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Deconstructing GTA IV's ending


4:02 PM on 06.02.2008



erere

A few months back, I did a piece on Mass Effect wherein I discussed the fact that, though the game had an epic, branching, nonlinear storyline, it frequently chose making the player "happy" over creating a suspenseful, tragic, dramatic storyline. If you liked a character, the game would not kill him under any circumstances, and if you hated one, the game acknowledged that it'd be okay to gank that person without the player getting upset.

Having just beaten Grand Theft Auto IV, I noticed Rockstar vastly improved upon many of the same structural ideas and narrative mechanics Mass Effect implemented a few months back. 

I can't get into too much more without spoiling stuff for those souls who haven't yet reached the end of Niko Bellic's bloody quest, so just hit the jump to see what I mean.

HUGE SPOILERS FOLLOW, of course.

Now, when I say that Rockstar "vastly improved" over Mass Effect's branching storyline idea, I obviously mean to say they "did the complete opposite."

In the final narrative decision of GTA IV, the game forces the player to choose which of two secondary characters (Roman or Kate) he or she prefers, then rewards that decision by killing off the selected character.

The choices you're given are presented under the guise of being either solely revenge-driven or money-driven, but a significant factor which guides the player's decision concerns which secondary character supports which option. Kate tells Niko that he shouldn't sacrifice his vengefulness for money (and that she'll leave him if he does), while Roman thinks Niko should leave his life of violence behind and get money for Roman and Mallorie's honeymoon. As the player has no real use for the half-million Pegorino promises Niko (unlike in Vice City, you can't buy property; any money the player earns past the $100,000 mark is pretty much frivolous), the final decision only partially concerns the question of revenge versus money -- equally, it's about choosing between Kate and Roman.  The choice only works, though, if you think it's all about the money and revenge.

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In the Mass Effect article, I said that to ask the player which character he cares about most with the explicit intent of then killing them would be (to use my exact words) "a dick move." I still believe that. Yet even though that's the exact situation we're presented with at the end of GTA IV, it's not framed as such; when Kate and Roman are killed, the player blames the characters who killed them, rather than the designers, for the tragedy.

Had the designers phrased the life-or-death decision in the straightforward terms Mass Effect is known for (specifically near the end, where the game puts two of your companions in danger and literally makes you choose who lives and who dies), the character deaths would have immediately aroused anger and distrust. If the game had straightforwardly asked the player, "Who do you want to live? Roman or Kate?," right before immediately killing whomever the player didn't want to die, the player would resent the writers all the way up until the end of the game. Phrasing this essential life or death choice as a matter of money or revenge was an incredibly clever way of working around this problem.

The result of all this, of course, is a much more emotionally satisfying payoff. Though the actual shooting scenes suffer from horrible camerawork and editing (Roman doesn't even get a close-up as he's shot), the fact that the player has to watch as the character they most cared about dies in Niko's arms adds a much more personal slant to the final mission, and ultimate theme of the game. 

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The post-tragedy chases and gunfights are, to a degree (more on that in a bit), designed to give the player the maximum emotional impact through simple virtue of choice. Since you unwittingly chose to have Kate or Roman die, it's your fault that they are killed, and therefore your responsibility to avenge them. Since the person who killed your loved one did so because you either betrayed them (Pegorino) or let them live (Dimitri), the player feels a stronger emotional connection to their respective endboss. The actual gameplay in the final two levels is essentially identical (did anyone else have to retry that boat-to-helicopter jump at least four times?), but the emotional charge behind it is specifically geared toward the player.

Same deal with the theme. No matter what, someone close to Niko dies, solidifying the themes "crime leads to the suffering of innocents"/"crime doesn't pay"/"the American Dream is a lie"/"violence begets violence", but the application of those themes are simply suited to the player's sensibilities by the branching plot.

However -- and I'm sure this wasn't intentional -- Rockstar subliminally rewards the player for taking the more "moral" path (in initially attempting to let Dimitri go) with a better dramatic conclusion. The entire game centers around Niko's character arc, as he goes from nonviolence, to violence, to either mercy or vengeance depending on how the player chooses. No matter what, each ending is reasonably satisfying due to their coming about from player choice, but the more moral act of renouncing vengeance is nonetheless rewarded with a generally superior ending.

erere

Opting for revenge at the end of the game is, from a storytelling point of view, not particularly interesting: Niko ends up pretty much exactly where he was at the beginning of the game in terms of his own capacity to commit violence. If he starts off the game willing and wanting to kill people and ends it willing and wanting to kill people, then his time in Liberty City hasn't really meant anything significant to him as a character. The writers do what they can to make this story branch  interesting for the duration of the game (Roman, for the first time ever, teams up with Niko to help him kill someone), but they've got their hands tied; the player has chosen a path in which Niko cannot possibly change as a character.

Additionally, the player who chooses revenge experiences less satisfying character interactions. Both Kate and Pegorino, while reasonably interesting in their own ways, still potentially mean much less to the player than the characters you've known since almost the beginning of the game (Pegorino doesn't show up until almost the end, and you only get to know Kate through taking her out on dates -- she's not intrinsic to the story, and therefore not as easy to care about). If the player chooses to kill Dimitri and make Kate happy, he obviously receives some narrative satisfaction deriving from the fact that Dimitri's death came about by personal choice, but the final fight against Pegorino can't help but feel pretty damn forced. Pegorino was an angry jerk, but did he really have what it took to just drive up and personally shoot at Niko? Maybe, but no matter how believable his reaction to Niko's betrayal is, it's nowhere near as effective as witnessing Dimitri do the same thing if the player chooses the money.

When Dimitri sends an assassin to kill Niko and Roman in the "anti-revenge" path, it makes perfect and immediate sense to the player. Throughout the game, Dimitri repeatedly calls Niko and makes arrogant death threats; he's one of the only characters in the game to actually gain both Niko and the player's trust through serving as a seemingly nonviolent foil to his partner, Mikhail; and he's pretty much set up as the main antagonist of the game once he guiltlessly betrays you. You know him, you hate him, and if you chose not to take revenge on the bastard, you probably did so with a little bit of hand-wringing and vengeful irritation. He is, for all narrative intents and purposes, your nemesis. It makes perfect sense that he would refuse to let the Bellic family go, even though he's already got his money and Niko stayed true to his word. Why? Because he's the bad guy, and has been throughout the rest of the game. To kill him at the very end is therefore an emotionally satisfying enterprise -- more satisfying than killing some Italian you only met a few hours ago, anyway. 

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Similarly, the player doesn't feel a moment's hesitation in chasing the assassins back to headquarters and killing Dimitri with extreme prejudice, simply due to how much Roman meant to both Niko and the player. When going back to replay the other ending, I didn't really feel emotionally dedicated to hunting down Pegorino and killing him: I felt like I was doing it more for Kate's sake than my own. When Roman died the first time I beat the game, however, I felt completely dedicated to finding Dimitri and making him pay simply because I liked Roman so much.

Trying to be a good person results in a much more tragic tale where Niko eventually reverts back to his more violent tendencies anyway, but the anti-revenge ending still remains superior to the alternative. Nobody can say Niko and the player didn't try to turn the other cheek -- Niko makes a full character arc, but is literally pulled back into his violent ways because of Roman's death. He's still a vastly different person at the end of the game, but he also finds that no matter how much he may want to change, the choices he made when he first arrived in Liberty City will still haunt him for the rest of his life. The story of a man who tried and failed to find redemption is much more interesting than that of a guy who didn't want to be redeemed in the first place -- the gunfight at the climax of the anti-revenge ending is not filled with jubilation or bloody satisfaction, but mourning for both Roman's death and Niko's inability to escape his history of violence.

Finally, I just wanted to focus on the final lines of both endings. Anti-game pundits probably wouldn't ever think of using the words "subtle" and "Grand Theft Auto IV" in the same sentence, but the differing dialogue at the end of each ending actually shows a great deal of subtlety and intelligence on Rockstar's part.

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After killing Dimitri in the anti-revenge ending, Niko expresses some hatred toward Dimitri and mourns Roman's death, but says essentially nothing else before Little Jacob takes him away. No monologue, no statement of values.

In the other ending, a supporting character tells Niko, "You did it," to which Niko responds: "I don't know...what did I do?" -- a line that seems more geared toward the player than anyone else.

A player who chose revenge as soon as it was offered would need this little unsubtle line of dialogue to explain the theme to them, since they obviously didn't make their decisions in such a way that suggested they'd understand this theme implicitly. Conversely, a player who tried to be merciful as much as possible already knows and believes what Niko would have said aloud in the other ending, and would thus be perfectly content to watch Niko kill Dimitri and silently walk offscreen. To prevent Niko from stating aloud the game's theme is a much better storytelling decision than what we get in the revenge ending, but each ending is specifically crafted to the assumed intelligence level of the player who reached that point.

All in all, the ending to GTA IV is a hell of an accomplishment in videogame storytelling. I'd have liked to see some better camerawork when Roman dies, and the final cut scene after Dimitri/Pegorino's death feels awfully abrupt considering the length of the game which preceded it, but Rockstar still managed to improve upon BioWare's flawed, branching story techniques and develop a truly interesting theme wrapped around a tragic, emotionally effective conclusion.






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i just got through that cut scene today, and it bloody sucks. I took the money thinking that the game's morals lay in moving on, not taking revenge. I was lectured when i shot that guy from nikos past, how he didn't feel any different and it was futile, and i wanted to help out with my cousins future!

And then bam my favourite character dies, and the other one i really didn't like lives. If i'd know i definitely would have gone the other way. I felt this decision left me way more emotional than any other game decision, like bioshock or mass effect. Im gonna load up an earlier save and do it the right way, although ill lose about 4 hours gameplay!
Great article Rev, it would have been nice to have a truly good ending where no-one had to die. Plus, it would also have been good if the moral choices you are given throughout the game (as in to kill or spare) actually have some sort of effect on the ending. That's what I thought originally so I was disappointed to find out out the only consequence of saving them is that you get extra missions.
Wow. This was a great article, Anthony.

Surprisingly, I chose the "revenge" path, but not because I was excited about killing someone -- I just felt the other path was just as bad. To work for someone you despise, committing crimes, with no way of ever being "free?" I don't know. That choice of life didn't sit well with me.

I would have loved it if the game offered a choice with a little more moral high-ground. Maybe quitting the "business" altogether? I know that makes no sense in the context of the story, but I was upset I had to choose between two evils.

But I guess that may have been the point, huh? :)
Yeah it was a good ending either way, but the story was so sparse to me I couldn't stand it.

The abruptness of the ending after Dimitri's death really, reaaallly bugged me as well. I seriously said, "Is that it?" afterwards. The last few hours of the game were so damn good, I was just hoping for a liiittttle something more.

Anyway, great article, you made some great points and opened my eyes to some new things.
skipping to the end just to say

WHY HAVENT I FINISHED THIS GAME YET???
Hold on...Roman died in one of the paths??? That's fucked up! Instead of doing the job I went and killed D because he was a fucking d-bag.

It really really bummed me out when Kate died do. I was hoping that Niko could have made it out and married her or something. This game made me think of things before I did them. Even when I found that special someone, I didn't kill him. I let him live because he was so fucking strung out it didn't matter anymore.

Great Article!!! Everything you wrote was what I was thinking and couldn't put it into words.
Actually I didn't like the ending. It felt really unrewarding.
The story line branches in GTA4 aren't that interesting, because they take place at the end of the individual subplots and therefore have little impact on the main plot.
Brilliant write up Rev.

My first ending was when Kate died, I had dated her about 10-15 times (trying to get sex) and Niko had opened up to her about his past, I really felt close to her and I was chocked up when she died. After I got revenge all I could do was walk around Happiness Island feeling physically terrible.

I don't think I have felt that close to a game character for a very long time.
Just to note, I went down the revenge path, I felt Dimitri had to be killed so that he wouldn't betray Niko again. Cash was no temptation for Niko, he's not about that.
I completely agree, great article.

I chose the anti-revenge path, tring to spare people wherever I went and I'm pretty sure I played right into the developers hands cause I the only rampage I went on before I beat the game, was right after Roman died.
I had the opposite reaction to the endings. I was more affected by Kate's death as she was essentially an innocent. She'd seen a lot of pain and suffering through her family, but was good person. And when Niko interacted with her I felt like she was able to look through him, seeing him for the tragic figure he was and could relate to his pain. I felt the time he spent with her mad him as a character want to be a better person, and that he just might be worthy of a life that was better then the one his violent, criminal past had brought him. That he would turn the other cheek with Dimitri was him at the very beginning of accepting that he didn't have to live this doomed existence. Then its all torn away. He cant escape it. And the only person capable of looking into his soul paid for his life with hers. It really hit me.
As for roman. He was low life. He was family, but he wasn't a good person. And everything he did from his gambling to the people he surrounded himself with all lent themselves to an early grave. He may have been a lovable bafoon, but he was walking a hard line, and getting in way over his head.
I also went for the revenge ending, Dimitri had to die I felt, was no way around it.
Wait, money is useless? I've personally spent about $240k on hospitals and almost $400k on guns. I guess I screw with the cops more than you. I was wondering what effect killing dwayne instead of playboy or killing derrek instead of the dick cop has on the game. I guess I'll just have to play it again. Gotta get that "finish story in <30 hours achievement anyway.
It took me 3 tries to beat the last level, so you're not the only one. God damn that was frustrating.

Anyway, great article. I wasn't blown away nearly as much as you were with the ending, probably because I chose to seek revenge and had to kill Pegorino, a character who I barely even remembered (didn't play the game for 2 weeks before beating it).

I will say that I did love the very end after you kill Pegorino when Roman exclaims "You won!" and Niko just stands there looking like someone who was totally defeated by the evils he encountered, knowing that he would never get any sort of closure or inner peace. That was a really moving scene and the best part of the game IMO. Seeing the "You Won!" achievement was also really cool because you feel the exact same thing Niko felt: ambivalence and emptiness.
I had over 500K at that point I didn't need the money, and besides I was really into the story I didn't want to work for that back-staber, he needed to die...Kate would have never put out anyway, and how could you lose a person that talks about Big American Teetes all day, come on.
Im just going to read the article after some thought as, to this day, I have yet to beat a GTA game.
I finished the game on Saturday, opting for the revenge path (which is strange, since I let everyone live when I had the choice). I'm with Chad though. It wasn't that I chose revenge, it was that I refused to work with Dimitri.

I really think you understated how much of an impact Kate's death was. To me, she represented a chance at a "normal" life (though she still is a McCreary). I couldn't bear to disappoint her by working with Dimitri.
Totally, completely agree with GrayFox. Hit the nail right on the head.
One more thing. What the fuck happened with Bulgarin?
I've heard the police computers list him as deceased after completing the game (though I've yet to confirm).

DLC perhaps?
You pretty much summed up my experience with GTA IV's endgame. Great article, Rev.
Great job Rev. I came for the article but staid for the Alt-Text.
First I played the deal and the I played revenge.

Why? I just got used to Roman and I almost had tears in my eyes when I saw Mallorie crying over the botched marriage...

...so I went back a savegame and Kate never had hot coffie with me anyways... so.
I chose to kill Roman for the simple reason that I didn't know what to do when the final mission waypoint appeared and just went to it and did the mission. I thought I'd get there and *then* have to make some decision.
I've read a lot of analysis of this ending, and one of things that many people don't know about is the bond Niko and Kate develop. Many people didn't go into this part of the story because they never bothered with dating Kate.

You can't really say "Romans death means more to Niko than Kates" because if you went on the dates with her, though the dialogue you find out that Niko really does completely fall in love with her, so you could even argue that her death is more meaningful.

I think a lot of the choice also stems from scene with Darko. There was a lot of build up with Niko looking for him, but when the time finally came for a face-to-face meeting, it was a short scene. I think that if you spared Darko, it would make more sense to take "Deal," and the same thing applies to killing him and "Revenge." I ended up not killing Darko, because being alive was really more of a punishment for him. I chose "Revenge" because there is no way I was working with Dimitri again-as Niko put it "He has double-crossed everyone I've ever seen him work with."
did anyone else have to retry that boat-to-helicopter jump at least four times?

good point, I tried it numerous times *GRRRR*
lol, I forgot about darko. I chose to spare him, but accidentally ran him down with my car as he was running away, so it gave me the vengeance dialogue.
Fuck that damn jump in the last mission. It took me a few times too.
I thought the decision at the end was great. Having both Kate and Roman weigh in really made it tough to choose. Unfortunatly, I had been mildly spoiled - I knew that someone would die at the wedding, but not who. Guessing that it would depend on the path I chose, I found it really hard to decided what to do.

So, I did what Niko would do. Two people he loves have given him conflicting advice, and he needs time to think. I jumped into a car, put the radio on, and went for a drive. I must have cruised around Liberty City for a good twenty minutes or so - it almost felt like I was saying goodbye to the city. In the end, I decided that Kate was right. Roman would understand. And maybe, after one final act of vengeance, Niko could be learn to be happy with Kate.

Of course, I was wrong, and I couldn't believe a GTA game of all things had made me think so deeply. Well done Rockstar, and great article Rev.
I really struggled making the revenge/deal decision even without looking online and knowing the ramifications of my decision. Personally I was in agreement with Kate, but I felt closer to Roman, so I did deal.
Was there any difference in whether you killed the guy from Niko's past (I spared him, like I spared Dimitri)?
Fascinating and brilliant piece. I took the money. In fact, I didn't kill anybody that I had the option to kill, and when I had to choose between *SPOILER, I guess* Playboy and Dwayne, I went back and offed Playboy. I offed the cop. As far as the game goes, I did everything that one would consider the "good guy" move, and in the end I was rewarded by seeing somebody that I had grown surprisingly attached to gunned down in front of a church.

It was one of those transcendent moments in gaming where I had to put the controller down, have a smoke, and let what just happened sink in. (another moment of this sort would be the post-nuclear blast in CoD4)
After reading this article i realise i failed.
I beat the game got 100% (i want my bloody key!) and the whoole time i said to myself (ill be the moral good guy) So...

SPOILERS

I let everyone i could live, i even let darko go and then at the end i thought. "Dimitri deserves to die thats the moral choice". How was i suppose to know the game is about forgiveness to the extreme. I thought it was just about making moral choices and letting lower people go even if wankers like that random black guy lives only for you to kill him later... fricking dick.
Since i had no use for the money (only thing i dont like bout the game as i loved the buying stuff aspect in vice city and there aint even enough costumes compared to bully) I chose revenge and though he lived I felt the rite person died for me (i didnt know that either would die and i wanted to honour kate, fricking women guilt tripped me)

So yeah end boss was a bit meh but i loved how your choice decided who you liked more. Now to rush it kill everything and kill roman.
I guess I'm dense and unintelligent since I chose the revenge path. From now on, I'll cooperate with back stabbers so I can get paid.
First time I did that boat chase, I wasn't fast enough to jump in the chopper. Second and third time, the moment I got onto the boat, a rocket blew the boat up. Fourth time i waded in the water till after the first rocket fires then got in the boat and beat the game. Luckily I turned off the autosave before I made my decision because when I found out that Roman dies, I questioned who I liked better in the end: Roman or Kate? Kate never gave it up and probably never would have so I went back and had her die instead. Love Meet's my pimp yo!
"A player who chose revenge as soon as it was offered would need this little unsubtle line of dialogue to explain the theme to them, since they obviously didn't make their decisions in such a way that suggested they'd understand this theme implicitly."

Ugh...Way to insult players. You have no idea what a player who does certain thing does or thinks.

The revenge path I feel (since my opinion is not fact) was superior because it solidified that you were playing a scumbag with a tiny bright, pure light in your life. After all, this was a guy that would shout "I'm going to cut off your &*(^& head" during every firefight. Conversely, Roman was just as big a scumbag as you were so I was shocked he didn't buy the farm earlier in the game. He was just as disposable and useless as all the rest of the characters in the game.

The endings either choice were l-a-m-e and telegraphed miles away. After the D-grade dialog they tried (intentionally or unintentionally) to wrap it up with something powerful and fell flat in both cases. That feeling of depression and emptiness wasn't any deep emotional connection, it was the good old "That it?!?!" empty feeling of a poor ending.

...Of course that's my opinion.
(did anyone else have to retry that boat-to-helicopter jump at least four times?),....

oh god yes, failed 5 times till I tried it during the day and was finaly able to see the jump.
I dunno... I thought the ending felt a bit lukewarm...
It just happened so sudden, it didnt feel like an ending at all!
They had something great, but they kinda missed it.
Like others, I chose the revenge path. Not because vengeance was top of my list but because the idea of going back into business with a man who had caused so much damage in your life and would certainly stab you in the back was stupid.

I would also like to point out that Kate does not condone taking revenge on Dimitri, Niko doesn't really mention his intentions in the call - she simply tells him not to sell out his principles for money. This is where there should have been another choice. Having let that 'special someone' live (since his life was worse than putting him out of his misery), surely there should have been the option to just walk away leave it all behind?

Interesting read this, though I think that while the concept and story are quite interesting, execution of things like 'choices and 'moral dilemmas' was VERY superficial and acted out with little to no discernable impact to the main story.
Now that's art.

I really don't have much else to add, except that it's true that a person could see revenge as the moral choice, based on their individual gameplay experiences.
This is an excellent article, Rev.

Based on my past GTA experiences I had a proconcieved notion of how GTA 4 was going to end. When I started GTA 4, one of the first things I did was Watch the TV. As I was watching the lifestyles of the rich and famous type show, I was thinking to myself, during this game I'm going to meet Tony McTony etc. and at the end I'll be running the city and be living in one of these mansions they are showing me.

What I ended up with at the end was a very hollow feeling as my favorite character Roman was dead and I had nothing but money and a few apartments to show for it. It was brilliant of Rockstar to focus on building family/friend relationships in this game instaead of building crime syndicates and business enterprises.
I think you really understated the relationship with Kate. I dated her all the time, trying to get closer with her. The whole endgame of the relationship mini game is getting the date to sleep with you. Kate never does. I'm certain that this was on purpose. If you are emotionally involved with the character of Kate, if you date her continuously, then you have this reward hanging in front of you the entire time that you never achieve. However, you still feel attached to her character. Thus, when she bites it at the end, you feel hollow. You will never get with Kate, all those dates were for nothing.
After Kate died I went outside my safe house in Bohan and found a nice car I had parked there earlier in the game. When I had originally parked it, I had planned on always parking it back in that spot so that I would always be able to keep that really nice car. After Kate died, I took that car out and trashed it. I felt empty inside. That car didn't matter anymore. Kate, who I had to actually build a relationship with, unlike Roman, was dead, and it was my fault. No video game ever effected me like this. And that is saying something.
After I beat the game, I went back to a previous save at the point where you can choose revenge or deal. I wanted to see what the deal ending was, and pretty much didn't care anymore when I saw that Roman died. I never like Roman and found his character annoying. Kate was Niko's shot at a normal life. She was innocent and didn't like Niko's criminal ways, but it was because of her connection with Niko that she died.
I actually decided to kill Demitri after Niko called Kate to ask for advice.

Demitri was obviously going to betray Niko again. He wasn't trustworthy enough to to make the deal with.

Of course Niko can't back out from either choices (to advance the story), so I had to get rid of Demitri.

In many ways, I believed that Demitri would go after Niko, Roman, or even Kate if I let him live. And I really didn't want Roman or Kate involved in Niko's mess anymore.

Of course Kate got mixed in his mess the worst way possible... Calling Packie up after the incident wasn't the least bit pleasant either. He talks about her a lot when Niko and him go out together afterwards.

The last words of Niko after the last mission was spot on. I can imagine how empty he felt after killing the bastard. That doesn't bring her back, that doesn't make him a hero. He didn't accomplish anything.



Both endings depend on how much you invested in the two characters. I don't think either were weaker than the other.

I think the ending was meant to be depressing and empty. Crime doesn't pay, it just hurts the individual and everyone around them.



I guess its obvious that a disagree with your last bit.
"A player who chose revenge as soon as it was offered would need this little unsubtle line of dialogue to explain the theme to them, since they obviously didn't make their decisions in such a way that suggested they'd understand this theme implicitly."

only part of the article i didn't agree with. i chose the revenge route because in talking to Kate it seemed to be the only way out of "the life" (to stop killing, i'd need to kill one last person). funny enough, after Kate's death and revenge on Pegorino, i'd like to believe Nico is finally out of the life.

otherwise, spot on article.
The wedding seemed a bit shotgun, and Kate didn't even bother to dress up. Her disregard for Roman's special occasion made me a little happy she bit the bullet (that, and she never, ever put out after a date).
And I question the Reverend's questioning of my intelligence in choosing to execute Dimitri, but good article nonetheless.
protip/spoiler choice: If you choose to let the cop live, Niko will blackmail him into a position where you can call him up whenever you want and he'll clear your wanted level. I think that is the only real choice where the "bad" choice ends up rewarding you more.

As for the article, I chose the path of revenge, because I believed that was the moral choice for Niko, as he stated while talking to Kate that he had made a promise to himself that he would not work for Dimitri again. Also as I saw it, killing Dimitri would be the best way to leave a life of crime. With Dimitri out of the picture, Niko would be free of threats from anyone. Hence, I found the Pegorino drive by far more unexpected than the Dimitri hit, since I knew Dimitri was far from out of the picture (also because I had already saw the revenge ending). However, the way that rev puts it, the greed choice seems to be moral from a more universal standpoint. Either way, the choice that YOU end up making will end up having a greater effect on YOU. All in all, the ending was great either way, especially with the touch of the after ending phone calls you get from either Roman and Packie, or Mallorie and Kate. Packie being in near tears on the phone is amazingly effective.
Not wanting any spoilers I read this for the alt-text and it was great
One problem with this: intelligence level of the player? Choosing Revenge or Deal is NOT so simple as choosing between revenge or money, even at that point when you know nothing of the true consequences. When I made my choice, I thought I would Deal. I THOUGHT I would, because that's the nonviolent action. Every fate choice before I'd chosen to let them live, and with the two one or the other choices I let live the person who was REACTING to a perceived threat to themselves, rather than immediately instructing you to kill the other. But, as I was driving, I thought: what would happen if I made the deal. This is Dimitri we're talking about. If I make the deal, he'd probably just betray me, and then he might kill Kate or something ONOZ! And so, I chose revenge to PROTECT Kate (roman would live because Roman's just too cool to die) by killing Dimitri. I realized Pegorino would probably be mad, but come OOOOON we've been buddies for almost twelve minutes he's my BEST FRIEND!

Yes, I realize knowingly letting Pegorino bring his wrath upon me and killing Kate in the process was a stupid thing to do... but in the end, isn't dealing with someone you KNOW will betray you stupid, too? This isn't a matter of one choice being more intelligent: you're stuck with a choice you don't want to make, and forced to make it.
This is why GTA IV is the watershed moment in video game writing, the likes of which we habn't seen since people were going nuts for KOTOR in 2003.
Rockstar is able to show the player that the so called "morality" decisions of virtually every western RPG in the past 10 years(though especially the Bioware games and Bioshock) are, for all intents and purposes, irrelevent. Real choice and real decision making won't come from a devotion or opposition to morallity, but from putting a player in front of a choice that has no clear outcome. Give the player an oppertunity to look at his own actions in the cold light of day, and they may learn something about themselves.
When the time came for Niko to deal with his initial objective, I chose to be better than his revenge.At the same time, the minute money was on the table, in an attempt to sway my choices, I imediatly gave way to my baser inpulses.
I must be pretty messed up.
I wrote afew[url=http://www.destructoid.com/blogs/Droll/violence-action-story-why-is-gta-iv-so-different--85487.phtml/]C-blog[/url} entries on the nature of GTA's story, why it's so compelling, and why THIS entry is so compelling. I cound't use spoilers though, since it was so close to the games release.
BBC fail
I failed the boat to helicopter part at least 20 times (I did nothing wrong). I finally switched to third person view and made it on the first try. I honestly think there is a glitch in the game that makes it impossible to catch the helicopter in first person view.

I made it once using first person only to be hit by a random RPG while climbing in.
I haven't read a blog on Dtoid in a while... It was nice to read this one.

7:39 AM on 05.23.2013

Grand Theft Auto V collector's edition, pre-order bonuses

Rockstar has today announced the obligatory collector's edition and pre-order bonus offerings for Grand Theft Auto V. All pre-orders will gain players an Atomic Blimp, a blue and yellow atrocity in which one can soar above th...

Jim Sterling

6:00 PM on 05.20.2013

Ex-GTA producer won't make another ultra-violent game

When you work on titles like Grand Theft Auto III and Max Payne, you've clearly been exposed to a healthy amount of videogame violence but it was this experience that prompted a change of heart for former Rockstar producer Je...

Alasdair Duncan

7:00 PM on 05.07.2013

New GTA V screens showcase the boys in action

Rockstar Games today released a new batch of Grand Theft Auto V screenshots which showcase the game's trio of protagonists performing various "action-based" activities. The new screens also do a great job of showing the vario...

Keith Swiader

9:30 PM on 05.03.2013

Cyberpunk 2077, CoD: Ghosts & GTA V

Today on The Destructoid Show, we talk about all kinds of SEO-friendly click-bait topics!Call Of Duty: Ghosts has been announced, and it's next-gen, and apparently, Sledgehammer games isn't working on it. Anthony Burch ...

Max Scoville

9:00 PM on 05.03.2013

Someone already remade the GTA V trailer in San Andreas

A trio of Grand Theft Auto V trailers dropped this week, and it got some of the internet folk all excited at the promise of three protagonists. One person was so enthralled that they felt the need to recreate Michael's ...

Brett Makedonski

2:00 PM on 05.02.2013

GTA V's world is 5 times the size of Red Dead Redemption

Did you read my giant Grand Theft Auto V preview yet? Well in case you missed it, I wanted to break out at least one new thing we learned and it's about the entire world you'll be exploring. Yes, factor in the land mass and t...

Hamza CTZ Aziz

11:00 AM on 05.02.2013

Grand Theft Auto V: Everything is bigger and better

Rockstar Games primary goal with Grand Theft Auto V was to create the ultimate open world game. They're putting everything they've learned from their history with developing open world experiences, and have created their bigg...

Hamza CTZ Aziz

9:00 PM on 05.01.2013

Grand Theft Auto and GTA 2 rated for PlayStation Network

Listings for both Grand Theft Auto and Grand Theft Auto 2 have surfaced on the Entertainment Software Rating Board's website which point to release on PSN for PlayStation 3, PS Vita, and PSP. How does that sound? Funny h...

Jordan Devore

9:00 PM on 04.30.2013

Grand Theft Watchdogs, Hellraid & Soul Fjord

Today's Destructoid Show is chock full of fun news for you to learn about! Rockstar Games has released not one but three new trailers for Grand Theft Auto V, featuring the game's three new protagonists. Airtight Games announ...

Max Scoville

10:45 AM on 04.30.2013

Meet the cast of Grand Theft Auto V

Previously, we had heard a bit about the character Michael, a middle-aged man who moved to Los Santos to retire but was drawn back into crime. In this newly released video, we learn a little more about him, but we ...

Darren Nakamura






Grand Theft Auto

7:00 PM on 05.07.2013
New GTA V screens showcase the boys in action

Rockstar Games today released a new batch of Grand Theft Auto V screenshots which showcase the game's trio of protagonists performing various "action-based" activities. The new screens also do a great job of showing the vario...more



9:30 PM on 05.03.2013
Cyberpunk 2077, CoD: Ghosts & GTA V

Today on The Destructoid Show, we talk about all kinds of SEO-friendly click-bait topics!Call Of Duty: Ghosts has been announced, and it's next-gen, and apparently, Sledgehammer games isn't working on it. Anthony Burch ...more



9:00 PM on 05.03.2013
Someone already remade the GTA V trailer in San Andreas

A trio of Grand Theft Auto V trailers dropped this week, and it got some of the internet folk all excited at the promise of three protagonists. One person was so enthralled that they felt the need to recreate Michael's ...more



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