I  have played Vice City, San Andreas, Bully, GTA IV and Red Dead Redemption. All of them great games. The reason why they are so good is the gameplay, sure, but these guys are also good story tellers. Now, they are not entirely original in this department. Actually, I think they have admited to draw inspiration from movies, am I right?

Well, I just wanted to ask:

What do you think about the stories in these games? Do you like them? Hate them? Are stories not important in action games as they are in RPGs? Out of these games, which story do you think is the best?

I've never actually finished a rockstar game. the closest i came was Vice City but because of some pretty awful controls i never managed to get past a certain mission.

MY biggest problem with their open world games are 1. they're just not fun* 2. while the story may not be oscar worthy it is better than most games, but the problem i have with it is that the story is not, i dont know what word to use, but its not immediate, compared to other games that are linear i think its easier to follow the story in those kinds of games, and with rockstar games being pretty long, if i'd ever finish one it would take months, and by that time i would have forgotten what the story was about.

*i did like vice city though, but only because of the setting. Driving at night in the rain listening to Laura Branigan - Self Control. Ahhhh the 80's if only i could have experienced that sweet sweet decade

Can't really say which story is best since i've never beaten one. But Nico's was the most intresting, i guess i didn't get much further that a couple of hours but because he is from the same region as my family, it made it kinda fun when he spoke in my language.

but that's just me.

i like GTA, i loved GTA Vice City and San Andreas. arh, i wish they do an HD remake. 

There is nothing wrong with linear games. It is a different kind of game. I don't know where it started, maybe Zelda games, but open world games are very popular too. I like them a lot.

I did finish Vice City. I even got so obessesive with it that I had to do the 100%, you know, main and side quests. But the story is what keeps you going and there is a feeling of emptyness when you finish the story. Nevertheless I did everything in Vice City, maybe because it was my first GTA game or maybe because the gameplay. The story of that game wasn't very strong. A little cartoonish, but it was funny in its own manner. I remember that vey soon in the game I thought "this story based on "Scarface". Some people may say it is a rip off. The 80's, Miami, etc.  And then some other studio did Scarface the game as GTA clone, not as succesful I am afraid.

GTA IV, I don't know what is it exactly, but I didn't like very much. I may develop my point later if I ever get to understand what happened to myself playing that game.

Edited to correct some typos

I loved Bully, hated GTA IV (couldn't stand it more than 4 or 5 hours, I just got bored) and I am really loving Red Dead Redemption right now. The latter shows they did a great research work and its very interesting to see how many elements and topics they included from the context (places where the story is being held, historical moment when that happens).

I just hate how cheap their spanish speakers are... Specially such a critical character as General Agustín Allende is by no means a decent spanish speaker. He's completely horrible, by all means. As I see it, there are only to posible explanations for something that hurts the credibility of a game of a such a scale so much:

1 - People from Rockstar have been cheap and didn't care much about it being realistic.

2 - People from Rockstar had never had no idea if the spanish content was any good and they were robbed.

Sí lo noté. Yes, I noticed that too.I guess they just don't care. Videogames are mostly an english speaking market.

However the cutscenes in that game are outstanding in general terms. How will they do it? It seems like they use real actors in their games... But now, in RDR, the acting can be more subtle because the face expressions are getting so much better!

When you finish the game  (fantastic game by the way) I would like to hear your opinion on the story

Well I've only ever fully played 1 Rockstar game and that is Red Dead Redemption but I have enough experience to answer you.

I don't think personally that the story are fantastic stuff (doesn't mean it's average. It's just good) but what really makes those stories deliver are the Voice Acting. Rockstar games is known for immensely good VA and GTA IV back in 2008 won a lot of Best Voice Acting Awards from sites beating out MGS4. Red Dead Redemption blew me away on how great the Voice Acting is and the recent LA Noire Trailers shows once again that the Voice Acting is top notch.

So I believe that it's the Voice Acting, Characters and Scenario that really makes the Stories great and overall a great experience.

Yeah you are right. But it is a combination. Dialogues must be well written. And I do have an opinion on RDR story, which is GOTY material, no doubt about it, but I would like to collect more opinions before

I thought RDR was boring though it had its moments. I liked the open world though

I think GTA IV had a great story. The problem? You control the character after the cutscenes.

I mean, Niko is treated is treated as someone who wants to turn over a new leaf and seems level-headed.

The cutscene ends, you get in a car, and starts running over everybody on the road.

No consistency. That is the problem of storytelling in open-world games.

They could make sure you cant kill innocents, but fans would hate that.

Thats why I think, for the next GTA, Rockstar should this: main game with wacky character and story. Then, release DLC with more serious tone, where you cant kill civilians.

That way they would be able to keep their fans happy and still have the quality of story.