I was playing a bit last night while my wife was working a night shift. I was thinking about the varying responses people have to this game.
I think one good test is this: If you can put on a good set of headphones, hop on your horse and just explore the world, with no goal or mission in mind other than appreciating the scenery and wildlife and looking to explore and see what you can find, and really get lost in that, I think you’ll love this game.
OTOH, I think that if doing that makes you impatient for “something to happen” and you find yourself looking for missions to do because you are bored to tears simply riding around and exploring, you’ll probably have at least mixed feelings about the game.
I’m not saying either is “better” or passing judgement on either response. I came to this thought after leaving RDR2 long enough to start up Far Cry 5.5 (I enjoy the FC games) and I realized how much I missed the peaceful woods and trails and rivers and lakes of RDR2.
Did you ever play RDR 1 by chance? I kind of grilled my sister last night, who loved 1, to see if she every actually finished that game. She said no, something something family, and that she loved the exploring, horses and stuff so much that she wanted 2. RDR2 is what she got with the console purchase, but she’s hinted at what she played during 1 that maybe I won’t like the story like I’m thinking I won’t.
So I am just curious if this is your first venture into the game like mine or if you had experienced some before with 1?
I played all through RDR1 (and the Undead Nightmare DLC) on the 360 and loved both of them, and I adore this game, despite its flaws (the unnecessarily time-wasting crafting, for instance).
The setting speaks to me perhaps more than to others because of a couple of things: my late father (born in 1928) was born and grew up on a small ranch in eastern Oregon with horses and all that, and later became a college prof and a city-dweller. His dad* (b. 1892) also grew up on that ranch, fought in WW1, came back and lived there till his death. So that Western rural thing is in my blood somewhat (we’d go spend time on the ranch at various times of year when I was growing up-- I bucked bales of alfalfa many summers as a late teen/early 20-something). Also, when I was a little kid in the 1960s, Westerns were still huge on TV.
As far as the story goes, I think it’s the most mature one of any Rockstar game yet. Since it’s about a gang of hunted outlaws at the turn of the last century, you can imagine how it’s likely to go over time. I don’t want to give more away. All you can do is bend Arthur’s moral arc as you prefer within the given circumstances. That will affect the ending somewhat.
*Don’t remember if I wrote upthread about my grandpa’s wagon trip with his family from the Grande Ronde Valley to Winters, CA ca. 1910. The world along the way must have looked like some of the landscapes we see in this game.
That’s amazing. Yeah I might not spend a lot of time in nature, but I do take advantage of the fact that nature is basically right out the door. Your family history sounds awesome. I hope you get a chance to document some of that for generations to come.
I gave my lil sister the game today. She seemed curious and excited. She’s getting hammered at a bar tonight but I am sure later she’ll give it a try. I need to remind her that it is not nephew appropriate though.
I played RDR1 and I liked it a lot. I thought the gameplay had problems, though, for example, you have about 5 “random encounters” with strangers (like a guy who waves you down and tells you he lost his horse and asks for help, a woman next to a broken down wagon, etc.) and they play out the same way every time.
I enjoyed the story line, and there’s a moment in RDR1 that is burned into my gaming brain like a brand, which is one reason RDR1 holds a very high place in my list of memorable games. But the inconsistency of the “Mexico” piece of the game (where your character, who has spent the game trying to make up for his past, has been an Eagle scout, etc. is suddenly participating without any apparent problem in the killing and hinted raping of innocent villagers) really turned me off. And the world was not nearly as deep and rich in terms of ability to just spend hours and hours exploring. It would seem a bit weak, I think, after RDR2. It is interesting, though, knowing what I know about the future of some of the characters in RDR2 via playing RDR1
Thank you for the answer. I guess I will stick with this game, and unlike my sister, probably finish it eventually, and just look up RDR1. I do love, love the exploration, horse riding/taming, open world part of it.
I’m not quite sure what I think about this game. I’m not very far in. We made it out of the mountains and are camping by Valentine. I’ve done some missions like saving the preacher, went hunting for the bear, took uncle into town and am about to go on a bounty hunt. I also found 2 guys the book guy wanted me to find and took in a show.
I like Arthur (for an outlaw) and some of the other characters and am interested to see where the story goes. Some things aren’t clear, like when I went bear hunting where the heck did my rifle go? I was left with a pistol so I couldn’t really kill the bear. I’m not too sure how the camp mechanic works - like how much am I supposed to donate?
The world is gorgeous, but I do find riding across the map to get to some objective (like finding the people for the book guy) too tedious.
Is there a recommended way to approach the game so it doesn’t get too boring and drawn out, like just following the main story, or will I miss out important stuff?
I knew when I bought the game it may or may not be for me but it is one I have to try for myself. I suspect God of War or maybe even Spider Man would have been more my type of game, but this was on sale and I needed to give it a try.
You may want to bail out now. You’re going to be doing a lot of riding through the open world and if you’re not enjoying it now, it’s probably just going to get worse for you.
Are there things that make riding more interesting that perhaps I missed? I was attacked by wolves. The first time I thought it was kinda fun, but then when it happened again a little bit later I was thinking it could get tedious. Someone tried to steal my horse and shooting him as he road away was kinda satisfying, but if it keeps happening it could get annoying.
I’ve been spending a lot of time hunting (just unlocked the final satchel) but I’m not much further than you in the story. You eventually have more options for fast-travel if you don’t want to make a trip yourself, and stuff does keep happening like wildlife encounters and the random things like thieves or people in distress or whatever. I’ve seen some repeats, but nothing that feels tedious yet.
There are a lot of events. I mean if you hear gun shots or people talking… stuff like that. I stop during my long travels, often, to check things out. I won’t spoil it but some of those less interesting events turn into like a chain/ongoing venture.
It’s one of the best ways I’ve seen a game introduce random events you don’t have to do but can do in a natural way to the world. It’s not just like mob encounters either… some have really opened up a bit.
I’ll stick with it at least for a little while to see where the game goes from here. Maybe it I’m feeling that way because I went way out of my way to go find an outlaw for the book. I think I’ve got other options that are much closer.
I think Dive, Dive, and then Dive a third time for some reason after you already dove twice is correct that eventually you may not like this game if you’re not a fan of basically just traveling through this world. Again, I’m not far, but I suspect it’s not all going to be fast-travel from town to town; I don’t think going out of your way to catch that outlaw is going to be some crazy thing you’ll never do again. I think that sort of thing will probably be a part of the experience throughout.
But yeah, I think giving it a little more time to see if that “clicks” with you or grows on you is probably worth sticking through it even if you’re not there yet.
Yeah and as you are traveling, check things out, seriously. It might result in your death a dozen times but those sounds, that blood over there, that gun shot way over there, checking out that pack of horses, hey is that an elk… but that’s from someone who prefers exploring, hunting, and hasn’t unlocked fishing yet but I’ll probably do that too often too.
There is a lot of travel but hey how else are you supposed to get randomly ambushed?
Yeah I’m not trying to steer anyone away from the game but I think more than any other recent game, RDR2 expects you to get into its rhythm, and hoping things change or get peppier is likely just setting yourself up for disappointment.
Is anyone else bothered by the wolves in this game? They treat them like monsters. They spent all this time about horse behavior, and making a natural world, yet they approached wolves like they came from some cheap nature horror movie. Wolves do not behave like that.
Yes, animal behavior is pretty simplified in this game. If you encounter a wolf, panther of grizzly, they’re going to attack. It’s just a given. Back when I saw that there was going to be an achievement for observing wildlife in the game I got a little excited thinking there would be behavior to observe. And there is, to an extent. If you hang out by a body of water you may see an eagle swoop out of the sky, catch a fish and fly away. But the behavior of big predators really isn’t much better than it was in the first game.
I’ve actually viewed a grizzly bear wading in the water fishing. I wasn’t very close but certainly close enough. Cougar are also pretty aggressive but not likely to attack a large animal like a man on a horse. Black bears are a lot less aggressive than a grizzly too.The wolves though, this pack attack scenario, tearing man and horse apart it’s basically born of a Hollywood fantasy. It’s not a real thing at all.
The legendary Grizzly chased me some distance and into some sort of outlaw camp, I think, where I watch them get slaughtered with binoculars from a safe distance. The other Grizzlies I’ve seen around the water, and if I get close they’ll chase but I did sort of enjoy just watching them hang out. I’ve never seen a wolf do anything but chase something down and try and kill it, often that’s me, and I am not close.when they decide to do it either.
