Red Dead Redemption 2 (Equestrian Boogaloo)

[kalowski]

I don't know how you are managing this. I don't recall once leaving my guns on my horse.

[Gambrinus]

I left my guns on Kane (RIP) and Radagast(RIP) all the bloody time. There seemed to be no pattern as to if they would come with you or not.

[kalowski]

Ah, The Falcon is a survivor. I also used Belle (RIP) the old man's horse who I hunted with.

[colacentral]

My most memorable moment in this game was during one of the times when you're asked to help a woman out by the road near Valentine but it turns into an ambush and robbery. You're made to put Arthur's hands up around his head, then given the option for him to quick draw and take the robbers out. I happened to have the sawn off shotgun equipped in the main pistol holster at the time, something I'd forgotten, meaning Arthur, in slow motion, spun around and exploded the poor lass' head at point blank range. Incredibly satisfying and scared the shit out of me with the bang and how unexpected it was, eliciting an "oh, fuck!" out loud. One of those moments that I wish I'd caught a video of.

[Utter Shit]

This is just what I'm doing. Getting close to the endgame but don't want to finish so I'm trying to just travel around the landscape.

Same! I suppose this is partly what the epilogue is for, but I'd love them to include a sandbox mode where you can wander around independent of the main story but still collect things, do side-quests etc.

Possibly a stupid question, but can you play Online mode without any other players? I mean obviously (?) the lobby can be empty, but can you choose to play in a world with only NPC characters? And what is the player limit for a lobby? GTA's wasn't that many, but presumably the much bigger world and much slower travel means it needs a lot more to make it feel busy?

[letsgobrian]

Same! I suppose this is partly what the epilogue is for, but I'd love them to include a sandbox mode where you can wander around independent of the main story but still collect things, do side-quests etc.

Possibly a stupid question, but can you play Online mode without any other players? I mean obviously (?) the lobby can be empty, but can you choose to play in a world with only NPC characters? And what is the player limit for a lobby? GTA's wasn't that many, but presumably the much bigger world and much slower travel means it needs a lot more to make it feel busy?

I think the max lobby size is 20. Used to be larger but it broke things, then it got tiny, presumably to fix the things it broke, before hitting the current size. The game will occasionally put you in a solo or posse session if it can't run a mission in free roam, but it will then silently put you back in a general session once you leave the undefined geographical area that the mission ends in.

If you have a PS4/PS5 you can use the same MTU setting trick as GTA Online to get a "stable" solo session. That session will have encounters occur more often and generally be more populated by NPCs and animals.

I've not found it necessary to do that often though. I think I've knowingly done it twice in order to finish off a set of Daily Challenges. But I'm not on PC so I'm not being waylaid by hackers.

[Inspector Norse]

I want to know how to wash your clothes. I used to just wade into a river whenever NPCs started making pointed comments.

[Tokyo van Ramming]

Yeah I wondered about that. I would just jump in a (clean) river. Soggy now but the job's a goodun.

Edit: I looked it up. You simply change your clothes, take a bath or die.

[kalowski]

This is just what I'm doing. Getting close to the endgame but don't want to finish so I'm trying to just travel around the landscape.

Here's the joy of this. Just met Jeremy Gill, who I never came across in my first play.

[Noodle Lizard]

I'm going to start a third run of this tonight, I think. It's almost a cliché to say that it's the best game ever made, but I really think it might be. For whatever number of hours I can muster, it really does feel like I'm a part of that world. I want to get some nice clothes and stroll around a well-realised antiquarian New Orleans, and I can. For a $50 original investment. Amazing.

[sevendaughters]

beautiful game but find the controls too errant for an occasional player like myself.

[kalowski]

I spent the evening on an island on Flat Iron Lake picking off people canoeing with my telescopic sight rifle. Seems like since I'm near the end it doesn't affect my honour at all.

[The Roofdog]

Canoeists are scum. Just terrible people.

[I.D. Smith]

I do love this game, and I'm currently still taking my time to soak up the world and keep the story at bay as much as I can, but I seem to be developing an obsession with as being as nice as possible as I can within the parameters of this character and his way of life. I tend to do this with most games (being Paragon in Mass Effect, a People Pleaser Class in Skyrim etc etc) but I'm overboard in this one, to the point I feel I have to say "Howdy" to every person I pass on the street and on the road. It's quite exhausting.

Because of the above, it feels quite jarring where in some missions Arthur Morgan seems to still take a nasty route for completion, which you can't avoid, despite there seeming to be a "nicer" way of doing the mission. For example, one mission, which I won't go into detail to avoid spoilers, basically involved me breaking a guard's neck. A guard, who up to that point seemed just an innocent caught up in the hard world and times he lived in, and could've just been dealt with using a knock out punch or a tying up. But no, big Arthur decides snapping his neck and then making light of it after was the best course of action. I think I need to say another thousand "howdy ma'ams" in recompense.

[Utter Shit]

Finished it again last night (well, not the epilogue). So emotional. That fucking prick Micah.

[kalowski]

Canoeists are scum. Just terrible people.

Yep. Sub-human scum.

[H-O-W-L]

Possibly a stupid question, but can you play Online mode without any other players? I mean obviously (?) the lobby can be empty, but can you choose to play in a world with only NPC characters? And what is the player limit for a lobby? GTA's wasn't that many, but presumably the much bigger world and much slower travel means it needs a lot more to make it feel busy?

Yes, on PC. I can PM you details (and it is safe).

[Utter Shit]

Ah cheers but I'm on PS4!

[C_Larence]

https://youtu.be/a8UpOXmIEGQ

This happened to me earlier today. I've never even come close to losing my horse and was adamant she would be with me until the end. I'm genuinely quite speechless over this.

[Utter Shit]

Haha I had the exact same thing happen except it landed on me. Brilliant.

[beanheadmcginty]

Incredible

[Gambrinus]

That's brilliant.

I've played through it twice and never seen anyone cut down a tree before.

[Ferris]

That's brilliant.

I've played through it twice and never seen anyone cut down a tree before.

There's a whole side-questline/story bit about logging and free-telling just west of the waterfalls, a little ways east of Strawberry (forget the name of the place). The game is mind bogglingly big.

[Neomod]

Only started playing this recently and have finished the tutorials and am now based at the first non snow camp and it's all a bit overwhelming. There seems to be so much stuff you need to keep an eye on.

So what should I do, go straight in to missions, hunt and upgrade, do stuff for the people in camp, explore?

[Gambrinus]

Hang around in camp chatting to people, they'll probably ask for some help at some point.

Do some hunting and get enough cash to buy the Springfield and Varmint rifles. You can get these in Valentine. You can convert animal carcasses to cash at the butcher in Valentine.

Have some adventures in Valentine, go to the pub ,eat a meal, have a bath.

Go exploring around and just look at the scenery. It's a lovely looking game. I want to live in Big Valley with the bluebells in the evening.

[Inspector Norse]

Only started playing this recently and have finished the tutorials and am now based at the first non snow camp and it's all a bit overwhelming. There seems to be so much stuff you need to keep an eye on.

So what should I do, go straight in to missions, hunt and upgrade, do stuff for the people in camp, explore?

Do a bit of everything. Just keep trying different things until you find you've got the rhythm of it. Maybe good to get a few missions done so you feel you know what it's all about - the early missions will take you around the area a bit and introduce you to a bit of the variety. The whole Valentine section is a bit of a glorified tutorial.

The game is overwhelming but it is - in terms of the story and side missions - very slow-moving, so you can take your time picking and choosing things to do with no risk of falling behind or finding yourself in a situation you can't really handle. I remember when I played it through, it'd be different every time I loaded it up: one day I might focus on moving things along and do a couple of missions, another day I might explore and get caught up in something that happened along the way, another day I might decide to check out a certain spot on the map, another day I might just wander around camp and see what everyone had to say.

[mobias]

Its worth knowing right from the start that you can progress right through the main story missions without doing much or maybe even any of the side quests and upgrade related missions. Its not an RPG. Like with GTA the actual gameplay isn't that difficult. Once you've got half decent weaponry, which you can get quite quickly, you're pretty much set for the duration of the game. You only really need to unlock things if you want to get right into the side quests, like all the hunting stuff. Personally I preferred all the cowboy and frontiersman simulator side of it rather than the main story.

[Neomod]

Thanks, I spent most of yesterday playing it. Did a few missions, some chores, tasks for the camp and some hunting/researching prey.

It's just lovely to ride around soaking in the atmosphere as a storm rolls in on the horizon.

[Neomod]

That witness mechanic is a bit of a pain isn't it.

Collect debt by beating up character

*Witness Assault*

Lasso then hogtie witness

*Witness Kidnapping*

Chase down and shoot witness (thankfully with no one around)

Also I stayed at a random tent all night with no one around. The minute in the morning I search a box some bloke strolls up and witnesses it. Bad timing on his part.

[colacentral]

I like that aspect of the witness system, makes it a mad scramble to cover up your crime. Makes me feel like I'm in the hitman scene from Mulholland Drive.