Red Dead Redemption 2

[Turd Ferguson]

The game is an absolute slog for the first few hours, but stick with it and you'll be addicted! Things that seemed like unnecessary torture (gun cleaning, horse grooming, sleeping, eating) are now second nature and I don't think anything about it. Once you find a better horse than the Tennessee Walker you'll find it also doesn't take anywhere near as long going from place to place.

 

[Owain Taggart]

Yeah, the beginning up in the mountains is a bit of a slow start, and it may take some time getting used to the game with the way it just drops you into the game with an abrupt start. But this game really oozes atmosphere and it doesn't take long to feel engaged. Also, the game has some of the best hunting I've ever seen, especially while using the bow. It just feels satisfying. It makes GTA 5's hunting feel so primitive.

 

[Smellmet]

I'm at 60% completion and I'm loving it. I would put this game into 'masterpiece' category. The detail, lighting, music, atmosphere are just incredible. It really feels like a real place. There's some good twists to the story as you progress too, and action scenes that are almost straight out of Call of Duty in scope and how intensive they are. Everything just has this level of polish and slickness that Rockstar just seem to nail these days.

My only complaints are the transitions between sunrise/set is too quick - the days last just 48 minutes. I'd like to see that increased to a couple of hours at least. As things stand if you want to take in a sunset, it's gone before you've found a spot to enjoy it, it just spoils the immersion for me a little. Also the inability to run in camp is pointless and frustrating. These are my only gripes and they're nowhere near deal breakers. I'd give this game 9.5/10 all day long.

 

[matthunter]

Only thing I find annoying is the fishing mechanic - it's fine for normal fish but the legendaries are another matter. Whilst there are tips and tricks, there's a LOT of thumbstick action that is harsh on the hands, especially for older players like me.

 

[Smellmet]

Only thing I find annoying is the fishing mechanic - it's fine for normal fish but the legendaries are another matter. Whilst there are tips and tricks, there's a LOT of thumbstick action that is harsh on the hands, especially for older players like me.

Yeah I think the wealth of controls in the game asks a lot of the controller - and the player sometimes. As I got towards 50% completion I found myself doing less and less hunting, fishing etc as the game doesn't punish you for not doing these things.

 

[Owain Taggart]

It really feels like a real place.

It really does. The world feels very natural. They really did a great job on the lighting, which feels more like something the real eye would see rather than a videogame rendering. Add in the horizon, rivers and the water reflections, and damn. I thought AC Origins/Odyssey was good in terms of scenery, but this seems to go the extra mile. They've created a very convincing and satisfying Old West. This may be my favourite Rockstar game to date.

What I find astounding is that apparently the complete RDR 1 map is in the game, which was already huge to begin with. Possibly for use in the Online portion? The interesting thing is, having the entire map already converted might mean a chance at either an RDR 1 remaster/ PC version for those who've wanted one for years. It wouldn't be the first time they've said no to a PC version and reversed their decision. Think they did that with GTA 5.

 

[Smellmet]

It really does. The world feels very natural. They really did a great job on the lighting, which feels more like something the real eye would see rather than a videogame rendering. Add in the horizon, rivers and the water reflections, and damn. I thought AC Origins/Odyssey was good in terms of scenery, but this seems to go the extra mile. They've created a very convincing and satisfying Old West. This may be my favourite Rockstar game to date.

What I find astounding is that apparently the complete RDR 1 map is in the game, which was already huge to begin with. Possibly for use in the Online portion? The interesting thing is, having the entire map already converted might mean a chance at either an RDR 1 remaster/ PC version for those who've wanted one for years. It wouldn't be the first time they've said no to a PC version and reversed their decision. Think they did that with GTA 5.

It's absolutely the lighting that sells the scenery to me, whether it's shafts of light coming through trees, sunsets or just a slightly misty morning somewhere. It looks utterly convincing and blows me away every time I play. It's hands down the most stunningly beautiful game I've ever played.

I'm hoping they've included the RDR1 map with a view to releasing the original game as a paid DLC. I mean, it's coming up to 9 years old and I'm sure there will be plenty of gamers who didn't get to play it, either from being too young at the time or simply not owning the generation of console it was released on, or, like me just simply missed it despite owning a PS3. Couple this with the fact that this current game is a prequel and the prospect of continuing the story suddenly becomes very appealing to me at least - I'd happily pay another £40 for the privilege. Surely rockstar are thinking along the same lines as this.

 

[Owain Taggart]

It's absolutely the lighting that sells the scenery to me, whether it's shafts of light coming through trees, sunsets or just a slightly misty morning somewhere. It looks utterly convincing and blows me away every time I play. It's hands down the most stunningly beautiful game I've ever played.

Yep, agreed, and I'm not even playing on a 4K TV, just regular 1080p, so I can only imagine how much better it looks with that. One of the things that have most impressed me so far is the hunting. In most games with hunting, including GTA 4, you just shot the animal and that was it. I shot a deer with an arrow, which took off running then about maybe a 100 yards it stumbles and falls to the ground. When I got to it, it was still alive and I had to put it out of its mysery. That level of detail is just amazing. I was stunned.

 

[Smellmet]

Yep, agreed, and I'm not even playing on a 4K TV, just regular 1080p, so I can only imagine how much better it looks with that. One of the things that have most impressed me so far is the hunting. In most games with hunting, including GTA 4, you just shot the animal and that was it. I shot a deer with an arrow, which took off running then about maybe a 100 yards it stumbles and falls to the ground. When I got to it, it was still alive and I had to put it out of its mysery. That level of detail is just amazing. I was stunned.

I'm playing on a 12 year old first gen 42inch LCD that's 720p native and can output at 1080i not even 1080p and I'm hugely impressed, though this game is the first time it's exposed the limitations of my set and it's made me want to upgrade. I can't really justify it whilst this set is going strong, blu rays still look really good on it, and while this game does too, I can see the pixels when I look closer so I imagine in 4k it looks breathtaking. They dropped the ball not putting a 4k blu ray drive in the PS4 pro, especially when the xbox now has one. Hopefully the PS5 will have a 4k optical drive, that's gonna be the time to upgrade.

 

[Owain Taggart]

Yeah, even on 1080p, I'm starting to see limitations, namely in the text sizes making things a bit harder to read. That seems par for the course of this generation of consoles though.

In terms of the game, there are a few annoyances I've encountered. Sometimes after completing a mission, your horse will be nowhere nearby. This happened to me with the oil wagon, which I got from Valentine. My horse ended up staying behind in Valentine and whenI had put away the wagon and done that part of the mission, there was no way for me to get my horse back other than to traipse all the way back to Valentine on foot. That mission ends far away from any towns and therefore no way to even get a coach back to Valentine.

 

[Tosk]

Give your horse a long whistle and they'll follow you everywhere you go. (Assuming you're bonded enough with it.)

 

[Owain Taggart]

Yeah, I am. I was maxed with it, so it seems like a bug to me. Normally they do follow If I'm on something else like a carriage. But thanks for the tip. I'll try doing that next time and see if it changes anything. Is there a way to hitch a ride on a passing carriage? I know there's a way to jump on one as you're riding by, but I don't think that's what I want.

 

[Tosk]

I don't think you can hitch a friendly ride, only steal one. Other than the stagecoaches you can hire, of course.

 

[Owain Taggart]

Hmmm, that's a bummer then. If a stagecoach rides by, I'd like to get a ride to their destination so that I could then hire a stagecoach back to my horse.

Edit: Well, I did a bit of searching and it appears you can by jumping onto them. I didn't try because I thought given how easily NPCs get upset in this game that this would be taken as a sign of intrusion and cause some unwanted violence. You just call out to them, they'll stop and you can jump on. It's slow, but at least you'll get somewhere.

 

[Tosk]

Cool, I might give that a try myself too. Apologies for steering you wrong. So many "hidden" mechanics to this game.

 

[Obsidian7]

I love the interactions with the npcs. It makes the game world so much more realistic. Sometimes with hilarious results.

One time, I dismounted my horse to greet an Australian shepherd dog. Arthur crouched down to pat the dog and said: "Hello, boy." Literally a second later a farmhand walked by and said with comic timing: "Hello there Mister."

 

[Owain Taggart]

Cool, I might give that a try myself too. Apologies for steering you wrong. So many "hidden" mechanics to this game.

Oh, no worries! I agree, there are so many hidden things in this game, and I think it's impossible to know all of them. In some ways, I feel the devs want people to discover them on their own, but it will likely take decades to uncover them all. I figured there'd have to be something, because I thought I had remembered something like it from the original game.

Here's one: While searching for tips about carriages, I found out that if you're at a store buying weapons and the like you can set your loadout and never have it reset. This can be incredibly useful! Could save a lot of irritation.

Has anyone noticed that Arthur tends to sing while riding his horse sometimes? I'm not quite sure what triggers it, but maybe it happens when he's in particularly good moods

^^ Haha, that's some great timing there

 

[Owain Taggart]

You know, about the lighting, I'm always finding new ways that it impresses me. I think that it's way beyond what it was in GTA 5, where I felt the lighting was kind of flat. I love how shadows will be cast on the ground depending on what's nearby, and it's not uniformly sunny like most games would have it. It's how the lighting interplays with the landscape, like light from a train shining through the trees at night giving off an eerie atmosphere. Or even moonlight! I was heading back to camp one night and noticed the moonlight lighting up the trees. Such a cool effect! I can't remember a game that actually took into account the moon's light aside from being a backdrop in the sky like in most games. I'm not sure what you would call the kind of lighting the game is using, but it's pretty damned impressive.

I'm not sure if anyone's come across this before, but I recently had a rainbow sighting. I was just riding my horse in cinematic mode and when I had to do a double-take and get off my horse as I wanted to take a picture of it. But by the time I was set up, it had started to fade away. Such a cool sight!

Oh and speaking of pictures taken with the in-game camera, they seem to go directly to your Rockstar account. Is there any way to save them locally instead?

 

[Obsidian7]

Oh and speaking of pictures taken with the in-game camera, they seem to go directly to your Rockstar account. Is there any way to save them locally instead?

I sometimes use the first person view to take ps4 screenshots if there's no more room on the snapmatic. Think it's possible to hide the radar and other on screen icons.

 

[Owain Taggart]

That's a good idea. I hadn't thought about that one. Although I kind of like having Arthur in the shot and being able to pose him. As for the in-game camera, I guess I must be getting a little confused. It looks like it goes to the account, but then if I log into it with my PC, I don't see any of them posted. It's the UI that leads me to believe I'm viewing and deleting things on the Social, but maybe they're not actually uploaded. Weird. I'll have to look into that some more. I think I saw a button to upload them, but wasn't sure at the time. Honestly, I'd like to have the option of saving to the PS4 library.