The radical jump in tone from San Andreas to GTA IV (Or lack thereof)

[Psycho78]

San Andreas was tedious because you had to eat and work out and run around re-taking territory.

IV was tedious because people keep calling you to do things while you're trying to run over pedestrians. Once I figured out you could accept their invitation and then call them back and cancel the plans I liked IV much better. Or you can mute your cell entirely.

 

[ElPatron]

The only radical difference in tone was in the visual department with the darker, gritty graphics.

I liked the seriousness and "darker" atmosphere (not just graphics).

Honestly, when I heard the GTA IV rumours years ago, I said "Meh, another childish game". It wasn't. It's my favourite GTA because I feel it grew with me. I spent my childhood enjoying the silliness of GTA, and was tired of it.

I also liked how they striped down things that were not needed at all. Like the hundreds of stats you could upgrade. It was cool when I was young. I did not feel that "fun" was thrown out in any way.

 

[EvilPicnic]

I think any difference in tone is due to SA and VC being spin-offs of III. GTA4 follows GTA3 quite naturally; it is San Andreas and Vice City that are the (amusing) deviations.

GTA3 had a mute protagonist and not all that much of a story at all (just Catalina generally being a *****), but otherwise it was a whole lot like GTA4; especially with the setting of Liberty City being generally damp and dreary.

Vice City and San Andreas were progressively over-the-top and I think Rockstar reached the limit of how far they could push in that direction. Returning to the grime of the core series was the best decision imo.

As for the humour, it's still there. It's just not as obvious because on the surface you get impoverished immigrants and foggy NY rather than Miami Vice and Scarface, or sunny LA and Spike Lee movies.

For those really missing the days of Vice City, try playing The Ballad of Gay Tony. Seriously, you get gold plated helicopters, APCs, Arabic men dancing around in their underwear, and pretty much every mission involves paragliding.