Red Dead Redemption 2

[TribbleFeeder]

I absolutely love this game.

A couple issues:

• It is so hard to keep Arthur’s weight up. I feel like I feed him more than enough and he’s still underweight.
• The map icons are wayyy too small.
• I can’t stand Dutch. I seriously can’t believe Arthur’s following this guy.
• Chapter 5 was really slow moving and boring, especially the first half.

 

[Owain Taggart]

Yeah, I agree about the map icons. I kind of wish they had an option for that. I often can't tell what they are unless I hover over them to see the text. In a related fashion, I felt the minimap was far too small at its default, so I set it to always use the expanded view. It's so much better that way. Maybe the smaller one makes more sense when your TV is bigger than 30".

 

[matthunter]

It is so hard to keep Arthur’s weight up. I feel like I feed him more than enough and he’s still underweight.

Odd, never had any issue with this until the plot hits home. Mind you, I was scarfing big game meat a lot to keep my cores filled, instead of using health cures all the time.

 

[Kronos]

• I can’t stand Dutch. I seriously can’t believe Arthur’s following this guy.

Yeah this is a quibble for me too, Dutch is just too obviously a lunatic and Micah a madman, I wish the writing was better as I found myself hating the main story missions because in my world Arthur would have split on those loons in Chapter 3.

Still love the game though, just riding around stumbling into stuff.

 

[TribbleFeeder]

Yeah, exactly. Also, my Arthur’s honor is maxed out (I’m on chapter 6), and it’s really hard to believe that a “good” Arthur would still be loyal to a ruthless murder. I’m not sure how much honor actually plays into how Arthur behaves in the plot, but it should have some impact.

 

[Lookingglassman]

Alot of people are saying this game is good, but I can't bring myself to buy it because I hated the first one and couldn't even finish playing it. I might pick this up years from now when it is on the bargain rack.

 

[Owain Taggart]

Yeah, if you didn't like the original game, you likely won't like this one either.

To follow up on my question of carriages and if you could hitch a ride with passing carriages, I've tried it, and you definitely can. It takes a bit of work, as they can decline especially if they're going the wrong direction, and then it takes a bit of waiting for the next to come along. But it definitely works. First off, when you see a carriage, in the contextual menu, you need to shout out to them. Then they'll slow and eventually stop, asking what you're needing. Then you can use that opportunity to press up on the d-pad to request a ride.

Also for screenshots, you need to go the game's photo gallery and physically upload them, and then you can save them and upload them elsewhere. I just did it with a few shots I took.

 

[SPCTRE]

Yeah, if you didn't like the original game, you likely won't like this one either.

generally speaking I would agree, but in terms of gameplay, I did not particularly enjoy the first game - the action never clicked for me, even though I played through the entire story including the epilogue.

to my utter surprise, I love the core gameplay in RDR2 - both in terms of pacing and in terms of general mechanics, somehow now it all falls into place and feels just right (hard to put my finger on why)

 

[Owain Taggart]

Ahh Ok, I guess I can see that. At the same time, I think it's the deliberate pacing that may be putting some people off, coming straight off GTA 5 might be expecting similar pacing. There's also the GTA 4 effect here where they've made things more realistic, ie the heavier cars and how they handled, which a majority of people hated because they couldn't take the time to slow down and learn their characteristics, which in the end I found quite satisfying. I found the GTA 5 vehicles too light for the most part. In general, people need to learn to slow down and take it all in, which is especially true with RDR2. Some may just not like having to do that.

But yeah, I think the game mechanics are even more cohesive overall. You can tell how much love was put into this game. It shows in the details. I certainly hope it's not their last games to be like this.

 

[SPCTRE]

There's also the GTA 4 effect here where they've made things more realistic, ie the heavier cars and how they handled, which a majority of people hated because they couldn't take the time to slow down and learn their characteristics, which in the end I found quite satisfying.

Oh, I found that satisfying as well, and these people didn't know what they were missing, the physics changes (Euphoria engine) were incredibly fun.

I haven't played a game since GTA IV where drivers flying through windshields or off of motorcycles looked and felt this "satisfying" (I don't want to say "realistic")

 

[Owain Taggart]

Oh, I found that satisfying as well, and these people didn't know what they were missing, the physics changes (Euphoria engine) were incredibly fun.

Yeah, exactly. They all had individual characteristics, and I felt learning their limits was part of the fun as it added personality to the world. I find it ironic that people love graphics and want their games to look their best, and some are even obsessed with them looking as realistic as possible. Yet when it comes to physics, most seem to want to barrel down at maximum speed without consequence.

For what it's worth, I like the fact that they made NPCs in RDR2 so vulnerable to incitement, because then it reminds players that there are people there and that the world doesn't revolve around the player. It can also lead to some hilarious unscripted scenarios.

 

[TribbleFeeder]

In my tireless journey to get 100% honor I came across a dad and two sons building a house. They asked for money to help out (accept, decline or donate $100).

I donated $100 thinking I was gonna get all this honor. I didn’t get any at all, then one of the kids says “who gives that much money to a stranger?!”

On the way out I accidentally took a can of vegetables and then got negative honor.

 

[Owain Taggart]

Yeah, the son and dad are one of 3 unfolding events throughout the land, though part of me wonders why there aren't more of them given how large the game is. The other two are related to the lumber camp and the railroad camp, all of which unfold in a series of multiple steps.

Spoiler

In the lumber camp, I somehow messed up the event where the tree falls on a worker, and then for a long time they were angry with me and didn't want me in their camp. What happened was that the tree fell, and I knew I had to help the injured worker, but couldn't find the contextual location, and it wouldn't help that I ended up punching someone instead while I tried to find a position to help from. You have to do it quickly too, because otherwise they'll gripe that they could have used your help. So, had to wait a few days before I could do anything with them again, and by the time I did, it was already onto step 3, ie the encounter with the wolves the foreman wants you to kill.

I'll say this, they fixed one of the biggest peeves almost everyone had in the original game, that if you were out hunting, animals were witness to your "crimes" and that you'd immediately get pegged, which only made hunting harder and more frustrating. Thankfully this doesn't happen here.

Btw, did anyone know that when riding your horse, tapping L3 (left stick) will make Arthur pat his horse? Don't think it really does much beyond that, but still an interesting detail.

 

[thribs]

I don’t think I ever ate when I was playing it. There were so many mechanics to keep up on that I just gave up after a while.

 

[TribbleFeeder]

I wish I knew more horse mechanics. I can’t for the life of me figure out how to shoot people who are chasing me. Every time I accidentally turn my horse around. It’s a good thing I don’t play online, I’d be pretty freaking terrible.

The one big flaw I see in the game that really should be different is being able to turn down Micah’s missions. I feel like that should be optional after the first few. I just wish I could make more plot choices. Sometimes it feels like Arthur is just Dutch’s little puppy that follows him around and does what he says.

 

[Tosk]

Btw, did anyone know that when riding your horse, tapping L3 (left stick) will make Arthur pat his horse? Don't think it really does much beyond that, but still an interesting detail.

It helps with bonding and also increases the horse's stamina.

I wish I knew more horse mechanics. I can’t for the life of me figure out how to shoot people who are chasing me. Every time I accidentally turn my horse around. It’s a good thing I don’t play online, I’d be pretty freaking terrible.

Use the other stick so that your horse keeps running but you turn to shoot. But keep an eye on the road, it's easy to run into stuff when shooting behind you.

 

[Turd Ferguson]

Btw, did anyone know that when riding your horse, tapping L3 (left stick) will make Arthur pat his horse? Don't think it really does much beyond that, but still an interesting detail.

It also causes Arthur to praise his horse: "You're alright girl/boy," "That's my girl!/boy!" Me doing this constantly (as well as greeting everybody I come across) is one of the reasons my girlfriend bought me a headset for Christmas

 

[Owain Taggart]

Yeah, I just thought it was funny and given that I've already maxed my horse before I figured out I could do that while riding, I wondered if there was anything to it beyond that It's a nice little detail.

 

[TribbleFeeder]

Nah, I’m good with it.

 

[McDuck]

It is an incredibly beautiful game. Played about five hours so far, and I'm having a tough time getting engaged in it.

It's unique in that it took me probably 10 hours to start having fun. I honestly can't recall if the first was that painful to get into, but this one has been the worst in terms of learning curve (and fun curve?) this generation. But now that I've sunk probably 50 hours into it, engagement is no longer an issue. But I am ready to move on to another game, so story missions only: no more hunting for skins to make that fucking hat.