciousSunnyD!

DeliciousSunnyD!

Member
Oct 31, 2017
9,623
IV was much better than V, I agree.

I much prefer the physicality of IV and I feel like IV is the game that Rockstar made because they wanted to, but with V they catered more to the "Grand Theft Auto Audience".
 
Ploid 6.0

Ploid 6.0

Member
Oct 25, 2017
12,440
endlessflood said:
I disagree very strongly. The Euphoria implementation in IV was amazing, but it also hurt gameplay (you can't even ride on top of vehicles! In GTA!). The graphics were also pretty awful on console in comparison to V (which looked amazing).

The most egregious problem was the driving physics though - driving was a chore, which is not a good thing in a GTA game that is mostly about driving. The body roll was beyond ridiculous. I enjoyed driving the Comet, and nearly everything else felt awful. Contrast that with V, where nearly every vehicle in the game is fun to drive.

The story was very odd too. There's always going to be a big disconnect between the story and gameplay in an open world sandbox game like GTA, but it felt like the story direction in IV actually went out of its way to emphasise the disconnect.
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Oh wow, I forgot about doing that, this was one of my favorite things to do in the GTA3 games. Car surf, I'm sure I did it in the Saints Row games though, maybe even in Watch Dogs 2. Which reminds me Watch Dogs Legion is a thing, and I can't wait to get it. I will surf drones!
 
SupremeWu

SupremeWu

Banned
Dec 19, 2017
2,856
Reverse-Flash2024 said:
GTA V is a great game don't get me wrong. But it's not as good as GTA IV.
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I too love when my character takes 19 minutes to turn from one direction to another.

Actually 19 full minutes to turn from left to right. Imagine such a thing.

only a bit sarcastic, I think I tolerated GTA4 gameplay for about, 30 minutes before realizing the game took place entirely under-water.
 
FaceHugger

FaceHugger

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
13,949
USA
I personally found GTA IV to be mediocre and flawed in a few grievous ways, with Rockstar being very deliberate about fixing those issues in V. Just my opinion.
 
Brinbe

Brinbe

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
58,308
Terana
nah... only tbogt got to even a sniff of SA levels of interesting. the rest of the game was boring as fuck and a wasteland of a game world.

Saints Row 2 supremacy! both came out in 2008, but i know which game had a better story, had a great world and was actually a lot of fun to play.
 
Commodore64

Commodore64

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,264
Going back to GTA4 from 5 the cars feel real floaty. I did appreciate on the PC version you could jam up traffic density so high there were constant traffic jams
 
hlhbk

hlhbk

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,117
I loved GTA IV on 360 but man I can't go back to that frame rate and the pc version never got fixed....
 
mordecaii83

mordecaii83

Avenger
Oct 28, 2017
6,862
Sorry OP, could not disagree more. I just recently beat GTA IV for the first time, and by the end I was no longer having fun and just wanted to get things over with. The driving feels TERRIBLE (supposed "supercars" can't make a fast turn? come on man), everything feels way scaled back from SA and 5 (side activities, exploration, etc), the checkpoints (or lack thereof) were infuriating, etc...

I had fun while playing through most of it, but GTA V is such a better game.
 

poofynamanama2

Banned
Oct 29, 2017
2,600
I tried playing it on 360, and the camera was attached to movement, so I noped out pretty quick despite wanting to like it :/
 
shinobi602

shinobi602

Verified
Oct 24, 2017
8,356
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VeryHighlander

VeryHighlander

The Fallen
May 9, 2018
6,386
I was greatly disappointed by the police downgrade from 4 to 5. They go from being actual cops that come from actual locations rather than phasing in and out of dimensions like in 5. You had to outsmart the cops but it was still possible to get away or at least survive a while at 6*. But in 5 the cops are all terminators that aim to kill. Not that 5 is hard or anything, just makes it less about skill and more about using your OP character abilities to beat the bullshit.
 
LossAversion

LossAversion

The Merchant of ERA
Member
Oct 28, 2017
10,704
I'm with you.

GTAV is a great game but IV is better. I'll never agree with the "it's so clunky!" crowd when it comes to the combat and driving in IV. It felt way more grounded and honestly... the shooting in V felt really weak compared to IV and especially compared to Red Dead Redemption. I get why people prefer the more arcadey driving physics in V but the physics were so much more fun to mess around with in IV. The story and characters aren't even in the same ballpark. IV was infinitely better. V has a lot of fun activities to mess around with and the world is full of cool stuff to see and do. But even then... all of the little details in the world made messing around in IV more fun for me even if the tone was more serious. It just felt like a more coherent experience. Niko's story was just more engrossing and so was Liberty City.
 
smurfx

smurfx

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
10,578
i never played it. wanted there to be some kind of ps4 port but there never was.
 
Firima

Firima

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,474
V is a far better satire of LA, thematically, than IV is of NYC, and I feel like that counts for something.
 

Deleted member 35071

User requested account closure
Banned
Dec 1, 2017
1,656
GTA 4 is worst GTA. It kinda killed my love of the franchise and was the first time i realized rockstar ins't infallible.
Its like it was made by someone that hated GTA .

GTA 5 isn't as good as the the PS2 games. But it was a step in the right direction and something i can find some enjoyment in playing. Unlike GTA 4. Which i pretty much hated every second of. The only fun i had in GTA 4 was the DLC

Niko sucked. Pretty much every character sucked in that main game. Driving was absolutely terrible. So i just took taxis everywhere
 
Don Fluffles

Don Fluffles

Member
Oct 28, 2017
7,060
I wonder how much the mods fixed the general physics and gameplay issues? I recall an article that interpreted IV's perceived flaws as intentional to contribute to a downtrodden, mundane feeling or something like that.
 
chromatic9

chromatic9

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,003
More interiors?

Going from San Andreas on PS2 to the first PS3 GTA was a major step back in the game world so they concentrated on the story. GTA IV was so barren. I used to love busting into cops stations in the previous game, GTA IV it was just a texture.

For what it's worth I enjoyed the game. Love the Niko character and physics. I had a trainer running on PC and played it for a long time after the story.
 
hydruxo

hydruxo

â–˛ Legend â–˛
Member
Oct 25, 2017
20,436
GTA IV was so boring. Hated that game. V is better in nearly every way.
 
Saganator

Saganator

Member
Oct 26, 2017
7,063
GTA V is better over all, but I'm one of those freaks who like and miss GTA IV's physics model.
 
Kaelan

Kaelan

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
2,641
Maryland
Game was boring as fuck. Traded realism for fun. Now the best non-hd one was San Andreas 0/ led full of content and fun as hell
 
P00PNINJAMVC3MK

P00PNINJAMVC3MK

Banned
Dec 20, 2018
310
Gay Tony and the MP we're the only things good bout GTAIV. The main game and the first dlc were such a slog to playthrough.

Also Niko sucks
 
Velocity:Design:Comfort

Velocity:Design:Comfort

Banned
Nov 23, 2017
4,302
vestan said:
Agreed OP, and Liberty City is a big reason as to why. For me, I really like that grimy, desolate early-mid 2000s feel to the game world. GTA III and IV (both the 3D and HD games to be set in Liberty City) really scratch this itch well. There's nothing quite like speeding down Star Junction on a green, cloudy day with rain all around you, listening to Blow Your Mind on Beat 102.7. I wrote about Liberty City and game worlds a while back but if you're interested in reading about it, here's the link

But yeah, a big issue with GTA V I have is the general tone. It really leaned into the absurd, more than your typical GTA game and felt way too comical. I really liked the feel GTA IV was going for. It was muted, sombre but solemn.




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Where's...literally the colors

I live in NYC and so I have to say I love GTA4, to be honest, for the reasons in the OP plus many more, but I'd put GTA5 over it a little bit just because it actually utilizes modern technology and production whereas 4 feels like they were just doing the PS2 ones in HD. Liberty City in 4 is just begging to be made again, it's a totally limited shrunken version of the city honestly and totally misses the vibrancy of it. New York does not look gray and brown. GTA5 has some fucking life to its palette and lighting.

Its WAY too concepted-in-2006 when things were just brown and bloom.

Another version of Liberty City for next gen would be one of the best games of all time.
 
Shopolic

Shopolic

Avenger
Oct 27, 2017
6,865
GTA V is much better than GTA IV in my opinion. Didn't like IV that much, but really loved V and played it for hours and hours on both X360 and PS4.
GTA III is still my favorite game in this series though.
 
TheMadTitan

TheMadTitan

Member
Oct 27, 2017
27,241
GTA4 only had better NPC Euphoria physics implementation and had a worse everything else; be it story, characters, and gameplay.
 

Deleted member 2254

user requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
21,467
Funny that, I thought it was the worst mainline 3D GTA of them all. The physics went against the gameplay making in not fun, and realistic destruction and the likes didn't really cover for it. They also removed shitttons of content and variety from San Andreas to make the transition to next-gen. Plus they delivered one of the most boring worlds with some kinda annoying main characters that just didn't have the charm of CJ and his bros or the trio of protagonists from V. I don't think I'll ever play IV again, it bored me quicker than any other 3D GTA even back then, and it aged quite bad. V just blew it out of the water completely, making IV look like a prototype in comparison. IV's technical achievements can't hide the fact that, to me, none of the story, the worldbuilding, the gameplay was interesting enough to stick around for long.
 
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