Yes. Though I imagine it would be cheaper if you tracked down the disc version. That link has the complete edition, which also has Lost & the Damned and Ballad of Gay Tony. On the digital edition, just the base game is $20. There is the convenience of digital though.
Completely forgot about the DLC. I may hunt down a used copy instead of going digital then.
Just like when I originally played through this game, I do recommend failing missions sometimes. You get a text message to retry the previous mission, and if you choose that option, the game loads from the start of the mission, but this time you get different dialog in the car during the journeys that take place in the mission. I think they have 3 or 4 sets of conversations in the game for every journey that takes place in the cars. This includes when you’re in the car with someone else, or if you’re on the phone with someone during the car ride. All the conversations are good, but sometimes you can have favorites. Last night, Roman had me laughing out loud on the 2nd conversation on the ride over to talk to Vlad.
The voice actors for Niko and Roman are so good, you guys. I can’t resist their chemistry in this game. Any chance I have to go out with Roman is so richly rewarded throughout the game in the conversations that occur. They must have hours of conversation in this game that’s completely optional that a lot of people never got to hear. I can’t remember right now, but they didn’t do that in GTA V, did they?
There’s a ton of dialogue in GTA V that you get only by calling one of the other guys and “hanging out” for a bit. It’s just like the “dates” in GTA IV, except they’re completely optional and have no effect on the rest of the game. These conversations are more varied than the ones in IV because they change depending on which character you use to invite whom on a ride, as well as when you do it in the game’s timeline. There’s even unique dialogue if you get all three guys in the car at the same time.
There are also special dialogue bits in the heists that only occur if you have specific people on your crew. For example, if you unlock Packie McReary (from GTA IV) you can use him as a crewmember in the Paleto bank robbery mission. During the ride to the bank, he has a long discussion about his past jobs, which otherwise does not happen.
I didn’t know you could get Packie in GTA V. Crap, now I have to replay that one too.
I got introduced to Brucie in GTA IV. It’s going to be so hard to ignore him, since I assume all his stuff is a side-story and not important to the main story line. This whole “finish the game in 30 hours” thing is hectic. For example, when I fail a mission a couple of times, I quit for the evening. That way when I come back to the game, I load from a saved game where I didn’t spend all that time trying to unsuccessfully do a mission.
It’s sooooo tempting to just take a car, tune it to a radio station and just drive around Brooklyn, especially late at night within the game. But I did that many times my first time through, no lollygagging in this run!
Mr Faustein & Dimitri are fascinating characters. I didn’t remember them at all from my first playthrough. I’m guessing they’re going to die or be sidelined fairly early in this epic game.
I was looking through the Achievements to see which ones I didn’t get in my first run. Here they are:
Finish Him
Complete 10 melee counters in 4 minutes.
15
Rolled Over
Do 5 car rolls in a row from one crash.
30
Chain Reaction
You must blow up 10 vehicles in 10 seconds.
20
Endangered Species
Collect every hidden package in the game.
50
No More Strangers
Meet all random characters.
5
Liberty City Minute
Complete the story missions in less than 30 hours.
30
Key To The City
Achieve 100% in “Game progress” statistic.
All the others involve either multiplayer or The Lost and the Damned, or The Ballad of Gay Tony. I do own the expansions, but they were always on my backlog, I never quite got the time to actually play through them. The one thing I did do in both is just to explore Liberty city again, listening to the new music added to the expansions.
Some of the above achievements, I don’t even know where to start. Rolling over a car? 10 melee counters in 4 minutes? Blowing up 10 vehicles in 10 seconds? Meeting every stranger? Those sound kind of easy initially, but I think I would have done them on my first playthrough if they were easy.
I’ve made pretty significant progress the last few days, which is good since I won’t be able to play for several days. Made it past a mission that I remember getting hung up on the first time around, where you have to shoot your way into a rundown hospital to grab a bag of drugs then fight your way back out. Think I’m at around 35 missions completed and still under 10 hours so good shape.
I really dig the formula Rockstar games has, it really works for sucking me in. I think GTA 5 is much better than 4 but it’s still a blast to revisit.
That’s the mission I’m currently on. I failed it last night!
I failed the hospital mission again, so I tried a different mission and failed it as well. It’s always the three-star Wanted levels that get me. I think it’s because I’m trying to avoid killing cops in this game, which is the wrong way to play apparently.
The lack of autosaves during missions is hard to get re-adjusted to. We’ve been so spoiled by modern games with copious autosaves.
I’ll tell you the approach that worked for me, if that helps - there’s a speed boat out in front of the hospital, once you kill the initial wave of police you can run to it and escape. There will be police boats at 3 stars but they’re easy to outrun.
I finally passed the hospital mission! The speed boat was indeed the ticket out of there. I also turned off auto-aim so I could start getting in more head shots.
I took a break to play the Ghost Recon Wildlands beta this weekend. But I’ll be back Roman!
I know I said I was going to stick to the storyline, but I’ve taken out Roman about 3 times already. I just can’t say no to the guy.
I find it hardest to say no to Little Jacob- I love that Rastafarian gun runner. But I have remained focused and turned down all dates. Though I have failed a few missions.
Just to update - I’m at 71 missions completed and about 16 hours in. About 20 missions give or take to go, so should be home free - but it’s starting to become a slog. I understand the criticism some folks had about the game, because running through the missions in order shows how samey they can be - and how many of these missions involve going up to some guy who gets spooked, then runs for it and you chase them down and kill them.
I think my style of gameplay insulated me from this, and helped me enjoy the game more. The first time through I was as exploring, so I’d do a mission or two then maybe look for pigeons or packages for a bit then maybe a street race and then steal a car for Bruce and then maybe a mission again. I like variety so I kind of make my own out of what’s available. Going straight mission objective only is kind of dull. And really kind of killing my enthusiasm for the game. I kind of regret doing this. But I can’t stop now, almost there!
It’s infuriating. The worst for me was one of the early ones with the guy outside the arcade. He jumps on his motorcycle and zooms off while you stand there like a chump. To make matters worse, you then have to deal with the guy’s girlfriend (kill her or not) while the target continues to speed away. Just maddening.
And I had also somehow forgotten about the “plot invincibility” a lot of those guys have. You can just unload your gun into them to no effect until the game decides you can kill them now. Ugh.
Having said that, there are a couple of missions that they kind of tweak the formula humorously. In one, you chase a couple of bikers through the subway, and eventually one just barrels into a train head on. In another, you’re in pursuit of a speeding sports car and the cops join the chase - but refreshingly they are after the guys you’re chasing, and not you. Of course the cops end up crashing and Niko notes “For a minute there, I thought the police were going to do our job for us”, but it’s still funny.
I’ll have to get back on track. First there was the Battlefield 1 free preview weekend, and then the Steep free preview weekend. Maybe now I can get back on track.
I’m currently stuck on that mission that Telefrog talked about above. The one where the guy gets on a motorcycle and zooms off while you stand there. It’s sooooo hard. I don’t remember having trouble with this on my first run.
I “beat” it after numerous attempts when the guy finally just crashed into some traffic and I was able to shoot him while he was on the ground.
That sounds like something that might have happened on my first go-around. So it’s possible I got through it by beginner’s luck that first time.
In this one I tried following him all the way across town, and he just meets up with other members of the Lost and the Damned. And they team up on me, and suddenly I’m trying to chase half a dozen gang members.