GTA 6 Wishlist

Thinking about the future

So Grand Theft Auto Six is very real at this point in time. As much as I love to contend the facts, there's not really much I can do there after I've sat back and watched an hour of the thing in it's development state. And as the game is apparently less than two years away, with Rockstar rather empathetically affirming that the recent leaks haven't hurt the development process, (I don't believe that in the slightest; but pop-off R*) now is the time to start wondering about what this game might actually contain now that we know for certain they haven't suddenly switched gears to make this a series about an Alien invasion or something. You might think that's a bit of a strange assumption to make, but the Saints Row Reboot proved that anything can happen to our beloved franchises if we lose sight of them for more than a second.

When it comes to really asking what it is that a Grand Theft Auto game can do for you, there can be something of a natural difficulty which arises when you ask those sorts  questions; thanks to the plain fact that Grand Theft Auto is often the golden boy example of the game's industry. The shining beacon. The star on the horizon. What I'm trying to say is, that which Grand Theft Auto Six launches with will become the standard for what open world games need to be in order to not be considered 'dated' from that point onwards. (Something with the Saints Row developers clearly didn't get the memo on.) So GTA 6's many upcoming features are going to be above and beyond my scope to imagine what an open world game can be, and if it doesn't manage that it's going to fail to live up to Rockstar's own legacy. I have to believe they'd only make this game if they were confident they would surpass their last one. Rockstar doesn't spin wheels, they're not Ubisoft. Still, there are a few areas I would like for them to focus in even if I can't possibly imagine the extent to which that focus will expand.

The first is RPG elements running in the back of the game. Now this is actually something of a strange ask coming from me because I typically despise 'RPG light' elements being sprinkled over action adventure games so they can pretend they cater to the role playing crowd. (Looking at you Assassin's Creed!) But ever since San Andreas I've been unable to imagine my open world crime adventurers without the reinforcement of background stats being improved as I play and grow throughout the game. San Andreas had a few different types of stats; some that would indicate your familiarity with certain weaponry and cars and thus unlock special ways of using them (including dual wielding at mastery level) and other stats that were designed to fluctuate through the days and weeks like the players fat levels and muscle definition. Red Dead Redemption 2 improved on this greatly as it fit into their more grounded and slower paced style of open world gameplay, and even GTA V touched on these stats in more of a surface level sort of way.

What I want is for these stats to be a bit more meaningful and noticeable for the player, in a manner similar to what Cyberpunk was purposing back when they were still in the business of weaving dreams. I would love a system wherein simple repetitive animations such as reloading and drawing your weapon, improved in their efficiency and professionalism with the more you grow in that particular skill. I believe the modern CODs actually do something like that with their quick reload perks. Rather than speed up the animation, they have the player take an experienced gun handler's shortcut by manually unlocking the barrel of an emptied pistol. That type of 'detail-in-the-minute' is a lot easier to justify in a first-person locked war game than it is for a third person open world one; but we've already seen the amount of incredible detail that the Rockstar people are putting into the interiors of cars so maybe we can swing a little of that intricate love into the second most commonly partaken in GTA activity. (Do we drive more often than shoot? I don't know about that in hindsight...)

I also would like to see something of an improvement to the side activities available to the player. GTA V didn't really have a great deal of stuff in the way of races (at least not in offline) and the businesses were a total afterthought of development. It's strange because the 3D era of GTA nailed businesses so well with how they were handled in Vice City and San Andreas. (Apart from the way that they are essential to progression in Vice City; that shouldn't have been the case.) In particular my single favourite business mode in any GTA game, which was shockingly absent from GTA V, is the car dealer missions wherein you have to track down cars of a certain make and model in your own time and bring them back to a certain location for cash prizes and special unique cars. I love it because it encourages you to really learn the different districts and what sort of vehicles spawn in certain sectors of the city so that you can appreciate the amount of detail the world builders but into the socio-economic make-up of their game worlds.

Vice City had some mini-mission threads tied into their businesses too, which might have been where a few of them crossed that line from 'fun side activity' into a bit of a chore; so if GTA VI could find a balance that would be ideal. Although by that same merit I wonder if the concept of setting roots and investing in businesses makes any sense with this Bonnie and Clyde dynamic? Honestly at face value this seems more akin to the Red Dead style of narrative set-up where you're in this character driven cage, dragged across a personal story in which the enrichment of the player isn't glorified as some end state victory position, because really all you're doing is spinning wheels waiting for the inevitable karmic justice that is heading your way. I wouldn't be surprised (although I would be slightly annoyed) if GTA VI is structured somewhat similarly to Red Dead Redemption 2; wherein you get shepherded across the map as stick-ups go bad and you're forced into a corner you can't get of without some grand ultimatum. I don't know how 'businesses meta games' slot into that gameplay set-up.

And finally I would like for some of that 'evolving world' goodness that GTA Online has enjoyed for so very long to touch upon the single player game. I'm not asking for any expansive content packs because I know there's literally nothing in it for Rockstar to supply an un-monetised offline mode with new content, all I'm asking for is literal table scraps. All I want is for the many new vehicles and guns that are inevitably going to be added into the online mode to also find their way integrated in vehicle and weapon spawn lists of the base game. That's hardly asking for much of anything at all and it would really go a long way to making the base GTA experience feel fresher for longer as the streets begin to change over the years. I know why they might be discouraged from doing something like that, because they're worried people might not want to pursue their shiny new cars if they can simply just pick one up on offline, but I Reverse Uno Card that by saying those who don't know if they want a new car in the online space can test it out in the single player and be more inclined to hunt after it by grinding in the online mode! This really would be the solve all for making everyone happy!

When I refer to all of this as my 'wishlist' I'm being very literal with that. These aren't requests, but wishes I throw into the air in the hopes they come true. Not just because I'm a literal nobody on the Internet that no body would listen to, but because as we've discovered the game is already hot in development and no company with head on straight like Rockstar is going to be adding features at this point. (Who do you think they are? Cloud Imperium Games?) Still, I think logic might just lead the creative heads at Rockstar to come to similar ideas as me between their truly revolutionary sparks of genius, and I just they could wiggle in enough room in their development schedules to satisfy these smaller elements of the GTA package alongside the industry changing gimmick that's going to win them all the awards. I mean heck, this entire setting was spawned from fan service; can't we ask for a side of fan fulfilment ontop of that?