User blog comment:Jeep girl 1213/RDR starting off wrong ??/@comment-3455248-20111023025954/@comment-1998553-20111023113527

Exactly. Any game that wants to do well needs to have characters with an interesting back story. If you were playing as younger John, he'd have very little behind him to add depth to his character. It's better that they chose to start the game after he's been through a substantial part of life and has past experiences which you hear references to throughout the storyline.