5 was really mid because of the story. 2/3 of the characters you play as have already reached the end of their character arcs, and they spend most of the time bitching about how they'd rather not be doing any of the missions you're forced to do. Really brings home how much of the missions are unnecessary bullshit they're roped into by weird plot contrivances. Even the ones where they're doing a big heist for huge profits ... why? Again, 2/3 of them already have plenty of money and other shit going on. They don't need it. Splitting it into 3 characters is also a mistake, IMO -- it dilutes your experience with each one, so you never really bond with or identify with any of them as much as you might if there was only 1 playable character.

And then there's the money and progression. In SA, you start out with next to nothing. There's lots of stuff you can't afford, which makes every dollar you manage to gain meaningful. Collecting stuff and completing missions can mean the difference between being able to afford a cool gun or not, between being able to afford a new safehouse or not. You eventually progress to being able to afford all of it ... through your own work and effort. And then the whole gang wars part gives you even more progression as you slowly take over all the gang territory in the city. But in 5, again 2/3 of the characters start with enough money to afford anything in the game. And the 3rd character quickly gains just as much after only a few missions. There was never a single point in all of playing through 5 where I found anything they couldn't already afford. That really robs the game of a sense of progression. You never really unlock anything new that you couldn't have before (aside from a few safehouse locations that are mission-related). You have no reason to care whether you're collecting money and mission rewards or not -- it's all meaningless money that you'll never spend anyway. And that again contributes to a sense of meaninglessness when it comes to the story missions. Completing a mission makes no difference to you or your character -- just another arbitrary challenge to be overcome, and the only reward is getting a little closer to being able to say you finished the game.

What made SA great is the story and the sense of progression. If GTA 6 doesn't bring that back, I think I'm ready to give up on the franchise.