Naah, it wasn't that bad.

Eh, it mostly just riffed on popular crime movies and TV, especially Scarface. San Andreas was funny, but it wasn't until GTA4 that I'd say the writing was actually good.

Even if avoid discussion about subjective versus objective, there is also context.

Ray Liotta, Michelle Pfeiffer and Al Pacino did a great job.

The soundtrack/score (remember the intro scene) was also very good and has only gotten better with age.

The film is also very stylish.

That covered for the writing, which is its own thing.

I loaded it up as an adult. The controls are so bad. How did I ever get anywhere?

GTA2 has under-rated world-building (there is not much writing), it was humourous in many ways, but also subtly dark and dystopian in a way that I don't think we'll ever see in GTA again.

Hey Niko, it's Roman. Let's go bowling!

The main thing I remember from Vice City was the excellent sound track.

I tried playing it on my PS2 the other day, my Dualshock 2 is very beaten down so maybe that's why, but I do remember the controls being kinda shit across the whole Renderware era for GTA.

I think it's the best of the series. It's not so damn big that it discourages exploration and the city and UI are so pleasant to look at it. Everything after got too gritty and real. Driving out to Paleto Bay is more like American Truck Simulator than GTA.

I was playing the Itchio HTML5 port of GTA:VC up until yesterday. It's fantastic. But unfortunately it bugs out and crashes on the mainland.

It had an all star cast who could make any dialogue sound Oscar worthy. The writing in all GTA games have been awful. GTA V is the worst.

IMO it is the worst out of the last few games (SA, Chinatown Wars, IV, V), but I also think that its product of its time. It’s bad in hindsight, but was it actually considered bad back then?

I prefer VC's Walking over any new GTA Game. It's snappy and reactive instead of "realistic".

I thought the writing was terrible on purpose? Like it deliberately wasnt taking itself seriously. Like when you go on karaoke and sing Witch Doctor

Who didnt visibly cringe at "lance vance dance"?

Lol no gta game had good writing, 4 was the closest but even that was pretty shit. It was about the humor and satire, which is why the radio shows were better than the missions generally.

No it was great when it came out.

That's why red dead 2 was such a shock to me, having some of if not the best writing in games

Yeah from the playability side saints row (volition) was always far more intuitive.

Call Cinco Cinco Cinco, nueve dos, nueve dos. I'll always remember that number from San andreas. Cruising around just listening to the radio really put you in the game.

That's a Lance Vance chance!

I read this in the voice.

Vice City was fantastic when it was released. It was one of the biggest open worlds of it's day.

PTSD from all thugs harassing me every 15 minutes "hey man, why are you not calling me anymore?"

I always thought gta series as a extreme parody on real life groups portraited by media.

Like, Vice City was a parody of those gangster and the media at the time, like Scarface or any of those 80s generic b movies.

San Andreas, was the rap and gangs , and those movies with drive-bys, ice cold executions and those shit (like "Don't be a menace to South Central while drinking your juice on the hood").

Those don't supposed to have Shakespearean writing, but weird little pastiches from real life with good, and sometimes, amazing character writing