OpenWorldGames Server ONE

My first impression is that I was shocked that my local retailer actually had the game in stock!

I have a PS3 copy in my hot little hands, although I doubt I'll be able to do anything with it until this weekend.  :-\\

Oh, I changed the banner graphic in honor of the new release

excellent :)

OMG!

For the first time since I started seriously playing video games (FC2), I installed a game without having to do any updates!

That's a great first impression.  :-()

I'm burning of both desire to know your first impressions and jealousy of not being able to play it along with you. Imagine I'm getting hot in here :angel:

Hope you keep enjoying the game for the next couple of months, and maybe longer once the PC version will be out. Let us know about your experiences, I'm sure this is going to be a hot forum. >:D

Nice Banner btw, I'll have myself a big V on my breast to make sure I match the requirements ^-^

PZ, nice!  :) :-X

All I can say is...

Spoiler

Rockstar ROCKS!!!

The install was seamless - I started it, and came back after a snack, the opening screen was up and running.

Here are a couple of comparison/contrasts:

Ubisoft limited saving capability at best - e.g., 3 slots in the AC series, and you have no choice of when to save

Maxis/EA the ridiculous online at all time requirement coupled with the just plain stupid requirement to save your games in the cloud is one of the lamest things I have ever seen

Rockstar Game slots like the old FC2.  You can save at any time (yep, you read right - any time) by opening your cell phone and choosing the save "APP" on your main screen.  You can create new saves, but I do not know if there is a limit.  However, so far, I have 3 saved games, and the option to create more is still there.  What is encouraging is that there is not a list of empty slots like one would see in those games with limits.

The bottom line: it is so refreshing to open a game who's architecture is like our old favorites rather than the lame things that the other fools are forcing upon us.  However, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I'm not going to find a disappointment.  So far, so good.  What I can say for sure is that this is the first game that I've installed in a long time that did not annoy me with disappointments right from the start.

Now, for some of the good stuff...

• The graphics are stunning, and the attention to detail is remarkable.  I was in a sports car and ran over a curb, and you could see the slight bump of the car plus see the tire/wheel appropriately shock absorbed
• You have a home with garage, in which you place any car you want to save - this is your car for as long as you want it (I think)
• Your home is equipped with a TV - you can sit on the couch and mindlessly change the channels, and even smoke if you like.  You can drink beer in the kitchen.  When you go to sleep in your bed, your game automatically saves.  You have a wardrobe full of clothes, so you can completely change your appearance - right from the start - none of this foolish "oh, you have to pass a certain race before you get a new outfit..."  I had a good laugh as I dressed myself in some ridiculous clothing.
• For those that played Red Dead, there are side missions reminiscent of those - I just did one called "Repossession" in which my task is to use a tow truck to haul away someone's car.  The truck is Diesel (love that), and even has the backup alarm as you back to hook up the car.  The mission is to return the car to the repo lot.  Just to experiment, after the mission completed sign came up, I took the truck out, found a parked car, and then stole it, and brought it back to my repo lot
• If you are signed in online, you can take pics of anything you like with your cell phone, and I assume that you can share those pics with others - kind of a cool feature.
• The game map is massive, just like JC2, and again, the attention to detail is great.  The colors are vibrant, and in the evening, the neon is perfect - could be a photograph of neon.
• When you run toward a fence, you can climb over really smoothly - almost made me feel like a kid again.
• Although I did not try it yet, there were on-screen instructions letting you know that for a more immersive experience, you can turn off the HUD, and mini map for a clean interface - nice of them to give us the option
• So far all the game mechanics seem so fluid as to make it almost movie like.

Although I have only played the game for about an hour, it has been the best first hour I have played in a game since FC2.  I'm going to reserve complete judgement though, because you never know when a "Boss" will appear.  >:D

However, being a Rockstar game, I am hoping that it will be more like Red Dead.

So far a real winner, and if it continues to be so, I'll get the PC version so I can enjoy further with you guys.

very nice, and I am glad you like it. I started the GTA series with the predecessor so I only know that (by heat, more than a thousand hours in game) and based on that, I can see (watching playthroughs on YT) that they kept a lot of what we already know from GTA IV but added a lot, too.

What you (and we) will love is the fact that you can customise a car in a gazillion of ways, from tinted glass to engine performance. Weapons also are customisable, silencers and so forth.. And you may go get a new haircut  :-D In other words, YAAAAY it is coooool!  :-D

Oh, one small but cool detail (reminds me of JRD's comments) check the moon phases -- that's right, no simple full moon all the time  ^-^ :-X

That's really cool - another attention to detail  :-X

I have GTA-IV, but never did get into it - the graphics just didn't do it for me.  However, I might explore it once I'm done with GTA-V for a while.  I did that with the AC series - jumped in the middle, and then went back.  Was lots of fun even though the old AC1 graphics were not that impressive.

Heheh, yeah, you're going to get more surprises, and probably all in the positive direction :-X

I think Rockstar was already a few steps ahead of other games, so they already learned the frustration according to savegames, so they put it back ot what we all like. Glad they moved back to the garage thingy. It was always like that, only in GTA IV they started to give you a yellow marked spot on the street car parks that you could use as your care-saving-place. Less secure, literally and not adding to the safe feeling either.
Glad garages came back. I'm going to experiment with the maximum amount of cars you can stash in there again :-() :-X

Quote from: Binnatics on September 20, 2013, 11:21:35 AM
Heheh, yeah, you're going to get more surprises, and probably all in the positive direction :-X

I think Rockstar was already a few steps ahead of other games, so they already learned the frustration according to savegames, so they put it back ot what we all like. Glad they moved back to the garage thingy. It was always like that, only in GTA IV they started to give you a yellow marked spot on the street car parks that you could use as your care-saving-place. Less secure, literally and not adding to the safe feeling either.
Glad garages came back. I'm going to experiment with the maximum amount of cars you can stash in there again :-() :-X

That's great to know; maybe it is because I'm still early in the game, but it looks like I have a single car garage.

All sounding great so far :-X

My only experience with the GTA series was with one story in GTA IV, the one about the biker gang. I quite liked the game (what I played of it), but it had a weird look to it - I think they tried to make it look like a movie, everything had a film-grainy appearance which I didn't like at all. Plus that was on my old rig which wasn't really up to the job graphically. It should go well on my newer hardware.

Looking forward 8)

fragger, you were playing a DLC, not the vanilla GTAIV. I had the same issue with that biker thing, I did play through but hated it exactly because of that $*&%@# grainy view. AAARGH  >:(( However, the vanilla is crisp and clean, you definitely should go for it. :)

Didn't you happen to have both DLC's on a single disc Fragger? You should try The Ballad Of Gay Tony then, which doesn't have that weird graphic appearance, and offers smooth and accessible gameplay. The whole island is accessible from the start, and the missions are getting quite entertaining early in the game. Plus, you have some amazing weapons at your avail. If that DLC is in your possession, you'd try it. It will give you a free new look at GTA IV and at least the graphics are just like the vanilla one.  8)

The game is massive, and the things you can do almost endless.  I was passing by a shack and saw a bicycle - sure enough could get on it and pedal (using the run button).  I found a semi, and then a trailer - could back the semi to the trailer and hook it up.  Saw a sailboat in the ocean - swam to it and was able to pilot it.  Used an old tow truck to steal a few more vehicles.

This is only the tip of the iceberg - there is a printed map that comes with the game - when I look at it, I realize that I would be able to spend a thousand hours just exploring.

I spent a thousand hours on the predecessor which is only a city. You'll have a lot more to do than just 1k  :-D

Although a bit early to say, this game gives me a feeling similar to what I experienced with FC2

It really bugs me that they haven't even hinted a PC version. :( However, with their record revenue they're likely to do it as they now can easily afford it and by that milk another couple hundred grands.. hopefully soonish.

Truly? From what you guys have posted, I was under the impression that the PC version was just out aways.

No, I was referring to YouTube playthroughs that I was watching and reporting that I had to check various sources because Germany's beloved musical rights protectors (GEMA) had already blocked several of the vids that had been on the net for less than a day, so I had to find other uploaders to watch the missing, err.. blocked, parts. That's how I ended up watching three different sources. One (cvg) : only uploaded about 10-15 vids a day and I was faster watching than they were uploading, Two (IGN) : had more vids but some were blocked, Three (HHGAMING) : got all of the vids and a better gaming style, so I watched the missing ones and even started over watching #3's vids from start (that guy makes me laugh plus he uploaded in full length, i.e. the in between stuff and all types of accidents which I would have had in his place, too  :laugh: )

But no.. release for PC is unknown.

That's too bad. The game has me interested enough to purchase the PC version.

Shout it out PZ, ..... please, Shout it out!!!!!!!!!

We need it desperately. Otherwise I have to buy a lame PS3, and fuzz around with horrible button-aiming instead of true, smooth mouse aiming. ::)

I want the PC version!!!!

I'm going to hook up the console to the 60-inch this afternoon, and get settled in for an afternoon of exploring Los Santos  >:D

lol @ shout  ;D

oh man. 60" GTA V? Alright. Go on, then, rub it in, just keep rubbing it in :-D

Get a 4K TV for the optimal experience, PZ  ;D

lol, I'm going broke with all the toys I want!

Bad news... my sweetie vacuumed out her car last weekend, and in order to plug in the shop vac, she unplugged my freezer, unbeknownst to me.  I went to the freezer today (yep, a week later) and you can guess what I discovered.  Needless to say, I did not have a good afternoon after all.  :-(

you should have just closed the freezer again and done whatever you'd have done without it, waited for your sweetie to be nearby, only then gone to the freezer again and opened it.. so she'd hear your "EEEeeew! OMG! WTF?!" and made sure she'd see it.

Then told her that you weren't mad at her, could have happened to anyone (no idea to whom in the world, really) ..but of course, since she ruined everything, she should at least be fair so.. have her clean her mess right away, too. For peace's sake.

:-D

Quote from: Art Blade on September 29, 2013, 12:13:40 AM
you should have just closed the freezer again and done whatever you'd have done without it, waited for your sweetie to be nearby, only then gone to the freezer again and opened it.. so she'd hear your "EEEeeew! OMG! WTF?!" and made sure she'd see it.

Then told her that you weren't mad at her, could have happened to anyone (no idea to whom in the world, really) ..but of course, since she ruined everything, she should at least be fair so.. have her clean her mess right away, too. For peace's sake.

:-D

Now you tell me!  :laugh:

ok, you should have told me when there was still time  :-D

 :laugh:

Quote from: Art Blade on September 29, 2013, 11:03:27 AM
ok, you should have told me when there was still time  :-D

:laugh: :-X

Here are a few more impressions:

   
• I had a chance to play some today on the 60" TV, and wow, what an experience! I checked my stats and I've only done 5 of the 69 missions so far - it has been way too much fun simply roaming around stealing different cars, opening more of the map - as you drive around, more of the map is revealed.  However, there does not appear to be any closed areas like in the AC series.  That makes this game more open world because you can drive/fly/boat anywhere right from the start.
• Car damage looks cool - when you sideswipe something the paint is scratched through he color, and primer to bare metal. I've had a couple of tire blowouts after some serious damage - you hear the metal of the wheels grinding against the road.
• Learning to drive using the e-brake is fun - you can navigate the 90 degree streets much more effectively.
• Car detail is amazing - almost reminds me of GT5.  You can see the brake calipers through the spoke wheels, and of course the discs.  I ran my sports car back into the front end of another car and broke one of my tail lights.
• Go to the bad part of town and all you'll see is old plain cars - go to gang territory and you '' see pimp cars.  I was exploring the mountainous area north of the city and chanced upon an obviously wealthy neighborhood - found a Porche-like car - stole it of course, and left my pimp-mobile there in exchange.
• Found a beautiful mountainside home that reminded me of the place in one of the Lethal Weapon movies - went in back and a man and woman were sunbathing - they jumped up in fright, and then the man tried to push me around - I beat him up of course, and received $328
• There are races like the ones in JC2 - not fond of those so far, but I'll give them a go as I improve my driving.
• Failing a mission - what really bothers me in most of the recent games is that if you fail a mission, you get to start completely over (I hate that).  Fail a mission in this game and you are automatically restarted at the last check point, which is usually not too far before the "difficult part".
• Go on a dirt road, and you can see your tire tracks
• I over-reved the Porche and backfire flashes came out the exhaust.
• The varied terrain and abundance of vehicles suited for off-road travel reminds me of Fuel

The bottom line is that this is a true open world game, much better than most of what I have recently purchased.  The scenery is spectacular, and reminds me of the vast nature and varied terrain of JC2.  When I quit the game, I was in a desert that is reminiscent of the Sonoran desert - saguaro cactus aplenty.
This is the very first game with driving as one of the main components that has ever held my interest more than an hour or two.


All in all, a great game.

if a part of a mission is too difficult (like, get into a military base to steal a vehicle) on failing you will get two options.
1, try again and (you may like that) 2, skip this part which will put you inside the vehicle rather than having to start over. Of course, you'll still have to escape with it.

I've watched three complete playthroughs of three different players and saw quite a bit of those side missions which are not related to the main story. Everything I've seen looked cool and made sense, even timed events have a purpose you can live with, e.g. hurry so you can save someone. Apparently those timed events are not nearly impossible, to the contrary, they all seemed doable, even with room for mistakes.

I've played for 6 hrs and a half. I like it, definitely better than GTA IV. The driving is better. The missions are not as frustrating thanks to generous checkpoints. I visited Strip club 3 times (never gone to strip club in real life) and even drive a stripper to her home to have a private a private session. To my disappointment, the sex scene wasn't shown  ;D

like GTA IV, when you went to "visit" your girlfriend. All sounds and scenery, no details  :-D

Quote from: PZ on September 29, 2013, 07:46:13 PMFound a beautiful mountainside home that reminded me of the place in one of the Lethal Weapon movies

This one?

Spoiler

There is a mission with exactly the same setup.. house on stilts, you'll pull it down  :-D
GTA 5 - Walkthrough Part 2 [1080p HD] - No Commentary - Grand Theft Auto 5 Walkthrough Part 1 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KWpKKJsVmk#)

Lethal Weapon 2 -- Pulling Down A House (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOHvkZXnknk#ws)

I couldn't believe in my eyes when I witnessed a sex scene in a mission. GTA V is bigger than previous iterations, even on sex.

that's something I'll have to wait for until the game gets released for PC..

I edited the spoiler in the previous post,

Spoiler

added a GTAV vid for those who want to see the same scene from lethal weapon only this time in GTAV.

Quote from: Art Blade on September 30, 2013, 12:49:24 AM
I've watched three complete playthroughs

Wooaah!!!! :o

There's nothing left to guess for you then, lmao ^-^

PZ, the list you created is describing the GTA franchise pretty well. I remember the first editions of the game where you had 3rd person view ( GTA III and Vice City) and there you had to load from one open area to the next. Example; in GTA III were three main city parts a.k.a. islands. Just like in GTA IV actually. When you crossed the bridge to reach another island, the game would give you an image of a postcard for a few seconds while the next part of the city was being loaded. In GTA SA they first managed to have the entire world accessible from the start. Only some special events, like Arena car races etc. would cause the game to load an area separate of the real world.

This loading as you describe after a mission fail is new. They always gave you the opportunity to reset to mission-start-position following a link in a text message, but they never gave checkpoints or even offer skipping parts in the mission. That is a cool new feature. I'm also curious for the 100% statistics that can be obtained by completing the mission with e.g. +% of headshots, -% of car damage, completion time etc. They first introduced that in The Ballad of Gay Tony, a DLC for GTA IV and heard that they farther developed these challenges. I was hoping for that already :-X

I'm extremely curious for the off road part. Back in San Andreas there is a huge countryside, all accessible, but not really designed for off road racing. Although there are off road tracks, as well inside as outside, and you can for example drive a Patriot (synonym for Hummer) and access difficult-to-reach areas much better, but the tire-marks and blubber as you describe makes me want it even worse to come out on PC ::)

Quote from: durian on September 30, 2013, 12:26:01 PM
...(never gone to strip club in real life)...

Don't mention ::)

The privacy of the GTA role models is indeed better protected than ours. Maybe it's time for a NS(GT)A scandal :-D

Quote from: Binnatics on October 01, 2013, 01:57:22 PM
This loading as you describe after a mission fail is new. They always gave you the opportunity to reset to mission-start-position following a link in a text message, but they never gave checkpoints or even offer skipping parts in the mission. That is a cool new feature. I'm also curious for the 100% statistics that can be obtained by completing the mission with e.g. +% of headshots, -% of car damage, completion time etc. They first introduced that in The Ballad of Gay Tony, a DLC for GTA IV and heard that they farther developed these challenges. I was hoping for that already :-X

I'm extremely curious for the off road part. Back in San Andreas there is a huge countryside, all accessible, but not really designed for off road racing. Although there are off road tracks, as well inside as outside, and you can for example drive a Patriot (synonym for Hummer) and access difficult-to-reach areas much better, but the tire-marks and blubber as you describe makes me want it even worse to come out on PC ::)

I can only compare it to other (some of them annoying) games that make you restart from the beginning of the mission - this was soooo refreshing in GTA-V.  For instance:

Spoiler

I was on a mission to steal a car - had to find a way into the house, sneak by the family, and get to the garage.  I ran into some dumb kid and the mission failed.  Rather than restarting from the beginning of the drive to find the place, I was right outside the house again.

I'll have to try driving completely offroad rather than on the dirt roads - looks like you should be able to, especially in the desert.

Quote from: Art Blade on September 30, 2013, 01:02:31 PM
This one?

Spoiler

There is a mission with exactly the same setup.. house on stilts, you'll pull it down  :-D

You found it!  +1  :-X

Angelenos seem to have violence/anger problem. When I came up to one of the NPC's who were standing on sidewalk chatting to one another, some of them started fistfighting me.
On another occasion, I approached one  female park ranger, I pressed right button, which caused my character say something to her, and she poke me in the chest and begin shooting at me. I ran away, but she kept shooting. I had no choice but fighting back. One ambulance came over and 2 paramedics tried to help her but they immediately left after they found she's already dead. I don't know how they know she got shot ?

 :laugh: :-X

Bin, you may want to go back reading my edited post  :)

Try to chat up some of those muscle-monster women on the beach (weight lifting, weight pushing and all that. they're fenced in together with some bodybuilders) -- you'll get a hell of a beating.  :-D

Quote from: durian on October 01, 2013, 04:25:19 PM
Angelenos seem to have violence/anger problem. When I came up to one of the NPC's who were standing on sidewalk chatting to one another, some of them started fistfighting me.

I noticed that - I was at a train station, and a black guy tried pushing me around.  Naturally I fought back, and then suddenly one after another came running at me.  I finally had to run away myself.

Can you talk with people?  I have not experienced that yet.

You can show your appreciation and wave your middle finger into their faces to start lively "conversations"  :-D Else, just try to interact and you'll hear a few basics, like "how ya doin'?"

hmmm... I'll need to figure out how to initiate those interactions.  There are many different button commands to try to remember, and you know how good my memory is.  :-()

can't help you there, I'm rendered a mere observer  :( You could still go to the controller configuration menu and check the meanings of those many buttons :)

 ^-^

I have been having problems recently with violent drivers in GTA SA. I almost forgot. In GTA IV the other traffic is hardly aggressive, but in the prequel they seriously try to ram you off the road and keep going once you're stumbling on the sidewalk trying to make an escape. Los Santos is a dangerous place ;)

@ Durian: I'm not sure if I get what you ment. Which post did you edit? About the Angelenos?  ????

Quote from: Art Blade on October 01, 2013, 11:23:38 PM
can't help you there, I'm rendered a mere observer  :( You could still go to the controller configuration menu and check the meanings of those many buttons :)

lol, there is one slight annoyance in the game, and that is how the controller layout is set up.  Evidently there are in-vehicle controls, flying, and out of vehicle.  The problem is that only a single screen is displayed, and the three layouts are each only visible for about 2-3 seconds before the next one scrolls into view.  Certainly not enough time for this old brain to absorb the layout  :-()

Not a problem for you any more. Here you go  :-D

damn, scratch that, was gta iv. I'm looking..

damit, durian posted in between  :-() read after his upcoming post  :-D

Quote from: PZ on October 01, 2013, 08:17:26 PM
I noticed that - I was at a train station, and a black guy tried pushing me around.  Naturally I fought back, and then suddenly one after another came running at me.  I finally had to run away myself.

Can you talk with people?  I have not experienced that yet.

Yes you can press the right button on D-pad when approaching the NPC's and you'll hear some basic lines as Art said.

Quote from: Binnatics on October 02, 2013, 05:00:10 AM
^-^

I have been having problems recently with violent drivers in GTA SA. I almost forgot. In GTA IV the other traffic is hardly aggressive, but in the prequel they seriously try to ram you off the road and keep going once you're stumbling on the sidewalk trying to make an escape. Los Santos is a dangerous place ;)

@ Durian: I'm not sure if I get what you meant. Which post did you edit? About the Angelenos?  ????

Yes. Talking about violent drivers, last night I accidentally hit a car and this guy got out of his car, I tried to run away but hit another car, the guy pulled me outta of my car and punched me. I had no choice but fought back, beating the sh*t outta him ;D

OK, after durian beat me to it, I had to continue here  :-D

By the way, durian, I even watched people who got hit by the player's car getting out of their ride and shoot at the player  :laugh:

PZ, Now. Controller.

Here, go to 00:00:42 and you can see that his screen doesn't scroll that fast. You should try and make a fake attempt of changing something there so the screen stays. What I'd do if it stayed on "ON FOOT" would be to go into a vehicle and do it again; my guess is that the controller setup screen changes, too.

Grand Theft Auto V Walkthrough PART 1 [PS3] Lets Play Gameplay TRUE-HD QUALITY "GTA 5 Walkthrough" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqUVT9QgV5Q#)

Quote from: Art Blade on October 01, 2013, 04:57:39 PM
Try to chat up some of those muscle-monster women on the beach (weight lifting, weight pushing and all that. they're fenced in together with some bodybuilders) -- you'll get a hell of a beating.  :-D

;D I've just met a woman at the beach, she challenged me to run and I accepted her challenge.

That woman is crazy. Try a shortcut and she'll call that out to you and will complain if you win that you only won because you cut it short  :-D She's the blonde, 39-year-old, no kids, all marathon type of angry all sinew and muscle type, isn't she? Plus horrible voice  :-D

She cracked me up  ;D I didn't know there was a shortcut  :)

Thanks for the assist, gents!

Screen flip by a bit too quick for me!  After the first one, which granted stays for a bit longer, they start flipping by at a rapid rate - problem is that by the time I get to the third screen, I've already forgotten the other two and have to start all over.  :-()

I'll appreciate having the manual once the Android app comes out  ^-^

durian, I watched a guy do that challenge a bit uphill away from the beach and he had to take a turn but ran across the green and that crazy woman went completely mental  :laugh:

PZ, damn. There ought to be a controller setup for you, isn't there any paper printout shipped along with the game?

I'll have to replay that mission using the short cut to see how she'd react myself.

it was shortly after the start, they started basically next to a road and were headed downhill (flight of stairs). To get to those stairs you'd have to follow a path, a hairpin corner, but he went across the green and got two or three yards ahead of her. :)

Quote from: Art Blade on October 02, 2013, 01:22:42 PM
PZ, damn. There ought to be a controller setup for you, isn't there any paper printout shipped along with the game?

Yeah, but the font is so small I can't see it without glasses, and I can't play the game with glasses (I'm at the in between good and poor eyesight stage of my life  :-())

Yes, I think there is a controller setup as well, but have not dug deeply into the menu system yet - have been having fun just driving around sightseeing.  Even though the map is huge like JC2, and people chase you just like in JC2, I seem to be having more fun exploring the GTA-V map - somehow more appealing to my eyes because of the realistic neighborhoods

PZ.. 8-X Well, I..  8-X no, shush!!  8-X Not going to comment on that.

Ah, sod this.  :-()

I'd use my fricking glasses if I didn't know what's what on my controller. And I can't memorise three layouts at once, either. I'd just learn them step by step and yes, I'd use my glasses for that purpose. They're meant to be used for reading that sort of informative useful yet small stuff, not to be draped handsomely out back on a table on the deck next to a fly swatter and a piece.  :-D

Quote from: Art Blade on October 02, 2013, 12:36:30 PM
OK, after durian beat me to it, I had to continue here  :-D

By the way, durian, I even watched people who got hit by the player's car getting out of their ride and shoot at the player  :laugh:

I got shot by some pedestrians (I assumed they're gangsters) after they got hit

pretty damn sure they're gangsters (unless they're some dentists in protective side arm mode :-() ) That sort of thing happened in GTAIV, too. I remember in particular that area where you start your career, it's a Russian mob area. I loved to call over two of Dwayne's goons for pre-emptive measures and then randomly shoot in the streets. Within seconds a gang war would ensue and man, what fun that was driving and shooting with two gangsters in my car protecting me as long as those Russians didn't kill me  :-D

PZ, my assumption was correct, when you're in a vehicle, the controller setup for the vehicle shows up rather than "on foot" :) Which means, you can read the controller inscriptions on your 60" without glasses  :-()

see 12:03 (very briefly, hit pause) (and yes, this is my 4th different playthrough I'm watching.  :-D )
GTA 5 - Walkthrough Part 29 [1080p HD] - No Commentary - Grand Theft Auto 5 Walkthrough (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPw2mVt2ZW8#)

Quote from: Art Blade on October 02, 2013, 04:26:41 PM
PZ.. 8-X Well, I..  8-X no, shush!!  8-X Not going to comment on that.

Ah, sod this.  :-()

I'd use my fricking glasses if I didn't know what's what on my controller. And I can't memorise three layouts at once, either. I'd just learn them step by step and yes, I'd use my glasses for that purpose. They're meant to be used for reading that sort of informative useful yet small stuff, not to be draped handsomely out back on a table on the deck next to a fly swatter and a piece.  :-D

:laugh:  When I checked the packaging, there indeed was a controller layout in a short pamphlet - even I can learn from that  :-()

Honestly though, my real fun is in exploring the world and I know that eventually I'll get it - will just take lots of time.  I guess I can call myself a casual gamer, however, as always, I appreciate your invaluable assistance to steer me along the proper path.   ^-^

 ;D :-() ;D :-D

I only do that because I remember you being surprised by what else could be done with a couple of keys you had been unaware of and how much it improved your gaming experience. With a game like GTAV, I'd love to know that you had all the options available to you early on so you get an even better feel and experience the possibilities of that massive sandbox game. :)

I must say it's funny to see that someone who's not able to play the game knows much more about it than two people playing the game :laugh:

Good w@&k, Art :-X ^-^

hehe, cheers  :-D

Quote from: Binnatics on October 03, 2013, 08:48:28 AM
I must say it's funny to see that someone who's not able to play the game knows much more about it than two people playing the game :laugh:

Good w@&k, Art :-X ^-^

:laugh: :-X +1 for that observation, and +1 to Art for being so knowledgeable!

thank you, PZ ^-^

And +1 :-X for you PZ, being our brave Los Santos Pioneer :)

Thanks Binn!  :)

PZ or durian, can you try something out for me? get on a bike (with or without engine) and "equip" an empty hand (no weapon) and then "shoot" at anyone nearby. If what I suspect happens, you'll get a nice response :-()

Spoiler

it should cause you to show the middle finger and shower abuse on the one you're pointing at, to which you'll get an appropriate comment or remark in return >:D

 :laugh: I will test that tonight

cool, can't wait :) Maybe it works in a car, too? ???? :)

Sadly I can't play until this weekend, but am looking forward to trying it out.  Durian will have the results posted well before then, I suspect.  :)

so, something for you to look forward to :) Good we have durian for keeping us posted up  ^-^

Indeed, but I suspect things will really take off when the PC version comes out and we can start screen capturing away.

By the way, I'm slowly learning the controller layout day by day.  :-()

nice, I hope you have the rewards for learning it  :)

 :laugh:

Art, I tried to do that while I was riding a motorcycle. I selected bare fist but when I pressed L1 to use it, Franklin automatically used the gun.

pity.. didn't you mention a key to interact with people while walking, does that w@&k? I watched a video with a player as Franklin riding a bicycle and waving his middle finger to every car he passed; also Trevor on a motorbike who showed it to cops sitting in a car watching traffic. It was a riot  :-D

yeah there's a button to interact with NPC's but it only triggers the character to say something.

I will try to do it again.

there has to be a way, they did it and it was great. I think I could do that all day long for some time  :laugh:

 tsk tsk  tsk :laugh:

Quote from: Art Blade on October 04, 2013, 01:08:59 PM
.... all day long for some time  :laugh:

That's a funny expression :-D

I realised that, too, while typing it.. and decided to leave it as is  :-D I actually meant, "for a couple of days in a row" :)

Tried some off-roading today, and it was great - you can go just about anywhere except up the unreasonable (like a cliffside).  The desert and mountains also make great getaway places - especially if you're on a motorbike.  I also found a Baja bug, and it is surprisingly good off road.

Had a funny moment - wanted to try out the voice interacting with some bum wearing a wife beater, and he gave me lip - beat him up and the loser didn't even have any money on him.

I also saw the cops chasing some SUV, which finally stopped.  Both cops were killed as were two of the villains - I took the weapons, money, and ammunition from all.  >:D

 :-D :-X

Quote from: PZ on October 04, 2013, 07:20:02 PM
Tried some off-roading today, and it was great - you can go just about anywhere except up the unreasonable (like a cliffside).  The desert and mountains also make great getaway places - especially if you're on a motorbike.  I also found a Baja bug, and it is surprisingly good off road.

Had a funny moment - wanted to try out the voice interacting with some bum wearing a wife beater, and he gave me lip - beat him up and the loser didn't even have any money on him.

I also saw the cops chasing some SUV, which finally stopped.  Both cops were killed as were two of the villains - I took the weapons, money, and ammunition from all.  >:D

:-X :laugh:

You're getting the hang of it aren't you? :-D

Lol, yes! I'm really enjoying the game way more than I ever thought possible, and I owe thanks to all you chaps for that!

 :)

you're probably no OG but definitely an OWG  :-D

Spoiler

OG original gangster
OWG either: open world gamer or open world gangster

open world gangster  :laugh:
Art, I successfully managed to raise middle finger (by pressing L1) to a bunch of black guys on sidewalk and you know what happened after that.  ;D

But I found that it's not consistent. Sometimes pressing L1 would make my character to shoot a gun, sometimes he raises his middle finger.

PZ, Nice  :-X I had a similar experience. An LSPD cruiser was chasing a car, the gangsters got out of their car and shot the cops to death and then they ran away from the scene. I immediately followed the bad guys and ran over them, collected their weaps, ammo and money.

cool, durian :) +1 :-X for success and support  :)

In GTA:SA something funny happened, too: for some reason a gangster wanted to punch an officer's lights out while the officer was keen on beating twelve shades of poop out of me. I circled the gangster , keeping him between me and the cop, so the gangster could punch the cop and distract him while I used the gangster to keep the cop away from me. Cop and gangster croaked and I collected their weapons and money.  :-D

Thanks Art,   :-() +1 for being clever

 :laugh: :laugh: :-X I tried Art's method in a car, and using the cinema camera, the "finger" was hilarious! +1 AB!

... and yep, I'm definitely OWG  :-()

 :laugh: :-X

 :-D cheers, guys :)

how's the game going, PZ? Looks as if you had enough early in.

Well, I've not actually played the game since I purchased AC4 for the ps3. Then when I was done with that, the ps4 version came out which I'm now working through. However, I've been thinking about GTAV again, so likely soon.

I am really looking forward to reading more of your impressions. :)

I'll be sure to post them!

Me to am curious! In the mean time I wonder what will come out first; the PS4 version or the PC version ????

Quote from: Binnatics on January 13, 2014, 09:22:45 AM
Me to am curious! In the mean time I wonder what will come out first; the PS4 version or the PC version ????

Good question - I'd be all over a PS4 version.  :-X

that is a horrible question. It's jinxing the PC release.. if that PS4 comes first, the PC version will be last. UAAAAAAAARGH  :'( The Console Gamers United.. oh dear..

However. Lacking some people's first impressions (ahem  :-D ) I found my way back to YouTube playthroughs. If I'm not mistaken, it's my.. hold it.. I didn't finish the last one because of GEMA wiping out several of those vids which would have been playthrough #8. Alright, it's got to be #9 then. Make that #8 again because I didn't finish the last one.

OK, so I'm currently into yet another full console playthrough which is fascinating me. Not because of whatever reasons you might be thinking up right now, no, by far not. Instead: Because that guy [edit: I'm referring to the guy who uploaded the playthrough] is so stupid I can't believe he's that stupid. Thank the gaming gods, he does his playthrough without commentary. I was curious, though, whether I could get something off him that allows for a little more insight as to who he is and I found a couple of "reviews" which of course featured his teenage voice-over. Listening to those I didn't quite know whether to cry or to laugh but I was cringing all the time. He must have written down his review and then read it off the sheet which kept causing him to take a breather smack in the middle of a sentence where you least expected it, making it sound very unnatural and obvious he was reading it. Since reading isn't his strong suit (he's also got a light speech impediment) he fluffed some lines and decided to continue his recording by overdubbing the fluff with oftentimes far louder new audio takes. Oh, and English apparently isn't his native tongue so his (likely) French accent kept adding to his overall excruciating performance. So, sadly, I kind of had the confirmation I was looking for (no surprise, there). Brrrrr...  8-X OK.

During the playthrough: So this guy had to go to a designated spot in a multi-storey car park to somewhat stealthily assassinate some industrial manager (who was expected to leave a conference hotel) but ignored the explicit recommendation to use a sniper rifle and, wouldn't you know it, he couldn't see the target across the plaza. Instead, he whipped out an assault rifle without scope, let alone silencer (here I have to add, he did not even have a sniper rifle) and, ignoring the countdown timer that told me and everyone else when to expect the target to exit the hotel, he randomly killed someone who might or might not have been the target. It wasn't the target; fail ("cover blown") #1. Start over? Yes. Prematurely shoot a different target. Fail #2. Walk over into the restricted area? Yes, and ignore the guard's warning, bump into another guard and pick a fistfight.. Fail #3. Walk over and climb into the car (that I know serves as the target's pickup car) and stir everyone up.. fail #4. Oh, I forgot, sometime in between (another start-over) he accidentally fired a round from and into his own cover but damn, those people across the plaza wouldn't ignore that shot.. fail #5. Then the screen showed a prompt, "Are you sure you want to skip this scene?" Unfortunately (I would have loved to watch more invalid trials) he thought it a good idea and skipped it. The game made it a successful mission.  :D JEEEEESUS :laugh:

I've never seen anyone doing that many stupid things throughout the game, continuously. You could bet a salary on the next screw-up to happen right around the next corner. Oh, and his driving skills are just bloody abysmal (a lot worse than those of our beloved old member spaceboy -- remember his FC2 vids? lol) After that amount of time he had already spent on the game he should have known how those cars handled yet he kept slamming into virtually every moving or static obstacle one could imagine. You're constantly thinking something like, "nonoNO, turn turn TURN! He's going to ram the.. omg BRRRAAAAKE!!!" *KER-BOOM* "Well.. *sigh* " ??? :laugh: :D

Under normal circumstances I would have avoided that playthrough. For some reason, most of his vids have got about 60,000+ views and some 130 likes vs 50 dislikes (he is actually one of those people who got an early copy and started publishing on release). I don't know whether that many views are caused by people like me who enjoy an outstanding performance of someone who is so mercifully free of the ravages of intelligence or by people who actually don't realise how bloody bad it is (ranging around the same IQ as the uploader's which is only slightly above room temperature).

Sorry for hijacking your topic again, PZ, but hey.. I hope you guys enjoyed my rant.  :-D

Quote from: Art Blade on January 13, 2014, 11:31:48 AM
... Oh, and his driving skills are just bloody abysmal (a lot worse than those of our beloved old member spaceboy -- remember his FC2 vids? lol)

:laugh: :-X yeah, those were some good 'ol days!

Yes, I enjoyed your rant about the ineptitudes of this guy - sounds like that is likely why he has so many views!

While I don't think I've encountered this particular intrepid adventurer in the walk throughs that I've checked out I am familiar with the species.  :laugh:

Early adopters recording their first time through a game while hoping for something that doesn't look like a bucket of pig slop when they rush to post it.  :D

(Sweet rant.  :-X  By the way thanks for the poke to make me aware or I would have hated to have missed it.  ;) )

 :) :-X

Until PZ starts to continue posting about his first impressions, I'll try to think up more stuff to keep this topic going until it gets split off again.






OK, I wasn't being completely serious. :-()

Quote from: Art Blade on January 15, 2014, 02:38:09 PM
:) :-X

Until PZ starts to continue posting about his first impressions, I'll try to think up more stuff to keep this topic going until it gets split off again.






OK, I wasn't being completely serious. :-()

I bet you will anyway, serious or not :-()

 :laugh:

Well, my first impression of GTA V for the PC is that I finally have it installed!  Last night I got the PC to begin the 5gb update, and I got up this morning to see the Social Club had thrown an error message "Installation failed, please try again" ... are you serious!!!!!  ???

So, I restarted the Social Club and immediately it began a download - not 5gb this time, but only 343 mb - I had hope!  Sure enough, 5 minutes later, the Social Club application reported "Ready to play"  :-X

I resisted the temptation to click the Play button because I do not have the time to investigate anything right now, so here I am, having a working game and no time to start it.  :laugh:

So, the only impression I can give so far is that the installation seemed to go well, and because I have the physical media, the game box contained the large print map similar to prior games.

One other good thing is that the last time I actually played the game was so long ago (PS3), I can't remember anything about it, so it will be like a brand new game.

Excellent PZ!!! Hope you can find some time later today to check if everything is ready to go :) :-X

Started the game and everything worked well - no crashes, etc.  nVidia had a GTA V driver which I installed with fingers crossed - no problems.

I've never seen graphics as good as this - the detail is astounding.  Trash detail is all over, and weeds are growing in the cracks in the asphalt.  Even the tire tracks could be used by a forensic technician.

Took quite a few short 60fps videos, a couple in first person I'm particularly fond of because it highlights flipping people the bird.  Will upload those tomorrow.

 :-D :-D Well, I have the latest AMD driver. Can only do 1080p@50 fps ultra with my MSI R9 290 (Anisotropic filtering 8x, MSAA 4x? (AA and AF probably steals my extra 10fps)  :) It is a huge improvement over 720@30 fps, no AA and low-res textures  :-D Maybe a later patch will fix it so I can do 60 fps   :-()

The last minute of this video is really funny if you appreciate a strange sense of humor. It is a 60fps video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wcvdw20YtV0 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wcvdw20YtV0)

I also added a few other 2 minute 60fps videos on this list:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLhkh7UvCWGB6s9zf8sRSPPw49z6Xf15LA (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLhkh7UvCWGB6s9zf8sRSPPw49z6Xf15LA)

flipping the bird is a fun thing to do. Especially when waiting for a green light and the guy next to you whom you flipped the bird at really gets angry and jumps out of his car to mess you up.  :laugh:

 :laugh: :-X

Quote from: GKID7891 on April 16, 2015, 12:08:24 AM
:-D :-D Well, I have the latest AMD driver. Can only do 1080p@50 fps ultra with my MSI R9 290 (Anisotropic filtering 8x, MSAA 4x? (AA and AF probably steals my extra 10fps)  :) It is a huge improvement over 720@30 fps, no AA and low-res textures  :-D Maybe a later patch will fix it so I can do 60 fps   :-()

Hmpf, R9 290 here also, but I can maintain steady 60fps with very high settings, and even turned on everything in the advanced menu, and added few notches to the distance scaling, just to eliminate the annoying popping up and bad texture quality after 10m. Though I don't use 4xAA, just 2xAA.

PZ, Some anger issues you have there with the bird, and as always when somebody mentions bird :  (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WNrx2jq184)

 :laugh: :-X

Quote from: Stiku on April 16, 2015, 03:45:05 PM
Hmpf, R9 290 here also, but I can maintain steady 60fps with very high settings, and even turned on everything in the advanced menu, and added few notches to the distance scaling, just to eliminate the annoying popping up and bad texture quality after 10m. Though I don't use 4xAA, just 2xAA.

Okay, I will try out  :-D

Was doing an early mission where both M and F are going together.  I started out driving as M but as the criminals started shooting, I switched to F and shot back.  Once we got rid of the guys, M drove more conservatively with F flippin' everyone off - stretching his arm outside the passenger side, then reaching over M to flip someone off on the other side. F was evidently really angry with everyone on the road.

This game is really funny

 :-()

 :laugh: :-X Great video Stiku!

Apparently I forgot to DISABLE V-sync due to the constant 50fps limit 8-X :D >:((

I found the most expensive car in the game, the Truffade Adder, banged it up while stealing it, and then safely parked it in F's garage where it magically healed itself.

The car is quite nimble and fast, but not really worth that much money.

Quote from: GKID7891 on April 18, 2015, 04:30:33 AM
Apparently I forgot to DISABLE V-sync due to the constant 50fps limit 8-X :D >:((

Up the refreshrate to 60 (or 59) also.

I have it set to 144Hz ;)

 ???? ???

I'm in gaming heaven - GTA on the left and the map with all it's markers on the right

Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login

nice  :)

would you mind posting the link to that map?

Right here:
http://www.openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=3701.msg75064#msg75064 (http://www.openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=3701.0)

thank you  :-X :)

Cool  :-() I guess the box to your right is your Potatostation 4? :laugh: >:D

 :laugh:

Seems like I typed left instead of right  8-X :laugh: :D

 :-() I figured that was the case

 :-D

I'm at about 12% now, and no missions except the Lester ones, and the strangers and freaks side missions show up on the map.  Anyone know how to progress further?

Hmm, have you done the mission where you are going to kill Jay Norris?

The first Lester mission (with Jay Norris as your victim) is mandatory and will progress the story.

Yes, in desperation last night I did the Jay mission - good to know the story will progress now - thanks  :-X

Nice new avatar, AB :-X

thanks, PZ. :) It's my GTAV online character.

It was kind of funny, my character M was completely broke at the beginning of the mission, and L had to front me the money to purchase that goofy vest.

 :laugh:

Trevor seems to be a bit of a pervert - he woke up after one of the heists almost naked - dressed only in his tight-whites.  He then proceeded on the next mission (the one to get the sub and helo) and never did get dressed.  He then started abusing just about everyone around him

Spoiler

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCT-oRW13ow#ws

 :laugh: >:D

I just broke into Trevor's storyline, quite a character, that's for sure.

Though, again, the automatic mission start with no option gets me annoyed. I got to the point where Trevor finds where Michael is and heads to the city, and takes over that poor sod's apartment. The game then lets me access the other two guys again. I go to Franklin (hey I remembered his name!) and he gets the money from Lester, so I switch to Michael, and bam, into a mission, no choice. Annoying.

 :-D

just finish the game and the annoying mission starts will stop. :-()

 :laugh: :-X

You know how I am, do everything else first, then do main missions. Though in GTA, the progression is kind of limited unless you do some main missions. But I do a couple, then roam around a bit and do side stuff. There's so much stuff marked on the map right now I get buyer's paralysis (whatever it's called where there are too many choices and you don't buy anything) and just end up wandering around causing trouble.

Then there's the issue of finally deciding to do something, go there, only to be told to return with a different character to do this action. That's a bit annoying.

Quote from: Dweller_Benthos on May 26, 2015, 10:51:50 AM
Then there's the issue of finally deciding to do something, go there, only to be told to return with a different character to do this action. That's a bit annoying.

That's why those markers are color coded : Green = F, Orange = T, Blue = M.

Quote from: Stiku on May 26, 2015, 04:56:57 PM
That's why those markers are color coded : Green = F, Orange = T, Blue = M.

haha, yeah I figured that out last night, but really, couldn't they just leave off the icons for the characters you aren't currently playing?

Just enjoy the game.

Just completed a Lester mission after which he gave me (F) a new house high on the mountain - place has a great view and is tons better than my former ghetto place

I hope you invested your money into Betta Pharmaceuticals/Bilkinton Research ;) Wait with Lester's assassinations until you have completed the main game. Otherwise, you cannot afford to buy stuff in the end.

Yeah I just did that mission last night too. So you're supposed to invest in those companies right after you do the assassination?

not generally. It depends on what is going to happen. The trick is to invest when the share value is lowest. Sometimes it goes through the roof after the assassination.. which means, invest before the assassination takes place. If you can, check the vids in the tips topic or generally speaking, educate yourself before you play those missions so you know what to do. I don't remember the details otherwise I would have told you but the net and YT is full with Lester assassination missions and stock market trading related to it.

Quote from: Dweller_Benthos on May 29, 2015, 08:55:02 AM
Yeah I just did that mission last night too. So you're supposed to invest in those companies right after you do the assassination?

I invested in Betta before the assassination with all characters and Bilkinton after I got the 80% profit from Betta. Bilkinton's stocks will go upwards after one in-game week.

Thing is, I don't know which company is which, I killed the guy in front of the hotel. Pretty sure that's Bilkinton? I think that was the stock that went down. So, it's stock will go back up after a bit?

Oh, and does Lifeinvader ever go back up? Should I invest in that at some point?

Yes, the shares will be back to their pre-assassination level :-D >:D. Both stocks are found on the bawsaq page ;)
http://gta.wikia.com/Lester%27s_Assassinations (http://gta.wikia.com/Lester%27s_Assassinations)

GTA Wikia's assassination missions guide.

I don't know if Lifeinvader goes up. You could probably check it out during the game  ;)

In my case Lifeinvader stock has never recovered, not even long after finishing the story.

D_B, I'll write up a guide for you. I'll have to do some research again but it won't take too long and I'll post it in the stock trading tips topic.

D_B old friend..
HERE (http://www.openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=3327.msg76012#msg76012) you go. But I strongly recommend you start a few posts up (http://www.openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=3327.msg75319#msg75319) to get those tips, too ;)

OK thanks Art, that's great. I was just reading over the wiki article on the assassinations and see I should have invested in the other company first, then do the mission then sell and invest in the company of the guy I shot. Anyway, I got some money out of it and know what to do next time.

welcome. Don't you have a savegame from before the assassination?  ;)

I might but it's been a while now and I've done other things, so no big lol

well.. I'd say there's another playthrough coming up, then..  :-()

Well, I just fired up GTA-V and ran into two annoyances - one is a timed event in a Lamar mission where you need to kill the jurors in a certain amount of time.  Because I really hate those, I decided to quit the game, and it asks me "are you sure you want to quit?".  Of course I indicate that I do, and it asks me yet again (words to the effect) "are you really sure you want to quit?".  Naturally I think to myself - what a moron of a game - if I didn't want to quit, I never would have entered the exit mode, and to add insult to injury, it asks me twice as if once is not bad enough.  :D

I don't know who these idiot software programmers are, or if they think the consumers are idiots that need to be prompted a few times for confirmations of what they want to do.  It is almost as absurd as if MS Word were to ask me to confirm each letter that I was typing in a document.

Yeah that mission was a bit of a mess (and it's Lester, not Lamar lol). But I found that it was easier if you didn't follow the GPS on the second one. After killing the guy at the beach, drive down the beach itself (best to have a motorcycle for it's speed and maneuverability) and get the guy in the yacht from the beach. Then follow the GPS to the guy washing windows. This was the stumbler for me, I was shooting random people in the area looking for the right guy until I looked up. Lester's hint of dirty windows went right over my head. The last guy was pretty simple, once you drive all the way to find him, just gun him down while driving.

But yeah, the timer? Why? Are these guys all talking to each other and know if one of them gets killed? Just stupid.

Yeah, timers are just plain stupid and take the fun of taking your time to plan the perfect execution our of the equation.  The fun of open world for me is in the planning and execution - running and gunning is more arcade-ish in my opinion.

Thanks for the tips on the mission - I made it to the last guy and heard him say something from above (after I had murdered the innocent kid, or course.  What is also annoying about the timed missions is that they appear to be deliberately designed so you need to go through several times before you hit on the right targets or patterns of travel, etc.

I wish the game would give you a description of the target and a general location rather than the dot vaguely marking the spot - a couple of times now I've killed innocents because the map dot placements were deliberately misleading.

Quote from: Dweller_Benthos on September 01, 2015, 08:18:21 AM
....the guy washing windows. This was the stumbler for me, I was shooting random people in the area looking for the right guy until I looked up. Lester's hint of dirty windows went right over my head....

I had the same ^-^

I had 2 tries, because the window cleaner took too much time. When I finally discovered him and killed him, I had like 20 secs to kill the last one in the mountains.

For me, it could rather have been without a timer. I usually don't mind, because it makes it more challenging, but if I could choose I would like to plan and choose indeed ;)

I have never, ever enjoyed any kind of race-against-time missions of any sort, in any game I've ever played. Particularly when I get almost all the way to the end of a mission but miss out by a couple of seconds and have to do the bloody lot all over again. There have been games that I've walked away from because of that.

I'm with you fragger - I've personall.y walked away from every game that contains races.  In fact, I hardly ever try the races which is some cases are ridiculously difficult for my pathetic gaming skills - just ruins the fun for me.

Like you, I can't stand seeing the "finish line" and having to do exactly the same thing all over again.  As is often paraphrased, the definition of insanity is repeating the same event expecting a different outcome each time.

Easy as this :
! No longer available (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_UgVEVTJSU#)