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Gta San Andreas And Thief


Hylix Ulyx

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That's right people!

 

I'm probably the last person on earth to be able to play this game, but I finally did, and I'm amazed.

 

Regardless of what you think of the subject matter in the game itself, or the story element, it's just a damn fine game.

 

RPG elements (hunger, upgradable weapon stats, upgradable character states, etc.),

 

tactical and strategy elements (multiple ways to complete a mission, lead a team of gangters into rival territory, gain or lose territory on the map, etc.),

 

super interactivity (buy drinks and snack from a vending machine, play pool for money, tow cars, pull trailers, respond to peoples comments to you on the street, play arcade games, bet on horses, workout, swim, dive...omg),

 

and all of the vehicles....

 

More than just all of the stuff they let you do, is the way the implement them. It's rare that a game that tries to do so much ends up doing it all well.

 

So what with the thief bit, you ask?

 

Well, if you haven't played the game....I was amazed when at one point in the game, a certain mission requires you to sneak in and steal something. My initial though was, "Great, another game with a stupid stealth mission...". Of course, that was until the helpful hint at the upper left corner of my TV directed me to a nearby shadow, intructed my to duck, and lo and behold, I was invisible!

 

They have a crude indicator on the map portion of the hud that darkens when you're fully "shadowed", but it works, and can be done anywhere there are shadows.

 

If you have a knife, you can even stealth kill ANYWHERE on the map.

 

Please feel free to comment, retort or flame. I just needed to share.

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They have a crude indicator on the map portion of the hud that darkens when you're fully "shadowed", but it works, and can be done anywhere there are shadows.

 

If you have a knife, you can even stealth kill ANYWHERE on the map.

 

I've seen many games with the same implementation of stealth, nothing new...

Loose BOWELS are the first sign of THE CHOLERA MORBUS!
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My point is that this actually works...and more to the point, it works in a game of this genre.

 

Sure, Splinter Cell did it....but it's a stealth game.

 

This is third person crime simulator, whose main focus is stealing and driving cars, and creating general mayhem.

 

My amazement is not due to the fact that they've implemented a never before seen stealth indicator, but that they've implemented an oft used stealth indicator effeciently in a game of this type. Not only that, it's used in such a way that it gives a hard nod to thief and the games it spawned.

 

The last thing I expected from this game was to SEE this type of game dynamic, let alone enjoy USING it.

 

What's the deal?

 

A good game is a good game.

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I wasn't a massive fan of GTA or Vice City, they were fun for an hour or so but got incredibly repetitive after extending playing. The new one seems to fix alot of the problems the old one had, and adds alot of spice to the mix....I might have to check it out when it hits the PC scene.

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I have to agree about the first two. They did tend to get alittle boring.

 

What's great about the new one is it seems Rockstar really listened to the complaints about the first two, and not only fixed them, but added a whole bunch of great new things to do. I imagine they found thier own games to be a little boring after awhile and decided to increase the replayability.

 

Also, I forgot to mention, at night, if you've passed a certain mission and aquired a particular vehicle, you can sneak in burglarize houses, throw the loot in the vehicle, and drop it off at a lock up area for cash. While you burgle, you're given a noise gauge that keeps you moving slow, lest you wake the occupants. The houses you can sneak into have lit windows indicating it's fair game....what's great is that most of the city houses have like windows.

 

It's great fun.

 

Hylix.

 

P.S. I'm looking forward to the PC version for the modding potential (though it will be minimal, it's still fun to reskin.) The PC versions of the previous iteration all have incredible mods like the Liberty City mod for Vice City, the Real Life mod for GTA 3, multi-theft auto for both.

 

Incidently, San Andreas even has a two player mode within the game itself, and from the looks of it, I wouldn't be surprised if Rockstar is planning a multiplayer add on for the PC version.

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It's a shame, really. So many stealth games came out recently that is sort of made TDS seem like an afterthought, when al of those game owed themselves entirely to Thief...with the exception of Metal Gear, which came out first.

 

But the idea of hiding in shadows (at least to the degree most newer games implement it) is wholly a Thief thing.

 

I read an interview once with one of the programmers of the Splinter Cell franchise where they implied that they had come up with the concept of the Stealth indicator and the ability to hide in shadows. Since Thief wasn't widely know out of PC circle, and small ones at that, nobody could see they were full of shit.

 

 

Hylix.

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Yeah, I still remember the first time I saw splinter cell, I said "so it's like Thief with guns, and some Jet Li wall split moves thrown in?"

 

SC3 is supposed to have much more nonlinear maps, but the gameplay looks so unrealistic that I dunno if I'll be able to get into it.

 

So in GTA SA burglarizing, is there a lot of variety to the houses/occupants, or is it pretty much 3 types of house models and occupants used over and over again? Do you get any sort of bonus for not murdering the whole family with a shotgun in the process of robbing the house?

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The noise indicator ensures that you don't wake up the occupants of the house. Once the indicator reaches it's maximum, it's time to get the hell out of there. So far (and I've only done it once), if you wake an occupant, you can kill them, but you can't steal anymore stuff. It seems alittle unrealistic, but it keeps it challanging, and also gives you more to do than just waste everyone.

 

It's a get in and get out thing. I guess it's more of Cat-Burglerizing.

 

Hylix.

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VTMB had a stealth indicator which used a slider that increased or decreased depending on the lighting conditions, but it lacked any noise indication. I think Riddick uses something similar too...

Edited by Vadrosaul
Loose BOWELS are the first sign of THE CHOLERA MORBUS!
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The stealth in VTMB is an intergral part of the gameplay, and one of the features tauted on it's site. I didn't even know about the stealth element in GTA until I played it.

 

Riddick is just a shitty game.

 

Again, all I'm saying is that the stealth gameplay in GTA SA was not only a complete surprise, but extrememly well done when you consider all of it's other moving parts.

 

I"m well aware that VTMB is a sprawling, immersive RPG, but that's what it was the intent of the creators from the beginning. It was tauted as an RPG with elements of stealth and strategy.

 

GTA SA is not an RPG, and yet it implements RPG elements in adept ways.

GTA SA is not a stealth game, yet it implements them in adept ways.

GTA SA is not a RTS game, yet it implements them in adept ways.

 

Here was a game that had the potential to be the same tired shit, and ended up being 50 great games in one.

 

Hylix.

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In case anyone is still interested.

 

I finally got to do a full on robbery mission. The one i did before this was an actual main story mission, and although it's basically the same objecitive, the rules are different.

 

First off, once you have the vehicle specific for this side mission (a Box Truck) you then have the option of starting the mission, and it's only from 8 o'clock at night to 6 in the morning. I was wrong about waking up the occupants, and/or killing them. If you kill everyone in the house, you can still collect stuff. When I entered, they were watching tv. I cleaned them out, and went into the next house. They were waiting for me, and called the cops. I ended up getting arrested, and the mission ended.

 

I figured I should clarify, in case someone else who's played the game reads what I wrote and thought I was lying or something.

 

My foolish pride.

Off to try again.

 

Hylix.

 

;)

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