GTA Online developer Rockstar wanted to release the GTA Definitive Edition to bring the games GTA III, Vice City, and San Andreas in an updated form and to excite fans with the old titles in new form. However, they are definitely not satisfied with the end result, which currently cannot even be played by all players as it has been removed from the store and even from libraries. Read the full story here on MeinMMO.
What is the Definitive Edition? The GTA Definitive Edition includes the popular GTA classic games GTA III, Vice City, and San Andreas in an updated form. According to Rockstar’s website, the Definitive Edition aims to make all fans happy with a modern remake:
Play the classics of the original Grand Theft Auto Trilogy: Grand Theft Auto III, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, which have been remastered with cross-generational enhancements – with brilliant new lighting and environmental improvements, high-resolution textures, increased draw distance, control and targeting mechanics reminiscent of Grand Theft Auto V, and much more to breathe new life into these beloved worlds with greater detail.
Rockstar
But these lofty words sound rather hollow when considering the state and the sentiment towards the Definitive Edition.
Mods are better than the Definitive Edition – players are upset
What are the problems with the Definitive Edition? The Definitive Edition unfortunately does not resonate well with the target audience. It is full of bugs, glitches, strange effects, and graphics that look worse than in mods.
On Twitter and Reddit, there are plenty of examples of how the Definitive Edition disappoints.
Users report that the rain in the game falls so hard that one can barely see anything and even experiences eye strain from it.
Other users are surprised by transparent bridges.
Additionally, the game is full of strange graphics glitches, as seen here.
What angers the fans the most? In addition, there is a graphic “enhancement” that many fans believe does not deserve the name. On Reddit, a user set up this comparison between the original, the Definitive Edition, and a fan-made graphics mod.
Ironically, the mod version looks the best here, which frustrates fans even more, as Rockstar has repeatedly taken action against modders and their works in the past. Takedowns for copyright violations and lawsuits against modders have been filed, and many mods have been taken offline this way.
Furthermore, the original games are no longer available for purchase, only the Definitive Edition remains. This is an obvious sign for many fans that it is only about money for Rockstar and publisher Take-Two.
As the Definitive Edition now looks worse for many players than the modded versions, it frustrates the fans even more. Here are some quotes from Reddit:
- pepsman: “They didn’t even try …”
- xtrasmolpp “No man, that’s an emoji [referring to the picture from the Definitive Edition]”
- TJ_McWeaksauce: “Looks like Animal Crossing: San Andreas”
- 4formsofMATTer: “I find it strange that developers do not hire modders. They clearly do a better job!”
- Dusk_v731: “Do you remember the time when Rockstar was praised as one of the best studios? Everything they touched turned to gold, they always delivered something we wanted. What the hell happened to them?”
GTA Definitive Edition currently no longer available in the shop and even removed from game libraries
What is the situation in the shop? To all this frustration, it also comes that the PC version of the game cannot be played at all right now! It is no longer in the shop and those who had already purchased it cannot find it in the game library anymore. For it has also been removed from there.
What are the reasons? According to Rockstar, the game contains elements that should not have been in the game. Through Twitter, they apologized for the inconvenience:
The Rockstar Games Launcher is now online, but GTA: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition cannot be played or purchased, as we are removing files that were accidentally included in these versions. We apologize for the interruption and hope to provide the correct versions soon.
Rockstar Twitter
What exactly is causing the problem has not been revealed. However, it appears to involve developer comments in the code and unlicensed music. The latter is likely the main issue, as a lot of songs for which licenses are no longer available are still in the game; they have only been disabled via script.
However, anyone who fiddles around in the game files can easily extract and play them, which definitely does not sit well with the rights holders.
It is therefore quite possible that the developers are currently removing these songs and the forgotten comments in the code, after which the GTA Definitive Edition will be made available again for all players.
Fortunately, the online game GTA Online is still available and continues to delight players. Except for these 5 things everyone hates in GTA Online!
