Why I'm feeling pessimistic about this release. :: Grand Theft Auto V General Discussions

Over the past few months, I've been very negative when discussing Rockstar, and I wanted to share why.

The problem is the same problem that EA and all other publishers share. PR. Their PR has been almost completely targeted at the console gamers (their perceived highest market share), and so they've done jack all to actually calm down people like me who don't want to pay full retail price for a 2/3 year old game.

I'm not going to preorder this game anyway, but if I'm going to buy it within the first week, I need some kind of reassurance from Rockstar that I'm not wasting my time. I don't want that information within 2 weeks of the game's release (when the hype train is at its strongest, and its hard to see real facts), I want it as soon as it's available.

If they fired their PR department and replaced them with competent individuals who are able to actually address the entire audience instead of only the people who already own the game, I might be less pessimistic. Fact of the matter right now, though, is that Rockstar's actions are not inspiring confidence.

Remember; they cancelled the entire port of Red Dead Redemption because they lost all the files, since Rockstar can't backup for ♥♥♥♥. They are also responsible for the ports of Bully and GTA IV, some of the worse in my Steam library. I'm not a Max Payne fan, so for me personally, my faith in the company relies a lot on this port.

Furthermore, I have no doubt in my mind that this is a port. This is Rockstar's method. They develop the PS3/X360 fork first, and then they come back and modify the code to work on a PC, and upgrade some of the textures and what not. The 6+ months isn't "extra refinement and polish", it's "let's start converting the code for x86".

I'm sure the finished product will be great, but I will not be holding my hopes up, and I will not hand over a dime until I know I will get my money's worth. If you do buy this game, please do submit a detailed review; some of us will be relying on them to make our decision.

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Showing 1-15 of 163 comments

The Male/Man has Grand Theft Auto V

1 Jan, 2015 @ 12:20am

You know, I had heard a plausible sounding idea for MGS V: Ground Zeroes. The guy suggested that GZ had the cost of a fully fledged game, despite being a demo because the money from it would help fund the Development of the final product, MGS V: The Phantom Pain.

But then I heard this news, that when Kojima made an offer to the guy who voiced Major Zero in Snake eater, the offer was "insulting", probably because it was so low. Where the heck's all that funding at?

Oh, and Happy New year.

Last edited by The Male/Man; 1 Jan, 2015 @ 12:22am

fokehS

1 Jan, 2015 @ 12:22am

Originally posted by King Void:
Where the heck's all that funding at?

Marketing.

Not even joking. I do enough PR work on the side to know how much companies spend on this kind of stuff. It's utterly ridiculous.

Final Fight has Grand Theft Auto V

1 Jan, 2015 @ 12:25am

You know nothing how game development is going. Phantom Pain already funded had GZ was just a part of it made into small game to show full game is about.

Pally

1 Jan, 2015 @ 12:26am

Originally posted by King Void:
You know, I had heard a plausible sounding idea for MGS V: Ground Zeroes. The guy suggested that GZ had the cost of a fully fledged game, despite being a demo because the money from it would help fund the Development of the final product, MGS V: The Phantom Pain.

But then I heard this news, that when Kojima made an offer to the guy who voiced Major Zero in Snake eater, the offer was "insulting", probably because it was so low. Where the heck's all that funding at?

Oh, and Happy New year.

Ground Zeroes isn't a demo. It's a prologue:P You can't get 6-10 hours out of a demo and never do the same thing twice.

Tony Snark has Grand Theft Auto V

1 Jan, 2015 @ 12:30am

It's not a port.

The reason we get so little information anymore is our own doing. We've brow-beating developers into seclusion. The gaming community is largely a corrosive, unsatisfiable lot. Even the slightest delay is translated as "they're ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ us." Every bug not fixed at the clap of our hands, a personal slight. What PR wants to babysit the needs of squalling manchildren all day? What PR would even do a bit of good assuaging those that have no desire to understand or listen?

1 Jan, 2015 @ 12:36am

Originally posted by return 0:
It's not a port.

Obviously, without official confirmation we'll never know, but I personally don't agree. Why would they have any reasons to change their development pipeline?

Originally posted by return 0:
What PR wants to babysit the needs of squalling manchildren all day? What PR would even do a bit of good assuaging those that have no desire to understand or listen?

Because that's what PR is paid to do.

I work PR on occasion. My job is to sell products. That means I have to deal with whatever the customer's ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ is, and just get them to the register with cash. It's a dirty business, but sometimes it's satisfying when you love the product you're selling, and you manage to make people feel happy.

Why should PR not do the thing they're paid to do? If your job is to market the game to as many people as possible so the company can rake in cash and you can get paid, shouldn't you be doing your damn job? PR for Rockstar isn't even that difficult; post a couple updates on the newswire with some screenshots (slightly touched up in photoshop), order a new trailer to be made and uploaded, and then make a few Twitter updates and reply to some questions.

The simple fact of the matter is that they're either lazy, only paid to work on very limited days/hours, or they've been specifically told to only do PR for people who play the game, so they can sell more of those GTA V cash card ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ things.

Last edited by fokehS; 1 Jan, 2015 @ 12:36am

Originally posted by Paladin Goo:
Originally posted by King Void:
You know, I had heard a plausible sounding idea for MGS V: Ground Zeroes. The guy suggested that GZ had the cost of a fully fledged game, despite being a demo because the money from it would help fund the Development of the final product, MGS V: The Phantom Pain.

But then I heard this news, that when Kojima made an offer to the guy who voiced Major Zero in Snake eater, the offer was "insulting", probably because it was so low. Where the heck's all that funding at?

Oh, and Happy New year.
Ground Zeroes isn't a demo. It's a prologue:P You can't get 6-10 hours out of a demo and never do the same thing twice.

Says who? You could get the same amount of replayability in any other demo. And probably do a lot of things differently.

Last edited by The Male/Man; 1 Jan, 2015 @ 12:39am

1 Jan, 2015 @ 12:45am

Originally posted by Hugh Wotmeigh:
Obviously, without official confirmation we'll never know, but I personally don't agree. Why would they have any reasons to change their development pipeline?

It's already been said. By them and by those that actually understand the term. Whether you agree, is essentially meaningless.

Originally posted by Hugh Wotmeigh:
I work PR on occasion. My job is to sell products. That means I have to deal with whatever the customer's ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ is, and just get them to the register with cash. It's a dirty business, but sometimes it's satisfying when you love the product you're selling, and you manage to make people feel happy.

Why should PR not do the thing they're paid to do? If your job is to market the game to as many people as possible so the company can rake in cash and you can get paid, shouldn't you be doing your damn job? PR for Rockstar isn't even that difficult; post a couple updates on the newswire with some screenshots (slightly touched up in photoshop), order a new trailer to be made and uploaded, and then make a few Twitter updates and reply to some questions.

The simple fact of the matter is that they're either lazy, only paid to work on very limited days/hours, or they've been specifically told to only do PR for people who play the game, so they can sell more of those GTA V cash card ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ things.

Well, put in a resume or start your own gaming PR firm. If it's as effortless as you believe, you'll be rich by 2016.

1 Jan, 2015 @ 12:48am

Originally posted by return 0:
It's already been said. By them and by those that actually understand the term. Whether you agree, is essentially meaningless.

I would like a source, please. Probably won't dissuade me, but I'd still like to see.

Originally posted by return 0:
Well, put in a resume or start your own gaming PR firm. If it's as effortless as you believe, you'll be rich by 2016.

I'm too busy developing games and interning at dev studios to be doing PR fulltime.

Cyberion

1 Jan, 2015 @ 12:50am

As much as I would love it if Rockstar reciprocated its love for consoles towards PCs, I can see why they delayed the PC release. We all know piracy is a big issue. Let everyone soak it in on the consoles than they'll pay again for PC. Who will last a year without playing this amazing game? The fact that they ruined GTA IV on the PC could also be a reason for their extra effort in ironing out a valid PC game and not just another port.

#10

1 Jan, 2015 @ 12:53am

Originally posted by Cyberion:
As much as I would love it if Rockstar reciprocated its love for consoles towards PCs, I can see why they delayed the PC release. We all know piracy is a big issue.

I think that's entirely the reason, and I'm sure the orders came down from Take-Two (who strangely also own 2K Games, and I've never played a bad PC port from a 2K-published game).

Another reason would be the triple-dip; get people to buy last-gen, current-gen and then PC copies. Whoever thought of that, as well as those money cards is unfortunately a rich genius.

I don't believe there was any concern for PC optimisation, because most suits have never actually seen what it takes to make a game run smoothly on a code level.

#11

1 Jan, 2015 @ 1:00am

Originally posted by Hugh Wotmeigh:
Probably won't dissuade me

Then I won't waste my time.

Originally posted by Hugh Wotmeigh:
I'm too busy developing games and interning at dev studios to be doing PR fulltime.

Yeah ok but you don't know what a port is.

Also, please link me to the store page of any game you've shipped as I would like to exchange money for it.

#12

1 Jan, 2015 @ 1:04am

Originally posted by return 0:
Yeah ok but you don't know what a port is.

Taking pre-existing code and adapting it to a new platform, making any necessary changes and improvements to ensure that the port in question works as flawlessly as possible in the new environment.

They didn't start this from the ground-up IMO. They would have used the console versions as a base, and continued from there.

Originally posted by return 0:
Also, please link me to the store page of any game you've shipped as I would like to exchange money for it.

I've not released any games, and I'm okay with admitting that. Nothing I've made has been fun enough for me to warrent releasing, and that will probably stay the same for a while.

#13

1 Jan, 2015 @ 1:06am

I'm not sure why you're being so aggressive about defending Rockstar and "proving me an idiot".

I've kept saying it's my opinion, and I'm sharing it because I want people to hopefully understand why there are people who are not so confident that Rockstar has the best interests for PC gamers.

I really do hope it's great, and that I'm wrong about it being a port, and that their PR guys will eventually come through. But right now, I simply don't feel confident, and I'm more interested in the games from Telltale Games and also No Man's Sky.

#14

Doktor Mandrake has Grand Theft Auto V

1 Jan, 2015 @ 1:22am

Originally posted by Hugh Wotmeigh:
Remember; they cancelled the entire port of Red Dead Redemption because they lost all the files, since Rockstar can't backup for ♥♥♥♥. They are also responsible for the ports of Bully and GTA IV, some of the worse in my Steam library. I'm not a Max Payne fan, so for me personally, my faith in the company relies a lot on this port.

Furthermore, I have no doubt in my mind that this is a port.

I thought they said they never ported RDR because the coding was such a mess it would be too much hassle trying to port it to pc?

I also thought they had confirmed that it is NOT a port, this version was built at the same time as the XBO/PS4 versions, since they use the same architecture as a PC

Eh, either way I don't think it matters to r* if a few people are feeling pessimistic and don't wanna buy the game day one.. It doesn't matter because they're still gonna sell a ♥♥♥♥ ton of copies anyway

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