There were also two full GTA games between GTA III and IV. Vice City and San Andreas both built on the successes of the previous games and built out the universe of characters and locations. I’d be curious to see the script lengths for those, too, but the differences might not be that dramatic.
Not playing GTA, did the extra work pay off?
GTA 3 has a silent protagonist and most of the dialogue takes place in mission cutscenes. It’s a very simplistic game in comparison to GTA 4.
If you’re after a grounded experience with characters that feel real, then yes it paid off.
There were also two full GTA games between GTA III and IV. Vice City and San Andreas both built on the successes of the previous games and built out the universe of characters and locations. I’d be curious to see the script lengths for those, too, but the differences might not be that dramatic.