I really like ur analysis of GTA 4. My only thing that I think you left out is that Roman is kinda a symbol of innocence. I think Niko wants to protect Roman because he sees him as uncorrupted by the Serbian war.
Roman and Niko's relationship is great. How Niko slowly unpacks his past for Roman as they go through crazier and crazier shit together is awesome.. It reminds me of a Tarantino film, like a lot of great parts of Rockstar games do.
I disagree. I wouldn't say he's a symbol of innocence. He's a degenerate gambler who constantly got involved with the wrong people and never learned from his mistakes. If anything, he's a symbol of greed and the fake promises of coming to America. Roman kept believing that he was going to live the American dream and expected that it would just be handed to him on a silver platter. The only thing innocent about him is that he hasn't been stripped of his humanity as Niko had been. Roman is less a symbol of innocence but instead a symbol of humanity. The entire point of the game is to demonstrate that there really is no innocence. Everybody is either a ruthless criminal forced to do the worst of things to survive, or is able to escape the violence and crime but instead drown themselves in greed. Roman is the latter. He never had to face the realities of war. Instead, he believed that he deserved the best America had to offer.
DavidOZ I also love that you tend to respect the viewer's free time, and that you acknowledge how limited it may be for us. Plus, you're not overly pretentious, like many analysis UA-camrs. Great combination, really.
KUPOkinz do you compare a gta protagonist who is scarred from the war and a mafia man who does what he can to get through but not to the person who likes killing makes sense
they captured liberty city so good. its so daek and gritty while los santos is flashy and has a cleaner athmosphere to it which fits because there u r a professional gangster planning big heists while in IV u are a european immigrant trying to make a living.
@@hurensohn7605 as a native New Yorker, I can 100% say that they nailed the vibe of NYC in a general sense. So many landmarks, very accurate geography and lastly cleverly named neighborhoods and boroughs
I didn't exactly seen your point about how Nikos relationship with Roman and theme of loyalty are so important in GTA IV until I remembered mission "Uncle Vlad" where Niko gets freaked out so much when he was called "a traitor" by Roman for not telling Roman about Vlad and Mallorie. It's also kinda funny, how just like Roman, I didn't get why Niko told Roman about what happened to his squad over Vlads dead body - Niko just tried to explain Roman, how painful it was for him to be called a traitor by someone important to him, when the biggest tragedy of Nikos life was caused by a betrayal.
This is a 5 year old comment but you're absolutely on point man, Niko his whole life has probably been called disloyal and unfaithful to both his cause and his criminal life (getting accused of stealing Ray's diamonds) and so his tendency to just work for whoever and do anything was probably born out of him trying to prove himself that he believes in something, in Serbia, it's him convincing himself it's for a cause. In America, it's him convincing himself it's for the money.
You said "I don't know why they made so many hand to hand combat options." Because it's fun! Back in vanilla GTA IV, my friends and I would go to bad parts of town and just fight as many people as we can before we run out of health. Mastering all the little mechanics was crucial to surviving. Rockstar even responded to this- in The Ballad of Gay Tony DLC, they made an underground fight club; a whole activity based around fist fighting.
@@oohpaarjan4685 It’s not just that, there’s also special moves you can do when you successfully dodge an attack. And there are unique ones you can get depending on the button you press or melee weapon you are holding. GTA V has a similar function but it’s dumbed wayyyy down where all the counterattacks are just a basic punch.
Yeah I like the video. But that's just a stupid take. I mean this is the first time I ever heard anyone complain about the combat system being fun and fleshed out. Weird.
I would not agree that Niko likes the killing. To me it looked like it didn't make fun for him. However the war has made him cold and hardened so it didn't make him feel bad either. He also claimed that he is good at killing and he can't do anything else. I think he doesn't kill for the money. Of course money is a reason, but not primarily. He does it because he has to because with every problem he solves, it causes another problem which needs to be taken care of (e.g. Forced to work for Mikhail after killing Vlad). And also he often mentioned to Roman that he hopes that the people he works for will help him finding the traitor. (Ray Buccino helped Niko finding Florian, UL Paper helped him finding Darko) Since Niko killed Vlad the players knew that Niko did not only move to America because of his cousin and a start of a new crimeless life, but also to find ''that special someone''. That's why I consider the ''canon'' Niko basically as a good man, he is loyal and does everything for his friends and family. But he is also cold and hardened + vengeful what leads him to doing bad things, despite him being a good man.
Niko is a good guy. Everything about his past ruined him. He thinks that the only thing he knows how to do is kill. Which is sad. He's such a angry and depressed man. I don't think he likes killing either. But he does most of it out of anger or he does it to protect the fewer people he cares about
in free roam Niko will outright not kill people. Ever notice that the NPC's you kill in free roam don't die, but, rather they lay on the ground in pain? Plus, listen to the things Niko says while fighting "It's just a wound, you want me to finish you off?" and many others. His whole persona is that of a man who wants out. Out of the past, out of the killing and out of the crime. He is a broken man who was put in a bad situation. Niko was the first gta character that had the option to spare people. The only other character I can think of that has that option was Johnny.
@@grindcore124 They only lay on the ground "wounded" if you shoot them in the body enough times to deplete their health. If you shoot them a few more times, or shoot them in the head, they're dead.
The scene where niko meets darko brevic, is amazing. If u look at it, its not niko meeting darko, but, niko meeting another niko. No its not just that they look alike, but they are very much alike. They both kill for money. So what do u do, do u kill darko and be who u already are, a killer niko . Or do u spare him, and spare the actual niko inside, the one before the ambush, one before niko becomes a killer. Hence the game treats sparing darko as the good ending as niko saves niko and killing darko as the bad one as niko kills the real niko. THIS to me is SPECTACULAR writing.
Completely untrue,but i like your theory,darko betrays nikos unit in the bosnian war and he,florian,and darko are the only ones left,as we know,florian (Aka bernie) didnt do shit,that leaves it to darko,if you kill him,he thanks you because his life is fucked,people here would call that god taking his revenge on the wrongdooer but nah,most probably karma got to him or he did it to himself,anyway,if you spare him,you basically let him suffer more,witch is the true ending to his story,sparing him will leave him with so much more pain than actually killing him.
@@flameuptheherbwoofdownthebeer It's Kosovo War. Niko was finding Darko for 10 years since 1998 which means Darko betrayed Niko for the Albanians, not Bosniaks, then the Albanians paid Darko more money to live in Switzerland as a drug addict and move on before That Special Someone, considering Albanians don't trust Darko Brevic either.
In my opinion Niko is the most realistic character in the franchise, simply because he doesnt want to kill or hurt anyone, he was forced into all this trouble because he had to help Roman. Niko doesnt kill anyone if not nessesary (in the story)
I mean.. honestly it's realistic.. but imo having an anti hero protag doesn't really fit with gta's actual gameplay? a game series where at any moment you can run over a pedestrian for no reason, get out of the car, set them on fire, shoot their corpse again, and then open fire into a random crowd, and yet in the story cutscenes they wanna minimize killing and want to be a good person on some level
@@OutOfTheShadows1 Gameplay is not canon to the story though, Jimmy from Bully is heavily against bullying and stands up to people weaker than him whenever he can yet you can be a bully yourself in the gameplay, but it's not canon to the story or Jimmy's personality whatsoever
That's why i think Trevor is one of the best gta character. He's not necessarily deeper or more interesting than other characters that's not the point. He's just the perfect character for the gta gameplay. You can run over someone, bazooka him to death and go to the mission and it would fit with the character.
from my perspective, GTA IV was designed with all expansions in mind from the beginning. for example: in the ballad of gay tony you can go into a fight club, enter many places that didn't have a real point in existing in the base game and so on. when looked at it in its completion, you can see that the whole world and framework was indeed fully utilized by the developers. after playing every game, it becomes obvious, that the story of GTA IV is much more about the idea of liberty city itself, then it is about any of the protagonists, they are just the catalysts for the narrative. there is so much thought behind every aspect of the games, on so many levels. Great analysis, I enjoyed watching it.
In GTA IV if you call Roman to hangout with you after you already did he tells Niko if he wants the people to say if they are kissing cousins, mokingly asking him if he went to Hercules nightclub
That bit about police snipers, around 43:30, that's actually already in the game. They're most noticeable in Algonquin. Most people usually don't notice them because they're usually driving away really fast from the cops.
I think roman doesnt want to kill vlad because unlike niko, he is either traumatised by or sick of the murder back home. I think that's a really good detail of his character
Anybody here ever read that email from Niko's mom? It was really sad... and probably the last time Niko ever heard from his mother again :( Even she couldn't blame her son for what the war did to her boy, and that just kills me man...
@@jakelarkin2990 What is the reason for her killing? Niko is serbian,im serbian too,as far as i know there wasnt a war in serbia in 2008 when the game takes place,then again it could have been a gang related murder,since niko is infamous in gta 4 for you know what,but she most definately wasnt murdered,hell,if you choose to accept the deal and roman dies,she actually emails niko about romans death,she probably just dosent use the internet very often since old people here dont rely on internet as much as in america.
@@flameuptheherbwoofdownthebeer Niko je Srb iz blizine Mostara, on je bio sudjelovao u ratu u Bosni u 1992-95, nakon rata radija je po mediteranu za Bulgarina, no to nije završilo dobro. Nakon toga pronašao je informaciju za Floriana Kravića , to jest da je on možda u Liberty City-u. Zato je odlučija ići tamo kod rođaka u 2008. godinu. Rat se davno desija od tad ali opet je to traumatično bilo, tako je svima koji su to proživili. Pozdrav iz Hrvatske.
Recently been replaying IV with ludo-narrative dissonance in mind. I'm at 39% with only 6 cars stolen & 172 kills. Basically only killing who is required to pass missions & minimal collateral damage.
Same here. I haven't stolen a single car, just drive Roman's cab or Stevie's car, or just take the train or a cab. Also I save the game by sleeping at night, change Niko's clothes regularly, go to restautants and hamg ouy with friends.
@@grandreddithotel8059 That's what I love about GTA 4, it's so realistic, you can easily roleplay it as a life simulator, or at least the closest thing to it!! Besides the missions, of course.
darko also sold out the other squad members for revenge, not just money. he claimed that some of them were killing other friends of his, painting a picture of how you can't trust everyone you know, also giving more context as to why he did what he did
I feel like the reason the Niko is so aggressive when in combat and is so cool and confident is because he was a professional soldier who fought in a conflict. He has real experience
@@themostdiabolicalhater5986 Water isn't wet because wet is used to describle something which usually is dry. For something to be wet, it needs to be able to be dry.
One of the reasons for tapping "A" to sprint, probably has to do with GTA 3 and Vice City. Holding "A" was the sprint, and players realized you could tap A to effectively have infinite sprint. So it became a measured mechanic rather than an infinite exploit.
It may slightly be due to nostalgia, but this is still my personal favorite GTA game, although GTA 5 may be objectively more polished and better at almost every aspect, but I just love GTA 4.
I think GTA IV is far more polished in all the right areas, compared to V, which had the most underwhelming story, and a terrible excuse of an ending that just jumps on you when you're not expecting it.
What you said is just the opposite. GTA 4 way more pulishes than GTA 5. Liberty City was alive physics were more realistic, history way deeper and richer. GTA 5 is empty.
I think GTA IV was a great game worthy of its praise. It still holds up and the controls work fine when you get used to them. The texture work is great, especially the use of colors and when playing on pc/xbox one/ps4 the higher resolution brings the game to life.
We need more youtubers who treat games not only as tools of entertainment but as pieces of art, like you. I hope more will come and if you analysed Witcher 3 I would be very grateful.
Agreed, a lot (not all) of these analysis tend to focus on gameplay and how it relates to the other aspects of the game, which isn't bad but I appreciate his focused interest on the thematic/narrative element of games as if they were movie essays.
Marty McFly ya when I heard in the video that there’s no commentary I was really surprised. The story is well remembered due to its great narrative and engaging characters.
@@idrinkcofe I'm replaying the whole game including DLC right now. The story is enjoyable indeed but certainly not the best. Like the guy said, it's functional and good for a GTA game, but there are better stories out there. Games like Bioshock and Spec Ops: The Line have truly great stories.
Gta5 and red dead 2 both had 50+ hour stories that had a clear amount of effort put in. The company that owns rockstar forces them to monetize the online segment but they let them do their own thing with the single player and let them take as long as they need. I have no idea how you can call all the work that went into the singleplayer neglect.
@@stephengrigg5988 because out there own mouths they promised to make single player DLC then cancelled it and literally implemented each Single-players DLC into online mode .......... sounds like single-player neglect
This video is incredible. I had already thought quite a bit about the underlying themes of this game but you've just taken it to a whole other level. Your articulate descriptions and perspective are really amazing and great to hear.
The Lost and Damned really comes off as a proto-Red Dead Redemption II. Very similar stories, and I think Rockstar really thought through the ideas that TLAD introduced.
@@DavidOZ I kinda wanted to. I remember reading and watching something about Charles Manson while I was playing through RDRII. I thought how similar Dutch was to him, then thought about how much more blatantly similar Billy Grey was; since he even looked like him. I would've figured someone would see some similarities at some point
Hey David, another interesting video here. But as a fan, I wanna offer some constructive criticism for your consideration. - In terms of voice over, doing over bum takes and editing those out would just help general production value. Obviously this isn't like terribly detrimental to the overall video. - I'd say that the script needs some editing. Now if you want to keep the sort of stream of consciousness style to your scripts, then you can ignore this. But otherwise I'd say there are a couple things I would change. First is the qualifiers you make in the video about how this is your opinion and such. People should be assuming stuff like that off the bat, and it kinda hurts the pacing. What's more, I think you could trim down the time you spend saying what you'll be talking about in the video. Get to your points ASAP and let them speak for themselves. The other critique I have is that I feel you could do a better job of segmenting the video. So an example, you talk about Social Vandalism in the beginning. The script has you backtracking to that definition, but it would be just a bit more coherent to say "GTA IV is social vandalism. Here's are the reasons why." You could do this for each thematic analysis, segmenting the video down even further and allowing us to digest each piece of this pretty large whole. Hopefully these critiques are somewhat helpful. And they come from a place of wanting to help a fellow creator out get better at their craft (which is assuming I have any expertise, which I don't, but I figured its something)
These are great critiques. Thanks for being such a great friend of the channel. You obviously have expertise. I walk this weird line with this channel. It's almost like, I know that there are things that could be improved, but I can't really say I have always been a perfectionist. I think my takes have gotten better for this video, and I redid a lot of them in production. I know there are still some fluffs. At some point I think I just ask myself, "at what point does this stop being me?" The pacing critique is really helpful to me. I don't have anyone to read these through to, so I am pretty much just abusing my keyboard for 11,000 words and then just starting the recording. It's all a work in progress and I think I get better with eachone. I don't think I'll ever stop stream of consciousness though. Thanks again friend.
People dont assume people's opinion that goes against their own are ever people's opinion. Your optimism is commendable but... no. Anything not expressly stated to be an opinion of whoever is saying it is assumed to be a fact and a fact that is wrong, or even vice versa... the listener may be fully aware that it's an opinion but they may not know if the speaker is aware of that or not, especially when everything is said so matter of factly. Basically it decreases the chance for any hostility by opening it "this is simply my opinion, you're free to have your own and I'd love to hear about it"... it opens the door for discussion rather than closing the door on it by displaying any arrogance of "this is the way it is because I think it's like this" However; I agree with most, if not all, your other point but it all boils down to small things that just inherently come with not doing this full time, whether that's time constraints or he's just in the rhythm of doing this or even the lack of ability that he hasnt quite grasped but will come with time...
I love how you mentioned niko's battleshouts since I thought exactly the same thing it made me feel like niko is really there and it's not just a video game
I, myself, would compare the story to GTA 3. The two games are basically inversions of one another. I think that's why they went with the numbered release. GTA 3 has a very tongue in cheek 80's action movie vibe akin to something like Scarface meets Die Hard meets Goodfellas (I know Goodfellas came out in 1990) and is much more arcade style. Where as GTA IV is VERY bleak. Very mature and down to earth. Like Reservoir Dogs meets The Usual Suspects with a tiny bit of Heat thrown in for good measure, and has a very realistic and weighty style to the gameplay. Claude is a silent doer, where as Niko is a talkative cynic that has no qualms with dying now or later. Both are masterclasses in storytelling. GTA 3 talks through its gameplay and GTA IV talks through the map and story itself. GTA 3 is basically Scarface in 2001 and GTA IV is wholly its own thing. Overall, I would play GTA 3 over IV, but going back and playing IV after V it's very apparent that it was a very cinematic experience. Very movie like. Oh yeah, the DLC stories are excellent too. Rockstar has a great track record when it comes to quality.
The skipping free roam thing you mentioned what happened to me, calling a taxi after every mission, or romans cab service. the conversations with the driver were great
GTA 4 was...indescribable. The car crashes felt like REAL crashes. Niko was such an understandable character, and I still remember the vivid vitriolic hate i have for the antagonists. It is, without a doubt, one of the best games of the late 2000’s.
I really love videos like this. I’ve played this game at least seven times, and had hours upon hours of online gameplay under my belt when the game was actually popping. You brought up a few points that made me look at not only the gameplay and story elements different , but also the overall thought process for making a game like this. Great content, very thought provoking.
Thanks man. Just got done streaming some for the next analysis. I think you will like it. you can come by its twitch.tv/davidoztv should be doing it almost everyday. Know you're busy! Thank you for the kind words. :)
This man deserves wayyyyyy more subs. Quality content. Appreciate the hard work. Keep pushing forward, you got the talent for content creation and UA-cam.
I still remember the hype around this game Even though I didn't skip school to play it more often then most I did wake up 3 hours before leaving for school to get enough playtime just to scratch that "itch"
They really did a magnificent job of making THEIR New York City. The geography, the landmarks, the different boroughs. The renamed boroughs and neighborhoods (Dukes = Queens, Purgatory = Hell's Kitchen, Chase Point = Hunt's Point) were done really well. Columbia University was immaculate! It's definitely a parody of the city, but it's VERY accurate. Rockstar really knew where they were.
Grand Theft Auto IV is legendary and Nostalgic in my opinion. I love the storytelling and the theme song I mean cmon the theme song gives it away for being the best.
GTA IV is super political. Especially when it comes to government plants in media acting out false flag terror attacks for social engineering. I couldn't believe it went there. GTA IV is a brilliant piece of social and political satire. It is art.
The motorcycle issues and the zoomed in cutscenes are caused by your game not being locked to 60FPS. This causes physics problems in this engine. Try to cap your game to 60FPS or less with the RivaTuner or a similar software. This should completely eliminate the problem. Other than that, great video and amazing analysis. Keep up your great work, greetings from Germany!
The car physics were so brilliant. The cars had weights, you could drift buttery smooth, the jumps could be really crazy which made every angle count. Pure fun. They took all that out in GTA 5. Every car was so controllable as not to offend the kids that now play these games. It´s pathetic. GTA 5 felt like the devs said "Let´s not offend the Facebook kiddies by showing them that they cannot even controll an arcade model of a car."
Rockstar's characters aren't limited to just the main protagonist, but the entire world the game takes place in. Always the perfect setting chosen for each character, that it becomes part of the character itself. I could not imagine GTA 5 with Niko Bellic acting in the streets of Los Santos, the same way I couldn't see Michael being in Liberty City.
43:30 The police do use sniper rifles, at five and six stars cops will spawn in fixed locations on rooftops with snipers. And they do in fact, snipe you.
These were some wonderfully killer thoughts! Grand Theft Auto IV is one of our favorite games and one that is packed with so many types of implicit messages it is trying to convey. We love it and have subscribed!
Fantastic, thought-provoking video. I haven't even played any of the 3D GTA games and I loved every second of it. Thank you so much for this amazing essay.
Nope its far away from perfect Actually i find it very bad ..terrible San Andreas and V are far better I wonder why people love this game ? No good story , no good voice actors , bad driving mechanics , shallow azz story All the missions are drive from A to B The only good thing is the desingn of cities
One of the most important pieces of dialogue comes during the mission “Dust Off,” when Niko is speaking to the bespectacled government agent who is handing him his assignments. Niko: “I want to get paid. Or a medal.” ULP: “did you get a medal in your last war?” That’s all this is. Niko is still at war. At war with his past, with himself, and with his station as a disposable pawn meant to do dirty work and inevitably wind up dead. He’s in the exact same war on the streets of Liberty City as he was in Yugoslavia, being led by the exact same powers that be who thrive off conflict and their station as the “haves” who send the “have-nots” to die and net them even more money and power.
I view GTA IV as one of the pieces of media most representative of the post 9/11 culture of when it was released. From early on in the game Roman remarks that the bridges to other islands are closed because "fucking terrorists". What's funny is you could say Niko is a terrorist. But you play the missions and realize that the police as well as government officials are the ones paying you to assassinate people and wreak havoc, just like every two bit criminal or imagined "terrorist" lurking in the shadows. GTA IV is a caricature of our culture that conflates two ideas: the concept of a land of opportunity, and the idea that it's really based on the mutual agreement to simply ignore corruption as long as there's a pay day. That's the best way I can describe the relationship between the patriotic New York City and the corrupt Liberty City. It's that distinctly American creed of liberty and opportunity that binds these two things together. Niko is a perfect main character, because as a youth he was radicalized into fighting, realized later that there was only sorrow down that path, and became disillusioned. He had this idea of the American dream in his head though, an idea that American television and his cousin Roman pumped into his head. His excitement turned into pessimism when he got there and realized that the American dream was also a sham, just another shitty advertisement. That really hits home for someone who was a youth in the 2000s trying to figure out what to believe in. It was an era defined by disillusionment. These themes are super prevalent in any form of political media during the time period. One that I am very familiar with is the Green Day album American Idiot, which shares GTA IV's virtue of being overwhelmingly popular during the time, while also critiquing or satirizing the extreme commercialization of our culture that allowed for their success. It's all very interesting since that was a big turning point in our culture, and I like putting these pieces together. Your video is great and very well thought out, it's what got me thinking like this. Great job.
15:20 if you think about it niko is dark and has shades of gray about his past which is why he sees it that way but the other two dlc’s see it as a red blood and mad feeling for the lost and damned because of the ruthless actions they do for their own family/mc and the game is colorful for the ballad of gay tony because he sees it as if he was pulled to drugs money and a lot of perverse actions across it because he was always in liberty city
GTA IV is way ahead of its time. It is superb. Its physics, its driving, its world, its characters... GTA V is a dumbed down version of what this game is worth.
I was so exited when you made this analogy with Walter White! I find the similarity here either. I love GTA 4 and Breaking Bad both so that made me very pleased
i love your content man and i really hope your channel will get bigger :) fight on dude and i can relate currenlty im studying while working 2 jobs at the same time im studying for drivers license all at the same time while still trying to enjoy freetime. i really respect the amount of work u put into makin these videos ;D
41:54 See, the problem is that you're using the cover system instead of just taking cover manually, like in a first person shooter. The cover system isn't really necessary for the player, it's there because of the AI, but it wouldn't make sense if you didn't have the ability to use it as well. You can manually move behind & away from walls, and unlike GTA V, you can actually crouch. Cover system is basically only for emergencies/when you're desperate, too low on health to actually expose yourself so you resort to blindfiring, or you just want to safely throw grenades & molotovs. Though I doubt it can ever take 2 seconds to actually start firing. I wouldn't call it a responsiveness issue, it's just that animations in this game have an actual wind up/weight to them. That and they for some reason added an actual firing delay to the Assault Rifles on PC but not any other weapon. The PC version has a lot of weird non-sensical changes in general. Very few people will pull a gun on you when you're trying to do melee combat with them. The problem you have with the motorcycles is that their physics break above 60 FPS.
the tapping to sprint thing i think is because if you could only walk or sprint it would be kinda annoying especially in the missions that have u killing guys in a building
I think for 2008, this game actually deserved to get it's ass licked clean, and to land on top of all reviewers list. You slap a mod on top of it, and you haven't seen a cleaner looking game, physics still hold up till this day, story is massive, and there isn't any unrelenting tedium in any aspect of it, start to end.
I feel like Niko doesn’t so much enjoy killing as much as it is every time he gets in a firefight his PTSD kicks in. Great review, but it felt like he was going back to his old life when he got shot at or shot someone, his screaming and swearing could’ve very well been something that he did during the well as a war cry of sorts. It would explain why at every other moment he’s so strangely calm, or why he wasn’t yelling in triumph at killing Vlad, Dimitri or Pegorino.
This is a great piece of analysis, and a great video all round. You've earned a new subscriber and follower on Twitter. My only gripe... Can I call it that, as it's subjective, right? But in my opinion, you didn't truly cover how good Liberty City is and how it is the star of the show (or in this case, game). Not only does it provide the perfect background for all three story lines (vanilla and DLCs), but it's the perfect rendition of NYC and it's teeming with life. The city is what, for me, makes GTA IV one of the best selling games of all time. It just "hits different" and it probably won't ever be repeated. GTA V fell incredibly short of the bar, regarding its map. Again, just my opinion. Many fond memories playing this when I was younger - thanks for covering GTA IV, I really enjoyed!
I believe the origin is in gambling, in blackjack you bet before your hand is dealt (the original idea) then your hand is dealt (the ideas execution and people’s reaction) you then have the option to “double down” and increase your bet (putting more stock into your idea)
Its maybe a long video but its worth watching it. I didn't even know whats "game philosophy" and if its a real term before i watched it. This video made me look at games from the perspective ive never seen them before. This video tells about gta 4 beyond the game itself. Him call gta as "social vandalism" is just brilliant. Gta 4 is the 'darkest' game in the gta franchise yet and has one of the best storylines of all games but this video tells about the game beyond it. This is why gta is famous rockstar games put so much effort into everything in the game that no other game studio can do. The storyline, the dialogue writing, the in-game advertisements, the radio stations, everything is so detailed and it feels like they are real. This channel is too underrated. He has put so much effort in all his videos and he still have only about 4k subscribers which is very sad. Instead of a autistic blue haired man playing bullshit, this is the content which should be more famous. Respect+
I'm only at the 25 minute mark in writing all this, but, you've gotten push-back for "mixing politics and games", as if they're separate entities? What a shame considering your great commentary within your great videos. Videos games, let alone about anything, are inherently political. I think the game and developers sort of miss the mark on satire, at times, where I'm not sure if it's satirizing how certain things in media are already portrayed, and takes it to an extreme as it does, specifically through the perspective of an outsider to this world of excess, or if it's directly mocking, say, the struggles that many African Americans have gone and currently go through, or, also at its worst, gay and trans people (e.g radio nonsense you hear, which could be a little more obvious considering how queer and trans people have been [and are] portrayed in the media, although with that, I wish the 'message', assuming there is one, was more clear, because I only see elements like this reinforcing these already existing negative stereotypes in the minds of young men who play this game, or the mission with French Tom, a poor-hating, fat-hating stereotype whose sole objective/existence is to kill)
I'm unfortunately just now getting to this insightful comment. Pretty busy nowadays. I agree - I go a bit back and forth with GTA and it's abrasiveness. There are certainly sometimes where I say, "Man, I dunno what that was trying to say about anything. It more just sounded terrible and homophobic." I wish I had delved into this a bit more - but I think at the time I thought it wasn't as relevant as more direct analysis. It's tough, for sure. How much are you supposed to be able to get away with under the costume of "Satire?"
oh no worries, I honestly wasn't expecting a response, let alone a positive one, so I appreciate you reading and responding. I think your videos are great... I've rambled *a bunch* here, I almost want to apologise lol, but I think they're fairly relevant thoughts. I found some of the humour I already brought up on the radio, prevalent in the stand-up comedy bits, which, currently as it is, a lot of standup comedians still 'make fun' (to use the kindest words) of those that are marginalised, specifically gay and trans people. Netflix is loaded with material like this, sadly, and it's seen as the end-all be-all of 'choice' and entertainment for those who have subscribed, but that's a different topic. as I continue to go through the game (which I haven't finished since I was younger) these things seem to become more and more prevalent, regarding black people, Jewish people too even, although the 'focus' isn't quite as adamant there outside of the diamond mission, combined with the fact that the "rich rabbis" in the game drop more money than any other characters... since it's so belligerent in its nihilistic satire, as the series has always been (sometimes to a fault, I think back to Vice City controversy regarding Cubans and Haitians, which was later taken out), you could say everyone gets the short end of the stick (for every woman in the game that is made out to be 'dumb' or annoying, there's someone like Brucie, who, however, is made out to be more 'humorous' than annoying, for most, at least.. or at worst, side missions where you take pictures of a so-called 'cheating bitch' for Jeff to kill before you dump her body for him. The game really doesn't want you to avoid this second part of the mission, oddly enough. he calls and calls even if you shoot a rocket launcher at him!), but there is a specific focus, and even hatred at times focused on people in this world that are already marginalised .. whether it's simply a reflection of inequality, deeply negative stereotypes already engraved in the minds of many, American 'culture' and society, whether intentional or not, is what I wonder the most. Going back to everyone getting the short end of the stick, I think of Niko himself, who starts off as an interesting character and IMO becomes only more and more empty as you play.. perhaps 'the point' of it, perhaps lazy and unfocused writing, as you brought up. I'd describe myself as anti-capitalist to the core, and this is an area where I think the game is most on point with its satire, although it's equally as unfocused. I think it's just "the absurd" overall, that the game thrives on, and it's up to the player to interpret as they may or may not, which could be a good or bad thing. You brought up the idea that the game might have a 'liberal agenda', and one could argue it does more than anything to the 'right' of liberals. I like the fact that many homeless individuals in the game call you a "right-wing psycho" if you point a gun at them lol :/ but with that, there are many aspects, specifically on the radio stations, that make fun of liberals and the idea of "spreading (bourgeois/liberal) 'democracy' ", along with it clearly making fun of the "Liberal/Republican" dichotomy the majority are stuck within in the states, and the hatred that brews there. I think the game places its satire from a so-called 'indifferent'/nihilistic 'centrist' approach focusing on, and going back to "the absurd", but this 'center' is the core of the society these games and companies are based in, that is one of capitalism and deep-seated inequality. The game is anything but 'politically correct', although this is far beyond my point. I don't want a so-called 'safe' or 'politically correct' game ('correct' for who and in what contexts, is the question, although with that, most 'anti-PC' people are incredibly reactionary), but one with coherence across the board, and especially in the satire it attempts to convey, and sometimes succeeds, especially earlier on in the game before it finds itself far more dark and nihilistic, although I'm certain this is 'the point', more or less... but, I mean, you go to the GTA Wiki page and "racism is", apparently, nothing more than "an easter egg" gta-myths.wikia.com/wiki/Racism Not long after writing my original comment I stumbled upon some discovered facts regarding GTA V and Franklin within that wiki-article... considering Rockstar denied this as being something programmed in the game (whether those that denied this were part of the programming, let alone aware of such a thing at all, unlike those who programmed the game this way), my overall point is that (specifically with this bizarre denial) I question at what point is Rockstar making commentary on incredibly relevant factors within this deeply unequal system the majority live in, and at what point do they negatively contribute and fail to move beyond the sort of jokey, and not too serious attempts at satire they have been *relatively* good at since their fruition as a company? It's a hard question and topic to discuss, especially amongst the majority of 'gamers', in my experience, at least (some of which are incredibly racist, more of which seem incredibly misogynist, and defensive when it comes to this or talking about any such topics), so it's very refreshing to be able to see similar thoughts in another video, and also be able to share and have someone actually respond with intelligence and interest, so I thank you for your time and video(s) :)
Panthers - _Anti-capitalist to the core,_ yet you’ve enough time to be typing(long winded) theories regarding a video game, on a smart device, that only a capitalist society could provide. The next time you order hot food to your warm dwelling, pay thought to how much you despise capitalism, my friend.
Just watched this whole thing after restarting GTA IV for the third time (first time on PC....those TLaD DLC comments concern me...) and really enjoyed it. Hope to see more content from you in the future and hope you graduated!
![[UA] Eternal Fire проти NAVI | EPL Season 20 Malta](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/chvlsDygrZM/mqdefault.jpg)
I really like ur analysis of GTA 4. My only thing that I think you left out is that Roman is kinda a symbol of innocence. I think Niko wants to protect Roman because he sees him as uncorrupted by the Serbian war.
true
Roman and Niko's relationship is great. How Niko slowly unpacks his past for Roman as they go through crazier and crazier shit together is awesome.. It reminds me of a Tarantino film, like a lot of great parts of Rockstar games do.
you mean bosnian war because it was heavily implied that Niko served there
This made me cry after thinking about it
I disagree. I wouldn't say he's a symbol of innocence. He's a degenerate gambler who constantly got involved with the wrong people and never learned from his mistakes. If anything, he's a symbol of greed and the fake promises of coming to America. Roman kept believing that he was going to live the American dream and expected that it would just be handed to him on a silver platter. The only thing innocent about him is that he hasn't been stripped of his humanity as Niko had been. Roman is less a symbol of innocence but instead a symbol of humanity. The entire point of the game is to demonstrate that there really is no innocence. Everybody is either a ruthless criminal forced to do the worst of things to survive, or is able to escape the violence and crime but instead drown themselves in greed. Roman is the latter. He never had to face the realities of war. Instead, he believed that he deserved the best America had to offer.
Christ, you're really working hard. Probably the best video out there on GTA 4
I'm going to make this work. This whole youtube thing. Riding a lot of motivation.
DavidOZ I also love that you tend to respect the viewer's free time, and that you acknowledge how limited it may be for us. Plus, you're not overly pretentious, like many analysis UA-camrs. Great combination, really.
Facts 💯
“May be better to take this video in chunks” lmao this is my favorite game of all time
Oh yeah yeah
IV had a much smaller map than V, yet has more strip clubs...
ARS that cuts deep as fuck tbh
The American dream
ARS is it really? It’s so much better than gta 5 anyway, both story and map and gameplay (imo)
Niko enjoys killing far more than any other GTA protagonists, maybe minus Tommy Vercetti. Obviously Trevor doesn't count here though.
KUPOkinz do you compare a gta protagonist who is scarred from the war and a mafia man who does what he can to get through but not to the person who likes killing makes sense
GTA IV just had a certain atmosphere to it that makes it feel special to me. It feels like you're watching a Russian movie set in America.
watch Brat and especially Brat 2
they captured liberty city so good. its so daek and gritty while los santos is flashy and has a cleaner athmosphere to it which fits because there u r a professional gangster planning big heists while in IV u are a european immigrant trying to make a living.
@@hurensohn7605 Yes that’s what I like about Rockstar games they do a really good job on creating the atmosphere of the setting/location
It feels like playing a Tarantino movie
@@hurensohn7605 as a native New Yorker, I can 100% say that they nailed the vibe of NYC in a general sense. So many landmarks, very accurate geography and lastly cleverly named neighborhoods and boroughs
I didn't exactly seen your point about how Nikos relationship with Roman and theme of loyalty are so important in GTA IV until I remembered mission "Uncle Vlad" where Niko gets freaked out so much when he was called "a traitor" by Roman for not telling Roman about Vlad and Mallorie. It's also kinda funny, how just like Roman, I didn't get why Niko told Roman about what happened to his squad over Vlads dead body - Niko just tried to explain Roman, how painful it was for him to be called a traitor by someone important to him, when the biggest tragedy of Nikos life was caused by a betrayal.
Nice! This is great, and definitely could have made it into the video. Thanks for the comment!
Damn...
I totally see where you come from. Literally played that mission yesterday and I wholeheartedly agree. That's genius. Major props.
This is a 5 year old comment but you're absolutely on point man, Niko his whole life has probably been called disloyal and unfaithful to both his cause and his criminal life (getting accused of stealing Ray's diamonds) and so his tendency to just work for whoever and do anything was probably born out of him trying to prove himself that he believes in something, in Serbia, it's him convincing himself it's for a cause. In America, it's him convincing himself it's for the money.
You said "I don't know why they made so many hand to hand combat options." Because it's fun! Back in vanilla GTA IV, my friends and I would go to bad parts of town and just fight as many people as we can before we run out of health. Mastering all the little mechanics was crucial to surviving. Rockstar even responded to this- in The Ballad of Gay Tony DLC, they made an underground fight club; a whole activity based around fist fighting.
Dude right??? The hand to hand is so much more fun in this game than most open world games I’ve played
Red Dead 2, Saints Row 2, and GTA 4 have some of the most fun hand-to-hand combat in an open world game I’ve playedz
@@oohpaarjan4685 It’s not just that, there’s also special moves you can do when you successfully dodge an attack. And there are unique ones you can get depending on the button you press or melee weapon you are holding. GTA V has a similar function but it’s dumbed wayyyy down where all the counterattacks are just a basic punch.
@@oohpaarjan4685 that's literally every combat system ever. of course it sounds bad if you oversimplify it, dipshit
Yeah I like the video. But that's just a stupid take. I mean this is the first time I ever heard anyone complain about the combat system being fun and fleshed out. Weird.
I would not agree that Niko likes the killing. To me it looked like it didn't make fun for him. However the war has made him cold and hardened so it didn't make him feel bad either. He also claimed that he is good at killing and he can't do anything else. I think he doesn't kill for the money. Of course money is a reason, but not primarily. He does it because he has to because with every problem he solves, it causes another problem which needs to be taken care of (e.g. Forced to work for Mikhail after killing Vlad).
And also he often mentioned to Roman that he hopes that the people he works for will help him finding the traitor. (Ray Buccino helped Niko finding Florian, UL Paper helped him finding Darko) Since Niko killed Vlad the players knew that Niko did not only move to America because of his cousin and a start of a new crimeless life, but also to find ''that special someone''.
That's why I consider the ''canon'' Niko basically as a good man, he is loyal and does everything for his friends and family. But he is also cold and hardened + vengeful what leads him to doing bad things, despite him being a good man.
I think he does like killing though, whenever he kills, his constant shouting feels as if he takes pleasure in killing.
@@pelucheCR7 Soldiers are trained to scream to scare enemies in the field or to gather bravery.
Niko is a good guy. Everything about his past ruined him. He thinks that the only thing he knows how to do is kill. Which is sad. He's such a angry and depressed man. I don't think he likes killing either. But he does most of it out of anger or he does it to protect the fewer people he cares about
in free roam Niko will outright not kill people. Ever notice that the NPC's you kill in free roam don't die, but, rather they lay on the ground in pain? Plus, listen to the things Niko says while fighting "It's just a wound, you want me to finish you off?" and many others. His whole persona is that of a man who wants out. Out of the past, out of the killing and out of the crime.
He is a broken man who was put in a bad situation. Niko was the first gta character that had the option to spare people. The only other character I can think of that has that option was Johnny.
@@grindcore124 They only lay on the ground "wounded" if you shoot them in the body enough times to deplete their health. If you shoot them a few more times, or shoot them in the head, they're dead.
This is definitely one of the best games ever made during the 00’s
it still is
“TO THIS DAY!!” ~ Wilder
@@karithema9ician657 TO THIS DAY!!!!!
In 2023 it's still the best
u mean mid 2000s
I wish i could bring back the memories from 2010
I feel that same way about 2007-2009
Just did with cod bo1
07-11 😢😢
Undead nightmare?
If only they made a expansion and remake of this god game
The scene where niko meets darko brevic, is amazing. If u look at it, its not niko meeting darko, but, niko meeting another niko. No its not just that they look alike, but they are very much alike. They both kill for money. So what do u do, do u kill darko and be who u already are, a killer niko . Or do u spare him, and spare the actual niko inside, the one before the ambush, one before niko becomes a killer. Hence the game treats sparing darko as the good ending as niko saves niko and killing darko as the bad one as niko kills the real niko. THIS to me is SPECTACULAR writing.
this reminds me of mission in fc3 where jason kills vaas
Completely untrue,but i like your theory,darko betrays nikos unit in the bosnian war and he,florian,and darko are the only ones left,as we know,florian (Aka bernie) didnt do shit,that leaves it to darko,if you kill him,he thanks you because his life is fucked,people here would call that god taking his revenge on the wrongdooer but nah,most probably karma got to him or he did it to himself,anyway,if you spare him,you basically let him suffer more,witch is the true ending to his story,sparing him will leave him with so much more pain than actually killing him.
@@flameuptheherbwoofdownthebeer It's Kosovo War. Niko was finding Darko for 10 years since 1998 which means Darko betrayed Niko for the Albanians, not Bosniaks, then the Albanians paid Darko more money to live in Switzerland as a drug addict and move on before That Special Someone, considering Albanians don't trust Darko Brevic either.
12:55 YOU CAN SKIP THE TOLL CHECKPOINTS?!
With a motorcycle or a little car, yeah. :)
DavidOZ Just when you think you know everything about a game it still manages to surprise me.
Yea where have you been
Lol, you can skip them on foot and soon get another car hijacked.
You can also just drive through them but this will damage your vehicle and you gain one star, might be two, not sure. Been ages since I played GTAIV
In my opinion Niko is the most realistic character in the franchise, simply because he doesnt want to kill or hurt anyone, he was forced into all this trouble because he had to help Roman. Niko doesnt kill anyone if not nessesary (in the story)
I mean.. honestly it's realistic.. but imo having an anti hero protag doesn't really fit with gta's actual gameplay? a game series where at any moment you can run over a pedestrian for no reason, get out of the car, set them on fire, shoot their corpse again, and then open fire into a random crowd, and yet in the story cutscenes they wanna minimize killing and want to be a good person on some level
@@OutOfTheShadows1 in SA they give cj the benefit of the doubt by always calling him 'BUSTA' Because he always he crashing cars
@@OutOfTheShadows1 Gameplay is not canon to the story though, Jimmy from Bully is heavily against bullying and stands up to people weaker than him whenever he can yet you can be a bully yourself in the gameplay, but it's not canon to the story or Jimmy's personality whatsoever
That's why i think Trevor is one of the best gta character. He's not necessarily deeper or more interesting than other characters that's not the point.
He's just the perfect character for the gta gameplay. You can run over someone, bazooka him to death and go to the mission and it would fit with the character.
very true! many times you had a choice to do what you wanted... you only killed the guns for hire or henchman etc.
from my perspective, GTA IV was designed with all expansions in mind from the beginning. for example: in the ballad of gay tony you can go into a fight club, enter many places that didn't have a real point in existing in the base game and so on. when looked at it in its completion, you can see that the whole world and framework was indeed fully utilized by the developers. after playing every game, it becomes obvious, that the story of GTA IV is much more about the idea of liberty city itself, then it is about any of the protagonists, they are just the catalysts for the narrative. there is so much thought behind every aspect of the games, on so many levels.
Great analysis, I enjoyed watching it.
Individous 10000% agree
Good point.
In GTA IV if you call Roman to hangout with you after you already did he tells Niko if he wants the people to say if they are kissing cousins, mokingly asking him if he went to Hercules nightclub
With the expansions it is one of the best action games ever made. What compares to it?
@@andreimihail3677 there is a genuine vibe of dick head loving cousins between him and roman. Their banter is hilarious and adorable.
That bit about police snipers, around 43:30, that's actually already in the game. They're most noticeable in Algonquin. Most people usually don't notice them because they're usually driving away really fast from the cops.
I think roman doesnt want to kill vlad because unlike niko, he is either traumatised by or sick of the murder back home. I think that's a really good detail of his character
Anybody here ever read that email from Niko's mom? It was really sad... and probably the last time Niko ever heard from his mother again :(
Even she couldn't blame her son for what the war did to her boy, and that just kills me man...
Damn didn't think about that she probably died or got killed and niko never saw her again
Why do you think it was the last time?
@@jakelarkin2990 What is the reason for her killing? Niko is serbian,im serbian too,as far as i know there wasnt a war in serbia in 2008 when the game takes place,then again it could have been a gang related murder,since niko is infamous in gta 4 for you know what,but she most definately wasnt murdered,hell,if you choose to accept the deal and roman dies,she actually emails niko about romans death,she probably just dosent use the internet very often since old people here dont rely on internet as much as in america.
@@flameuptheherbwoofdownthebeer Niko je Srb iz blizine Mostara, on je bio sudjelovao u ratu u Bosni u 1992-95, nakon rata radija je po mediteranu za Bulgarina, no to nije završilo dobro. Nakon toga pronašao je informaciju za Floriana Kravića , to jest da je on možda u Liberty City-u. Zato je odlučija ići tamo kod rođaka u 2008. godinu. Rat se davno desija od tad ali opet je to traumatično bilo, tako je svima koji su to proživili.
Pozdrav iz Hrvatske.
@@deadset15-hrvavik17 tako je. Fantastična igrica
Recently been replaying IV with ludo-narrative dissonance in mind. I'm at 39% with only 6 cars stolen & 172 kills. Basically only killing who is required to pass missions & minimal collateral damage.
I really want to replay this game as a normal person but sadly I don't have a copy these days
Pacifist%
Same here. I haven't stolen a single car, just drive Roman's cab or Stevie's car, or just take the train or a cab. Also I save the game by sleeping at night, change Niko's clothes regularly, go to restautants and hamg ouy with friends.
@@grandreddithotel8059 That's what I love about GTA 4, it's so realistic, you can easily roleplay it as a life simulator, or at least the closest thing to it!! Besides the missions, of course.
I’m trying the same thing with Vice City
darko also sold out the other squad members for revenge, not just money. he claimed that some of them were killing other friends of his, painting a picture of how you can't trust everyone you know, also giving more context as to why he did what he did
I feel like the reason the Niko is so aggressive when in combat and is so cool and confident is because he was a professional soldier who fought in a conflict. He has real experience
Yup, and water is wet and the sky is blue
@@themostdiabolicalhater5986 Water isn't wet because wet is used to describle something which usually is dry. For something to be wet, it needs to be able to be dry.
@Ertan Soner Very
One of the reasons for tapping "A" to sprint, probably has to do with GTA 3 and Vice City. Holding "A" was the sprint, and players realized you could tap A to effectively have infinite sprint. So it became a measured mechanic rather than an infinite exploit.
It may slightly be due to nostalgia, but this is still my personal favorite GTA game, although GTA 5 may be objectively more polished and better at almost every aspect, but I just love GTA 4.
I think GTA IV is far more polished in all the right areas, compared to V, which had the most underwhelming story, and a terrible excuse of an ending that just jumps on you when you're not expecting it.
nah even when i played 5 for the first time i felt it's story was weaker then 4 and red dead redemption
What you said is just the opposite. GTA 4 way more pulishes than GTA 5. Liberty City was alive physics were more realistic, history way deeper and richer. GTA 5 is empty.
@@TabacoTheGreen Joe mamma
Gta v is a parody
*YOU RUINED ME YOU FUCK!!*
absolute favorite line from niko
I think GTA IV was a great game worthy of its praise. It still holds up and the controls work fine when you get used to them. The texture work is great, especially the use of colors and when playing on pc/xbox one/ps4 the higher resolution brings the game to life.
No gta 4 on ps4 :(
@@doomasil7232 Damn.
Shut your dumbass. Old school graphic gives that vibe to it
@@tbl5138 The graphics are old school in higher resolution too and it's not _that_ old school to begin with being a ps3 era title 😅😅
@@K1LLeRc0ck there is no better resolution on XOne, not even on the One X.
We need more youtubers who treat games not only as tools of entertainment but as pieces of art, like you. I hope more will come and if you analysed Witcher 3 I would be very grateful.
Agreed, a lot (not all) of these analysis tend to focus on gameplay and how it relates to the other aspects of the game, which isn't bad but I appreciate his focused interest on the thematic/narrative element of games as if they were movie essays.
Leadhead makes very good videos
There are snipers on the roofs on a four star wanted level
Really? Out of the many hours of me playing this game i forgot that small detail.
Uninspired writing? The hell you talking about? GTA IV is one of the most well written games ever. You could make an oscar nominated movie from it.
GothenThot. Have you played them?
Marty McFly ya when I heard in the video that there’s no commentary I was really surprised. The story is well remembered due to its great narrative and engaging characters.
@@idrinkcofe I'm replaying the whole game including DLC right now. The story is enjoyable indeed but certainly not the best. Like the guy said, it's functional and good for a GTA game, but there are better stories out there. Games like Bioshock and Spec Ops: The Line have truly great stories.
I can see though why u think it's a great story, and it does have it's moments and overall vibe.
I mean it's good but not gold
Nice video men... GTA 4 The Complete Collection is my favorite game of all time... Is a very well made video game...
It’s a shame that single player got neglected for online. It feels like a chunk of fans were thrown to one side and forgotten for online content
I think you're thinking of GTA V
Gta5 and red dead 2 both had 50+ hour stories that had a clear amount of effort put in. The company that owns rockstar forces them to monetize the online segment but they let them do their own thing with the single player and let them take as long as they need. I have no idea how you can call all the work that went into the singleplayer neglect.
@@stephengrigg5988 because out there own mouths they promised to make single player DLC then cancelled it and literally implemented each Single-players DLC into online mode .......... sounds like single-player neglect
@@stephengrigg5988 no dlc... gta4 had a 40+ hr story plus dlc
This video is incredible. I had already thought quite a bit about the underlying themes of this game but you've just taken it to a whole other level. Your articulate descriptions and perspective are really amazing and great to hear.
This is really kind, thank you Corvo. This put a big smile on my face!
The Lost and Damned really comes off as a proto-Red Dead Redemption II. Very similar stories, and I think Rockstar really thought through the ideas that TLAD introduced.
Whoa, this comment kinda blew my mind. That's a good comparison, someone should write that video essay.
@@DavidOZ I kinda wanted to. I remember reading and watching something about Charles Manson while I was playing through RDRII. I thought how similar Dutch was to him, then thought about how much more blatantly similar Billy Grey was; since he even looked like him. I would've figured someone would see some similarities at some point
43:30 there are snipers at 5 stars in algonquin
Damn.... Respect for you... one of the best gta IV videos.
Hey David, another interesting video here. But as a fan, I wanna offer some constructive criticism for your consideration.
- In terms of voice over, doing over bum takes and editing those out would just help general production value. Obviously this isn't like terribly detrimental to the overall video.
- I'd say that the script needs some editing. Now if you want to keep the sort of stream of consciousness style to your scripts, then you can ignore this. But otherwise I'd say there are a couple things I would change. First is the qualifiers you make in the video about how this is your opinion and such. People should be assuming stuff like that off the bat, and it kinda hurts the pacing. What's more, I think you could trim down the time you spend saying what you'll be talking about in the video. Get to your points ASAP and let them speak for themselves. The other critique I have is that I feel you could do a better job of segmenting the video. So an example, you talk about Social Vandalism in the beginning. The script has you backtracking to that definition, but it would be just a bit more coherent to say "GTA IV is social vandalism. Here's are the reasons why." You could do this for each thematic analysis, segmenting the video down even further and allowing us to digest each piece of this pretty large whole.
Hopefully these critiques are somewhat helpful. And they come from a place of wanting to help a fellow creator out get better at their craft (which is assuming I have any expertise, which I don't, but I figured its something)
These are great critiques. Thanks for being such a great friend of the channel. You obviously have expertise.
I walk this weird line with this channel. It's almost like, I know that there are things that could be improved, but I can't really say I have always been a perfectionist. I think my takes have gotten better for this video, and I redid a lot of them in production. I know there are still some fluffs. At some point I think I just ask myself, "at what point does this stop being me?"
The pacing critique is really helpful to me. I don't have anyone to read these through to, so I am pretty much just abusing my keyboard for 11,000 words and then just starting the recording. It's all a work in progress and I think I get better with eachone. I don't think I'll ever stop stream of consciousness though. Thanks again friend.
People dont assume people's opinion that goes against their own are ever people's opinion. Your optimism is commendable but... no. Anything not expressly stated to be an opinion of whoever is saying it is assumed to be a fact and a fact that is wrong, or even vice versa... the listener may be fully aware that it's an opinion but they may not know if the speaker is aware of that or not, especially when everything is said so matter of factly.
Basically it decreases the chance for any hostility by opening it "this is simply my opinion, you're free to have your own and I'd love to hear about it"... it opens the door for discussion rather than closing the door on it by displaying any arrogance of "this is the way it is because I think it's like this"
However; I agree with most, if not all, your other point but it all boils down to small things that just inherently come with not doing this full time, whether that's time constraints or he's just in the rhythm of doing this or even the lack of ability that he hasnt quite grasped but will come with time...
I love how you mentioned niko's battleshouts since I thought exactly the same thing
it made me feel like niko is really there and it's not just a video game
I, myself, would compare the story to GTA 3. The two games are basically inversions of one another. I think that's why they went with the numbered release. GTA 3 has a very tongue in cheek 80's action movie vibe akin to something like Scarface meets Die Hard meets Goodfellas (I know Goodfellas came out in 1990) and is much more arcade style.
Where as GTA IV is VERY bleak. Very mature and down to earth. Like Reservoir Dogs meets The Usual Suspects with a tiny bit of Heat thrown in for good measure, and has a very realistic and weighty style to the gameplay.
Claude is a silent doer, where as Niko is a talkative cynic that has no qualms with dying now or later. Both are masterclasses in storytelling. GTA 3 talks through its gameplay and GTA IV talks through the map and story itself. GTA 3 is basically Scarface in 2001 and GTA IV is wholly its own thing. Overall, I would play GTA 3 over IV, but going back and playing IV after V it's very apparent that it was a very cinematic experience. Very movie like.
Oh yeah, the DLC stories are excellent too. Rockstar has a great track record when it comes to quality.
Vice city is even more Scarface-like
@@GuyFromCrowd ye they even have Tony Montana mansion
I love driving in GTA IV! I have spends hours and hours of just driving. Pure fun.
Same. Hated GTA 5 driving.
@@Marauder1981 With a handling mod is kind of enjoyable... also I hate the shaking of the vehicles (not camera) - there is a mod to disable this.
31:04 , you earned my like.
The skipping free roam thing you mentioned what happened to me, calling a taxi after every mission, or romans cab service. the conversations with the driver were great
GTA 4 was...indescribable. The car crashes felt like REAL crashes. Niko was such an understandable character, and I still remember the vivid vitriolic hate i have for the antagonists. It is, without a doubt, one of the best games of the late 2000’s.
This is one of the best critiques I’ve seen on UA-cam. Can’t wait to see what you have in store for Rockstar’s other releases.
Just found this video recently and you absolutely killed it.
Loved every second of it, well done!
I really love videos like this. I’ve played this game at least seven times, and had hours upon hours of online gameplay under my belt when the game was actually popping. You brought up a few points that made me look at not only the gameplay and story elements different , but also the overall thought process for making a game like this. Great content, very thought provoking.
Niko is Serbian, which is located on the Balkan peninsula, which is in southern Europe. So no, he isnt east european. Nice vid!
7 years later and this analysis was something i had never seen before, great work you definitely earned a sub
Man, once again, great in depth analysis. Can't wait to see what future videos will be like. I miss your streams, btw.
Thanks man. Just got done streaming some for the next analysis. I think you will like it. you can come by its twitch.tv/davidoztv should be doing it almost everyday. Know you're busy! Thank you for the kind words. :)
DavidOZ nice man, looking forward to it :)
Love seeing these. Glad you're getting more support. Incredibly deserved and I know you've worked hard for a few years, even through your hiatus.
This was a very well made video. Good job!
20:33 voice crack
27:35 his voice cracks saying “developers”
This man deserves wayyyyyy more subs. Quality content. Appreciate the hard work. Keep pushing forward, you got the talent for content creation and UA-cam.
I still remember the hype around this game
Even though I didn't skip school to play it more often then most
I did wake up 3 hours before leaving for school to get enough playtime just to scratch that "itch"
They really did a magnificent job of making THEIR New York City. The geography, the landmarks, the different boroughs. The renamed boroughs and neighborhoods (Dukes = Queens, Purgatory = Hell's Kitchen, Chase Point = Hunt's Point) were done really well. Columbia University was immaculate! It's definitely a parody of the city, but it's VERY accurate. Rockstar really knew where they were.
Grand Theft Auto IV is legendary and Nostalgic in my opinion. I love the storytelling and the theme song I mean cmon the theme song gives it away for being the best.
GTA IV is super political. Especially when it comes to government plants in media acting out false flag terror attacks for social engineering. I couldn't believe it went there. GTA IV is a brilliant piece of social and political satire. It is art.
Niko and Arthur are the best rockstar protagonists.
I agree with this statement.
@@DavidOZ along with johnny klebitz and John Marston.
Max payne?
Very beautiful analysis!! Made me fall even more in love with liberty city
The motorcycle issues and the zoomed in cutscenes are caused by your game not being locked to 60FPS. This causes physics problems in this engine. Try to cap your game to 60FPS or less with the RivaTuner or a similar software. This should completely eliminate the problem.
Other than that, great video and amazing analysis. Keep up your great work, greetings from Germany!
The car physics were so brilliant. The cars had weights, you could drift buttery smooth, the jumps could be really crazy which made every angle count. Pure fun. They took all that out in GTA 5. Every car was so controllable as not to offend the kids that now play these games. It´s pathetic. GTA 5 felt like the devs said "Let´s not offend the Facebook kiddies by showing them that they cannot even controll an arcade model of a car."
Rockstar's characters aren't limited to just the main protagonist, but the entire world the game takes place in. Always the perfect setting chosen for each character, that it becomes part of the character itself. I could not imagine GTA 5 with Niko Bellic acting in the streets of Los Santos, the same way I couldn't see Michael being in Liberty City.
43:30 The police do use sniper rifles, at five and six stars cops will spawn in fixed locations on rooftops with snipers. And they do in fact, snipe you.
2008 good times
These were some wonderfully killer thoughts! Grand Theft Auto IV is one of our favorite games and one that is packed with so many types of implicit messages it is trying to convey. We love it and have subscribed!
Thank you for the kind words - I'll check out your show! I really appreciate it.
Amazing analyis. This video is gold, I wish more people could see this.
Fantastic, thought-provoking video. I haven't even played any of the 3D GTA games and I loved every second of it. Thank you so much for this amazing essay.
I disagree, the writing is PERFECT in GTA 4. This game is a masterpiece on so many levels imo.
Nope its far away from perfect
Actually i find it very bad ..terrible
San Andreas and V are far better
I wonder why people love this game ? No good story , no good voice actors , bad driving mechanics , shallow azz story
All the missions are drive from A to B
The only good thing is the desingn of cities
One of the most important pieces of dialogue comes during the mission “Dust Off,” when Niko is speaking to the bespectacled government agent who is handing him his assignments.
Niko: “I want to get paid. Or a medal.”
ULP: “did you get a medal in your last war?”
That’s all this is. Niko is still at war. At war with his past, with himself, and with his station as a disposable pawn meant to do dirty work and inevitably wind up dead. He’s in the exact same war on the streets of Liberty City as he was in Yugoslavia, being led by the exact same powers that be who thrive off conflict and their station as the “haves” who send the “have-nots” to die and net them even more money and power.
If rockstar re-releases gtaIV again with a slightly better online, I don’t think I could even play gta v again.
Agreed 110%
I view GTA IV as one of the pieces of media most representative of the post 9/11 culture of when it was released. From early on in the game Roman remarks that the bridges to other islands are closed because "fucking terrorists". What's funny is you could say Niko is a terrorist. But you play the missions and realize that the police as well as government officials are the ones paying you to assassinate people and wreak havoc, just like every two bit criminal or imagined "terrorist" lurking in the shadows. GTA IV is a caricature of our culture that conflates two ideas: the concept of a land of opportunity, and the idea that it's really based on the mutual agreement to simply ignore corruption as long as there's a pay day. That's the best way I can describe the relationship between the patriotic New York City and the corrupt Liberty City. It's that distinctly American creed of liberty and opportunity that binds these two things together. Niko is a perfect main character, because as a youth he was radicalized into fighting, realized later that there was only sorrow down that path, and became disillusioned. He had this idea of the American dream in his head though, an idea that American television and his cousin Roman pumped into his head. His excitement turned into pessimism when he got there and realized that the American dream was also a sham, just another shitty advertisement. That really hits home for someone who was a youth in the 2000s trying to figure out what to believe in. It was an era defined by disillusionment. These themes are super prevalent in any form of political media during the time period. One that I am very familiar with is the Green Day album American Idiot, which shares GTA IV's virtue of being overwhelmingly popular during the time, while also critiquing or satirizing the extreme commercialization of our culture that allowed for their success. It's all very interesting since that was a big turning point in our culture, and I like putting these pieces together. Your video is great and very well thought out, it's what got me thinking like this. Great job.
"Social Vandalism" Jesus that's brilliant.
15:20 if you think about it niko is dark and has shades of gray about his past which is why he sees it that way but the other two dlc’s see it as a red blood and mad feeling for the lost and damned because of the ruthless actions they do for their own family/mc and the game is colorful for the ballad of gay tony because he sees it as if he was pulled to drugs money and a lot of perverse actions across it because he was always in liberty city
You are the guy!! The best video about gta IV I have ever seen...
I realy really liked this video bro ❤
Good continuation ✌
GTA IV is way ahead of its time. It is superb. Its physics, its driving, its world, its characters... GTA V is a dumbed down version of what this game is worth.
Ladies, this is Roman Bellic, but I guess you already know that. Leave a message.
I was so exited when you made this analogy with Walter White! I find the similarity here either. I love GTA 4 and Breaking Bad both so that made me very pleased
GTA IV could’ve used a rpg system like GTA SA where you can work out, and more customization options clothing wise.
i was very disappointed to see third island has no clothes shopping at all.
i love your content man and i really hope your channel will get bigger :) fight on dude and i can relate currenlty im studying while working 2 jobs at the same time im studying for drivers license all at the same time while still trying to enjoy freetime. i really respect the amount of work u put into makin these videos ;D
41:54 See, the problem is that you're using the cover system instead of just taking cover manually, like in a first person shooter. The cover system isn't really necessary for the player, it's there because of the AI, but it wouldn't make sense if you didn't have the ability to use it as well. You can manually move behind & away from walls, and unlike GTA V, you can actually crouch. Cover system is basically only for emergencies/when you're desperate, too low on health to actually expose yourself so you resort to blindfiring, or you just want to safely throw grenades & molotovs. Though I doubt it can ever take 2 seconds to actually start firing. I wouldn't call it a responsiveness issue, it's just that animations in this game have an actual wind up/weight to them. That and they for some reason added an actual firing delay to the Assault Rifles on PC but not any other weapon. The PC version has a lot of weird non-sensical changes in general.
Very few people will pull a gun on you when you're trying to do melee combat with them.
The problem you have with the motorcycles is that their physics break above 60 FPS.
the tapping to sprint thing i think is because if you could only walk or sprint it would be kinda annoying especially in the missions that have u killing guys in a building
Reason why I love rockstar more than any other game creator is because they are savage asf
I think for 2008, this game actually deserved to get it's ass licked clean, and to land on top of all reviewers list. You slap a mod on top of it, and you haven't seen a cleaner looking game, physics still hold up till this day, story is massive, and there isn't any unrelenting tedium in any aspect of it, start to end.
Amen my man.
12:54 bruh moment
I feel like Niko doesn’t so much enjoy killing as much as it is every time he gets in a firefight his PTSD kicks in. Great review, but it felt like he was going back to his old life when he got shot at or shot someone, his screaming and swearing could’ve very well been something that he did during the well as a war cry of sorts.
It would explain why at every other moment he’s so strangely calm, or why he wasn’t yelling in triumph at killing Vlad, Dimitri or Pegorino.
as a Slovak liberty city is exactly how i see new york or america for that matter
This is a great piece of analysis, and a great video all round. You've earned a new subscriber and follower on Twitter.
My only gripe... Can I call it that, as it's subjective, right? But in my opinion, you didn't truly cover how good Liberty City is and how it is the star of the show (or in this case, game). Not only does it provide the perfect background for all three story lines (vanilla and DLCs), but it's the perfect rendition of NYC and it's teeming with life. The city is what, for me, makes GTA IV one of the best selling games of all time. It just "hits different" and it probably won't ever be repeated. GTA V fell incredibly short of the bar, regarding its map.
Again, just my opinion. Many fond memories playing this when I was younger - thanks for covering GTA IV, I really enjoyed!
Hey Neko, let’s go bowling!
*hangs up*
I really liked the video, good job on making it. 👍
I miss those meaningful story lines of gta
Dude your analysis is unreal!! Awesome video!!
dude i love your stuff! After watching your wolfenstien video i fell in love! new sub
Awesome. Thank you so much dude. :)
I havent watched a video this long from beginning to end in a while. Thanks man
I enjoyed this video tanks for making it
I never understood the term “Doubling Down” Shouldn’t it be “doubling up”?
I believe the origin is in gambling, in blackjack you bet before your hand is dealt (the original idea) then your hand is dealt (the ideas execution and people’s reaction) you then have the option to “double down” and increase your bet (putting more stock into your idea)
This game was amazing
I finished the story to watch this video.. don’t disappoint me
Edit i wasnt disappointed i liked the video
Would you please consider analyzing Max Payne?
Down the line. I have never played one, so I'd have to be sold on one. I've heard they're pretty good.
Another great video, no regrets watching this at like 5 am trying to fall asleep :D
I have that game on my Xbox 360
Its maybe a long video but its worth watching it. I didn't even know whats "game philosophy" and if its a real term before i watched it. This video made me look at games from the perspective ive never seen them before. This video tells about gta 4 beyond the game itself. Him call gta as "social vandalism" is just brilliant. Gta 4 is the 'darkest' game in the gta franchise yet and has one of the best storylines of all games but this video tells about the game beyond it. This is why gta is famous rockstar games put so much effort into everything in the game that no other game studio can do. The storyline, the dialogue writing, the in-game advertisements, the radio stations, everything is so detailed and it feels like they are real. This channel is too underrated. He has put so much effort in all his videos and he still have only about 4k subscribers which is very sad. Instead of a autistic blue haired man playing bullshit, this is the content which should be more famous. Respect+
I'm only at the 25 minute mark in writing all this, but, you've gotten push-back for "mixing politics and games", as if they're separate entities? What a shame considering your great commentary within your great videos. Videos games, let alone about anything, are inherently political. I think the game and developers sort of miss the mark on satire, at times, where I'm not sure if it's satirizing how certain things in media are already portrayed, and takes it to an extreme as it does, specifically through the perspective of an outsider to this world of excess, or if it's directly mocking, say, the struggles that many African Americans have gone and currently go through, or, also at its worst, gay and trans people (e.g radio nonsense you hear, which could be a little more obvious considering how queer and trans people have been [and are] portrayed in the media, although with that, I wish the 'message', assuming there is one, was more clear, because I only see elements like this reinforcing these already existing negative stereotypes in the minds of young men who play this game, or the mission with French Tom, a poor-hating, fat-hating stereotype whose sole objective/existence is to kill)
I'm unfortunately just now getting to this insightful comment. Pretty busy nowadays.
I agree - I go a bit back and forth with GTA and it's abrasiveness. There are certainly sometimes where I say, "Man, I dunno what that was trying to say about anything. It more just sounded terrible and homophobic." I wish I had delved into this a bit more - but I think at the time I thought it wasn't as relevant as more direct analysis. It's tough, for sure. How much are you supposed to be able to get away with under the costume of "Satire?"
oh no worries, I honestly wasn't expecting a response, let alone a positive one, so I appreciate you reading and responding. I think your videos are great... I've rambled *a bunch* here, I almost want to apologise lol, but I think they're fairly relevant thoughts.
I found some of the humour I already brought up on the radio, prevalent in the stand-up comedy bits, which, currently as it is, a lot of standup comedians still 'make fun' (to use the kindest words) of those that are marginalised, specifically gay and trans people. Netflix is loaded with material like this, sadly, and it's seen as the end-all be-all of 'choice' and entertainment for those who have subscribed, but that's a different topic.
as I continue to go through the game (which I haven't finished since I was younger) these things seem to become more and more prevalent, regarding black people, Jewish people too even, although the 'focus' isn't quite as adamant there outside of the diamond mission, combined with the fact that the "rich rabbis" in the game drop more money than any other characters...
since it's so belligerent in its nihilistic satire, as the series has always been (sometimes to a fault, I think back to Vice City controversy regarding Cubans and Haitians, which was later taken out), you could say everyone gets the short end of the stick (for every woman in the game that is made out to be 'dumb' or annoying, there's someone like Brucie, who, however, is made out to be more 'humorous' than annoying, for most, at least.. or at worst, side missions where you take pictures of a so-called 'cheating bitch' for Jeff to kill before you dump her body for him. The game really doesn't want you to avoid this second part of the mission, oddly enough. he calls and calls even if you shoot a rocket launcher at him!), but there is a specific focus, and even hatred at times focused on people in this world that are already marginalised .. whether it's simply a reflection of inequality, deeply negative stereotypes already engraved in the minds of many, American 'culture' and society, whether intentional or not, is what I wonder the most.
Going back to everyone getting the short end of the stick, I think of Niko himself, who starts off as an interesting character and IMO becomes only more and more empty as you play.. perhaps 'the point' of it, perhaps lazy and unfocused writing, as you brought up. I'd describe myself as anti-capitalist to the core, and this is an area where I think the game is most on point with its satire, although it's equally as unfocused. I think it's just "the absurd" overall, that the game thrives on, and it's up to the player to interpret as they may or may not, which could be a good or bad thing.
You brought up the idea that the game might have a 'liberal agenda', and one could argue it does more than anything to the 'right' of liberals. I like the fact that many homeless individuals in the game call you a "right-wing psycho" if you point a gun at them lol :/ but with that, there are many aspects, specifically on the radio stations, that make fun of liberals and the idea of "spreading (bourgeois/liberal) 'democracy' ", along with it clearly making fun of the "Liberal/Republican" dichotomy the majority are stuck within in the states, and the hatred that brews there. I think the game places its satire from a so-called 'indifferent'/nihilistic 'centrist' approach focusing on, and going back to "the absurd", but this 'center' is the core of the society these games and companies are based in, that is one of capitalism and deep-seated inequality.
The game is anything but 'politically correct', although this is far beyond my point. I don't want a so-called 'safe' or 'politically correct' game ('correct' for who and in what contexts, is the question, although with that, most 'anti-PC' people are incredibly reactionary), but one with coherence across the board, and especially in the satire it attempts to convey, and sometimes succeeds, especially earlier on in the game before it finds itself far more dark and nihilistic, although I'm certain this is 'the point', more or less...
but, I mean, you go to the GTA Wiki page and "racism is", apparently, nothing more than "an easter egg"
gta-myths.wikia.com/wiki/Racism
Not long after writing my original comment I stumbled upon some discovered facts regarding GTA V and Franklin within that wiki-article... considering Rockstar denied this as being something programmed in the game (whether those that denied this were part of the programming, let alone aware of such a thing at all, unlike those who programmed the game this way), my overall point is that (specifically with this bizarre denial) I question at what point is Rockstar making commentary on incredibly relevant factors within this deeply unequal system the majority live in, and at what point do they negatively contribute and fail to move beyond the sort of jokey, and not too serious attempts at satire they have been *relatively* good at since their fruition as a company?
It's a hard question and topic to discuss, especially amongst the majority of 'gamers', in my experience, at least (some of which are incredibly racist, more of which seem incredibly misogynist, and defensive when it comes to this or talking about any such topics), so it's very refreshing to be able to see similar thoughts in another video, and also be able to share and have someone actually respond with intelligence and interest, so I thank you for your time and video(s) :)
Panthers - _Anti-capitalist to the core,_ yet you’ve enough time to be typing(long winded) theories regarding a video game, on a smart device, that only a capitalist society could provide.
The next time you order hot food to your warm dwelling, pay thought to how much you despise capitalism, my friend.
Just watched this whole thing after restarting GTA IV for the third time (first time on PC....those TLaD DLC comments concern me...) and really enjoyed it. Hope to see more content from you in the future and hope you graduated!
20:33 do you only do one take lol