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GTA San Andreas Released 20 Years Ago (Oct 26th, 2004)

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Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?





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Celcius

°Temp. member
I never played this one but I’ve always heard good things about it. Is that newest port still trash?
 

Mr Hyde

Member
Haven't played this since it came out in 2004. It had great cast of characters. Carl, Big Smoke, Tenpenny and Pulaski, the crooked cops, Kent Paul. Portraying the rough hoods of Los Santos and partake in gang activities made for a fresh setting in the GTA universe. It was such a stark contrast to Vice City's neon colored Miami Vice inspired mafia portrayals.
 

ReyBrujo

Member
San Andreas was more polished but Vice City was the pivotal point for the series. It's kind of Breath of the Wild / Tears of the Kingdom thing where one was mostly revolutionary and the other was mostly evolutionary.
 
Have fond memories of 3 and vice city with my best friend.

Don't remember playing this one.

Mom was pissed i was playing them as a kid.
 

IDKFA

I am Become Bilbo Baggins
Crazy. I remember buying this and a new mini PS2 on launch day when I was 19.

20 years prior to the launch of this game, it was 1984 and I was swimming in my dad's nut sack.

Amazing how our perception of time changes as we age.
 
Greatest GTA game, and one of the greatest games of all time.

Spent countless hours after school playing this, and I remember I was stuck for weeks on the CJ, Big Smoke and Train mission...

Ah good days.
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Game really elevated open worlds on the PS2 with character customization, crouch walk/roll, climbing, and swimming mechanics. The shooting mechanics got a major upgrade as well. It is too bad it lost all narrative momentum in the sticks and San Fierro and did not get good again until after the dreaded flight training in the desert. Still, replaying the first part in Los Santos and last part in Las Venturas is entertaining to this day.
 

Kabelly

Member
I've been playing this properly for the first time on PC (the original not the crappy remasters) and I'm actually surprised at the amount of things you're able to do. Didn't know you can get more turf in "gang wars". You can take out CJ's girlfriend which is normal but one date she asked to go for a drive by. I was shocked lol. I knew about the working out to get more muscle but there is a stark visual change when you do change your body. You can reply to people as well which I thought was a gta 4 development. A lot of interiors. Still haven't even got past the first main island yet.
 

West Texas CEO

GAF's Nicest Lunch Thief and Nosiest Dildo Archeologist

Bro, this insight is crazy!

Rockstar were real programming bad-asses back in the day.

What happened since then? Feminism?

How did the DE end up as such a mess, given the technical brilliance of San Andreas?
 
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StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
Ive never been a GTA gamer (it always chugged at sloppy frame rates probably at 20-30 on console), but have always respected the gigantic scope, production values, and huge radio songs they do.
 
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MujkicHaris

Banned
GTA: SA and DQ VIII got me interested in game development. The game that changed my life forever.

The best GTA. Period.
 
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Represent.

Represent(ative) of bad opinions
Fucking insane to think Sony had these games as timed exclusives on PS2. What a dominant generation from them.
 

nial

Member
Played it a lot, still didn't like it. Fuck GTA in general.
Fucking insane to think Sony had these games as timed exclusives on PS2. What a dominant generation from them.
They were coming to other platforms like 6 months later, I do wonder if people back then bitched about moneyhats as much as these days?
 

SJRB

Gold Member
Even to this day, and having seen the full map rendered and in great detail the map for San Andreas still feels unbelievably huge. When I think back on San Andreas the first thing that comes to mind is driving endlessly around the map, felt like you could drive around for hours.

Actual magic how they created that sense of scale on such a tiny area.
 
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