- [Kyle] Grand Theft Auto
has been around for-- (phone rings) Oh, sorry about this. (phone beeps) Hello?
(static crackles) What? Bowling? I can't, Cousin, you know I can't today. I'm busy going through the timeline of Grand Theft Auto's HD Universe. (static crackles) No, not San Andreas and Vice City, they're in the 3D Universe
and I already covered that. The HD Universe covers GTA IV, Chinatown Wars, GTA V and their DLC. (static crackles) Yeah, okay, sure, no,
I'll cover GTA Online too. Look, I'll call you back, okay? - Okay.
- Okay. (phone beeps) Sorry about that, let's get started with the man himself, Niko Bellic. (contemplative synth music) Serbia: Mid-late 1990s to 2000s. As a soldier during the Yugoslav
Wars, Niko sees and does some of the worst things
humanity is capable of. He and a group of his fellow soldiers get ambushed, and only
three of the 15 survive: him, Florian Cravic and Darko Brevic. Niko figures one of
these two sold them out, so he vows revenge for his fallen friends. After the war, Niko starts
working for Ray Bulgarin and his human trafficking ring. While on a smuggling run to Italy, Niko sabotages the ship he's on, steals a bunch of Bulgarin's
money, and swims to safety. But Bulgarin has eyes all
over Europe, so Niko figures the only way to be safe
is by escaping overseas. While all this is going
down, over in America, three ambitious criminals have a plan. 2004, North Yankton. Michael Townley, Trevor Philips, and Brad have their eyes set on a load of cash held by Bobcat Security in North Yankton. They take hostages and successfully steal nearly $200,000 from the vault. They make a break for their getaway car and ride off, but this
is Grand Theft Auto. The police are everywhere, even when you don't think they are. The cops chase the robbers,
and a bullet strikes their driver, forcing Michael to drive. He loses the cops and then
crosses some train tracks. As he does, a train nicks
the tail of the car, causing it to spin out
and smash into a tree. The trio proceed on foot,
but they're intercepted by FIB Agent Dave Norton, who shoots Brad. A second shot rings out, Michael falls to the ground and tells Trevor to run. So the last man standing retreats into the snowy fields of North Yankton. Fast-forward to Michael's funeral, and Norton walks by the
proceedings, cigarette in hand. Then, just beyond the fence, Michael, sporting a beanie and aviators, puts out a cigarette, very much alive. Dun, dun, dah! 2008, Liberty City: Enter Niko Bellic. We jump to 2008, and this is a doozy of a year in the GTA canon. We'll be moving pretty freely
between Grand Theft Auto IV, The Lost and the Damned,
and The Ballad of Gay Tony to tell the whole story as best we can. After stowing away on a ship
for seven months, Niko Bellic finally arrives on the
East Coast in Liberty City. He meets with his cousin Roman, who talked up his lavish
life in Liberty City. Niko quickly learns that Roman owns a struggling cab business
and can't make ends meet. Loan sharks are breathing down his neck, so Niko helps him with a few jobs. One job in particular leads to Niko chauffeuring Mallorie and
Michelle, both of whom would eventually date Roman
and Niko respectively. From there, Niko networks in Liberty City, meeting Little Jacob, the
head of the Jamaican Mafia. The two become quick friends,
but things are way more tense between Niko and Vlad,
Roman's Russian loan shark. Niko inevitably executes Vlad
for sleeping with Mallorie, getting revenge for his cousin. Hey, speaking of revenge, at this point, Niko reveals why he's in America, to find his old squadmates
during the Yugoslav War and get answers, and revenge. He's just on a revenge spree, just lot of revenge in this story. Soon after revealing
this, the Bellic cousins are kidnapped by one of
Mikhail Faustin's goons. Who's Mikhail Faustin? Just your run-of-the-mill Russian mob boss bent on achieving his own
version of the American dream. We've seen it a million times. When the cousins wake
up, they meet Faustin and his colleague, Dimitri Rascalov. The mobsters coerce Niko into
doing some work for them. One of these jobs sends Niko to Broker to kill Jason Michaels, a member
of the Lost Motorcycle Club who has been seeing Faustin's daughter. Michaels was small time, but
Faustin starts asking Niko to do more dramatic hits, which forces Dimitri to put a hit on Faustin. Niko carries it out and reports back to Dimitri to claim his reward. But in a not-so-surprising twist, Dimitri betrays Niko,
selling him back to Bulgarin, the man Niko escaped from in Yugoslavia. Thankfully, Little Jacob saves Niko, and they fight off
Bulgarin's men together. After that, Dimitri doubles down and sets fire to Roman's apartment
and budding cab business, forcing the cousins to retreat north to Bohan and meet up with Mallorie, who knows a few people in
the area who can get them some work, like local drug
dealer Elizabeta Torres. Niko goes on a slew of different jobs, making all kinds of friends along the way including Dwayne Forge,
Playboy X and Brucie Kibbutz. Eventually, in one mission, Niko watches over a huge heroin deal, but
things don't go as planned. But when do they do in the
Grand Theft Auto universe? Tell me that, when do
they go according to plan? The Botched Heroin Deal. So let's rewind a bit. While Niko was getting acquainted
with the Russian mafia, Johnny Klebitz was dealing
with his own affairs. He's the vice president of
the Lost Motorcycle Club, and for a while now, the
gang has had some beef with its rival, the Angels of Death. The tipping point came when Billy Grey, the chapter president, heard
that one of their boys, Jason Michaels, was killed in Broker, which might sound familiar to us because we know that that's
Niko who gunned him down. We know the truth, but
Billy spins the story and blames it on the Angels instead. At this point, Johnny starts
butting heads with Billy, and even though he knows
it's a bad idea, he joins the Lost in attacking the
Angels, stealing some heroin. Johnny meets up with
Elizabeta to sell the heroin at a house party, where
he also meets Niko. Unfortunately, the buyer turns
out to be an undercover cop, and the whole party ends with a firefight. The Lost later try selling
the heroin to the Triads, but that deal doesn't go as
according to plan either, leading to another firefight. The Grand Theft Auto universe
seems to have a lot of these. Billy ends up getting arrested, making Johnny the de
facto chapter president. To keep the gang in the green, he starts doing some odd
jobs for other criminals. One of these leads to him and his friend Malc kidnapping Roman. You can imagine Niko was
not happy about this. Luck of the Irish. Well, after the botched heroin deal, Niko moves onto bigger, better things, eventually meeting local
criminal Packie McReary. He still pushes drugs, too,
and Elizabeta calls Niko, claiming the Angels ripped
her off in a cocaine deal. He meets up with Little
Jacob to steal the cocaine, and after they retrieve it,
they run into Niko's girlfriend, Michelle, except her name isn't Michelle. Her real name is Karen Daniels, and she's been working undercover for the International Affairs
Agency the whole time. She takes the coke from
them and offers Niko a deal. If he comes and works for
the IAA, he won't go to jail. Don't be mistaken though, Niko's
still a criminal at heart. He works with Packie to
commit some lucrative crimes, some of which were under
the orders of Ray Boccino. He's living his best
life until he gets a call from Mallorie and learns that Dimitri and the Russians have kidnapped Roman. No one mentions Johnny's involvement, so let's keep that a secret
between you and me, okay? Niko saves his cousin, while his hatred for Dimitri continues to grow. Some time afterwards,
Niko works with Packie to rob one of the larger
banks in Liberty City. They then take hostages in the process, and one of which is our
third GTA IV protagonist. A Criminal's Best Friend. So let's set the stage one more time and talk about Luis Fernando Lopez. We first meet Luis with
his men on the ground of a Liberty City bank
during Niko's robbery. When he is not fearing for his life, he works as the right-hand man of Anthony Gay Tony Prince,
a well-to-do nightclub owner who isn't doing so well anymore. Tony has been losing money, so he works with Luis to make some shady deals. One of these deals is with a character simply known as the Cook. This guy came to Liberty City on the same boat Niko
did earlier in the year. See, he stole some diamonds from Bulgarin before going to America and planned to sell them to Tony and Luis. But Boccino sent Johnny to ambush the deal and steal the diamonds before
they could make the exchange. Meanwhile, the McReary family hires Niko to kidnap the daughter
of Giovanni Ancelotti, the don of the Italian mob,
and hold her for ransom. Ancelotti believes Gracie's kidnapping has to do with the diamonds,
so he blames Tony and Luis. Boccino actually has the diamonds, so he plans to sell
them to the Jewish mob, and he tells Johnny and
Niko to oversee the deal. Ancelotti catches wind of this deal and sends Luis to crash it. In the end, Luis walks
away with the diamonds, Johnny has all the money,
and Niko gets nothing. Black and white, clear as crystal, he gets nothing, he loses, good day, sir. While all the hubbub with the diamonds is going on, Boccino tells Niko where one of his old
squadmates is holed up. He tracks down Florian Cravic, which now goes by Bernie Crane. Bernie claims he didn't betray the squad, so Niko narrows it down to one
final suspect, Darko Brevic. With some help from Karen and the IAA, Niko tracks him down and
kills him, or spares him, depending on what you, the player choose. Meanwhile, Johnny turns his attention back to his old friend, Billy. He's been in prison and is gonna rat on the rest of the Lost
MC to reclaim his freedom. So Johnny and his gang
break into the prison to personally execute Billy. The bikers then torch
their base in Liberty City, tying up all the remaining loose ends. Now, back to the diamonds,
Ancelotti forces Tony and Luis to trade the diamonds
for his daughter's life. Packie and Niko show
up to hand Gracie over, but partway through the transaction, Bulgarin and his men arrive. Another firefight breaks out, and one of Bulgarin's men
ends up throwing the diamonds into a dump truck as it drives away. The diamonds are completely
out of the picture, so the Ancelotti family contacts Luis to have him kill Tony over the lost goods. Instead, his loyalty
for Tony shines through, and the two cut ties with the mobsters. Luis also assassinates Bulgarin, shutting him up permanently,
and he reunites with Tony, and the two celebrate,
giving this town the finger. Meanwhile, Jimmy Pegorino,
another Italian mobster, hires Niko to assassinate
Boccino, and now all the pieces are coming together for the end of GTA IV. Deal or No Deal. Pegorino asks Niko to conduct
one final heroin deal. Niko hesitates though because
Dimitri Rascalov is involved. And here's where the story branches. If Niko takes the deal, Dimitri will double-cross
him and try to murder him. Niko survives and vows to get
his revenge on the criminal. He attends Roman and
Mallorie's wedding ceremony, and one of Dimitri's assassins
will try to kill him again. Niko survives, but in the
scuffle, Roman gets fatally shot. With Little Jacob's help,
Niko hunts down Dimitri and ends him once and for all. Finally, Niko gets a phone call from Mallorie, who reveals she's pregnant. He promises to do his best to be a father figure for the child. If Niko instead decides
to skip out on the deal, he'll betray Pegorino's trust. He ambushes Dimitri and murders him. Afterward, he attends Roman
and Mallorie's wedding ceremony with Packie's sister,
Kate, as his plus one. She's a genuinely good person, they've been dating for a
little while, but just as Niko's ready to put his criminal ways behind him, Pegorino drives by the
church, fatally shooting Kate. Niko, along with Jacob and Roman, chase after the crime boss, eventually assassinating
him on Happiness Island. This is considered the canon ending, since there's hints of
Roman being alive in GTA V. And if Roman's alive, then that means, yeah, you can figure it out
by process of elimination. 2009, Liberty City. A year after Niko's antics,
some trouble with the Triads start to flare up in Liberty City. Chinatown Wars follows
the story of Huang Lee. His father, a Triad boss,
mysteriously died recently. He intends to deliver Yu Jian,
his father's prized sword, to his uncle Wu Kenny Lee, so
Kenny could hand the sword off to Hsin Jaoming, Liberty
City's current Triad Boss. Unfortunately, someone steals the sword from Huang the moment he
lands in Liberty City. A corrupt police officer named Wade Heston offers Huang a deal, and
the two team up to find out who stole Yu Jian and who
murdered Huang's father. At first, Huang investigates
both the Angels of Death and the local Korean mob,
but neither were seen guilty. He does, however, find out that there's a traitor among the Triads who has been leaking
information to the police. Huang turns his investigation
towards the FBI, hacking into their servers
to see who the snitch was. He finds out that two
high-ranking Triad officers have talked to the police, one
of whom is the son of Hsin. Dishonored by his son, Hsin resigns, opening the path for Kenny to
become the new Triad leader. Huang executes the two
traitors, but soon after, Heston finds out that
the information was fake. Turns out that the real traitor was none other than Uncle Kenny,
who also killed Huang's father. Hsin confronts Kenny,
demanding he return Yu Jian, so Kenny obliges and he
gives him the sword back by putting it straight through him or kind of slashing him with it? I don't know, cut scenes on the DS and PSP aren't the most detailed. The point is, Huang kills his uncle Kenny and avenges his father. As he is lying in a pool
of blood, Hsin suggests that Huang could lead
the Liberty City Triads. But just then, the authorities
bust in and arrest him. Heston vouches for Huang, so
he does get off scot-free. 2013, Los Santos: GTA Online. Now let's head out west to the
land of Vinewood: Los Santos. Merryweather, a private military company, sets up in the area, bringing all sorts of
weapons and vehicles. Your GTA Online character
lands in the city to meet with Lamar Davis, a close
totally-not-Facebook friend. Lamar introduces you to a
variety of criminal contacts, and your network includes
characters like Simeon Yetarian, Trevor Philips, Lester
Crest, and Martin Madrazo. Your character becomes a criminal mongol, running all sorts of heists
for Lester and Trevor while owning more organizations
than you can count. You can even start your own
biker gang courtesy of Malc, the guy who kidnapped
Roman back in Liberty city. Your organization specializes
in contraband, narcotics, and all other kinds of seedy businesses. Over the course of your criminal career, you steal and destroy a variety of weapons and intel controlled by Merryweather. You keep in touch with Lester, who plays a major role with the main
trio of Grand Theft Auto V. A few years down the line,
your character even opens a nightclub with the help of Gay Tony. Look, there's lots to do in GTA Online, and it's always getting updated. I'm sure its story will keep
developing beyond this video, so let's move on to the
twisting story of GTA V. Michael, Trevor, and Franklin. Thanks to the witness protection program, Michael De Santa, aka Michael Townley, has a not-so-happy life in Los Santos with his wife and two kids. Elsewhere, Franklin Clinton
and his friend Lamar Davis get by doing odd jobs, like repossessing cars
for Simeon Yetarian. One of the cars ends up being Michael's, but instead of being angry, Michael turns out to like
the cut of Franklin's jib. The two develop a
mentor-student relationship that culminates in them destroying a house that belongs to Martin
Madrazo, a drug cartel leader. Suddenly, Michael owes
Madrazo a lot of money, so he slips back into his old
criminal ways to get the cash. He then contacts Lester Crest to set up a jewelry store
heist to kickstart that, you know, just the old-fashioned
way of kickstarting. Lester forms the team,
and he says he considers a eastern European guy
making moves in Liberty City as well as a local contact
who's too unpredictable, clear references to Niko Bellic and your GTA Online character. Anyway, even without Niko,
because he is the best, the heist is a success. Up north in the desert, we find Trevor and Johnny Klebitz's girlfriend. Since 2004, he figured that Brad went to jail and Michael died. But when he sees the
jewelry heist on the news, he recognizes Michael's handiwork. Before heading into the
city, he murders Johnny and some other Lost MC members to monopolize the meth
production in the area. Trevor meets Michael in Los Santos, but he's furious that his
old friend is still alive. Despite their differences, the
two end up working together to save Michael's daughter
from public embarrassment. Norton, the FIB agent who cut Michael the witness protection deal,
knows that Michael committed the heist, and Trevor's presence
makes him uncomfortable. He blackmails Michael
into doing some dirty work to undermine the
International Affairs Agency. Sure enough, Michael eventually gets Franklin and Trevor
involved in the same mess. Michael's family moves out of his mansion after seeing he's become a criminal again. Unfortunately, he's in too deep now. FIB Agent Steve Haines ropes the trio into a series of crimes,
one of which has Michael crossing paths with Karen Daniels. Along the way, they make contact with Devin Weston, a local billionaire. Who gives the trio a few more missions revolving around stealing rare cars, which puts Michael, a
longtime movie-lover, in contact with producer Solomon Richards. Thanks to his new
connection, Michael becomes a producer on an upcoming film. Madrazo hires Michael and Trevor to silence someone who
can testify against him. After the hit, Trevor
reports back to Madrazo, but the crime boss refuses to pay, which pushes Trevor to
kidnap his wife, Patricia, and promptly fall in love with her. He also steals a bunch
of weapons and stuff from Merryweather, the military company. Eventually, Michael gets back
on Mr. Madrazo's good side by bribing him with a rare Aztec artifact, and Trevor returns
Patricia to the crime boss. Michael and Trevor start planning a big heist at the Union Depository, one of the biggest banks in the nation. However, when they travel to
North Yankton, Trevor finds out that Brad was buried in
place of Michael Townley. He and Michael ultimately
try to kill each other, but some Triads show up
to try to kill Trevor. Trevor gets away, so they
kidnap Michael instead. Trevor leaves Michael to die, but Franklin eventually rescues him. Now a free man, Michael
reunites his family, aggressively so, at the behest of his son. He then hears that Weston plans to shut down Solomon's studio,
which would eventually kill the movie Michael helped produce. In the heat of the
moment, he saves the movie by stealing the film reel,
leaving Weston's assistant dead. After tidying up his personal life, Michael gets back down
to business with the FIB. In the midst of their meeting, though, the IAA and Merryweather crash the party,. When things start looking
hairy for Michael, Trevor comes in to save the day, insisting that if anyone's gonna
kill Michael, it'll be him. Now that they've patched things up, they revisit their plans to
hit the Union Depository. Meanwhile, Franklin has been
dealing with his own problems. He eventually finds out
that his best friend Lamar has been set up by Stretch, an old friend who has been double-crossing them. With some help from the
always-bickering Trevor and Michael, he saves his best friend. Afterwards, Haines and
Norton warn Franklin that they'll call on him
to assassinate Trevor because he's liable to reveal that the FIB has been working with criminals. Michael and his son go
to his movie's premiere, and while on the red
carpet, Weston greets him with an ominous warning about his wife. He immediately ditches
the movie to return home, only to find Merryweather soldiers trying to kill his wife and daughter. He saves them and asks them to move out until things blow over. Finally, the Franklin,
Michael, and Trevor trio unite to pull off the big
Union Depository heist. After they successfully steal more money than they can imagine, Franklin gets a surprise visit from
none other than Weston. He wants Franklin to assassinate Michael, claiming that he inevitably
betrays everyone. Now, Franklin and you
have a decision to make. He can kill Trevor, kill Michael, or work with them and Lester
to kill all their enemies. If you choose to kill Trevor, Franklin will chase Trevor
down and burn him to death. Although Michael still considers
Franklin a close friend, taking out his old partner in crime doesn't really sit well with him. If you choose to kill Michael, Franklin will set up a meeting, but Michael catches on to
the situation and flees. After a chase, Franklin
catches up with him at a power station, and the two fight near the top of a tower. Finally, Franklin pushes Michael
off the edge, killing him. Franklin inevitably regrets his decision, and when Trevor finds out, he says he'll kill Franklin the
next time he sees him. Thankfully, the third
option is the canon ending. If you choose to work with Lester, they all come up with a plan that lures the FIB and Merryweather into a trap. Once they're all taken care
of, the main three split up to deal with each other's enemies, kind of a little switch-around of targets. Trevor kills Haines, who had
wanted to murder Michael. Franklin takes out the
leader of the Triads, who wanted Trevor dead, and
Michael hunts down Stretch, who had been messing
with Franklin and Lamar. Finally, Trevor ties up the last loose end by kidnapping Weston and putting
him in the trunk of a car. He calls Franklin and Michael,
and the three push him off a cliff, killing
Weston once and for all. And as the sun sets, the
three agree to be friends, flawed, awful, totally uncomfortable, and poorly mismatched friends. Man, I've never felt so many warm fuzzies about watching a man perish
in an exploding car before, but, hey, Grand Theft Auto
teaches you a lot about yourself. I wasn't kidding when we said there was a lot of murder and betrayal and revenge, but that's what makes these
stories worth telling. And there's a whole
other universe of stories worth telling in the 3D universe. We already covered that one,
so be sure to take a look. Also, subscribe to The Leaderboard because from indie to triple-A,
we love the games you play. I'm your host, Kyle,
and thanks for watching. (reflective synth music)
