Changes I'd like to see in the next GTA:
1. No more talking main characters. These main characters suck. Like, Luis, he is an enigma. He's the co-owner of one of the most popular clubs in Liberty City and yet kills people for random goons, pushes drugs and more. Your motivations for doing these things make no sense, and this makes getting involved in missions painful. Rockstar would have been wise to revolve Gay Tony entirely around the club culture and nightlife of the city, rather than taking out random people for people you don't know. But instead, you play as an avatar who has the personality of a brick wall.
It's not like Vice City, where Tommy Vercetti threatens everyone and the only reason he takes on those crappy low-tier missions at the beginning is because he's a low-tier goon and has to get to the top. Even then he's arrogant and doesn't give a fuck about ANYONE. This makes Tommy Vercetti an awesome main character and one that is perfect for the GTA formula. Because otherwise, you're stuck with a CJ, or a Luis, or that guy from Vice City Stories who bitch bitch bitch and all about emotions when all I want to do is take missions from the lowest of the low. Once Tommy Vercetti becomes the top dog of Vice City, you rarely ever take on random missions where you kill random people unless it's business related. Once he's the top dog, the missions revolve around being the top dog: property missions, buying businesses and taking the mantle as leader.
The main characters in GTA games, are rarely ever the highlight of the story or characters, Vice City aside, for reasons aforementioned. In fact, the main characters flat out suck. This is why in the next GTA I want a return to mute characters. Make it about a bunch of criminals you work for and their downfalls, their betrayals. Not about some dude who's supposedly above this crap, and yet somehow kills a dude for a measly $50 bucks. I want to play as an unknown outlaw, who has no voice; a henchmen for hire who does any job. So baysuckly, just like GTA1-3. PLEASE.
And...better yet, screw story because I'd like...
2. Fully customizable characters, Saints Row style. At this point in time, there has been no female main character in GTA. With this, that's a possibility. I think that GTA should look into fully customizable characters. Let it be my character so it can feel like MY story.
3. Make the city fun to explore. Pre-release GTAIV interviews had the guys at Rockstar saying that they felt San Andreas was too spread out, and had too much stuff to do around a the whole state. They said they fixed this by making the city in GTAIV more compact with more content close together. This was grade A bullshit. The city in GTAIV is not fun to drive around at all. For one thing, it's too large, which makes driving a chore when you consider missions pop up on one side of the city when you're on the other side of the map. The car physics suck, and it's not fun to drive around the city itself, so you end up taking the taxi. This is an issue when the game is titled Grand Theft Auto. The next GTA should personally - and this is just my opinion - have two islands - ala Vice City. One smaller island and one LARGER island where the bulk of the game takes place.
4. Tighten the car physics, they stink. Better yet, take that "if you're driving too fast and end up hitting a wall, you fly out the window cuz it's realistic!!!! LOL" stuff too. Realistic != fun. Arcade physics and controls PLEASE. No one wants realistic controls in a city wide car chase.
5. Tighten the controls. This goes beyond aiming controls. Make everything FASTER. It takes 99 seconds for someone to get in a car in GTA4, by that time you've lost half your life because the car entry animation is so long. Make it faster. Why should anyone have to hold x/a to jog? Hold slight to walk, hold hard to jog, hold x/a to run -- simple. Please no more "hold LT/L2 to aim stuff". Actually, that should be there, but a reticule should active anytime the player is shooting. So I should be able to "blind fire" when running. Having to stop and aim to shoot makes the action feel outdated. Even Mass Effect 2 is a better shooter than this.
6. Since Rockstar wants a return to more ridiculous GTA, this should allow for more creative missions like Espresso-2-Go! from GTA3. Espresso 2 Go is a mission where you have to know the city's layout by heart, know the best shortcuts, and execute a plan in order to pass. I can't think of anything like that in any of the three GTA4 games. Period.
7. Change the Wanted System. I'll be frank, the wanted system in GTA4 is balls. It takes away any sense of tension in the chases. In the past, the chases actually felt like chases. In order to get rid of those dreaded stars, memorizing the city layout for police bribes was crucial. In GTA4, all you have to do is drive outside the circle, but the process is incredibly tedious since your wanted status is renewed again if you encounter another cop. This makes the chases simply "get outside the circle and hope you don't encounter any police respawns" which is far from strategic or remotely fun. It also takes away one of the best things about GTA: the chases. Knowing the layout, knowing the best shortcuts and alley ways makes the police chases fun. Sure, they weren't perfect, but they were fun. I can't say the same for the current wanted system.
Overall, I think the basics laid in Gay Tony show some promise, but they still got some work to do to make GTA even remotely approaching the top sandbox game series anymore.
