6 Years of GTA IV – Roman and Niko are dead

In a 2008 a new dynamic open world action-adventure  was added to the already popular line of GTA Titles. This edition changed the way the game was seen.  Though impressive changes in the Graphic engine, Physics, character development and set in a highly explorable detailed world. That game was GTA IV, and it was going to break records, and become very popular for Rockstar Games.

It was released 6 years ago today on 29 April 2008 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles. It became the eleventh title in the Grand Theft Auto series, and the first main entry since Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas for years prior in 2004. Grand Theft Auto IV was highly anticipated preceding its release. The Game quickly sold millions of copies on release, and to date as sold over 25 Million copies. Not bad for a game that started as a 2 dimensional birds eye view game of shooting people, blowing up cars and pulling off small missions in a tiny map in the original version of Liberty City.

 Development began shortly following the release of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. Upon its release, the game was acclaimed by many reviewers who praised its story missions, setting, and updates from previous games in the series. A commercial success, Grand Theft Auto IV broke industry sales records by earning US $500 million in the first week of its release.

The rest of this article is not going to be what you’ve expected to hear. But please understand this is a possibility, and may upset so of you. To be clear this is about the Time line, not the actual playability of the game. Which is still a very playable game by many even today!

IF YOU HAVE NOT PLAYED GTA V STORY MODE.

BE WARNED THIS IS A SPOILER AHEAD AREA!

Many people want to know what has happened in the world of Liberty City since moving on to GTA V. Well, an enormous storm causing catastrophic flood that has engulfed the city. People died, that bum who told you that your ass was to big.. He died, the citizens that screamed at the slightest random event you would cause.. You name it. Just straight up many of the citizens from Liberty Died.  Except Johnny Klebitz, he moved to Los Santos and the Alamo Sea with the  Lost Chapter.. But then he eventually died at the hands.. or foot per-say of Trevor Phillips. And if you felt devious enough you ran over and killed Ashley as she mourned the tweaker coward that Johnny had become.

If you managed to not scare off Packie McReary, while Playing as Franklin Clinton. You would encounter Packie during a random event, while he was performing a robbery. If you acted as the get away driver, you would make a contact of him for heists. During the monologue, during the encounter you would have heard a few conversations about Liberty City and the flood. Then later from Packie while using him for a Heist Mission(s) in Story Mode. One of the conversations is rather lengthy about Packie background in Liberty City, which eludes to his Bank Robbery with Niko Bellic. He makes a vague statement about Niko probably being dead, or in Jail or both. He seemed some what unsure. Since the Liberty City we know is many years prior to the timeline of GTA V (NOT THE RELEASE DATE). It stands to reason Niko has been killed at last, and is unable to re-spawn at the hospital any more. R.I.P. Niko, you’ve ticked off your last cop, or picked a fight with the Chihuahua Hotdog vendor for  the last time.. “You can’t beat our meat!” That Vendor probably brought you to your demise with food poisoning. It’s not unusual for GTA or even other Rockstar Characters to die off and never be heard from again. They are forever trapped in their respective re-playable game title.  I can’t speak just for myself  here, but after 6 years alone, I’m still up for playing GTA IV. So this death is not about the game, but a living timeline of characters.

It’s still a very likable and enjoyable game. I have very fond memories of Joining Rockstar Games Social Club events and either just chatting it up with a great community of player, or getting into large matches and busting caps into some skulls. I’ve worn out a couple of mice an keyboards playing GTA IV story mode – Multiplayer or just by Crafting Videos in the video editor built into the PC version. [For clarification, the PC version came out months later, December 2nd 2008.] The Console Versions never supported a Video editor. It’s to taxing on consoles. But none the less, I’ve played GTA IV on Xbox, PS3 and PC. So can’t say I wasn’t enjoying every minute of the game that I could.

Now as for the Characters in Liberty City, there’s additional characters that seems to have escaped the Demise in Liberty City, and that’s Brucie Kibbutz, Michelle/Karen, Rocco Pelosi. Even Marnie Allen from GTA IV made it to Los Santos to become part of story line. Each of them make an appearance of one kind or an other through. However Brucie’s more of a contact for you, You can call that bad up anytime in GTA V Online and get yourself a dose of Bull Shark Testosterone. “Be generically different!”

When [Chicago Enigma] asked me to write a “comment” about the 6 year anniversary of Grand Theft Auto IV I knew he was in for more than he bargained for. I’m a long winded writer and my feelings on the game, not to mention the fat Serbian pervert I portrayed in the game, are varied and complicated. But let’s start here.

ROMAN IS DEAD

I say this because the other way around, with Niko’s girlfriend dying or whatever, was just not satisfying enough. No. In order for the epic that is Grand Theft Auto IV to serve the audience the full scope they deserve, they must lose someone they truly care about. Or in the least desperately want dead after about a thousand phone calls requesting bowling, darts, strip clubs and of course, the occasional rescue. Which is why, in my not so humble opinion, the player gets the worst fate possible when he makes the weak decision to “reconcile” not seek the oh so manly “revenge”.

So, Roman is dead and that is that.

I’ve got to be honest. I had no idea I would be writing this 6 after GTA IV was released. I’m impressed. Not just by how enduring the game is, especially after the fantastic Part V came out last year, but by how loyal the fans of the franchise are to the character I had the pleasure of playing.

Being a part of the gaming community keeps giving me greater and greater opportunities and I’d be remiss to heap anything but praise and thankfulness on the experience and those involved. Without it I wouldn’t have embarked on my most recent endeavor “Too Old For This Shit”, a YouTube Channel where myself and fellow Voice Actor Oliver Vaquer (Robert Lutece from the insanely successful Bioshock: Infinite) play video games, film ourselves and act like total jackasses. Which I assure you, we most certainly are.

You can check that out here.

https://www.youtube.com/user/toooldforthissh1t

You can find me at twitter.com/JasonZumwalt and you can always reach out and ask if I’d like to go bowling. The answer is “No. No, I do not.” But you can always ask.

Here’s to 6 more years.

Jason “Roman Bellic”  Zumwalt

It’s entirely possible Roman may re-spawn at a hospital… or not! – RSN

And with that we’ll leave some other trinkets to review such as the first to 4th Videos before the release of Grand Theft Auto IV.

If you know these streets better than the city you live in.. You might be addicted to GTA