Destiny's problems were very evident. IMO, GTA V's problems were a little more subtle.

Well, there's no problem with the scores. GTA has the wider range of activities. In smash, it's only fighting. I like head to head fighters. Sure, I know smash isn't, but, the point is, it doesn't appeal to as many people as GTA does. GTA appeals because it has more things to do, and doesn't have such a high learning curb, as I'm sure smash does.... at least when compared to GTAV.

But a simple metacritic score isn't going to stop people from getting smash.

To be fair, Smash score may go up or down. Big sites like IGN and Gamespot are still holding their scores, it is up to the online. I don't know about gamespot, but Jose Otero from IGN can be pretty harsh, despite being a Nintendo fan. That said, his preview looks great, so if the online don't suck, we can get a 95 there.

@OP
GTA is big IP done right (critically wise). It has everything that is a trend nowdays: Shooter?Yes. Photo realistic? Yes. Polemic and controversial? Yes. And so on. More important though, it is not milked to death. While that may not be the best short-term profit strategy (i.e: sells 30M every 5 years, instead of 20M every year like COD), it will always warrant some extra points.

I also believe it is easier for troll sites to dock points from Nintendo at this point where it is not selling well, while trolling points of GTA can have a negative impact over your audience.

Not disagreeing with what you're saying, but GTA is way more popular than Pokemon.

Pretty much mirrors sales as far as next gen is concerned

maybe you should play GTAV before posting such a thread. 

And then you can answer your own question of why the greatest open world game scores higher than a brawler. 

Every games has problems, but GTA V is an excellent game overall.

Hmmm... I dunno. Thats a tough one imo. We look at GTA and look at this amazing record it did, Personally i think its alot more to it then sales.

The missions were terribly uninspired.

Yeah, I think its silly for reviewers to give the same scores to old games which just have improved graphics. Its not really fair.