The shift in writing level from GTA 5 to Red Dead Redemption 2 is riddiculous

[bongowongo]

Seriously wtf.


Did Rockstar fire all the old writers from GTA V?


GTA V had some of the worst writing in any GTA game. The characters were all annoying, immature and completely unlikeable. It felt like a parody of a GTA game. Even the older gta games leaned into the parody, but it still took itself somewhat seriously and had a lot of heart. Playing the older games remaster, the writing does feel super simplistic and cringe coming into it as an adult, but the games still had a lot of heart in the writing. GTA V just felt extremely cynical and jaded with their writing and it didnt help the story one bit.


Now we come to RDR2 (my actual enjoyment of the game aside) the writing on this game is stellar as are the characters. Even the worst characters are still somewhat likeable in the sense you understand them. It's not just that, but even the parody/wacky parts of the game are still extremely well written, feel grounded despite how riddiculous the scenario is. Quite possibly one of the best voice acted and written games out there.

[JayJ350]

I think they had a lot of different people working on these games. Like I think RDR2 was a last hurrah and passion project for a lot of the GOAT developers at rockstar who seemed to have left after. GTAV probably had a lot of the same people always working away on GTA Online.

[Islandboyo]

The black dude in GTA 5 was a terrible character. His whole story was a waste of time and desperate attempt to appeal to "urban" people with his lame ass story. Trevor and Michael were better. Overall I feel GTA 5 was a step down from GTA 4. The heists and setup for the heists were awesome, some of the other stuff were a little bit corny.

[bongowongo]

I think they had a lot of different people working on these games. Like I think RDR2 was a last hurrah and passion project for a lot of the GOAT developers at rockstar who seemed to have left after. GTAV probably had a lot of the same people always working away on GTA Online.

Hmm interesting you say it's a passion project. I think a passion project was stuff like Bully, Table tennis and maybe max payne 3 .... RDR2 seemed like a natural successor to end the gen off since GTA 5 was their last game at the gen.




GTA 6 will be an interesting one for sure .... Day one purchase, but I seriously hope it ends up with the gameplay of 5 and writing of RDR2. While they do that, hire a bunch of people that actually can make good mission design and character controls ... Even though RDR2 had amazing animations and the characters felt like they had some proper weight, all of it was done sacrificing the actual fun and convenience of a video game. I dont need long overly realistic canned animations of slowly opening up drawers and looting bodies slowing the game down to a crawl.

[bongowongo]

The black dude in GTA 5 was a terrible character. His whole story was a waste of time and desperate attempt to appeal to "urban" people with his lame ass story. Trevor and Michael were better. Overall I feel GTA 5 was a step down from GTA 4. The heists and setup for the heists were awesome, some of the other stuff were a little bit corny.

Even trevor and michael were annoying as fuk. Trevor is the worst ... His character sounds like something a 12 year old boy would think is cool and edgy. Michael was probably the most interesting character because he actually had some growth in trying to get away from the life, but even then his whole life is riddiculous in the worst way possible ... Wife cucking him, sloot daughter and deadbeat son could have all been written and handled a lot better.

None of those characters still hold a candle to the likes of CJ, Tommy, Arthur or John.


Yeah the heists were so much fun, but all the heists were done on account of you being a bitch to the FBI, would have been so much better if the heists were actually done because your crew wanted to do a heist I feel.

[ScramFranklin]

Didn’t like the game (everything felt so SLOW due to realistic animations) but the writing is S tier and it’s beautiful

[bongowongo]

Didn’t like the game (everything felt so SLOW due to realistic animations) but the writing is S tier and it’s beautiful

always on spread.



Exactly how I feel. I'm actually giving the game a shot again ... Gave this game like 5 tries and never could get through it because of how bad the actual moment to moment gameplay is lmfao, even double dipped on pc. I always quit by the time I reach chapter 3 because of how laborious the entire game is. .... But I've decided to treat it like a linear game and I'm only doing the main missions now, fuk the side missions, hunting, open world activities etc and all those ueselss time sinks.

It's a lot more bearable now, I can engage in the fun shooting and story of the game. Game also looks stellar on my pc with high framerates and all the bells and whistles .... Playing this on 30 fps with this specific engine would have been a nightmare.

[OneLegSquats]

Only thing I didn't like about GTA5 was the driving physics Vs GTA4. I felt like 4 had the perfect balance bwteen realistic and arcade, the damage models on the cars were much better. GTA5 went full arcade with it, making driving and cornering feel numb and ez.

[Islandboyo]

Even trevor and michael were annoying as fuk. Trevor is the worst ... His character sounds like something a 12 year old boy would think is cool and edgy. Michael was probably the most interesting character because he actually had some growth in trying to get away from the life, but even then his whole life is riddiculous in the worst way possible ... Wife cucking him, sloot daughter and deadbeat son could have all been written and handled a lot better.

None of those characters still hold a candle to the likes of CJ, Tommy, Arthur or John.


Yeah the heists were so much fun, but all the heists were done on account of you being a bitch to the FBI, would have been so much better if the heists were actually done because your crew wanted to do a heist I feel.

I 100% agree with the heists feeling "empty" due to the story basically cucking the characters every time. You never felt like you were actually profiting adequately for the scale of heists you were pulling off. Hopefully in the next one they have a better cast of characters. Not some washed up old dudes having a mid-life crisis and a token black dude introduced to the game in a unrealistic and silly way.

[JayJ350]

Hmm interesting you say it's a passion project. I think a passion project was stuff like Bully, Table tennis and maybe max payne 3 .... RDR2 seemed like a natural successor to end the gen off since GTA 5 was their last game at the gen.

When I see RDR2 I see it as being something different from the previous entry. Like they really went all-in on the cowboy simulator direction, and that is why I think it was a passion project, because you can tell how some higher ups were really big fans of cowboy stuff and the old west, and wanted to make the ultimate game to capture the era and setting. I think they really succeeded at that, as it might have been one of my biggest complaints, but it's also where I can see their passion coming through.

[JayJ350]

Only thing I didn't like about GTA5 was the driving physics Vs GTA4. I felt like 4 had the perfect balance bwteen realistic and arcade, the damage models on the cars were much better. GTA5 went full arcade with it, making driving and cornering feel numb and ez.

Yeah agreed, that's exactly how I felt as well. GTA4 was a lot more realistic, and I always had a lot more fun driving the cars because they handled so much more realistically.

[TitusVI]

I tried finishing RDR 2 a few times every time I quit of boredom. Xcom games is where its at. You loose or you win. Every step might be your last. Be creative or die.

[TokenV]

Only thing I didn't like about GTA5 was the driving physics Vs GTA4. I felt like 4 had the perfect balance bwteen realistic and arcade, the damage models on the cars were much better. GTA5 went full arcade with it, making driving and cornering feel numb and ez.

Yeah agreed, that's exactly how I felt as well. GTA4 was a lot more realistic, and I always had a lot more fun driving the cars because they handled so much more realistically.

GTA4 is really an enigma, while it is highly rated everywhere it just doesn't seem to get the love it deserves imo

it's up there with Vice City as the 2 best GTA games for me

still have to play RDR2, loved the first one but the sheer size of the second one always held it back in the backlog smh

[freeburn]

I think gta v had a strong focus on satire and it made for a less serious feeling gta.

I still liked the story and characters. Played thru the campaign like 4 times or so to do different heists and play with mods

[bongowongo]

When I see RDR2 I see it as being something different from the previous entry. Like they really went all-in on the cowboy simulator direction, and that is why I think it was a passion project, because you can tell how some higher ups were really big fans of cowboy stuff and the old west, and wanted to make the ultimate game to capture the era and setting. I think they really succeeded at that, as it might have been one of my biggest complaints, but it's also where I can see their passion coming through.

Yeah that's a fair take. They did succeed on making a wild west cowboy simulator for better or worse. The amount of detail and love poured into it is pretty evident. It's an incredible technical achievement on all platforms.

GTA4 is really an enigma, while it is highly rated everywhere it just doesn't seem to get the love it deserves imo

it's up there with Vice City as the 2 best GTA games for me

still have to play RDR2, loved the first one but the sheer size of the second one always held it back in the backlog smh

Put me into the camp that didn't really enjoy enjoy gta iv either. It was a lot like RDR2 in how they made the gameplay and story incredibly grounded, which lent itself into the gameplay being "Slow" and using a lot of animation work. I found the game to be an absolute slog to playthrough.

Whereas gta v was back to gta basics, the characters moved better, the animations, ragdoll physics etc were all dialed down and the missions were a lot more fun similar to vice city and san andreas.

I think gta v had a strong focus on satire and it made for a less serious feeling gta.

I still liked the story and characters. Played thru the campaign like 4 times or so to do different heists and play with mods

Yeah the focus was on too much satire to the point it felt like a satire of a gta game.

It's still a fun game, with some great missions, despite the story and characters being unbearable imo.