LogFAQs > #884530888

SlashmanSG posted...

Having 3 you're forced to switch between really hurts how invested you get in the characters.

I'm not even sure that's entirely the problem. It's more that, because they're trying to tell a specific story, each of the main characters are painted into very specific roles, but those might not be roles you as the player have any interest in identifying with.

Franklin, most of the time, just feels like a more naive, less interesting version of CJ from GTA:SA. His narrative role is as the motivating factor that brings Michael and Trevor back together and sort of pushes them back into "the life", while simultaneously experiencing his own mini-arc of being someone who gets everything he ever wanted (the money, the house, the cars, the clothes), but who winds up feeling more alone than ever (he basically loses the girl he wanted, the only family he had left, and almost/does lose his best/only friend as well). The problem is, BECAUSE his screen time is split with two other people, there never feels like there's any meaningful development, and you never actually CARE about him all that much. Worse, because they go out of their way to portray his aunt and Lamar as being incredibly shitty people, you don't really see "losing" them as a bad thing, and since he's already broken up with his girlfriend before the game even starts and she has zero interest in him, him still pining over her just makes him feel like a punk anyway (and then when she does show up, she's pretty much trash herself, and you feel like he's been better off without her the whole time regardless).

Franklin's main contribution to most missions is acting incredibly stupid, and having NPCs shit on him for being stupid. This removes a lot of player agency, and leaves the player just sort of seeing Franklin as a bit of a chump most of the time.

Michael's story arc is pretty clearly the old criminal pulled back in for "one last score", who has discovered to his sorrow that the only thing he's really good at is crime. While he's committing crimes all he really wants is to get out, but once he gets out, he has no idea what to do with himself, and basically spends all of his time being miserable and having his entire family treat him like shit. But that leaves Michael's character depressing as fuck, and while it might be interesting to watch in a movie like The Godfather 3 or Goodfellas, most people don't really want to BE the massive fuck-up.

Michael's main contribution to most missions is being the only intelligent, effective member of the trio, but that's contrasted by constantly getting shit on by his family with no real repercussions. This mostly leaves the player just sort of seeing Michael as kind of a loser most of the time.

Trevor is pretty much the avatar of the usual GTA player, so comes across as the most ridiculous of the three, because he does the sort of things the average GTA player would do. But he's also a parody of those sorts of players, so the game spends a lot of time deliberately shitting on him for being that sort of person, and by proxy, telling you, the player, that you're terrible for liking him.

Trevor's main contribution to most missions is acting insane (and screwing things up because of it), and having people call him out for being a psychopath (and having him mostly prove them right by beating the shit out of them or killing them for saying it). This makes him the most fun for a lot of players, but can also annoy people who realize that he is Rockstar's way of shitting on you, the player.


---

"Wall of Text'D!" --- oldskoolplayr76
"POwned again." --- blight family