GTA V

GTA 5's three main characters
won't all be playable from the start

Grand Theft Auto 5's three main characters –
Michael, Franklin and Trevor – won't all be
playable at the start of the game, Rockstar has
revealed.

Speaking to French website jeuxactu.com
(translated via Google), Rockstar North
president Leslie Benzies explained that offering
players control over all three characters
immediately would have "hurt the gameplay
and story", while introducing the characters
over a period of time will let players "explore
the world of each of them".
"Much of the game relies on the three
characters and the way in which the lifestyle
and actions of one affect the other two," said
Benzies. "We think of the three characters
from the start but we thought that it would
hurt the gameplay and the story. We want to
give the player the opportunity to know the
three characters individually and explore the
world of each of them, and it would not have
been possible if the three had been available
from the start."
It isn't known in which order the characters
will become playable. But even though you
may not be able to play as each of them at the
start, GTA 5's entire map will be explorable
from the beginning, and characters will be able
to meet each other between missions.
"You can meet each character if you know
where they are," adds lead designer Imran
Sarwar. "For example, if Michael leaves after a
mission and you play Trevor, you can go to
meet him. You can also force things, if you
wish, from one character to another and make
them meet. They can then become friends and
spend time together. We thought to make the
characters appear on the map to be able to
follow the day to day in the city, but we chose
to focus our efforts on the system of
interchangeable characters."

GTA 5 launches on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3
on September 17. A first look at gameplay
footage was revealed last week.