Grand Theft Auto 3's Strange Little Spots

I always thought I was weird because for as long as I can remember I had a fascination with abandoned/strange/lonely places in video game maps from the 2000s. Now the maps are very polished, very designed, but there was a time where video games had those " design flaws" that resulted in strange places forgotten by the player and always generated a certain magnetism in me

I really like this type of video you make. These areas in older games are pretty cool. Also appreciating the 4:3 and standard def game footage

5:58 The mission "Patriot Playground" has checkpoints all over this area. Though yeah, the mission itself is pretty obscure because it does not appear on the minimap. You will just have to know to enter the Patriot (Hummer like car) that is parked next to the SupaSave store.

The best part of this game is the ambience. I used to fall asleep to the noise of the city as a kid.

8:22 Believe me, they have the means to warm themselves and the player even without the package.

Fun fact: There is evidence that the hobos in the train tunnel are a remnant of a cut character who would give missions to the player named Darkel who would lead the pack of hobos. It probably explains why there isn't more there, as there was initially meant to be a story side character there.

Tons of respect for using the PS2 version with the standard 4:3 definition. It really brings the game back to its original vision.

The canonical reason Claude can't swim in GTA3 is that the water is too polluted.

There’s something so special about GTA III’s design and art style that was never quite matched in later entries and I can’t seem to figure out what it is. Either way I love it and it’s one of the reasons why it’s my favorite in the series.

The area north of Salvatore's mansion is a leftover from earlier stages of development. If you look at early versions of the map, there was a small peninsula there jutting out to the northeast. There was a power plant there, though no proper screenshots of it exist as far as I know (other than a top-down wireframe render). It seems that once that entire area was cut, Rockstar just "fixed" it by placing a bunch of big concrete blocks there instead.

That rooftop next to Luigi's club is one of the earliest of these places I found when I first played GTA 3. It's a great spot for rampages because nobody except the helicopters can get to you up there. Also the water around Liberty City is so weird because shortly before the game there was a massive oil spill. Rockstar had an online version of the Liberty City news up a while back and one of the stories was about an oil tanker spilling a crapload of oil in the waters around the city. The unnamed mayor just said "don't try swimming in it or you'll die".

Seeing other ppl appreciating this somewhat niche, yet compelling genre of video is pretty satisfying. Stay tasteful my friends

01:00 "something about these just feels sad..." ---is about to get his block knocked off by a rando with a baseball bat

9:17 wow, I wasn't aware GTA 3 had a skybox that beautiful and colorful! Your never really in a location where you can witness the sunrise in that game

GTA Liberty City Stories was my first GTA and I spent a lot of time exploring the obscure areas you show in this video. On the beach next to Sal's mansion spawns a BF Injection which is a pretty rare car in the game. Also I'm pretty sure the ending takes place at the lighthouse island nearby. It's nice that some of these inconspicuous little spots earned a purpose in the LCS prequel.

This game was so revolutionary at the time. It was so much fun. No other game has made me feel the same since.

It's really cool seeing that they just put a bunch of world in these older games. Not all spots need to have a purpose.

Luigi's stairs - There's a lot of unique spots for verticality for the curious actually. Check out the El-train to various drop offs, or even better the Amco building... Beach - Main missions "Gone Fishing" and side mission "Patriot Playground" are at leas the 2 that come to mind that take you here. Train Tunnel - very useful shortcut for "Bomb da Base: act ii" for which many of us had to play over and over and over due to 8-Ball being a wuss (also the homeless aren't drinking liquor, they've got moltovs!) Car Tunnels - You'll grow to curse them when you plan side mission "Rigged to Blow" and you have to drive a car perfectly without an ounce of damage from Portland to Shoreside or you have to get it resprayed. Not to mention the GPS glitch stuck on the Pay N Spray (on the definitive edition) that doesn't go away after this mission... Catalina's Mansion - Yes use a Colombian Cruiser to get in but also you don't need another car to jump on the ambulance--typical trick to get around many other places Airports - plenty I'm sure -Just Cause 2 for one. The vast empty bounds I think make a lot of sense, a good way to make the game feel vast and unbounded to most regular non-explorers. My spot picks off the top of my head: Amco rooftops, Sawmill rooftops, St. Marks various back alleys with ramps and such, odd stairway to the sea north of Phil's compound, church cemetery, casino roof, & Staunton SW parking lot & underground lot. Plenty more I'm sure, like the Shoreside cliffside tunnels you can't access.

There is a side mission taking place on the beach and mountains around Salvatore's house, it's a vehicle mission called Patriot Playground and it counts towards 100% completion. You need to get into the Patriot vehicle in front of the Super Save store that's south of Salvatore's house. It's actually a lot of fun, you need to collect 15 quest markers around the mountains and beaches in a time limit and you need to control the truck very carefully but at the same time it's actually very relaxing. I definitely remember some markers being at the very edge of the cliffs behind Salvatore's house! I think a lot of people consider it one of the hardest side missions but I liked it.

This video and another video called 'That GTA3 feeling' are brilliant pieces of GTA3 liminality analysis