Community:GTA IV Gripes/Story



This is the official Grand Theft Wiki GTA IV Gripes list.

For now, this page is open to everybody. If there is any abuse of this page it will be locked, and all submissions will have to go through the Discussion page.

The "Gripes" on this page are intended to warn new players of things they may not like about the game.

The "Rebuts" on this page are intended to explain to new players why some gripes may not be a "gripe" for all players.

Please do not repeat other people's gripes. Also, no silly/stupid/idiotic/explicit/racist gripes or rebuttals.

How To Gripe

  • Find the appropriate sub-page for your gripe.
  • Make sure your gripe hasn't already been mentioned.
  • Start a gripe with {{Gripe}}, then follow with your gripe.

How To Rebut Gripes

  • Rebuttals to gripes should be directly underneath the gripe.
  • Start your rebuttal with :{{Rebut}}, then follow with your rebuttal.
  • Rebuttals should address reasons it is not a valid gripe, and should not accuse the gripe of being "silly" or "stupid."

Gripe Rebut At the start of the game, its all about Roman's problems and his friend's favours, which is both enjoyable. But as the game goes on it just goes into gunning down random assholes. I understand Niko gets 'sucked' into the criminal underworld, but after 10 missions of going to someplace, shooting this guy then mission passed, it just gets boring.

Rebut I have to disagree. If you did not notice, every GTA game is equivalent to that. GTA IV is better because each kill is different and unique. Sometimes, you have to raid an abandon Sprunk factory or chase a dude to his house and kill a bunch criminals.

Gripe RebutThe humor is weak throughout the game.

RebutThat is a personal opinion. I, for one, found many conversations hilarious.
Gripe

RebutToo bad that there was just not enough of these "hilarious conversations".

RebutGo to some random charater jobs, there are gay guys, stupid guys that just does funny things. Die funny. Watch more cutscenes, some of the mare just funyn as hell.
RebutSome people find blowing up frogs funny, others see it as animal cruelty. Humor is relative to the observer.
Gripe

RebutNot funny at all. San Andreas was hilarious, but 4 seems to take itself far too seriously - no laughter from this little black duck. Where is the tongue in cheek OTT stylised street talk and humorous quips from passers by? That and not finding ANYTHING when you look under bridges, inside shipyards, etc. no weapons, no armour, nothing worth exploring for - made the game a very dull disappointment in my opinion. Where is the betting track with the funny horse names? And who can tell what that rasta man is saying - it might be funny, but it's impossible to tell!

RebutUse subtitles and you can understand the "rasta" man. The humour level is your opinion, while others find it great/
Rebut Don't you know how hard it is to make a game that remains serious but still has a sense of humor? There is a clear border between being serious-funny and stupid-funny.
Rebut To be honest, I found GTA IV mmore funny than San Andreas, but maybe that was just because I found San Andreas to be the worst of the games. Toreno and The Thruth were the only good characters...
Gripe

RebutThat's just your opinon. I found San Andreas to be SO MUCH BETTER THAN GTA IV, and I loved all the characters.

Rebut Exactly. I found GTA IV to be pretty funny. That's my opinion. San Andreas was much better humor wise (and even LCS has it's moments), but humor is in the eye of the beholder. I find the show Scrubs to be horrendously unfunny, while some of my friends think it's the funniest thing ever.
Rebut My personal opinion is that GTA IV has more humor. One example is the drunk conversations Niko has with his friends which you could not do in SA. Another one is in the mission Bull in a China Shop where Vlad ask Niko his name and Niko responds cocky and quick-witted “big mouth prick” and Vlad replies “very catchy”. GTA SA did not have that.

Gripe RebutRockstar should of at least brung back at least one character from the GTA III era games. I mean, what ever happened to the Leone Family in the seven years leading up to the events in GTA IV]. Stuff like this should of been answered in this game, where I really expected Rockstar to build on a successful era of story-lines instead of taking 100 paces back to a new beginning.

RebutEven though R* said GTA IV is set in a new universe, evidence exists to prove otherwise. Lazlow references Chatterbox FM and Vice City radio stations and San Andreas is alluded to massively in the game.
RebutThere is Lazlow He's been in every game so far.
RebutCheck some easter eggs, there are graffiti saying that all the game characters before are all dead.
Gripe

RebutBut what are the chances that out of all of the people that you met in GTA III and GTA: LCS, you would not meet, or even here of any of them in GTA IV.

RebutIt has been seven years, and they all lived dangerous, always life threatening lives. Even the strongest don't survive.

Gripe RebutIn the Final Interview mission Niko uses his real name to arrange a job interview when he knows he is going to kill the interviewer. Despite the fact he is working at the time for a police officer, it detracts from the credibility of a story which tries desperately to be serious and believable. What sort of hitman would use his real name for this purpose? Realism?

RebutNiko doesn't care if he is tracked down, because he can fight, and he has the U.L. Paper backing him up to get his name cleared up after that mission.
Rebut Niko is an illegal immigrant. He doesn't have a visa, or social security, or anything which contains his name. As far as the paperwork is concerned, Niko Bellic might as well not be his real name. The U.L Paper pulled strings and got him a resume and a background. For most intents and purposes, Niko doesn't have to be his real name, as you can't track the real him on paper.

Gripe Rebut Dimitri & Bulgarin make no attempt to attack or engage the Bellic Cousins outside of a mission. Previous games featured "no-go" areas or random attacks in accordance with the storyline. The fact that the Russian mob are central to the story, but unsighted in the open world portion of the game again hurts the believability of the story.

RebutTechnically the story is paused while not on a mission
Gripe

Rebut Yeah, seems as if the "story" is paused when Niko isn't on a mission. So much for a living breathing city, the city is nearly completely insulated from anything that happens in the story. Once again this badly affects the realism, at times the only thing that makes IV an open world game is the Burger Shot. Everything else is basically scripted i.e freinds activities, Stevie's missions, races. The only thing open world about IV is that you can go anywhere, you certainly can't do anything.

RebutThe main storyline doesn't continue unless in a mission. Besides, Niko is no longer a problem after he and Roman relocate to Bohan.
Gripe

RebutStill, getting Niko out of the picture would have been a decent idea for Dimitri. Oh, and how many times has Niko been interrupted when not in "Story Mode" via cell phone.

RebutGo and play GTA3 again, then, if you really like being denied access to parts of the map. Pretty much all of Portland was a no-go area after you finished that part of the story, as were significant sections of Staunton and Shoreside Vale. Enjoy being one-hit killed by the Mafia in Portland who are somehow able to spot your face out of dozens of passing cars and shoot your fuel tank with their shotguns. Then come back to GTAIV and be grateful this idiocy was removed.
Rebut If you hang out around Hove Beach and Firefly Island you can get attacked by the Russian Mob. I was driving in Hove Beach after the the mission "Three Leaf Clover" and I was being chased by some guys in a black car (NOT FIB) shooting at my car.
Rebut Actually, I believe if you go into Hove Beach, Russian Mobsters may attack you if you stay there too long while Dimitri is alive.

Gripe Rebut According to the police database website, Bulgarin is dead. This is just a stupid idea from Rockstar, because I'm betting that every person here wants to kill him.

Rebut Best guess is that Dimintri killed him once he'd served his 'use' (if I remember correctly, the two were associated with each other at some point in the game, and Dimitri has a habit of betraying associates)
Gripe

RebutI'm just saying that I wanted to have killed Bulgarin myself.

RebutCheck the database at the start of a new game. Says that the entire game. Killing him is probably being saved for DLC.
RebutI think that the database was purposefully made by rockstar to show false info. Bulgarin could have bribed or lent a favor to an official (Francis?)to make the police think he was dead
Rebut Is this gripe pointless now? Seeing as TBoGT clears this up?
Rebut This gripe is pointless. Luis kills Bulgarin, the end!

Gripe Rebut The Alderney State Correctional Facility being in the game along with Gerry getting sent there made for a ton of potential for a jailbreak mission. The fact that the prison isn't featured in any mission aside from getting briefings from Gerry is just disappointing.

Rebut That statement is not true. If you download "The Lost and Damned" you do a mission completely based in the facility. BOO YA!!
RebutThat is your opinion.

Gripe RebutNo Missions outside of Liberty City

RebutAlderney.
Gripe

Rebut but Alderney is within the story, i mean it would have been better if niko was the one who went and found darko brevic, travelled outside of the city,or had missions to vice city or, i mean it's a great game, but could have been better and there is a thing in the status that says {miles travelled}, libery city to vice city, what does that mean}????

RebutNiko can't leave Liberty City. He's an illegal immigrant and can't register for most high-authority government controlled transportation. And the distance thing just adds up your total distance, and would compare how far you have traveled if you went in a straight line. Assuming you had driven, walked, swam, and flew enough distance from New York City to Miami, that would be the same distance as Liberty City to Vice City.
RebutLiberty City is where the story is set. Have you ever seen a GTA game that sees you go to a completely different location for one mission? San Andreas doesn't count because the entire state was available outside of missions.

Gripe RebutHow come Claude's clothing is in Playboy X's house?

RebutClaude's outfit was added into the game as an easter egg by Rockstar. If you don't like the garb, don't wear it, or don't kill Playboy X during The Holland Play.
Gripe

RebutI do like the outfit.I was just wondering why it was there.Thank you for answering my question,though.:)


Gripe RebutA lot of the story, most notably the Dwayne/Playboy X part being a blatant rip-off of The Wire.

RebutThe Three Leaf Clover mission is reminiscent of the movie HEAT. GTA:VC is reminiscent of the movie Scarface. There are many other similarities and references to pop culture throughout every GTA game (or at least the post GTA:III games). This is one of the best qualities of the games.
Gripe

RebutNot really. I'm wishing that R* would design missions better and avoid references from popular movies. It gets annoying on how R* had to go with something that are from the movies and not in the game. Unrealistic.

RebutHow is it unrealistic? Those missions reference some of the best action movies of all time. As long as the movies are realistic, so are the missions that are based on them. Besides, it would be hard to design missions like Three Leaf Clover without referencing any bank-robbing movie.

Gripe RebutAfter Roman gets the insurance money and rebuilds his business, the location of the new taxi depot is never revealed as it doesn't seem to exist. Admittedly, it's a minor gripe, but it makes the whole venture feel a little inauthentic when Roman's taxis seem to just materialize out of nowhere.

RebutThe only reason the location of Roman's first taxi depot is revealed to the player is because it becomes a central aspect of the early plot and a meeting point for Roman's missions, which disappear later in the game. Although it would be nice to see the new depot, there was no real reason for Rockstar to reveal the location.

Gripe RebutMissions seem extremely predictable, especially during the middle part of the story (when you unlock Algonquin). It's travel here, murder him, evade that $50K.

Rebut To be fair, all past GTAs have been just as repetitive. Personally, I was motivated by story and didn't care how the missions were setup. They were still fun.
Gripe

Rebut If your saying all past GTA games have had the same mission problems as GTA IV, YOUR WRONG. GTA3 I'll admit that is just as repetitive. Vice City has some inventive mission like Cop Land and alot more. San Andreas has a lot of over the top missions (which is good). LCS is kind off half repetitive and VCS, well same as LCS.

((Rebut)) There are plenty of unique missions in Grand theft auto IV. Like Three leaf clover and Blood Brothers. Plus don't you always end up shooting someone in SA anyways. Is it really different?

Gripe RebutHow can the mission be completed? Was'nt Niko supposed to search and kill Bulgarin no matter how good (Revenge) or bad (Deal) it is? No plot has ever made any sense, even when Bulgarin sent out his gang members to steal his diamonds back from the Anchelottis (although he blames on Niko instead).

Rebut Maybe in the second downloadable content Bulgarin's faith shall be revealed. He was last seen in the mission Diamonds are a girl's best friend with Luis who's probably going to be the protagonist in the next downloadable content and he's gonna have something to do with it.
Rebut Jesus Christ, come on. Niko already said to Roman that he did't kill Bulgarin because Bulgarin had too many connections. Why would he go after Bulgarin, with the chance of failure to kill him and being killed himself, while they could just keep hiding from Bulgarin and be safe that way? And even if he wanted to kill Bulgarin, how would he be supposed to find him without any leads to where Bulgarin might be? Just to point that out. We already know Luis is the one who killed Bulgarin.
((Rebut)) They're right man. Rockstar has set the story up so that all 3 storys come together. Make sure you do your homework next time.

Gripe Rebut, Why is it that Niko never gives Roman money, in yet it is stated throughout the story that he did or was going to.

Rebut Sometimes to enjoy any piece of work, suspension of belief must be exercised. Or you could use your imagination like, each mission only gave you a fraction of what Niko really requested because he gave a good cut to Roman, who always spent it. Honestly, I had the same thought but I did the first thing.
Gripe

Rebut Thanks, I actually thought of that before but I was just making sure that I didn't miss something in the story.

Rebut Same thing as why Niko always immediatly gets money after a mission: because it would be kind of boring to go to Roman to give him some money, and then leave.

==

Gripe Rebut I feel like you could have had the option to kill Mikhail Faustin or let him live. if you decided to kill him, fine, the story line would play out as it does. But if you decided to let him live, he would have fled the city, but someone would have found out and told Dimitri Rascolov, so he would be furious and he and Bulgarin would have set up the same trap (Russian Revolution) for Niko and the story would continue on.

Rebut I agree that many of the "murders" should have had more peaceful solutions, the game would have to have twice as much dialogue, scripting, cutscenes, etc. So therefore I believe that Rockstar did this just to save space and not work it into as much of an rpg.



Gripe Rebut This may be more of a gameplay gripe, but the vehicle persuits are NO WERE NEAR AS FUN OR INVETINTIVE as they used to be.

Rebut That's your opinion. I find it quite inventive to be chasing a boat to kill a mob leader.
Rebut I agree. In real life, things like chasing a boat with a helicopter don't happen so often, do they? And what is less fun and inventive than in other games.
Rebut I have to admit they are kind of inventive, I take back the gripe

Gripe RebutI think GTA IV’s story would have been a hell of a lot better if Niko went after Bulgarin instead of Luis killing him. Also, the ending of the Ballad of Gay Tony SUCKS! In GTA TBoGT they completely rushed the antagonist, Bulgarin, all of a sudden.

RebutI agree with you. Everything should have been the same during Party’s Over and then during the last mission Luis should have helped Tony escaped Liberty City with help of Yusuf. Then Luis agrees to Yusuf to franchise the clubs. Then, with help from Armando, Henrique and Yusuf, you guys take out the don of the Ancelotti family and Niko kills Bulgarin. That’s just what I think personally.