Jump to content
passwords have all been force reset. please recover password to reset ×
MFGamers

Red Dead Redemption 2


DisturbedSwan
 Share

Recommended Posts

1 hour ago, Maf said:

Am I in the minority if I say I think Red Dead 2 is the best game R* have made since GTA4? 

 

I want them to do more games like this, but tackle different titles than just GTA and Red Dead

 

I think it’s not just one of the best R* games but one of the best games of all time. Probably not top 10 good but top 20 for sure.

 

It’s a phenomenal achievement, for me it’s a masterpiece.

 

But, I can understand why some folks don’t like it because at times for me I felt the same way they did whilst going through Arthur’s journey.

 

It’s a weird game in many ways.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The journal was an extremely cool detail, that's an other nice thing I can say about it

 

It's like you have public Arthur, how he fronts and presents himself to the people around him. Like a big gruff cuddly but extremely dangerous bear. Then you've got private Arthur who's like this tortured poet full of regret over the decisions he made and opportunities hes lost

Spoiler

Like with John's wife for instance

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I never played multi but the single player is one of the worst story modes ever. Just up and down that same bit of fucking motorway over and over to listen to spastics try to hard to be outrageous and funny and failing at every step. Jesus. 

 

Also I really enjoyed playing Destiny 2 with people but if you take people out of the equation and left on your own it becomes unplayable. GTA5 is not exactly the same but point being people don’t come packaged in the box so just judging on what does it fucking sucks 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well I've managed to get from 40 to 60% in a decent week's gaming. Not bad, for me. But that's enough for now. If I'm going to see the end of this it'll have to be in sections.

 

The game annoys far more than it delights, imo. But it's compelling in it's characters, story, and stellar presentation. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 years later...

Looks like it's been near 3 years since my last post on this. To be honest I always struggled with the game. It wanted things from me I begrudged giving. Everything seemed a little bit more laborious than it needed to be, from the looting animation, the ridiculously drawn out bathing, to the completely unnecessary sloth of Arthur's default walk speed (and the silly way you had to speed him up, tapping A. Fucks sake Rockstar, that's an analogue stick right there 😡).

 

My main gripe was probably the very relaxed pace. It was too much for me - long, long horse rides with a bit of action (and not the greatest action tbh) tagged on the end. I could always see what they were trying to do with the game, tho. That pacing, it seemed to me, was to give the player a sense of the times, when nothing could be hurried because hurrying got you nowhere, and the most mundane tasks, that we click a mouse for now, could take a day, a week, a month to complete. The people around Arthur were more than fine with that though, and, in fact, were actively trying to distance themselves from the encroaching urgency of civilization. So we got a game that slowed us to a crawl, when we'd become used to fast traveling all over the place, grabbing the loot, killing the baddie, and being home in time for tea. Red dead redemption 2, for all it's staggering good looks, tired me out...

 

And yet....

 

And yet I've just downloaded it on to my (still shiny) XSX, and have started the whole thing over again. So what's changed? Me, I think. Certainly not the game. I still found myself thinking about it now and then and how I never got to see the end. Plus I've become a lot more relaxed myself, and my gaming habits have changed dramatically of late. I can now afford to spend more hours on this hobby and I'm tackling longer games and managing to get thru them in weeks rather than months. Couple that with a recent playthru of the first one, and the fact that I'm going in with eyes open - maybe the time's right. Maybe.....

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm touching 30% in this, for whatever that means. I think to play it you have to accept it for what it is. It's not worth criticising. It's so bad in the gameplay department you just have to power thru and enjoy what the game does good - graphics, acting, script and story. It shouldn't be enough. We play games for the interactive experience, and yet the game pulls you in and you start forgiving it for it's self important bullshit - no running in camp, loot animation every single time, no analogue stick mapping for movement, so it's John Wayne or Charlie Chaplin and nothing in between (handy for getting behind cover in a frenetic shootout; you overrun nearly every time), no easily accessible fast travel etc...

 

Of course I knew all that going in so pointing it out now is just a bit of a rant on my part. It's still all there, and yet I am enjoying the game. I've relaxed into it. I know those long horse rides to mission points are more than likely to be interrupted by world events that I just role with now, even if that means a horse ride to get someone home. When I played the game years ago that stuff annoyed me. Now I love it. Some of those stranger meetings are beautifully written, I just wish the payoff would be a nice sidequest rather than a collectathon. The game is still only half an RPG in some respects.

 

Still, that's my first report on this playthru. Hopefully I can continue with this mindset and see it thru.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

imo, RDRII is the video game equivalent of a book that you are unable to speed read. That's always the impression I had of it, it made me very impatient and annoyed.

 

I actually think this game becomes pretty good tho if you forego the main story for a while and leave your gang to live off the wilderness tho. The systems for that are pretty well implemented, the hunting is fun. The survival mechanics are less of a hindrance and more 'the point'.

 

It's just that the main missions are so rail-roaded it never really feels like you're playing a video game. I actually think that everything that isn't the main story is fucking incredible in this game but the main story is such a deal breaker cause of how Rockstar designed its missions and the way you control the character. It's such a shame imo. That's what I thought of it anyway, this game was my distraction from a life altering surgery I was about to have otherwise I don't know if I would have beaten it

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, one-armed dwarf said:

I actually think this game becomes pretty good tho if you forego the main story for a while and leave your gang to live off the wilderness tho. The systems for that are pretty well implemented, the hunting is fun. The survival mechanics are less of a hindrance and more 'the point'.

 

Except that you're only allowed 1 or 2 hides in your horse. This decision in the gameplay is a conflict I feel. It makes no sense in respect of the game's quest for realism, and is just an annoyance as far as 'videogaming' is concerned. Sometimes I feel the game was made by 2 teams who never communicated - the 'reality' team who wanted you to maintain your guns and brush your horse, and the 'shite' team that wanted you to collect 30 fossils.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...

I played this pretty much all day and reached chapter 5

 

Spoiler

Guarma


It’s a really weird turn and has made me lose interest immediately and turn it off for the day. I already thought the story missions were the weakest part of the game. The main characters are really repetitive, the few good characters in the story are barely in it, a lot of the main missions feel like side missions and the actual big ones are just big shootouts. I know people are pretty down on this game and if the way people played it was to hammer through the story missions I sort of get the negativity. It’s repetitive action with underwritten characters and now this late game change. I really don’t like it when games do this. When I get used to a setting, I don’t like leaving it.

 

I don’t think it’s horrible but the deeper I got in to the story today the more I started to lose interest. And this big event thing that’s happened really killed it today. 

 

However the thing I’m rediscovering in this game again is the world and the sense of place. It’s still one of the most unique and accomplished game worlds I’ve ever played in/experienced. Completing challenges, doing the hunting, roaming around exploring the different corners of the world. The attention to detail in this game is incredible. Rolling in to a town at the dead of night, the warm lights in the street, the drunks lying in mud and bottles. Walking through the saloon doors and the atmosphere of the bar is so alive. Walking up to the top floor to get a bath and as going up the stairs a fight breaks out and one guy is bashing another guy’s head off the bar. There’s levels of quality and world/genre realisation in this game which is just incredible. 
 

I can’t wait to be done with what I assume will be all of chapter 5 and get back to the good bit of the game again. 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Why is it I play a game for hours and hours and the more I play it the more confident I feel in my opinion of it, I then come on here and post something, return to the game and then completely flip

 

I really enjoyed the beginning of chapter 5 and I instantly started liking all the characters again. This game is dynamite all the way through I take it back. I think I was just getting tired because I played it for like 11 hours or something. 

 

Also I was having a really hard time finding collectibles in this game. Before and now playing it again. I looked it up online to to see if other people were finding it too hard because I was thinking am I really this bad at it. Turns out there’s a mechanic called Eagle Eye which highlights things in the environment 

 

*shakes head*

 

I did really well to find the things I did then because I had no idea this was in the game. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There is so much content in this game. I’ve played it for a solid 2 and a half days over the bank holiday weekend from chapter 4-6 and still not finished.

 

A lot of it is my fault because I can’t stop searching for stuff. I’ve found 10/20 dream catchers and 6/30 dinosaur bones. Somehow the one there’s more of is harder to find. Also I found that graves are considered collectibles? I’ve found a few weird graves all over the place, but I think maybe I didn’t interact with them or something because there’s no in game information about them. I only saw hint of it online.

 

Even at the end of the game it keeps popping up more and more stranger quests. I think I’ve started 3/4 new quests at the end game and getting more missions for others! Found lots of really detailed but random events too. Like I passed a house where this couple invited me in for dinner. Turns out they’re an incestuous brother and sister that keep the skeleton of their mum in a cupboard upstairs. They drugged me and stole a thousand dollars so I went back to their house and killed them both and found they stashed the cash behind a painting. Like it’s not a quest but there’s cutscenes and a set piece and everything. There’s been a few things like that. 
 

I’ve also been trying to complete all the challenges as well. The most bullshit one is Herbalist 9 where I have to pick every herb in the game. Including herbs I’ve picked up 100’s of times. Would be nice if some of these challenges worked retroactively. 
 

One thing I think really stinks in this game is the fishing. Especially for legendary fish which catching them is probably the hardest thing to do in the game. It’s the ultimate tug of war and absolute insanely hard. The more you catch the harder they get as well.
 

The catching mechanic is basically a Mario Party style mini game where you have to spin the stick. But it’s so difficult. I then remembered there’s a accessibility options in the menus so I had a look and sure enough instead of spinning the stick you can swap it for hold the X button and IT’S SO MUCH BETTER OH MY GOD. This shit was way too hard and now it’s easier and I don’t have to tear my thumb to pieces.

 

This game is also the absolute best case example for Xbox Quick resume. Even on the new consoles the initial load is probably close to a minute. I can go from console off to in the game in less than 10 seconds with this feature.

 

Also the plot twist with what happens to Arthur in the end of the game. Oh shit. What an amazing thing to put your main character through, and how amazingly does it explain he’s actions in the last part of the game. If you want to be good or bad, it fits with what’s happened to him, it would make sense however you wanted to play it.

 

This for me is hands down the best game R* has ever made. Obviously never be as influential as GTA3 or big as GTA5, but an incredible capture of setting and sense of place. Sometimes people talk about entertainment being something that transports you to another place and this is that for me. Throwing the word immersion out there doesn’t do it justice. It’s a wholly captured experience that I can just sink in to. I’ve never even had any interest in cowboys or the Wild West. I didn’t even think RDR1 was that good. I liked it, played it twice through to give it a chance, but I only ever thought it was all right. This is for me a world breaking game. I can’t even find the thing I want to say about it. The thing they’ve captured here is magic. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...

I have 3 'long' games open at the mo, this, Oblivion, and a monumental playthru on Skyrim Anniversary that's touching 100 hours with hardly a nod at the main quest.

 

Since I'm planning a Witcher 3 replay when the upgrade comes in I've chosen this to tide me over. 

 

Fucking hell tho, after the exuberance of far cry 6 it took a few hours to slow down to the pace of RDR2. It's almost like running into an invisible brick wall🧱. Bang.

 

I've tuned in now, and I'm happy (sort of). The game is still a pain in the arse to actually play, rife with self importance, and made by people who hate gamers.

 

That aside, yeah, I can live in this western for a couple more weeks. I'm at 36%, and have just met an Italian mobster in Saint Denis. I hope I get to kill the prick. Feasible, since I'm killing just about everyone else!

 

I wonder how @Maf got on. In his last post he said he still hasn't finished. Although the later part of that post suggests he did. Maybe I'm misreading it.

 

Maybe I'll get to kill him!

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm touching 60% on this and have been seeing stuff (magical dwarves, and hot air balloons to name a few) that I never encountered on previous failed playthrus. 

 

The game is compelling, I'll give it that. But to get any joy out of it you really have to accept it's bullshit. For the most part I've knuckled down and let the game be itself - the long horse rides, the monotonous animations and rather overly expositional dialogue that seems to feature in every mission and interaction. (Feck me, these bastards could talk).

 

So what's left to moan about? Sure, you can be laid back about all of its pompous idiosyncrasies, but there's one thing that just pisses me off so much that it's hard to overlook, and that's the constant wresting away of control from the player. In every session my gamepad just becomes this useless hunk of plastic while Arthur enters the influence of some unseen hand. And now, all of a sudden, (and often when you need to most), you can't change weapon or even check what's in your inventory, you can't give Arthur a tonic, you can't run or get in cover, you can't do anything you might want to do because the game knows better.

 

I can only assume this was meant to keep you immersed in the Gameworld but, for me, it does the opposite. I'm constantly reminded that this a game because my fucking buttons have stopped working and I can no longer play it😡.

 

Worse still is that (twice now) the run button is taken away from you without any warning and while you're still tapping the fucker to make Arthur go somewhat faster than a wounded sloth, it's been transformed into the button that skips cutscenes. Who the fuck thought that could ever be a good idea?

 

Rockstar? Cuntstar I say.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So, against all the odds (the 'odds' being me constantly muttering how I'll never play a rockstar game again after this pompous bullshit while clocking mad hours and not being able to simply walk away) I've reached the epilogue.

 

The last main campaign mission came and went and I can't say I was that moved by how things turned out, possibly because I was waiting for some big showdown within the gang, but the game wanted blood and bullets, as per usual. Given how much spiel you had to listen to in the course of this narrative I was surprised at how little they ended up having to offer in terms of twists and intrigue.

 

Still, the game isn't over yet, and I know this epilogue has legs, so maybe there's time to offer a bit more closure.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Milking cows, shovelling shit, and catching bulls, all in wondrous mini game form. And talk talk talk talk talk........

 

Excellent start to the epilogue. Just what the game needed after 70 hours of gunslinging and chatter, the opening hour of a 20 year old JRPG.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Fucking done!

 

The credit roll image below has been 5 years in the making, the culmination of several attempts, false starts, disgruntled mid game abandonings, and then this final push (which still required a decent break half way thru to recharge my depleted anti tedium neurons.)

 

Fuck me this was a slog. Sure, it's an amazing looking game, possibly the best I've seen - but for all the plaudits the game received, at it's heart this is a two trick pony. It's all guns and gob.

 

But for me it performed neither of those tasks with any real aplomb. The gunplay was serviceable but heavily reliant on slow mo and dead eye aiming to make it even approach being fun. And the dialogue - the constant, unending fucking chatter, inane, repetitive, unnecessary for the most part, an exercise in mistrust in which the writers felt it necessary to impart every single thought their characters could possibly have on their predicament and relationships as they wound their way thru a rather prosaic narrative - well that can just go and eat a bag of cowboy dicks.

 

I hate this game. I hate rockstar. I hate that I forced myself to play it for fear of missing out on the greatness that was promised by so many reviewers and fanboys.

 

Cunt of a game.

aeaa6c34-3a94-485a-a08d-50634962503f.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...