Did Rockstar intend a San Andreas prequel?
In my travels around San Andreas, I've noticed that there's a lot of stuff both unused and unneeded. Granted, this adds to the realism, but there are some things which just seem...odd. What I'm saying is, perhaps these would have been explained in a San Andreas prequel (which for some reason has become vogue recently as a discussion point). I highly doubt Rockstar intend to go back to an inferior engine and console from the current generation, even to the PSP. Anyway, here's a few bits of incongruous evidence I've found. Remember though that these are by no means definitive, and many can be explained by the absence of missions in the final version (The text for some is still present in the files, but it is unused).
- The strange building in the desert at Verdant Meadows. Image here. It's just a large building which in the game's files is referred to as a lab (View it with MEd to see). It makes me wonder if it has any connection with Area 69, it seems to go back into the cliff it's built up against. It has a parking lot too, but it's always empty
- The strange prison building by the freeway in Los Santos (Here). It's quite large, and clearly intended to be robust. What makes me think it's a prison is both its closed nature and the barbed wire around the edge. There is also an evident courtyard at the back. But the structure isn't used at all in-game, which is strange.
- This garage in Doherty. It's boarded up and abandoned - Why? It's strange in that it actually has an area behind the wooden slats. Perhaps it was once fully-functioning.
- The freeway ruins. Conspicuous in their absence of mention throughout the game. Why is this seemingly striking feature of San Fierro not even mentioned, let alone used (except for one possible path in Toreno's Last Flight). If we consider a prequel to be set at least three years earlier (assuming the Loma Prieta earthquake affected San Fierro in 1989 too), perhaps it would be joined to the Garver Bridge. Although the bridge in itself poses a problem - It is lined up with the current freeway layout. In the reconstruction, the entire bridge would have had to have been moved.
- Doherty. Why are there ruins there, why is the gas station abandoned, and why does Catalina/Claude have its deed?
- The desert towns. Did anyone else feel that these were hugely underused? There's absolutely nothing in any of them aside Barbara. Would they have been more utilised in a prequel - There weren't actually that many desert missions in San Andreas, it jumped pretty quickly from San Fierro to Toreno to Las Venturas, and most of Toreno's had flying as their main goal.
They're all the ones that I've found. Feel free to add your own. Again, this is pure speculation with some evidence... C-d-rom 19:29, 9 June 2009 (UTC)
- I would like to see a SA prequel, though it's 99% bound not to happen.. To answer some of these I'll try. The building at Verdant Meadows possibly was a secret building for something and then closed for some reason. No idea about the prison, Possibly the garage was an illegal shop. The earthquake ruined the freeway is the best explanation at the time. Possibly the Doherty garage was illegal as well and Claude and Catalina were forced to fled. Desert towns are just fillers I guess to be somewhat realistic about Las Venturas..
Yeah, I think those are the conclusions most people would probably come to, but it'd be interesting to see how they came about. Personally I'm not too excited about the prospect, however unlikely, as it'd most likely be a PSP/PSPGo exclusive, which I don't have and wouldn't buy just for one game... C-d-rom 19:02, 30 June 2009 (UTC)
- It's a nice idea, you've clearly done some good research. It is very clear from The Lost and Damned that Liberty City in GTA IV was very meticulously planned, with every building placed precisely for a specific reason. I really don't think that the State of San Andreas was planned to the same level of detail. There is a lot that is unused, but that is mostly atmospheric, and perhaps they just never got round to using it. Given that GTASA is 5 years old now, it is very unlikely that they would revisit the map without completely re-making it - look at the difference in quality for GTA IV. It would be cool if there was a sequel/prequel planned, even if it never got made, but I doubt that is the case. Gboyers talk 19:14, 30 June 2009 (UTC)
- I agree, some pretty good in-depth research there, however, the instruction booklet for the PC version of GTA SA mentions that Doherty (and presumably that section of freeway near the Garver Bridge) was destroyed during an earthquake in 1988, and is in the process of re-development. As for an SA prequel, The Introduction that came with the SA soundtrack seemed to serve that purpose. And, yes, unfortuantely Rockstar are too pre-occupied with GTA IV now, although I assume they will have a redesigned San Andreas (or one of its 3 cities) in a future game. - Hardrock182 19:55, 30 June 2009 (UTC)
- I think Rockstar created The Introduction so they wouldn't need to make a prequel like Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories. Because to create a prequel on the PSP platform using the San Andreas location and engine what be too difficult. PackieVercetti 05:58, 30 June 2009 (UTC).
It defently wont be made because rockstar are over the gta 3 era , They were probably thinking of it but spent all there time on gta iv and never got around to it. They might make a new gta but using only one of the city's and the city and story line would be totaly diffrent to gta San Andreas. --Lozzy94
It seems people haven't really looked at the title here :P. The operative is "Did" not "Do". I'm just speculating if they could have intended to do it and later on dropped it to focus on 4. I think to hold out any hope of a SA Stories is foolish...C-d-rom 02:05, 7 July 2009 (UTC)
- I don't think Rockstar intended to make any prequels until LCS was thought out. One can provide many "clues" to any games that could suggest a prequel.--Spaceeinstein 02:13, 7 July 2009 (UTC)