Question to those that are experienced with GTA V

[PZ]

How would you recommend a person go through the game to maximize the experience?  Focus on main missions? side missions? as a specific individual?

[OWGKID]

Do it the way you want to  >:D :-D I never bothered to do the side-missions, only did the main missions and went psycho on the streets :-D >:D

[Art Blade]

I'd say take it in slowly. You start with Franklin, his white car that will always respawn and can't get "lost." He lives in the centre of Los Santos so go explore. Steal and drive a lot of vehicles to experience the vast variety. When they turn into scrap metal just take a new one, and get your driving skill up to 100/100 so vehicles will handle a lot better. Use his special skill to slow down time which helps to master crazy manoeuvres evading obstacles and taking tight turns in slow motion, effectively preventing car accidents. Exercise him by walking and running and riding a bicycle down at the beach near the Ferris wheel where you will find a lot of soft drink vending machines that will replenish your health for just $1 in case you overdid it. Once he's fit (stamina 100/100) you will be able to outrun cops and crooks on foot or catch them, which ever way. Go to Ammunation (gun shop) that features a shooting range for $14 and practice your shooting so you get 100/100 in that, helps with.. shooting. Gold medals in all disciplines there grant you a 25% discount when purchasing weapons. If you have access to "the Blimp" (a zeppelin) you can unlock (unveil) the map from the air giving you both a great view at a slow pace as well as easy access to higher parts (mount Chiliad) without breaking a sweat. Once you've done all that, the game is basically completely open. Then you take on the first missions until you get to play as Michael, do the same with him. Check the tips and tricks section to experiment with what's said there. Find Packie as a new crew member -- see tips topic. Play more main missions so you get to do your first heist mission and get some serious money. Treat yourself to a few nice things like clothes and upgrades to your personal character-specific car. Avoid all Lester assassination missions until after the end of the main missions if you want to multiply your money with extremely effective stock market trades that depend on those assassinations so you want to buy shares with a LOT of money to get a substantial not to say crazy amount of money out of it. Again, see the tips section.

Play it the way you like it, crazy madman or cautiously and slowly, just enjoy.  :)

[PZ]

Thanks, AB - very helpful and exactly what will help me enjoy the game even more +1  :-X

[Art Blade]

I'm glad that you find it useful :) Always welcome, and thank you, PZ :)

[Binnatics]

Good tips Art! :-X

I usually approach GTA games that way; first maximize your abilities to make things go a bit easier and then fully enjoy the ride ^-^

[Art Blade]

 ^-^

[PZ]

I had great fun last night employing some of Art's tips.  First, drove like a madman and maxed out my driving skills - lots of fin weaving in and out of traffic.  Next, took a blimp on a ride to uncover the map, but made the mistake of entering restricted airspace.  Dang slow blimp!  :D  However, I managed to rise high in the sky and those dumb cops even flew next to me and didn't see my huge sausage body.

I also paid my $14 and started working on my gold medals - was easy with the automatic pistol, but not so much with the others.

I'd like to create a saved game which has the character maxed out, the map fully revealed, and no missions other than the basics from which to start.  I did that in JC2 and FC2 and had great fun because I could bypass all the basic (not fun after the first time) stuff.

[OWGKID]

The first pistol challenge is best done with any of the semi-auto pistols ;) The second and the third should be done with the AP Pistol.

[PZ]

Thanks  :-X  I'll give it a go!

[Art Blade]

yep, that's best with those pistols. Basically with any weapon: you'll get a few to choose from. If you can't score properly, try a different weapon out of the current category. One of those will give you the specs you need in order to score.

I did the same, entering restricted air space just next to where I started (LS international airport) and escaped the same way you did  :)

Also, I kept a savegame of before the jewellery heist started. :)