GTA V 100% completion checklist and tips

Grand Theft Auto IV players, especially the ones who sought the Platinum Trophy, remember the frustrations of trying to reach 100% completion. I went through a similar endeavor, where I reached my 35th hour of gameplay only to realize that I missed something required that was removed from the game. In the months leading up to the release of Grand Theft Auto V, I couldn’t help but think about what was to come, in terms of trophies, for Rockstar Games’ next title. As we trophy hunters know, all the trophy sets for every Rockstar game has been extensive and very time consuming.

  I want to make it very clear that I haven’t played GTA V yet, so the tips that I am recommending will not contain spoilers for your experience.

 1) Complete side missions whenever possible

During my experiences with GTA IV, many events and side missions would appear at specific points, and they would disappear once I moved too far ahead in the main story line. Considering the guide specifies Lester’s Assassination Missions as part of the Main Story requirements, I suggest completing any side missions, like the ones mentioned in the Strangers and Freaks section, that show up along the way; some may not contribute to the count, but this tactic also allows you to see the entire opus that Rockstar has created.

2) Gather collectibles all at once

From  Stunt Jumps to Space Ship parts, I recommend waiting to collect them until you’re ready to collect them all, in terms of wantonness and ability. The perfect time to start is when the entire map is made available (that is, of course, if GTA V follows the GTA pattern and has areas of the map unlocked as the story progresses), and I also recommend finding each set without stopping. That way, they’re easier to track and you don’t have to wonder if you found anything through the story or not. Besides, as I indicated in the previous tip, some of these might be locked off if you move too far, so tread carefully; it wasn’t necessarily like that in GTA IV, but it’s always best to stay on the side of caution.

3) Track percentage gains throughout

Much like GTA IV, not everything you do in GTA V will yield percentage values, and some things might now show their effects right away. For instance, some of the 82 missions that are covered in the Brady Guide don’t directly contribute to completion, but 69 of them do; it’s assumable that specific story missions fulfill some of the percentage, but it’s also assumable that completing only 69 of the 82 missions will not be enough to get it all.

4) Complete Random Events 

Sure, there are only 14 of them that are required for the completion trophy, but having to do these exclusively would mean that you have to run around the city waiting for an event to pop up rather than actually doing something in the game. So, I recommend jumping in each one as they appear rather than skipping them for later. That way, the gameplay is differentiated and your elongated play sessions can go even longer.

5) Intermingle Hobbies and Pastimes and Miscellaneous tasks

There are 42 of them, and they’re all little things that need to be finished. Use these as breaks in the game, but make sure that you track everything that you’ve done. When it comes to these parts of the game, the Brady Guide breaks them down nicely, so you know exactly how many you need to do in order to count those tasks to the percentage. As was the case with some of the other tips, do jump right into the Hobbies, Pastimes, and Miscellaneous objectives once they are made available, because you never know if they’ll disappear on you; most of the basic ones will probably stay until the end of the game, but I recommend leaning to caution again. Also, this may be the last remaining percentages of the 100%, so try going through some of these tasks at the end, since you may necessarily not have to start over again; the Friend activities may also have to be done with each of the main allies, since that’s how it was in GTA IV, so keep that in mind as well.

Check out the official 100% completion list after the page break