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The player's lung capacity determines how long the player can stay underwater, and is improved both by continuously diving and by collecting Oysters.
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The oxygen bar is replenished by returning to the surface of the water. When underwater or in a sinking vehicle, the bar will gradually deplete when exhausted, the player's health will be reduced instead, leading to eventual drowning. Whenever the player enters water, a blue bar denoting the player's oxygen appears on the game's HUD, between the Health and Armor bars. This allows the player to swim deep underwater using directional controls the sprint key/button gives the player forward movement. The player can dive underwater by using the "fire" key/button while in water. Tapping the sprint key/button rapidly adds slightly more speed. The player can perform a breaststroke to swim at a slow pace holding the sprinting key/button allows the player to perform a faster front crawl. In Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, the player can float (in a water treading position), and swim in any deep body of water using directional controls. Liberty City Stories is the last game of the series thus far to disallow swimming.ĭescription Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas However, its contemporary Grand Theft Auto Advance and the subsequent Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories do not allow swimming (in Advance, invisible barriers prevent the player from entering any pool of water by foot no more than the shore, while exposure to water in Liberty City Stories is once again near-instantly lethal). The ability to swim made its debut in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. There are boats in both games, though, now making the water cruisable. In Grand Theft Auto III and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, falling or wading into deep water is still potentially lethal, as the protagonist will rapidly lose health if they wade more than chest-deep into water. Video showing swimming in Grand Theft Auto Although this only applies to water that they have fallen into from a height, water that the player enters that is on their level allows them to paddle for a couple of seconds, which will drown them eventually if they don't get back out again (in Grand Theft Auto). In Grand Theft Auto and Grand Theft Auto 2, the player is instantaneously wasted when they fall into water, regardless of whether or not they are in a vehicle. Prior to GTA San Andreas, bodies of water were little more than lethal obstacles, which acted as boundaries to prevent players from reaching locked areas. Player Interaction with Water Prior to San Andreas
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