So, im starting my Journey on Red Dead 2 ( Chapter 2 right now) and im trying to put myself in the proper head space for this game.
There is no XP nor level ups (classic level up at least) so i shouldn't be bothering on hunting down every single little quest and adventure that comes my way. Just let the game flow through organically and enjoy the ride.
This has led to a few choice encounters, like that one time 2 Bounty hunters rushed by me carrying a dude on their saddle tied up, calling him a criminal while he screamed saying he was innocent, so i decided maybe i should follow these guys a bit to see what's going on... but they were racing down the street and i was not, so the time it took me to speed up and turn around and follow them without losing sight of where they were going was so goddamn slow that i decided to rush it a bit to keep up, which let to my horse jumping over a rock, tripping the fuck out and me taking a near fatal tumble... dudes were gone, dunno if i just missed a side event or not.
Fine, move along.
My main concern with the game right now is how everything is a huge commitment. Of both time and effort. It just doesn't feel as fun as Breath of the wild or Assassin's Creed does. I undertand the themes, the setting, the gritty feel... i get all that, i like all that... but the number of times i was spinning on circles trying to figure out where was that gunshot or talking was coming from because the game gives me no sort of tip or aid to locate that stuff was annoying.
As it was annoying that one time the game gave me a prompt of "Hey if you hold Triangle you can rest up a bit and save your strenght". Which made me go "Oh , neat i should try that..." which led me to press Triangle, which led me to jump forward and put the fucking xerif on a choke hold, which of course led me to getting gunneddown by half the city.
As it was annoying this one time where i got jumped by bandits on the street which, at first, was 100% fine. Totally ok with being caught in a trap like that. it makes sense for this game. Im a bandit, they are bandits... it makes sense if i get surrounded by 7 people while im alone without a gun in hand, that it would be a bad spot for me. So that's all fair game. So, at first, i ran... and decided to prepare.
Second time around, during night time, i saw the bad guys from far away. They had torches, so i was ready. The came for me, i pulled my rifle, decided to stand my ground.... game fades to black for some reason, blue skies show up. im back in the city. why? i have no clue why. i took one guy down, barely took any damage. There was no fail state on the screen....
sometimes the frustration goes along with something a little cool, like the time i took a bounty on the Black Widow. First time, she rushed at me with a knife, so i decided to punch her out. Myself thinking i should be a bit more agressive, press the circle button twice. A quick "1, 2" and hey... she is dead. A punch and a kick were enough. Bounty failed restart from checkpoint.
ok... sure...
So, second time around, i say fuck it. I sneak around, pull out my lasso and round her up while she is still talking to her nearby victim. So, stealth lasso for the win? You betcha.
Overall this game has a ton of little frustrations. I like the setting ,i let the writting, i like the acting, i like the story (so far). But i hate how it takes 10 minutes of empty world walking to reach a 2 min gunfight and even though i run pass 10-20 animals i could hunt... i can't carry nothing even closer than that. So better make a good pick on the ride coming or going towards a mission. Everything is a bit of a Chore. Which, again, i can accept, but im finding out that i just don't really enjoy all that much.
I feel like i just want to B-line the main story mission and see if i can get more of that fun well done writing and talking i've been enjoying so far and don't sweat the other stuff...
Honestly, there are a ton of little things that feel like huge oversights in this day and age... the fonts to read are super small with no option to make them bigger, for as clean as HUD as this game gets, information is not always super clear and just makes it a ton of "start stop" to conclude even simple tasks... actually, overall QOL options on RDR2 are very barebones.
navigation early on is a true slog to the point where i honestly believe this game only gets away with this because of the Rockstart logo attached to it... there is a lot that CAN happen between point A and B but very little that you CAN do, so the world is not really all that empty, but it feels a bit pointless at times...
I honestly cannot imagine myself 5 years down the line wanting to start this game over again to relive the tale of the old west in RDR2 because i just can't imagine myself going through the slog that is the first 5-10 hours i've seen so far... but this is not a bad game. Everything good about is actually pretty good... but at the same time, i think it got it off easy on it's name over some valid criticism.
There is no XP nor level ups (classic level up at least) so i shouldn't be bothering on hunting down every single little quest and adventure that comes my way. Just let the game flow through organically and enjoy the ride.
This has led to a few choice encounters, like that one time 2 Bounty hunters rushed by me carrying a dude on their saddle tied up, calling him a criminal while he screamed saying he was innocent, so i decided maybe i should follow these guys a bit to see what's going on... but they were racing down the street and i was not, so the time it took me to speed up and turn around and follow them without losing sight of where they were going was so goddamn slow that i decided to rush it a bit to keep up, which let to my horse jumping over a rock, tripping the fuck out and me taking a near fatal tumble... dudes were gone, dunno if i just missed a side event or not.
Fine, move along.
My main concern with the game right now is how everything is a huge commitment. Of both time and effort. It just doesn't feel as fun as Breath of the wild or Assassin's Creed does. I undertand the themes, the setting, the gritty feel... i get all that, i like all that... but the number of times i was spinning on circles trying to figure out where was that gunshot or talking was coming from because the game gives me no sort of tip or aid to locate that stuff was annoying.
As it was annoying that one time the game gave me a prompt of "Hey if you hold Triangle you can rest up a bit and save your strenght". Which made me go "Oh , neat i should try that..." which led me to press Triangle, which led me to jump forward and put the fucking xerif on a choke hold, which of course led me to getting gunneddown by half the city.
As it was annoying this one time where i got jumped by bandits on the street which, at first, was 100% fine. Totally ok with being caught in a trap like that. it makes sense for this game. Im a bandit, they are bandits... it makes sense if i get surrounded by 7 people while im alone without a gun in hand, that it would be a bad spot for me. So that's all fair game. So, at first, i ran... and decided to prepare.
Second time around, during night time, i saw the bad guys from far away. They had torches, so i was ready. The came for me, i pulled my rifle, decided to stand my ground.... game fades to black for some reason, blue skies show up. im back in the city. why? i have no clue why. i took one guy down, barely took any damage. There was no fail state on the screen....
sometimes the frustration goes along with something a little cool, like the time i took a bounty on the Black Widow. First time, she rushed at me with a knife, so i decided to punch her out. Myself thinking i should be a bit more agressive, press the circle button twice. A quick "1, 2" and hey... she is dead. A punch and a kick were enough. Bounty failed restart from checkpoint.
ok... sure...
So, second time around, i say fuck it. I sneak around, pull out my lasso and round her up while she is still talking to her nearby victim. So, stealth lasso for the win? You betcha.
Overall this game has a ton of little frustrations. I like the setting ,i let the writting, i like the acting, i like the story (so far). But i hate how it takes 10 minutes of empty world walking to reach a 2 min gunfight and even though i run pass 10-20 animals i could hunt... i can't carry nothing even closer than that. So better make a good pick on the ride coming or going towards a mission. Everything is a bit of a Chore. Which, again, i can accept, but im finding out that i just don't really enjoy all that much.
I feel like i just want to B-line the main story mission and see if i can get more of that fun well done writing and talking i've been enjoying so far and don't sweat the other stuff...
Honestly, there are a ton of little things that feel like huge oversights in this day and age... the fonts to read are super small with no option to make them bigger, for as clean as HUD as this game gets, information is not always super clear and just makes it a ton of "start stop" to conclude even simple tasks... actually, overall QOL options on RDR2 are very barebones.
navigation early on is a true slog to the point where i honestly believe this game only gets away with this because of the Rockstart logo attached to it... there is a lot that CAN happen between point A and B but very little that you CAN do, so the world is not really all that empty, but it feels a bit pointless at times...
I honestly cannot imagine myself 5 years down the line wanting to start this game over again to relive the tale of the old west in RDR2 because i just can't imagine myself going through the slog that is the first 5-10 hours i've seen so far... but this is not a bad game. Everything good about is actually pretty good... but at the same time, i think it got it off easy on it's name over some valid criticism.
