Red Dead Redemption

I'm slow, and because of that slow to pick up on controls and stuff, which makes me take my time even more! For example, I've just reached a point where I'm confident I have the upper hand in most gun battles (and said battles are pretty easy in this game). The related downside is that it makes you feel kind of OP at this point, which is how I know it's time to go forward. When your reward for robbing and killing someone is rarely better than a dollar and a half-empty bottle of tonic, you know it's time to move on.

An aspect of this early game I've learned to appreciate and even look forward to is the occasional ambush. Is this stuff randomly generated? I've been jumped by a few gangs on bridges, and taken advantage of by a few people looking for help. The first was just some dude, who punched me and rode off on my horse (this was a while ago). The second was a woman crying by the side of the road. When I got off the horse to help her she broke bad and tried to rob me. I accidentally shot her at point blank range with a bow and arrow (!), but to my surprise she had a cohort hiding in the trees that I had to take out right afterwards. I like the idea that there are NPCs scheming and plotting (and doing other stuff) independent of my character's missions and whatnot.

One of the most equally amusing and annoying situations that I've had happen a few times now is when you're leaving a busy town and, inevitably/eventually, crash your horse into another rider, killing them. You're immediately identified as a murderer, so of course are more or less forced to kill any witnesses. But because it's a busy spot someone soon comes around and sees you, leading to another witness, and another death, and so on, until eventually you just give up cleaning up after yourself and leave this pile of bodies in the middle of the road while you hightail it out of there

I shot the shackles off some dude, and as a reward he told me about a pig farm with a lot of money. After searching and searching north of Rhodes (where he said to look) I gave up and googled its location, which ... was on a part of the map I didn't know existed! That is, I didn't even notice the map has been growing as I explore! So I set off in search go the farm, expanding the map as I went. I found the farm (which was more of a ... house) and the sweaty, fucked up siblings who live there. I killed them (the fat one took like ten bullets) and robbed the house, then on my way somewhere else killed some more of those gang members and rescued a bleeding guy, which lead me into St. Denis, which I did not know existed and which is busy and huge! Should I have been exploring all along, or are the missions designed to open up the map for me?

Oh, best moment was when I was messing with some dead bodies in a swamp, and I hear this growl, and this giant alligator lunges at me. I have no idea how it did no damage, but it was exciting.

The missions are designed to open the map but you can go anywhere you want.

I definitely rode around and mucked about a lot. First time going into St Denis is quite an eye opener.

I did exactly what you were talking about in St Denis the other night. I noticed my honour metre doesn't seem to go up or down an awful lot. I'm always greeting people and the little cowboy icon appears, but not much happens on the scale. So I started being rude to passers by and before I knew it I'd "disturbed the peace" and was being SHOT AT by police. Jesus Christ. So I hid behind a structure and just kept shooting lawmen as they turned up. But they don't go away do they? More just kept coming for me and I eventually ran out of bullets and had to high tail it out of there. The amount of dead lawmen in that square though blimey

The missions are designed to open the map but you can go anywhere you want.

Yeah, I see what you mean. I just did maybe the first mission in Chapter 3, and it clearly seemed designed to introduce me to Rhodes, even though I've spent plenty of time there already. I think I prefer doing it the game's way for now, I guess, which means explore to an extent but mostly let it lead me.

Something I like about the handful of open world games I've played is that they more or less condense vast geographical expanses into self contained chunks. Rhodes and environs, for example, is clearly designed to be the equivalent of the American deep south if not Florida specifically, but it's still within a horsey ride of snow-capped mountains.

So, satchels: is this something I should be upgrading? Everything seems to take a certain number and type of perfect pelts, but I don't know if it's worth the trouble. Related, maybe, I have about $1000 right now, but I'm really not sure what I should be spending it on, if anything.

I never managed to collect enough items to make a satchel, or much else for that matter

Just seems too much trouble to get a "perfect" pelt.

I haven't found it THAT hard to get perfect pelts; just make sure you shoot the 3 star animal's neck with the weapon that the game tells you. Tracking the 3 stars is the tricky part. Tho I haven't bothered doing much upgrading of satchels and wotnot, since this game is so easy anyway and I'm having more fun playing missions than using RDR2 as a hunting simulator.

Yeah, I think I've run over more animals with my horse than I have shot anything.

I'm always running over rabbits. The controller vibration just adds to my guilt.

Shooting rabbits is morally fine but a roadkill is just so senseless. I still back up and grab the carcass for the pot tho.

When I go to something that I've killed and it tells me I don't have room to harvest the entire animal, what is it not allowing me to harvest? It seems like various animal parts pop up, but does that mean I'm not actually pocketing them?

Also, tips for spending money? Short of just buying random weapons or doing random camp upgrades (chicken coop? horse stuff?) I'm really not sure what to spend it on. But it must be there for a reason, at least beyond paying off bounties. Otherwise what's the incentive for robbin' and stealin'?

Giving all my money to the camp for upgrades (good for ammo) has been my go to so far and I think I've only bought the scope rifle. I haven't been wantonly a-robbin' and a-stealin' very much, I'm trying to be a good Arthur. I remember paying a good chunk of cash to the trapper to turn my bear pelt into a hat so maybe you're meant to be doing that. I don't wear it tho cos it just reminds me of the QShaman.

Can you make and wear a bear suit?

That would be amazing but I feel like that might be a touch much for this game.

On that, the constant ludo-narrative whiplash is pretty extreme. The graphics and gameplay are pretty and slow and bucolic and encourage an almost meditative playstyle, but the AI is from GTA 5 and shit gets extreme very quickly. It really breaks the illusion imo.

Yeah, I don't know anything about GTA, but sometimes in this game I'll approach some guy camping out, and before I know what's happened he's shooting at me for ... loitering?

Decided to explore west a little bit and came across a huge O'Driscoll camp. Decided to pick a fight (from a distance) and they just kept popping up. Spent all night shooting at them from the hills while trying to keep my horse safe. Eventually, toward dawn, I killed them all, so went to the camp to loot and explore, and I discovered all these perches (roofs, towers) where I assume I was supposed to set up sniper shots, and also a machine gun mounted on a barn, which I think was there to make it easier for me to mow all the enemies down (had I made it up there before I killed them all the hard way). I also found a glitching O'Driscoll on the top level of a barn, frozen and shaking in place (no doubt because I killed his dozen or so brothers). There was nothing I could do *but* shoot him, too. Anyway, certainly an example of this game being a little too easy, since I was like the Terminator, just tanking their fire as I took them out and occasionally healed. Still, it was a productive experience.

On the other hand, bumped into a Civil War vet missing an arm in town, and all he wanted was a hug.

I’ve run into the money issue, too. I’m about halfway through chapter 3 and have $2500, even after tricking out my main firearms with all the functional and decorative alterations, buying a good saddle and accessories, all camp upgrades, even some cosmetic outfit customizing. (Why am I even still an outlaw? That’s almost $80,000 today!) Maybe I just play conservatively; I have tons of tonics and provisions I rarely use, and had a similar surplus in Witcher 3.

You guys aren't committing enough stupid crimes if you've got lots of money.

Completed the story last night which was extremely satisfying. Still think this game has a lot more to give. Still lots of the map I haven't fully explored. I hope it still gives me the odd challenge here and there or its going to be a long lonely search for cigarette cards

White cougar mission was fun. Think I'll try to make a lot more main game progress before the real-life weather gets too nice.

Came across this article from the LA Times, June 1899, which seems very much in the spirit of the game.

HAD TO MAKE A STAKE
FEMALE STAGE ROBBER AND HER PARD CAPTURED.
She Showed Fight But He Did Not. She Is led an a Former Bagnio-keeper -- Wanted Money to Return to Canada.

FLORENCE (Ariz.,) June 4.—[Exclusive Dispatch.] Sheriff Will Truman has returned to Florence, bringing with him the female stage robber of the Globe road and her male companion. The robbery occurred Thursday in Cane Springs Cañon, a short distance beyond Riverside.
Of the two who gathered in the wealth of the passengers it was noticed that one was slight of build and seemed, despite the roughest of male garments, to be a woman, but she spoke not a word, nor did her little hand tremble an it was extended to receive the spoils.
Yesterday morning Sheriff Truman came on the pair asleep upon the ground, at a point twenty miles north of Benson station, on the Southern Pacific, toward which they were evidently heading. Beside them lay their revolvers, ready for use. These Truman secured before he awakened the sleepers. The man surrendered readily enough when made to look into the barrel of a pistol, but the woman was hard to handle. She struggled and tried to regain her weapon, and bitterly damned her associate of a coward.
The Sheriff recovered $400, the entire sum taken from the stage passengers. The woman is under the average size, and is distinctly dainty and pretty. She was recognized as "Pearl," a, woman of the town, well-known in Tucson, Globe and Phoenix. She had no opportunity for securing other attire before arriving in Florence. and was garbed as she was when she was in Cane Springs Cañon, with soft hat, light coat, blue overalls and rough shirt. She had walked all the way from Globe to the place where captured, and appeared little affected by the hardships necessarily encountered in her hundred-mile tramp through the roughest country in Arizona. She does not deny the robbery.
"We were flat broke in Globe and had to get away," she said, "and the only way in sight of raising a stake was to hold up the stage. We were heading for the railroad to skip the Territory. I was to take about all the money and go to my old home in Canada. "I'm tired," she pathetically concluded, "of this wild rush for fortune in the South-west."
The man with her calls himself a gambler, but is nothing more than a poor article of bawdyhouse lounger, weak-faced and without spirit. It is evident that the woman was the leader and the more adventurous of the pair.

Heh.

I went horseback riding last week, and tbh I kept thinking about this game as I clopped around on a trail.

If you time it right, you can get to the snowy part of the game right when the weather gets hot

I've always liked the idea of horse-riding (and fancy I would look rather dashing on the back of a horse) and it was on the list for 2020 but, y'know...

It's pretty safe! (Covid-wise.)

Apropos of nothing, I started watching Clint Eastwood's "Pale Rider" today, which I'd never seen but remembered seeing the ads for as a kid. The opening scene was essentially like watching a RDR2 cut-scene. The rest (that I watched) was pretty corny, though, not Clint's best work as director. Still ... felt like watching the game!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRuBhDmn6_s

I love how this game balances realism and drama with all this goofy stuff. Like, even the way Arthur says hi to people or pats his horse makes me kind of chuckle. Yesterday I did the quest retrieving the "Zebra," which I found really amusing. First I couldn't figure out what to do, so ended up lassoing it and dragging it several miles to camp, where the game totally glitched, the zebra disappeared, the quest sort of froze, and every time I got on my horse it immediately popped me off my horse. Weird. The next time, trying to remember how to calm an animal, I accidentally jumped on the zebra/mule and rode it back to camp, which was pretty silly. A bit before that I lead a women's suffrage parade, which I was convinced was going to end with a melee or town brawl but was pleasantly surprised to see turned out to be just a bunch of local color and character beats. Good stuff.

Yes, I really love just going around and saying hi to people. I like insulting people too, but it gets me in trouble quickly.

OTM, I frequently chuckle at Arthur’s bemused resignation in the face of the sillier characters.

SPOILER FOR UP TO BEGINNING OF CHAPTER 6 (in case I screw up the hide text tag).

The game has been pretty good balancing the drama/narrative but I was let down by Hosea’s death. Arthur sees one of his surrogate fathers killed in front of him, yet the game spends little time on his reaction—we’re immediately put into tropical island hijinks. I understand it would probably drag down gameplay to spend a chapter on the Wild West version of Depression Quest, but it does seem odd that we get little more than some grumbling about missing him from Arthur during the “ride to the mission checkpoint” chatter.

I think I met the time traveler today! Also, went fishing a lot.

it becomes cowboy depression quest fairly quickly don't worry

How much older is Dutch meant to be than Arthur?

Dutch is 8 years older, making him 44 at the time of RDR2. I thought the difference would be greater, considering he’s talked about as a father figure more than older brother figure.

Been trying to speed things up a bit, since I think I'm still early on in Chapter 3. There have been a few more fun character beats in this I've enjoyed, like playing deputy, giving out free shots and the sometimes subtle, sometimes not ways the game has addressed race and gender; Arthur can be a pretty good listener, when he wants/has to be. Some of the animations still really impress me. I hopped on a wagon with someone, and there was a special character animation that transitioned me from the wrong side of the wagon to the correct one. I love that someone had to program that.

sometimes i can't believe the same people that wrote GTA 5 also wrote this story. GTA 5 was riddled with putrid misogyny. maybe they're just adapting to the times

I'm up to chapter 4 now. Definitely some cognitive dissonance to the plot. Like, what kind of threat is Pinkertons warning they'll send 50 men when me and my dudes basically effortlessly killed dozens of people the last two missions alone? And what is this constant scramble for money, when we all live in tents and I alone have thousands in my wallet and literally nothing to spend it on?

Still, good fun. I wish I could have beat up those kids in Saint Denis.

I had that same thought last night when I finished a mission in the first RDR, some old gunslinger mocking my skills and offering to teach me how to shoot. Stuff it, gramps—I’ve killed over 100 people since coming to New Austin, according to the stats screen.

It’s been a bit jarring going from RDR2 to 1, which I started a few years ago but wasn’t able to finish. It’s plenty fun but broader in tone—I wouldn’t go so far as to say “goofy”, but certainly characters like Seth or Irish feel more exaggerated than would fit into the world of 2. I suppose that’s a difference in approach—2 is going for immersion/real world simulation (obviously not completely, still some fanciful stuff in the stranger missions) whereas 1 feels more an emulation of western films, with all the unreality that comes with it.

Incidentally, this game remains one of the best written I've ever played. Not really the plot - there's not much plot, per se - but the characters and the things they say, and to each other. I wonder if there is much crossover between video game writers and, say, TV writers? Or do they both exist in their respective worlds, more or less independent from the other?

I was reading some forum where someone asked if they should hold off on RDR2 until it gets a PS5 patch, and a bunch of people were all, yeah, for sure, it will really benefit from better frame rate/graphics/etc. But having played hours and hours of this already on PS4, I (as usual) have no idea what they're talking about. It looks great on my system, and as far as I can tell plays great, too. There's not much loading, period, so I'm not sure what faster loading times would gain. The graphics are sharp and gorgeous, and as far as fame rates go, this ain't no precise platformer or whatever. So weird what certain gamers get fixated on. It's all so very much
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/0/06/Spinal_Tap_-_Up_to_Eleven.jpg/330px-Spinal_Tap_-_Up_to_Eleven.jpg

i think it's PC gamers getting used to a level of clarity then noticing the difference
like i didn't have any issues with standard definition as a kid until i saw my first HD screen

Yeah, I get that, and I remember that. But I think I've seen HD clips of stuff on the PS5, and it looks good, but not, like, mind-blowingly better than my PS4 on my TV looks. For that matter, this game specifically, any problem I've had with it has been related to bugs, glitches and clipping (?), not a lack of clarity, and I don't think those elements would be fixed by a faster processor. Different strokes, I suppose.

Today in RDR2 hilarity, I finally noticed that my regular steed, My Horse, made a return to whichever far flung place I'd been hanging out, somehow paired with a different horse (whose origin I forget), but after switching back to my usual horse the other horse basically followed me around on missions like a puppy. I'd race off on My Horse, then realize I left behind My Other Horse, and have to turn around and coax it to follow along. I must have done two or three or four little missions or quests with two horses before I realized I could just tie it up back at the swamp mansion and stick with my usual horse. made me wish I could have, like, a dozen of horses following me around, like the Pied Piper of horses.

is rdr2 worth buying a cheap ps4 for? finding myself very curious about it. i could see this and spider-man maybe being enough to justify a really cheap console if i can find one

Get RDR2 and Witcher 3 and you'll be entertained for hours

games are so cheap for PS4 right now, I could probably name five that would keep you occupied entertained for hours. Red Dead, Last of Us, Spider-Man ... I haven't played Witcher 3 or horizon zero Dawn, but I bet both of them would keep you busy too.