Dimitri Rascalov Tribute

Since today is the 18th anniversary of GTA 4, I decided to bring the main villain from the game: Dimitri Rascalov. Arguably I consider him the most evil villain out of any GTA game given his treacherous nature, the things he did to Niko and others, and not to mention, he is also very dangerous, especially dangerous to work with. Even though I think Dimitri is terrible even for a fictional character, at the same time, he is very well written and realistic, especially given that GTA 4 is realistic as a whole. I remember the first time I ever played GTA 4, the ending I picked was Deal. Because judging by the title, I assumed it was the "morally" good ending, but in reality, it was very dark and grim. Deal is more narratively superior because not only is it such a dark and sad ending that makes GTA 5 look more like a comedy movie, but one big reason Deal is a better ending, is because Dimitri is the final boss, which fits best since he is the main antagonist, and he first appears in act 1, and onward. While I find revenge to be canon, my only issue is that Pegorino is the final showdown, which is underwhelming because he appeared very late in the game, he is the secondary antagonist, and he doesn't even become Nikos enemy unless you pick Revenge when he gets pissed at Niko for ruining his plans. Facing Dimitri in the finale is more narratively satisfying, instead of him getting killed halfway through, and then a villain who we didn't get to love to hate becomes the final boss. That would be like a Batman movie with Joker as the main villain, and Penguin as the secondary antagonist, where Joker appears near the end of act 1, Penguin appears soon after act 2 starts, Joker gets killed off halfway through act 3, and then Penguin becomes the big bad towards the movies end. Since you know, Joker is Batman's arch enemy, he always plays a bigger impact in each story he is in, and Penguin, while also a major antagonist, is not as much of a threat and has a big presence like Joker does. Anyway, aside from my analogy, while Deal has the right final boss, and that it feels like a true finale to the story, I can kinda see why Rockstar strutted it like this. Because GTA 4s finale isn't suppose to be who should be the big bad in the games last mission, it is about punishing Niko, and the player for what choice you made. The message of Deal is: you compromised your values for money by agreeing to work with your enemy, it costed you the death of your cousin, and now you have to face your enemy for the choice you made. And where as the message of Revenge: you sticked by your principles by killing your enemy so that you won't be harmed anymore, but, even when you think you've won, that choice took away someone you loved, and there is another enemy out there out to get you, and you haven't fully won. So with that said, that is why GTA 4 feels realistic and really speaks to you. Thats one of the underrated reasons why GTA 4 is one of my favorite video games, and ofc, my favorite game of 2008, given that it has such a memorable story that no GTA game can beat and it has so many well written characters. No wonder many people say GTA 4 is better than GTA 5. Scenes: Grand Theft Auto IV Song: Wasting Time by Red