I had a similar experience tbh. Never played on release, got it a few months ago with Phantom Liberty, really had to push myself through the first “act” which honestly felt like all preamble. Jackie never felt particularly believable to me as a character, he was honestly kinda annoying with how eager he was and the “one more job and we’re out” trope, then I was clearly supposed to have grown attached because of a montage of our adventures I didn’t get to experience?