GTA V: All Speculation

Yesterday was a big day for the gaming community, as the first trailer for GTA V was unveiled. Many people were excited, many were disappointed, and many didn't think much of it. I, personally, am ecstatic, and cannot wait until the game comes out.

I should begin by going back in time to the last time a trailer came out for a new GTA game, being GTA IV. While I'm not sure if it played out the same way as GTA: San Andreas did, the first trailer was just a sneak peak of what the game offered...except it was a huge sneak peak. What I mean is that the trailer was maybe a minute long, and showed nearly nothing of the game, but gave gamers a chance to analyze every frame and detail of the trailer to try to find out as much as possible about what could be found in the game. Unlike most other games, the GTA games are giant sandbox worlds, which offer plenty for the player to do, and one trailer could never show everything included. Therefore, the developers, Rockstar, decided to go with a very short and artistic trailer to show off the look of the game. It was up to the players to "read between the lines" and look at everything in the scenes and backgrounds, to figure out what else gamers could expect. I admit that I had fun as well, watching the GTA IV trailer a few times, to find any neat information about the game (having eagerly awaited the next GTA game after the fantastic - and probably best in the series - GTA: San Andreas). The downside was that I didn't write down what I thought was in the game, and later checked to see if I was correct or not. This time I plan to rectify that problem, the point of this post.

Yesterday, I watched that first trailer for GTA V about 20 times, many of them very slowly, pausing it often. This is unlike the GTA IV trailer, which I maybe watched 3 times that first day it came out. My anticipation and excitement for V over IV though will soon be explained. I wanted to write this post last night, as soon as possible to not only remember as many of my original thoughts as possible, but to avoid other gamer opinions and leaked information which will be inevitable these next few days. If one were to read the message boards and comments of the trailer and websites, these observations will seem common. However, I want to stress that most of these observations are entirely my own, and not of someone else's notice. I want to point that out because I want to show how in depth and detailed my analysis was, and not as though I was just copying someone else's idea. There will be a few observations that were not my own that I will discuss in here, and will note that they were not my own thoughts, just for the sake that I found that thought very interesting. By now you've realized that I did indeed read the comments after viewing the trailer multiple times, but found that most people were much less observant than myself (yes, I take pride in the fact that I'm not pointing out just the extremely obvious from the trailer). The comments did get me thinking in different ways, which lead myself to finding even more minute details. For those who enjoy trailers like these, enjoy my thoughts. For those bored with"artistic trailers" and just want true gameplay, then this is not for you.

I will start by saying that I will be jumping back and forth, but will try to minimize doing so, and will go through each individual scene, and explain what I'm seeing. Some thoughts will be reoccurring though, for obvious reasons you will soon understand. Also, here is the link to the video on Kotaku.com (sorry, don't trust youtube and its copyrights issues). Just as the site says, the video is much better in 720p, and actually, many details found could not be seen a lower quality without a full screen.

Let's start with the voice at the beginning of the video, speaking throughout most of it. From the sounds of it, it's obviously a male (okay, so Rockstar could pull a gender twist, but it's doubtful), white, but with a slight southern/mexican accent. I'll come back to this.

Scene 0:06 - 0:09. Here we see something new: a dog. Not only that, but listening closely, the dog barks. While this is just a trailer, and not making promises, this could be a sign that animals will be added. This could make some interesting gameplay elements, such as a pet dog, stray and violent dogs, or even police dogs who give chase much better than a human could. The potential seems exciting, and not out of the picture. While animal cruelty groups may cry out (PETA), it wouldn't be out of the picture. Rockstar's last game was Red Dead Redemption, had a handful of different animals, and all could be killed, including horses, but those groups didn't mind. Also obvious: the beach. Doesn't mean much, but the man talks about the weather during the scene, which leads us to believe it's somewhere warmer, where beaches are common. Finally we see a surfboard in the center behind the guardhouse. While this doesn't mean we'll be surfing, and is most likely just a set piece, it's nice to speculate. We'll reserve it for a set piece for now. The narrator talks about moving here for the weather. Speculation begins that he may have lived somewhere with worse of weather, possibly colder.

Scene 0:09 - 0:11. Here we have another warmer climate scene, with runners along a boardwalk. The ladies look back at the man for a glance, which is a nice effect, possibly better human animations, more realistic. The narrator speaks of "that thing," possibly being a nicer environment...or the women? He says it right at they run by, and glance back at the man. Both men have different logos on their shorts, so I believe we'll be returning to brand name clothing as we have done in the past few GTA games. This is at least nice to give some variety to what our character looks like. Also notice the mountains in the background. The sign to the side of the pier says "Pleasure Pier." On it, an amusement park is show on another pier. Still not sure where we are, but gaining more hints. We'll return to both of these notes.

Scene 0:11 - 0:16. Showing a distant scene of a city with large buildings. Also, much fog or smog is found. I'll come out and say what will be seen in the rest of the video: it's Los Angeles. This explains the palm trees in this scene, the mountain to the left in this scene, and the parts from the last two scenes, being the beach, boardwalk, mountain, and amusement park on a pier. Sounds familiar to another GTA game... Also in the way background a helicopter can be seen flying. A good start, with a strong belief that at least helicopter aircraft will be in this game. Not much else can be garnered from this scene, though at least to me, it looks like a blue car is cut off by another turning car at the intersection. Which is important, because I noted several street occurrences in later scenes. The man speaks about "that magic." No idea what he is referring to.

Scene 0:16 - 0:18. Men playing golf. Like Vice City, the golf club could be a weapon. Like the previous scene, the man is wearing sunglasses, more apparel seen in previous games, but once again good for customization. A golf cart sits on the course as well, a unique vehicle (that is not a car). In the background is a group of flags, each of different countries, so we know the city is multicultural (though no surprise to see the U.S. flag higher up in the center). The golf course hole sign points to the yardage at 169 yards. I didn't think about it this way, but another commenter believes this is another play at Rockstar's vulgar and interesting humor. The most important thing to see in the see is in the far background to the right: a blimp! Highjacking a blimp could make for some really fun missions, and some epic crashes. As one commenter also pointed out, imagine highjacking a blimp and crashing the entire thing into a sole dog on the ground, a possibility if both exist. Sounds cruel, but it also sounds like Rockstar going back to its over-the-top gameplay seen in San Andreas. In this scene the man talks about retiring. One begins to believe that he's done enough in his life, and needs to get away (nothing new for a GTA protagonist).

Scene 0:18 - 0:19. A very short scene, with a man riding a jetski...a jetski! I mean c'mon, I think most people can agree that the boats in every GTA game have controlled like crap. They probably should, being as that they're boats, but I still avoid them as much as possible. But I could imagine having much more fun on a jetski, and jetski missions could be plenty of fun. Plus jetskis could go places larger boats cannot fit, which could be interesting. The name of the jetski is Speedophile2000. To us Americans, it doesn't mean much. But thanks to other commenters who pointed this out, in Britain pedophile is pronounced peedophile. Could be more Rockstar humor. In the background more objects can be seen, which I honestly didn't notice until someone else pointed them out. For instance, over top of the man is a large bridge, and docked on the other side of the water is a battleship. Yes, both are seen in San Andreas, close to each other, but we won't make assumptions just yet.

Scene 0:20 - 0:22. Three hikers are scene in front of a HUGE mountain. This seems promising. Many gamers wanted the next GTA to get away from the city and more towards the openness of San Andreas, and this seems like we will be. Note the backpacks on the hikers. Could we be able to carry a tent in case we need to camp for the night on the mountain? After all if large and dangerous animals were in the mountainous areas of Red Dead Redemption, what's to stop Rockstar from putting them into GTA V on the mountain? And if the player can carry a hiking backpack, does that mean we can carry a different sort of backpack, such as one carrying a parachute? One can only hope. As noted by another player, the clouds are moving, and (while faster, strangely) more realistic.

Scene 0:22 - 0:27. More of a city scene, a man in a car watches as a woman looks back at the man. While I didn't think about it the first time, the car puts the hood down. While not important, it would finally improve the realism in a productive way. How strange was it in prior GTA games to drive a car with its top down during the pouring rain, but not have the option to put the top up? While not forcing the players to do so, it would at least make sense, and would be neat if it were automatic. Note the signs: one is for piercings, the other for wigs. Could we play the customization game even further, like San Andreas? The other interesting sign is E-cola. Not only humorous (Ebola), but as another commenter pointed out, the same drink from GTA IV. This is very important, because many gamers have been arguing which GTA games are in the same universe. For example, supposedly Rockstar stated at one point that the three GTA games III, Vice City, and San Andreas, are in an alternate universe from IV. However, I believe otherwise, for the sole fact that advertisements for the other cities can be seen in IV, and more importantly, Lazlow is in every GTA game starting with III, as the same character. Another commenter said that somewhere in GTA IV is a billboard with CJ drinking wine, which I hope to one day see if true. At this point, the narrator discusses settling down and having kids. This could show that unlike other GTA games where the protagonist (if the narrator for this trailer IS indeed the protagonist for GTA V, which has more speculation surrounding it) is either starting their violent life or in the middle of it, this man could possibly be done with that life and hopes to get away from it.

Halfway through the trailer, and many thoughts have already been discussed. Pretty tired now, so I'm going to break this into a two-part post, and finish up the second half tomorrow. That post will also include large speculations for the game, most of which are not my own, by I would like to delve into.