I am very biased regarding these two games (GTA V and RDR2) but all I can say was that Arthur Morgan's story was meant to be deep and disturbing. I don't really mind the fact that the protagonist meets a bitter end, I think it is more a metaphor on fate and the brutal lack of choice in life. The fact that you guys don't like the stories makes me think that maybe the gameplay itself prevented you to pay attention to the genius writing
I liked GTA V enough that I played it repeatedly, 100%ed it in the 2nd run. I also liked RDR enough to play it repeatedly, 100%ed in the 2nd run. Coming to the topic, I absolutely didn't like RDR2; the open world stuff was ok enough that I had >50% completion, but I didn't like the people, thought the mission design was abysmal, and the story also didn't keep me interested. (In general we knew how the story of the gang would end, and specifically the end of the protagonist was spoilered for me, he dies, again.) Think I left it in the third chapter (of ten?), but admittedly a fair judgement would be above 3/10.
wow, I never expected anyone to say that about gta V. Imo the story is one of the best, rockstar really outdone themselves with the attention to details. I think some players only expected gta to be an action game with no rules, when in reality they put a lot more effort in the worldbuilding and characters. You had to wait to shoot Stretch because the story progressed naturally from Lamar idolizing him to the betrayal.