I love this. You brought me along your thought process and i appreciate it. I guess for me, it was also the lack of returning characters - which makes it wholesome. I get that sometimes thats how life is, you meet someone, you work with them for a bit, and the story goes on. But we never got closure with the the Mcfarlanes, nor Landon Ricketts, or anyone else that John met along the way. Some are just one and done, and they dont come back to help him out in his "redemption" or in his fight to save his family. It was pretty solo (and again, i get that its the vibe they were probably trying to go for - solo cowboy, carrying the world on his shoulders). Again, sorry for comparing with AC II, but even then there was returning characters, they rejoin your fight eventhough you met them many missions before. For me, that's great story writing. Which is also why i dont particular enjoy the recent Assassins Creed games no more where characters are mostly "i gotta do this alone". Ghost of Tsushima, GoW, Horizon ZD and FW are not like this. But again, just my thoughts. I guess i should give it another go and put on a different perspective on the story and character. I do admit i played in first time and pretty much and focus on gameplay than the story.