Grand Theft Auto 5 Made Me Sad.

[DEAD34345]

The viewpoint is interesting, but I pretty much don't agree with it at all. Having just completed the game moments ago, I can certainly agree that all three protagonists are horrible, horrible people, and they were never supposed to be anything else. That doesn't indicate poor writing, it simply indicates that this is a story about three horrible people, and it happens to be a very interesting and enjoyable story in my opinion.

If you can't separate your own sense of morality from that of characters in games or other media, that's fine, and I'm sure it would make playing this game (or many other games for that matter) extremely hard, but I don't think that applies to most people at all.

Also, the context for that assassination mission was that Michael was doing a favor for Lester in order to gain his help, Lester's motivation was left vague but considering all of his other assassination missions it was almost certainly to game the stock market in some way. I honestly don't get what is different about the context to this mission compared to all the other missions in the GTA series.

 

[[Kira Must Die]]

I get where you're coming from, but I still can't agree with it. The game never tries to hide the fact that these are terrible people and never shy away from the horrible things they do, which I like. The game exist in a world of satire, and you can clearly see what is being satirized, from the fake TV shows, movies, and shops, to the way a few of the missions and side-jobs play out. It's not suppose to be taken to heart, but instead be discussed among people who play it, kinda like with The Last of Us, which presents a set moral dilemma and leaves the players not to decide what actions and decisions the character they're controlling should make, but to decide how they feel about the choices their character has made. If your offended by the characters, then I say the writers have succeeded in what they set out to do. You can disagree with what they do and the actions of the characters, but it's not necessarily the fault of the game, nor is it evidence of bad writing. Games should be allowed to show us the things what we don't want to see, no matter how much we kick and scream. This is what elevates games to become more than just another way of escapism.

 

[nijinski]

why do the characters need to be redeemable? why do they need a reason for murdering someone? i don't need a narrative that explains why trevor gets off on hurting people. he just does. sweet. i don't need a story explaining why franklin is such a ***** to his mentors. he's insolent and naive. fuck yea. michael whines about his entitled and over-privileged life. i don't care if there's no reason why he's doing so other than the fact that he's whining. cry on, girl.

i felt like the game accurately portrayed that vapid, blase, aimless, tortuous and wandering wanderlust that is LA and the pursuit of fame. people here (yea me too; i'm not above it) are just sky high oblivious about a lot of things, in their own little worlds--much like the main characters. i fucking LOVED that about the game.

i think maybe the problem is that no GTA game has ever had writing that's worthy of calling 'art'. it's mostly just pastiche and cliche, at best, shoddy, mediocre and befuddled at worst. when you're 12 it kicks ass, but at 32 (as Greg writes) it's infantile.

i think people are starting to want MORE from the GTA franchise--the recent gamespot review that criticized its misogyny despite that being a "hallmark" (really?) of the series, for example. notice in the comments (http://www.gamespot.com/grand-theft-auto-v/reviews/grand-theft-auto-v-review-6414475/) the misogyny and transphobia leveled toward the reviewer?

anyway.

i loved the game, but the ending was a let down, yea?

 

[nijinski]

also (SPOILER?): what's with the thing at the end w/ T post credits?

 

[Flankhard]

I think Tito has a lot in common with Michael. Michael too is in constant denial. He says: "I used to view myself as the good guy", yet he loves taking down "scores" aka robbing and murdering.
Tito says: "I have no opposition to creating mayhem within the world of GTA V (...) I chose to switch off my morality for a bit (...)".

We all play the game like that. We go on rampages to see how much chaos we can cause and get away with. And then we wash our hands clean by saying: "Haha, it's just for testing purposes, rely, I'm a good guy, I would never do that, that was just for fun - I'm gonna reload my save now ;-)".

This is why these sequences in question are so good. You don't get to walk away from them without feeling dirty. They force you to question your own morality - and there is no "exit through the back door". You either admit that you are bad and advance the story, or you put the game away right there and then. That's the ultimate moral choice.

Most people who play videogames are good people, right? Yet millions of civilians have died in all sorts of cruel ways as a consequence of player actions and choices in this gaming series. It's time we face up to it.

 

[42]

I've played the whole game through, and I enjoyed the characterisation of Michael, Trevor and Franklin, and I thought the fact they are written as arseholes just reinforces the whole point of what GTA is about. Your playing as a criminal, and in what way are you supposed to find them 'likeable'? I get tired of people going on about the whole anti-hero bullcrap which has now become a standard requirement for writing criminal characters, how they need to have some moral reason as to why the do it. If you want morality, go watch Breaking Bad, or the Sopranos. But GTA V provides you with a story that doesn't delve into whether or not what your doing is morally right or not. It takes you through a crime caper taking you through the lives of 3 criminals, and we already can tell they aren't doing it because they think they have morality on their side. The characters are each self aware they're murdering bastards. and the choice at the end, it really goes into, yeah this is sometimes a choice a criminal might have to make. Why does everyone want crime to have Robin Hood syndrome?

Now Tito here goes on about that the writing of these characters is poor itself, now I would be more then fine with that point, but he rags on and on about trying to find a way to sympathise with these people. You don't need to. thats what makes the writing good. To write truly despicable characters with no likeability is a hard thing to achieve, but thats the appeal of playing as them, you get the rush out of being a complete arsehole. thats why GTA was fun in the first place. I mean seriously, how can you play up how sympathetic other characters are in the GTA universe, when one minute your supposedly watching them have a moment where you feel sympathetic for them, and the next your going through the streets killing everyone on site with an RPG launcher? and you want to go on about Morality? This is GTA, it has no morals, it's always been like that from the start.

 

[Arts1000]

Great Article Thanks .........
I am at the final few missions in the game . So far I have put in roughly 60 or 70 hours . Must admit its not the story that is racking up hours but the fantastic open world . I was not impressed with any of the dirty deeds . Dragging me in kicking and screaming and feeling used ( shame on you Rockstar ) . I will finish the story missions but I can not see a second playthrough .

Talk about sad : More shocking than Trevor's torchure sequence is the number of people saying it is just fine ... " hey get over it its just a game " I can but hope this group are mostly still in diapers .

 

[braincore02]

While I respect that this game is just not his style of entertainment, I think Tito missed the whole point Rockstar was putting forth. Or maybe he just thinks much more highly of people than I do.

"...the three protagonists GTA V are different shades of evil, sure, but not one of them has a motivation for their actions other than malaise, greed and psychosis."

Is that not motivation enough? I think there genuinely are people out there with no motivations beyond malaise, greed and psychosis. I appreciate having them represented in my entertainment, and it doesn't bother me at all to play as them. GTA seems like the perfect platform for it.

GTA V has fully embraced itself as a game of depravity, because that's what the series always was. Add to that new levels of overblown satire oozing from every pore of the game, and the fact that it spends a good deal of time breaking the 4th wall for the writers' and players' amusement, and it becomes just as cartoonish as the GTA's of old we enjoyed so much.