Grand Theft Auto : San Andreas - Post Release Spoiler Thread - Page 2

The commercial on WTCX (or whatever the talk radio show is called) for "Special Needs Cop" is one of the funniest things I have EVER heard.

I had probably less than an hour with this game last night, but I like what I see. All the new options I've come across (bikes, stats, wall/fence climbing, etc) feel perfectly natural, as if they've always been a part of the series. My enthusiasm for this game has been pretty subdued for whatever reason, so it's good to see that a relatively puny amount of game time has me hopelessly hooked into uncovering every what every square foot of San Andreas has to offer.

The best part about San Andreas is that you can actually spend money on things in this one!

In Vice City all you could really buy were weapons (which most people use cheat codes for anyways) and property, which didn't really do much except add more missions.

In San Andreas, you've got tons of clothes, hair-cuts, and car-modifications to buy, ensuring that you actually have something to spend your money you earn on, rather than just letting it accumulate more and more. There are actually things to do between missions besides run around and kill people (though that is still fun too.)

My guy is frickin' JACKED. Muscle up all the way, blonde hair, boots and urban camo. He looks like Wesley Snipes from Demolition Man or something. I'd guarantee that between all 3 or 5 million copies the game is predicted to sell this week, every person's character will end up being totally unique within 10 hours of play.

Thanks. Maybe I'll stop tumbling down cliffs right after finishing a mission now. I thought that mountain air was supposed to clear your head.

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the gang wars yet. This game fucking rocks.

BTW, where can I nab a plane?

Great. Just great. Had my first game freeze. Of course, it was after finishing a mission, on the way back to the save point. Another one of those 10 minute drives back to the save point. The game DOES have loading times. Occasionally, when your driving down the road, it will pause for about 1/3-1/2 of a second. I think that's what it froze up on.

EDIT: God fucking christ dammit. It froze AGAIN. Everybody, be real careful on the drive back from the ATV chase/robbery mission. I took the shortest route possible, and it froze again just as I was getting on the road with the save point.

Yall post some screenecaps as mentioned above.

And keep the reviews coming. These are helping me get through my shitty day at work.

Eh....I'm getting tired of being fucking shot at every time I'm finished eating dinner.

Course, now that I know where the chainsaw is, all motherfuckers involved always pay the price.

I'd say something about the dildo/baseball bat, but...well...what CAN you say about that?!

I have no pictures, only words. Since I had not much money when they told you to get gang colors, I just snagged a green hoody. But after picking up a bit more, and getting more muscley, I went back to pimp my character out. Black tank top, grey pants, black sneaks, yellow watch, dog tags, green bandana backwards. As I step out of the store, I pulled out my nine...I felt like a fucking god. Later, I changed out the bandana for a green backwards cap and some sunglasses. I felt more of a badass then ever I did in Fable, and I totally dig Fable. And then I did a drive by...on a bicycle.

I keep feeling like Michael Bolton from Office Space. Some asshole will rear end me while I'm rolling in my 64, and I'll snap something like "What choo say, nigga?" or "Aw, this fool TRIPPIN!" My roommate keeps walking by my room, giving me puzzled looks.

PS I'm very white, if you couldn't guess.

Oh, man. It's rough. Give me a gun and I can shoot the cigarette out of a perp's mouth, ask me to wiggle my ass to Kool and the Gang and it's curtains.

Got a few friends coming down for Halloween, they're going to help me if I'm still stuck.

Not to be the spoilsport or anything, but I just heard on the gamefaqs Halo2 board that GTA:SA is a suckfest shit pile.

Figures.

I posted this on another forum, think I'll repeat it here, if ya don't mind...

Someone needs to talk me into buying this game. I just can't seem to get worked up about it. I like so many of the aspects of the GTA games, but it seems I dislike just as many. I think Tycho from Penny Arcade sums it up best (for me, mind you):

Cut and pasted

INTRO:
- This game is huge and if you don't know some basics, you might find it more frustrating in some respects than the previous two games as well, so these are just some basics on the gameplay to keep the game enjoyable.

GETTING STARTED IN LOS SANTOS:
- There are no hidden packages in GTA: SA, instead there are graffiti tags and some other hidden items. You'll easily find some of these as you wander around and complete missions, but unlike the last two games, you don't get any rewards at your safe house (hideout) for each 10 you collect, instead you need to find all of a given item to get a set of things back at your safe house. Trust me when I say that even if you have a guide, you should note each and every one of these hidden items you find or you will pull your hair out later trying to figure out which one you missed.

WEAPONS:
1. WEAPON LOCATIONS NEAR CJ's CRIB:
- You'll be much happier if you are properly equipped for missions. Inside your safe house are spray paint and a camera. Under the bridge just past Ryder's house are brass knuckles, which are very handy for any fist fighting situation. When you go outside your house, if you run across the road to the NE corner behind one of the other houses in your neighborhood you'll find a Colt 45. Better yet, when you leave your house, turn right and head through the back yard of the house next to yours and down into the culvert. Under the bridge to the right you'll find a machine gun and still better if you then turn around and head west along the culvert you'll find body armor under the next bridge. Whenever you die or get busted, these are items you'll probably want to fetch until you learn the locations of other weapons and body armor. The police station has items, but sometimes going inside will give you a 2 star wanted level immediately, and I'm not entirely sure why.

2. DRIVEBY CAR vs DRIVEBY MOTORCYCLE:
- If you have enough ammo for your machine gun you might find using the cop bike easier than a car for vigilante missions since you can shoot directly in front rather than needing to shoot drive-by style. However, on the bike you'll probably get knocked off a lot as you run into lamp posts, cars, etc. Personally, I've found the missions hard enough that I can see just waiting until I get a "brown thunder" style vehicle before attempting more of them. And yes, there is a motorcyle driving skill separate from the car driving skill.

- You can set a marker on your in-game map. This is useful for noting all sorts of things, so get in the habit of using it to reinforce locations of weapons, body armor, mission icons, particular cars, etc. and then make a note to yourself to yourself as well since you can only have one marker at a time.

BODY MAINTENANCE:
1. EATING NS:
- Always keep a little fat on so that when you are running or working out you burn the fat instead of muscle. Typically, I just go to the nearest food chain when I'm out of fat and down 7 meals, just enough to put on a little fat. If you try and eat too much at one time you'll just puke and won't get credit for the meals or fat you just bought.

2. GYM:
- If you are leaving your safe house, take the first left, and then a right to get to the gym. Once you've built up enough muscle to learn some extra moves, you go to the red glowing area next to the guy at the punching bag. However, once you've learned the moves, don't make the mistake of going back to the circle unless you want to fight the guy. Even with brass knuckles, he'll probably end up beating you and you'll end up at the hospital. If you do a save, then you can give him a try as your muscle strength gets maxed.

MAKIN THAT PAPER:
1. PIMPING:
- Early on, it seems like the easiest way to make money is just finishing the pimping mission. You can do this multiple times, but remember that as your girls complete more tricks the multiplier goes up, so try and do as many as you can. As a side benefit, you'll get paid by hookers when you pick them up to restore your health once you have maxed out your pimping level. Making money via pimping seems much quicker than burglary, betting on Pool, etc. at the start of the game.

- The pimping vehicle is by the car wash close to your safe house. It is called the Broadway.

2. BURGLARY BandE STYLE:
- One of the vans you can use for burglary is parked next to one of the apartment buildings directly across from the gym closest to your safe house.
From: tribangle | Posted: 10/27/2004 10:29:02 AM | Message Detail
SAFE HOUSES:
1. TO BUY OR NOT TO BUY:
- The safe houses you can buy are basically like the ones in Vice City, providing extra save points for you through the city. Since the cheapest one in Los Santos is 10000, you might want to wait a while before you buy any, or wait and buy ones far away from your main safe house, the Johnson house, just to avoid having to go all the way back there to save after completing a mission.

2. SAVING:
- The save icon restores your health, so it isn't just good for saving, though you might as well save if you're there. And just to save someone grief, it is generally recommended to alternate between two or three save files in case one happens to get corrupted. You might be spending 150 hours or more in GTA: SA, so it would be a shame to have to start over simply because you only used a single save file and it got messed up!

CJ's MOVEMENT THROUGH SA:
1. SWIMMING:
- In case people forget, Carl can swim. Holding your breath is its own stat and swimming adds to stamina just like running and bicycling. You'll be swimming to find Oysters; they are easier to see if you dive down and then swim a bit and adjust the camera so the view is under water.

2. CLIMBING:
- Also remember that Carl can climb up and over ledges, walls, onto roofs, etc. by pressing the Square button. Sometimes you need to run and jump to reach a spot and other times you just need to use a vehicle to get onto some building, just like the previous two games. Surprisingly, Carl can fall from pretty great heights without dying, though he will take a lot of damage, so assuming you've saved recently, you might want to jump off some bridges to the concrete or water below to get a feel for how far he can fall before the fall kills him. I've found I've needed to jump off a high place pretty frequently to get away from someone or to just help explore.

On the same street you find the low rider mod garage (just south west of the stadium, right next to the store house) are a bunch of houses that are able to be robbed. The two we focus on are at the north west. A white house just across from the mod shop's driveway, and the brown house to the right of it.

Park the truck at a 45 degree angle (back towards the house's front doors.) Now, go into the white house, on the right will be a tv and a vcr. Run AT FULL SPEED to the tv, pick it up and run out. You will be spotted and the cops timer will popup, but you will easily make it out by the time it reaches 6 or 7. Put the tv in the truck and do the same for the vcr, unlike some houses no one will go to sit in the living room. Return to the truck, now go into the brown house and repeat. A note for the brown house, unless you are RIGHT in front of the vcr, he will fumble around like a moron trying to grab it costing valuable time. Now you can return to the white house, and the tv and vcr are back...then they will be back in the brown house. (These people have some wicked insurance reps lmao.) Repeat as many times as you want, or go for an entire 10 minutes for big bucks.

The Tek 9 is on top of Sweet's house, just drive a car onto the basketball court and then climb on top. There is another can of spray paint on top of the building behind your house, which again you can get to by driving a car up to the red awning at the street behind your house and climbing up. Due to SMG under the bridge in the culvert and the can of spray paint in your house being easier to reach I feel neither of these locations are particularly useful. I think it is better to just keep getting the SMG repeatedly to build up your ammo since the Tek 9 is of the same weapon type.

The shovel is behind Ryder's house.

From: The Lord Lobius | Posted: 10/27/2004 1:49:41 PM | Message Detail
I was just strolling out of the club in Los Santos when all of a sudden a flaming plane goes flying over my head and crashes behind a building narrowly missing me, exploding all over the place.

Just wanted to say, that is way way cool.

I finally beat the Lowrider section. The advice you all gave was great.

The white boy finally has rhythm.

Now, the dancing section.

I'm moving up in the world. Thanks for your help.

Talk you into it? It's an amazing game, but Penny Arcade is pretty much right. There are still a shitload of flaws, it's just nicely refined and upgraded. It's a brilliant game DESPITE the occasional frustration and some played out aspects. If you choose to get it, you'll have to really stick with it and put some effort in to reap the rewards. It won't be fun from the beginning.

Seconded. It's actually pretty damn slow in the beginning...and again, I'm still pissed off about being shot at by Ballas every time I get more than a block away from my house....

....and then, a while ago, after a half hour 3-star trek through Red Country spurned by a public beating with a purple double headed dildo, with a 10 minute stopover in some small town I can't remember the name of, my good friend Smoke T2'd me through an aqueduct, all the while killing Russians by blowing up gas cans, and silently wondering both A: there's no way in hell Smoke's not closer with the cops than he lets on, and B: wondering what's in Alhambra, since I passed it on the way to meet the Russians

Slowly, and surely, the game is blossoming from "just another GTA" into something truly awesome.

And I'm not even out of Los Santos yet.

Smoke a good shot?

Then, for the love of Ghu, someone tell me how to get his ass to shoot those damn S.F. Rifa eses in that speeding train mission?

Christ on a pony, I've seen quadriplegics who'd qualify for the fucking Special Forces next to this guy.

Still, loving every damn minute of this game.

The key, I've found, is that you have to stay on the absolute right edge of the opposite track, or else he won't hit a goddamned thing. It's easier to do when you're in the tunnels (less a chance of hitting something, in particular that car that's on the tracks near the beginning), but you dont wanna wait that long since each of those assholes takes about 7-10 shots to kill (not counting the one guy who hangs onto the edge of the train, then climbs back up for another go.

By the way, is it my imagination, or do weapons and money from people you've killed disappear faster than they used to?

Yeah, you need to stay on the track, but all the way on the right. Stay on that strip, stay by the first car and you should beat it. Don't get to close to the train, because Smoke's shots will hit the train instead of the russians.

Oh and i finally stole a jet, went into restricted territory, got shot by missiles and jumped out of the jet with my parachute. For some reason i also jumped on the hood of a car, the car took off, and i didn't fall off the hood. I never tried it in Vice city. You can just stay on the hood of the car while someone is driving and pick people off.

Thanks, guys. Mucho appreciated. I'd been hugging the train all this time, going by what the bottom-of-screen messages were telling me, and hitting bupkus. One or two of 'em, at best.

I'll give those tips a shot. Pardon pun.

Oh and don't listen to smoke when he tells you to take that high road. Just stay on that far right track the whole time.

Made it to San Fierro (the mission you where you drive there is great). Has a cool layout, but doesn't seem to look quite as detailed as Los Santos.

Just bought a SECOND Playstation 2 today, just so I could have this and GT4. Oh, i bought the skinny PS2 by the way. I love this thing. And this game ROCKS.

Well, lessee....

I got a girlfriend, but haven't gone out with her yet because right after I dropped her off, I got the call to take the Ballas territory at Deer Park or whatever its called. And thus, Ammu-Nation was opened (dear fucking Christ I've needed that place...and the glory of the sawed-off shotgun therein), and I can now start gang wars.

By the way, I think it's obvious to everyone that at some point, we can own the rapper's mansion up by Mulholland Drive. And oh, god how I want to.

my girlfriend started giving me shit so I beat her.

easiest way to steal a plane is to go to the airport in Los Santos (in a car) and find where the barb wire fence meets a brick wall. Climb on top of the car, then climb onto the wall, turn right and walk over till there is no barb wire fence.

The mountain outside of San Fiero is FREAKING HUGE!

The Combine sucks but it's fun watching chunks of survivalists spit out of the bailer.

I played it for about an hour today as I went shopping and getting some music from the game for work ["Louisiana Woman, Mississippi man we get together everytime we can, ain't no river that could keep us apart, there's too much love in this mississippi heart" ]

What's your favorite radio station so far?

I've only had it on K-DST and K-Rose, the new way of changing the station is sorta annoying when on the fly though.

I did this in on the hood of a police cruiser in Vice City just this past weekend while I was gearing up for SA. The problem with doing it on a police car is that the minute you get a star for killing someone in front of them, they stop the car and tackle your ass.

I'm making nice progress in San Fiero. I've clocked 46 missions, I think IGN said it took about 70 to beat the main story.

I was driving a Sanchez up the side of Mt. Chiliad and a plane crashed right into the mountain in front of me. I then went to the top and drove the camper and the van at the top over to the side and pushed them off so I could watch them fall down the mountain. Then I got back on the dirt bike, and jumped off of the observation deck on top of the mountain. I jumped off the bike in mid-air and watched my guy plummet to his death. This game is fucking incredible.

I actually didn't think I'd be switching around as much as I am, but sure enough, I've been extremely flighty with the radio buttons.....

There's a few exceptions, though......I'm not going anywhere near the country station, at the very least till I'm officially working in the boonies, where it might fit the mood....the reggae station has gone pretty neglected (though less out of choice than the country one)......and, actually, the stuff on the House station hasn't been all that great....

Yeah, I liked it better on the L1 button. It was easier to press while driving.

All the radio stations this time around are great. I love K-DST, Radio Los Santos, and Radio X, but every station has at least a few good songs. Always something to suit your mood. I love blasting the song "Personal Jesus" but if I'm rollin' up for a drive by I have to put on "I Don't Give a Fuck" or something to that extent. My homies can't be listening to no goth shit.

I just got started on the turf war section. The Ballas and other gangs do get annoying as hell, but I love the strategy aspect of trying to link up one's turf. It's fun examining the map and looking for the best way to gain easiest control and access to all the things you need in Los Santos.

Oh, and if you see a guy dressed in all black standing around in your hood, he's a drug dealer. Gank him and you get 2000 dollars and whatever gun he happens to be carrying.

EDIT: Some of them wear grey hoodies too. Pretty much anybody standing still for more than two seconds is a dealer. I drove around and searched for them, but it didn't work. They seem to just spawn randomly and don't favor any particular area.

Jump off the building (assuming you found the one on top of the skyscraper)! You open the parachute by... well, let's see if you figure it out before you hit the ground...

You can BASE JUMP in this game! I don't know what the people who say that it's not fun want out of a game...

where do you find the parachute?

I found the parachute at the top of the mountain. I jumped off the top of the mountain, hit every button I could think of, then hit the groudn and died. Oh well. Maybe you have to be free falling a certain distance before it can activate...I'll try it off a building.

I'm starting to see how this game connects Vice City to GTA III.

My current mission has me stealing a gas tanker for Catalina. It's kind of hard.

Hey Anderson, can you tell what connections you see? Sorry, I am just a whore for info and won't get to play the game until it comes to X-Box.

The parachute I found was in the tallest building in downtown Los Santos.

Catalina is starting to build up her Colombian cartel, which will come to control Liberty City by the time of GTA III.

Ken Rosenberg is supposedly living in Vegas now and Fido is supposed to show up. As well as Don Leone.

Doesn't this take place after Liberty City? and Vice City is definitely after Liberty City.

No, Vice City was the '80s. San Andreas is what, '92? And I always took GTA3 to be pretty recent, like '99-now or so.