So Long San Andreas
Posted by: j_john | From: June 19, 2005
Our Experience With Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.
Mike: A couple of years ago John Afryl and I finished GTA: Vice City together in a moment of triumphant revenge. We were very excited to enter the new world of San Andreas and vowed to complete the game together. This turned out to be a bit of a problem when I was a little too busy to make time for gaming, which in a way led John on his quest of 100% completion.
John: Yeah, it developed into a way for me to explore the game and all of its side quests, waiting to play the main missions when Mike was available. I knew the game was huge, and it just seemed to make sense to see as much as possible. Plus, I obtained these weird British cheat magazines which contained valuable photo assistance so I could do things like "spray 100 gang tags" "collect all the oysters and horseshoes" and "complete all 70 unique jumps."
Mike: The side quests had two real benefits. One, it made John a much better player and he learned the maps. And two, the character gained access to better health, better weapons and vehicles, and eventually even became fireproof. This makes it sound like I was some kind of deadbeat partner, off on fancy dates with my lady while John toiled to complete vigilante missions. And while that is mostly true, I will take credit for making our little C.J. an incredibly rich man.
John: It was evident early into our time in SA that we were going to go deep. I remember coming home from work one night and Mike and Pete had been making a spreadsheet to keep track of the winners and losers at the off-site horserace-betting place. This financial success allowed us to buy anything we wanted, and made every reference to CJ's cut-scene character needing to make money all the more hilarious. Within a couple weeks after landing in San Andreas we were already a multi-millionaire.
Mike: Pete was a monster on getting the gang territories. As we started building up the powerbase for our Grove Street Families gang we had to take over more territory from both the Ballas and the Vagos in Los Santos. I remember coming in to find Pete owning almost the entire city, with C.J. dressed in nothing but his tighty-whities. Pretty amazing. The costume changes really added a new dramatic element to the game. We started as a petty street thug, buying new sneakers and gold chains, and then when the shit hit the fan and we had to hang out in the hills for a while we wore a wife-beater, trucker hat, and boots. We started dressing a little more preppy in San Fierro and finally we went all out in the sin city of Las Venturas. By the time we returned home to Grove Street we had a mix of all these styles which also felt very UrbanHonking. Green converse shoes to remind us of the Grove Street gang colors, the trusty blue jeans, a great suit jacket and tie from the Las Venturas days, and topped off with the flamboyant pink mohawk from San Fierro.
John: I've been trying to remember all that we've done in the game over the past 9 months, and mostly what sticks out are all of the hours I spent trying to master incredibly complicated side-missions. For instance, I dedicated an entire day once to getting past the attack helicopter mission at the flight school. When I finally accomplished my task I was more relieved than celebratory. Another memorably frustrating experience found me performing restart after restart for an auto race, probably trying it over 50 times. The weird part of my final total stats are realizing that even though it says it took me just under 134 hours to get 100% I actually played the game *well* over 200 hours. I honestly hope I don't ever try to do something this completist again--well perhaps I will if it involves not committing well over a half-year of my life.
Mike: The time it takes to just finish the game, to say nothing of the ridiculous attempt to get 100%, is astounding. I don't think I know anyone else who has ever completed Grand Theft Auto 3 (Liberty City--a much smaller game than SA), much less Vice City or San Andreas on 100%. On my own I'd probably never make it out of the first area. There is just too much you can do in a free-form game and I get way too much enjoyment out of betting on horse races, racing cars, and jumping off buildings. Watching and participating in this adventure has raised my own level of gaming and also my respect for John. John Afryl is my gaming mentor, a true master player who I can learn a lot from.
John: This could be an incredibly sad acknowledgement, but I don't think I've ever been this dedicated to one single task. I suppose there are school, athletic, and filmmaking accomplishments that fill me with a much, much greater sense of pride, but it's still rewarding to know that I tackled this challenge and didn't back down. I think of all the time the developers spent making the game (years) and this project has been my way to show my appreciation. Completists like me are the reason that many a Rockstar employee stayed up all night playtesting and fixing numerous bugs. Now I'm totally excited about playing a new game--in fact, I've already logged over 7 hours in Metal Gear Solid 3...ahh videogames.
No, there wasn't anything special--although I did forget to do one small thing before completing the last mission (which I had to take care of after the credits rolled)...so I could finish it again, but I doubt I'd receive any bonuses. I'm done!
Posted by: J_John at June 20, 2005 12:41 AM
I've always felt sad after I finish any GTA. Especially after GTA3 i felt so sad that I cried a little. I dont know, I usually cry after touchy movie or a novel, even when music gets me. This game is something huge, it has always been, otherwise it couldn't make me emotional about it. Especially in San Anreas, music seems most singinifical part of the game, audio folder is 3.5 gigs, and it makes game colossaly big.
You passed "sub" missions and achievemetns before last mission, I tried, but I'm always like: I'll get it done after I pass all the missions, but at the end, it make me so sad that I wont se all the characters that I have to uninstall the game untill I burst i tears :)
Greets guys, and congrats......hope you don't thim I'm loonatic :)
Posted by: tomashin at July 23, 2005 9:28 AM
your r the koolest guy i ever met i dont think i could ever beat the game 100 percent i thank i will start trying to beat it now!!!
Posted by: pooker rebbigely at May 25, 2007 9:33 AM
i can't really be bothered completing san andreas again. (i did once but i accidently deleted it... oops!)
the hardest part for me is driving school! i am not so good with cars (except doing stunts) but im excellent at biking.
Posted by: Deji at December 19, 2007 7:31 PM
Dude that's awesome! I barely have 96.67% in the game. Oh and by the way I'm typing in my brand new typing machine, my "PSP". It has everything: Internet, screen protectors, 8 gig memory card(which was $40, pretty cheap), the new camera, extended battery(lasts about 36 hours), oh and it's the new thinner silver PSP.I wanna get that new game "GTA 4" Its got bad ass graphics. I got 500 songs on my PSP. My PSP is version 3.80. Bad ass motherf@#king PSP!
Posted by: Tony at December 23, 2007 10:50 PM
You know I found the 100 spray tags, 50 photo shoots, 50 horse shoes, 50 oysters, and Unique stunts by using the internet on my PSP. But my hardest challenge was the bike race on Mount Chiliad. I still haven't beat it. It's f@#king hard. Have you discovered that huge plane in Las Vegas. It's called the "AT-400". lt's in a big garage in the airport. Just stand in front of it. Wait for it to open, and there it is. I have $999999999 in the game seriously. Not by using cheats. I went to a betting shop.
Posted by: Tony at December 23, 2007 11:14 PM
In Las Vegas theres a plane. Its in a huge garage in the airport. Just get in front of it, wait for it to open, and there it is. I have $999999999. No cheats. I just went to a betting shop, and betted all my cash which wuz about $10000000. And my horse won. And all my cash wuz suddenly multiplying.WTF! I didn't know that could happen. And I have all my guns w/ so many bullets it doesn't show you tha number.Including the minigun. I found it in Toreno's ranch after I beat the missions there.
Posted by: Tony at December 23, 2007 11:32 PM
Remember the mission "Monster"and "HiJack". In that same ranch is where I found the minigun. If you have internet go to www.youtube.com and put "San Andreas awesome coinsidence".It's a cool video! There's a dude playin' GTA and, it's just crazy. You have to watch it. There are lots of other places where you can find the minigun.
Posted by: Tony at December 23, 2007 11:43 PM
Have you played GTA Vice City? You know that radio station "V Rock"? In San Andreas there's a V Rock Hotel(it's where you find a horse shoe and an oyster). It must have taken you a long ass time to get 100% in GTA. I barely have 96.67%. Just 3.33% away. What could be worth 3.33% You're lucky you beat the whole game. Well it's 1:57 in the morning, see you later and Merry Christmas. Just write back.
Posted by: Tony at December 24, 2007 12:00 AM
Do you remember where Catalina lived(CJ's exgirlfriend)? Somewhere around her house there is a shovel by the shovel there are three graves.The three graves are Catalina's exboyfriends. You know that place in Las Vegas where all the planes are crashed? Go all the way West until you reach the street. There is a place w/ houses and a "BF injection". Go south as if going to the army but then go west. Behind some tall mountain rocks "whatever" there is a truck. By the truck there's a wide hole.
Posted by: Tony at December 24, 2007 12:16 AM
My bad ran out of space. So as I was sayin', by the truck there's a wide hole. In that hole there are several coffins. I'm not sure why they're there. You know that huge satellite in the desert part of Las Vegas? It's on a mountain I think. OK the satellite is resting on a box looking building. In one of the corners there is a truck called the "Sand King". If it's not there you have to get far away from the place, and come back.
Posted by: Tony at December 24, 2007 12:28 AM
My bad ran out of space. So as I was sayin', by the truck there's a wide hole. In that hole there are several coffins. I'm not sure why they're there. You know that huge satellite in the desert part of Las Vegas? It's on a mountain I think. OK the satellite is resting on a box looking building. In one of the corners there is a truck called the "Sand King". If it's not there you have to get far away from the place, and come back.
Posted by: Luis at December 24, 2007 12:30 AM
eyy dude, thats awesome that you completed 100% of San Andreas. "This could be an incredibly sad acknowledgement, but I don't think I've ever been this dedicated to one single task." lol may be true but i think its awesome that you did it. i might work on doing it also but i don't know if i'd be dedicated enough. theres already one thing im having trouble with and that's getting 100% of territory under control. it says i have 60 territories, 98.15% under control, but there are no territories left that i can see anyway, and it says second biggest gang Los Santos Vagos : 1. does that mean there is one vagos gang member walking around somewhere?? :S wtf?
anywho, good work!
P.S. i assume you didn't but did you use any cheats whatsoever? oh and one more thing, i guess that "hoo-rider" would be your rank or whatever, i have that also, but what does the number underneath it mean?
Posted by: VINCE at January 21, 2008 6:26 PM
**my bad, 60 territories taken over, 53 held. so theres one vagos territory but i cannot see it!
Posted by: VINCE at January 21, 2008 6:51 PM
NEVERMIND i JUST found that territory lol bayside marina, jeez, i can't believe i missed that for like months i couldn't find it. wow. im so happy now.. although i feel kinda stupid. i never thought of looking there.
Posted by: VINCE at January 21, 2008 7:02 PM
Hey this is Tony again now I have 100%. I beat GTA 3, Vice City, San Andreas, Liberty City Stories, & Vice City Stories. Now I'm waiting for GTA 4 on PS3. The hardest game was San Andreas but I somehow beat it!
Posted by: Tony at January 22, 2008 5:22 PM
You cried cuz u beat a game? If I was you I'd be glad.Sissy
Posted by: Elisabeth at January 29, 2008 7:05 PM
Hey remember me, U ain't the only one who beat San Andreas 100%. I had to start over but its all good. Did you know u don't have to do all 70 unique stunts. I was planning on doing 'em last and when I just had 99.47% I had found the last oyster and I beat it.
Posted by: Tony at February 17, 2008 8:05 PM
Congratulations! Were there any kind of special acknowledgements, like bonus cutscenes, for finishing with 100 percent?
Posted by: curt at June 19, 2005 5:46 PM