Does it still hold up?

>>384535518

Gameplay wise I'm not sure but thematically it feels outdated as fuck. Lots of references to Bush-era terrorism. But even at the time it felt weird...Why is the storyline focused on the fucking mafia, and Russian mobs, in 2008 New York? Maybe if this was the 70s...But organized crime become almost nonexistant in New York in the 21st century

>>384535948
Russian mobs are still pretty big, italian mob is almost dead though (IV had kind of a Sopranos parody thing going on too).

>>384535518
As someone who is just now playing through this game for the first time, I'd say, sure.

Minor complaints:

Runs like shit.
World feels empty.

>>384535518
Compared to GTA 5? Yes.

Compared to San Andreas or Vice City? No.

>>384535518

I recently played it again, it was awesome. Had a lot of fun.

>>384535518

I would argue no. After GTA V, it's hard to go back to the almost complete lack of customization, the lack of garages/hangers, the lack of good side content

>>384536387
turn off gps

>>384536387
> world feels empty
mmm... no?
The AI in GTA IV is the most realist thing i saw in a GTA HD game...
Much better that GTA V

>>384535518
>recently build new PC
>7700k 1080ti
>DL this thinking I can finally get it running at a steady 60 fps
>Turned settings up to max and 2k res since gtav runs this at ease with constant 100fps
>gtaiv stutters constantly at 30-40fps
>lower graphics to 1080p and mid graphics settings
>constant 50-60 fps

to be fair, R* did release a patch a few months ago that increased performance a lot. I can only imagine if I was running previous version that the game would run worse than assdick.

>>384536596
BING
BONG

I wish they bring back the more realistic stagger from getting shot and the like
Then make it more realistic that a shotgun shot can incapacitate people

>>384536598

Not him, but it feels empty because there's nothing to fucking do. Also, I know the pedestrians are more advanced than in V, but in V it still feels like there is more going on and more activity within the city.

What's wrong with the amount of clothing in this game? Did they get cut?

Is there a way to force some sort of AA in this? Or to achieve 60fps without turning off shadows? i5 6600k RX480 8gb 16gb ram

>>384536608
ive got a 6700k and a 1080 from a build i did a few months ago. i was able to get a close to stable 60fps at 4k. keep the view and draw distance at less than 50. i had it at like 25 and was never bothered by pop in. vehichle densidty was at 50. i had it at 100 and even if it didnt trash performance, i wouldnt reccomend it since it causes so many fucking traffic jams. also, traffic spawns are awful in 4. it seems to spawn lines of traffic in clusters rater than dispersing it naturally. ever see a highway congested in one lane with like 5 of the same model car? i have.

>>384535518
sure. can't age when you're already complete shit. nowhere left to go from there.

>>384537294
turn definitio off. makes things blurry, but reduces jaggies by alot. it can be done in real time by pressing p i think. it just makes it look like consoles.

>>384536598
let it go.

>>384537101
no its realistic if niko has limited clothing options because most immigrants who came to new york wear the same shit everyday

>>384537478
if you keep wearing the same clothes npc's will make passing remarks that you stink

>>384535518
Hold up? As though anyone liked it after the first day of release?

Stuff that holds up

>gun sound effects are fucking awesome, best in the series easily
>driving is controversial, but I find it fun and heavy
>the more intense shooting missions (three leaf clover, museum piece, deconstruction for beginners) they have a really fun, gears of war style element to their design
>most of the missions in general are pretty fun, I like their simplicity where its mostly just shooting dudes, the lack of gimmicky vehicles and concepts was actually kind of freshing
>the more serious nature of the story, and niko's endearing personality
>the surprising amount of humor in the game is very funny
>the conversations you can have with girlfriends and friends are really impressive and in-depth
>the city design is amazingly detailed and has a really cool atmosphere, I love walking around the suburban alderney or the grittier bohan

Stuff that doesn't hold up:

>hardly any clothing options - only ONE store for the first two boroughs, and then only two are unlocked for the entire rest of the game, and the stores have very few options as it is.
>to add on to that, CHANGING clothes is a nightmare, you have to wait for the screen to turn black for each item,
>having to save your cars in the shitty parking spaces, that are often kind of glitchy anyway
>the mini games with friends (bowling,darts) are terrible
>the side content in general is very bad, jacob's drug missions aren't fun, neither are stevie's car thefts. the game feels totally lacking in actual meaningful stuff to do or meaningful ways to interact with the city
>game doesn't have taxi missions, you can only do a few for roman and that's it. sounds small but this is a big deal for me,
>some of the missions are kind of boring, the beginning of the game in general is rough
>as pleb as this sounds, the soundtrack just isn't poppy enough. you really notice this after playing V, or going back and playing the others; this soundtrack is just a little too dry and rough, it needs to be a bit more fun.

Reminder that Kate dying is preferable than Roman dying

>>384536963
Did you unlock all the friend activities and bonuses? Because pretty much all the side content is accessed through them, although there are activities that can be accessed in the open world.

>>384535518
I think it does; I just finished the Lost and Damned and I thought it was very good. I'm in the process of writing a character analysis of Johnny for fun. Would you guys be interested in reading what I have so far? It would also be a good opportunity for me to test if everything works.

>>384538275
I personally think it makes it more bitter sweet Roman dies

>>384536101
>italian mob is almost dead though
it's not what it used to be but I wouldn't say it's almost dead
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/05/nyregion/mafia-five-families-racketeering-conspiracy.html?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1348951/127-mobsters-arrested-biggest-blitz-New-Yorks-crime-empires.html

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Welcome to Burger Shot, muh fucka!

>>384535518
Only GTA where I truly enjoyed the single player

5 was only fun for the first 2 hours

>>384538770
Do you post your character analyses somewhere other than a Uzbekistani dirt collecting forum?

>>384539013
Bon appetit, mufugga

>>384538109
I can agree with pretty much all of this except for the soundtrack, plus I'll add that I think IV's missions are very replayable because of the way you can use the friend bonuses to help you do stuff, plus there are missions that take advantage of the game's incredible attention to detail, and that I thought the random strangers, the crazy people you sometimes heard in the street, and the complex subway system were great ways to get you to interact with the city.

>>384539116
Nah, 4chan is my home; I don't go anywhere else, and I don't really want to. That's why I tailor them for 4chan, character limit and all.

>>384539293
Post it then
Did you include his GTAV iteration and all?

>>384538109
Saving your cars in shitting parking spaces makes sense since it's based off NY. It's pretty hard to find good parking because Liberals want to force everyone to take mass transit into the city.

As for clothing options, I chalk it up mostly to Niko having shit taste in fashion.

>>384539293
Also, I'll add that I don't post them on outside sites because I don't want you guys to have to go through a hyperlink and disrupt your reading flow. I find 4chan optimal for avoiding this.

Anyway, I guess I'll post it, see what you guys think so far. I could say it's about halfway done, but then I get to scanning a cutscene for a detail I was going to write about and then I'll end up finding another one. So I'm not sure where I'm at, really. All the sections are 2000 characters long, so I'll start dumping it in the next post.

>>384539830
That's gonna come at the end, when I look into why I think he died and what hints the story in TLAD gave to his demise.

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>>384539917
After learning as much as I could (admittedly I didn't do everything I could; GTA IV has multiple dialogues every time you redo a mission and I didn't listen to the second dialogue of most of the missions), I found that the things of note about Johnny, and therefore the things I will be focusing on, are the fundamental differences between him and Billy Grey, in terms of their ideologies, general demeanor, their relationships with the members of the Lost, and their treatment of non-members of the Lost. Additionally, I will look into Johnny's relationship with Ashley and speculate on why he ended up the way he did in GTA V.

Johnny's awful relationship and general incompatibility with Billy is probably the most prominent plot element up to Billy's arrest, and it returns in full force during events leading up to the invasion of Alderney State Penitentiary in the final mission.

Something important that should be noted here is that Johnny and Billy didn't just meet in the Lost; their relationship goes further back than that. After "Bad Standing," the mission where Johnny kills or drives off Brian and ends the internal feud within the Lost, the player will find that Johnny has received an e-mail from his brother, Michael, who is a Captain in the Army. It seems like Michael is supposed to be the more successful Klebitz, but recently he's fallen on hard times for reasons very similar to Johnny's despite Michael being on the right side of the law. That's not really important; what is important is that according to Michael, both him and Johnny were childhood friends with Billy, and that Billy always possessed the god complex he shows during the story. Additionally, we find that Johnny has always been very loyal; Michael has repeatedly told Johnny of Billy's nature yet Johnny still stayed with him and even looked up to him. This trait of Johnny's carried over to Ash as well – here we see an image of the person who stayed with her even after the story ended.

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>>384540021
Coming back into the present day, we can see that Johnny and Billy differ right down to their general demeanor and mindset. Something that the story really wants you to glean from their interactions is that Johnny is more concerned with the business side of being a criminal, while Billy is more concerned with the romanticism. This is something we see as soon as the second cutscene in the clubhouse during the first mission, Clean and Serene. Billy is now President once again, and wants to know where his bike is and why Johnny didn't get it back for him.

Here we see that Johnny knows about the god complex that Michael speaks of. The fact that Johnny has still remained loyal to Billy despite his abhorrent personality has been cemented; he's still with Billy contrary to what Michael wanted. Also, consider that earlier, Johnny was acting President and once Billy was set free, he was the one to give Billy his presidential jacket, rather peacefully. We also see said god complex manifest itself; Billy is clearly in the wrong here because he wouldn't be out from prison if not for the mindset Johnny holds. The money from that bike among other sources of money is the reason why Johnny and his friends were able to pay for everything. Note again that Johnny is the one who pays for everything, again demonstrating his loyalty to Billy. Anyway, Billy is in the wrong and owes Johnny yet when Johnny explains his reasoning, Billy does not acknowledge it at all. Instead, he shouts in a manner akin to a master ordering a dog, as Johnny then notes, to "GET MY BIKE!" Later on, he makes jokes about the business-oriented mindset that set him free (notably, Brian is the only one who laughs), and shows his god-complex again. He turns to the rest of the gang and emphasizes "leadership" during his rebuttal to Johnny's claim that the consequences of getting his bike back would be on his head. The mission continues.

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>>384540110
In essence, we see the conflict between Johnny and Billy pop up multiple times over the story; it is the first major conflict to be presented and the last major conflict to be resolved after all. I just wanted to talk about how early the conflict and Billy's psychological issues actually present themselves. Other moments of note from "Clean and Serene" that flesh it out are the second set of dialogues in the mission. There are many exchanges which basically sum up their ideological differences, one being
>It's hard to be proud when you don't have a roof over your head. I can show you the books.
>Fucking books, man. Fucking books. (note that Billy's actually yelling here) Show me whiskey. Show me some hole.
If there's one thing the story wanted you to take away from it in terms of Billy and Johnny's dispute, this is it. During those dialogues, we see Billy repeatedly snap at Johnny and directly and indirectly try to reclaim his superiority over him– directly via flat out stating that "I'm your leader" and indirectly via asking Johnny whether the other members gave him trouble while he was locked away, and then offering assistance by saying he'll talk to them, as if he's Johnny's parent. The latter’s intention is made clear when placed in the context of the previous statement, which was that not everyone’s shoulders are wide enough to bear the responsibility [of being leader]. In general, all I can say is when you have the time or when you're really, really bored, give the mission another go, even though it's long and doesn't really have much gameplay. It's genuinely astonishing how much of the dialogue explores their relationship.

>>384535518
the game aged like milk, the overworld in gta 5 is better

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>>384540190
So at this point, we're pretty well aware of the ideological differences between Johnny and Billy. But their differences don't just stop at their ideologies; these two are genuinely incompatible people. Johnny's mindset not only presents itself in his arguments with Billy, but also in the way he conducts himself around Billy and other people. You see this in smaller moments such as during the beginning of "Buyer's Market," when Johnny has to meet with Niko. He does so for quite a while; you'll note that there is a small timeskip that takes place during the cutscene. Before said timeskip, Elizabeta asks Johnny to dance, since he's at a party, and he declines. After said timeskip, Johnny is still found seated in the same position.

Way before this though, during "Clean and Serene," we get to see Johnny's and Billy's contrasting demeanors first hand. When they meet the chop shop guy to collect Billy's bike, they torture him to obtain the info and thank him afterwards. Johnny does so by shouting "Thank you," while Billy does so by not only shouting, but by hitting him in the chin with a hammer. Normally something like this seems superfluous, but when Johnny and Billy have the same lines (the "Thank you") with such a disparity in body language, the exchange seems far more intentional.

Furthermore, in the second mission, "Angels in America," note the disconnect between Billy and Johnny's interactions with the club girls. When one of them approaches Johnny, all he does is lightly shove and kick her away. Sure, it's not entirely peaceful, but it's a far cry from Billy's treatment. First of all, he indulges the girl in her advances, while Johnny swears her off (something he states in the hangouts). Second of all, as opposed to Johnny's light shove, Billy shows his disinterest by dropping the girl flat on her ass. Bearing this in mind, note that the interaction taking place is Billy overreacting when he thinks he's being judged.

STUPID MALAKA
WHAT IS THIS SHIT? MY CAR

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>>384540295
The characterization extends to the gameplay as well, and we notice this during the bike formations. If you ride in front of Billy during those formations, he without fail demands you ride behind him. Of course, since the AI isn't that smart, this extends to those times you accidentally ride in front of him as well, such as when you take the faster way around a corner than he does. So here we get into a bit of "he's overthinking this" territory, but I like to think of it as Billy's god complex being such a prominent part of his personality that he gets angry and implores you to get behind him even though you intended to ride behind him the whole time but slipped up once, that one slip up being enough to set him off. And why wouldn't you ride behind him, you get free health and armor for doing so. This behavior is in contrast to Johnny, who is more than happy to give back the role of President to Billy once he's free; you can observe this in the opening cutscene. Johnny is the one to give Billy the President jacket back.

Since we're talking about characterization during gameplay, I might as well bring up Johnny's combat dialogue. He seems to be a bit of a hypocrite. He lauds the old days of just beating bikers with baseball bats or fists and having them recover instead of shooting them and causing potentially irreparable injuries like Angus'. Despite this, once he gets into combat, he becomes just as aggressive as Billy; perhaps the most memorable bit of dialogue that showed this happening is when he starts shooting people and his vocabulary is reduced to just "Fuck you, fuck you, fuck you" being repeated a bunch of times. Additionally, though Johnny is always preoccupied with keeping the brothers out of danger as much as he can, he seems to have very little regard for his own life; he flat out says that he doesn't care if he dies during gunfights. If it's because of a sense of altruism for his brothers or suicidal tendencies is up to interpretation.

>>384539013
Here's the nasty garbage you ordered!

I mean, I wouldn't eat it!

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>>384540463
So, we know that Johnny and Billy differ intrinsically, in terms of their mindsets and general demeanor, although Johnny may or may not hate himself based on how he behaves during combat. Now it's time to look at how they differ in response to extrinsic factors, i.e. the other members of the Lost and non members as well. This is something I touched upon when I talked about their contrasting reactions to the biker groupies who approached them, but now it's time to talk about more prominent characters. The characters in question are Brian, Jim, Angus, and Jason.

We'll start with Brian. His most prominent traits are that he's Billy's lapdog and not biker material, and by the time the story ends, you will know this very well. I would just like to note just how early Brian shows this behavior; in fact, it's shown in the first cutscene. You see that he's not as hardcore as Johnny or Billy right when they sit down in the first cutscene and take a shot of whiskey. If you look at Brian's face, you will note that Brian not only puts the shot glass down much more slowly than the others, which indicates that the effects of the alcohol are much more potent to him than to Billy, who even puts the glass down in the same shot, but also, note how much Brian grimaces after he finishes the shot. Billy, in the same instant, says the shot was "yummy." At this point, we're supposed to believe that Billy is head honcho of a badass biker gang. If he is how a biker is supposed to act, Brian's juxtaposed behavior becomes even more jarring. In addition, note where his first spoken lines take place. They're interspersed among the other bikers' shouts. You can see Brian's lips move, but the other bikers are so much louder that his voice is drowned out. Note how he says "We missed you, Bill" and no one notices him and how he agrees that Billy has had a hard time, and Jim tells him to shut up. Also, note how his first line of dialogue with Johnny is an attempt to kiss up to Billy.

>>384540592
am i supposed to read this?

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>>384540592
For the purposes of talking about Brian and Johnny, I will talk specifically about his actions during “Clean and Serene” and “Action/Reaction,” which is the mission where the Lost attacks the clubhouse of the Angels of Death. I chose the former because, once again, I wanted to show you just how early Brian’s character is fleshed out in ways that might not be noticeable at first glance, and the latter because the events of Action/Reaction become very prominent when talking about Johnny’s and Billy’s differing attitudes towards the death of one of their own, Jason. Anyway, the first thing of note is that Brian is the only member of the Lost that appears during cutscenes to laugh at Billy's jokes. You see this when Billy makes fun of Johnny's mindset by bringing up IRAs and 401k's during "Clean and Serene," and also when Billy jokes about Johnny's demeanor during "Action/Reaction" by bringing up high colonic. Brian laughing at Billy's jokes happens multiple times over the course of the story, but these scenes are of special interest because in the former, the entire club is present to assess Billy's humor, and in the latter, an outsider, Ray Boccino, fulfills the same duty. No other member laughs at Billy's jokes in the former cutscene, and Ray even goes so far as to deride Billy's jokes as being unfunny in the latter.

it seems like the rest of the Lost members cannot stand Billy or don't have a good relationship with him. When people are good friends, or even when a girl is interested in you, they tend to laugh at your jokes no matter how stupid they actually are, or at the very least, they try to begin a bit of banter with you. The members of the Lost do neither with Billy; Brian is actually the only one to even acknowledge the jokes in the first place. Compare this to how Lost members and Johnny get along; Jim, Terry, and Clay always acknowledge and respond to his jokes during hangouts, even when he is VP.

>>384540626
You don't have to, but I do this for the one or two other people out there who is interested in this kind of shit. Plus, I love the storytelling of GTA IV and I'll defend it to the death, that's also why I do this.

Anyway, that's it so far; if anyone actually read the whole thing, leave some feedback.

>>384540881
There is no way that you're only doing this for 4chins when you took the time to take all these screenshots and webms, even going as far to edit them

>>384541130
It's true that I only do it for you guys; if someone posts these somewhere else, I'm not aware of it. I promise. At the end of the day, I do it because I love you guys, you're like my surrogate family.

>>384540716
I totally forgot that the quote link is part of the character limit, so that's something for me to keep in mind for the rest of it. Cool, posting it in its incomplete form did really help me.

COME ON NOW, LOOK AT ME
I EAT PERPS LIKE YOU FOR BREAKFAST

>>384536387
I do feel that the world is empty but I wouldn't say dead though

The urban atmosphere does take away some of the feeling of LC being alive

>>384538990
Don't forget this guy:
http://www.nydailynews.com/amp/news/national/100-year-old-mobster-john-franzese-released-federal-prison-article-1.3272856

>>384539013
>tfw can't even enter Burger Shot, Cluckin Bell or any restaurants in GTA V
Why did they remove that shit? V feels so anti-technology.

>>384541324
What an autistic faggot

>>384543573
Obviously, I just confessed to you after all.

>>384536537
>it's hard to go back to the almost complete lack of customization, the lack of garages/hangers
It ruined the classic GTA map design built around hanging on to the things you have and lose them upon death. Being prepared for missions in GTA V is way too easy, finding fast cars is way too easy, you're always at the maximum level of preparedness for everything like an MMO while in any other GTA you have to find the good shit and spend it like a resource at the appropriate times. You also start swimming in money in no time in V, so you can just buy whatever you're missing and you never spend any time in the poorfag stage of the game which is one of the most interesting. They prioritized casual convenience instant gratification over gameplay depth, turning an open world playground where you find the things to play with to, "Click on the smartphone app and we deliver the fun to you" shit.

>>384543987
>implying that it's not piss-easy to find and store fast cars in the old GTAs

For it to 'hold up' it would need to have been good in the first place

>>384543987
This is what I liked about IV, you actually felt like you were going through the poor immigrant experience with him in a strange land and building your way up with more jobs and visiting more cities.

>>384539038
I only beat V twice (disappointed by the final mission every time) but I went through IV and its DLC around 5 times.
V would have really benefitted from a single player DLC expansion.

>>384539840
realism doesn't always make for good game design

It was never very good

>>384540021
>>384540110
>>384540190
>>384540295
>>384540463
>>384540592
>>384540592
>>384540716
tl;dr

Brucie was the best character

>>384535518
Overall, Especially when including TLAD & TBOGT GTA IV is overall a better package than 5.

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>>384540716
Moving on to the events of Action/Reaction. You may be wondering why, if this whole thing is supposed to be an analysis of Johnny, I spend time talking about Brian. The answer to that question is that this mission is where you really start to see that Brian is ultimately loyal to Billy, and not to the Lost. This is why, ultimately, he isn't biker material, and the things he does in missions such as "Clean and Serene" were all foreshadowing for the bigger events such as these. And also, knowing his character makes Johnny's actions during Brian's random encounter all the more surprising, as we see a fundamental trait of Johnny's taken to its logical conclusion in that side activity as much as Brian's loyalty to Billy is taken to its logical conclusion here. In this way, Brian also fleshes out Johnny, and that's why I feel he's important to talk about, as it is in this mission where I feel he becomes truly unlikeable.

The premise of this mission is that the Lost is tasked with invading and subjugating the Angels of Death's clubhouse in LC. And it is during this mission that we see Brian's final stance in the deadlock between Billy and Johnny. After the opening cutscene, where it should be noted that Brian jovially trots after Billy following the colonic joke, demonstrating both his main character traits, the Lost rides to the rival clubhouse, and we are treated to a cutscene of Billy giving Johnny a grenade launcher. Look at Brian during the scene. Johnny inquires about the lack of consistency of Billy's information, and Brian doesn't respond. The only actions he displays during the whole cutscene are nodding when Billy restates that it was the AoD who killed Jason and running after Billy when the cutscene ends. Despite this, note what happens when you go in the clubhouse. Brian doesn't follow, even when Billy goes in after you. Furthermore, at least in my playthrough and in GTASeriesVideos', Billy does nothing, he simply waits for Johnny to kill everyone.

>>384535518
How do I get on the choppa after the boat chase. Jacob keeps flying away just as I was about to reach him.
Tempted to reload a previous save and just do the Revenge route (again)