Red Dead Redemption 2 - Reder and Deader

[Do Make Say Think]

The trinkets and talismans are very useful.
I haven't done too many challenges yet, but the upgrades via the trapper seem to be useful as well.
The ultimate satchel is useful (I ran out of room for collecting animal parts when skinning very early in the game).

Even then, only the ones that improve your deadeye are actually useful.

Animal parts are mostly useless I found, store bought items are enough.

 

[Pilky01]

 

[tacogeoff]

And none of them give any meaningful rewards.

The satchels are useless for example, I never wished I had an upgraded one, I used the default one fore the whole game.

Why the obsessions for receiving rewards? The easter eggs are just for fun to discover. The stranger missions sometimes do offer information rewards on shops with back rooms to rob etc. others reward you with positive character or sometimes they are just an interesting story. If you really want a reward you can find a man at night in the alleys of st.denis and be rewarded with a weapon.

Thats a pretty knitpick complaint. No one said you had to upgrade your satchel. I sure didnt see the benefit in doing so. A Completionist may though.

 

[Pilky01]

IMO they did a pretty poor job of tying the upgrades into gameplay. Its bad game design to have stuff like that in a game that has almost no impact on the game at all. I've nearly finished the game and will probably never unlock most of the upgrades because clearly they aren't all the useful to begin with.

 

[Do Make Say Think]

IMO they did a pretty poor job of tying the upgrades into gameplay. Its bad game design to have stuff like that in a game that has almost no impact on the game at all. I've nearly finished the game and will probably never unlock most of the upgrades because clearly they aren't all the useful to begin with.

Exactly. Player progression is minimal and it really hampered my experience.

Compare it to something like the Arkham games where the game keeps giving you new moves and gadgets and increase the difficulty to compensate.

now the Arkham games, on that front, are absolutely fantastic so I'm not complaining that RDR2 doesn't reach those heights, I'm complaining that it doesn't even try.

 

[Do Make Say Think]

That was my favourite scene in the whole game. So perfect.

 

[S E P H]

I agree with both sides on this issue, the Easter-eggs are just there for fun and are not to be taken seriously, but it seems they focused entirely on the map which took time away from other parts of the game. Don't get me wrong that the map is amazing and is just so much immersive than the first game. Almost everywhere, there is something to do that involves hunting, fishing, or robbing. However, if you don't like hunting, think fishing is boring, and robbing gets repetitive then the game becomes almost bare bones if you will.

I love how they have everything from the great plains to the swamp to coal mines to the forests to geysers to lakes to ocean to snow to mountains to caves to desert to waterfalls and everything else I am forgetting to mention. I love all of that, but holy smokes at least 60% of Austin is just pointless. Sure you got the Del Lobo gang, but that's just it. They should've cut everything west of armadillo out of the game with a dust storm and focused on adding more aspects into the depth of the game. I mean I still love Tumbleweed and every city is way different from one another, but for the sake of adding more depth I would've done it.

Hoping that this game gets some GTA V updates, not in terms of a future story, but added horses, clothes, gang hideouts, treasure hunts, and perhaps new events to partake in. I mean the last game did have that huge zombie DLC. I am getting to the point though of wanting to take a break from this game. I really want to explore 100% of the map (still got a huge chunk of Austin undiscovered and certain parts of the west Big Valley, and Tempest Rim) before any break, but not sure how much I will get of it due to random encounters with gangs, animals, and strangers needing help.

 

[Voodoo Child]

Just finished the epilogue, and for all the talk of Easter eggs, I think this one was the best.

Link because spoilers?

This game might have better music than Chrono Cross did (my favorite OST for almost twenty years).

Lots to love, one, maybe two things to hate, but also quite a bit to confound and piss you off.

The map is awesome but it's way too big, and as has been addressed, there isn't really much to do west of Beecher's Hope. At least The Witcher 3 (a game this one will always be compared to, and in my opinion a better game*) while it had a big map, it wasn't unmanageable and each region offered something unique - frankly having logged as many hours as I have (no game clock the F but I would say I put in at least 80 and very probably 100+), I look at what I've done and what I have yet to do and it feels plain daunting.

Nice blast to play with John, even if the pace to start the epilogue makes the start of chapter one look like a Michael Bay movie, and as good as John is I felt Arthur was a more complex and relatable character, I say this having played both games.

But now that I'm flush, owning all the guns, all the horses, all the clothes and my house and have completed 103 missions and my save reads 86.3%...what exactly will I do?

I still maintain that no fast travel is an egregious f*** up (and a big reason why the game feels unmanageable), while the controls aren't great but once you have about twenty hours you can live with them. No game clock is also a mistake.

Here's the things I haven't even touched, I'm not so hardcore I need 100% completion but is any of it worth doing?

Dinosaur bones, legendary fish/animals and perfect skins*, stagecoaches (I've done the few mission relevant ones), revealing 100% of the map (I've revealed probably 97% of it), cigarette cards, dreamcatchers and the prisoner stranger missions.

I don't know if I can motivate myself to do most of these, but then again in a few days I'll be buying a new game anyways (Assassins Creed Odyssey?).

Spoiler

* you can just buy the satchel upgrades in the epilogue but they aren't cheap

*: Rdr2, aside from the music (amazing) beats TW3 in graphics, map, combat and protagonist...but only slightly.

The Witcher 3 on the other hand, in areas it beats RDR2 (story, side quests, secondary characters, writing and lore) wins those categories by miles, also its crappy fast travel system and confusing menus beats no fast travel and no menus at all. The Witcher 3 is like Connor McDavid, Red Dead Redemption 2 is like Auston Matthews (leafs fan).

Edit: God of War is or at least should still be game of the year.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

Isn't there fast travel from the map that let's you go to the locations you've been to? I upgraded my camp to do that.

I'm only 31% in.

 

[Voodoo Child]

Isn't there fast travel from the map that let's you go to the locations you've been to? I upgraded my camp to do that.

I'm only 31% in.

There is from the camp map, but unfortunately you can't fast travel back to camp, or between places (but the stagecoaches are pretty fast when they're in service) and a big chunk of the North and West of the map is devoid of towns and train stations.

Sloppy and careless.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

There is from the camp map, but unfortunately you can't fast travel back to camp, or between places (but the stagecoaches are pretty fast when they're in service) and a big chunk of the North and West of the map is devoid of towns and train stations.

Sloppy and careless.

Well I mean it's the era the game is in. I'm OK with it and where I gotta go and how to get there. I just do dumb stuff on my way to places to pass the time.

 

[Voodoo Child]

Well I mean it's the era the game is in. I'm OK with it and where I gotta go and how to get there. I just do dumb stuff on my way to places to pass the time.

Yeah, one good thing is that when you're travelling you can put on the cinematic camera, which is nice (but you still gotta pay attention - everyone in here has been jumped and killed at least once in cc), and you're still early in the game (31%...near the end of Chapter two?).

But having just finished the epilogue, and looking back I think 'Yeah there's a lot of content, I ride and I can hunt, or save/rob people, or find gang camps or just even take it all in...but I bet of the 100+ hours I've spent in this world at least thirty of them were spent travelling.'

It felt like I enjoyed the entirety of God of War, while Red Dead Redemption 2 there were times where I was just going through the motions. At the end of the day, even though it's absolutely an inferior game I had just as much fun with Dragon Quest XI as I did this game.

All that said, I enjoyed the hell out of the game even if a few things could have been done better. Not quite as good as God of War, Breath of the Wild or The Witcher 3, but I think it's definitely better than a game like Horizon Zero Dawn.

 

[Do Make Say Think]

Combat in Witcher 3 was way better than in RDR2. Dead eye could use a serious nerf, sort of like how VATS in New Vegas got nerfed and it made the game much better.

 

[TheBeastCoast]

Combat in Witcher 3 was way better than in RDR2. Dead eye could use a serious nerf, sort of like how VATS in New Vegas got nerfed and it made the game much better.

What? Combat in Witcher 3 was absolutely horrendous. Not that Red Dead is anything special but I am sorry I can't go with that one lol.

 

[Do Make Say Think]

What? Combat in Witcher 3 was absolutely horrendous. Not that Red Dead is anything special but I am sorry I can't go with that one lol.

I honestly really liked it. Dodging felt great. I never got what people didn't like about it.

 

[Voodoo Child]

What? Combat in Witcher 3 was absolutely horrendous. Not that Red Dead is anything special but I am sorry I can't go with that one lol.

Neither is really anything special in terms of combat, but at least in rdr2 you have different guns and melee weapons and ammo types for the situation, while in the Witcher 3 you can win 98% of fights with heavy and light attacks and only one of the signs is useful in battle.

Gotta give combat to rdr2 here...but again barely - not like we're comparing writing here, where the Witcher 3 hums along at a brisk pace throughout and rdr2 is frequently slow and boring.

 

[Do Make Say Think]

I have no idea how anyone completed Witcher 3 on Death March by mashing and abusing Quen.

 

[Pay Carl]

And none of them give any meaningful rewards.

The satchels are useless for example, I never wished I had an upgraded one, I used the default one fore the whole game.

They are not at all, what are you talking about?

I can have 100 gun cleaners now, I can have 100 snake oils (makes a huge difference), you can keep all the parts from animals when hunting rather than wasting some

Of course you can play the game without upgrading the satchels, getting the trinkets, etc. but doing so is fun and makes life much easier

Even then, only the ones that improve your deadeye are actually useful.

Animal parts are mostly useless I found, store bought items are enough.

Again you couldn't be more wrong. Just because you wanted to complete the game as fast as you can doesn't mean the other upgraded items are useless

One of the trinkets makes it so animals don't decompose as fast, one makes Eagle Eye last significantly longer. If you are actually interested in playing the game until completion those aren't useless at all

It really sounds like you just wanted to be done with the game

 

[Pay Carl]

There is from the camp map, but unfortunately you can't fast travel back to camp, or between places (but the stagecoaches are pretty fast when they're in service) and a big chunk of the North and West of the map is devoid of towns and train stations.

Sloppy and careless.

I agree that it is annoying but I don't think it was careless. It was definitely intentional

Taking a trip to the North actually feels like you are making an adventure into the wild. If you could just take a train to Lake Isabella it wouldn't have the some allure that it does

I think it makes the North feel daunting, which I am confident was 100% intentional

And as far as 100% the game, if the lack of fast travel bothers you, you probably won't enjoy it haha

I have been working on it for weeks since I beat the game, and I have barely made progress. It is quite daunting, but I think its fun. The challenges are tedious but some are fun

My biggest gripe with the 100% completion challenge is what they chose to include in it

Legendary animals? Only need 5

Legendary fish? Just 5

Cigarette cards? Only one set

Points of interest? Only need one (like the ruins, or hobbit house)

I'm pretty sure you don't even need to do all the side missions, they don't even show up on the checklist

BUT

You need ALL dream catchers

You need ALL rock carvings

You need ALL dinosaur bones

Actually makes no sense. You would think you would need all legendary fish and animals they actually are a decent fun challenge that isn't just riding to a random location and pressing the action button

 

[Harbinger]

I really loathe the fact that some online items require gold bars instead of cash.

 

[Commander Clueless]

I honestly really liked it. Dodging felt great. I never got what people didn't like about it.

I admit it took some getting used to after Witcher 2, but by the end of the game I loved it.

 

[Rodgerwilco]

IMO they did a pretty poor job of tying the upgrades into gameplay. Its bad game design to have stuff like that in a game that has almost no impact on the game at all. I've nearly finished the game and will probably never unlock most of the upgrades because clearly they aren't all the useful to begin with.

I think it's another thing that plays into the realism and immersion of the game, though.

I do understand that we're playing a video game, but if you think about the way real life is, if you take some time out of your day to help a stranger who is in a bind you're most likely not going to get any kind of reward. You can either help them out of kindness, or you can just keep on keepin' on and that's that.

Altruism for the purpose of being rewarded is not true altruism

 

[Rodgerwilco]

I agree that it is annoying but I don't think it was careless. It was definitely intentional

Taking a trip to the North actually feels like you are making an adventure into the wild. If you could just take a train to Lake Isabella it wouldn't have the some allure that it does

I think it makes the North feel daunting, which I am confident was 100% intentional

And as far as 100% the game, if the lack of fast travel bothers you, you probably won't enjoy it haha

I have been working on it for weeks since I beat the game, and I have barely made progress. It is quite daunting, but I think its fun. The challenges are tedious but some are fun

My biggest gripe with the 100% completion challenge is what they chose to include in it

Legendary animals? Only need 5

Legendary fish? Just 5

Cigarette cards? Only one set

Points of interest? Only need one (like the ruins, or hobbit house)

I'm pretty sure you don't even need to do all the side missions, they don't even show up on the checklist

BUT

You need ALL dream catchers

You need ALL rock carvings

You need ALL dinosaur bones

Actually makes no sense. You would think you would need all legendary fish and animals they actually are a decent fun challenge that isn't just riding to a random location and pressing the action button

THIS is where I think they made an oversight (or bad decision whichever it is). Each legendary animal is unique and gives the player new gear to craft. Hunting is also a huge part of the game for a lot of players, so it makes no sense that they would give players the completion toward 100% for hunting not even half of them.

This definitely goes along with Rockstar's M.O. of making us collect random crap for random people for random reasons. Such as: hidden packages, letter pieces, nuclear waste, pigeons, etc. etc.

 

[Pilky01]

I think it's another thing that plays into the realism and immersion of the game, though.

I do understand that we're playing a video game, but if you think about the way real life is, if you take some time out of your day to help a stranger who is in a bind you're most likely not going to get any kind of reward. You can either help them out of kindness, or you can just keep on keepin' on and that's that.

Altruism for the purpose of being rewarded is not true altruism

What?

I was specifically talking about the upgrades you get from hunting legendary animals....nothing to do with the random stranger missions.

 

[Rodgerwilco]

What?

I was specifically talking about the upgrades you get from hunting legendary animals....nothing to do with the random stranger missions.

Oops, I quoted the wrong person. I meant to reply to whoever it was who was talking about the stranger encounters not having any good rewards or impact.