Another GTA Poll - Best part of San Andreas

[H Thompson]

Simple enough, what was was your favourite area in the game,

Los Santos
Countryside
San Fierro
Desert
Las Venturas.

I'm undecided at the moment, It seems like most of Rockstars energy was spent on Los Santos, it seems to be the most detailed and diverse city, but then I loved the peacfulness of the countryside, and how relaxing and contrasting it was to the cities, it's hard to beat zooming around dirt tracks on a sanchez, listening to K Rose. (I still can't belive how much I like that station) But San Fierro had some of the best missions, even though the cities design was a little blander.

[Nebuchanezzar]

Las Venturas is out and away, the worst out of them all. Apart from The Strip, there's nothing to be seen or enjoyed. The Strip itself is fairly lifeless and bland, with a few neon lights offering all there is to be offered in terms of scenery. The casino heist mission remains my favourite in the game, but other than the last few parts of that mission, there's not really much else that's enjoyable in comparison to the rest of the game.

The desert did what it set out to do quite well, and does offer a very nice rendition of what I assume the Western deserts are like in the US. I've always enjoyed it due to it's similarity to a few X-Files episodes. The army base also provides for quite a few fun things to do, during and once finished the missions. It's short and sweet.

San Fierro looks superb from a distance, and reminds me immensely of Sydney (especially on approach along the Mt. Chilliad freeway). Unfortunately, much like Las Venturas it became a little drab once you're up close and personal with it. Chinatown is nice, and the Wu Ze Mu missions were mostly quite fun, plus Woozie was among the most entertaining in the game. I was quite thankful that he got carried over to the rest of the game, instead of just dropping out once San Fierro is done. I've always loved the layout as well. It's very realistic, stylistic and fantastilistic. Driving around that city was hella fun.

The countryside is peacful, and kinda spooky at night. When I do play the game, I usually devote some time to exploring the countryside, because there's so much of it and it's so calm. As mentioned, it offers a nice contrast to the hectic Los Santos.

Speaking of Los Santos, it's my favourite city in the whole game. Naturally, being the focal point of the narrative means that it has had the most time devoted to it, and it shows. The city is heavily divided into different micro cities, but the gradient between the districts is slight, so there's no gaping holes or obvious gaps where one part of the city ends, and the other begins. A lot of that can be attributed to large roadways and freeways, which are quite handy to use and are very indicative of what I believe Los Angeles would really be like. I absolutely love the city from a distance and up close, and much like The Simpsons, there's so many little things that I discover each time I play.

The missions are also at their best (on average) in this city. I loved the gang culture that this city had going for it, not only in the obvious gang wars, but also in the dialogue between characters in the simple missions in the beggining of the game. It's a superb city, and definately the best.

Los Santos:pac-man:

[Kuje]

It really depends on what I was doing when playing, I probably spent the least amount of time in Las Venturas, simply because by the time I'd unlocked it I'd racked up countless hours of gameplay so it wasn't as exciting anymore.

The addition of the countryside and the desert were really great touches and added lots to the game, but you couldn't just have them on their own obviously. I'll rank the three cities, then the outer-city areas:

Los Santos
Las Venturas
San Fierro

I always found San Fierro to be a little bland, washed out. Maybe that's true of San Francisco, but as a gaming environment it wasn't very stimulating (the hills were good fun for a while). Las Venturas, although I didn't spend too much time there, was very vibrant and had casinos.

And obviously, LS was huge and was the first place you experienced.

For the non-city areas, I really don't know which I prefer. The countryside terrain was so varied that it didn't really get boring just bombing around it on a dirtbike or something, but there wasn't really anything there except the mountain (which was amazing fun), whereas the desert had an airstrip, a secret government base, and some really beatiful skies. I can't choose between the two.

On a side note, I spent ages hanging around the countryside at night looking for bigfoot because of those stupid rumours :(

[Nebuchanezzar]

So they're not true? Damn, that's a lot of hours that were wasted. I swear there's something in those badlands though, around Mt. Chiliad.

[Kuje]

Haha, unfortunately not. I also spent a lot of time looking for the crazy serial killer who supposedly appeared at some little shed on an abandoned farm. Turns out the pictures were faked. It was still really cool, any game that can have you sitting in a spooky field for half an hour and keep you excited has obviously done something right.

[mikeymansimpsons]

I'd have to rate it like this

Los Santos
San Fierro
Las Venturas
Countryside
Desert

The desert is last mainly because I have done any of the missions there yet, I used the Xploder V5 to allow no wanted stars so I could jet pack from place to place.

Countryside I liked but the only good thing was the mountain, especially on the BMX in moon gravity.

Les Venturas, as many people have said, was not interesting enough and it was mainly the same thing again and again. It sounded great, but was rubbish.

San Fierro was good and I really liked the kung fu gym. It was great shooting and kicking the asses of the intructors and pupils. Obviously, this did get boring, but it was VERY close to being my favourite city.

Los Santos was the best. I think my main reason for liking this city the best is because it was the first I was in and it's got everything. Great cars, good missions and prostitutes. What more could you ask for? To best honest, Los Santos on it's own could have been a decent game if it were a tiny bit larger and had about 10 more missions. I remember at the time I was like when am I going to get out of this damn place? It is the best.

So yes, Los Santos.

Having said that, Vice City and San Andreas are the worst in the series in my opinion, because, San Andreas, I can't stand the racial comments against white people, the Yo Nigga what's up, how's it doing dawg kind of language. Can't they even speak English? Stupid twats. Anyway, that game to me envisions what rap artist today say they live in, a ghetto and millions of gang wars. My response is then why would you live there if you're rich and why do you have body guards surrounding you if you're so "hard".

Moving on, Vice City was waay too hard on one mission and it was way to small and uninvolved. If it had been a more compelling and easier story I might have enjoyed it more. But unfortunately, this game didn't do it for me, I know I'm going completely off topic but ya, Los Santos is the best in San Andreas. Even if I don't like the dumbass and racial comments and language used in the game. They start swearing with f and s in SA, why couldn't it be limited to street language like in III and VC? Words like bitch I don't mind, but meh.

[Kuje]

It was aimed at 18+ year olds, who for the most part appreciated most of the things you disliked. I'm not putting you down, just saying that it was aimed at an older audience who weren't put off by the realities it portrayed.

[Nebuchanezzar]

Not so much 18 year olds, but more the gamer who appreciates a character driven story with actual reasoning, rather than pointless action. Kind of like comparing The Simpsons to Family Guy. I don't sympathise with the kind of people who were portrayed in SA, but it seemed awesomely realistic to me, and I simply loved seeing into a lifestyle that I'll never, nor would I ever want a part of. It was crummy, the people were crummy, but at the same time you could almost understand a few of their motives, especially CJ.

[H Thompson]

Having said that, Vice City and San Andreas are the worst in the series in my opinion, because, San Andreas, I can't stand the racial comments against white people, the Yo Nigga what's up, how's it doing dawg kind of language. Can't they even speak English? Stupid twats.
Because they weren't brought up in nice middle class surrondings you ignoramous, and where exactly are the racial comments against white people you speak off.

they start swearing with f and s in SA, why couldn't it be limited to street language like in III and VC? Words like bitch I don't mind, but meh.
They say shit in Vice City too, but they start using fuck in SA because it's realistic dialouge for the people it's portraying, it would sound really lame and unnatural if they tried to do clean versions of the word fuck. Also, it would mean half the songs they license would have to be the radio edit versions.
And If you're offended by swearing in a game where you can steal carjack and murder people then there's something wrong with you.

[phil]

I love the Desert levels mostly because of Toreno.

[Channel Surfer]

And If you're offended by swearing in a game where you can steal carjack and murder people then there's something wrong with you.

Agreed. Going back to GTAIII especially, the almost tame approach taken with much of the subject matter was almost unreal for a game that supposedly was breaking down barriers in content standards (something this review (http://www.gamecritics.com/review/gta3/2nd_op.php) I remember critiquing very well, which I'd rather link to than paraphrase in this post).

Anyway, another vote for Los Santos. It's not just because it's the most detailed and interesting of the locations in of itself, but also because (like Nebuchanezzar suggests) it has the most significance in context of what you do in the game. Unlike the other cities which primarily exist for you to profit, where it didn't matter too much what else was going on there, Los Santos encouraged you to learn the town as your own. Earning money through odd jobs to buy cloths because the missions kept you poor, keeping track and building your territory, or visiting that very first Cluckin' Bell, the game encourages you to live there in a sense as opposed to exploiting it, building routine and learning the nuances of the city. And I think this, even more than any inherent qualities of the city, is what helps make it the most memorable area.

[Suus]

I don't give much about the scenery, although some places look really nice. I basicly only drive/wreck vehicles and the best place for me to do that is the countryside (I haven't unlocked the desert yet ;-/ ). It's so cool to drive a truck from the top of Mt. Chiliad :D

About the language used in the game. The swearing doesn't nearly annoy me as much as the overal language used in the game. Everytime I hear "you think you special?" when I hit someones car I think: "Please get some English lessons..." The mission briefings from 'ur homies' are by far the worst. I don't even watch them, because they are nearly impossible to understand.

[film_girl]

Los Santos -- for realz...

[skittlebrau]

Looking at the Wikipedia articles on each city in San Andreas, I can really appreciate the ridiculous amount of detail put into each one.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Santos%2C_San_Andreas
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Fierro%2C_San_Andreas
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Las_Venturas%2C_San_Andreas

I'm amazed at the detail and faithfulness put into the fictional counterparts of otherwise real locations of famous landmarks in and around LA, San Francisco and Las Vegas. I like finding out little things such as this because then I know a real counterpart to that location really exists and obviously makes me want to visit it. Makes me appreciate the work put into the game even more. But enough of that. The cities/locations, right? Right.

Los Santos: Obviously the main focal point and city of the entire game, and my favorite city to be in. Great diversity and well-laid out in the sense that there's freeways, mini-cities bordering each other, projects, housing, business and various other attractions that mimic LA perfectly. There's always something new to discover in LS and I enjoy finding those little secrets when I do.

San Fierro: I'm not gonna say much about SF. I find it rather bland. Certain districts were quite nice, but the hilly terrain got old after awhile (yes, I understand San Francisco is like this, but I don't like the layout). Most of it seemed to look like housing, anyway, and the only place where it seemed there was more than just housing was downtown (which makes up for it, I suppose). Still, nothing much here.

Las Venturas: This is probably as close to Las Vegas as I'll ever get :( Still, maaan, look at that detail. I really enjoyed looking up the real casino's names and pictures to compare them to the fictional ones in the game. Good stuff. But yeah, I really enjoyed LV. Not too much to do there (other than gamble, basically) aftre the missions have been completed, but I enjoy driving or walking around and taking in the sights, especially at night when the neon's glowing on the old strip. Dig those crazy Elvis impersonators, heh.

Countryside: What else is there to say? Fun fun fun. I love riding a Sanchez or quad around the dirt tracks scattered about. Mt. Chiliad alone makes the countryside fun.

Desert: Pretty bare. However I do like exploring the ghost towns and such, and Toreno's/The Truth's missions might just be the most fun in the entire game.

...and that's all I got.

[Spartan]

skittle did a fine job; it echoes my opinions on nearly everything.

all in all, i'd say i have the most fun roaming los santos.

[kupomog]

Neb and skitz basically did all my writing for me. So yeah, another for Los Santos. Easily the best city, being THE city of the story. You do missions all over Los Santos and you really get to know the city.

That was always my problem with the game, though. Los Santos kicked ass and then the time spent in the other cities was so concentrated into one small area most of the time. You never really got to move around SF and LV mission wise like you did in LS. Exploring on my own is fun but otherwise it just feels like the cities were wasted as far as the main story goes. Had they been incorporated into the story more, it would've been much, much better.

But...I will still go driving around SA with my camera, snapping shots of anything I can. It's sooooo fun to do, and now that I can transfer from the PS2 to the PC, it's 10x as more fun since I can save more pictures.

[Wonderboy]

I like all the areas in San Andreas, flaws and all, and I also choose with Los Santos for reasons already stated.

Having been to San Francisco I can say that much of San Fierro felt familiar to me, if not because of exact replications of certain areas, then because of the overall feel of it.

[Nebuchanezzar]

But...I will still go driving around SA with my camera, snapping shots of anything I can. It's sooooo fun to do, and now that I can transfer from the PS2 to the PC, it's 10x as more fun since I can save more pictures.

<_<
>_>
<_<

So I'm not the only weirdo who looks for Bigfoot, and finds immense joy in taking photos of locations in the game. I like taking photos of the cities at a distance, so they look...different from normal, and photos in the country rock.

http://images3.pictiger.com/thumbs/6a/87ecff96b4022176c963fb7c45bef96a.th.jpg (http://server3.pictiger.com/img/518626/picture-hosting/gallery-852.php)

http://images3.pictiger.com/thumbs/99/8aa2f5de110d7f0d2fc09d582635a099.th.jpg (http://server3.pictiger.com/img/518627/picture-hosting/gallery-433.php)

[kupomog]

Hehe, awesome! I love those shots. Yeah I'm really enjoying being a wannabe photographer, hehe. I took a lot of shots, I posted some here (http://www.nohomers.net/showpost.php?p=1426252&postcount=3), too.

Also got some random shots like these:

http://img165.imageshack.us/img165/6864/gtasa1ln2.th.jpg (http://img165.imageshack.us/my.php?image=gtasa1ln2.jpg) http://img165.imageshack.us/img165/8784/gtasa2uj1.th.jpg (http://img165.imageshack.us/my.php?image=gtasa2uj1.jpg)

http://img170.imageshack.us/img170/3041/gtasa3ic3.th.jpg (http://img170.imageshack.us/my.php?image=gtasa3ic3.jpg) http://img170.imageshack.us/img170/3491/gtasa4hu8.th.jpg (http://img170.imageshack.us/my.php?image=gtasa4hu8.jpg)

I especially like taking shots of characters that you only see a few times outside with you. Like Rosenberg, Maccer, Cesar, etc.

[Kuje]

Haha, I'm not alone :) Most of my photos are of weird things like the UFO outside the diner, the suicidal photographer, the green goo, and loads from inside area 53 (or whatever it was called?). Wish I could upload them :(

[kupomog]

If you have the PS2 version and a PC you can do what I did and get some kind of thing like Action Replay to transfer the game save file to a flash drive, then bring it to your comp and use this guide (http://www.gtagaming.com/forums/showthread.php?t=59738) to get the images online. I basically bought a flash drive and Action Replay Max just to do that, hah.

[H Thompson]

This is quite annoying, I've been taking over the gang territotires, and there's only 1 vago hood left, but it isn't showing up on the map, did anyone else have a problem with this.

*edit, nevermind I've found out it's located in the marina north of san fierro, in some bizzare glitch*

[skittlebrau]

It's not a bizzare glitch. Remnants of an earlier version of the game where you could take over more territory in San Fierro (the Mexican gang with the cyan colors...can't remember their name) and possibly Las Venturas. Or maybe the programmers wanted us to go apeshit trying to find that last bit of territory to conquer, heh.

Hehe, I remember trying to find and conquer the thin strip of Ballas territory in Temple (the one strip of road west of the Mulholland Intersection). Now THAT drove me crazy. Not because I couldn't find it, but because there were never any Ballas around to incite a riot. Took me forever to overtake that damn territory :(

[Kuje]

I remember one part of the gang territory was a pier on a beach, so the gang were spawning underwater. I never really bothered with getting 100% after GTAIII anyway so it didn't really bother me.

[H Thompson]

You don't even need to take over all the territories to get 100% completion, so it doesn't matter, it's just satisfying to know you can roam the streets without coming under attack and seeing friends everywhere, also I think when you take Denise out and she just wants to drive around town, she'll be happy in all your territories so it makes that easier.
I've used a few cheats so it probably won't allow me 100% completion anyway. But I just want to do everything the game has to offer.
And yeah the thin strip of territory was ridiculous, It didn't take too long, but it's very annoying when you're trying to start a gang war, and it takes so long to find any rivals, that you suddenly have to defend one of your own hoods.

[Nebuchanezzar]

Hmmm, there was this one area that I simply left during an incited gang war, and the area turned clear. I got 100% territory completion, so I assumed that if you leave an area, it becomes neutral. Strangely though, one day after getting that 100%, I saw some Ballas, incited a war and then won that territory. I suppose that could be a glitch, or it could even be the area you're talking about.

[camelenchilada]

I loved all three cities in the game, but I'd have to say Los Santos is my favorite level. It's the vastest and most detailed, and I like the feel of driving around in LS. I love the gang wars and the missions you do there in the beginning, and I guess San Fierro and Las Venturas seem a little less detailed and a little more bland. Love the countryside and the desert, though...they're mysterious and cool to explore.

Oh, and Mike, SA only presented the reality of what early 90's ghetto culture was like...if "fuck" offends you, you shouldn't play Grand Theft Auto games.

[Toli]

I loved Las Venturas but Los Santos had everything. It was the hood where all the final action took place.

[SubSane]

Maybe it's because I live in it everyday, but Los Santos did not interest me. I mean I enjoyed playing around in the city, but it was the same ol' for me. The countryside and desert, on the other hand, I greatly enjoyed. Especially finding abandoned shacks and hidden paths.