Why GTA: Vice City Isn't As Good As You Think, A Speedrunner's Perspective

[@sambecker23]

If I hadn't clicked on this video, I still wouldn't know Avery's missions were optional.

[@chacrax6]

Wait wHAT?!

[@brixfrancis1234]

WHAT

[@Z_emily]

I DIDNT HAVE TO TRY DEMOLITION MAN 30 TIMES

[@facanadio]

​@@Z_emily you did it brcause you're a gaymer.

[@darknid158]

That’s crazy because for years I got to the end of the game without beating Demolition Man and all I needed was just more money

[@NinjaskKing]

It took me a year to figure out that I had to get a dance from a stripper to progress further because there was no indication of this whatsoever and during this time I was going around in circles in confusion of what I’m supposed to do.

[@letswaveabook3183]

yeah, it probably took some time. But at some point you would realize that all the properties could be "completed" and there is only one thing that can be done at the strip club.

[@krisorgan]

Same, when I was going for 100% I was starting to pull my hair out, then, all of a sudden I had that light bulb moment and got the 100%.

[@joxidearmageddonator882]

how? didn't any of you friends tell you? or search on google?

[@starwing2262]

Rockstar assumed players would do that by default and didn't need any instructions.

[@TheRastafarianStuff]

demolition man is hard if you're very young, talking from experience. once you go over the age of 12 its easy asf.

[@qacaxci]

thing is, they put the controls on numpad numbers and most of us as kids couldnt think of using it or it was too hard to use

[@qacaxci]

although i was the only kid who could finish the misson, to a point i was selling save files to internet cafes that start right after the demolition man

[@TheRastafarianStuff]

@@qacaxci all you need is a bit of holy patience and its done

[@DustyEchozy]

Same, but honestly most of the missions in Vice City to me doesn't feel that hard. (Main exceptions being The Driver and Deldo Dodo).

[@segment1993]

​@@TheRastafarianStuff All that was enough for me to beat it the 1st time (and I was probably 11and struggling with it for about a year) was to finally read the god damn instruction the mission itself tells you - to use not only the up-down-left-right keys , but also the num keys (I don't remember which of 2 memories is actually mine and which one is the false one : if I finally did manage to read everything (and not ignore) and tried it completely myself , or if my best friend beat it for me, and then told "dude, that is the way you should control the thing and btw the game itself just puts it to your face, you just have to read it and do as it says" and then made me load the save and beat it again explaining how to fly the goddamn thing) BTW I was absolutely sure that the reason why there were no more missions available was precisely not completing that mission, not me not being able to find the Printworks lol P.S, I'm really surprised that Ben did stuck on the Death Row, instead of just trying the cheats, lol For me the whole concept that playing WITH cheats is lame\boring, and not the other way around, became obvious only after playing SA for over 1.5 years,. Only then I finished SA completely without cheats and decided to try 3 and VC this way as well

[@nngnnadas]

Sunshine autos isn't that bad, as you only have to complete the first list. But the average player will probably guess they need to finish the races if anything.

[@Fancyether]

That's what I did in my first playtrough lol

[@lukewood2662]

I never cared, I raced because I loved the races

[@MertayEfeoglu]

Races are the easiest way to make money for buying assets. It's not that hard though.

[@idkaname123]

Wait fr only first list. Alright not as bad as I thought (still bad tho)

[@FitzyMess]

I’ve played this game so many times over the course of 20+ years and just learned that Avery’s missions aren’t required

[@SEDATEDSlothRecords6083]

Youre not alone with that

[@JamesMaul]

omg same I've never completed it

[@jirojhasuo2ndgrandcompany745]

what

[@Messihaz]

same lol

[@Nacut6c]

you know what, I actually loved that the game doesn't tell you what do when completing assets. Now I might be the only one that thinks of this and I get it, but it was refreshing for a game to let you explore and not tell you what to do next, there was a sense of mystery to the game even though it was flawed because there was no indication on what you were supposed to do. All games are go here, do this, do that, boom complete, and I was glad to roam around endlessly and fully enjoy the game without just brainlessly doing missions in order

[@pedrosilvaproductions]

Well, when I was a kid I was stuck because I didnt know what to do. But theres a call from Avery which gives you a clue saying that you should buy property etc

[@SOM-v4o]

That was just a typical game back in the early 2000s.

[@DeltaFloor12]

If they wanted it to be like this they should've made them optional like strangers and freaks in gta 5 and not stuck with the final ending of the story or just have communicated better.

[@BuiltbyFellony]

this but in GTA IV and having to use a physical map to find the cars to steal

[@ornix5761]

Developers really expected the player beat the game with the guide inside the PS2 disk

[@Bishounen]

its impossible for me to complete "The Shootist" on a ps2 controller

[@justno8019]

@@Bishounen lol u suck kiddo

[@DontPretendtoCare]

Speed running is what is wrong with gaming. You are what is wrong with gaming. And it is disc idiot.

[@syahminorizan8064]

The best way for me is to shoot the 3rd one in the 1st, with gives me points, then, conserve ammo by only shooting one bullet for one target.

[@Terrtail]

Another thing I just figured out today by trying to go for 100%. In the shooting range challenge (after completing The Shootist) the text says "score to beat: 30" and after you beat it it says "mission passed". There is NO INDICATION that you should achieve 45 points or more to actually pass it and get the porcentage for that. Without searching online or without challenging yourself to go for a higher score for some reason, you wouldn't even know you can get a fast reload perk.

[@MilesFox92]

13:16 Should've inserted the Hardlined cutscene instead for giggles and fun :D

[@BlindBosnian]

This is a reupload. The original video was made before he played Hardlined

[@Puxi]

I wanna add some things: Map: The 2nd Island loox totally unfinished there are many spots on the map with nothing going. These spots where used for the Businesses in Vice City stories. Size: The vehicles are bigger in hight than Tommy. They are huge, some areas in the map are also oversized, look at door textures on buildings for example.

[@Puxi]

Ignore what I've said about Tommy being smaller than cars. Cars where bigger in the 80s so it makes sense. I always thought in the intro of vice city that Tommy looks way to small standing next to the admiral. But the dimensions of some textures and models are still not correct.

[@CropDudia480p]

i had the same complaint with the second island feeling empty in VC but VCS (sort of) fixed that for me personally

[@Puxi]

@@CropDudia480p I understand 2nd island is a mix of industrial non Tourist area, but in vc it is underdeveloped. vcs fixed it with the business develop part. !

[@nickrustyson8124]

@@Puxi Nah that is a problem with the game, look at the Blista Compact, that car is huge, it's suppose to be a Honda CRX which in real life is tiny

[@AlphaGarg]

@@nickrustyson8124 To be fair, and having worked on stuff like this for Arma 3 mods as well as my own projects, that's more of an animation issue. It's surprisingly hard to fit characters into car interiors without something clipping out, be it the head, or the feet - that is, unless you're looking to make custom animations for each and every vehicle. Which is... yeah, not really a good idea for something that can be solved by just enlarging vehicles.

[@davidkoprivica5075]

When I was a kid, on my first playthrough, I wasn't aware of the final two missions. I completed the Malibu club, Printworks, the film studio, Tommy's estate, Kaufman cabs and got stuck there and thought that's the end of the story part of the game. I had no idea there was an asset to be gained from the boatyard, Pole Position club or the Cherry Popper factory. A few months of randomly playing, I put the last required car on the list for the showroom and I get surprised to discover that there was more to the story. And until many years later I didn't know that there was a way to get a completed asset for the strip club.

[@mrvenom88]

I think there was a more naturally completionist vibe back in the 00s. I played VC on the PS2 near release, and the idea you had to do all the missions was never in doubt. If you found yourself stuck, you went and _explored_ and that was not just OK but desireable. We wanted to drive around the funny little town and find things. We wanted to buy everything. Some things were needlessly obscure (the pole position club is one of them) but if I could complete the game at a tender young age then modern adults have no excuse.

[@martymcfly88mph35]

Based and truepilled

[@DontPretendtoCare]

Speed running is what is wrong with gaming. You are what is wrong with gaming.

[@mrvenom88]

@@DontPretendtoCare I have never speed run a game on my life.

[@DontPretendtoCare]

@@mrvenom88 But you support that trash. Therefore you are trash.

[@GlamStacheessnostalgialounge]

Problem is still, some of the missions are never communicated. I never looked at walkthroughs of the game at the time, and I never finished it as I never realized how to complete some of the assets, like the strip club or Ice Cream factory.

[@ScreamingBomb]

Wow, all this years i didnt knew that VC was published by Capcom in Japan. Great video :D

[@Kookaburrra]

What about Rockstar games!!!?

[@Greghouse]

When I was little and had been playing the game for the first time after I did the linear part and completed every mission I never realized the game has an end. After realizing you can purchase assets I did missions for printworks, taxi, the disco club and film studios and I thought I was done. I did buy the boat yard but failed to realize that I should enter a boat to strive to win that race against time to complete it. Then I bought Cherry Poppers and I started selling "ice cream" but got bored quickly and never realized it could be completed at all. Another eureca moment was when I found out how to complete the Sunshine Autos which I used to think that sign with the list of cars is purely decorative. And then there's pole position club which I never realized it could be completed before I started watching speedruns years later. The game just doesn't seem to tell you this in obvious enough way.

[@sevegarza]

The “Stick it to the Man” mission is the reason that, to this day, I still have the PS2 “Blow Up All Cars” cheat code ingrained into my muscle memory. R2 L2 L1 R1 L2 R2 Square Triangle Circle Triangle R2 R1. Now after seeing this video I realize why, even with that cheat code, it was so hard to pass this mission.

[@sandorbence2067]

The problem with VC is that it visibly aged. Even as someone who looks it through nostalgia, a few years ago I started to feel it whereas San Andreas is still fine. On the other hand, VC feels like a generation newer compaed to something like III even though it reuses a lot of the base mechanics. It's a bit rushed and half finished but it's still iconic (and better than the definitive edition).

[@tomwol]

yeah, it feels way more dated despite not being that much older. and it's not just looks but mechanics. The very arcade driving with fixed camera, the combat where you can't move crouched or while aiming most weapons, no swimming, nowdays it just feels off. Meanwhile SA feels maybe not great in those aspects, but at least not bad enough to bother me

[@WorkinDuck]

Check out reVC, it fixes all that stuff + frame limiter issues + better lighting

[@Masterchief0521]

I didn't even realize until this video how much of the "clothes" were basically a monocolor painted on the model

[@prithviraj10a23]

​@@WorkinDuckyou are damn right

[@marketlider2811]

It's part of the charm. Modern games are boring.

[@EightOneGulf]

Ahh Demolition Man, unironically one of my favorite missions in Vice City :D as a kid who's into RC planes and simultaneously not being able to afford RC planes, that mission was great. Funny to hear that mission was loathed by most players. Didn't know it was optional tho

[@rebelkiller93]

You're right about the assets. When I was a kid, I never finished Vice City, despite starting it many times, as I never had enough assets completed. I just didn't know what I needed to do to complete the Cherry Popper or Pole Position and was never able to complete the Boatyard mission. It wasn't until years later when I was an adult that I finally completed it when I played the PS2 Classics version on the PS3.

[@justno8019]

git gud i complete the game when i was 4

[@jonothanthrace1530]

For all its flaws, Vice City never got me stuck between "flight lessons I could never pass" and "RC missions I could never pass".

[@Nicklyft]

I’d recommend trying the hardlined mod if you’re finding the base game unimpressive. I expect you’ll find the fastest boat, rubout and autocide to be the missions that maximize enjoyment.

[@plan9fromouterspace]

all im gonna say is that eben is definitely not enjoying hardlined so far lol

[@strahinjastevic7480]

​@@plan9fromouterspace it's a joke

[@plan9fromouterspace]

@@strahinjastevic7480 reading his comment again its so obvious im absolutely baffled i didnt put the pieces together, my fault g

[@orangejacket4551]

Phnom Penh 86 hardlined has the funniest edited dialogue in my opinion.

[@allstargaming2500]

I remember purchasing the Malibu club asset but wasn't able to locate the mission marker because I didn't know that it was located near the staircase and the bar inside the club. Oh boy did I realise I lost 120 grand.

[@ΓιώργοςΛ-ο6π]

During Cherry Popper mission, you are not delivering ice creams! It's just a front, it litterally says it in the cutsceene you showcased

[@RotlochStudio]

He's not really selling ice cream, he's selling drugs. That's why cops start chasing him

[@abhijeetashiya8856]

no shit Sherlock

[@ieaiaio9]

​@@abhijeetashiya8856English Ben didn't know that.

[@Sycsa]

There was actually a myth perpetuated in my pre-internet hometown that if you just walk around for long enough, Sonny will eventually call you saying he found a new boss for you. I pity my sorry 12-year-old ass walking around Vice City for actual hours waiting for that phone to ring. It didn't even occur to any of us to start buying up assets, it looked like pointless side content.

[@Canaris4]

After finding out that the printing press was mandatory, after doing the printing press, it never really bothered me. I just think it would suck if the Malibu missions were the ones that were compulsory, since The Driver was really hard.

[@jagaloon14]

“Why GTA Vice City isn’t fun from someone’s perspective who intentionally attempts to defy the fun the developers intended for us to have”

[@cartmanofsp]

you say that like they didn't mean for people to beat the game within 10 minutes!

[@jagaloon14]

@@cartmanofsp they wouldn’t have spent time, resources, and acquired that cast of voice actors if the idea of the fun was to only last 10 minutes. Speed runners are one of the worst demographics of the gaming market lol I think a lot of y’all would be better off getting a prescription instead of changing the angle of the in game camera 300 times a minute because keeping your fingers still on the controller for more than a quarter second is absolutely out of the question

[@cartmanofsp]

@@jagaloon14 I know that was my point

[@NtQueryInformationProcess]

bait

[@jagaloon14]

@@cartmanofsp I got got

[@Niberspace]

I'm sorry but I was a bit dissapointed in this video, I was really looking forward to your insight into the mission formula, but instead it's all about minor QA issues. in practical terms none of what you mentioned is a problem since you simply google the answer when you're stuck (yes, I too was stuck with the club 300$ thing), what's more important I think is whether the missions are boring errands or if they are challenges that you can solve creatively

[@EnderGradRPC]

15:56 The police chase you because you are probably selling something else like drugs. But again, this is never pointed out by the game, and we have to assume that because of the stupid chases

[@TheDeadfast]

That's not really true. While the game doesn't spell out that you're selling drugs, it definitely makes it clear that you aren't selling ice cream. You can read the subtitles at 16:53 where the game explicitly says that the ice cream is a front for distributing "other, non-dairy products".

[@EnderGradRPC]

@@TheDeadfast thats why i said "something else"

[@CrAzYpotpie]

​@@EnderGradRPCYeah, but you also said probably when it is definitely.

[@mrvenom88]

Rockstar are (were?) a Scottish outfit and there was an extremely high profile ice cream van drug delivery ring there. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glasgow_ice_cream_wars

[@loatherd]

14:30, I believe that this view happens over how games have changed in the past 30 years. Many snes/mega drive games have a figure it out yourself way to them. From then until now you see many games now hold your hand throughout. We used to play vice city just to see who could out do each other out in open against 5-6stars the longest, making multiplayer activities out of a single player game. It’s funny how we were all kids forever loving this game while most adults at that time usually hold onto older games as their favourite.

[@dillonandon]

I was working in a gaming cafe when the PC port released and I must've played Demolition Man well over a hundred times because no-one could finish that damn mission so they asked me to get them passed it. I thought Bombs Away! was the much harder RC mission tbh. Cheers for the video Ben, it's never easy picking apart our most beloved things.

[@a_grin_without_a_cat]

Trouble with the Demolition Man also comes from the fact that in-game speed is tied to fps but timers are not. So on low-end systems your game could run at 70-80% speed (20-30% slower than normal) and that 20-30% were just enough for me to fuck up the demolition man mission -- I was just running out of time for the last bomb. This was also the case for other timer-based missions like collecting packages on the pier or rescuing Lance, basically all missions where the time limits were tight.

[@canis_lupus2220]

This actually was an issue for me in San Andreas during the final flight school lesson. I would always be one second over the time limit for the parachute onto target gold medal. Changed the graphics settings down, improved my fps and suddenly I finished it so easily. 🙂

[@tosspot1305]

Remember this comes from an era of physical strategy guides. Games were often obscure or have hidden missions etc in order to sell the 'official' guides. Plus it's an era where games didn't hold your hand and treat everyone like an idiot

[@theitfactorjameswheezer2852]

This is such a hyperbolic lie.

[@Deadshot_Raptor]

I gave up years ago trying to beat this game because I did not know about the property mission criteria. I did the biker mission and had no other missions and did not even think to revisit until I found this channel.

[@That1Gam3r]

when i was a kid i didn't beat the game because of the assets. i had no clue i was supposed to buy them, and complete them. i didn't beat Vice City until 14 years later on the PS4

[@anotherrandomguy8871]

Thank you for telling me in detail about how to do the ice cream side mission. I completed the campaign and only by the end I brought the ice cream shop. I assumed that I had to sell a bunch of ice creams, but I though it would simply carry on to the next time you sell the ice creams. Highest I got was almost 40, but I got bored and assimed that I did good enough to finish my progress next time…but turns out that’s now how it works.

[@EnderGradRPC]

Hey Ben, is this video the same as the previous one? Like, did you add or retract any extra points?

[@finestjellybeansrawlol9486]

Check the description

[@martymcfly88mph35]

He cut the N word out a few times that he dropped

[@fistingendakenny8781]

Love vice city, even with its flaws, they add to the charm

[@Puxi]

One more thing: They removed the trails on pc which makes the game look very ugly. It is like in Source engine when you turn on fullbright! I think they removed the trail fx because people play pc games on monitor not on tvs. But all the lighting goes broke with that. If you reenable trails the game has better lighting. Also the neon lights are broke on pc release... The one thing Disaster Edition on mobile fixed was the lighting filter fx. That's all.

[@MuseBySecrecy]

I always turn the trails off on PS2. I hate seeing ghost cars when cars are only driving slow. I assume trails are for high speed cars, but it just looks really cartoony to me.

[@Puxi]

@@MuseBySecrecy I forgot how the lighting looks on ps2 without trails. But on PC it looks the worst!

[@namemcnamerton4249]

@@Puxi Trails reminded me of drunk cam from hit and run.

[@TimDoherty]

Playing as an adult in 2003 and being able to look up a 100% checklist I didn’t get stuck. Also I was lucky enough to have played battlefield 1942 and got used to flying things with terrible controls. I was used to small adjustments

[@Dima064]

VC could've been my 1st GTA I beat if not for the asset system. As a child without access to the internet, I've just completed the given missions and thought I was done, not knowing that I haven't beaten the game actually. With that out of the way SA was my 1st one I've beaten and it's still my favourite in the series.

[@nngnnadas]

Someone needs to calculate how many times the shots/animation in the strip club loop in the time it take to spend $300. Ain't nobody who isn't a 13 year old boy in 2002 keep staring that long by chance.

[@KutayYavuz]

Omitting Billie Jean from the game is the greatest vice the developers ever committed.

[@daysejones968]

one thing to remember, for most people, they won't play these games again, so their view if it is good or bad, comes from their opinions at the time they played all those years ago. Kinda like how 10 years ago I could spend months playing the same flash games over and over again, but now if i go and play them it doesn't feel fun. The person who I was years ago isn't the same person I am now. What I considered good at the time isn't the same as I do now.

[@TPD]

congrats on the growth EB. you're a great creator.

[@Klaydoggy]

Have you ever done, or thought about doing a full playthrough with commentary on lore, trivia, and mission mechanics? You could explain things like wanted level gain, God-bike, etc?

[@englishben]

Not a bad idea honestly

[@hajinka98_]

I replayed it like last year and it was pretty lame how absolute easy it is lol. Enemies literally dies after 1 bullet with any gun and you can just plow through every combat mission without even losing 20% of your HP. Like for example when you are suppose to take over Diaz's mansion the guards can EASILY be avoided by just running straight up to the main hall and trigger the Diaz boss fight

[@autoxy57]

nostalgia and an atmosphere are only good things that aged good in vice city imo. san andreas is better in every possible way.

[@Ive03]

Clearly, San Andreas is superior because it offers a wide range of activities that Vice City doesn’t. However, the radio stations, atmosphere, and iconic protagonist of Vice City are truly unmatched in any other GTA game. While I enjoyed playing GTA: San Andreas more, Vice City holds a special nostalgic place in my heart.

[@Puxi]

I got another annoying thing: Backface culling on pc version. Models only have one sided textures. Models like fences, or tennis nets. Messed up pc port. Only VC has this problem. III and SA are fine.

[@mikeykachoow5944]

He literally says “get on a bike and go cause some mayhem” and the first thing you thought of was to shoot things with a rocket launcher

[@brunoguzman7101]

This is one of the most unbiased reviews I've seen of a video game, and I like the aspect that you mention that it's your favorite game, but you still acknowledge that it has flaws. All of your criticisms are fair and logical and show great knowledge of the game, great video.

[@thedrunkenrebel]

this was the reason we loved early gta games. They were hard but beatable. Gta 3 was hard af, vice city got some hard moments and SA was long and kinda tough. I remember in 7th grade talking with my friends about the biker chaos mission and i couldn`t understand why they were angry over it. Later i realized i breezed through that quest because i was bad at managing money and i liked using smgs instead of rifles because i thought the wanted level increased slower, and by the time that mission opened, i was too broke to afford rpg`s and too lazy to collect them from that pool near airport. I mean, the fbi owned me with smgs, why wouldn`t i use them too. And it was amazing. Imagine today playing a game that doesnt serve everything on a plate for you. Figuring shit out was so fun back then, now everything has bullet points and tutorials

[@twls153]

Honestly I have zero clues on how I managed to beat Vice City. I'm Brazilian and first time I played I knew nothing of english. Maybe I just like blind exploration.

[@Nacut6c]

how was demolition man remotely hard? if you were over the age of 10 and had at least an average iq and mechanical skills, it was just another mission. I remember being a kid and finding no issue in completing it both on console and on PC

[@ThatTonnatoTenrec]

Discussion in the past would also say that this is one of the harder missions. Now wether or not someone has easy capabilities to pass it or not is different. Id say most would not be able at first since as he says, the chopper controls like garbage. Plus it is a difficulty spike considering first half of VC is generally a simple game with maybe Death Row being hard.

[@tripper5698]

Recently I beat that mission on mobile VC and it took me one try lol, it's really not hard. I'd argue Vice City is probably the easiest GTA of the 3D and HD eras

[@VivaLaRazsa]

The issue is that you get thrown into cold water and need to learn completely new mechanics for just one mission. I'm pretty sure you never touch a heli before you get demolition man. Rockstar should have put it deeper into late game with some prior flying practice and it would be fine.

[@Bishounen]

@@VivaLaRazsa also flying wasnt even a thing in GTA 3

[@samz8691]

Are there any plans for a similar video for Liberty City Stories and Vice City Stories? They're my favorite games and I like seeing other people's perspectives on them.

[@englishben]

Maybe, planning to do GTA3 first I think

[@samz8691]

@@englishben Looking forwards to it, GTA 3 is my fav of the PS2 era but it's got issues. (I really wish the Islands unlocked quicker and missions had you going back and forth on the islands more, instead of the mostly linear structure where there's little reason to return to the old islands.)

[@randomnerd23]

The nonlinear part in the 2nd half is partly why vice city is my favorite gta. I always disliked how playthroughs tend to treat the open world as a extremely glorified hub area for much of the playthrough. making progression based off exploring and finding how to start the empire is how I think gta progression should be. You are right about progression in the individual businesses though. Like, were they just everyone would everyone go in to look at ps2 polygon titties for several minutes? And the ice cream mission is incredibly boring. Not even hard since 2 stars is a cakewalk at that point in the game. The mandatory businesses they could have at least had tommy say a few lines to himself or to Lance about what kind of businesses are essential to the empire, just any vague hints rather than just doing the bland only available activity until the bell goes off.

[@yourstrulythebxy]

Damn I’ve replayed this game so many times and I didn’t know Avery’s missions were optional lol

[@TheVoiceofTheProphetElizer]

You also have to remember what this game meant to those of us that were in high school when this came out - all of us born a little before or right around the time this game was set. I can remember a friend telling me when the boat scene came up with the Hall & Oates song "Out of Touch" how awe struck he was and he really found it to be a beautiful scene. This was THE game in the fall of 2002. You could not get any better than Vice City and we were more than happy to live there for a long time.

[@Cybfreak99]

Gta vice city is a very fun and difficult game it can punish you for speed running and let's not forget its so difficult to track all the hidden packages all the jumps and rampages and in my life I have never finished it 100% got stuck on 99% man😢 so watch your titles carefully

[@ArtRebelsBloc]

when i was a middle schooler, i did get stuck after vercetti estates and the malibu were completed, i bought every front except the print works thinking it would just let me be done or i assumed i needed to get a certain amount of money before sunny came knocking. but heres the kicker. i had seen vice city beaten before and saw my buddy use the printworks to initiate the final missions. so in the end i ended up just playin the game aimlessly for a month before i bought the print works and finally beat the game.

[@someonesomewhere1181]

I’m so happy to see this video loved your other ones that were similar I really hope you do more of these!

[@anotherrandomguy8871]

10:48 this point right here, is a good example that it’s not as true as people think it is that you can do GTA missions almost however you want in older games. I only recently played VC for the first time, but only a very few main missions are non-liner. It’s why I love the mission where you steal the tank, because you can kinda just go about it however.

[@akashbanerjee6272]

14:32 this one I've experienced myself. It took me a while to understand what to do to unclock the final two missions.

[@almostdiogenes]

i taught the v mark on the map without any mission is a bug or not complete version.. thnx, now i can keep progressing

[@MattC78]

The problem with the pc port of Vice City is when in 60fps the cars turn wide and don't slide around with the handbrake as well. The ps2 version will always be my favorite.

[@Holanduzo]

I dont know why the reputation of Demolition man mission, it was quite easy for me even being a teenager when I did it for the first time

[@yaroslavkurgansky6205]

The best game in the 3D trilogy hands down. The first one I ever played, played GTA3 afterwards (didn't get it) and SA when it first came out (didn't care for it when replaying it recently, feels like a mod almost), but VC still feels like home to this day. I look back fondly on a lot the shortcomings you mentioned, like driving around the map looking for something to do and suddenly, BAM! New content, and that feeling of "holy shit, does anyone else know about it?", you'd go to school the next day (when VC was THE game, everyone had like 3 games on their PC back then and GTA was always the best one) and tell everyone "hey, did you know there's like a whole bunch of other missions if you buy the local disco? You like rob a bank and stuff! It's awesome!". The only way to miss content like that nowadays is to not buy the DLCs. And I don't remember the last time I was stuck on a mission these days, the expression is not even in the modern vocabulary it seems, people treat games like they're cinema, and they really shouldn't, they can be so much more. Oh and the modding was huge back in the 3D-trilogy era, the mods were mostly cosmetic though (the only total conversion mod I remember playing was the Long Night), downloading a car model online, adding it to game files and driving around VC in something like a Ghostbusters car felt amazing (such bullshit that you have to pay for it these days), I'd spend months adding new cars to the game until everything looked totally different. Fun times.

[@W.2026]

I remember passing Messing with the Man in roughly six seconds as a kid by just throwing four molotovs right in front of me

[@RyanJSmith]

So your complaints are some missions hard and if you don't pay attention you miss what you need to do. It's made so obvious you just didn't pay attention when you're claiming cherry poppers is "just ice cream" and not a front for drugs hence why the cops are on you. A speedrunner's perspective is worth less than sandles to an eskimo

[@robert357900]

I remember thinking that game bug out when there was only one mission icon that didn't worked. Thankfully I didn't abandoned the game and after doing "side missions" (AKA assets) I beat the game.

[@eriksipos373]

As many of us, I dabbled in this game when I was little and recently decided to play through it as an adult. I didn't particularly find myself getting stuck, although I do have a fairly completionist mindset so I went and purchased most of the assets without being prompted to do so. I can see how this would throw players off, but I do actually enjoy when games don't hold your hand and make you explore the world and let you figure stuff out on your own.

[@BlossomField91]

I remember being stuck for literally years (not that I played it for literally years but gave up) because I'd complete all the assets with obvious missions but had no idea what you had to do with the ice cream asset and only found out about the strip club one from the internet when I replayed it as an adult.

[@Karudzik]

You reminded me that I had to Google a solution to walk through games. there were separate websites in different languages just with tutorials and walkthroughs..

[@StevenWithoutTheT]

Messing with the man on PS2 is specially harder due to the limited spawn of peds and vehicles. I replayed VC a few months back and I'm not exaggerating that after destroying a couple of vehicles the city was deserted, maybe a vehicle would spawn after running half the city trying to find one and by that time the timer is almost over.

[@atempestrages5059]

These are *fascinating* man. Feeling vindicated by your comments on Demolition Man. The other one that got me was the pizza delivery scooter. Don't know what it was- but that mission absolutely wrecked me as a kid. Maybe I'm just a lousy driver (racing missions in San Andreas stuffed me up too). I loved the taxi missions though.

[@TerrasClip]

15:53 What is Tommys arm doing? lol

[@eskenderya]

About the whole banter about the asset mission system, I think the developers back then depended on that the player would use the guide provided with the disk either for ps2 or pc. It's not poor design it's just the good ol' gaming era

[@aNoiseExit]

As long as you don't make a video like "GTA: IV isn't as good as you think" you're cool in my books Ben, great video

[@lshxggyl]

Demolition Man isn’t even a hard mission. I cannot recall ever struggling with it, even as a child. That one can absolutely be chalked up as a skill issue. It’s like when people claim Turismo in GTA III is hard, just to find out they didn’t try completing it until they fucked themselves out of Portland

[@Jules-69lol]

I didn't complete enough assets and never got Cap the Collector, some dummy said somewhere that I was supposed to collect all 100 packages but I gave up lol

[@offthegridbutonyoutube548]

Avery missions being optional in order to reach the final mission blows my mind lol with No Avery, you get no Leaf Links access or Haitian/Cuban missions .. did a speed run yesterday & it looks like Cortez’s last mission & the Love Fist/Biker missions aren’t needed for the final mission either lol

[@louisminati]

I don't think the asset missions were that much a problem. I was hella excited to buy the properties didnt even know they had missions. When they did it was like a surprise bonus. If a 12 year old me can figure it out in 2002 it shouldn't be that hard for most.

[@corovanerm]

When I was a kid, I didn't know how much ice cream to sell. Some dude said you need to do 150 in a row. So I passed it. Oh, if only I knew then that I needed three times less. In fact, I have no idea how I had the brains to complete the game to the end.

[@DavidvanDeijk]

demolition man wasnt hard for me. What was nearly impossible for me was the Candy mission where you have to drop flyers from a plane. that plane is so difficult to fly and totally no clue where you are supposed to go. I solved the rescueing lance mission with a helicopter, so i always feel vindicated to see that trick as the current speedrun strat. I disagree on the "nobody would drive around aimlessly". Back in the day this was the open world game of the day. I explored everything, mainly by doing taxi missions.

[@cookieface80]

That thing with the assets happened to me. I had to Google why I had no missions to do.

[@cheezmartian]

I did a play through recently and had to do the same thing 😂

[@fritspas]

I prefer the "you figure it out" design to the handholding in more recent GTA games. If I do get stuck in a game, I just look it up online, but atleast it gives me a chance to think of my own way of tackling a problem.

[@yttanel]

Yeah one issue i had, is how to progress after the Vercetti Estate asset because English for me wasnt that good back in the day, so i pretty much got stuck trying to figure out what to do

[@reddragon4176]

When I played it for the first time I didn't knew that the Strip Club, Cherry Popper and Boatyard had missions, went through the entire sunshine autos vehicle list to progress with missions.

[@SOM-v4o]

Wait. So you didn't need to buy those assets to complete the game?

[@just_kubi]

Great video and exactly what I hated while finally playing through Vice City Definitive Edition few weeks ago. Funniest thing they did not fix any of these issues in the remaster

[@crushbeast29]

99.9% of people who play vice city aren't speedrunners. It's not as good when you play the same game for thousands of hours wearing away the fun. That's on you.

[@tienanhhoang6004]

I'm playing Vice city and every thing you said are totally true. Past the Vercetti estate I had to constantly go to yt to find where to get missions cus i don't remember the assets location. Now I've done all other assets (I think) except for the strip club and still having no idea how to get it's mission. If I haven't seen your vid I would have to get a playthrough vid and find it out the hard way

[@sachimi_ggz]

The 14 yo me tells you he figured out all this without guide or internet and was very intuitive

[@theRobson0908]

I think the biggest problem with vc is the pacing in the final act and relative low story density

[@BardockPOL]

Being able to finish Demolition Man in the first run pretty much everytime I played Vice City (and I play every couple of years since it's been released) is one of my biggest achievements in VC :D Had no idea about the mayhem calculation in the Mitch Baker's mission though

[@MuseBySecrecy]

All I can imagine people get stuck on is not knowing the left and right bumpers turn the helicopter. I remember 1000 years ago when I first played the game, trying to turn the helicopter with the analog stick.

[@devangnivatkar2649]

As a teen / young adult, I played San Andreas before Vice City. With the Zero missions fresh on my mind, I noped out of Vice City the moment I saw Demolition Man. Downloaded a 100% save and did nothing but free roam after that. I completed Vice City 100% just a few years ago

[@joxidearmageddonator882]

None of this stuff bothered me, I got the game when it was released when I was 13 and I don't recall having any issue with Demolition Man and I knew that Avery's missions were optional. Helps I had a PC to google stuff I guess. The only bit that I was stuck on for a while was the mission Death Row

[@Alexis.784]

I remember playing VC when i was little, i passed demolition man first try actually, it was hard as hell but didn't care about it then, but when i ran out of marker missions, i really got stuck thinking there was nothing else to do so i stoped playing, it wasn't until 4 years later that i realised you were supposed to buy assets and do missions on them, i felt incredibly stupid back then.

[@jessinomicon]

Your complaints about the bugs never being fixed on the PC version - whilst valid - are very funny when you compare Vice City to the absolute clusterfuck of the Steam version of Manhunt which is still for sale and launches with anti-piracy measures active and *still* hasn't been fixed by Rockstar

[@ovidiuz34]

7:10 I never understood the point of that pre-cutscene with the Limo spawning before the actual cutscene.

[@MuseBySecrecy]

Because the limo isn’t there before the cutscene starts. 😊

[@pegassiinfernus7743]

Vice City was really the first game for me. My friend brought me a bootleg version of the game which combained Vice City and NFS Underground. But i didnt beat the game after 6 years later but yeah i have beaten it multiple times in many different ports.

[@GardettoJones]

Man, I remember failing that RC heli mission so many times. It was a beiotch. It was much easier on my more recent play-through. I loved VC, not perfect, but a great game! Spent MANY countless hours playing that on PS2. "This is just like training!" - VCPD Officer