Red Dead Redemption 2 (Equestrian Boogaloo)

[Ferris]

I've never actually tried. It must be doable though - I'll give it a go this evening. That big shiny marble fucker in saint denis is number one on my hit list.

That said, I've knocked over a few banks in missions/side missions and there's only about 3 people in them at any one time so my point stands around the security being shit.

[mobias]

My Arthur would never rob a bank outside of missions. He's a proper goody two shoes. I feel like its morally uncomfortable to get a wanted level in RDR2.

I'm basically shit at being a cowboy.

[Utter Shit]

My horse got killed today because I left her in the wrong place at the timber yard and an enormous tree fell on her head.

[Rizla]

Hm, apparently you can rob the banks outside of missions. Don't know why this fact has hitherto passed me by. Point gun at cashier, crack the safe, or blow up with dynamite (attracts more attention), then shoot your way to freedom. I'll be giving this a go myself later, I'm guessing mask up and don't use your favourite horsey.

[mobias]

You can go and pick wild flowers outside of missions too. Something to bare in mind. Less stressful than robbing a bank.

[Gambrinus]

You can't drive the train though without getting told off, which needs to be rectified.

[Ferris]

Right I'm off to rob a bank. Wish me luck lads.

[mobias]

I'm sick of getting nagged at by Miss Grimshaw at the camp. No matter how much money and food I donate to the gang supplies its never good enough. Thats why I stay away from the camp as much as possible.
Its just ever ending nagging. Its like my mother has been shoved in a computer game.

[Mobius]

The camp donation stuff is pointless right?

I sort of forgot how many main missions there are. Kind of wish I'd just stopped at Chapter 2 and treated it like open world and fucked the storyline off. I miss Horseshoe Outlook. I'm thinking of just powering through now to clear it all off my map, and open up the southern area of the map.

[mobias]

Yeah Horseshoe Outlook is my favourite camp location. I was aiming to do more in that area during the gangs stay there but I forgot how short chapter 2 is and so we all too soon moved on. I really like Valentine. Its got a nice proper gritty and dirty vibe about it. I have mixed feelings about Rockstars approach of lets cram the whole of the USA into the map. If you suspend your disbelief a bit and imagine you're travelling for a lot longer than you are between locations then it works. They've captured the general atmosphere of all the locations pretty well though.

Apparently Rockstar use Red Dead as a testing ground for technical as well as creative ideas to put into GTA so I predict the GTAVI map will be an attempt at the whole of the USA.

[H-O-W-L]

It's a shame that the Deadwood vibe I got in CH2 never returns.

[Mobius]

Valentine is my favourite town too. It does seem the most Deadwoody.

St Denis is impressive, but 95% of the buildings are inaccessible which is a shame.

I'd forgotten how well this runs on a base PS4 to be honest. No slowdown or FPS issues really, and some of the lighting/weather/foggy bits are just beautiful.

I've gotten a bit bored on my replay now, sort of reached that point where everything gets a bit depressing. Not sure I can be arsed to power through and do the epilogue again, but I do want to kill some Skinner Brothers.

I just wish they'd add more content, more strangers and random encounters and all that. Seems we'll just have to wait for an RDR3 now though.

[mobias]

Seems we'll just have to wait for an RDR3 now though.

You never know but from what I've heard I'll be surprised if there's a RDR3. I think Rockstar feel they've done everything they want to do with the Western genre and I know for a fact they don't regard RDR2 as being
overly successful. RDR2 Online hasn't set the world on fire either.

There were rumours that Rockstar did have another non GTA title in the works but obviously it hasn't come to anything. They're apparently incredibly cavalier about putting years and many man hour of work into something
only to can it all at the drop of a hat. Agent and the GTAV single player DLC being good examples. 

[Ferris]

Yeah I don't know what more they can really do with the existing RDR universe. You can't go too far back and do another prequel because you'd be running around with muskets and it'd be shit. You can't really do one post 1911 because the whole underlying story of the game was the death of the Old West.

So that leaves the same time period with new characters, which would beg the question why bother (unless they have something new to say)?

I can't see another one coming, but what do I know?

[Inspector Norse]

You can't really do one post 1911 because the whole underlying story of the game was the death of the Old West.

Just take that theme and run with it. The industrial, modern world taking over. Sadie goes to 1910s LA/Los Santos to try and make it in the burgeoning movie industry. Amazing RDR-GTA hybrid right there.

[Ferris]

RDR-GTA hybrid

*ahem* LA Noire *ahem*

[Inspector Norse]

*ahem* LA Noire *ahem*

A while since I played it but don't remember any horses

[Ferris]

A while since I played it but don't remember any horses fun

Yeah it's a fair point, I just thought it was apposite to mention it there, especially the early Hollywood connection.

LA Noire is one of those weird games I didn't really enjoy, but played through multiple times on different platforms and must have bought 3 or 4 copies over the years.

It would be so much more fun if they took a leaf out of GTA's book and let you go on the odd rampage, instead of playing as the most boring man in christendom. Music were good though.

[Inspector Norse]

Yeah it was an OK game but not the same style as RDR/GTA, which follow a similar idea. I reckon it'd be great fun tearing around Hollywood/Vinewood in its infancy, lots of dodgy backroom dealings and fun supporting characters like wannabe stars, film crew on the make, needy scriptwriters etc. Spectre of war hanging over everything.

Might write to them and pitch it now.

[beanheadmcginty]

I found L. A. Noire utterly baffling. The legging it about and driving were fine but I don't think I managed to work out a single interview. I just didn't understand what the interviewees were supposed to be doing that gave away whether they guilty or not.

[Cuellar]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzPvx8VUSDw

[Utter Shit]

I had a play around online with a mate the other day...it feels so empty and soulless, does it improve? Maybe it's just because you start in the desert, but it just felt like there was absolutely nothing to interact with unless you were doing the missions.

[Ferris]

I have mixed feelings about Rockstars approach of lets cram the whole of the USA into the map. If you suspend your disbelief a bit and imagine you're travelling for a lot longer than you are between locations then it works. They've captured the general atmosphere of all the locations pretty well though.

I must say, I think it's a real strength of the game. You get a proper sense of each of the places and environments - the humid swamps, the clear air of the plains, the baking heat of Rhodes on a sunny day. It's very impressive (though you're right that all those locations are about 3 minutes on a horse from each other...)

Still loving the absolute piss out of this game via the slow playthrough. Caught a load of legendary fish, bought a load of fancy dan hats and coats in the nice shop, done every side mission and stranger encounter I can get my mitts on. So much stronger second time round than I initially gave it credit for.

[Mobius]

I feel like I must be doing the fishing wrong. It literally takes me 15+ minutes to reel them in sometimes. Hand fucking kills.

Just finished my 2nd playthrough last night, properly explored the epilogue areas. Very cool but just makes me wish there was more to do there. I haven't played the original RDR so probably missing a bit of nostalgia factor from those regions. Apparently Arthur has dialogue for those areas and even has doodles in his journal if you glitch to those areas, so presumably he was meant to go there in an early script of the game or something. Like the Del Lobo gang feel a bit pointless. I know it's just extra content, not complaining.. well I am, but whatever.

I love the cactus regions and half empty abandoned towns, it's a nice change from the Arthur areas, bit more exotic wildlife.

Has anyone here actually found all of the Dreamcatchers, Dinosaur bones, and done all the compendium stuff?

I'd definitely have to say it's the best open world and most immersive game I've ever played though. Really appreciate it more on a 2nd playthrough (and comparing it to Cyberpunk) ... just an insane amount of work went into the little details. Seriously impressive stuff. The linearity of the main missions isn't great though and you do feel like a total prat being forced along Dutch's daft ideas.

The other night I spent a few hours on Youtube watching clips of different ways that random encounters can play out, like that one where you rob the house where the black fella and his son live. You can kill both, leave both, kill one... then return later and there's all of this different dialogue reacting to what you did. It's an insane amount of effort. Not to mention that you can leave basically all of the Stranger Missions until the epilogue, and experience them all as John instead of Arthur.

[colacentral]

I said this a few pages back when someone else complained about the fishing, so not sure if you saw it, but you can change the fishing settings so that holding a button reels in instead of rotating the stick. It's loads easier.

I feel like there's a knack to it, but the timing is overly specific and punishing, and I don't think the game gives enough visual clues as to when you need to rotate, when you pull down, or when you pull to the left of right, so I was ending up with hand cramps and a fucked thumb trying to force the issue.

Just hold square, life's too short.

[Chollis]

finally getting round to completing this, it's fucking great isn't it? the attention to detail is a notch above anything I've ever played i think, you can really tell how much work went into it. got up to like chapter 3 when it came out in 2018 but just bored. started again from scratch recently and enjoying it a lot more on the second playthrough. looks incredible on PC with everything whacked up to Ultra.

i'm like 62% through now, in Chapter 6. everything's pretty fucking bleak now isn't it? the pace seemed to pick up a lot around the time the O'Driscoll's kidnapped Arthur and didn't let up for a long time. Kinda miss the carefree, gentle days of Horseshoe Overlook and the Deadwood vibes of Valentine. I am around the native American hub at the moment which is bloody lovely though. it is a bit of a pisser that Arthur is still following the fucking mental idiot Dutch around, and that cartoon villain cunt Micah is still somehow walking around freely (though I suspect he'll get his just desserts before the game is over)

[Ferris]

I feel like I must be doing the fishing wrong. It literally takes me 15+ minutes to reel them in sometimes. Hand fucking kills.

Wanted to respond to this separately because I had exactly the same issue and didn't want the solution to get buried.

Mobias - you can toggle "reeling in" to holding square rather than endless winding on the joystick. Settings -> controls -> scroll right down to the bottom.

Combined with the "down on joystick" to zip your rod in the air and quickly make up distance, you'll catch them no problem. This one was a bit obvious but took me a while to clock - you need to cast more or less exactly where the legendary fish icon is (not just anywhere in the lake/river) and obv use the special lures from Lagras.

Your thumbs will thank you for it.

Edit: what ColaCentral said!

[Ferris]

finally getting round to completing this, it's fucking great isn't it? the attention to detail is a notch above anything I've ever played i think, you can really tell how much work went into it. got up to like chapter 3 when it came out in 2018 but just bored. started again from scratch recently and enjoying it a lot more on the second playthrough. looks incredible on PC with everything whacked up to Ultra.

i'm like 62% through now, in Chapter 6. everything's pretty fucking bleak now isn't it? the pace seemed to pick up a lot around the time the O'Driscoll's kidnapped Arthur and didn't let up for a long time. Kinda miss the carefree, gentle days of Horseshoe Overlook and the Deadwood vibes of Valentine. I am around the native American hub at the moment which is bloody lovely though. it is a bit of a pisser that Arthur is still following the fucking mental idiot Dutch around, and that cartoon villain cunt Micah is still somehow walking around freely (though I suspect he'll get his just desserts before the game is over)

I think I'm at pretty much exactly the same bit as you.

The gang used to be Oliver Twist style ne'erdowells getting into all sorts of trouble after their wizard japes!! Just good clean fun.

Suddenly,

Spoiler alert

Molly gets half her torso blown out by Ms Grimshaw

[close]

and I realize how much I miss the good old days and how far we done fell.

[The Roofdog]

you can leave basically all of the Stranger Missions until the epilogue, and experience them all as John instead of Arthur.

That stuff just blows my mind, imagine going to all that effort for something almost nobody will ever see instead of just disabling it with one line of code and going pub mate

[Ferris]

Well that, and

Spoiler alert

all the people fucking age and their own stories progress in the epilogue. Go back to the Braithwaites manor where that person was locked in the little shack - she's a skeleton now. That berk who's been looking for Gavin is still about, but instead of looking sharp like he does in Arthur's time, he's a shuffling wreck. It's not much, but the amount of effort to put all that in is bonkers

[close]

.

It's a great example of a game where those finishing touches really add something to the experience overall and represent a worthwhile investment of time.

Cf. Cyberpunk 2077 allowing players to muck around with people's knob hair while the main game mechanics are broken.