The constant rereleasing of Skyrim hasn't harmed the game that much, but it's absolutely ruined Grand Theft Auto 5. GTA 5 simply was not made to be remade and rereleased as many times as it has, and the end result has been the game's own diminishing reputation. Every rerelease of GTA 5 only further drives in how long it's been since that original release, and how protracted the saga of GTA 6's development has become.
Skyrim first released two years before GTA 5, and has been rereleased on a number of different consoles over the years. This has become a running joke for many fans, especially for those who've set their sights firmly on Elder Scrolls 6, whose development is still apparently in the pre-production phase. Yet, for all the mockery, the reception of each rerelease has always been positive at the end of the day.
The same can be said less and less with each rerelease of Grand Theft Auto 5. Due to its far more linear nature, at least when compared to Skyrim, the game becomes more and more tedious as the years drag on. The most recent rerelease - which served as a next-gen upgrade for the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S - is likely to be the game's last, but as the sun sets on nearly a decade of GTA 5 remasters and ports, it's fair to say that they've hurt, rather than added to, the game's once pristine reputation.
The biggest difference between Skyrim and GTA 5's many rereleases comes down to the fundamental nature of both games. Skyrim is an immersive open-world RPG, with a multitude of different storylines, character creation options, and quests for the player to go on. There is almost endless replay value, with every run feeling distinct.
Skyrim plops the player into this world, teeming with life and civilizations far beyond their understanding, and then tells them to find their way within it. While the constant rereleases and the seeming delays over Elder Scrolls 6 can get annoying after a while, Skyrim is built for this kind of longevity. The same simply cannot be said for Grand Theft Auto 5.
While Skyrim gives the player nothing but options, Grand Theft Auto 5 has the same story, the same side quests, and the same gameplay every single time. Rather than holding a whole world of optional content, if one were to play GTA 5 all the way through to completion once, that's the end of it. GTA 5's PS5 loading times are fast, but apart from that and improved performance, there's no real impetus to revisit the story if a player has experienced it multiple times before.
Grand Theft Auto 5 gives the player a great deal of freedom, but nowhere near to the extent of Skyrim, purely by its very nature as a more story-focused, sandbox third-person shooter starring protagonists with defined personalities, histories, and dynamics. While carrying a charm all their own, these things act as millstones around the neck of how many times GTA 5 can be replayed. Every time someone boots it up, they will be playing as Franklin, Michael, or Trevor. If they don't like one or all of those characters, then they won't be in luck. Not helping matters is how substanceless these rereleases are, with GTA 5's enhanced edition not being expanded, with zero new content added in.
Both games have more than outstayed their welcome, but Skyrim doesn't need Elder Scrolls 6 to come out nearly as much as GTA 5 needs its sequel to come out already. Skyrim's breadth of content available, on top of how much easier to mod it is than GTA 5 makes it into a literal sandbox where anything can be done within it, while GTA 5 can only offer so much, even with mods. Fans of both have been clamoring for sequels for a full decade now, but GTA 5 has way more prerogative to get its sequel out than Skyrim, because interest in exploring San Andreas for the hundredth time is waning fast.
The biggest reason behind GTA 5's overstayed welcome is GTA Online, the online extension of the base game that has kept GTA 5 alive and relevant for eight years. However, GTA Online stopped being fun for many players a while ago, and while recent updates have been positively received, the game's economy is still predicated around Shark Card microtransactions, with price points prohibitive for players unwilling to part with real cash. The players it has retained, however, are players that keep thousands of dollars flowing into Rockstar's coffers every month, so the machine has kept running. This model is not sustainable, however, and the series needs to move on, way more than Skyrim does. Elder Scrolls Online doesn't need Skyrim to be the main game in the series to keep running just fine.
Between the base game being repeated ad nauseam for almost a full decade, and things like the Shark Cards ruining GTA Online's economy, GTA 5 has simply lost a lot of its appeal for a ton of players. While the latest rerelease has still sold well, the appeal to many longtime GTA fans lessens with each launch, and news of the next entry becomes more and more demanded. GTA 6 needs to come out soon, or the Grand Theft Auto property itself may be in danger of genuine stagnation.
Skyrim has the excuse of being a massive RPG, revolutionary for its time for being so large and dense with content, so Bethesda can only be expected to top itself with the game's successor. GTA 5, on the other hand, is Rockstar's biggest franchise, and should have had a new entry years ago. The length of time since Grand Theft Auto 5's release is best reflected in the older age of protagonist Franklin in GTA Online. It has been time to retire the fifth entry in this venerated franchise for years, and now it's long past overdue. Elder Scrolls 6 can take a bit longer, but GTA 6 needs an update as soon as possible.
Comments
Post a Comment