Topic: Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition - out now

Ahh, that's true. Very good point, @Silly_G.😉 I hadn't thought of that.

Although, until now, we've never seen eshop keep three seriously meaty games like GTA locked as a bundle only. Or have we? I'm open to being wrong. $60 would seem steep, if you only wanted one of the games. I'm thinking they may be trilogy-exclusive for a period, then offered individually later, like around Christmas. If they don't get offered individually by christmas, feel free post a told-you-so! or, SEEEE WoomyNNYES!??😁😉

@WoomyNNYes That's true. It's usually the norm for games to be offered individually at a higher price per game as well as the bundle option and there's no reason that couldn't be the same case here. The only series I can think of off the top of my head that didn't offer the choice is the Famicom Detective Club games which are only available together in Australia/Europe despite still having their own home screen icons.

@WoomyNNYes : There have been a few games only available via bundles, but they are in the extreme minority. Ninja Gaiden Master Collection springs to mind (which is comprised of three separate units of software, not consolidated within a single launcher). Space Invaders Forever and Space Invaders Invincible Collection also include Arkanoid vs. Space Invaders, the latter being a standalone unit of software, but is not available for individual purchase.

Atelier Mysterious Trilogy includes three digital art books (separate software for each game’s art book), meaning that you get six units of software in that bundle (the Asian physical edition spawns six icons, possibly the most of any physical Switch release thus far). The art books are exclusive to the trilogy bundle and are not available separately (not even with the standalone editions of their respective games).

I have already seen that there will be at least some censorship of "offensive" material. Which is stupid for games that are supposed to be offensive to begin with. You're playing a criminal surrounded by other criminals and the games take place in the past (San Andreas is in the early 90s specifically because of race related riots at the time). If you don't like "problematic" content you shouldn't be going anywhere near the series to begin with. Especially when it's likely marketed towards people who played it when it first came out and don't have any problems with it.
I would hope that there's a censorship off toggle in the options but I highly doubt it. So I think if I am going to get the remasters it will be the PC version for which someone will surely mod the "don't treat adults like babies" back in.

@SmaggTheSmug : I was concerned about that too, though I haven’t played GTA3 and San Andreas intimately enough to be able to identify what they would have removed.

Are these games marketed to adults or perpetually indignant clown-haired crybabies?

@SmaggTheSmug I dunno, man. Are they meant to be offensive? They were pretty satirical from what I played and since satire is rather context heavy, I don't think censorship is that big a deal for some stuff that wouldn't hit these days. Which is why kids shouldn;t really be playing games like this. They tend to see it at face value and then conclude 'it's meant to be offensive' which does nothing to help them become well rounded adult human beings lol.

@Silly_G First thing noticed is Phil Cassidy's t-shirt. Apparently a redneck stereotype wearing a shirt with a confederate flag is too sensitive to some. Despite the games literally featuring racism and racist cops antagonizing blacks.

@GrailUK If you don't think a satire game about being a criminal doing stuff from stealing cars to pretty much terrorism, which has been banned or recalled in some countries and makes a lot of jokes about stereotypes isn't being intentionally offensive...
And you know these games have always had M/18+ ratings? Just because some of us played them as children doesn't mean they were made for children. Or are you one of those people who think all video games are good for a 5 year old?

Censoring offensive content from GTA would be like bleeping out swearwords in a porno.

@SmaggTheSmug Yeah, maybe you are right. I was just thinking out loud. I don't think it would lessen the game for me either way

Yeah I’m gonna do a wait and see, i do think visually the games look much nicer, the control overhaul is welcome, and QOL improvements are nice.

But i am concerned about the level of censorship that’s gonna happen. It just seems absurd to even have to say it since the entire game is a satire, irreverent, ridiculous at times, and yes offensive.

I think its a bit of an overreaction to say you wont get a game you want because they changed things. They've changed a lot of things, but who really cares about a tiny southern flag on a shirt being changed to a skull? I realize this is a bit of a Locke's Socks problem, but unless the literal intent of something has been altered then not much has changed at all. The racist character can still be a racist character.

A source on twitter is saying Nintendo are distributing this, speculation is it could be a 32GB cartridge!

We'll see.

I don't want to jump to any conclusions. The eShop file sizes have "San Andreas on cart, other two as main menus with downloads" written all over them. Any time one game has 10+ GB file size and the other two are 2GB and 100 MB, it's an indicator those other two games won't be complete on cart.

Then again, maybe the eShop is wrong.

Not that I care much either way- I've preordered digitally. But it would be a nice collector item to have all 3 on cart. Won't deny that.

https://www.target.com/p/grand-theft-auto-the-trilogy-the-def...

Here you can see the download required on the box. Maybe it is a mistake but I think it is not.

If that is the case I am sure they can live without my 60$

@Losermagnet And removing the flag isn't an overreaction? I brought it up because it's just the first thing noticed. There may be entire dialogues missing like in Resident Evil 4 remake. If they're petty enough to remove small things like that flag it means the bigger stuff is likely under scrutiny as well. And with the originals removed from online stores the end result is removing content in favor of slightly better graphics. Not a good trade IMO.

There's a lot of people who want games to be political. Fine, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't be controversial as well.

@SmaggTheSmug nah I really dont think it is. I mean - I'd be disappointed if they changed the context of character or situation so that it doesn't resemble the original intent (Fire Emblem games are a good example of when I think this goes wrong) But even then a line of dialogue removed may not necessarily change much of anything. What was truly lost from Resi 4 VR removing suggestive dialogue about Ashley? That's why I say it's a bit of an overreaction.

@Losermagnet "What was truly lost from Resi 4 VR removing suggestive dialogue about Ashley?"

Characterization? Humor? The dialogue wasn't even particularly offensive in the first place. And I am just opposed to censorship in general, in adult media in particular, and any type of censorship motivated by "political correctness" is vile by default. The permissiveness towards such practices genuinely bothers me. It's just a secular version of blasphemy laws.
If I am expected to handle a game in which I play a drug runner killing people I can handle an "offensive" flag.

@SmaggTheSmug I agree with you to an extent. The question is whether the changes were made because the Studio is pressured to do so or if they're made because the Studio don't want to support certain opinions.

As a playwright I'd never allow other people to change my work without my permission, but if I realize a piece I've written doesn't reflect my artistic intentions anymore I would either rewrite it or withdraw the opportunity for it to be performed. This is as much a right I have as the owner of my work as any other artist has.

Trouble is we don't know why the changes are being made, so all we can do is speculate, although I fear your speculations are more likely than creative reasons.

@SmaggTheSmug i'm inclined to agree, but the fact remains that those characters in RE4 are still exactly the same with or without that dialogue. I think censorship via PC culture is well-intentioned, just eye-rollingly unnecessary in most cases. But it isn't our game is it? Rockstar is making the choice to pull a George Lucas and make changes to an existing product.

We'd be having a different conversation if Nintendo or Sony forced them to make the changes. Although this is exactly what happened to games in the 90s.

I pretty much half expected this to be half physical/half DL. So im not too concerned or surprised.

I agree with @SmaggTheSmug but it's not enough to deter my purchase. If I boycotted every thing that did something I didn't like I don't suppose I'd ever buy much of anything. I have to take a pragmatic approach and weigh the impact of buying vs not buying.

I completely disagree with this recent culture of anti-offense moral high-horsing that's being used to police our content. And it's not just platform manufacturers pressuring companies to bend the knee, it's the ever-growing outspoken enemies of free-speech that try to bully, harass and intimidate anyone who doesn't submit and comply to the expectations of their dogmatic cult of self-decreed moral authority. Cancel culture itself pressures these companies to self-censor, and many professing allegiance to that culture on the surface only do so to avoid the hammer coming down on them.

But it is what it is, and I'm not willing to abstain from every game that changes a t-shirt. If it were more egregious then I'd re-evaluate. But look, I respect anyone who wants to draw a line in the sand. You gotta do what you feel is right. But at the end of the day, I'm playing the game.