I finally started on the main storyline missions in Vice City, and it actually wasn’t too long before I’d unlocked the other islands anyway, unlike GTA3 where you didn’t unlock the third until fairly late. Out of the early missions, the most notable ones were one where I had to control an RC helicopter to plant bombs — the controls were extremely hard to get used to, so it took a good half-dozen tries. And in another one I got to play gunner in a helicopter while we strafed the hell out of a few gang-infested buildings. Along the way I also got a Tubbs-like partner named Lance, and a glitched, nearly indestructible car from one of the missions.

With the islands fully open, I could finally do the vigilante mission, too. My first try failed when I got busted trying to swap tanks, but the second one was successful, if chaotic. It’s hard to control a tank when it’s constantly getting slammed by police cars.

Eventually, Lance got captured trying to take revenge against the crime boss who killed his brother, so I had to go rescue him. In retaliation, we stormed the boss’s mansion (reminiscent of the one in Scarface) and took him out (in a scene also straight out of Scarface), so it’s mine now. There are some missions I can do for myself, but I went and finished off some other missions for a biker gang and a stereotypical British metal band first.

I took another shot at Vice City and caught back up to where I was before, with the final package, all of the save point properties bought, and a stolen tank in the garage. The tank will be useful for the Vigilante missions, but I can’t seem to do those right now; it won’t trigger properly on the west island, and I can’t take the tank back to the east island while the barriers are still up.

So, instead I worked on some other side mission types. I did cab fares for a while, which were fairly easy on the west side since the routes often take me right past a pay-n-spray. I managed to do 50 fares before accidentally flipping the taxi, which is only halfway to the reward, but it’s not that great a reward anyway. I then tried to do the pizza delivery missions, but couldn’t do them on the west side since some of the deliveries went to areas still blocked off (another consequence of sequence breaking), but I went back to the east island and did it there. The deliveries were fairly easy, and I now have 150 health maximum.

I’m already at 13% completion according to the stats screen, even though I haven’t even started the main missions yet. It’s probably about time I did though, since working my way past these barriers on the islands is a bit of a pain and preventing me from working on those other missions.

Well, I managed to get into the west side of the city in Vice City by abusing a series of ramps near the movie studio and bridge, and got the rest of the hidden packages, but getting the very last one was a royal pain in the ass.

I needed a boat for the last two packages, and I got one by landing a helicopter (easily obtained in the west city) on the locked-off docks. I picked up the second-last package, but triggered a Rampage mission while walking up to it. It was a fairly easy one, picking off boats with a rocket launcher, but I aimed a little too far to the right once and hit the fence next to me, killing me. In order to get that very last package, barely a stone’s throw from where I already was, I had to go back to the ramps, break into the west city, steal a helicopter, fly it all the way across the map back to the east side, land on the docks, and get a boat again. Argh.

One of the things unlocked by those packages was the tank, but I still had to go get it from the army base. I bought a condo on the north side of the west city to store it in, headed to the army base and charged in, got the tank, and then hit a light pole on the way out. That let the army guys grab me out of the tank, and although they didn’t bust me, I couldn’t get back in the tank without them instantly pulling me out again. They were also shooting at me and it wasn’t long before they’d worn down my health, so I figured I’d just reload and try again.

Except that my last save game put me back in the east city, with that one last package still to go. ARGH. I thought I’d saved after buying the condo, but apparently not, so I get to do it all over again.

I still haven’t started the missions in Vice City, and spent tonight running around to get the hidden packages instead. I even got into the golf course and Starfish Island earlier than I was supposed to, with some creative jumping. It’s too bad I don’t have a garage yet though, so I could park the golf cart I stole.

So I’ve found 48 hidden packages so far, getting me body armour and a few weapons (a high-power pistol, flamethrower, and a chainsaw). I can’t really get any more at the moment without either finding a boat, getting a helicopter, or getting into the west part of the city, none of which I’m supposed to be able to do right now. There are supposedly tricks I can use to overcome that, though… Maybe my gimmick for this run will be to see just how overpowered I can make myself before even starting the first mission.

I wasn’t sure if I wanted to take a break with a different game or not (besides Disgaea 3 that is), but tonight I decided to just charge ahead and started up Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. Already I can see the differences, besides the setting of course: there’s a full overview map with things like the gun store and pay-n-spray labeled, there are all sorts of new types of cars and bikes, the protagonist talks this time, and there are buildings that I can buy (eventually).

The plot kicked off with a botched drug deal, so I now have to recover my reputation and get the stolen drugs and money back. For now though, I figured I’d do some of the side stuff first. The ambulance mission is allegedly a lot easier this time around since it doesn’t roll as easily and you can get people clustered on the beach where they’re easier to reach. After a good half-dozen attempts, I gave up for the night though, hitting level 5 (of 12) at best. I still roll the ambulance too often, especially on the beach where the bumps in the terrain aren’t as obvious. I’ll try again some other time, taking things a bit more slowly.

And I still haven’t even picked up a weapon yet…

I finished off that GTA3 mission I was stuck on, and it was easier with the tank, but it still took a number of tries as I kept getting hit with bad luck. The first time I almost made it all the way back to the drop-off point, except I slowed down for one tight corner and a police officer out of nowhere ran up and busted me. The second time, I hit a bump on the airport tarmac that was difficult to see in the dark and flipped the tank over. I got it on the third try though, after taking it a bit more carefully.

Then it was on to the final mission. I “failed” the first attempt, since my bulletproof Patriot got blown up and I wanted to keep it, so I restarted it and beat it on the second try. It was just a slog through a whole bunch of Colombians guarding the dam area, and the sniper rifle and rocket launcher let me pick them off without too much danger.

So that’s one GTA down, and just three more to go. Technically there’s still more to do in GTA3, but as I said I’m not going for 100% completion, and there are others to play. I might even have to skip one just to fit them all in, though I’m not sure which one I’d cut yet…

It was back to missions in GTA3 today, and I started working on the ones based on the third island (though most of them actually start on the second). I finished off Donald Love’s missions, after which he mysteriously disappeared, and went back to Asuka’s again. Hers should be the last bits of the storyline, though I still have some optional gang jobs to complete, if I want.

I found the import garage on the third island, and managed to round up all of the cars for it fairly quickly since most of them were fairly common ones. I also happened to run across the rare ice cream truck I needed for the first import mission, and hurried it and the plane back to Portland to finish that one off as well. It was a bit odd “driving” the plane through the city streets…

And for now I’m a bit stuck on the second-last storyline mission, where I have to blow up a plane as it’s landing at the airport. I know what to do and can set it up with no problems, but I always seem to hit a bit of bad luck with something, either missing the plane, getting blown up on the boat, inadvertently raising the wanted level a bit too far and getting run over by the army, falling into the water as I’m trying to get out of the boat, failing to find a good car to hijack to return to the end point… It’s just a matter of trying, but I ran out of time tonight. Maybe I’ll try it with the tank instead, if I can get it over there quickly enough.

I didn’t do many more missions in GTA3 today, but it was a worthwhile session nonetheless. I got the rest of the hidden packages, giving me nearly all of the weapons at my hideout (except the flamethrower). I helped the crooked cop escape to the airport, which got me a bulletproof Hummer-like truck as a reward. And I found a ‘toy van’ mission, where you send out little RC cars to blow up gang cars, though it was more just for fun than any actual reward.

But best of all, I finally got my hands on a tank. I followed the suggestions in a guide and stirred up trouble in a parking garage near a pay-n-spray, so I could ditch the police as soon as the tanks showed up, and could then hijack one at my leisure. It took a good half-dozen tries though, just due to various little spots of bad luck. I then repeated it but stayed at five stars to get an FBI car, turned both of them in at the crane at the docks, and that completed the emergency vehicles mission. I can now go over there and pick up a tank whenever I want.

I’m sure I’ll find uses for them…

Getting back to GTA3, I finished off most of the quests on Staunton Island. Only most because there’s one that’s fairly tough, so I’ll take another crack at it later. I wasn’t sent fleeing this time, at least.

Most of the missions weren’t all that notable except for the final one that unlocked the next island, where I had to pick up packages dropped by a plane. Picking them up got me a five-star rating, and I was bumped around like a ping pong ball by FBI cars while trying to get to the spray-n-pay. In one amusing moment, I was slowing down to turn in to where the spray-n-pay is, only to have two FBI cars come flying out of the alleyway and right over me.

Now that the next island is unlocked I can go get the rest of the hidden packages next, but that’ll be another day.