Thoughts on Johnny Klebitz in GTA V (SPOILERS)

[ArtemusClydeFrog]

Okay, obvious - but not game-breaking - spoilers, so read ahead at your own risk.

I get the feeling that a lot of people are dissatisfied with the way Rockstar ultimately chose to handle one of their major characters in his return for GTA V. Even though things looked bleak for Johnny at the end of TLAD this is the first time (to my knowledge) that Rockstar has tacked on such a depressing epilogue to the story of one of their characters.

Although Johnny had lost a lot of things at the end of his story he at least had the guts to finally leave Ashley behind, never betraying his condemnation of her drug habit. The fact that Rockstar chooses to rob him of all dignity by saying "hey, he too is a meth head now and he hooked up with Ashley again" only to have him brutally killed without a fight a second later felt... unnecessary, I guess. Trevor would have come off as just as psychotic no matter who his victim had been.

Johnny was never my favorite GTA protagonist - I enjoyed his story and the biker take on Liberty City, but he was ultimately a bit too one dimensional for me (and I think the comparison to the awesome John Marston is giving Johnny K a bit too much credit), but I did NOT want to see him go out like that, after all the hard times he'd been through.
And even though I was excited to meet

Spoiler

Packie

after only 30 minutes of gameplay, I'm a bit disappointed that Rockstar didn't just turn over a new leaf with GTA V. I mean, I miss Tommy Vercetti and CJ as much as the next guy, but I had no trouble accepting the fact that they were not in GTA IV.

What do you guys think?

 

[Casual Shinji]

They had to make a "good" first impression with Trevor, seeing as he is the last playable character to be introduced and we were already quite a ways into the game by that point. And what better way to do that then by showing him curb stomping a prominent character from GTA4. It worked pretty well, I think. They certainly made it clear that this guy was not to be trifled with.

 

[GoaThief]

Please excuse the self-quoting from a different yet related thread;

/snip

It's really funny that you posted this just as I have come away from my introduction to Trevor feeling like I've been on a mini emotional roller coaster:

Spoiler

I really enjoyed TLATD, Johnny K was one of my favourite protagonists so obviously I found that scene very difficult and upsetting. Straight after I have to help this disgusting inhuman **** achieve his goals and I had to have a swift cigarette break and contemplate if I wish to continue as it was clear this was what I had to do to progress.

Despite myself I swallowed it all and proceeded to murder the entire chapter, and afterwards every fucker who crossed me. I mercilessly taunted a former friend who's home I just pushed into a river before brutally destroying his face with a shotgun round at point blank range. I was angry and these fucks were going to be my catharsis come hell or high water. Pedestrians? Fuck them too, I don't care any more. Insignificant plebs. Yet I was never completely satisfied, that anger was still inside. It wasn't enough.

Now, I say it from a first person perspective as I tend to fall into role playing my avatars. I also tend to RP "good" guys much more often than not, maybe because in reality I'm an evil shit but that's probably digressing a tad too far. Then the realisation grew on me as I shouted about my trashed trailer at the remaining Damned who turned it over. Why would I be so upset over a tacky figurine that parodied the "moralistic" liberal shits? Am I or was I one of those at some point before all this? Trevor called it something like, "A shitty bit of plastic, but you can't account for emotional attachment to these things" - click. Everything fell into place.

Rockstar were speaking about and to me, the real person not Trevor although it certainly seems to apply there too. Poking fun even. The broken figurine was Impotent Rage which brilliantly summarised everything that had happened. I had been pushed out of my comfort zone and into playing in a different way. I wasn't happy, I wasn't satisfied as there was nothing I could do. You cheeky and clever devils, R*.

What they've done should really be applauded. I take the above and everything relating to that character was something that contributed to marking down in the review. It sounds very much like it's the case and if so I believe the reviewer has completely missed the point. Marks up should be the order of the day. I'm very glad I didn't read the article as it could well have coloured the whole experience or even outright ruined it.

Sorry, ramble over. Had to attempt to get it out there whilst I could be bothered, however incoherently. I hope my underlying point is understandable?

I think Rockstar have shown their chops with this move which could backfire spectacularly. It will be interesting to see what the general consensus will be down the line as it's still early days yet.