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---
title: "GTA V and Lack of Closure"
categories:
- blog
abstract: I finished GTA V but felt nothing, despite it being a great game
date: 2023-03-05T08:13:21+01:00
year: 2023
draft: false
tags:
- GTA
- gaming
---
I finished playing GTA V a few days ago. The game is a technical marvel. I played it on a PlayStation 4, so there was at least one remake since the game I saw, but I was often amazed.
I was amazed by the graphics. Everything looks simply amazing.
I was amazed by all the details they've put in. I have no idea how they want to top it in GTA VI.
I was amazed by the variety of missions. As someone who still remembers playing (and never finishing) GTA 1, the variety was big enough for the amazement but small enough not to be exhausting.
It's also the first GTA I've finished. GTA 1 and 2 were simply annoying. GTA 3 and Vice City each reached a point where too many characters tried to kill me, and I gave up. I almost finished San Andreas, but the last mission on the keyboard was unplayable. Not enough fingers, I guess. I have never played GTAIV. GTA V is the first GTA which actively want me to finish it. The aimbot was generous, and I was able to bypass all flying missions.
This game is very close to perfection.
Yet I left feeling unimpressed. The game looked real enough to notice just how little there was. When I saw a building in Vice City, it was rudimentary, and I filled all the voids in my head. In the fifth, I knew most skyscrapers were hollow, and I felt no need to explore their surroundings. It was just too close for my imagination to kick in.
The story was also a downgrade from San Andreas in scope. When CJ had a huge adventure spanning multiple cities, it all fell much smaller here - not only in sheer size but also in what I experienced. The best moment of GTA, which I will remember for a long time, is the small chapter outside the main map. It's tiny, linear, and snowy. Yet, it was a much-needed break from the California vibe.
Speaking of California, the city is disgusting. Roads, roads everywhere, and getting anywhere by foot it's a chore. I was told that Los Santos resembled Los Angeles in this matter, and I don't want to set foot there ever.
For me, GTAV is in a sad place where it's great enough that any shortcomings (which were not numerous) are much more visible. For example, I would not notice how empty the city is if it was uglier.
But the biggest problem is the lack of definitive closure. I should feel like I accomplished a goal when I finish a game. Here, developers put so much random stuff that I could continue playing for years and not witness everything. But I ignore such content and always focus on the main story. I wait for the final movie to wrap up, for the credits to roll, and for me to be thrown back to the main menu. "Ok, I am done" is the feeling I want. Unfortunately, GTAV (and most likely other open-world games) never give me that. Credits roll, and I am back in the game world—a world where all my actions don't matter. I can continue to do random stuff as if nothing happened. All that changed is that the number of mission markers decreased.
And the last thing I noticed. This is the most realistic setting for a GTA I've witnessed. It feels real. And this made it very uncomfortable to simply treat the world as a sandbox. Killing pedestrians seems too real, and starting a mini-war with the police seemed wrong. In the 3rd, getting all weapons via cheat codes and just shooting everything was the best to play it. It's a different game now.
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