Wow what a fucking game, one that I will hold in my heart for decades to come. It took me a whole year to finally come around and properly get into gtav’s story, but god am I so glad I did. This game quickly became one of my favorites of all time. It holds one of my favorite casts ever and my favorite dynamic ever being trevor and michael. Im pleasantly surprised with the genuine substance gtav’s story holds as well. It’s such a good satire of american capitalism and critque on materialism consumerism and hyper capitalism, and the dysfunctional isolated family found under capitalism as conveyed through michael and his central conflict with his family. How both trevor and michael exploit under the framework of capitalism but they do so in different, almost polar opposite ways. The juxtaposition between trevor’s unhinged and raw realness, and michael’s superficial “plasticness”. Trevor’s literal cannibalism versus michael’s metaphorical cannibalism, and the moral question of “is michael truly morally better than trevor when he’s doing the same thing as him, just less literal and less ugly”. At the start the game show’s trevor as this animal, and michael holds himself so much higher than trevor, but he’s nothing but a hypocrite and his morals and way of life are no better than trevor’s. Its very interesting to me how only trevor seems to be able to break michael from this capitalist fantasy and dillusionment of the american dream and the nuclear family and being surrounded by so much wealth and materialism, while trevor is also exploiting those under capitalism at the same time, just in a more brutal and honest fashion. Doing crime on the streets is trevor’s dream while it’s michael’s nightmare at the same time, and creates the guilt and self loathing we see in michael. One side of him seeks the thrill, adrenaline, and chaos of crime and its unhinged realness and rebellion, while the other side craves safety and security through his family, and this typical american dream. Trevor brings out the animal in michael. Overall just a funny ass fucking game, amazing satire, and an amazing dynamic that provides for insightful analysis. I could write paragraphs upon paragraphs about michael and trevor’s dynamic but I’ll save that for another space. There’s a reason for gtav’s massive success, fame, and legacy. Its one of those games that I believe everyone should sit down and play. I’m sad to be done with my journey with this beloved game, but I know there’s hours and hours of fun to be experienced with the online mode for me.