Fresh Meat is a mission in Grand Theft Auto V that protagonist Franklin Clinton does independently. Fellow protagonist Michael De Santa is also playable during a later part in the mission, and Trevor Philips can start this mission too, although he will only participate in the opening cutscene and then walk away.
Description[]
Following the conclusion of Pack Man, Franklin contacts Lester Crest about Michael's apparent disappearance, since Michael has been off the grid for days. The duo deduce that Michael has been captured by unknown enemy forces and is likely being held captive somewhere in the city, with Lester tracing Michael's cellphone signal back to Los Santos after a brief flight to North Yankton. Lester suggests that Franklin meet up with Trevor to obtain as much information as possible. At Franklin's behest, Lester calls Trevor and sends him to meet Franklin at his old safehouse in Strawberry.
Upon arriving at the house, Trevor appears even more disturbed than usual, exasperatedly yelling at Denise to be quiet as the ladies are out for a jog and then harshly berates Franklin for laughing at him after he mistakenly trips over a low fence. Franklin apologizes to Trevor, who begrudgingly accepts the apology. After Trevor calms down, Franklin asks Trevor if he knows what became of Michael in North Yankton; Trevor informs him about how his failed business drug deals with the Triads went sour, resulting in Michael being captured by Wei Cheng's henchmen, and claims that he does not know if Michael survived the shootout. Franklin tells him that Michael is back in Los Santos somewhere and asks him for help in rescuing him, but Trevor angrily rebuffs, due to his newly-ignited feud with Michael. In anger, he punches a Families member passing by and then storms off.
It is now up to Franklin to rescue Michael alone. While he does not have much to rely on, he manages to pinpoint Michael's location by using an app on his smartphone called Trackify, which Lester provides (the same app used during the offshore option of The Merryweather Heist). As Franklin tries to look for him with some help from Lester, the game switches to Michael, who is hanging upside down in a meat-packing plant. Michael tries to tell Wei Cheng that he is not Trevor's ji lao (gay boyfriend), but Cheng refuses to believe the truth and turns on the meat grinder and leaves Michael behind to die when he decides Trevor will not be coming. A timer appears on the screen; if Franklin does not reach Michael within this time limit, he will be moved into the grinder and killed.
Unlike standard GTA fares where the GPS would automatically indicate the shortest route to your destination, the player is only given a vague beacon to follow. Upon arrival at the triads' hideout, a meat factory called Raven Slaughterhouse, Franklin can go onto the roof via the back for a shooting position, or come in the front all guns blazing.
After fighting through the Triads, Franklin sees Michael strung up by his feet on a meat hook. Franklin kills a Triad member pointing a gun towards Michael and tosses Michael a pistol; the player is now given the option to switch between Franklin and Michael, the latter still upside-down on the hook. Franklin and Michael fight off another wave of Triads, and Michael saves Franklin from a Triad with a knife that tackles him. After both men clear out all of the Triads, Michael lowers himself to the ground and is shown to be heavily injured, blood stained his tank top and holding his side. The pair escape outside, where they find a Coquette and a Feltzer which they can use to escape; they also find two Triads on their tail.
After either killing or escaping the pursuing Triads, Michael and Franklin arrive at Michael's home, where Michael thanks Franklin for saving him, but the mood turns tense when Franklin demands to know the truth about what really went down between him and Trevor at North Yankton, including Brad. Caught off guard, Michael is forced to come clean about the plan he made with Dave as a way to get out of his criminal life, in particular his 'psychotic best friend' Trevor, but he tells Franklin not to worry about it as he still has to complete Devin Weston's car collection. Franklin, however, told him that Trevor and Lamar had already completed the collection, but Weston cheated them out of the payment. Confused, Michael assures Franklin that he'll sort it out the next time he shows up at the studio, then heads into his house, where he washes the blood off himself and changes into a clean suit.
Mission Objectives[]
- Find Michael. - (Franklin)
- Rescue Michael. - (Franklin)
- Flee the meat factory. - (Michael and Franklin)
- Go to Michael's House. - (Michael or Franklin)
Gold Medal Objectives[]
- Switch Limiter - Don't switch more than 3 times
- Control Franklin until he saves Michael, switch to Michael for the remainder of the shootout for his ability, and switch to Franklin when leaving in the car for his ability.
- Accuracy - Finish with a shooting accuracy of at least 70%
- Use a shotgun for Franklin and ability for Michael. This also helps for the headshot objective.
- Headshots - Kill 10 enemies with headshot
- Use Michael's special ability. This also helps for the accuracy objective.
- Swift Rescue - Rescue Michael within 3:30
- Use the shotgun for the first shootout to save time trying to kill enemies.
- Sense of Direction - Don't use a map waypoint.
- Use the Trackify app or the player's own knowledge of the map to get to the slaughterhouse.
Deaths[]
- Numerous Triad members - Killed by Franklin and Michael for kidnapping Michael and trying to kill him in the meat factory.
Aftermath[]
- The player will be able to play as Michael again once this mission is completed, allowing the player to switch between all three protagonists once again.
- Trevor can call Wei Cheng. If he does so, Cheng informs Trevor that Michael was rescued, which annoys Trevor.
- Michael and Trevor cannot hang out with each other again, unless the player chooses The Third Way at the end of the game. If the player makes Michael and Trevor meet in the street, they will exchange unpleasantries.
- Michael or Trevor can still hang out with Franklin, but if Franklin calls them to hang out together, the second person he called will claim that he is not able to hang out.
- If all three protagonists meet together and the player is playing as Franklin, one will ask if they want to drink together and the other will claim he is busy.
- Upon completion of this mission, Gruppe Sechs stock will rise by approximately 11.17%.
Lifeinvader Posts[]
(Michael's Lifeinvader)
- Lester Crest - "Glad to hear you haven't been turned into high-fat-content burger meat. Didn't I tell you there's an app for everything these days? Never say I don't look out for you."
Post-Mission Phone Calls[]
Phone Call 1[]
Trevor: Mr. Cheng.
Wei Cheng: Mr. Philips, I hear your lover left us.
Trevor: Yeah, what's with that, I thought you were going to get rid of him for me.
Wei Cheng: More of my men died, Mr. Philips! I have put them on your account. You will soon have to pay!
Trevor: Nah, I'm good for it, pal. You know where to find me.
Phone Call 2[]
Trevor: Mr. Cheng-cheng, how's it going?
Wei Cheng: Swimmingly, Mr. Philips. And you?
Trevor: Ohhh, can't complain. Business is booming, you know.
Wei Cheng: Blaine County - yes. Rich pickings indeed.
Trevor: Hmmm, we could use some healthy competition. Whenever you want to come on down.
Wei Cheng: When we come, you will know about it. Do not worry.
Street Conversation (only when Michael and Trevor meet each other)[]
Michael: T, we gotta talk this out.
Trevor: You're a snake, Townley!
Michael: You know, it was a long time ago, you should really move on.
Trevor: Oh, it's easy to move on when you move into a mansion!
Michael: You don't want a mansion, T! Come on! You want an excuse to do whatever the fuck you want!
Trevor: I see you again, I'll do whatever I want to your face!
Michael: Yeah, sure, bro. Take it easy!
Walkthrough[]
Pictorial Walkthrough[]
Video Walkthroughs[]
Trivia[]
- The intro cutscene (where Trevor falls over the fence) was said to be improvised, but Steven Ogg clarified that this was just a legend[1].
- In the slaughterhouse, shooting enemies on some ledges will cause them to fall into meat grinders and, in one case, a vat of acid. Coming into contact with either kills the player instantly.
- Even if the Triad aiming an Assault Rifle at Michael is shot in the head, the cutscene of him falling into the meat grinder commences with him still screaming.
- The way the Triads can be killed by the meat grinder may be a possible reference to the mission Hot Dog Homicide! from Grand Theft Auto 2.
- During the end chase, if the player takes the Coquette, a surprisingly large amount of Dubstas will appear in traffic, blocking the Coquette's way. However, this does not happen if the player takes the Feltzer. Since this adds more of a challenge to the escape, this may mean the player is meant to escape in the Coquette, with the Feltzer reserved for the enemies.
- When Michael and Franklin escape the Triads, the radio in the car will be tuned in to The Lowdown 91.1 and the track "Smiling Faces Sometimes" by the Undisputed Truth will always play.
- During the last cutscene outside Michael's house, Michael's eyes are two different colours, one is green and red/Franklin's brown eyes.
- If the player doesn't switch to Franklin when Michael is moving towards the grinder, a unique cutscene will play in which Michael will be chopped up by the processor and killed. However, the player is unable to see this.
- In the enhanced version, the player cannot aim using the first-person camera while playing as Michael upside down.
- Upon helping Michael, Franklin will always throw a Combat Pistol to him, even if he doesn't have one in his inventory.
- For some random reason, every time the player approaches the railroad tracks, the gates will always come down meaning a train is coming. This means the player will have to either smash through the gate or wait for the train to pass, costing the player some time to rescue Michael.
- One of Niko Bellic's grunts (a simple "d'oh!") from Grand Theft Auto IV can be heard from an enemy encountered after the second corner, one who will fall into a vat of acid when killed.
