the more i peel back of GTA V, the less i like it. i suspect this rule will be consistent and exponential with successive time invested but i dislike a lot of its tone and narrative direction, pastiche you've seen everywhere else stitched together with rockstars trademark cynicism and satire, like a napalm strike that misses every target it should hit. really something that this game might age harder than GTA IV, a game i at least have some interest in returning to. in general red dead remains a better fit for these writing chops, if only for imbuing the world with a touch of humanity despite still being populated by the usual gallery of assholes (the houser brothers seem to have built their fortunes on getting good performers to wring out any kind of charisma from their flaccid scripts)

that said...the 'generous' score here is because im playing this with my gf, whose suggestions are pure id, and therefore im playing exactly the way rockstar intends for me to play. spending a day from dawn til dusk with this itinerary:
- strip club in the morning
- high speed police chase throughout town after some sidewalk shenanigans
- absolutely demolish my dodge challenger in the process
- wind up next to the games mountain trail, punch a dude off a bmx and steal it
- gf suggests making our way to the spire to take the cable car, i fend off several mountain lions in the process
- read emails before taking the cable car from franklins ex-girlfriend insisting their relationship is over
- took a cable car down to earth from my picturesque vantage point, basking in the night sky while the piercing sounds of sirens welcomed my return to the hustle and bustle of the daily grind
...inadvertently told a more quaint story than a short hike