Just read some of the non-fanboy less than "10" ratings at Metacritic. Plenty of them ranging from Zeros to 5 points or so. You will see a lot of the same issues and complaints.
Nothing surprising in these reviews. It was stated that content drainers, content browses will have hard times with it.
Super Clunky, feels like the main character has a refrigerator on his back at all times, horrible controls,
The views can be changed.
not fun in general, empty boring world, boring repetitive missions, more like a really slow movie than an actual game, rockstar put in a bunch of stupid literal chores into the game that are boring as hell just like they are in real life - shave, eat, shower, clean your horse, clean your gun, whoooopeeee! what fun
. (sarcasm)
The same key words: empty, repetition etc
Gaming is about repetition. Repetition is at the core of gameplay. The claim that games should be devoid of repetition is an indicator of disdain for,lack of interest for gaming.
Content drainers were certain to have troubles with that one: a quest is issued, it pops at one end of the map, they travel, quest is solved, a new quest is issued, pops at another end of the map, they travel etc
The overarching story does a good job at setting the challenges and stakes so that a player know how to mix various gameplay elements to strike the balance of their gaming experience.
It is not a spoonfed experience, players must be involved in order to tailor their own experience.
Players coming with a dull approach will return a dull experience.
Players who do not know how to entertain themselves will not be entertained. No miracle.
Another point: players complain about historicity, stuff like that.
This game includes a historical feature to the gameplay: slow travel and what it meant. People used to fill their travel time with side activities. Driving 10 minutes to the supermarket, spend half an hour buying, driving back 10 min is a back product of fast travel.
The game is not built around fast travel. Players who can not accomodate that feature are up for a terrible experience. The inability to mix up content is lethal in this game's experience.