1641

What he said.

That was also the “noir” part of the story. If you ever get into the classic film noir genre (say, of the 40s) you know that criminal acts are never left unpunished. The hero of the movie is often someone who has done bad things and is trying to make things right, but he almost always dies in some noble manner at the end. There is no happily every after.

Marston did all he could to try to just put his past behind him and live a good life with his wife, and raise his son to be a different man than he was. He was seeking redemption. In the end, he paid for his past transgressions - he was unable to escape his past.

1642

I have a new question:

Cheating at Poker

How come sometimes it seems like balancing the arrow is impossible and sometimes balancing the arrow is the easiest thing in the world? At first I assumed I had to do it more and more to get better at it but after cheating and attempting to cheat numerous times it still seems like a crapshoot.

I thought perhaps it would be easier to cheat at the low stakes tables but that doesn’t figure. I thought perhaps it would be easier to cheat if there were a lot of opponents, that doesn’t figure either. The only thing that figures is that, if on the first time I attempt to slip a card up my sleeve it is easy (and I don’t get caught) all of the rest of the attempts to slip cards in and out of my hand are similarly easy.

Also, I was thinking that perhaps I’m better at cheating if I have a drink or two at the saloon bar first but that is unsubstantiated.

(And frankly I’ve had good luck simply not cheating and cleaning up the table but I love having the option to wear a natty suit and be the cheat and hell, get caught every once and a while and work on my dueling.)

1643

IIRC, my experience with it hinged on realizing that you have more time than you think. Early on, I tended to rush into balancing the needle rather than letting it lie on its own for a moment to get a feel for how far I needed to go. Since the starting location seems random, it’s an important variable that you don’t want to rush into.

1644

Raise your hand who agrees with this article:

raises hand

I do not hate it, I liked the game, but the writing and story and a lot of gameplay was so bad…

Just like he says, the beginning and ending of the game is the best, truly wonderful, but everything in the middle (story, writing-wise) ranged from “meh” to “I hate this shit”.

The world, atmosphere, music…all those are incredible though (and the reason why overall I still like the game).

1645

keeps hand at side

I agree the beginning and end were better than the middle, but I didn’t hate the middle (ie, Mexico) part of the game. I loved the whole game - just loved the middle part a little less.

1646

The whole game was one of the most epic gaming experiences of all time for me and I really don’t get all the hate. Especially the exuberant animus for the Mexican part leave me speechless.

The game is worth its 9.5/10 for the hunting and riding parts alone.

Much love for those nasty cougars.

1647

Raises hand. Yep, I agree whole-heartedly with the whole article. With the exception that I started liking the game before the re-unification. I thought the whole 3rd Act was a remarkable improvement over the rest of the game. It really is a shame that the whole game couldn’t have been more like the game’s ending and the game’s opening.

Overall, I still land on the side of loving the game a little bit. I’d never imagine coming to that conclusion when I was doing missions for the snake-oil salesman or the grave-robber, or wandering around Mexico on a meaningless mission for the millionth time. But the last act really redeemed the game for me. Perhaps that was on purpose? Perhaps the Redemption in the game titles is not only the main character’s search for redemption, but also the game itself, which meanders and goes off the path and becomes a terrible game for a while.

1648

Best western game I’ve ever played, and I’ve been playing them since the mid-90s.

1649

Nah best western game is still Outlaws.
But RDR is close second.

1650

Wow, how many western games have their been? I can only think of:

Gun
Call Of Juarez
RDR

Umm, that’s it. Oh, and Quick Draw on the Coleco Telstar (check out the sweet gun controller/holster) but that was like in 1980, lol:

http://www.computercloset.org/ColecoTelstarArcade.htm

1651

My first western PC game back in 1995! :

1652

You’re forgetting the previous best western game.

1653

I remember buying the re-release of Outlaws and applying the very-delayed D3D patch a few years (OK, 7 or 8 years) back, and playing a few levels, but during gameplay there was no music. Was there supposed to be?

I ripped the Redbook audio tracks to my hard drive and then iTunes, anyway.

1654

Hell yes there was supposed to be music! Arguably the best part of a very good game.

1655

All things we’ve talked about in more detail in this thread.

I hated the repetitive “random” non-random events. That was just lazy design. I hated the Mexico segment for the out of character actions Marston was required to take.

BUT - I have to give RDR credit: it made an impact on me few other games have made. I won’t forget Marston. I was unhappy at the showdown at the barn after Marston sent his family away, but after the game was over I realized it was the perfect ending. This was a Western-Noir. So, somehow, in spite of the irritations, despite the sum of the parts and not because of them, RDR and Marston captured a part of my gaming heart, and John sits next to Floyd in my computer gaming memory.

1656

I just finished the Mexico and I’m loving the game so far. However I’m itching to be done with it. I want to replay Bioshock 2 on the 360 (which will kill my hand I’m sure) and start my Mass Effect replay. The game says I’m at 58% completed (I’m not doing a lot of the side missions). About how much longer do I have to go to finish it?

1657

It depends on how much of the sidequest/hunting/ambient challenges you do. If you just stick to the story, then you really don’t have a lot. (Relatively.) You still have a solid chunk of gaming ahead, but nothing too long.

1658

At least a few more hours, IIRC.

1659

I’m still hoping this comes out on the PC someday :(

1660

I hated the Mexico part, but everything after that is amazing.The ending part especially. Kind of itching to replay it actually.