Red Dead Redemption II

[Zen Monkey]

Playing over the weekend I found the maddest thing. I happened across a cabin of dead cult members. Inside the cabin several skeletons lay in their beds and one skeleton wearing head garb sat at an alter surrounded by candles and potions in what appeared to be some sort of ritual clutching a sermon which alluded to the possibility that their god would come for them in the second hour under the half moon.

The postures of the skeletons was very relaxed suggesting they died peacefully and that got me wondering whether there was anything in the letter; and so the next time I saw a half moon, I headed on over in the second hour, and what do you know (vid is a little longer than it should be as I couldn't be bothered editing it):

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Mental!

Man, I love this game and how it rewards curiosity. Even the little things like climbing atop a high cliff and making your way to the edge and having the game acknowledge your effort with a prompt to sit down with your legs dangling over the edge. It's nice when a game recognises your effort.

[QualityChimp]

Oh man, I've got to do that!

Currently trying to do a bit more plot, mainly because I've got other games that are calling out to me, partly because I want to see the whole story and partly because it'll open up the rest of the map and I can finish off doing all the silly distractions that have eaten all my time up thus far!

[Zen Monkey]

Same here. Sekiro arrived on Saturday which I want to start, and I wanna play some more Splatoon 2 after the big update; but all I do is play Red Dead.

[QualityChimp]

Even now, when I'm focused on the story, I'm still quite happy to get distracted with sidequests and mooching.

You've been away for a bit, but I mentioned earlier that I've found a way to glitch into some buildings that you normally can't enter.

The best one is the taxidermist's house, which has a series of animals in miniature dioramas in the basement.

[Zen Monkey]

Nice. I'll try that.

[Zen Monkey]

Attention: if you have not reached the epilogue of the story then do not click the spoiler below. Even reading the video title will spoil the story. Seriously. Don't do it.

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I found a couple of old gang member graves through random exploration and wondered whether Arthur's might be someplace too. So I moseyed on over to the mountain where he came a cropper and, after a little searching, there it was. It was quite a poignant moment, at least as far as video game moments go. I really liked Arthur. He was believable.

[QualityChimp]

Thanks, I won't!

I'm still in Chapter 4. I've got miiiiles to go!

[Zen Monkey]

Chapter 4? Yeah, you're about half way through, in terms of the story anyway. Here's a funny vid you can watch:




Mad.

[QualityChimp]

Ha! I've not been struck by lightning, but heard you could be.
There's a video of bizarre deaths on YouTube.

So many tiny details!
Like, Arthur holds his cards differently and less hidden than when he's playing in saloons.
Oil wagons leave a trail when shot and it can be set alight like a fuse.
Your horse throws off other people when you whistle.
Cats eyes glow in the dark.
Weapon condition affects the sound and the colour of the smoke.

Have you taken many photos?

It's so pretty, I quickly filled my 99 photo limit!

[Zen Monkey]

I'll never play this as I can't forgive Rockstar for the way they treated their staff. That is until it's down under £20 and then all bets are off as it does look awesome and it'd be a shame for all that slave-labour to go to waste.

PM me your address and I'll send you my copy as a gift. That way you'll get to play it without giving Rockstar a penny.

[Golgo]

PM me your address and I'll send you my copy as a gift. That way you'll get to play it without giving Rockstar a penny.

This really is enormously kind, Zen Monkey, thankyou...but would you believe I got a new copy the other day - temped in no small part by your and others' ruminations in this very same feed?! Sekiro has miffed me off a bit so RDR is installed ready to go. I'm looking forward just to enjoying the landscape in a fairly hassle free manner...

[QualityChimp]

I know where you're coming from, but I was thinking about this as I was riding around and by boycotting the game, you're also not giving them any money or appreciating this amazing achievement in gaming.
I've had a couple of plot developments and I didn't realise how attached I'd become to my cowboy.

[Zen Monkey]

This really is enormously kind, Zen Monkey, thankyou...but would you believe I got a new copy the other day - temped in no small part by your and others' ruminations in this very same feed?! Sekiro has miffed me off a bit so RDR is installed ready to go. I'm looking forward just to enjoying the landscape in a fairly hassle free manner...

No worries. I'm on the exact opposite trajectory in that I'm coming from the easy going, do-as-you-please, free-flowing fun on Red Dead 2 to what I expect will prove a very grueling and borderline masochistic experience - ie Sekiro.

[QualityChimp]

So I finished this Sunday after playing it for about 8 months, so you can tell I liked it.

As with the original game, I fell in love with exploring the map and doing my own thing, rather than following what the story asked, but the game totally let me do that.

I always seem to like the collection side of things and this has loads, probably too much because I got bored finding the dinosaur bones, but did loads of the other searching challenges.

Some of the challenges were dull enough to drop too, like the gambling one. I didn't even start some of the other ones like the bandit, as I was trying to be a good boy.

I really enjoyed the story. I'd forgotten 99% of what happens in RDR1, but this lead neatly into it.
It was funny watching a recap video and it was the same character models, but lower res!
Like others, I got really attached to Arthur after spending so many hours with him.
There's a pivotal moment that stood out for me. It's the one in St. Denis and...

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Arthur collapses after a mission and is taken to the doctor who tells him he has tuberculosis and it's fatal. I couldn't believe it. I Googled to see if I could avoid it if I reloaded - you can't.

Your view of Arthur, his world and his place in it totally changes and it's heartbreaking.

I said elsewhere that it's really jarring when

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The game starts again with John. You've gone from this crescendo of action and a lust for vengeance, only to end up shovelling **** and getting nagged at by my virtual wife. Once things even out a bit, I found I enjoyed the pace and comparitively upbeat tone really enjoyable.

However, the star of the show was the world that Rockstar have created.

Even on the last day of playing, I was smiling at a beautiful sunrise.
On my penultimate day, I was finishing the Survivalist challenge, doing some fishing as the sun was setting. The fish were splashing about through the clear water and the sun bathed everything in an orange hue as it set behind the mountains.



The nature was amazing too. I was riding through the snowy North and found a bear fighting off a pack of wolves.
So often, there are little moments like this. Obviously, they're scripted, but the beauty of it is that you don't feel like Truman, spotting the same car and people on a loop, but like this world would be going on even if you weren't there to witness it. A train riding across distant tracks, clouds casting shadows on a valley, a guy shooting his foot when he's covering his eyes, a moonshine distillery exploding and so on.

There are dozens of little things to find all over the map that make it worth exploring, like a house hit by a meteor, Frankenstein's lab, the Viking burial ground or the haunted woods (which made me **** my pants!)

Such a varied set of environments. From the opening section in the snow, I actually felt a bit of relief when the map opened up a bit and you move to somewhere warmer.

This isn't a perfect game. Some of the buttons are mapped badly and you go from trying to pat a horse to punching it, sometimes your horse will ride off a cliff on autopilot, the game might make you upset a character for no fault of your own and thus starts a bloodbath.

However, it's a monumental accomplishment.

I'll finish with a few shots of some of the amazing things I saw on my cowboy adventures.

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[Colin]

Yeah, I'm mega late to the party. It's only taken me until chapter 2 to go full on Westworld and ignore the story, enjoying it though!