Such an upgrade over the previous two. Three whole cities to explore, plus the countryside. They managed to stream the world data from the disc as you moved about, so no more loading screens between islands like III and VC had. This was the first GTA where you could swim, so water was no longer a death trap, and the first to introduce skills, so you could swim further and faster as you got better.

Ah shit, here we go again.

But really, I place it second after GTAV, but I’m biased. I was born and raised in LA but I was too young to fully get San Andreas references. But V? I live where Franklins from, work where Michael lives, and have relatives where Trevor lives. It’s not satire, it’s a documentary.

Still remember playing it back on ps2… Imo one of finest R* release and for open world genre.

But what elevates me most is the PC release with countless mods resulted off it. Did have good time playing SA-MP & MTA SA back in 2012-2015 on and off… Basically custom SA Multiplayer client that lets you connect to server and play with dozens or even hundreds of ppl within a server, met couple of friends and joined Clan that still connected to this day.

Also this game was the game that introduce me to game modding and also as game modder (made dozen of stuffs for SP and MP maps).

GTA 6 will release in another 20 years from now.

STOP MAKING ME FEEL OLD SIR!!!

the golden age of gaming

coworker took a weeks vacation t when this came out to play it. came in with the map games used to come with and got it laminated lol.

was the most pirated game for at least a decade.

I currently doing a playthrough funnily enough, didn’t realize it was so close to an anniversary.

I’ve been spending more time exploring and doing side activities this time around, just driving around and taking photos. It ended up being quite a surprising experience. I was surprised with how easy the game is, how fast the story moves or how empty some parts of the world are (makes sense considering when it released). Taking the world in a more touristy way was an interesting change compared to how I experienced those games before. It’s also a way of playing I’ve been trying to move towards more and more recently (doing the same with Cyberpunk as well).

I still think it’s a great game but IV and, to lesser extent, Vice City are probably my favorites as far as mainline games are concerned. IV especially as it had a nice grounded approach to gameplay with weighty movement, interactions and driving, as well as the story - it sucks most people hated this as GTAV ended up being a rather mid experience for me.

to me the best grand theft auto is 2.

I was dumbfounded when playing 3. in the game series that was unlike any other I’ve played before in terms of throwing me in the middle of an open world full of action to be experienced any way I want, some dipshit I don’t care about was holding me by the ear dragging me around town to do shit I don’t want to do. I quit playing in an hour.

now every AAA game is like this. thanks, GTA, for ruining games for me.