Red Dead Redemption

i would say though, imo the best parts of that game are when it leaves you alone and you forget what it wants you to be doing

Oh, I mean, I know there are things I *can* do. I can advance the story, etc., by going for the yellow spots on the map. Just early in the game, I don't know if there's anything else I *should* be doing. Should I be hunting? Should I shave? Does it matter what order I do things in? I got an alert that my clothes were too warm, but I seem to now be wearing different clothes. Do I need ... a wardrobe?

Or similarly, we robbed a train. There were like a dozen dead people. I walked around looting them but mostly found only spare change and horse medicine, or the occasional cigar or something. All the while the main dude is like "yo, Arthur, hustle!" But I wasn't sure if it mattered if I left the dead people alone, or if it was important to search them for stuff before I moved on.

Josh, do people keep telling you to put on warmer clothes even if you're wearing a massive thick coat in warm temperatures? Mine"s been doing that since the start and I think it must be a glitch

my online character is a small bald man, with nothing on but red braces, red trousers, and a red trilby hat. And sometimes a big thick fur coat if I venture north. Look out for me!

i don't have an online subscription. is it fun to play? i've heard mixed reviews, but it sounds quite good?

I played with a friend and loved it until we finished the main quests, then it quickly became a chore. Okay if you don't mind grinding for gold.

My friend now just wants to lassoo crocs and drag them into St Denis all the time, but I would much rather explore and mess about in single player mode.

The number of times I muttered to myself "fuck's sake, this fucking game" last night. I love it and hate it at the same time.

It's so bloody fussy about the way it insists you do things. "You failed the mission because you kept shooting the enemies and didn't retreat back inside the building". "You failed the mission because you didn't stay within 5 metres of an NPC", "You got bronze because you drank a health potion"... Jesus H.

Summoning the entire police force of St Denis because I accidentally pointed a gun at someone instead of saying hello. Getting chased and shot-at by a passer by for a cheeky comment I made about them being "the local hard man".

Arthur deciding he's going to stand on top of a small structure instead of hiding behind it during a gunfight. Thanks mate.

Arrthur insisting on walking at a snails pace down the stairs while his house is under attack from dozens of O'Driscolls.

The list goes on, and yet I love playing. It's just this Venn diagram of pernicketiness and elements that seem plain unfair can be very frustrating and don't help to suspend disbelief.

Yeah, rockstar missions no longer allow an element of free will anymore, since gta4 I would say. For example a mission in gta5 sees you steal a jetski that you don't even care about and flee some attackers, but for some reason if the jetski is destroyed or grounded the mission fails - why? Makes little sense.

It's like they have this huge element of technical accomplishment in their games marred by unbelievably dick-ripping gameplay flaws.

Bring me back the days where I can park several buses in a road to win a mission.

I'm super early still, so I haven't had many mission options just yet. The warm weather warning I got when I was arriving at my new camp on the long wagon/storytelling trip. It gave me an alert that the warm weather would make me feel bad or something and suggested I dress for the temperature, but as far as I could tell I was wearing everything I owned already, and for that matter I never got the warning again. Then after the fast forward in the camp I seem to be wearing something else, so I guess no problem? I'm pretty sure I lost my hat when I robbed the train, but the hat came back, too.

My biggest (small) problem is telling the voices apart when we're riding as a posse and everyone is talking. Oh, and my horse sometimes, too. I'll be listening along and then realize I'm suddenly falling behind because I thought I was controlling someone else. And Arthur's voice I sometimes confuse for Dutch in the same situation. It's all been pretty forgiving so far, though, especially since I don't care about bronze or gold medals or whatever, I just want to complete missions and do what I have to do. I assume certain missions have a time limit or something, but I seemed to be able to get away with (for example) looting bodies on the train mid mission while my partner kept yelling "Arthur, what are you doing, we've got to stop this train!"

I've never played a Rockstar game before, but it's definitely an incredible mishmash of beautiful cinematic design and writing and voice acting and cut scenes yet kind of weirdly ... undramatic game play. It feels like a literally immerse world, like I've been dropped into a movie that's already been written and I'm mostly along for the ride. My "freedom" has already been factored. But again, I'm really, really early game, and it's definitely enjoyable to spend time in the world. Of course, it helps that I like westerns.

xp yes, it's the fact there's only one way to skin whatever cat they've given you. there's no room for creativity in the missions. you HAVE to complete it the way the game tells you or you fail. so if you think "i'll sneak up behind these enemies and shoot them from behind" or "I'll climb up here and snipe them from a window", that's a no-no, even though it makes tactical sense. Unfortunately that does make RDR2's story seem like a series of old-school Duck Hunt-style arcade shooters strung together by an elaborate interactive stage play where you have to concentrate on what people are saying while making sure you don't accidentally steer your horse off-course.

Having not really played many open world games before, it just further underscores how exceptional "Breath of the Wild" is.

My biggest (small) problem is telling the voices apart when we're riding as a posse and everyone is talking.

I found this confusing too, but in settings there's an option (which should be a default really, but it's not) to have the character's name come up in front of the dialogue. The other thing I would do is expand the size of the in-game corner map to maximum.

Josh, have you played Witcher 3? It's not quite as technically accomplished and polished as RDR2 but these little niggles seem less apparent, perhaps BECAUSE it's not trying to bite off more than it can chew.

No, I know I have Witcher 3, but I haven't gotten around to it yet.

I think I opted out of subtitles, but maybe I'll turn them back on just to learn who everyone is.

I only had a few minutes to play today, so I decided to ride out from camp and just look around. Then I thought, well, I might as well hunt something. So I tied up my horse and walked into the wilderness looking for animals. Then I heard someone yelling and shooting. It took me forever to find their horse, which ran to me ... then past me, pursued by a mountain lion that immediately jumped on my face instead and killed me.

When I started again I saw a few random riders on the road. No idea who they were, since they seemed to ignore me. And I lost my hat again, too. Oh, and I killed a wild turkey, but seem unable to give it to Pearson, who is sitting at a table. Kind of want to hold off on missions until I figure out mechanics and whatnot.

It feels like a literally immerse world, like I've been dropped into a movie that's already been written and I'm mostly along for the ride

such is life [puffs pipe]

I'd definitely like to know the correct way to hunt without destroying the pelt of whatever I just shot. Also, a way to fish where I actually catch something.

Also, a way to fish where I actually catch something.

Man, this game almost seems too realistic.

have you unlocked manual tagging with dead eye yet? that makes it a lot easier, just aim for the head xp. i think express bullets help too

What gun are you using for the hunting, it can also make a difference.

I got pretty good at the fishing, just reel in when the fish isn't struggling.

generally try to use arrows for smaller animals.
haven't really got the hang of dead eye and tracking yet. i mean, i've used them but with dead eye i panic because it only gives you about 2 seconds to aim and fire, and for some reason i find the tracking route really difficult to see properly.

Anyone come across some very creepy True Detective-style dismembered bodies yet? Intrigued as to what that's all about. Stumbled on one very early on in the game and one more recently. I assume that's all going to be revealed soon.

Yeah, think I found two areas but I didn't follow up on it. It's something I keep meaning to investigate more of.

Again, have only dipped into this, but an important thing I learned is that your auto-aim button (I think L2 on the PS4?) resets when you release the button. So if you hold and aim and shoot someone, release the button and repress it and it automatically jumps to the next target. The first few gunfights I had I just kept L2 pressed down, but it's important to release between shots. Maybe this was obvious to everyone but me, lol.

there should be maps at each murder scene, there are four total xxp

OK, I think I need some help, because I'm kind of struggling with what I should be doing and how to do it, just figuring things out. For example, I'm hanging out at the Overlook camp, checking things out. I haven't been playing much, but at one point someone told me I wasn't dressed for the weather. Was that just small talk, or is the game telling me to put on warmer clothes? How was I supposed to know the temperature, or is that the mechanic (someone will tell me)? What happens if I am not dressed right? Like, is this a fashion thing or something I need to be aware of? And I think I'm supposed to help around the camp, which I've done bit of, but ... should I be hunting? Does it matter how much time I spend on that? Does it matter how far off I make it from camp? I was exploring this abandoned camp and think I found a guy in jail, but I couldn't seem to interact with him. Was he dead? Was that just local color? And when I left it was night time. Is that a problem/something to be aware of? A bit earlier I came across a guy changing a horse's shoe, and afaict the horse kicked him in the head and killed him, so ... I looted the body. Was this what I was supposed to do? I tried to bring the body back to camp, but it wouldn't let me. And I think I can upgrade my satchel. Do I need pelts and skins for that? Does that take time to grind throughout the game, or should I be focusing on that now?

And as for personal stats, at one point I looked bedraggled, so I took a nap and now seem to be less stooped and haggard. Is that what was happening, I was tired? Do I need to sleep? Do I need to eat? How often do I need to eat? I'm having trouble figuring all this stuff out before I pursue more of the yellow story quests. I mean, I get that I *am* playing the game, in some way, but right now I can't even figure out how to make the onscreen radar map bigger.

figuring out how RDR2 works is the game

i mean that for real. some of the questions are just things you're supposed to figure out. like looting. it depends on when you do it, and how you try to do it on, and who is around. sometimes it makes sense, sometimes the game fucks up and you get in trouble for no particular reason, or you murder a child and no one notices.

for the game mechanic questions, honestly the best way to answer any of those questions is to google:

RDR2 ____

RDR2 how do clothes work
RDR2 upgrading satchel
RDR2 hunting
RDR2 how to do cool things on a horse

unless you actually want answers to all of those things. i figured those were figurative q's

Huh. Well, as long as I don't break any main story quests or anything by farting around I guess I will just keep doing that.

How about simple stuff like eating/sleeping. Are these things I Need to Do or just things I Can Do?

i mean, i'm sure a lot of people play RDR2 in a lot more concrete, task-focused way, but imo it's more fun to play open-world games in a BotW style, just playing and figuring out things that don't seem urgent, and googling everything else

i forgot if you actually had to eat/sleep or not, so

https://i.imgur.com/3JpeHgH.png

ok that was a terrible example because it led me to an article about a PREVIEW version of the game, but....siiiiigh

god, even google sucks ass now

some of the questions are just things you're supposed to figure out

this tbh

there's lots you can learn, lots you can straight up ignore and lots you can half-ass and none of it stops you either playing the story end to end or spending weeks fucking around finding stuff.

someone giving me all those answers would have lessened the experience for me.

Cool, thanks. As long as it's not the sort of game where if you don't do the thing before the other thing you'll never get to do the thing, or the other thing become 10x harder.

so far it's felt fairly not like that. the game seems pretty much unbreakable, which is a good and bad thing. although i encountered my first glitches yesterday: it made me redo a mission im sure i already completed, and later it tried to make me rob a stagecoach i'd already robbed and didn't exist.

ghost coach!

oh yeah, i speaking of which, i also rode a coach i was riding as part of a mission into a lampost and couldn't reverse or go around. so i had to get off and make the game fail me so i could start again

also, i don't know if this is normal, but I paid off a massive $900 bail to clear my name in St Denis, only to be set upon just a few minutes later by baddies of some sort as I was leaving town. I had no choice but to shoot back, putting my bounty back to $15 which was a bit annoying.

the game is really easy, nothing you do will set you up for failure. the camp comments about putting on warmer clothes is a glitch, also

yes it confused me for a while. I was wearing a massive coat in 20 degree celsius weather and people were screaming at me to wear warmer clothes. now i just wear the dandiest shit i can afford unless i go up to the Grizzlies.

Ooh, I forgot - something really unexpected happened. I've only met a handful of Native Americans so far, usually as part of a conversation in a quest. But last night I stumbled on a dead body quite near my camp. I'd just had a bit of a gunbattle with some O'Driscolls, so I was about to loot it, when out of nowehre I was set upon by three camoflaged men who managed to beat me to death in about 10 seconds. It caught me quite by surprise as so far you can generally spot a tussle a mile off. This was a stealthy, clever entrapment that completely threw me.

that might be the skinner brothers, they have a machete that one shots you

ahhhhhh... hmmm the name rings a bell. ah yes, i came across a few of them a while back and they got antsy with me so i gave them what-for. i didn't really get a good look at them this time mind, so my assumption that they were native American might have been wrong. It was around the Bayou area

I love shit like that, I have so much to look forward to in this game.

Still taking my time figuring out how to do simple ass shit. Had to google how to clean myself in a river, because I was covered with blood, either from hunting or from shooting some dude on a homestead who pulled a gun on me before I was even able to explain I was still learning the game mechanics. What a jerk, right?

Oh, also, settling in that I am essentially a bad guy, and that I am (I think) *supposed* to rob and loot and kill, at least within reason.

Did I miss something?

This thread is suddenly full of action. I'm seeing RDR2 highlights on TikTok and Tumblr. Recently had a YouTube video appear called "The Best Ways to Kill [spoiler character?]"

One of those moments where i can't be sure if it's the world at large or if the world is just targeting me.

But enjoying the conversation!

Possibly a lockdown flex means people are picking this game up as a way to pass the time (my situation), and perhaps the algorithms at play.

did a really awesome/creepy gator mission lst night. the few flashes of horror in this game really serve it well

i should try to get back into this

it's all about lockdown for me, i played it before but not in this depth