Talk:GTA IV Era

I added that GTA IV also takes place in 2009. According the the Weazel News video, (The 3rd trailer for BoGT) the bank robbery occurs on May 12, 2009 via security camera footage. Damian001 22:48, September 21, 2009 (UTC)

Chinatown Wars Non-Canonical

Is there any evidence to support that CW is not in the same canon as the GTA IV era? I have seen several Grand Theft Wiki pages involving Chinatown Wars stating that the game is non-canonical and I would like to see some evidence.

There is nothing to say it is non-canonical; this NT92 guy is stating his opinion as fact. Bluesboyjr 21:48, July 28, 2010 (UTC)

OK, Thanks. User:Olivercooke 22:44 July 28 2010 (UTC)

Who cares about evidence, just looking at the game tells u it is non-canon. The city is far too different, shit graphics, nothing to do with GTA IV, and Rockstar North didn't make it. - NT92.

Read what I put on Talk:Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars - the game was made by Rockstar, and graphics have no effect on canon.Bluesboyjr 22:02, July 28, 2010 (UTC)

CW is non-canon. GTA IV was made and it's episodes were planned. That is the reason they included the impossible trinity,bringing all THREE of the GTA IV protagonists together. Huang Lee isn't part of that. EFLC manual states that Liberty City is over, i.e. this part of the GTA IV era is over, so CW doesn't happen and is non-canon.NT92 16:21, August 19, 2010 (UTC)

I just couldn't ignore this; "Like GTA: Advance and the GTA III Era, Chinatown Wars ignores events from GTA IV and it's episodes, and is not included in the trinity." Did you guys know that GTA: Advance is actually canon with GTA III? Some characters from GTA III is actually there, Akusa "tests" Claude's loyalty in GTA III because of Mike. If you didn't kill Biff Rock, you will see why Akusa tests Claude's loyalty, to see if he actually kills salvatore, the opposite of mike. Also, don't you mean "Like GTA: Advance in the GTA III era.." ? IanMontes 16:11, August 19, 2010 (UTC)

This is not about the GTA III era, this is the IV era. NT92 16:21, August 19, 2010 (UTC)

look at Huangs Trivia list man, he's on the GTA IV police database, doesn't that mean anything? it's Cannon, the quality of the game doesn't change anything, he may not be part of the Trinity of GTA IV tales, doesn't mean he's not cannon to the series Zachariah Zuan 17:06, August 19, 2010 (UTC)

It's non canon, the database means nothing. Before CW was even made Huang Lee was just another entry, like all the other names that mean nothing. Liberty City finished with TBOGT. That little poster in the manual says it. The trinity is what connects the stories that were planned for GTA IV. CW is not part of it.

GTA V

I really think GTA V should be added to the IV Era page, because there's enough proof in the trailer suggesting that. Also, R* said so with their universes thing. Scrab (talk) 05:23, 24 April 2012 (UTC)

Eras are our method of grouping the games for the purposes of organisation, explanation and clarity. The era system is different to Rockstar's 2D/3D/HD universe system, but the same as their new-number-means-new-group system. There are many overlaps between many eras (and overlaps between the 2D/3D/HD universes). A new era does not mean the game is completely different in every way, it just means its a new group.

We always always always start a new era with every new number game (1, 2, III, IV, V). So far, this still serves as the best grouping for the games, even if there are similarities and overlaps between eras.

Clearly GTA IV, TLAD and BOGT are very very very similar games - with virtually ALL the same city, engine, vehicles, radio stations, features and repeatedly-interlocking storylines. Essentially they are expansion packs of each other, even though the latter two were released independently later. GTA Chinatown Wars is also part of this era because it directly links into these games, in a variation of the same city. It's clearly just part of the overall GTA IV story and in-line with those game releases.

On the other hand, GTA V is not part of the GTA IV era. It is in a completely different city, with a different engine, different characters, a different story, many different vehicles/weapons and a very different atmosphere. We can assume that many features and mechanics will be different, with a different HUD/UI. This all helps prove why we start a new era with a new number.

It's likely that there will be some overlaps between GTA IV and GTA V. I'm sure many vehicles will appear again (as they did in the GTA III Era, and even earlier!). We may even see some references to earlier games' characters and storylines - but I do not think we will SEE any characters make another appearance. There might be 1 or 2 exceptions, such as Lazlow.

As I've tried to explain, eras are just a grouping system, not a "theory". They group together the games that are made together, made to be part of the same package. This is a system used by Rockstar, which is clear when they give a new number to a new game. There is a reason they didn't call GTA Vice City "GTA 4", and there's a reason they didn't call TLAD "GTA 5" - and that is the era system.

The universes refer to another system of grouping, which is equally valid. This simply explains the completely different groups of games+eras, where the game looks/feels completely different. Eras 1+2 are 2D top-down and have a similar feel. Era 3 is 3D but cartoony. Eras IV+V are HD and have a similar feel, but they are still separate eras.

I'm not disagreeing with the universe system, it's completely valid, but our primary method of grouping games is eras, because it makes the most sense and it helps us talk about a specific sub-set of games the most easily. If we were restricted to only mentioning individual games or the entire 3D or HD universe, that would make things very difficult, and no more accurate.

I hope you can understand that eras are just a grouping system that groups games by number, which is how Rockstar release them. Universes is the next grouping above that, and the entire GTA series is the next grouping above that. gboyers ^talk 07:30, 24 April 2012 (UTC)

Sorry for answering so late to you guys, but what if GTA IV characters will, in fact, appear in the game? Will it still be classified separately? Scrab (talk|edits) 05:45, 4 August 2012 (UTC)

Nope. As I said above, a new Era doesn't mean everything is different, it just means we group them separately. We separate them based on the number (1/2/III/IV/V) just as a logical grouping. So even if there was a lot of similarity between the games, it wouldn't change the game into "GTA IV: Los Santos". It's called 'GTA V', so we call it the 'GTA V Era'.

The reason we do this is because 99% of the time its the best way to group everything - even if it did have a lot of similarities to GTA IV, keeping 4 and 5 as two separate eras doesn't do any harm at all. If we forced them together into one era, that would cause a lot of problems. gboyers ^talk 11:21, 4 August 2012 (UTC)