They did it in Red Dead Redemption, as well. In that case at least a portion of it made sense - the closed off section was Mexico, and it stands to reason that crossing national boundaries was a bigger deal. On the other hand, the eastern section of the US in RDR was also closed off in a similar way, with less reason for it.
Very curious - from their comparison, the word “five” in the GTA logo appears nearly identical to the word five on that specific silver certificate, and the configuration of the arched “five” superimposed over the stylized “V” seems too close to be pure coincidence.
Are there any numistmatics hobbyists around, who would be able to tell if any other US currency used the same sort of graphic? Because it seems a very specific thing to incorporate such a rare form of currency into your logo, especially when that currency prominently features a Native American. Then again, it could be another big ol’ red herring, which Rockstar is known for. We’ll just have to wait until Wednesday I guess.
I’ve gotten used to GTA games doing this. It helps propel you along through the story by not throwing too much sandbox at you at once. Also, usually the late-game areas that open up have the “better” content: strip clubs, faster cars, better jumps, more interesting terrain/street layouts, etc. so there’s a sense of reward for having completed the storyline to that point.
I’ve actually always liked that part of the GTA games and Red Dead Redemption— it usually takes me months to get through a game, and having part of the map restricted gives me something fresh and new to look forward to. I always feel a sense of accomplishment when I cruise across the bridge (or whatever) for the first time.
Seems to support the Las Vegas/Venturas theory, doesn’t it? Nevada being the “Silver State.”
Good point, if Las Venturas weren’t in San Andreas. 
Seriously, though, there’s likely merit there - I seem to remember in the lead-up to GTA IV, Rockstar was dropping hints that seemed specific to real-life NYC, so it stands to reason they might do the same with hinting at IRL Vegas.
I’d argue that, if your story is so unappealing that you have to use gameplay restrictions to keep people playing it, you’ve failed as a story writer.
I’m not against restrictions for story reasons, but that’s about it. And even then I think it’s kinda lazy writing if the reason you can’t go somewhere is because something hasn’t happened yet. I should be able to go there, but the event hasn’t happened.
I do think this underscores one of the limitations of telling a story in an open-world sandbox type of game. Story-driven events can’t be timed or scripted to happen as cleanly as they can with a more on-rails experience. In other words, if I’m playing a traditional FPS, or a scripted game like an Uncharted, and the story incates that after level 10, another area of the game becomes available, from the players’ point of view you wouldn’t want to open up the map early because this would break the narrative.
But in a sandbox game, you may have some of the same elements, but the open-ness of the gameplay means that the narrative takes a backseat to the overall gaming experience. So rather than rely on linearity in the storyline driving what parts of the map you can visit, the sandbox game has to rely on (often tired) devices like “the bridge is out due to the crash you caused in the first mission” (as in GTA III), or “the bridges to Mexico haven’t been complete yet”, as in RDR.
Although personally, I liked the way GTA IV handled it - the bridges were out due to a terrorist threat. This didn’t prevent you from sneaking onto rail tracks, or engineering crazy jumps onto the bridges, to get to the other islands - but if you did so, the cops would naturally assume you were a terrorist and go all out after you. So I felt it was pretty realistic.
However, GTA: SA, IIRC, handled it pretty ineptly - I seem to remember that most of these boundaries were fairly virtual, and I don’t recall that the plot device explaining them was all that good either.
Officer Tenpenny tells you you’re not allowed to leave town. He’s pinned a cop’s murder on you so as soon as you leave the jurisdiction every cop in the state is after you. Why are all the bridges barricaded? Well, you can’t see them at all times so maybe they’re only barricaded when you’re there!
I much prefer the Saints Row approach. You’re supposed to explore, that’s how you find side missions and shops and etc. Storyline missions will cover a lot of ground for you but there’s a lot to see just by going off the beaten path. The only drawback is the amount of driving involved sometimes. For example, the Ronin missions are way up in the suburbs, near the top of the map. The Brotherhood missions tend to cluster in the bottom corner, as far from the Ronin territory as possible. The driving in SR2 is pretty clunky so long voyages can be a real pain in the ass. Not much worse than driving fifty miles with a bunch of arguing Irish drunks like in GTA:IV though.
Okay, so the trailer’s up, though I can’t hear the sound as I’m at work. Is it a beautifully-rendered remake of San Andreas?
Trailer watched. Damn, that’s a pretty trailer.
So, does this mean Claude retired to San Andreas with the kids but he just can’t be a normal dude? Interesting.
Lots of aviation nods, I think our message about wanting planes back was received loud and clear.
The voice sounded familiar, thoughts?
The voice over makes me think we’ve got a retired mob guy. Could be Tommy or Claude, it didn’t sound like Ray Liotta to me but I could be wrong.
The narrator specifically said that he moved to San Andreas to retire and be like a TV family, be a good guy for a change, he mentioned kids but not a wife. Then he tapered off with a “But you know…” and then there were clips of fast-driving, guns, and some cops.
Link to trailer, just out.
Vinewood. It’s Los Santos, and what looks like a fair amount of surrounding countryside.
CGI trailers with no hint of game footage simultaneously manage to bore and irritate me.
The graphics are so beautiful, if GTA V isn’t part of a next gen console launch, I don’t see how the map can be very large because, DAMN.
The beach, what looked like Mt. Chiliad, the lighting, it looks like they dropped the sterile feel of GTA IV. Foreclosure sign, panhandlers, out of business sale signs, looks like they’ll be lampooning the present day as predicted.
I think we might have been given a couple of shots of the protagonist who looks white and late 50’s to me. That definitely lends the retired mobster theory some weight. I’m leaning more toward Claude or a completely new guy; it really doesn’t sound like Tommy to me, I can’t see a denizen of VC musing about the magic of LS.
Saw a dog but no kids. Planes, military jet, helicopter, jet ski, motorcycle, I didn’t see a bicycle. I’m hoping that a late middle-aged protagonist and the “magic” LS setting means a compromise between realism and what could be some outrageous mid-life crisis fun.
Wild speculation - the narrator has kids, what if we get to play a whole family? We’d get the mid-life mobster who could probably jump into some high-level, interesting crimes right away. We could have side missions with the kids being street-level criminals, might even give us a female protag for some of it.
If a lot of the rumors are correct that there will be multiple protaganists, I’m wondering if they will fully render San Andreas, including Las Venturas (Vegas) and San Fierro (San Francisco), and the “badlands” (the surrounding countryside), with a playable character in each area? It would certainly build a lot of buzz, as Rockstar could continue to roll out amazing trailers over the next year or so, revealing each area in turn.
I for one, feel the hayseed-redneck is an under-developed stereotype in videogames - I’d love to play some hick from one of the small towns, building a meth or oxy empire, and running over fools in a combine. Yeee-haw!
Yee-haw indeed! Sounds good to me. Our hick could follow a Breaking Bad path, begin collecting cold medication and eventually move up to stealing from high-tech labs.
At first I thought it was LS w/ some countryside. The more I look at it the more I think/hope it might be all of San Andreas.
We’ve got wind turbines, oil derriks, docks that look like San Fierro, Mt. Chiliad, and planes. Added to the fact that people have been clamoring for reanimated SA, I can’t imagine R* doing it half-assed.
It’s a grim thought but we may one day see a GTA where you begin in a city and the map expands in the form of DLC. puke
That didn’t look like CGI pre-rendered stuff to me. The graphics are pretty crazy though. If it’s on current gen consoles it will struggle to eek every bit of power out.
As far as the game goes I’ve tried to get into every GTA so far and have never been able to. Maybe this one will do it for me?
Awesome use of The Small Face’s “Ogden’s Nut Gone Flake” too. A really good late 60s instrumental.
The trailer makes it look awesome but we don’t know what the game is really going to be like yet, so I withhold judgment. If I am likely to get phone calls from NPCs asking me to play pool whilst I am playing , I am screwing this for SR3.
My hope ultimately is that we get the best of both worlds - a large, multi-region map, but with a tight, short storyline for each character (if indeed there will be multiple playables), and, please Og, no cross-country missions that leave you in the sticks with nothing but a tractor to get home on if you blow up your car.
I’m envisioning maybe a Tarentino-esque intertwining storyline, with each character’s arc beginning at a different point in the overall narrative. And with a final set of missions that ties all the characters together, and allows you to play the ending through as each character, or maybe even cooperatively online. Something like that would offer a ton of replayability.
Then again, I’ll be happy just to get my flamethrower and jetpack back.