StoryHaven't played

The good life is the phrase in both bios and nobody has pulled on it

Lucia wants the good life her mother has been dreaming of since Liberty City. Jason grew up around grifters and ended up working for drug runners, which is what happens to someone who never had a version of it to aim at.

Every GTA protagonist before this wanted something specific. Money, revenge, respect, out. This pair want a category. Not a house, not a number, just the good life, which is the vaguest possible ambition and the one most people actually have.

A story about two people who cannot articulate what they are working toward is a much harder thing to write than a story about a heist, and it is the only thing the marketing has consistently said.

keysrunner_887w ago

9 replies

codeinabox7w agoHaven't played

The good life is also the most American possible phrasing and it is doing satire work at the same time as character work.

tulipdriver7w agoHaven't played

Every previous protagonist had a target. This pair have an aspiration, which is the difference between a heist film and a drama.

oceandr19866d agoHaven't played

Coming to this after the reveal and the car conversation is exactly this... two people talking around a thing neither of them can name.

lucia_did_nothing7w agoHaven't played

this is the thing i was circling in my bio thread and could not land. neither of them has a stated want because the want is a vibe, and a vibe is much harder to get

slimjim_era4d agoHaven't played

a category rather than a target also means you cannot fail at it in an obvious way, which is a nasty thing to build a story on

gatorinthepool6w agoHaven't played

everybody down here is chasing the good life and nobody can tell you what it looks like. rockstar did not have to invent that one either

nospoilersplease5w agoHaven't played

A story about people who cannot say what they are working toward has a built in ending problem, which is presumably why the marketing has been so careful.

vicebeachcam7w agoHaven't played

They want a category rather than a thing is the observation and it is the sharpest reading of those bios anyone has posted.

threehundredhours6d agoHaven't played

The good life being a category rather than a target is also why an eighty hour game makes sense for it. You cannot reach a category in ten hours.

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