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 appears in the opening cutscene and is seen walking away after it.
Description
Following the conclusion of Pack Man, Franklin contacts Lester Crest about Michael's apparent disappearance. The two deduce that Michael has been abducted, with Lester tracing Michael's cellphone signal back to Los Santos after a brief trip to North Yankton. Lester suggests Franklin meet Trevor for possible information. At Franklin's request, Lester calls Trevor and asks him to meet Franklin at his old safehouse in Strawberry.
Upon arriving at the home, Trevor appears even more disturbed than usual, yelling at Franklin's aunt for example, and takes great offence at Franklin laughing at him after he trips over a low fence. Franklin asks Trevor if he knows what became of Michael in North Yankton, and the drug dealer informs him that they ran into Wei Cheng's men and he does not know if Michael survived the shootout or not. Franklin tells him that Michael is back in Los Santos and asks him for help in rescuing him. Trevor refuses and leaves (assaulting a Families Member in the process).
It is up to Franklin to rescue Michael, alone. While he does not have much to go on, he manages to pinpoint Michael's location by using an app on his phone called Trackify, which Lester provides (this is the same app used during the offshore option of The Merryweather Heist). As Franklin tries to look for him, 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 friend), but the triad leader refuses to believe the truth and turns on the machine and leaves when he decides Trevor will not be coming. A timer appears on the screen.
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 shooting through the triads, Franklin turns a corner and sees Michael alive, yet strung up by his feet and soon to be joining the other swaying, upside-down meat carcasses as well, if he does not react quickly. Franklin kills a triad member pointing a gun towards Michael, threatening to kill him. Franklin then tosses Michael a pistol while players are given the option to switch from Franklin to Michael. If the players decide to switch to Michael, they will play as the latter who is still hanging upside-down as even more Triads burst into the room. One Thug charges at Franklin, tackles him to the floor and is about to stab him with a knife, Michael must save Franklin by shooting the Thug as fast as possible. After both men clear out all of the Triads, Michael lowers himself to the ground and is shown to be in a large amount of pain with blood on his tank top and holding his side. After the protagonists escape the building, they find a Coquette and a Feltzer parked outside the factory. However, they soon find two triad members on their tail. Here, the player can kill either the triads or blow up the car that they are not escaping in. Using either way, Franklin and Michael then escape or kill the gangsters, and both of them head to Michael's house. After arriving at Michael's house, the former bank robber thanks Franklin for saving him, before the two have a brief conversation and part ways. Michael 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 meets Michael, switch to him for the remainder of the shootout for special ability, and switch to Franklin when leaving in the car for his ability.
- Accuracy - Finish with a shooting accuaracy 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 Race - 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.
Stock Tip
Upon completion of this mission, Gruppe Sechs stock will rise by approximately 11.17%. The reason for this is unclear, but players can secure a sizable profit by loading up on this stock prior to starting the mission. Make sure to do this with Michael before Bury The Hatchet, or he'll miss out on this opportunity. If the player didn't invest as Michael prior to this mission they can still get the profit by completing this mission on a Sunday, or making a last-minute investment during the drive home to Michael's house after leaving the meat packing facility. As stocks don't rise/fall during the weekend Michael can still get the profit the following Monday. However the stock value of Merryweather Security, its chief competitor, does not appear to be affected.
Aftermath
- 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 Michael and Trevor pass each other in the street, they will exchange unpleasantries.
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."
Glitch Fix
There is a common glitch where, when arriving at Michael's house, the game freezes. This can be fixed by entering a car, getting out of it, killing the two Triads that exit the building before continuing.
Tips
- If the player destroys the Feltzer or Coquette and drives off before the Triads arrive, the Triads will be "stuck" in place, allowing the player to make a clean getaway. Alternatively, killing the Triads whilst they are on foot will also result in a clean getaway. Blowing up the Coquette while leaving in the Feltzer can also kill the Triads, due to the shockwave of the explosion. The player can also plant a sticky bomb before entering the warehouse and activate it when the triads get in the car.
- When the player rescues Michael, they have to be super careful and watch out for the conveyor belt with the rotating blades. If Franklin jumps onto the belt, he will be chopped up into pieces, resulting in mission failure. The mission will also fail if Michael reaches the end of this belt and ends up in the meat grinder.
- When it swaps to Michael if you pause the game and go to the map you will be able to swap to an outside view and set a point of interest. When you get swapped back to Franklin re-open the map and use the point of interest to make a waypoint on your GPS and giving you the shortest route.
Soundtrack
Main article: Fresh Meat/Soundtrack
Gallery
Video Walkthroughs
Trivia
- Most of the intro cutscene was improvised due to Trevor falling on the fence. During the motion capture, Trevor's voice and motion-capture performer Steven Ogg tripped on the fence and Shawn Fonteno (Franklin's voice and motion-capture performer) broke out laughing. Steven Ogg improvised his freak out reaction and the scene was kept in the game.
- On a few occasions in this mission shooting enemies standing on ledges will cause them to fall into a meat grinder and, in one case, a vat of acid. Coming into contact with either kills the player instantly.
- Even if the man aiming an Assault Rifle at Michael is shot in the head, the cutscene of him falling on the grinder commences with him still screaming.
- 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. Probably, both protagonists must escape in the Coquette and the enemies must chase in the Feltzer.
- 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, Michael will be chopped up 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.