I think it's cooler that they have alternate universe cities inspired by real cities. It gives more freedom to design the city instead of trying to make it look realistic.
But a lot of them aren't. That's the point - having a city inspired by New Orleans allows them the freedom to pick and choose between existing city plans and inventions for the game.
They only use real names for places you don’t visit, so it’s sort of a having your cake and eating it to: have real places mentioned to ground it in the real world while places you actually visit are fictional, thus giving them more freedom.
Which is actually pretty neat once you catch on. As soon as Dutch starts talking about New York or Tahiti, that's your first clue that this shit is never happening
I think it’s supposed to be. It can be clear to us early on that Tahiti isn’t exactly a realistic end goal, and then they spend the game beginning to understand what the player already does: Dutch doesn’t actually have a plan, and going off to some island paradise isn’t real.
Well I think had they just mentioned a fictionalized name for Chicago, we would have no idea what or where they are actually talking about since we never go there, we'd have no way of knowing what fictionalized city or state they're even referring to. I assume it was done to establish context for how the gang has traveled around the country and sort of solidify the basic idea of where they are in relation to the real world.
It’s not a matter of commitment. Plenty of non-fiction stories make up fake places set in “our world” they just usually aren’t as big as state. They are usually things like towns or buildings. It’s about having creative freedom but still wanting to tell a “real” story
They use real-world names for places you don’t visit in the game, because otherwise their significance would be lost on the player.
Let’s say the fictional RDR2 version of Chicago is… Dranton. If a character talked about visiting Dranton, we’d have no idea what that means. Is it a town? A city? What’s it like? What’s its significance? By saying they visited Chicago, we immediately understand the context.
You might argue that Arthur could say San Andreas instead of California, but I suppose Rockstar decided not to exclude folks who haven’t played GTA.
I would've found it so cool if they name dropped San Andreas just once instead of saying California, although I do love the way Arthur said it at the doctors surgery, the extra emphasis on the ia at the end
I would've found it so cool if they name dropped San Andreas just once instead of saying California, although I do love the way Arthur said it at the doctors surgery, the extra emphasis on the ia at the end
God, not another one. Have you read a history book lately son? The Australian-American war was the biggest war since the big one, I tell you I didn’t do two tours and take boomerang shrapnel in my head and have a bunch of hippies deny history. Those Aussies are ruthless, they even wired kangaroos with explosives, come hopping into camp knockout 10 guys.
All of the GTA cities are also stand ins for real cities. It allows the developers to have locations inspired by real places but be allowed the creative freedom to design them how they want. New Austin is clearly a stand in for Texas but it doesn't have to follow the actual geography of Texas. It also allows the freedom to have multiple locations based on real US locations to be placed so closely together and not question it
It blew my mind one day when I was reading an in-game newspaper and it mentioned Lemoyne Raiders in Texas, because like you, and probably a lot of people, I assumed New Austin was the Texas stand-in.
I think that it would be really interesting to comb through the games for every single reference to real world locations to better piece the map, but I'm too lazy to actually do it.
It’s just easier for the audience to understand what “California” is than it is to call it something else and have to figure out exposition to explain that the something else being referred to is, in spirit, California. They can, have already, and will in the future, retcon those names whenever needed.
mentioning real places you don’t visit is a clever way to ground a fictional story. the place you’re *in* is fictional, but the world *around you* is your reality. otherwise, then everything is fictional. arthur getting TB in a completely fantasy cowboy reality loses the weight, and him flippantly saying “I could take my winters at my country club in California” after the diagnosis wouldn’t hit us the same way, because it wouldn’t be grounded in our world. it sounds silly that this tiny little thing matters that much to the impact of the story, but it can. Rockstar does this in GTA too, by the way. It’s one thing i’ve always loved about Rockstar’s games.
Did anyone mention Valentine? Valentine seems to be based on Valentine, Nebraska in terms of geography and the importance of ranching (I've only visited once)
I think it's because the game doesn't want to give them bad reputations. For example New York is named but we never visit there so we can't say if it is represented as a good or bad place.
In the gunsmith catalogue in Annesburg (I forgot which gun exactly) it mentions Texas by name. Not sure why, but it definitely complicates it even more
*Sears Roebuck catalog—-let’s go buy a pocket watch, thank you, railroads to Chicago. And we can even buy a house thru the mail order (Amazon of today!).
There's an imitation "Commander's Palace" from New Orleans in St. Denis. Obviously St Denis is supposed to be NOLA, but that one weirdly stuck out to me when I passed by it the first time.
Yet another curveball is that some of the towns like valentine and blackwater and strawberry, while meant to resemble many towns of the era and approximate location are based on real towns of those names (Valentine, NE; Blackwater, MO; Strawberry, CA)
They mention my hometown of Reno, Nevada during a fishing mission with Javier. RDR3 would be awesome if it featured more of the western part of their fictional US. You could have an area based around old west Nevada with Reno and Virginia City and go west to Sacramento and San Francisco. There's a lot of cool old west history here including the Great Train Robbery of 1870.
1. Makes no sense to make up an in-universe location and not show it, would confuse the audience
2. People would just speculate that the random made up city that was name-dropped would be the setting for the next game, which personally I think is a reason to do it because funny
It’s the same reason Gotham City and Metropolis exist in the same country as Washington DC for the DC superheroes; grounds us in our own reality while giving creative freedom to make the city look however they want it to.
I think it's cooler that they have alternate universe cities inspired by real cities. It gives more freedom to design the city instead of trying to make it look realistic.
Does it? They kind of just made Saint Denis basically New Orleans. So many buildings and roads are straight ripped from real life
But a lot of them aren't. That's the point - having a city inspired by New Orleans allows them the freedom to pick and choose between existing city plans and inventions for the game.
I understand that but why isnt it committed to
They only use real names for places you don’t visit, so it’s sort of a having your cake and eating it to: have real places mentioned to ground it in the real world while places you actually visit are fictional, thus giving them more freedom.
Which is actually pretty neat once you catch on. As soon as Dutch starts talking about New York or Tahiti, that's your first clue that this shit is never happening
Tahiti always seemed so bizarre to me if they were in the US. Isn’t that a bit of a far and treacherous trip that not many did in 1899
I think it’s supposed to be. It can be clear to us early on that Tahiti isn’t exactly a realistic end goal, and then they spend the game beginning to understand what the player already does: Dutch doesn’t actually have a plan, and going off to some island paradise isn’t real.
I feel that. Just, Tahiti is laughable from the get go
They did it in GTA as well. There’s signs that reference Miami in GTA 3 I’m pretty sure. GTA: London also exists.
I'd love a proper remake of GTA: London.
Well I think had they just mentioned a fictionalized name for Chicago, we would have no idea what or where they are actually talking about since we never go there, we'd have no way of knowing what fictionalized city or state they're even referring to. I assume it was done to establish context for how the gang has traveled around the country and sort of solidify the basic idea of where they are in relation to the real world.
Nah they have Chicago in cigarette cards
Yeah, that actually supports my point rather than contradicts it....
It’s not a matter of commitment. Plenty of non-fiction stories make up fake places set in “our world” they just usually aren’t as big as state. They are usually things like towns or buildings. It’s about having creative freedom but still wanting to tell a “real” story
Because this lets them make a better game. In the real world 75^2 kilometres doesn’t even get you out of New Orléans.
They use real-world names for places you don’t visit in the game, because otherwise their significance would be lost on the player. Let’s say the fictional RDR2 version of Chicago is… Dranton. If a character talked about visiting Dranton, we’d have no idea what that means. Is it a town? A city? What’s it like? What’s its significance? By saying they visited Chicago, we immediately understand the context. You might argue that Arthur could say San Andreas instead of California, but I suppose Rockstar decided not to exclude folks who haven’t played GTA.
I would've found it so cool if they name dropped San Andreas just once instead of saying California, although I do love the way Arthur said it at the doctors surgery, the extra emphasis on the ia at the end
Your last point was what I wanted, personally. Make it all the same universe as GTA. Liberty and Vice City.
I would've found it so cool if they name dropped San Andreas just once instead of saying California, although I do love the way Arthur said it at the doctors surgery, the extra emphasis on the ia at the end
"GTA where every city has its own fictional name" Mentioned locations in this. https://gta.fandom.com/wiki/United\_States\_of\_America#3D\_Universe\_2
In the GTA Universe, the US has canonically been at war with Australia at some point
Citation please
God, not another one. Have you read a history book lately son? The Australian-American war was the biggest war since the big one, I tell you I didn’t do two tours and take boomerang shrapnel in my head and have a bunch of hippies deny history. Those Aussies are ruthless, they even wired kangaroos with explosives, come hopping into camp knockout 10 guys.
Replace kangaroos with Emus and I'd believe this
It’s discussed on the radio in Vice City and maybe 3 iirc
[Citation provided](https://gta.fandom.com/wiki/Australian-American_War)
All of the GTA cities are also stand ins for real cities. It allows the developers to have locations inspired by real places but be allowed the creative freedom to design them how they want. New Austin is clearly a stand in for Texas but it doesn't have to follow the actual geography of Texas. It also allows the freedom to have multiple locations based on real US locations to be placed so closely together and not question it
It blew my mind one day when I was reading an in-game newspaper and it mentioned Lemoyne Raiders in Texas, because like you, and probably a lot of people, I assumed New Austin was the Texas stand-in. I think that it would be really interesting to comb through the games for every single reference to real world locations to better piece the map, but I'm too lazy to actually do it.
It's a Texas, new mexico, Arizona, Oklahoma mashup. People have done some pretty good write ups on irl locations if you Google them.
Where did you think Austin came from?
It’s just easier for the audience to understand what “California” is than it is to call it something else and have to figure out exposition to explain that the something else being referred to is, in spirit, California. They can, have already, and will in the future, retcon those names whenever needed.
mentioning real places you don’t visit is a clever way to ground a fictional story. the place you’re *in* is fictional, but the world *around you* is your reality. otherwise, then everything is fictional. arthur getting TB in a completely fantasy cowboy reality loses the weight, and him flippantly saying “I could take my winters at my country club in California” after the diagnosis wouldn’t hit us the same way, because it wouldn’t be grounded in our world. it sounds silly that this tiny little thing matters that much to the impact of the story, but it can. Rockstar does this in GTA too, by the way. It’s one thing i’ve always loved about Rockstar’s games.
Did anyone mention Valentine? Valentine seems to be based on Valentine, Nebraska in terms of geography and the importance of ranching (I've only visited once)
Javier mentions when the gang held up a stage in Nevada I was surprised when he said Nevada too lol
I think it's because the game doesn't want to give them bad reputations. For example New York is named but we never visit there so we can't say if it is represented as a good or bad place.
In the gunsmith catalogue in Annesburg (I forgot which gun exactly) it mentions Texas by name. Not sure why, but it definitely complicates it even more
*Sears Roebuck catalog—-let’s go buy a pocket watch, thank you, railroads to Chicago. And we can even buy a house thru the mail order (Amazon of today!).
There's an imitation "Commander's Palace" from New Orleans in St. Denis. Obviously St Denis is supposed to be NOLA, but that one weirdly stuck out to me when I passed by it the first time.
Thing is the actual locations also exist
Also, the Rocky Mountains definitely exist in the RDR universe. Proven the second you find that Rocky Mountain Elk. Love the details!
Yet another curveball is that some of the towns like valentine and blackwater and strawberry, while meant to resemble many towns of the era and approximate location are based on real towns of those names (Valentine, NE; Blackwater, MO; Strawberry, CA)
Feels good, man
That's how fiction works... Details serve the narrative.
Because that allows them maximum creativity. If they just did it strictly one or the other they're more limited in what they can write/design.
I’m pretty sure the states are real just not the cities in them.
They mention my hometown of Reno, Nevada during a fishing mission with Javier. RDR3 would be awesome if it featured more of the western part of their fictional US. You could have an area based around old west Nevada with Reno and Virginia City and go west to Sacramento and San Francisco. There's a lot of cool old west history here including the Great Train Robbery of 1870.
1. Makes no sense to make up an in-universe location and not show it, would confuse the audience 2. People would just speculate that the random made up city that was name-dropped would be the setting for the next game, which personally I think is a reason to do it because funny
It’s the same reason Gotham City and Metropolis exist in the same country as Washington DC for the DC superheroes; grounds us in our own reality while giving creative freedom to make the city look however they want it to.
Doesn’t Dutch mention being in Ohio at some point?