Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Grand Theft Auto 5: A Storytelling Review

Recently, I finished playing Grand Theft Auto V, the fifth canon game in the Grand Theft Auto series. Depending on who you are, you think that's okay or that I'm a potential psychopath. I am a potential psychopath, but this game has never been needed to diagnose that from me.

What struck me so much about this version of the game was it's storyline. That's saying something when all the protagonists in the series are depicted as mercenary thug types who steal, kill, and have sex with whatever they want. I remember when the games were with barely named protagonists who didn't say a word, which then evolved into Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, when Ray Liotta began voicing the hero and giving him a life of his own. This then turned into GTA: San Andreas, where the world around the protagonist was just as fleshed out, with Samuel Jackson actually giving a damn good vocal performance as the main antagonist. But even then it was the world of the game, this fleshed out entity with radio stations and moguls and gangs and organizations that delved into the character

Grand Theft Auto 4 was when the world met a compelling character Story. The story of Niko Bellic, a Serbian ex soldier/criminal who came to America (more specifically the New York-based city of Liberty) based on a lie and trying to find stability and redemption for past misdeeds. By the end of the game, he has gained and lost so much that you can't help but feel bad for a guy who didn't really ask for any of this.

Grand Theft Auto V takes this further by adding two more protagonists to the game, each with their own strengths (such as driving, stealth, melee, shooting, flying and so on). At various points being able to jump from character to character, some times during the same missions, allowing for different styles of play to take place. And there are different levels of play here, but stats have nothing to do with it. Each character is distinct, both in their stories and their personalities as they traverse the LA and surrounding counties of Los Angeles-based city of San Andreas.

The characters are:

Michael De Santa: A former bank robber who ten years ago walked out of a heist with a lot of money and a faked death. He moved from the Fargo-esque town of Ludendorff with his wife and kids into the mansions of North San Andreas. His family, an adulterous wife, a spoiled daughter and a lazy son, all take turns in belittling a man who has nothing to do but sit and drink at his pool while watching the sun go down while wasting money with his opportunistic psychologist.

Trevor Philips: Michael's former partner in crime, who appears later in the game. Trevor is an erratic arms and meth dealer in the deserts of Blaine County. He admits he does things not for the money, but because at the moment he wants to. He's Chaotic, either Good, Neutral or Evil depending on the situation. Trevor believed Michael to be dead for the past years, and during game battles the urge to make that permament.

Franklin Clinton: A street hood from South San Andreas. Franklin wants out of the gangbangin business and into the hills. This is hampered by his best friend's, who all use him to get by on small time stuff (drug dealing, filling in for someone's tow truck job while they feed their crack addiction, etc). When he gets his opportunity, he starts to learn the rules of the game outside of gang on gang, and that changes his world a lot.

In the story, we're first introduced to Michael and Trevor ten years ago, in the incident that made everyone think Michael was dead and made Trevor a wanted fugitive. The story is then handed off to Franklin, who is at the beginning of his career of crime. Eventually, we are reintroduced to Michael, learning what his new life has earned him (spoiler: nothing good) and then eventually Trevor, who learns that Michael wasn't nearly as deceased as he thought. The stories intersect and cross at various points, sometimes breaking off when the characters have done something that would garner them attention from others.

In terms of the protagonists being protagonists, it's an interesting slope. Trevor's story doesn't really have a resolution. There is no end game for him except for what the player decides. This is in keeping with the fact that he has large, broad plans but no end goal. He wallows in chaos and feeds off the next thing that comes to mind. Michael on the other hand just wants to pay off his debts and keep his family from killing him or themselves while still finding some meaning in his life.

Michael and Trevor's main stories at one point come to a halt as they hash out the problems from ten years ago. This is what changes the game and it's one of the only times in a game where two protagonists face off against each other. Trevor is an unabashed sociopath while Michael did what he had to do for his family, including betraying Trevor and his old life. That is Trevor's pay off, and part of Michael's. Franklin comes off as the major protagonist, as his life changes the most sharply as time goes on and his decisions change the ending, of which there are three.

The endings change the context of everything that has gone on before it. Is it a story of victorious retribution and redemption? Is it the tragedy of a mal-adjusted psychopath? Or the tragedy of a man who tried to have it all and had nothing in turn. This makes the story itself sometimes erratic in which way they want to go. Sometimes the protagonists are seen in positive lights, some times negative. There doesn't seem to be much consistency in it. It also leads to a confusing pool of antagonists, with there being two main ones, and several auxiliary that only appear a handful of times.

What I found most interesting was that my attitude towards playing was different depending on who I was playing as at the time. Grand Theft Auto is a game notorious for picking up hookers and killing them afterwards to take their money. I didn't actually encounter any of that as any of my characters, because each had some sense of moral propriety. I committed the least amount of violence as Franklin, instead focusing on cars and racing (his specialty), Michael was a situational basis, if accidents happened that lead to violence. Trevor was the most violent, aided and abetted by his ability to enter rages that raise his ability to give and take damage to  extreme levels.

I found this interesting to watch, that the violence was less permissible as I viewed the character. Franklin only used violence during missions where that had to happened, Michael only as the situation arises, and Trevor when things started getting violent. I wonder if other people found that. TV Tropes lists it as Player Cruelty Potential, and I found, as much as I did with Niko in his game, that the more I sympathized with them and found them to be less extreme the less violent they were, wheras is previous games where the protagonists were little more than walking excuses to do harm, I allowed myself to do more.

I know what I'm saying sounds crazy, and that I'm talking about allowing myself to be violent and crazy and brutal. But this game allows that, and that is my subject for my next blog: The Magic Circle and Safe Spaces for exploring strange phases.

Later

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