I could rush from story quest to story quest, but sometimes I'll take an hour break to drag race with Franklin or take flying lessons with Michael.
GTA is also unique because it wants to distract the player from the central story, and drag things out even longer. Forty might just be pushing the bounds of human patience, even if the tale being told is worthwhile. There have been plenty of games that have put a good story into ten, six or even two hours. I also don't think we constantly need to associate "big" with "good." Yes, Grand Theft Auto 5 has a good story, but so good it needs to be forty hours long? Sometimes editing can make a story better, no matter what proponents of six hour Lord of the Rings movies would have you believe. This isn't people turning off a show eight episodes in or putting a book down on page ninety because it sucks, this is just too much content for most people to consume, it seems. I'm not saying all games should necessarily be shorter and GTA 5 shouldn't be as long as it is, but it is sort of a strange situation when only a quarter of those who buy a game are reaching the end, particularly when we're talking about something that's universally recognized as amazing. Yes, if I was still in high school or college, I very well might have time to put in six hours a day of GTA guilt-free, but what about older games with jobs, families and other responsibilities? For how many of them is it even logistically possible to finish a 40 hour game in anything approaching a reasonable window of time? While our typical audience here are hardcore gamers who usually finish games they start, or other games journalists who do this for a living, that isn't the case with the general public. Do you think only 27% of people who starting watching it made it to the end? Like take Argo, for instance, one of last year's best movies at a 96% on RottenTomatoes, and an Academy Award to back it up. But it is worrisome for gaming as an artistic medium. Whatever they say, Rockstar probably doesn't care all that much if someone who picks up a copy of GTA 5 plays for five hours or fifty. Many players who have picked up the game either can't devote the time to finish a 40 hour game, or don't want to, as they may simply may get bored of it, even after enjoying it initially. GTA IV was also a huge hit in its time, with big sales and high scores, but those alone aren't enough to get people to finish the story.
I have to imagine that GTA 5 will put up similar completion numbers, when all is said and done.
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