Part 105: Behind The Scenes - Lost Lines

Lines and Missions - Cut, Changed or "Hidden"

Almost all of the information in this update comes from the "Hidden Text FAQ" at Gamefaqs, though it is all freely available to anyone with the PC Version of the game in a file called american.gxt. This was originally planned as a smaller part of what was going to be the "Easter Eggs/Secrets" Update, but it grew to such a size that I decided to make it a separate update.

There are a number of lines of dialogue within the game that aren't heard unless certain cues are hit. My understanding is that this is expanded on in GTAIV where multiple tries at missions will lead to different dialogue each time, but it was fairly limited in San Andreas. For example, early in the game CJ is told to go and get a "gangsta physique" by Sweet. If Carl has managed to reach a particular body fat level by this point (roughly 45%) then Sweet will change his dialogue to suit.

CJ: Whassup?
Sweet: Your fat to muscle ratio, that's what's up!
CJ: Sweet? What you on my back for now?
Sweet: I know we're mourning Moms and all, But there's no need to let yourself go, CJ.
CJ: So I put a little weight on, but....
Sweet: There's a gym I go to just up a couple of blocks from the Grove. Go check it out.
CJ: OK, I'm gonna see what's up, man. But with the fat jokes, you're gonna give me a complex.

Similarly, if you fuck up a mission for Smoke of all people, he'll rag you on your weight as well.

Smoke: Yo Carl, it's Smoke.
CJ: Hey Smoke.
Smoke: Hey Carl, I don't mean no disrespect so don't take it like that. Uh, I gotta give you some advice.
CJ: What?
Smoke: The gym my friend. You're letting yourself go.
CJ: That's a bit much, coming from you.
Smoke: Hey look, Carl, I'm big boned. But I'm still an athlete. You're letting yourself go my friend. And to be honest with you, it's breaking my heart.
CJ: Gimme a break, I ain't as fat as you.
Smoke: I'm trying, I'm trying! And I'm trying to help you help yourself, my brother. The gym, Carl. You hear me?
CJ: Screw you, man.

There was also dialogue originally intended for the game that was later removed - such as for mission's like "Sweet's Girl"; the original Gang Wars; and Wrong Side of the Tracks (chasing the Vagos on the train)

Sweet: I been with some girl and now I'm stuck.
CJ: I ain't about to come help prise you two apart!

CJ: "Where we goin' then?
Sweet: "She should hang out at our place, until those Seville fools calm down. Just want to make things clear, though, we ain't no item or nothing like that - nothing like that, baby."
Girl: "And what was last night, huh? And what's with all the, "Girl, you're somethin' special!" And, "C'mon, girl, you know I love you!"
Sweet: "Well I do, just don't think there's no wedding bells around the corner, that's all."
Girl: "We will talk about this in private, Sweet Johnson!"
CJ: "You in trouble now, Sweet."
Sweet: "Eyes on the road, motherfucker!"


Smoke: "You know the parable of the wise sheep Carl?"
CJ: "No. I don't think I do."
Smoke: "Well, you should pay attention to what I'm going to say."
CJ: "Okay."
Smoke: "The wise sheep does what he says, and only eats the greenest
grass, while the foolish sheep gets eaten alive by heathens."
CJ: "What are you talking about?"
Smoke: "I'm thinking of going into the ministry in later life. Just
testing shit out."
CJ: "Whatever. What we looking for, Smoke?"


CJ: "This thing wasn't built to take so much weight!"
Smoke: "You're the one packing on the pounds, CJ!"
CJ: "They don't call you BIG Smoke for nothing!"
Smoke: "Shit, I was born big, fool! You, on the other hand, have a
dietary problem! Roll up on them CJ, so I can get a shot!"

Wrong Side of the Tracks also originally included a dropped package that CJ and Smoke pick up after killing the Vagos. It's revealed that Tenpenny gave Smoke information about the meet and instructed Smoke to grab the package.


CJ: "Man, look at all that cash!"
Smoke: "Sh-ha ha ha! Help yourself baby! Help yourself baby!"
CJ: "Screw this, those maniacs won't stop until we're dead!"
Smoke: "That's what we're after! They gave it up! There's our baby! Hey, I need to get this back to my crib! C'mon CJ, let's head back to my spot. Hey, let's get outta here before the cops show, man."
CJ: "Why Tenpenny want that package?"
Smoke: "Who-penny?"
CJ: "Don't bullshit me, Smoke!"
Smoke: "Carl, man, there's something about you man, some kinda"
CJ: "Smoke, when you gonna stop with this weird bullshit?"
Smoke: "The truth is Carl, we've been lost while you been gone, but now we saved again."
CJ: "What's in the package, Smoke?"
Smoke: "The problem is, too many of the chosen ones' get killed before their time, man."
CJ: "If the afterlife means peace from your bullshit, I think I'm ready. What's in the damn package, Smoke? No more bullshit!"
Smoke: "I dunno, homie. I'm just trying to help these officers keep shit off the streets, man. I don't trust them."
CJ: "Sometimes, trust ain't an option, homie."

I think (pure speculation) that this was dropped because it gives too much of a clue too early that Smoke is working with Tenpenny. Unfortunately it also reveals for perhaps the first time that CJ is a lot smarter than he first appears, and gives a solid reason for Smoke talking up what a great leader and "chosen one" he believes CJ to be.

Lines weren't just cut from missions, but the already heavily packed random lines by pedestrians/civilians. In the mission "Life's A Beach" when you attend a beach party to steal a sound system for OG Loc, there was originally a lot more random lines from the people at the party, including at least one person who was apparently working in porn, saying such classic lines as:

"At first I struggled, but now I can take the full twelve."
"Then he came in my face, oh, hello!"
"For now, porno pays the bills."

A number of the partygoers also call out welcomes to CJ and offer him drinks or a place to sit, and it's revealed that the party is being "sponsored" by Seville Boulevard Families. The DJ whom you dance with before stealing her gear is also often complimented. After you steal it, a number of lines were cut where you call up OG Loc to find out where he wants the gear, and he keeps hanging up to try and set up a place for it to be held. Eventually it goes to one of LB's garage. LB, if you remember, is Ryder's "homie" and of course Ryder was working with Smoke and Smoke ended up being Loc's Manager. There's nothing overly foreboding about that, Loc was Smoke and Ryder's friends as well.

There were also several missions cut from the game, including some that would have served well to flesh out Carl's relationships. Early in the game, CJ meets Cesar and they decide to go racing. If you lose the race, Kendl will call you up and mock you for it. Later, the phone rings and you mock Kendl back, only it turns out to be Cesar. Kendl has told him to invite CJ over to get to know him better, and Cesar tells him to bring a car and he'll tune it up for him. Presumably CJ jacks a car, but while Kendl and Cesar show him around the house, the car is towed. CJ and Cesar then go to the police impound lot, break in and get the car back, then are chased by police till Cesar finds them a Pay and Spray to lose the heat.

CJ: "Que pasa, Cesar!"
Cesar: "Hey, Holmes! There's some beers up on the bench right there. Just got to finish up under the hood, eh."
CJ: "So, eerr, how are you and my sister doing?"
Cesar: "Just fine, CJ. So, how are you and, eerrm - Who are you seeing at the moment?"
CJ: "You know me, I ain't found the right girl yet."
Kendl: "You ain't never going to find the right girl coz you treat them all like shit."
Cesar: "Easy, angel, man don't find love, love finds man, eh chico."
CJ: "Yeah, I guess it does..."

While this mission really wouldn't have served any other purpose than to show a Pay and Spray (already established in Drive-By), the cutscene itself still would have served well to show the building relationship between Carl and Cesar, which kind of jumps fully formed out of nowhere when Cesar shows Carl Smoke and Ryder have betrayed Grove Street.

It's remarkable how much one cutscene can affect the entire context of a mission. For example, the mission Doberman involves Carl being sent by Sweet to shoot up Glen Park to scare out a traitor to the families. In the thread I wrote up Gray Imports as Carl's way of distracting Tenpenny so he could pull this off. Oddly enough, this mission was originally intended as a C.R.A.S.H mission, with the turncoat someone who was going to turn evidence against Tenpenny for the DEA. Tenpenny decides to send in Carl as his "Doberman" to deal with the problem.

Tenpenny: "CARL! GET OVER HERE!"
Tenpenny: "Now you listen to me, you sanctimonious piece of shit, Poncho is my man and the DEA don't touch my asset, that's just the fucking law!"
Tenpenny: "Oh, I don't give a holy fuck about some targets, Go frame some other rock slinger."
Tenpenny: "Crack my ass, you lying piece of shit! Listen to me! You leave him on the streets, got me?"
Tenpenny: "CARVER, YOU PIECE OF RAT SHIT! BITCH!"
CJ: "Having a bad day, Officer Tenpenny?"
Tenpenny: "Hey, don't even think that that approaches humor, Johnson. And Hernandez; don't ever laugh at me again. Get over there and get my fucking phone. Move it!"
Tenpenny: "Carver pulls in Poncho and he's gonna fold."
Pulaski: "Well it's a good thing we got our Doberman here to deal with it."
Tenpenny: "You listening Carl?"
CJ: "No, didn't hear nothing."
Tenpenny: "Hey, don't yank my dick, Carl. You get over there and freeze that
bust in East Los Santos. And Poncho doesn't make it into custody - you get me?"
CJ: "Yeah, whatever, man."
Tenpenny: "Get your ass outta here! There should be some weed being bagged as evidence - think of it as a little opportunity we threw your way."

This makes a lot of sense, except for the fact that it involves Carl killing a shitload of Ballas and taking control of the territory for Grove Street, which is something that Tenpenny WOULDN'T want.

Once you're out of Santos, CJ meets the memorable Catalina, who eventually ends up with Claude from GTA3 and abandons Carl after a race for pink slips or the deed to Claude's garage in San Fierro. Throughout the race, Catalina yells insults at Carl, but a number were dropped from the final game, including quite a few commenting on Claude's "size".

"Oh, Claude, you're so big and manful!"
"Claude, you're the best driver I've ever bedded!"
"Hands on the wheel, Claude, hands on the wheel!"
"Oh Claude, it's bigger than the gear stick!"
"I have never felt so satisfied! Five orgasms in as many minutes!"
"Marry me, Claude, marry me!"
"Oh Claude, I don't know if I'm woman enough!"
"Hey, Carl, you drive like a drunken camel!"
"Carl, are you jealous, heh?"
"Claude has such girth, he is AMAZING!"
"Claude would make you feel inadequate!"
"At last I have found a man to satisfy me!"
"Claude is so manful, so FORCEFUL!"
"I never knew there was so much MORE to sex!"

Once in Fierro itself, the infamous Supply Lines mission marks the point where many people stopped playing the game. There was actually another mission planned where CJ and Zero defend the RC store from a counter-attack by Berkley controlling RC Cars. Apparently it was originally planned for Berkley to fake his death (and Zero to be devastated by the loss of his great rival) and then launch the surprise attack, forcing Carl to fight back with an RC Tank.

CJ: "What's wrong with you now?"
Zero: "I've learned an important lesson."
CJ: "What?"
Zero: "That it's fun to have an enemy. That with Berkley dead my life is also over."
CJ: "What do you mean?"
Zero: "It is perfectly natural, Carl. We're fighting machines, Carl, as much as this tank, or that chopper. And with no one to fight, we're nothing. I am just facing up to the void. Don't mind me, Carl. I am having an existential crisis. You carry on painting graffiti and wearing your gold chains. All I want is a little peace."
CJ: "I got the cops on my case, a big fat prick who betrayed me and you're having such a crisis? Man, I'll give you 'exi-mental', you damn square. What's that noise?"
Zero: "Sounds like a model 7, a 5:1 ratio, equipped with cannon."
CJ: "No, it doesn't. No it doesn't... It sounds like a whole army of them!"
Zero: "Oh dear God - Berkley is alive?"

Various pedestrians then comment on the models, thinking the tanks are cute until they open fire.

"Holy Gaia! It's a bad trip Satan toy!"
"Mother of God! It's blasting!"
"Fucking shit! It's packing!"
"One serious fucking toy!"
"It's a tiny soviet invasion!"

Zero: "It must have been a patrol we heard. If Berkley's still alive, he'll be servicing his transmitters! We've got to go stop him!"
CJ: "How?"
Zero: "You're the gangster, you tell me! Carl, where are you going? What are you doing, Carl? That's Berkley over there!"
CJ: "Right, I'm going to go beat on that fool!"
Zero: "Wait! Berkley is a master tactician, a cautious general!"
CJ: "Meaning?"
Zero: "Meaning it's a trap! Deploy the tank! Use the tank to take out those buggies!"
CJ: "What's the problem, they're only little cars?"
Zero: "Trust me, stop them at all costs!"
CJ: "Holy fuck!"
Zero: "See, Berkley isn't a kid and these things aren't toys! Oh my god! Stop those buggies, Carl!"

Once the buggies are stopped, you would presumably do the mission New Model Army and banish Berkley forever. Your control of the RC Helicopter in that mission would presumably be seen as an adequate introduction to flying for the "Photo Opportunity" mission in which photos are taken of the Loco Syndicate. Originally, the plan was for Carl to steal a helicopter, pick up Carl and then take aerial shots of the syndicate meeting. This was dropped, presumably for a number of possible reasons:

To this point you haven't flown anything but (maybe) RC planes/copters
Cesar later claims in the game to have a fear of heights
How likely is it that a drug syndicate wouldn't noticing a hovering helicopter above Angel Pine, let alone Toreno?

Pilot: "Hey, who are you?"
CJ: "Uh, a Helmet Inspection Officer. Eh, you see that shit? Look over there!"
Pilot: "Where?"
CJ: "There!"

*punch*

Cesar: "Wow! Holmes! I didn't know you could fly!"
CJ: "I can't. I'm learning, get in."
Cesar: "There's somebody sleeping back here, eh."
CJ: "Yeah. Leave him, he should be OK. Where we goin'?"

During the identification of T-Bone, Jizzy and Toreno, Cesar also makes note that there is bad blood between his eses and T-Bone Mendez, which may explain his eagerness to kill him in "Pier 69". The planned helicopter ride also explains why this mission's voices have CJ and Cesar yelling loudly, which always struck me as odd since they're supposed to be covertly observing the Loco Syndicate from a rooftop but are screaming out names. It makes a lot more sense if the voices were originally recorded as if they were inside of a helicopter. When they spot Toreno they at first think he is a driver, but Toreno DOES spot them and actually takes a shot at the helicopter, and they have to fly away. This obviously caused major problems, since the Loco Syndicate wouldn't have been so happy to take on new help like CJ if Toreno felt they'd been made.

On a more humorous note, when CJ first goes to the Tierra Robada ranch for the mission "Monster", he demands to know if the mysterious voice is a stalker. Toreno's reply?

"Oooh, when the mood hits me!"

When Toreno has Carl buy Verdant Meadows, he tells him rather abruptly to learn how to fly. Originally the dialogue between them was a little extended.

Toreno: "Carl..."
CJ: "Hell! What do you want?"
Toreno: "Relax. Listen. Can you fly a plane?"
CJ: "No. Next question."
Toreno: "Will you let me teach you?"
CJ: "No. I make it a rule not to defy gravity with compulsive liars."
Toreno: "Carl. You scared of flying?"
CJ: "No. I'm scared of you. You're a fucking lunatic."
Toreno: "Have you heard the bullshit that comes out your mouth? Come on. Be a man, Carl, Your country needs you. Get in the fucking plane."

Throughout the game, Truth is shown as being one of the few people aware of Toreno that Toreno himself is unaware of. Apparently at one point in the game, Truth was supposed to be being hunted by Government Agents (maybe tipped off by his constant call-ins to the Area 51 radio show) and CJ was supposed to rescue him.

CJ: "Yo."
Truth: "CJ. I've nosed too deep this time!"
CJ: "I've told you about that stuff, Truthman! Lay off the 'caine, dude!"
Truth: "No. I didn't mean that! The grey government want me out of the way!"
CJ: "Yo, speak up."
Truth: "I'm in Bayside, Whole town is crawling with dudes in black suits. I need your help, CJ! I've done some mushrooms, but it hasn't calmed me down at all. CJ! They're after me!"
CJ: "Yo, calm down, I'm on my way."

You were meant to work your way to Bayside, get hold of Truth, steal an FBI Car (the ones that spawn when CJ gets up to a 5 Star Wanted Level) and get him to safety. I'm not sure why the mission was dropped, maybe Rockstar just felt the game was long enough already and it served no purpose since essentially it was just Truth getting a 5 Star Wanted Level like CJ could easily do himself by heading too close to the Restricted Area.

Once in Venturas, Carl is introduced to Kent Paul and Maccer. As you probably remember, Kent has to get out and vomit while you're driving (and if you don't stop he pukes inside the car), but they had also planned to have Maccer lose control of his bladder and piss everywhere because his constant erection causes him control issues. Maybe they just figured it was overkill, and the idea of Carl having to drive to Venturas in a car reeking with piss and vomit was too much even for Rockstar.

Remember the Hot Coffee debacle? Involving a sex mini-game in which CJ tried to bring his girlfriends to orgasm? Originally one of these mini-games involved "torturing" Millie by spanking her with a dildo to get the code for the Casino from her. This was probably dropped for the same reasons that Hot Coffee was dropped, thank goodness.

The Casino Heist missions also dropped out a few elements I felt would have added some nice "final" touches to the aspect of the game. Originally when stealing motorcycle bikes, you got to hear the police putting in calls about their calls being stolen - describing Carl in VERY general terms as a black male, about six feet tall.... with a stupid haircut!

The mission "Fish in a Barrel" is basically a 30 second cutscene where Carl and Ran Fa Li sign contracts with the Casino to make Carl a partner. The mission name never made any sense, but originally it was intended as an escort mission where Carl gets Fa Li from the airport to the Casino safely. After the mission is over Rosie calls up to complain about Salvatore, and mentions that everyone is focused on "some Triad meet". This is shown in the mission itself where Carl has to fight off the Mafia while the Triads get Fa Li to Four Dragons. It also explains why Carl seems so keen later in the game to protect Rosie, Kent Paul and Maccer.

Woozie: "So what's the score, Carl, when can we make a move on this heist?"
CJ: "I dunno, dude. This Rosenberg guy and these two idiots, man. I kinda feel responsible for them."
Woozie: "Why?"
CJ: "You know me, dude, another mafia leader, a pusher, no problemo. I mean I'll ice them. But these guys, they're like kids."
Woozie: "Oh, come on. You're losing that killer instinct, Carl. You better get a move on, Ran Fa Li's flight gets in any minute!"
CJ: "Damn, you're right!"
Woozie: "Be careful. This is the first time a Tong representative has ever been to Las Venturas!"
CJ: "Yeah, I've got a bad feeling about this."
Woozie: "Which is why you're going to be watching over the proceedings with... where did I put it? Aha! With this!"
CJ: "Yo I'm cool with whacking a Mafia Leader with a nine-iron, but I'd rather use a weapon of my own choice."
Woozie: "Ah. Well take this anyway. You never know, it may come in handy..."

Woozie: "Mr. Ran Fa Li."
Ran Fa Li: (Grunt)
Woozie: "Carl, what took you guys so long?"
CJ: "Heh heh. We ran into a little welcoming committee. The Leone family has made their move. We can handle those bastards now we're up and running."
Woozie: "Gentlemen, can I have your marks please?"
Woozie: "Gentlemen, or shall I say, partners!"
CJ: "Oh, I'll drink to that!"
Ran Fa Li: (Grunt)

This was (probably) dropped because it would too publicly show Carl as working for the Four Dragons right in front of the Leone Family, whom he was trying to ingratiate himself with.

In the actual Heist itself, there is more dialogue between Carl and Zero about Berkley, with Zero getting overly excited about "counter-hacking" Berkley, a battle that he apparently "wins" despite the fact the lights come back up in the mission itself. Zero's excitement probably goes a long way to explaining why Carl punches him, since not only did Zero risk their entire heist, but he treated Berkley's interference like a game.

Once back in Santos, a few people complained about Bear's lack of involvement in the game once he was sent off to Detox. Originally he actually had some more lines:

Bear: "Man, Grove Street Families used to be tight, man. Then Li'l Brian caught it, you ran off. I don't mean to dis you, man, but you did."

CJ: "I know, but I'm back now."

Bear: "True, homie, that's real speed. Anyways man, Sweet, he just became a hard man to deal with, you know? Then we got bad blood with Seville Boulevard Families and they split from the Grove. Then Temple, hell, they went loneranger too. Sweet, man, he did absolutely nothing. Next thing I knew B Dup's, he's making money, Grove Street, they set tripping. Streets ain't no place to be when every fool is trying to make a move. So I tried my first blast - see what the fuss is all about, right? Now look at me, a rockstar..."

I think this did a really nice job of giving a "soldier's" view on why Grove Street was falling apart and just how much of an impact CJ had on everyone. Bear isn't done though, shortly after this he plays (or would have) an integral part of finding Smoke. After CJ helps lock down Grove Street during the riot, he and Sweet ask Bear for information about how to find Smoke, and he tells them that even B-Dup had been cut off from Smoke.... but there was still some Russian (presumably not from the same group that was trying to kill Smoke earlier in the game) who got his product directly from Smoke himself. Bear tells CJ how to find him, and CJ finds the Russian and beats him down until he breaks and tells everything he knows, telling CJ exactly where to find Smoke in East Los Flores.

This was probably cut because as ridiculously over the top as the GTA games are, everyone knows a Russian mobster would never break under something as "soft" as a horrendous beating!



Anyway - that's some of the content that was cut, "hidden" or otherwise changed. San Andreas had so much content that it's hard to believe so much was cut out, but thankfully Rockstar didn't suffer from the Knights of the Old Republic 2 problem where the content was there but the game wasn't finished.

Within the next 2-3 days, I hope to have the final "Easter Eggs/Secrets" Update done, hopefully this keeps you busy until then.