Opinion: GTA V's Ending Was Rockstar at Their Laziest

GodisaGeek: "In case you didn’t realise it with the pretty obviously named article, we’re about to talk about the ending to Grand Theft Auto V. If you haven’t gotten there yet, you may want to come back when you have."

[FlunkinMonkey]

Most over rated game i have played in a long time.. I think a lot of people noticed after the hype train had run over them.

[cleft5]

Odd because I could have sworn the how few servers R* and TakeTwo brought at the launch of GTA Online was them at their laziest. Also, how they are treating the Online, basically turning it into a bad F2P model, is them at their greediest.

[Autodidactdystopia]

Id be happier if there were no ending.

geez, I think I must be forgetting the millions of hours of fun this game has to offer, so much to do in this game its not even funny.

I forgive them for the ending.

let me just attach my heli to this mini cooper, and drop it off on the top of the mountain then jump out and skydive to it faceplanting into it and surviving then rolling the cooper down the mountain then jumping out and getting flung into a swimming pool. driving back up finding the military base stealing the jet fly off and attack some pedestrians.

etc etc etc.

this game is in no way overhyped. what on earth are you talking about.

This Is the most interactive open world ever created.

gotta be dat overhyped... dur.

cant wait till it comes to PC

[StraightPath]

ending was good not going to win awards for its ending. As videogame endings go this was good enough. Just a happy ending tieing all loose ends then kick ass music kicks in. Its a set up its a set up no no wont wont fall.

100+ hours already played and a amazing game with immense amount of content. dlc going to make it even better. one of the best game this gen.

a lot of people upset because their shitty games got stomped on. a minority who envy popular and successful games .

[MysticStrummer]

Yeah I'd say the ending wasn't terrible, just anti-climactic compared to GTA4's ending. It would have been fine for a movie, but for a game it was just kind of boring. Rockstar at their laziest is still better than many devs, though the GTA Online launch debacle was really bad.

[Enemy]

It'll win GOTY just because it's GTA and hype, but honestly, The Last of Us is the best game of 2013, if not the generation.

[FunkMacNasty]

Enemy, that's pretty subjective. Not that TLoU wasn't an amazing game, and a serious GOTY contender, your comment and your Infamous avatar just make you look like another one of those indoctrinated brainwashed Sony fans that stalk any article that doesn't cast an angel's light on a Sony product.

And comparing TloU to EVERY other game that released this generation?????? 'Cmon dude... seriously. Think about some of the amazing experiences in gaming this gen and then tell me that TLoU was absolutely hands-down the "best" and Why... just because it's ps exlusive?

[NeoTribe]

The game was fantastic. The online is pretty much a bust except for just messing around.

[MoonConquistador]

Have to agree with flunkinmonkey, even though I haven't made it to the end, it really has been a struggle going back to continue it as all the things I loved about GTA has gone, most importantly the fun factor.

This game is nothing compared with Red Dead Redemption, which by the way had a brilliant ending.

[3-4-5]

I agree. I bought into the hype....loved the game for like 5-6 days, beat the single player, played online for 3-4 days and then I realized something.

I'm not having that much fun any more....or any fun at all.

The campaign was somewhat addicting, and the city was cool and somewhat beautiful, but looking back on it, a couple weeks later............

Possibly the most ignorant and inefficeint spending of money in the entire history of video games.

THIS...GTA5....Was the most expensive game ever made ?

Really ? For this?

Rockstar...

instead of spending $300+ million on ONE game.....spend $50 each on 6 different games.

[Killjoy3000]

I have to wholeheartedly agree. It seemed like I've seen that ending many times in different mediums. They could have been much more imaginative. I must say, the only thing much better about GTA IV was the storyline. The ending was pretty dark.

[Kenshin_BATT0USAI]

hmm...noticing a trend here.

GTA Game launches record breaking sales
Plays GTA game - "OMG BEST GAME EVER"
One Month Later
In retrospect - "Man that game was actually pretty average, kinda sucked in a few areas honestly"
Few Years Later
New GTA Game Trailer that shows almost nothing - "OMG THIS IS GONNA BE THE BEST GAME EVER"

GTA Game launches record breaking sales
Plays GTA game - "OMG BEST GAME EVER"
One Month Later
...

You guys get the picture. If you think it's not good, vote with you damn wallet already.

[SuperBlur]

I guess i don't have the attention of a goldfish . I still like the game , what innovation it brought. It's jaw dropping what they've managed to create with crappy old hardware restriction. Just goes to show the the talent at R*games is only getting better and better.

A better story would only be the icing on the cake but when you compare it to other open world game released , it is above and beyond imo.

[Enemy]

Would you prefer everyone call it average before they've had enough time to play it through? Trailers hardly tell the whole story. It's once we've finished it that we know how good it really was. Games hardly ever live up to the prelaunch hype they receive.

[Kenshin_BATT0USAI]

Not saying don't get it. Don't misconstrue my words to whatever meaning you wish to argue. I'm just point out how it's funny that this seems to keep happening.

[Hellsvacancy]

I wanted the option to kill Franklin, after just watching the A and B ending I feel cheated

Why is Franklin so important? he should of died on option C

[Enemy]

Lol what do you have against Franklin? At least he was more interesting than Michael.

[MysticStrummer]

Franklin was the most likable character of the three in my opinion. Having said that, it would have been nice to have the story play out in such a way that you do have the choice toward the end to kill every one of them. Maybe our online characters could have appeared in the story, sort of a nod to the silent main character in GTA3, and had the option to kill all the main characters.

[Hellsvacancy]

In my opinion he wasn't, I much preferred playing as Michel or Trevor

I've already played as Franklin when I played San Andreas, his character was just more of the same

[JustInTlME]

Because the game was about Franklin and his maturation as a person. When he first comes to Micheal he is nothing but a punk with some meager aspirations. But by games end the roles had almost been switched. Franklin became this lovable hero that grew from a punk kid into a man, and Micheal kind of retreated back a little in my opinion. Trevor grew a little as well, but when Rockstar was creating this game I feel like Franklin was the one they wanted to see grow. Micheal feels like the main character but I don't know what Rockstar intended.

[cogniveritas]

It's not that Franklin was any more or less important than Trevor or Michael. They were all likable in my opinion. But It's just that Franklin was more low key and didn't really cause the FIB, Merryweather, or anyone rich to explicitly order a hit on him. Of course, option C would put him in trouble but unlike Trevor & Michael, he was aware of who would try to kill him ahead of time and could arrange to counter it.

[thricetold]

Gotta love a person that would rather play as a deranged bloodthirsty killer than the guy just trying to get a big payday, lol God is great. Love you man.

[MysticStrummer]

"In my opinion he wasn't, I much preferred playing as Michel or Trevor"

I didn't say I liked playing as Franklin more. I said he was the most likable character, as in how he was written. Playing as Trevor was the most fun because he's exactly the sort of nut that would cause GTA style chaos just for kicks, but as a character he was pretty one dimensional. Same goes for Michael, who was the weakest character of the three despite being the "main" guy in the story. Rockstar missed a great opportunity with the Michael character in my opinion, and wasted Trevor too. The basic story had amazing crime epic potential, but Rockstar didn't come close to that, probably because people whined about GTA4's more realistic story.

[listenkids]

Some people can't stand popularity, it shows more so with Call of Duty. I thought the GTAV story was some what rushed in parts but what can you do with that scale. The game is fantastic and denying it is just a band wagon trend.

[goldwyncq]

The Option C ending is probably the best final mission in a GTA game. It took elements from all the previous final missions and combined it to make one hell of a climax.

[Saints94]

I disagree. The last mission was just switching around with every character, driving up, then killing them. Then you would just capture the last guy.

At least the past mission with Nico was more memorable then this.

[goldwyncq]

There's plenty of ways that mission could be played though. And the constant switching around during the gunfight never felt tedious. It's also the most original out of all the final missions.

[mike32UK]

Absolutely agree, love the online and single player but the ending did seem very abrupt to me. It wasn't necessarily bad, just seemed a little rushed

[KillrateOmega]

Eh, the ending was alright. It was, for a game ending, neither great nor terrible.

The handling of GTAO, on the other hand? Yeah, that was kind of lazy on Rockstar's part.

[-Foxtrot]

All the loose ends felt like Rockstar forgot about them and were like "Crap....guys what we going to do" I expected at least one ultra hard, long mission for each character at the end and getting (spoiler) devlin would be a group mission

[RE_L_MAYER]

They were in a hurry cause ps4 was announced earlier than they expected so they had to throw what they kind of finished on the market and they delayed the game as it is already

[holdmyown83]

Saints Row 4 FTW

[SkippyPaccino]

The Last of Us ruined it for me personally... Couldn't take the story seriously... Micheal and Trevor would fight before each mission and at the end would kinda make up... Then I would drive to the next mission icon and they are both a each others throat in the cut scene again... Got boring and repetitive quickly... I enjoyed the game and glad I bought it but... It didn't have that San Andreas feel to it... The best part of San Andreas was driving from one city to an other... The map might have been a lot larger, but it felt smaller than SA?

If I was going to cast a vote for Game of the year, it would be for TLOU in a heartbeat... It's strange coming from me since GTA is my jam but it's just a bigger prettier version of GTA... Nothing, nothing less

[RE_L_MAYER]

I agree it didnt catch my interest for some reason unlike other games

[Inception]

Somewhat i agree that R* should give more option for GTA V ending. But i think all the ending still good, but not the same epic ending like San Andreas though.

[JustInTlME]

I didn't hate the ending but it felt anticlimactic. I felt like there was going to be a huge plot twist and it never came. Would have been great if Lester was setting them up the whole time or something…..all in all still a solid game. last of us still GOTY IMO.

[FunkMacNasty]

I definitley agree with others that the story in GTA V wasn't all that strong. The relationships between the characters was great, but the story was a little loose. There were characters and history in the game that I was hoping we would learn more about and we never did.. like Franklin's cousin who owns the Towing business.. we did all those towing missions for nothing? Each ride, another conversation with Tanesha about how much she wants to get with Franklin, and talking about getting clean, and then... poof. no more towing missions, and no more developing story with Franklins strung-out cousin. The Same think with Trevor and Ron.. Their character's relationships could've opened new doors to the narrative.

Other than the story, I think GTA V is an amazing game, given the plethora of things that can be done in-game, the exploration options, and the little attention-to-detail things that R* never misses to make the world and environment really feel "all there".

I'm enjoying the online a great deal too.

[DEATHxTHExKIDx]

i was pretty satisfied with GTAV overall.

[Aleithian]

Agreed. I literally had no idea I was in the final stretches of the game during the final mission. There was NO dramatic build up to a climax of the "plot". I only realized the truth when the credits started to roll. Turned to my wife and said "Oh, that was the end. OK..."

The thing that really got me about this iteration of the series was the lack of "bosses" giving missions. I thought I was still about half way through the game when the ending started, because I'd only worked for a few different guys. There was no sense of progress or achievement - just a sort of lazy progression through events without concern for difficulty or money. Event after event, until eventually the events stopped and the music started.

A very odd approach to a GTA story. Gameplay was AMAZING, but I didn't get the sense that the gameplay meant anything, embedded as it was in a lackluster plot and a total lack of vulnerability.

[cogniveritas]

It was a bold direction they took. Seemed like Rockstar was aiming for a down to earth dysfunctional buddy flick type of thing where everything pretty much is as it appears. There weren't any bosses or handlers to really speak of, and all their troubles were pretty much self made. Mostly beginning with Michael tearing down that house, having a troublesome family, then getting sloppy with the little phrase he said, and Trevor just going around messing with people.

The supporting cast was pretty bland. Trevor's crew wasn't interesting. Franklin's friends weren't stellar (except for one good conversation between Lamar & Trevor), and Michael's family were only mildly entertaining. Nobody stood out like Brucie, Little Jacob, Roman, or the McRearys.

It was pretty clear to me when the A/B/C was given that it was coming to a close. It didn't feel satisfying that it was coming to a close already, but I really had no idea how "Deathwish" would turn out. It was a little exciting just waiting for someone to catch a bullet or for all to be lost for defying orders and not choosing A or B.

[Aleithian]

Thanks for your input. Honestly, I liked the direction they took. It was bold, and it was enjoyable in some respects. Much of the plot kept me hooked and a number of missions had that definite GTA WOW factor.

There were some hints that a significant step in the story was coming - the A/B/C, the hunting previous "handlers", going after whats-his-name at the end. But though I figured something was up, the pacing confused the hell out of me and there was no sense of resolution. I mean, in a certain sense resolution, but it's rather pedestrian and doesn't pull the heartstrings.

The supporting cast was definitely boring. I think they tried to replace handlers with a more full cast of characters related to the primary three. It just wasn't executed as well as it might be.

I'd like to see another iteration of this style, perhaps with a male/female leading pair.

[mike32UK]

Completely off topic but one thing that can't be downplayed about gta v is the sheer scale. I've spent upwards of 100 hours on the single player and every day I still come across things I've never seen before. Yesterday I came across a Cove on a little beach, today I came across what seemed to be a male only nudist Camp burried in the middle of the mountains haha

[Double_O_Revan]

Ending C was fine. I liked it.

I agree killing Michael made no sense. I agree with the article about there should have been one shocking ending. How crazy would it have been to choose B to kill Michael, but in the end Michael being the teacher to Franklin and his ability for self preservation, would get the better of Franklins plan and turn the gun on him? And you, as Franklin, watch as Michael pulls the trigger.

[cogniveritas]

Killing Michael only made sense because Westin wanted him dead for causing him trouble and losing his secretary.

I think the solution would have been tailoring the outcomes of A/ B/ or C to the amount of effort and preparation the user put in.

The endings could be based on how well you developed each character's stats, or if you hung out with them.

Ex. If Franklin choose to kill Michael, then knowing that Michael has the initial highest gun stat, the game could factor in if Franklin's gun stat was developed enough. Then that would affect who could walk away from that ending.

Same for Trevor, the game could make it so that Franklin has to earn the assistance of Michael to kill Trevor based on some kind of stats.

And finally for the deathwish. Again, using character stats and habits, either only one guy survives, any combination of the two survive, or they all die..... and in the case of them all dying, (as punishment for rushing and not developing the characters) you are forced to roam the world with Chop as the only remaining playable character for the rest of the game.

[Mr_Butata]

Yea they were lazy... 3 optional endings is not enough.