(LOVE Magazine) Rockstar says the “American Dream” in GTA6 is more modest than in previous GTA games, owning a house, supporting a family and paying off loans rather than achieving extreme wealth.

[u/Noirsam]

https://www.gtavice.net/news/love-magazine-new-gta-6-details-on-jason-lucia-raul-npcs-satire-and-the-making-of-leonida

Humphries (Senior Vice President of Narrative) suggested that today's version might be considerably more modest than the traditional fantasy of becoming extraordinarily wealthy.

"Maybe the American Dream is more modest now. It's a house for your family and your loans paid off instead of wild success—but maybe today, that's just as out of reach for the average person."

[u/Dundore77]

Instead of buying all the property, you get into crime to afford to rent a 2 bed room apartment with no walkablity and groceries.

[u/Charmin_Bear_Behind → u/Dundore77]

Jason and Lucia have to deal with a food desert and constantly get fatter and fatter eating fast food unless you manually take them to healthier options

[u/yuefairchild → u/Dundore77]

Saints Row (2022)

[u/CookieSkank → u/Dundore77]

Thats what the Founding Fathers foresaw, fought for, and believed in!

[u/DustInTheBreeze]

... This seems sad. Like, your super duper amoral crimelord fantasy is paying off your homeloans. "Don't dream of getting out of the rat race, just dream of being a runner up!"

[u/FluffyFluffies → u/DustInTheBreeze]

Yeah it's sounds way more dire but also super interesting compared to GTAVs whole old rich scumfuck Michael trading stock to own a golf course thing.

[u/ap992626 → u/FluffyFluffies]

Also GTA 4 was about an immigrant veteran of a horrific Eastern European war desperately trying to move up in the world and the end of the game hits him with a devastating loss no matter what he chooses.

GTA has already proven itself to break the crimelord fantasy before to comment on the illusion of American dream

[u/walperinus → u/ap992626]

and cj doesnt become a proper businessman, around halfway point of the story? and is a proper clean business, instead of a front to do drugs or something in the back

[u/BookkeeperPercival → u/walperinus]

Yeah, when CJ picks up Sweets out of prison he hits him with, "We don't need to go back to the Grove, I'm a multimillionaire. We can go anywhere."

[u/Chumunga64 → u/walperinus]

san andreas is great cause it goes from boyz n the hood to mission impossible back to boyz n the hood

[u/Tzeentch711 → u/walperinus]

As much as having partial ownership of a triads-run casino is clean.

[u/AzureKingLortrac → u/ap992626]

The ones with happy endings are the trio from V, CJ from SA, Tommy from Vice City, and Luis from Gay Tony.

Claude from III has wiped out most of the organizated crime in Liberty City and is alone outside of maybe Maria. Toni from LCS is stuck in middle place and never really gets any higher in the mob (which Claude dismantles in III). Vic from VCS and Johnny from Lost and the Damned meet pretty pathetic ends in later games in the timeline after failing to leave the criminal life.

So it is really half and half.

Edit: Nico is honestly both, since his game ends on a sad note but some blogs in GTAV do imply that Nico may have some success with Roman's Taxi company and he may have turned his life around.

[u/JamSa → u/ap992626]

A lot of GTA IV's theme is "money doesn't make you happy" which is an OK theme when told through someone as amoral as Nico but it's not going to be a very hard hitting theme in the modern age when we all want money because we know it will make us happier.

[u/walperinus → u/JamSa]

''money doesnt bring happiness, but it pays the rent//but i would prefer to cry in a ferrari or my own home/appartement''

[u/Grimbledorf → u/FluffyFluffies]

Y'know I heard someone say once that when the Boomers were growing up their dream were becoming millionaire rockstars who own mansions and buy whatever they want, and the dreams for millennials and zoomers are just being able to own a home without fretting over bills.

[u/PR0MAN1 → u/FluffyFluffies]

But with Michael doesn't it show that life is incredibly hollow and meaningless. Sure he has the wife, kids, nice house, etc. but NONE of it is fulfilling. His wife hates him, his kids hate him, and all the fancy things bring him absolutely no satisfaction at all.

I guess you can say it brings the PLAYER satisfaction to have the nice house in-game, but the character has everything and is still fucking miserable.

[u/MetalGearSlayer → u/DustInTheBreeze]

And unfortunately that’s a pretty realistic motivation for crime in America (when you’re not a billionaire or politician that is)

[u/JDLovesElliot → u/DustInTheBreeze]

Now it's Animal Crossing with guns

[u/nerankori]

Gone are the days of walking into a glowing circle in front of a property and paying it off in one go

[u/Charmin_Bear_Behind → u/nerankori]

Every time you go to walk into the circle you’re informed that black rock just purchased the property in cash at 50% above the listed price

[u/skydoominion → u/Charmin_Bear_Behind]

You see the listing price and as you press buy after hours of grinding for that sweet one bedroom apartment you're told it's just the down payment, and every week you'll be paying to the bank

[u/Charmin_Bear_Behind → u/skydoominion]

Also the listing photos were AI generated and the one window in the bedroom doesn’t actually have a park view but instead faces the brick wall of the adjacent apartment with about one foot of clearance between the buildings

[u/Spartan448 → u/Charmin_Bear_Behind]

TBF that one's on you as the buyer, you ALWAYS inspect before you close.

[u/skydoominion → u/Charmin_Bear_Behind]

After months of living there you find out your cool stoner neighbour who barely works somehow is paying less overall than you are

[u/Charmin_Bear_Behind → u/skydoominion]

Turns out the neighbor is Jimmy who’s rich from Michael’s white collar crimes in Hollywood and got a rent stabilized unit that one of his buddies was in for 20 years after the friend decided to move back to Los Santos

[u/Kazadaz → u/nerankori]

Walk into the glowing circle to give us your phone number and email, and receive information about future promotions from us and our partners!

[u/HatingGeoffry]

Sign of the fucking times, man. Next GTA the goal will be renting a studio apartment and maybe having enough money to feed a cat

[u/MetalGearSlayer → u/HatingGeoffry]

“Your cat can eat a piece of plastic and require a $2000 stomach pumping if you don’t clean your safehouse” will be GTA7s equivalent of the shrinking horse balls

[u/Charmin_Bear_Behind → u/HatingGeoffry]

Don’t forget the DLC that removes the cat because your lease was updated not to allow pets and you’re not getting your deposit back because of the damage from the cat you had before the lease was changed

[u/SwashNBuckle]

Feels bad, man

[u/Gorotheninja]

Can't wait for GTA 6 Online!

Compete with other players to see who can pay off child support the fastest!

[u/Totally_a_boy → u/Gorotheninja]

If LTG is anything to go by, who will NOT play child support the fastest.

[u/Charmin_Bear_Behind]

Absolutely thrilled with the idea of Lucia and Jason paying off student loans in an animal crossing style bank deposit.

Now when you die and respawn at the hospital instead of a small sum being deducted you get letters in the mail and compounding interest to the orders of 6 figures

Instead of getting better property over the course of the game Jason has to downsize and sells the house and moves back in with his mom who constantly calls him to run errands like Roman and bowling from 4

[u/FattimusSlime → u/Charmin_Bear_Behind]

Jason starts pissing blood and has to make a doctor’s appointment, then gets to go to a urologist who says the cause is likely a kidney stone. They schedule a CT scan to find out where and how large it is. The radiologist says they don’t see anything.

But whoops! In the middle of a heist, suddenly Jason is overcome with pain and can’t run, resulting in him being tasered and arrested. During his hospitalization, a subsequent CT scan shows a 5mm kidney stone that needs to be broken up with lasers during a ureteroscopy, with the staff constantly saying “how did they miss that in the first scan??”

Anyway, that first radiologist misreading the CT scan has now resulted in about $40,000 in bills just due to the hospitalization and an additional $30k for the procedure, so once Jason is out of prison, he’ll need to do even more crime to pay his new medical debt off.

Anyway that’s the tutorial, according to my uncle who works at Nintendo.

[u/Charmin_Bear_Behind → u/FattimusSlime]

The second mission is just Lucia explaining to Jason that all the local doctors are out of network with his HMO so you have to drive across the entire map to the one clinic that accepts your insurance but the next appointment isn’t for another year, and the big twist is at the end of the game you can forget about the appointment you made and missing it auto locks you to the bad ending where you’re billed a fee ontop of the copay and have to rebook for another half a year out but by then the stones have returned and formed a complete blockage and Jason has to have the kidney removed.

[u/ap992626 → u/FattimusSlime]

I see GTA is taking inspiration from Super Eyepatch Wolf's life now

[u/FattimusSlime → u/ap992626]

then call me Super Eyepatch Wolf because I’m gonna be paying that shit off for years. Also, morphine doesn’t do shit for kidney stones, but being pumped full of it for a weekend will give you crazy constipation.

[u/Yotato5 → u/Charmin_Bear_Behind]

Will they do a silly little dance after paying off their loans?

[u/Charmin_Bear_Behind → u/Yotato5]

Always.

Live footage of Lucia after paying off her loans

https://youtu.be/022CdArz5oM?is=rM15yojXRB4Wtdeh

Jason is the one with the guitar

[u/Thorn14]

The rich people shit is being saved for GTA Online.

[u/mythrilcrafter → u/Thorn14]

GTA 6 Story: Rob a bank so you can afford your mortgage

GTA Online: Use you're personal F-35 launched from your personal mega yacht (along with the help of all your friends who have the same) to blow up people in order to stop them from being able to afford a down payment on a house.

[u/NortherneWynd → u/Thorn14]

"you wanna get rich? make us rich"

[u/Noirsam]

Building and owning a house was a major high point of Red Dead Redemption 2, so I aprrove

Edit: Other fun info from LOVE.

- Lucia was written with an immigrant background and was conceived as someone raised around Newark/New Jersey, near Liberty City, before her story takes her to Leonida.

- Lucia was written as somebody determined to build a better life for herself who refuses to let obstacles stop her.

: D

- Rockstar says its Florida research included conversations with locals, police and gang members, with some of the stories they heard described as “terrifying.”

They did the same with GTA 5

The whole ''Yee Yee Ass Haircut'' line could only be writen after a conversations with gang members.

[u/MetalGearSlayer → u/Noirsam]

There’s a lot of conversations between Franklin and Michaels actors Solo and Ned Luke (especially lately since Ned’s been having a bunch of GTA5 cast guest in his latest playthrough) that also confirm a lot of Franklin and Lamar dialogue was completely adlibbed as they inserted more authenticity into their roles.

Solo mentioned “I can take care of my sizzelf” and “no you cizzaint!” confused the writers when they said it during recording.

I hope Lucia and Jason’s actors have some good moments of going “let me cook” in this one too.

[u/Dmbender → u/Noirsam]

An actual instance where I can say "she's just like me frfr" lmao

[u/WoolooOfWallStreet → u/Noirsam]

You think there will ever be an “Orlando-ish” DLC?
They already have models for dolphins and orcas to have Sea World parodies
And I bet a lot of people would pay good money to have a Blicky Mouse costume

[u/Auctoritate → u/Noirsam]

Lucia was written with an immigrant background and was conceived as someone raised around Newark/New Jersey, near Liberty City, before her story takes her to Leonida.

• Lucia was written as somebody determined to build a better life for herself who refuses to let obstacles stop her.

I don't want to be negative but 'Immigrant, works hard' is like the most uninspired character concept. I hope they have more cooking for the 2 MCs that just "couple of random people doing crimes"

[u/Noirsam → u/Auctoritate]

To be fair Alexa is going from her own experience.

ALEXA D'AGOSTINO (Game Writer):
When it came to writing Lucia, I thought of the women I know—my mother was an immigrant who grew up in Newark, New Jersey, close to Lucia's hometown of Liberty City. I thought about the way she raised me: rowdy, kind, but not to take any shit.

I related a lot to Lucia and writing her came very naturally to me. There are many badass women like her, just as there are many men like Jason. We just focused on capturing that.

When you are focusing on writing a fully realised person with their own wants, you're going to get something perfectly imperfect—with clichés, but also undeniably real. That's how you get a woman that can stand tall next to the likes of Arthur Morgan and Niko Bellic.

[u/Auctoritate → u/Noirsam]

To be fair Alexa is going from her own experience.

I mean, that's fine. But "Rowdy, kind, doesn't take any shit" is also one of the most generic ways to develop this character archetype.

Like, I live in an immigrant community. This isn't an unrealistic character. If they just want a very basic everyday person for their character then they're achieving that well enough, I've met a million people like this. But it really is the most basic in that regard. They need to put in some leg work to developing her over the story to keep her engaging.

[u/yakityyakblahtemp → u/Auctoritate]

Latin immigrant in Florida, yeah what possible angle could you take on that?

[u/Auctoritate → u/yakityyakblahtemp]

I didn't say you couldn't take it in any interesting directions, I said it's uninspired. You could take a piece of whole grain wheat bread in interesting directions.

[u/Lieutenant_Joe → u/Auctoritate]

Isn’t that literally the conceit of Niko in GTA IV? I mean it also includes an incredibly sordid past, but it’s not like it’s not something they’ve made work really well in the past.

[u/Nyadnar17]

No we gotta hit them NOW! If we don't bring the 10% down payment to the bank before close of business Friday interest rates are gonna spike and then we fucked. Do you hear me?! Fucked!!

[u/2t0]

Saint's Row (2022) got dogged on for even mentioning student loans before release.

[u/Noirsam → u/2t0]

Belive me...the same thing will happen with GTA 6,

It's alrady starting on youtube with the info that Lucia is an immigrant (So was Niko Bellic, but GTA 4 is from 2008, before woke was invented)

[u/BookkeeperPercival → u/Noirsam]

He was a white war criminal running for his past, that's the good kind of immigrant /s

[u/Oxyfire → u/Noirsam]

"You hate GTA6 because it's woke, I hate GTA6 because I think it will set unrealistic goals and standards for the industry, We are not the same."

[u/PR0MAN1 → u/Noirsam]

But Nikos a white slavic guy and not a hispanic woman so it doesn't count. /s

[u/ap992626 → u/2t0]

Saints Row has always been perceived as more cartoonish and over the top than GTA. Especially after how grounded GTA 4 was.

I guess people are willing to give GTA 6 more credibility in terms of dealing with these topics due to GTA 4 and Red Dead Redemption games than Saints Row

[u/Arclunite → u/2t0]

I mean Saints Row ‘22 also looked like shit so

[u/ZundeEsteed → u/Arclunite]

It also played like shit to. I don't think I have ever played a game where I would just randomly clip through the ground as much as that game. I died more times from just trying to get in a car and falling through the ground then any actual gameplay.

[u/HyperSeer → u/2t0]

I can't belive people hated going from whacky criminals to cringe teenagers. 

[u/oilfloatsinwater]

Soon the american dream will be not getting replaced by AI and successfully paying off loans for a phone or console

[u/PanseloNomad]

So when can we expect Hustle lifestyle side jobs like becoming a card game scalper?

[u/Charmin_Bear_Behind → u/PanseloNomad]

You gotta rob the delivery trucks before they get to the store like that one mission with the TVs in 4 but after you have the option to open each pack individually or just sell them all for a lump sum

[u/fiarorder]

WELP MY HOME GOT FUCKED BY ZONING LAWS SO I COMMIT CRIME TO SAVE MY HOME AND MY POOL.

[u/Totally_a_boy]

There'll be a moment which the American Dream is being able to afford food.

Actually, we might already be there, I don't live in America, but it does feel like that's the vibe.

[u/unlimitedboomstick → u/Totally_a_boy]

Pretty fucking close sometimes.  All I know is I wont be buying this on release partially due to financial reasons, 80 bucks is just a hair too much nowadays.

[u/elitegenoside → u/unlimitedboomstick]

I won't be playing because I can't afford a system that can run it

[u/Auctoritate → u/Totally_a_boy]

It's been a pretty goddamn long time since I've had steak for dinner.

[u/MinersLoveGames]

This actually has me immensely more intrigued to play the game now.

Say what you want about Rockstar or the game formula or the gameplay or what have you. But you cannot say that they do not have their fingers on the pulse of the world. GTA V and its satire of celebrity worship and the fake success of Hollywood. Red Dead 2's commentary about the effects of Westward Expansion and the growing industrialization of America.

GTA VI reeling in the perspective and being a critique of what the American Dream constitutes for people in this day and age compared to ten years ago, is something that I think is going to make waves. Especially with this story doing so from the perspectives of a veteran and an immigrant, two types of people who have infamously been sold short on what that "American Dream" is.

That's always been one of the core themes of Grand Theft Auto as a series, something the Housers themselves have said, I believe. It holds a magnifying glass up to the many different eras of the United States (the 80s with Vice City, the 90s with San Andreas, the mid-2000s with IV, and the 2010s with GTA V), and examines how "The American Dream" differs for each and every person chasing after it. More often than not,bthe measures one goes theough to achieve that dream deprive them of it even more.

Niko Bellic's idea of the American Dream differs entirely from Tommy Vercetti's, or CJ's. Meanwhile, the man who has seemingly achieved that idea of the dream, Michael, is completely miserable.

What exactly is The American Dream?

It is this broad, intangible, pie-in-the-sky idea that is sold to everyone as the measuring point for whether you're "successful" or not. The suburban house with a green lawn, white picket fence, two cars in the driveway for that married couple, with a son, daughter, and dog. That goal post has slowly been moved away, from a house, to a rental, to an apartment, to the spare bedroom in your aging parents' house.

But you just have to try harder! Don't worry! That American Dream is still reachable if you just try a little harder!

Thank you for your service, by the way. No, your trauma isn't service-related.

Thank you for moving away from the country you're familiar with, that you still might have family in, for this job that we promised you actually exists. But thing changed and we won't be able to hire you. No, we can't send you back. What do you think this is, a charity? These clubs are always hiring, why not try there?

But try a little harder, The American Dream is right there!

...

Hot damn, this turned into an essay. My bad, gang. I guess I'm just really passionate about this sort of thing, especially with how the world is these days. Suffice to say, I find the idea of chasing after something that's supposed to be "the normal" while having the goal posts moved further and further away by people, to be very relatable.

[u/FluffyFluffies → u/MinersLoveGames]

Beautifully written you should get a blog.

[u/kill_shock → u/MinersLoveGames]

Really in-depth bout GTAs core themes

[u/Foostini]

Shit, those things ARE extreme wealth these days.

[u/Dirty-Glasses]

That’s really depressing in a way I can’t put my finger on

[u/Vikinger93]

The level of escapism we aspire to in this year of our lord '26.

[u/Sperium3000]

But this game is making NO political statements whatsoever, you guys.

[u/Leonard_Church814]

Inflation has hit the world of GTA 6, damn.

[u/IAmRoofstone]

Honestly I prefer that, I was always more interested in the dirtier side of the crime fantasy, as it were.

[u/Oberon1993]

...I don't think Rockstar understands what the world "dream" means, but OK.

[u/Ubumi]

Aah the Rockstar Nightmare Engine

[u/Vect_Machine]

Well, I figure that'd tie into how in this game you don't purchase safe houses.

Granted, I don't think you purchase safe houses in V since each of the characters had personal residences.

In this case however, I assume that it's going to be like in RDR2 where you change hideouts every major story beat until you're reduced to section 8 housing or some shit.

[u/Palimpsest_Monotype]

Why do I feel like they’re saying this and the game will end up being just fart jokes and a gun that looks like a floppy dick.

GTA 5 appeared to have important things to say as part of its rollout, too.

[u/ap992626 → u/Palimpsest_Monotype]

GTA 4, RDR1 and RDR2 were much more serious and engaged with their themes with depth and their narratives were more acclaimed than 5.

GTA 6 tone in general seems to closer to those games in tone than GTA 5. Like it obviously will have jokes and some big set pieces like the games mentioned above but that doesn't mean it can't take itself seriously also

[u/Ok-Language6182 → u/ap992626]

I just hope it doesn't fall in the same trap as gta4 where the parody feels like tone whiplash compared to how dark the story is. Imo I would prefer if gta4 wasnt a gta game in name and could of gone all in on the realism tone like a mafia 1 style game

[u/FluffyFluffies → u/Palimpsest_Monotype]

RDR2 gives me more hope tbh. If they have kept the same writers this could be really good.

[u/Paladin51394 → u/Palimpsest_Monotype]

Why do I feel like they’re saying this and the game will end up being just fart jokes and a gun that looks like a floppy dick.

No, that sounds like you're describing Saints Row 3-4

[u/Palimpsest_Monotype → u/Paladin51394]

Remember the minigame in GTA5 when Michael Madsen tattoos a dick on a guy’s chest

[u/Paladin51394 → u/Palimpsest_Monotype]

Wow, a dick tattoo that Michael specifically humiliatingly tattooed onto a guy who was sexually propositioning his barely adult daughter.

[u/yakityyakblahtemp → u/Palimpsest_Monotype]

If you look at the trailers prerelease, gtav is a game about explosions primarily. This rollout is honestly a lot more focused on themes than v's was.

[u/fearjunkie → u/Palimpsest_Monotype]

They can coexist.

[u/Sperium3000 → u/Palimpsest_Monotype]

It had a collection of disparate things that it mumbled off a cheat sheet scribbled on a Taco Bell menu.

[u/Striker120v]

Gotta put in the unattainable to make it a fictional storyline. 

[u/gothamsteel]

It feels like I'm hearing everything about GTA VI except for what GTA VI is about. All I got is the Bonnie and Clyde thing and it can be business or personal with the two.

[u/yakityyakblahtemp → u/gothamsteel]

You can piece it together pretty well if you pay attention. Lucia gets out of prison, her and Jason end up with some debt. They do petty crimes that escalate into getting caught up in a conspiracy between crooked cops and that mega mundo company and end up on the run.

[u/Lil_Mcgee → u/gothamsteel]

I kinda feel like "Bonnie and Clyde inspired crime drama" is more than enough to go on in terms of what it's about at this stage. I appreciate that Rockstar keep pretty tight lipped on plot.

[u/Auctoritate → u/Lil_Mcgee]

I appreciate that Rockstar keep pretty tight lipped on plot.

Still sell pre-orders though. Tight lipped on details, open for business.

[u/ap992626 → u/Auctoritate]

Every single AAA game gets pre orders though?

Like From Software are also pretty tight lipped about their and they also have pre orders. Should we also condemn them for it too?

[u/Totally_a_boy → u/ap992626]

Yes. We should!

[u/Merc931 → u/gothamsteel]

They never actually tell you what any game is about. All we got with GTA V was "the pursuit of the all mighty dollar"

[u/gyrobot → u/Merc931]

And being your own boss doing your own shit. Note that in gtav outside of heists you never get paid for work done

[u/Bon-M93 → u/gyrobot]

Pretty sure 'Be your own boss' was the tagline for that Saints Row reboot, not GTA V

[u/BattyBeforeTwilight]

Remember this is NOT a political game because they said so!

[u/sogiotsa]

Man I just want to play gta4 again. This is so ass