Why do 90% of the story missions have no reward?

[hermanJnr.]

I know people will hate on this because GTA V has such a huge userbase, but now that I've had the time to actually play the Story Mode properly for the first time I'm amazed at how many of the missions are just long boring set-ups with no payment or reward at the end.

For comparison, back in Vice City I loved the way the missions were structured, even if it was less "realistic" and more slapstick (let's be honest, GTA V is not at all realistic anyway, so realism isn't an excuse for this design choice).

In VC you'd do an *exciting* mission (start a riot, rob a bank, kill a drug lord, attack a crackhouse, fly around in a plane close to the city as fast as you can or something) and earn $1-10,000 at the end of it. Then you'd be able to buy a safehouse and it'd unlock some cool new side missions or something. When you killed Diaz you suddenly had a massive mansion and your own gang!

In GTA V it seems like every single mission I've done so far is a super linear fetch-quest type outing like "Go to the shops and pick up some clothes. Tow a car for no money 5 different times. Walk around slowly. Go to the bank and take some photos. Walk around slowly. Go to the boat and walk around slowly."

Then after all that work you do the heist and....nothing. "Oh we stole a nuke so we'll just give it back. No money for you chump! LOL!"

I thought that sucked and then I just did Blitz Play and...yeah, absolutely no cash again. Nada. I mean, that was a "heist" but they didn't even animate Michael stealing the bonds from the truck, it's like the truck was empty!

There seems to be this constant theme in the story of "crime doesn't pay", but I think Rockstar took it too literally since I feel like every mission ends with Franklin whinging that he's poor and these missions are BS and me completely agreeing with him.

[ShelLuser]

Originally posted by Senor JUAN DEAGS:

I know people will hate on this because GTA V has such a huge userbase, but now that I've had the time to actually play the Story Mode properly for the first time I'm amazed at how many of the missions are just long boring set-ups with no payment or reward at the end.

I've finished the story line a few times now (mostly on PS3, just restarted on PC) and I couldn't agree more.

In my opinion R* are amazing when it comes to developing and designing open world environments, but they lack some serious still when it comes to actual game design. GTA V is one of my favorite games (next to Minecraft & Skyrim) and I play it a lot but many things either don't make sense or simply don't add up.

But I fully agree. When I first played through story mode it didn't leave me with a sense of satisfaction at all. It's exactly as you say: you get to pay for weapons, ammo and such and you hardly get anything back in return.

Even the first heists are basically done to help out others which leave you with hardly anything to spend on stuff in game. Even though you can buy properties in story mode don't even think about getting them during gameplay because that's not how it works.

Which I think is an utter shame because that could really help build up your characters and a bit of a side story, but nope...

And it even doesn't add up in-game... At one point you have to deliver a truckload full of cars, and the idea is that you get paid for your efforts afterwards. Which, of course, you don't. Even Trevor starts making in-game comments and complaints about not getting paid anything and you'd expect that he would do something to make that happen. But nope: in the end he too doesn't seem to care about getting paid and apparently figures that this is all normal... that really did not add up for me.

During my first gameplay, after the last heist? You have to drive up to Micheals house. I stalled at first and robbed a few stores because I was convinced that the moment I got back at the house then something would happen and people would come to take all the money away again.

That's really not the way to get satisfaction out of the game, and in that sense I never got any from playing story mode.

And about my criticism about game design: just look at the enemy AI, and how stupid that works. Either an enemy is coming straight at you or they hide and try to take shots whenever you're in sight. There isn't that much variation in between, most enemies will always remain at their position no matter what.

This becomes especially true during online (contact) missions. Now, I love contact missions, I even grind them to get a nice cashflow going, but honestly? The game design and enemy AI are pretty bad.

Every contact mission you play follows these rules...

1: There are 3 kinds of enemies: statics, chargers and spawners.

• Statics are usually the enemies you need to defeat. They're already in place waiting to attack you (or get killed by you).
  
• Chargers are enemies who will come straight at you, usually in numbers. They may take cover sometimes but usually they'll simply try to run up to you to kill you. Even if they're armed.
  
• Spawners are just that: enemies which weren't there and spawn into your game at a later time. When they do they're usually chargers, but sometimes can also spawn in as statics.

2: Whenever you completed your objective then 3 to 5 spawners (or wave of spawners (think about a van)) will come to attack you.

Example? Just reach your main objective and you'll see. From getting hold of the van in 'Stealing the Monet', to getting Anna free in 'Cleaning the cathouse' or killing everyone in 'Hard labour'; the next thing you know several enemies will spawn and charge at you.

Best example would be getting a Lost van in "Romance isn't dead". Once you did that and drive out of the Lost camp just park your car and wait. It won't be long before enemies will come to attack you. Kill all spawners and you won't get any more resistance in the rest of the mission.

3: Missions are extremely linear.

Now, I love these missions but their design often leaves much room open for improvement. If you don't follow the designated way to play the mission you can make things a lot easier for yourself.

Example? Well...

In the last act of 'The Los Santos connection' you'll find both the buzzard which is going to attack you later (as soon as you got the coke) as well as the plane with the head honcho being already present on the airfield. So instead of getting the coke (the buzzard is going to attack) and then destroying all the vehicles (the boss is going to leave using his jet) you can also destroy these vehicles before getting the coke. Then all you have to do is simply get the coke to Martin and you're done.

But it gets much worse in 'Base invaders': You're told to hop into Ron's plane and then destroy the lazers after which you're told to get the cargobob. Remember rule 2? That also applies here: the moment you got the objective 'destroy the lazers' then dozens of enemies are going to spawn, making the game much harder. Solution? Simple: don't destroy the lazers but steal the cargobob first. You'll still have to deal with statics and chargers in the area (and some new enemies will spawn in sporadically) but you don't have to deal with a whole truck of enemies driving over to attack you.

But even in easier missions. What about blow up? Instead of blowing up all the cars right away just place sticky bombs and drive over to Simeon's workshop. Then once you're there you blow up the cars and will finish the level instantly (especially if you're standing on the car park). No need to worry about enemies (Blow up III) or the cops (Blow up I & II)..

So yeah, I definitely agree with you. This is also why I enjoy playing online much more than story mode. At least there's more variety there.

[Jenna in April]

I also agree with you, Senor Juan. This is called GRAND Theft Auto, yet most of the missions felt anything but grand. And that was due to the fact that there was little, if any, reward at the end of them. I'm playing the story mode for the second time, seeing if I could've done anything differently to make a little more money early on. Nope, doesn't appear so. Each character is pretty much stuck with what they have for most of the game.

Which brings me to what "Black Picture" Anonymous said above - Sure, you get a lot of money at the end. Franklin's living situation changes for the better...at the end. But what is the point of that? Now your characters have all this stuff, but no more story. It's kind of pointless.

In the end it all comes down to simply enjoying the game for what it is, not what it might have been.

[hermanJnr.]

Originally posted by GrannyKicksSomeFanny (Jenna):

I also agree with you, Senor Juan. This is called GRAND Theft Auto, yet most of the missions felt anything but grand. And that was due to the fact that there was little, if any, reward at the end of them. I'm playing the story mode for the second time, seeing if I could've done anything differently to make a little more money early on. Nope, doesn't appear so. Each character is pretty much stuck with what they have for most of the game.

The thing I found most perplexing in the "Blitz Play" mission is that Michael says:

"When we get into the truck we'll grab the bonds and **any cash inside**. Then we get out."

So I was thinking "Right, the FIB want the bonds but maybe the characters will get $50-100k each in cash or something."

Instead...nothing. We get nothing.

It's just so contrary to the normal gameplay loop established in pretty much every game ever...and not in a good way. It's like R* set the mission up to pay you cash and then just didn't do it.

The one mission in Vice City that had a few missions of set-up paid off $50,000. Which in that game was a huge reward, enough to buy some of the most expensive stuff in the game.

Right now in GTA V I'm making ~$20,000+ from even small market trades, so it's not like money's too much of a problem for the basic stuff. It's just frustrating that so much of the game is so weirdly designed to punish the player for investing time.

I feel like I'm playing as a daytrader rather than a criminal. Is that the social commentary R* was going for? Either way, bleh.