I spent a few hours wandering the countryside while I got my perfect cougar and perfect wolf pelts to finish getting my saddlebags maxed out. Various random encounters, some time spent in town getting a bath, playing poker, getting a good night’s sleep before heading back out. Still in Chapter 3.
It occurred to me that if Rockstar were to take this engine and take out the main story line, and do the following, I’d play this forever (maybe not forever…) Let me enter this world at about 18. Keep the rival gangs, stranger encounters (maybe increase those) ability to rob or to help for honor rep. Have various females I could “court and woo” and add a piece where finding and winning a wife was part of the game. Kind of like Skyrim did but a bit better. Let us have kids that can age. Add a module where I can find and buy a ranch. Then let me feed and provide for my family however I choose. I can go across country and rob to make money. I can hunt and fish for food/money. Just take this world that is THIS close to being an open world Wild West life simulator and let me just live in it.
I had that thought while I was camping during a massive rainstorm (I role play, so if it is a massive storm I stop and get in my tent) and then when it stopped raining was cooking some food to eat. The world provides plenty of assets for someone just wanting to live in it: Bounties, treasure to be found, hunting and fishing provide honest food and money. OR you could be a bad guy and rob people, stores, banks, wagons, take loot to a fence and sell it. I realized that I was in an “oh yeah, I guess I should start doing story missions again” mood and realized the story missions weren’t my main draw; it’s the word.
RDR2 already feels like an alternate world that I’ve become lost in over the last month, and it’s definitely one I’ve enjoyed the most. It’s funny to me to see articles going up about how boring the game is, or how it wastes your time. I don’t think that’s right - but I do think the game demands that you meet it halfway, that you allow yourself to exist in a world where people weren’t watching the clock, where things move slower. I get a tiny, but real, pleasure from walking up to Pearson’s pot and getting a bowl of stew and eating it up, then following that up with a cup of coffee. It’s such a little thing but it binds me to this place and time, and the crew. I’m still in chapter four but I’m slowing down, doing as much side activity as I can. Algernon Wasp has me busy at the moment. I’m having a huge time.
I can see how the game could be polarizing. If you’re looking for a game with a plot and fast action and sense of progression to the “win” I understand how it could come across as not as satisfying as, say, Horizon ZD or the new Assassin’s Creed (played the first, not the latter.)
For someone like me, though, it provides an amazing role playing world. When it’s raining hard, even though there’s no real “Need” to, I stop and pitch a tent and wait it out. Or get into town quickly. When I wake up, I pour coffee, eat big game (I need oregano!) even though it seems I stay underweight, feed and brush my horse, then decide what I’m going to do that day. I like that it punishes your rep if you shoot an animal and then let it die a slow death rather than finish it off. I enjoy meandering around the camp. I enjoy hunting and fishing. For many all of this sounds boring as hell.
Another thing I like about RDR2 - distance matters. I never played a game where fast travel seemed like a bad idea, and I’ve consistently used it in other open world games. But I like that it had only limited availability in this game, either through the map option in camp (which then is only one way) or taking a train, which involves its own little ritual.
No, with RDR2, I need to have a plan. If I need to head out to Strawberry or northern Ambarino, I want to take a look at my outstanding tasks or needs and try to optimize the trip. It’s another way the game kind of feels like life, without making the experience too burdensome.
So I installed and started playing. I got through the first chapter and set up the first camp. Problem is, the missions all send me to Valentine, and any time I walk, drive a horse, or drive a wagon into Valentine the game crashes and gives me the same error code then spits the disc out. So I email Rockstar tech support, and keep playing on my own, just running around the map finding gold bars, collecting poor skins, killing bad guys, etc.
Tech support tells me to do all sorts of things to my PS4, updated, restored default settings, and rebuilt the database. Then I go back to Valentine with Uncle on a mission, and get the same result, the error code and crash. Then Rockstar tech support tells me to try deleting the game, reinstalling, and getting the updates again. Do that, and the game lets me into Valentine where I do a mission with Javier. As soon as that missions ends, the game autosaves and then it crashes with the same error code.
Now I’m in Valentine and every time I load the autosave I cash five seconds later. I load older saves and even though I’m nowhere near Valentine, it now crashes with the same error code. I’ve put 20+ hours into the game, and now it’s impossible to play, and tech support is stumped. Their idea now is to completely delete everything on my PS4, restore it to factory settings, and try installing again.
Before I do that, do any of you here have any ideas that don’t involve days of downloading 2 terabytes of games and completely starting from scratch?
Wow that is terrible. I would also be exceptionally frustrated. An error code which then spits the disk out. How bizarre. I’ve had a few stupid issues with the game where a mission wouldn’t finish but nothing that severe. I almost wonder if there’s something wrong with the PS4?
I hate to say this, but if their tech support hasn’t seen this before, I can’t think of anything else they could suggest besides their wipe and try again… except one thing. If one of the official PS4 firmware updates broke the game on your system. There was an update this past week. If you’re playing post firmware update - I would be zeroing in on that.
Which can happen. I wouldn’t doubt RDR2 is more demanding in unique ways than most games. Coupling a massive vibrant living world, with the stunning multitude of shaders… just walking and leaving behind footprints, parsed snow, muddied furrows has got to be taxing.
Only sympathies and advice that this really is your problem and not with the game since this isn’t a widely known issue. Possibly your console has a hardware or firmware glitch.
That’s super weird, Jeremy. I paused my single player game a few weeks ago and am mostly playing online right now, but I visit Valentine fairly regularly and haven’t experienced that. I do experience frequent error codes and getting booted from online sessions, but the game rarely crashes outright and I assume it’s more due to client/server issues than anything else.
Rockstar has been rolling out updates each week, so perhaps this will be addressed in a patch soon. Fingers crossed for ya.
I’m new to the PS4, but I believe your options are to copy them to a USB stick from the Capture Gallery (and then to a PC), or upload them directly to a service like Twitter or FB. With Twitter, you could then share a post here, but personally I’d go the USB route because I rather not share that sort of thing on my Twitter.
I prefer to paint a vivid mental picture through evocative storytelling and creative use of the English language.
This one time? I was, like, all galloping along on my horse? And then - and then - and then there was A BEAR! And he was all, BLAAAROOAAAR, and then? So then? My horse stood up and I fell off and landed on my bottom! HA HA HA!!! And then - and then the bear charged me! But I like totally dodged it!! I was all pshoooooo off to the side! But then the bear turned around and he ated me.
You can also send them to someone (maybe even yourself?) in a message, then access the messages either from the Playstation app or from my.playstation.com. Copy and paste the images directly into the forum here:
