You just made me flash back to GTA IV and getting drunk within the game using their new animation system, and how that’s the hardest I’ve ever laughed at a game. I was laughing so hard I couldn’t breathe.
Kolbex
3315
The hardest I’ve ever laughed at a game was LENNNNNNNYYYY!!!
Seeing a decent deal on Humble for this, so I may finally buy this game. I noticed the Special Edition is nowhere to be found for PC, anymore; is the “Ultimate Edition” now the only way to get the extra goodies for single-player?
I’m quite happy to have finally finished this today, after about two years of plodding through a mission here, a mission there. I really enjoyed it, but am glad to shelve it and move on to something else. Thank goodness it wasn’t as long as Witcher 3, I doubt I would have ever finished.
Papageno
3318
I admire your restraint. When I bought the PS4 Pro with RDR2 nearly three years ago (hard to believe it’s been that long), this game was my obsession for two straight months or so.
I’ve described elsewhere here that I have a bit of gaming ADD. I play a game for a few hours and then need to play something else (totally different genre). Enjoy it all, but playing a single game nonstop for months means I’ll just lose momentum.
It was a really great game though! And took about 2 years less than the Witcher 3 complete edition for me to finish.
I wanted to see how RDR2 looked on my PS5 (having played it on an original PS4, sans 4K, etc. etc.).
I just wanted to see it for 5-10 minutes.
2 hours later I was hunting with Charles in the snow up north and remembering just how wonderful this game is. The first chapter is better appreciated the second (or third, in my case) time through. Man I love this game.
JeffL
3322
Agreed. I started RDR2 up for a second time just to remember a few things to help my brother out on his first playthrough. Next thing I know I am once again exploring the woods and mountains and swamps so much that Dutch is sending riders from camp to find me and make sure I was OK. And even though I was SURE I’d explored every inch of the RDR2 world (I spent more time exploring, by far, than doing “missions” or the main story line) I still am finding things I never saw before.
This game. There’s really nothing like it, is there? It’s just so incredibly ambitious. The story somehow hits better knowing how it all turns out. When I finished it two years ago, I immediately replayed the first part because I didn’t want to say goodbye. But this time, out of the blue, I’m in it just for kicks and really remembering not just the game, but the characters. Arthur in particular. He is, without a doubt, my favorite video game protagonist ever, and sometimes one of my favorites across all mediums.
Kolbex
3324
I didn’t play him like this but even as a huge douchebag Arthur is amazing. I love this exchange so much:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEzcuK7YD8A&t=153s
Wow, I never realized there was an antagonize button. Or maybe my brain just ignored it.
Having that choice of being Bad Arthur gave impact to seeing his journey towards Good Arthur, and made my participation in that journey feel like it mattered. I think the narrative (and purpose of the entire game, if not the entire franchise) landed the way it did for for me because of his turn towards the good (not the bad). What redemption means, and the reality of what is possible given the nature of life, is the theme. Without this choice in our hands it’s just another game that gets there on rails, with far less personal impact to me and far less reason to return to it.
I completely missed “Bad Arthur” as well.
I did spend the entire game wanting to murder Dutch, though. It was clear sometime in Chapter 2 that he was the entire reason everything was so bad. I tried to shoot him whenever in the story the opportunity looked like it presented itself, but that never seemed to work out, much to my disappointment.
I never played the original, so I’m assuming there’s some strong loyalty between the characters that I missed out on that makes you put up with him.
Kolbex
3328
Well the original happens after this one, so I don’t know how much context you missed there. They talk a lot in this one about how Dutch (and Hosea) took Arthur in as a young orphan and raised him, so that probably gives them some closeness right there.
Micah was the obvious proximate cause of problems that Arthur easily could have removed a few times, but, rails.
There’s a level of trust the player is expected to have in order to accept the loyalty shown to Dutch by the other characters. We (the player) get introduced to the gang after possibly the most significant event in their lives. But we should trust that Dutch was either different before that event, or was able to convince the gang members he was different in order to gain their loyalty. So he may seem terrible - and terribly obvious in that terribleness - when the game starts, but we don’t have the luxury of knowing him prior to the start.
Soma
3330
Arthur started out as either a mindless thug to outright bad dude (basically he can start killing random folks from the beginning of Chapter 2.) That makes his later turn to good such a great redemption story. He caught TB that later killed him via one of the most mindless sidequests/activities: debt collection for loan shark. Talk about banality of evil, and karma.
I put off the early mission to rescue Micah as long as possible, because I knew no good could come of it.
JeffL
3332
Has anyone here ever played the game as a purely bad Arthur, trying to get the Honor scale to full dishonorable? I know how the ending scene is different, but I’ve always wondered how that played out.
I feel compelled to play Arthur as a Noir character, the bad guy trying to make things right but doubting his ability to be a good person the entire way.
I have a VERY hard time being the evil dude in any game. Well except for Doki Doki Lit Club that my daughter insisted I play yesterday. :)
I’m going to reinstall this over the weekend myself. I just love this game so much and perhaps I’ll try playing the bad dude. I finished this on the PS4 when it first came out, but there’s just so much to do that going back feels fresh every time.
