Red Dead Redemption

one thing that lets this game down is that there is really no story. there's a PREMISE but there's no narrative, just roughly sketched scenes threaded together like beads on a string. which has really made my investment in finishing it fall through the floor. i don't give a shit about reuniting marsten with his wife and child tbh especially given that i've never even seen or heard them in the game.

the other thing is that after the first several missions, you have experienced all the different types of gameplay that there are. (i think i've been a little spoiled by "beyond good and evil", which kept opening up entirely new types of gameplay as you went on.) the mine mission was good because it was a little tougher, and you could really use the environment in interesting ways. but i keep wanting to see new stuff, excitement on the level of breaking a horse in for the first time, or the first time you play poker, or the first time you do a nightwatch job. all that stuff is over and done with in the first few hours of play and afterwards it's just more of the same. really sympathize with Ste's comment about nothing to buy in the stores. surely it is bizarre that a north midwestern town has the same stuff to buy as a small mexican village??

it's been fun no doubt but i am going to give this a nice little break for awhile i think.

the other thing is that after the first several missions, you have experienced all the different types of gameplay that there are

I think it's a fair criticism but then are there that many games that introduce new gameplay elements late on in games?

You'd think with the story thing they'd at least throw in a dream/flashback sequence to the wife and kid to give you a bit of investment in the outcome.

I have still to buy this and it's interesting to see the slight tail off from the initial Best Game Ever euphoria.

the other thing is that after the first several missions, you have experienced all the different types of gameplay that there are

I think it's a fair criticism but then are there that many games that introduce new gameplay elements late on in games?

i was thinking about this the other day, while reading this thread (haven't purchased RDR yet, too broke): back in like Atari times, we'd totally be down with playing a game that was essentially screen after screen of the same essential gaming dynamic, with variegated difficulty levels, and never complain. obviously technology and gamers have both progressed in terms of sophistication, but i guess even the more sophisticated games (GTA4, RDR) and still going to boil down to basic repetitative gaming formats eventually.

I do agree that the missions end up being repetitive, but it's not as bad as GTA IV was for that, and also the various challenges do add a bit of spice; ok picking herbs gets a bit dull but i had fun trying to find all the different critters to kill, searching out the treasure, etc, so overall i'm pretty happy with the depth in the gameplay.

i've completely lost interest in this.

sometimes with these sandbox games the fun comes when the different elements of gameplay come together at the same time. like for instance picking flowers may be dull, but whilst your doing this you're watching your back for cougars and wolves etc.

Can't believe they've got cowboys picking flowers ;_;

also isn't there a problem with introducing new types of gameplay later on when you, i assume, want to be free to do whatever possible basically from the start? i was pretty bummed just when i found out i could have gotten the lasso even earlier

Can't believe they've got cowboys picking flowers ;_;

this is pretty much all i did in oblivion too

just played a random encounter mission where some lawman and myself had to carry two crims on horseback back to jail. the stupid lawman decided to take the huge railroad bridge over the river instead of the correct road route, and of course rode straight into the drink. mission failed.

that is fucked, considering the map wayfinder always sticks to roads even when it goes miles out of yr way

haha one time in the mine mission, my treasure hunter companion was like "let's go up yonder!" and starts climbing a ladder. i'm like OK, so i climb up after him. then there's another ladder, and we climb up that one. we get to the top of this structure, and.. nothing. no baddies anywhere, no further place to go. no vantage point, no extra angle on some TNT or anything. wtf? so i'm like fine dude, i'm climbing down. i start climbing down the ladder and he falls off the platform and dies.

JEEZ TRACE STOP BANGING ON ABOUT THE MINE MISSION

i'm still not very far at all but i'm having fun. gonna keep expectations low, i like thinking of this as a basically chill & easy game. also, fuck picking a flower.

i keep forgetting how to stop when riding horses, and last night i stole a horse to distract the deputies in the first seth mission, rode around the mountain, and then rode straight into seth, killing him. :/

i like how they've given the horses a little bit of direction intelligence, like when you ride close to a stagecoach they veer slightly away. at first i thought my control pad was goosed.

also i'm riding stagecoaches more lately, i'm under the impression it keeps me safe from fierce creatures but i haven't put it into full practice just yet.

JimD i'd bang on about other ones if i could even remember them :/

Naw that's harsh, I loved the train missions, and the Presidio stuff was pretty cool

I'm sure I'll be blown away again once I give it a break, lookin forward to the big game in the snow, and Tall Trees

Anybody else notice differences in the horses? I've been riding my Kentucky Saddler the whole game and he is very easily spooked - whinnies at snakes and gunfire - and he ALWAYS wanders away..

I accidentally firebombed the mexican army and got slaughtered

It is weird how if you go "off script" the game totally puts the clampdown on you

i've been too chicken to try and kill story characters or complete the missions in non-specified ways. :/

(i assume it will just end the mission, like when i accidentally killed seth with the horse)

I will be playing this game until I get to 100%, you wusses.

I mean, at least you guys should finish the treasure hunter missions. So fun!

haha i haven't even tried one, i figured it would be "ride around some fucking gulch looking for a weird rock for like three hours"

I mean, that is basically what it is. But so far only one of the maps has given me any trouble.

haha i haven't even tried one, i figured it would be "ride around some fucking gulch looking for a weird rock for like three hours"

― progressive cuts (Tracer Hand), Thursday, June 24, 2010 12:16 PM (16 minutes ago) Bookmark

dude they're not that hard to figure out. they're made to be solved, it's a game! some of them are really clever.

i got the first one and i don't know where to start. all rocks look the same to me, i think i'm a rockist.

(i'm suggest b'ing myself for that btw)

the first one was tricky to find, it took me a bit of trial and error (and hints on this thread)

just finished all the treasure maps tonight. one of my favourite parts of the game.

attempting more random encounters too, and finding them to be pretty varied which is cool.

also, got a much better sniper rifle now.

My favorite treasure map so far was #3, which I solved by heading to a nearby high point and using my binoculars, which felt fucking awesome for some reason.

?!?! how did you get the binocs so early??

or wait did you just do the maps really late in the game

I just started them last night!

Binocs! where?!

^also totally missed those, wtf

I just got the binoculars, doing one of the first few missions after you get to Blackwater.

you get them as a gift during on of the very late missions. i thought they might be available earlier somewhere.

xp

ah, only just got into blackwater and haven't done their missions. been tidying up all the other stuff.

(and dicking about)

yeah i'm hella anal about doing all the side stuff before doing the story missions, so i got to the mission with the binocs at like 90%

yeah, i was the same in gta. particularly vice city where finishing the side missions and collecting hidden packages gave you valuable free stuff that you could then utilise and then make some missions easier.

I had been pretty anal about the other ones but I saved the treasure missions for post-game because I thought it would be a fun postgame activity.

well i i'll give them a shot! CONVINC'D

one of the things i've noticed about this game (and the PS3 in general actually) is that it's clearly designed to be played on a much larger screen than the 26" one i've got. a lot of the text i really have to squint to read. and many times i've been hit by dudes that i'm pretty sure the game expected me to be able to see. i just hope it doesn't make the treasure stuff too hard.. (i have actually taken to playing this about a foot away from the TV, which makes me feel like some kind of cretin)

They are really nothing more than deciphering a map and then searching for a tiny pile of rocks, but if that appeals to you then do it.

I think the maps will be fine since you can zoom in on them pretty far.

aren't all games these days designed to be played on 40" tvs though, i always have trouble with reading text and stuff

I killed van der Linde. I actually really like the idea of the game keeping going after that, it's like the idea of what happens after the "happy ending" of a movie, when the hero and love interest have to get back to everyday life. But I don't know why the first mission for this section is a fucking cattle herding mission, I hate cattle herding.

SPOILERS

Van der Linde to me seemed authentically charismatic. I could see why people would follow him.

Really was bummed that the drug addict professor didn't die, but the soulful Indian did. :(

John's kid is such a nerd, ugh. I hate that I have to play as him now.

***SPOILERS*** btw yeah his 'giddyup' vocal snatches are annoying.

but still, fucking loved the ending. although i fucked up the showdown so a small foolish part of me wants to try again to see if it's at all possible to come out on top.

dunno what the story with uncle was tho, was expecting some shit to come out explaining why marston was so mean to him but nah.

i have trouble reading the top left hand messages, mostly because i sit so far away from the tv (its 32 inch). if i can be arsed to drag the bean bag out from it's den i'll plonk myself right in front.

anyway, quite enjoying this again. last night i walked into the middle of some chaos. At first i was hiding in a collapsed wooden hut in the snow trying to fend off a wild boar outside. Then I heard a lot of shooting and hollering down the road, so i went to investigate. Half a dozen blokes all being attacked by a pack of wild boar. Nobody survived, not even their horses.

so i looted the shit out of them.

haha yeah i feel like an addict in that respect. i have a giant battle with the mexican fucking army, single-handedly save the revolutionary cause, and then after the men walk away, singing into the night, i furtively sneak around and take all the dead guys' wallets even though i already have more money than i know what to do with

ahm too lazy fer lootin