Ridiculous as 4 was, I still enjoy playing it. I liked the whole Pickman Gallery sidequest. Sue me. I understand that I deserve to be neutered for my enjoyment of 4. But with the right mods the game is actually playable, without it being torture. But I digress from the topic of this thread...
I agree that a good story can be told in around 40 hours. Hell, Black Ops 2 of all games actually almost achieved this with the whole “sympathetic terrorist villain thing”. It’s just gonna take some kickass storytelling. Fingers crossed I guess.