I’ve done a few of those as well. I am just at the point of Chatper 3 where Sean got his brains blown out because Bill and Micah, who appear to be huge idiots, keep coming up with schemes that never work.
I bought an expensive horse, but was reluctant to give up my original one that had reached level 4(max) bonding. I do wish there was a way to increase bonding without the slow process. I mean, it obviously takes awhile to bond, but I have a new($500 or so) horse and the bonding is taking awhile.
I finished Chapter 3 and here are my takes on the story up to this point. I am 100% unspoiled, including the fact I did not play RDR1. I am aware it is a sequel(takes place after this one I mean) and you plan as John instead of Arthur.
I think Dutch is an idiot. Charismatic, idealistic, but full of crap. Arthur is brainwashed because they took him in as a younger man(boy?) and he looks up to him. But honestly, Dutch is basically a huge loser. The more he rants about the idealistic lifestyle/country, the more I don’t like him. He’s full of it.
I hope they find the boy named Jack in Chapter 4(Saint Denis) and get that kid out of this lifestyle. It’s for deadbeats, including Arthur really.
I feel like at one point in development, they hoped to have more story paths. Arthur has some level of choice in what he does, but I think it all leads to the same path in the end. You can’t play this game as a “noble robber” who is criminal, but not bad. Arthur is pretty bad. I’ve killed a fair amount of people that did not need to die. Honorable is impossible in this game. I wonder if they hoped for a more honorable path, but abandoned it. This game is already huge.
Hey, I have a lot more money than the game seemed to indicate I would. I was penny pinching like crazy the first two chapters, but in Chapter 3, I ended up with quite a bit of cash. Bought a new horse, better guns, some better bullets.
I have adequate provisions and healing drinks to stay alive now. I bought a few horse revivers since my newest horse dies when he kicks a rock(ha ha).
Anyway, I do like the game quite a bit. I was unsure through chapter 1 and part of 2, but I’m getting it.
I see online they have save games that begin after the snowy chapter 1. I can see the attraction of grabbing one of those if I replay the game.
I didn’t mind the time to bond with a horse. You get the ability to whistle for one pretty quick and that’s all I really cared about. I actually kept my first horse for most of the game. I only upgraded when I stumbled across a beautiful white Arabian in a snowstorm and decided I had to have her. She became my main horse. I since learned that she is the only elite horse that is available in the wild.
On your point about story paths. I think one of the disconnects between the general game and the story missions is that you can be Good Arthur in general game play, if you want. You can be nice to citizens, help people, etc. But once in a story mission you are locked in to the story and, as you say, there are very few decision trees or anything, it’s an on-the-rails shooter. This adds to the feeling that you are playing two separate games.
Whether you play evil or good effects things like how you are treated by NPCs when you are riding around but there is only so much you can do to the main path in the story. For one it is a prequel so there is a predetermined point they have to reach. Also having multiple story branches and conclusions would make the game truly massive.
I am near the end of Chapter 4, a chapter that I did more optional missions in. I chose to go to the theater with Mary and watched the entire show. I’m amazed how much content is in this game. There must have been 4 acts in the show and all were fully realized.
I enjoy the big heist missions. The formula is pretty obvious at this point and it is nice to see the weird side-missions like the gator-swamp one, but I do love robberies and similar heists.
Hey, I got Grand Theft Auto V free from Epic Games when it went free for a few days. I’m considering loading it up after this game to play it. Is it similar, but in a modern setting?
Sort of, in the sense of doing various crime missions to advance the main plot. The gameplay feels different, IMO; there’s no Dead Eye and you have automatic weapons and running from the police is a lot more fun. And the tone is much goofier.
The elaborate heist missions in GTA V were a highlight for me, but there were only a few of them.
I never finished GTA5 for some reason. I don’t think the gameplay is as good as RDR2 but the voice acting and main plot is excellent. The timed missions in GTA always annoyed me. To me the vehicles were never precise enough and racing them with a tight time limit is very frustrating.
If you watch the Walking Dead you’ll recognize the character Trevor. The character actor Stephen Ogg does the voice and motion capture and he’s one of the best characters in any video game.
GTA 5 is certainly more of an action (driving and shooting) game than RDR. It does have yoga and tennis minigames, though (which I had little interest in). I don’t think there were too many mandatory races in GTA 5; I don’t like those very much.
Note that there are three PCs in GTA 5 and you are forced to flip back and forth between them. I thought it was an interesting experiment, but I probably would have preferred sticking with one main character.
(My sentimental favourite is GTA Vice City, but I would probably find it too clunky and ugly to play nowadays.)
They’re made by the same company, but RDR and GTA are more different than they are similar. In Red Dead there are major disincentives to going around causing chaos, blowing shit up and killing people for no reason just to see how long you can get away with it. The transportation is slower, the weapons are weaker, and it’s way way more likely that you’ll get hunted down and killed within a few minutes. You can rob people, but it has to be done strategically. The story is more serious, the pace of the game far slower, and the social satire elements are virtually nonexistent. There’s still comic relief and good voice acting, it’s just a very different gameplay experience.
This is one of the reasons they removed the prostitution from RDR2 (it did exist in the first one) - they wanted the game to have a more serious tone and not just be “GTA in the Old West.”
I know there were prostitutes in RDR1, but I thought John Marston would just say “no thank you, ma’am” if you talked to one. Was there actually a way to have sex in RDR 1?
I’m on Chapter 5, which was definitely not what I was expecting. It was kind of like a pure action or Uncharted game. I was on an island fighting to get back to a boat. It pulled me right along and had the hardest shootout at the end, though I actually made it on my first try.
I just got my horse and stuff back and let me tell you, it was nice to see Goober(my horse) and see all of my stuff in my inventory again.
It’s “free John” from jail time.
My detest for Dutch increases. Arthur is a sad fool to have followed a man who clearly has no idea what he is doing. I would not want to play a drinking game where you took a drink every time Dutch said, “We need more money!”, “We need time!”, or “Have a little faith, won’t you?” to someone.
He sees Dutch as a strong father figure. It can be very difficult to see your parents for who they really are. I think that’s what Arthur is struggling with.
Pretty much, I won’t go into whether or not he dies but certainly the TB gets worse. I haven’t played RDR1, but yes, AIUI, it is all about John and Arthur doesn’t play a part.
I haven’t played RDR1, but my understanding is that Arthur isn’t in it which should mean they aren’t super limited by making a prequel. I get that story branches can be difficult, but RDR2 is particularly linear when playing story missions, far more so than many other games.