quote:
You can't break Jason and Lucia up, but you can influence whether they remain friends or bloom into a romantic couple.
If you want to feel the love, you’re going to have to put in the work. Outside of performing missions together, smaller interactions such as holding hands, opening doors for each other, calling them and answering calls/texts promptly and regularly, and accepting invitations to embark on activities together increase Jason and Lucia’s romantic bond.
Rockstar designers spoke with residents to learn personal insights about the culture, crime and law enforcement. Writers immersed themselves in local dialects to create their most diverse and expressive NPC's to date. Artists visited particular areas and interior spaces for aesthetic research and stylistic inspiration.
Rupert Humphries: "We are asking people to spend so much time in the world we are building so we really need to understand what is great about it and then bake that into every aspect of the game,”
Humphries: "This adventure is really abouit the entire state of Leonida - part of the job of the game's story is to bring the player around the map in a way that feels authentic and interesting".
"We don’t have time to take you everywhere, but we want you to be able to explore and get a feel for most of the places, cultures, and vibes…This game and its stories really thrive in an environment where you have rich people and poor people right next door to each other. And crime and corruption is the thread that pulls everyone together.”
Leonida is the biggest map Rockstar has ever created "by some degree", Aaron Garbut says.
Twice as large as GTA V, more dense, detailed and interactive
“We obsessed about every part – the rooftops, the alleys, the internals and everything in between to the point we hit a critical mass with the numbers of our interiors, and you start to feel the buildings are more real inside and out. This world is a cohesive whole with the density of content and a hand-crafted quality to every bit.”
Port Gellhorn represents Florida’s many smaller and, in some cases, struggling tourist trap areas, as the region is littered with abandoned attractions, cheap motels, and derelict strip malls
Ambrosia is the heart of Leonida – a symbol of American industry defined by various factories and refineries as well as a local biker gang calling the shots
Mount Kalaga is a national park situated on Leonida’s northern border. In addition to teeming with wildlife and natural wonders, Mount Kalaga represents the culture of the Florida-Georgia line – or, to use GTAVI’s in-universe titles, the Leonida-Gloriana line
Panama City, Jacksonville, Ocala and smaller rural towns used as inspiration for the northern areas of Leonida. Paul MacPherson, VP of Environment Art described the area's lumber industry and deforesting zones as "visually striking spaces and fun
gameplay opportunities
Paul MacPherson: “In between all the northern towns of the map we’ve made vast countryside expanses for ATV trails, a drunken mud park party for every kind of two and four-wheel offering you can imagine, destruction derby chaos races on floodlight-bleached oval tracks at night, mountain bike trails cutting through dense tree lined paths, livestock and agriculture farms, high-end ranches, a luxury private golf course, walk along a blackrock and boneyard inspired set of beaches, jump on a MX bike to rip around some coastal sand dunes, or go bass fishing in a Spanish moss draped live oak and cypress forested lake"
You can fast travel using RydeMe, which will let you reach destinations quickly AND you can even chat with passengers if you're sharing a ride!
Weather systems have been re-engineered to make everything much more localised and persistent, and R* aims to replicate Florida's more violent weather phenomena.
Localised rain showers, localised storms and associated cumulonimbus clouds, recently showered areas remaining wet (meaning you can leave the area to see dry ground), and hurricanes and tropical storms are confirmed
Updated wind systems add more actual simulated effects to everything, with convectional updrafts, occlusion from buildings, realistically making hair and debris swirl around on rooftops, gusts of wind blowing ripples over the water surface and so on.
Over 170 animal species all across the map, including Leonida-native species that have never appeared in a Rockstar game. Over 60 bird types, more than 30 land mammals, various fish, reptiles and more.
Manatees, flamingos, pelicans, the green iguana, feral cats, cane toads, nine-banded armadillos, the rhesus macaque monkey are included.
Sharks, whales, rays, turtles and jellyfish.
Animals can display iridescence, bioluminescence, translucency and feather types, plus new hair and fur systems for coats and pelts.
Fully simulated fur and set-up for human to animal interaction with dirt matting and clumping in environmental contexts, including getting wet, as well as colour and coat variations
Rare, Discoverable and Legendary animals return from RDR2.
Some of the confirmed activities include:
BASE jumping
Billiards
Gyms
Kayaking
Minigolf
SCUBA diving
Street and off-road races
Zoos
Air boating
Jet skiing
Besides the previously reported with regards to the biggest diversity in NPC body types, with specific differences in areas such as musculature, local weight gain in chests/busts, stomachs and butts, they focused on culturally correct tattoo styles that fit Leonida's communities and regions, as well as more ethnic styles and variations of NPC fashion between areas.
"Biggest range of garments and accessories we've ever made, supported with rich, realistic materials"
Aaron Garbut: "Normally you compromise scale for detail or detail for interaction, but with this project we went the other way - everything is dialled up - detail, scope, breadth, scale, interaction and density. I don't think we have ever created anything close to this before."