Red Dead Redemption 2

[SkylineObsession]

About time this game had its own thread, bishes.

Anyways, here's the pre-order packs:
https://www.rockstargames.com/newswire/article/60459/The-Red-Dead-Redemption-2-Special-Edition-Ultimate-Edition-and-Collect

Out of all four editions, i'm gonna get the standard one most likely as there doesn't seem to be anything interesting enough added in to get a special etc edition.

Wonder how many people will buy the Collectors Box while not realising it doesn't include the game... ;)
The only thing i want out of the Collectors Box items is the Wheeler, Rawson and Co. Catalogue, as i miss the days of game manuals etc being customised and catered to the game.

Oh, and:

BONUS GTA$ FOR DIGITAL PRE-ORDERS
No matter which version you choose, all digital pre-orders from the PlayStation Store or Xbox Store will receive an immediate infusion of GTA$ to their Maze Bank accounts in GTA Online:

Red Dead Redemption 2: Standard Edition Digital Pre-Order: Get GTA$500,000
Red Dead Redemption 2: Special Edition Digital Pre-Order: Get GTA$1,000,000
Red Dead Redemption 2: Ultimate Edition Digital Pre-Order: Get GTA$2,000,000

[Rare White Ape]

Christ it’s just a fucking load of tat.

The only thing I’m interested in is the extra bank heist. All the horses, gameplay boosts, and free weapons can go blow a goat; I’m not paying an extra $20 for all that shit. Good thing is the heist is something that will usually be given away for free after a while on the market.

[SkylineObsession]

Yeah, was a little surprised, but then not surprised, at how much more expensive each version is aside from the standard edition. The single player extra story content is just two 'missions', which i suspect won't take long to finish.

I don't fall into the trap of collectors editions now, done that in the past and just end up with a whole lot of extra crap that just sits around gathering dust (lock boxes, models, etc etc). I now consider what i'd do/how i'd feel about each exclusive and then decide from there. Price also plays a big part.

I'm pretty sure it was a $150 Forza (not sure which game) collectors edition that, after i bought it and had it in my possession, i realised that in hindsight it (and special/collector editions in general) wasn't worth the extra $50, when all it really was was a season pass type thing which will end on on sale at half that price later down the track.

So now i just buy basic versions (like Far Cry 5) and buy the DLC when it goes cheap enough. Same deal with RDR2 here.

[Rare White Ape]

I’m surprised that no one has jumped on and posted this yet.


https://youtu.be/H7nLnWhaCk8

[SkylineObsession]

Looks good. :) Okay, really f(&^*&%^ing good.

Still haven't pre-ordered it yet though. :eek:

[Rare White Ape]

Don't bother. Pre ordering is for suckers. There will be plenty of copies to go around.

[SkylineObsession]

Would only get around $500k GTA money for doing so, which is enough to buy half a pair of socks in game.

[Jason]

I'm split on expectations... didn't play the first RDR, but loved GTA V... but Rockstar completely ignored the single player of GTA V after they realized how much money was in the online mode, so I'm expecting some sort of shenanigans here. Still looks great though, so.....

[Alan P]

Have watched with mild indifference. While I have a PS4 I have no real interest in it. If/when it comes to PC then colour me keen. Until then I will watch but not get excited.

[Alan P]

I'm split on expectations... didn't play the first RDR, but loved GTA V... but Rockstar completely ignored the single player of GTA V after they realized how much money was in the online mode, so I'm expecting some sort of shenanigans here. Still looks great though, so.....

Also I completely agree. It's also why, IMO anyway any plans for GTA6 haven't been announced or, as is more likely, have been pushed back many times. Sure I played GTA online but quickly lost interest. Coming back in now would likely mean I couldn't afford shit without days and weeks of grinding or buying shark cards, which I refuse to do. So I don't play.

[Phil_SS]

It does look really really good from a visual perspective.

But I have never liked the shooting mechanics in the Rockstar games. They've always been this janky 3rd person view. That was ok in GTA III and some of the other early games but has become unimpressive in the later games. Just takes a lot away from the experience.

But didn't they release a FPS version of GTAV? So, is that gonna be part of RDR2? Or is it going to be a feature they release later......

[dodint]

I'm going to wait and see on this. I want to like it but as folks have said above, lots of questions need answered first.

[MR2 Fan]

The more I see of it, the more I just want to play the first one again, where I know there won't be lots of extras I have to pay for, etc.

Once the new one is out for a while, we'll know what R* wants to do.

[SkylineObsession]

I'll place my bets now that, unlike the first Red Dead, they WON"T have a friendly public free roam mode in online. And i'm confident of that because it simply won't make them money, so they won't see any point including it.

GTA Online has been said to be the absolute most toxic online community out of all games out there. Which i believe to be true, as in a lot of public online games developers always try to make things balanced and remove/null trolls/griefers etc, whereas Rockstar are doing the opposite and almost encouraging it.
Just look around social media etc for proof, namely when someone complains how hard it is to get anywhere in the game without shark cards etc, diehard trolls players wil e-bash the crap out of them and usually tell them to go play another game etc.

But money talks, and the normalies out there are getting drowned out by the trolls and griefers.

[Rare White Ape]

GOTY material.


https://youtu.be/Q7b1X5ul0II

[lostnight]

One week away, last time I was this excited about a game was GTA V. Shocked to read It would take over 100GB of space, ffs.

[Rare White Ape]

That’s normal now.

[8400RPM]

Got it downloaded and ready to go on Thursday night. This is shaping up to be a real landmark title. I am excited. Even your horses testes will shrink and expand depending on the weather!

[Rare White Ape]

Events have conspired against me, so instead of playing RDR on Friday I’ll be saddling up and pointing my mechanised steed towards the horizon and riding with fellow travellers to a hotel in the middle of nowhere to watch MotoGP.

I’ll play it when I get home on Monday… or Tuesday.

I’ll have to go on an internet blackout for a few days!

[Rare White Ape]

On that note, I’ve seen a headline pointing out that RDR2’s map has been leaked.

Time to seal myself in a concrete bunker.

[lostnight]

well, crap timing, get home from work, and my xbox needs a system update. keep getting the black screen of death upon restart. follow the troubleshooting steps, and it says I need a USB flahdrive with 4 GBs, and hook it up to my PC. God, I may or may not have a flashdrive floating around the house somewhere, or in the garage, I don’t know. And my pc is spotty at best, hardly use it. Guess I’ll work on it on my day off Thursday, pain in the ass.

[SkylineObsession]

Workmate has taken all next week off work, and wifey has taken the launch day and day after off work to play it. We both have the digital version, but mine didn't download as i don't have enough free space.

Ain't bovvid though, as i've got to try get through Mafia III, Far Cry Primal, Far Cry 5, Ghost Recon Wildlands and a couple other games first. So probably a good month or more till i get to RDR2.

[Dicknose]

Do you even game?

[SkylineObsession]

Nup. :P

Got stuck playing GTA Online (in private/friends only lobbies) and a couple of others way too much over the last year or two, and ended up building up a backlog of games. Got thru all the smaller ones, just the big ones left. Most of them are download, not physical copies.

[Rare White Ape]

Embargo is lifted. Reviews are up.

[Jason]

Looks fucking amazing, but I can't get into the western setting for whatever reason. I had a similar problem with Witcher 3, I got it, looks amazing, and I can tell it's objectively good... but the super serious medieval tone kinda put me off so I didn't get further than 15 minutes. Yet I absolutely love open world, sprawling games (BotW, HZD, XC2, etc)

[Kchrpm]

Paraphrasing the Kotaku podcast I'm listening to right now:

This is nothing like most games...they want to entertain you, they want to thrill you, they want to make you feel powerful. This game disempowers you at so many turns, inconveniences you at so many turns, it forces you to struggle through it, it's difficult to play, the story is hardcore, horrible things happen to people that you like, it really just is a hard hitting grim game.

Yeah, no thanks. But if you like that kind of thing, it seems like it's the best ever of these kinds of things.

[racerfink]

So far, too much The Walking Dead: Complete first season, not enough action. And it’s making my Forza 7 stutter. May be “returning” this one Monday.

[Freude am Fahren]

Haven't played it, may or may not in the end, but saw this meme that seems accurate, from what I've seen on social media.

https://scontent-mia3-2.cdninstagram.com/vp/e29d8b409189ad3dbe04c3a7acfc4758/5C53BCDD/t51.2885-15/e35/43912929_214616759290728_6253855431574371201_n.jpg

[Rare White Ape]

So, uh, has anyone been playing?

I finally got the chance to start it last night and put about three hours in. I completed chapter 1 and arrived at the second camp, then took some time exploring the town of Valentine. Got in a bar fight.

So far it’s failing to set my world on fire. The minutiae of its systems and detail strike me right away as things that will distract from the fantasy of being a gunslinger that RDR1 nailed so perfectly, and this is a nasty contrast to the amount of time and crunch that the Rockstar employees were forced to do to get this out the door.

But it could be one of those slow-burn games that you fall in love with eventually so I’ll give it time. Today I’m going to hop on *a* horse (not mine, as I don’t want to lose it just yet) and fuck off to see the world. The story missions can wait a bit I think. I’m playing with no radar so it’ll be fun.

[Yobbo NZ]

That is what I'm liking so far, the slower pace and not being forced into doing any missions.
Also liking all the little micromanaging things too, which I can image won't be to everyone's taste either.

[Rare White Ape]

3-4 more hours today. No deep urge to continue, like with GTAV or BotW. I’d rather be playing old school RDR on my Xbox One.

Or Dark Souls on my Switch.

I am genuinely thinking that this is a massive fail on the part of Rockstar. Sad.

[Rare White Ape]

I *knew* something was amiss here:

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2018-whats-up-with-red-dead-redemption-2s-hdr

Turn off HDR, you’ll get a better image, at least for now if they patch it later… if it’s fixable.

[lostnight]

I'm enjoying it so far, but once online play hits, t won't be playing single player hardly at all, if at all. For me, the story mode is just training for the online.

The pace is far more relaxed than what I m used to in GTA online. It is easier to get out of trouble in GTA when you're wanted. I just don't think you can create that much chaos in RDR2 without getting killed, and still having a bounty afterwards.

[Dicknose]

Enjoying it, looks great, pace slow, too easy to bump your horse into someone and next thing you know the sheriff is shooting at you for $10 instead of asking for the bounty.
Hadnt played much of the original, so trying to soak this one up.

[dodint]

I picked up the standard edition to play over my winter break from school.

[Rare White Ape]

It gets better around chapter four.

[drew]

I picked up a One S last weekend and RDR2. I've only just made it out of the snow.


It will take some getting used to with all the stamina/etc micro-managing. I'm still hopelessly obsessed with AC Odyssey at the moment.

Buying the new Xbox lead me to buy a new monitor. Since I play it at my desk on the computer monitor and headset. Essentially, I spent $1100 for one game. ffs

[dodint]

RDR2 is good, imo. Played about four hours the first session. About 3.5 of that was Chapter 1.

[Dicknose]

So Ive realised that RedDead is leaking into my real life - I keep seeing animals and thinking - what weapon to shoot that?
My local turkeys better watch out, they are about as passive as the in game turkeys - you could walk over and knife them!
Luckily crocodiles are a few thousand kms away - Ive gotten very casual about wandering around alligators.

[dodint]

Anyone in the online beta? Opens up to everyone by Friday but maybe some of you are in already. I'm not particularly into online modes for stuff like this but if we get a posse together I'll give it a go.

[MR2 Fan]

I find it difficult to believe that they're doing Red Dead Online and not ever having a PC version....I give it less than a year before PC version is out

[Rare White Ape]

I’m still balls deep in the story, close to the end of chapter 6, by my reckoning.

All of my complaints about the game from earlier have melted away; the story totally carries it. It’s very engrossing.

Also Sadie Adler is full-on wife material. She’s probably my favourite character in the entire game.

[dodint]

I'm still in Chapter 2, though I have to be getting to the end of it. I spent a fair amount of time doing side-mission stuff and kind of abandoned progressing the story.

[Dicknose]

So Ive finished the main story and into epilogue - no spoilers but its a weird way to do things and feels a little frustrating.
Ive made no great attempt at "gold-ing" the events, but I have been doing the challenges and enjoying most of them. Which has meant I had long periods of not progressing the main story, but I did a little push to finish the last few days.

[drew]

I bought an xbox three weeks ago and haven't turned it on in 19 days. I'm still at the first camp you get to off the mountain...

[Dicknose]

Online beta is available... havent tried it yet, was doing a quick explore of New Austin... probably give it a go later today

[SkylineObsession]

Wifey played in last night and said it was really buggy. And that when chatting with friends only using ingame chat, you can only talk to/hear them if they are in sight, or something. Which is bloody stupid.

[Rare White Ape]

I think that’s a great feature. It wouldn’t be possible to talk to people at a distance in the 1890s unless you use Morse code.

[lostnight]

Having a really fun time online so far. I started a persistent posse today called Cornerstoners Gang, after my trivia team at the bar. 3 of us were up early this morning playing the game online and texting each other. We are all the the same trivia team, so have had many beers and shots together. My friend Rich plays on PS4, so he can't play with us. But my other trivia friend Kayla is on Xbox like me, her tag is snobbypilot1, mine is lostnite66. It cost me 200$ in game to buy this posse. Invite only, but open to GTX members for sure, hit me up if interested.

[Rare White Ape]

I fell in love with this game, right towards the end.

If I was to play it again I’d definitely play it differently. I’d spend more time smelling the roses and enjoying the world. As it was I jumped more-or-less in a straight line from mission to mission, because the story was so compelling.

Anyway, a favourite late-game scene featured this music. It was so cool :D


https://youtu.be/j8068ZrwicQ

[dodint]

I started the game yesterday and did nothing but fish. I'm taking the slow way through it, still near the beginning of Chapter 3.

[drew]

I've been playing it the last few days, I'm not even sure what "chapter" I'm on.

I have a bad tendency to murder every person I see in my travels.


I did throw a stick of dynamite into a Klan meeting. That was extremely satisfying.

[drew]

So I'm assuming I'm the only one still playing this?

I've all but abandoned the story line for about a month, just fucking around with challenges/etc.

That said, Fuck Rockstar for their lame "you must soak time into this" shit. Exhibit 1: Challenges: you look at what you have to do for each one, and most of the time it's something you've already done, but it doen't count, because that particular challenge wasn't unlocked.


The there's the one you have to lasso/drag some poor bastard for 3300 feet. Easy enough, except that if you go faster than a walk, they die. So, there's 20 minutes.

I think I'm somewhere in Ch 3 still.

Still though, you have to hand it to their absudety. I got the Legend of the East satchel (which took a FUCKTON of time), and it has a capacity of 99 of each item you can carry. 99 steaks from every animal type, 99 fish filets, 99 tonics/etc. It's like you're a walking Costco.

[Dicknose]

Yeah the challenges can be weird that way. I have finished some, others Im still on 2!
Hmm I dont remember spending 20 mins with the lasso... it was a while.
Also the "shoot someone from X distance" had me pot shotting any random person from a high location.

[Rare White Ape]

As I played the game, I didn’t complete any challenges.

The game is so big that I figured that I will never see everything anyway, so there was no point getting stuck into its minuitae. It wanted to be just like real life, and just like real life I’m never going to enter every doorway or speak to every person so I treated the game as such.

It kinda sucks, because most games sort of throw 90% of it your way as you go when completing the main storyline. I thought I’d be at least unlocking most of the lower tier challenges as I went.

[SkylineObsession]

I still haven't played it, only 40% through Far Cry Primal, and have Far Cry 5 and a couple other games to go through before RDR2 yet. And when i go weeks without gaming (yesterday was the first time in about three weeks that i bothered to play a game) it's not helping me get through those games. ;)

[Dicknose]

Dont start till you have some time...
it takes a little bit to get into it, but then it bites hard.

[drew]

I can attest.

When the non-mountain camp got settled (early_, I was like, "meh"....Then I started it up after a month of not playing, and it's been nothing short of a clinical addiction since.

Now the Far Cry 5 expansion is about to come out as well... fuck.

[Dicknose]

Oh Id forgotten what a slog it was right at the start...
yes you need to learn controls and what its all about - but damn it - snow is not that fun!

[TheBenior]

I'm still playing it, but I didn't start until late December, and I basically play it once a week.

[Rare White Ape]

but damn it - snow is not that fun!

The snow is… okay! Have you gone back up there later on? I did, and went exploring. Caught a nice rare white stallion. Explored the cabins. Found a creepy frozen cadaver on a ridge. His rifle would’ve been a powerful early-game pickup.

The snow sucked early on because it was all blizzard and no chill in the prologue. Late in the game when it’s sunny it’s actually quite nice.

[dodint]

I played it non-stop through finals and through the holiday. Then just stopped playing one day and haven't missed it. I love the game, don't get me wrong, but unless I have hours and hours to dedicate to it I just won't get into it. I'm looking forward to getting back in when things calm down for me, probably this summer.

[drew]

I'm finding myself distracted/obsessed with everything except the story. Some of the challenges are fucking ridiculous, but, what the hell. It's about the only thing I'd be playing right now anyway.

[racerfink]

The story line is fantastic, the graphics tremendous, but the controls...

[drew]

After a solid month of hunting (for completion of compendium) and challenges, I checked back into the story, at the third mission in Chapter 3 (looked at the mission list)....

So, still a fucking ton to go. I may get to Chapter 4, then fuck around a little more.

There is some satisfaction completing a category of challenges (2 left in herbalist, 1 in sharpshooter, weapons master complete). At 84% of Zoologist achievement, which is a pain in the ass....

[drew]

Just got to New Austin (albeit early, thanks google/glitch).

I'm only interested in the zoologist and Skin deep achievements with it.

I love doing shit you're not supposed to .

[drew]

So, 5 months in, still in Chapter 4, been working on side shit and challenges, until today.

Have 5 of 90 challenges left, and hit "THE" rage-inducing stupid-as-fuck challenge.

"Win 3 hands of Blackjack with 3 hits or more" (have 5 cards and not bust AND win the hand)

4 hours, and nothing. Then, I got dealt two aces, this is promising, 5 cards, 19 showing.. dealer has 16, draws a 5.

Very next hand, 5 cards, 20, dealer draws a card to get 20 and a push=no win. hour later, nothing close.

Fuck Rockstar with this. I've prided myself getting 100% on each of their games I've played in the past, but this one will be an emphatic "FUCK THAT". 5 fucking hours, an impossible AI, for a "challenge" that is of no discernible skill, other than RNG fortune. AND, you have to do it THREE TIMES. Once would have been more than enough. The fact the dealer always has a 10/face card showing after the initial deal tells me they are fucking sadists. Reddit/'net are full of 1000s of the same review/outcomes. It's fucking ridiculous. Apparently, the next challenge is even worse.

Such a shame. So, I guess I'll finish the story and move on.

Fuck you Rockstar

[dodint]

I'm still in Chapter 3. Some days I just ride into the mountains and hunt. And that's fine.

[drew]

Done that too. Got about 3 animals left for the compendium, spent HOURS on that, and it was enjoyable. Broke all the wild horse breeds, caught all the fish, picked all the plants. But this one challenge, is wholly ridiculous.

I may just go camp in the mountains and hunt bigfoot.

[Yobbo NZ]

I'm stuck trying to win the dice game challenge. Fucking stupid ass game that is!

[drew]

The Domino one?

I know nothing about Dominoes, and the #9 challenge looks like another "fuck off" candidate.

[Yobbo NZ]

Yeah, dominos sorry.

[drew]

Ok, yep. It's shit.

[Dicknose]

I got the blackjack one, but like you my first attempts I was beaten by the dealer.
Got it - my last 2 wins happened quite close together.
Yes annoying and not really much skill

[drew]

I decided to stop in and take a shot at it again.

First hand:
2,3,5,7,J - FUCK
Second hand:
A,3,4,7,5...dealer has 6 showing, flips a 10, draws a 4, draw...FUCK YOU

The fact they "require" you to get this three times is asinine. If it's (and it is) purely RNG, once should have been enough...

[Rare White Ape]

Time for a thread resurrection.

This looks gob smacking on PC. Watch it and smack your gob!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXvQ1nK4oxk

[MR2 Fan]

Since I found the dedicated RDR2 thread, and since I've completed the game, my random thoughts:

Edited to note I'm on PS4

Overall excellent game, with a few really annoying parts

I love the storyline, it really captures IMO, the idea of a small band of outlaws with certain ideals, but led by a cult of personality that they are uncomfortable in leaving outright, even if they know it's for the best. It also fits into the next (previous) game really well and I want to play it again

The controls are too annoying and I think there's too many different bars and parts of bars you have to fill up...it's a bit confusing

Speaking of the controls, I've accidentally shot people I wanted to greet, accidentally punched my horse I wanted to check inventory, accidentally dynamited myself more times than I can count.

I know the R* team have been given a lot of flack for pushing their devs, and I think they should be trying to limit the focus a bit more. No my horses cajones do not need to grow and shrink and I think I should call my horse doctor if my horse is pooping every 5 minutes.

I didn't enjoy fishing at all, so YMMV

I agree with a video I saw about R* being way too literal and set in stone with mission goals these days where you can't diverge at all from the mission plan, whereas you could back in the earlier GTA days.

Do they have a R* India team, because looking at the credits, woooow a LOT of Indian names...not that there's anything wrong with that, just an observation

[Rare White Ape]

They’re outsourcing the dev crunch to a place where it’s cheaper and labour laws mean that crunch is morally ok.

Oh sorry, this ain’t GTXF/pol :P

[TheBenior]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockstar_India

FWIW, I do remember thinking that the level of refinement that The Witcher 3 had might not be possible at US/Western European software developer salaries, which from what I've seen are 2-4 times as much as they are in Poland.

[MR2 Fan]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FGO_DNwZX4

[drew]

"Quick draw!"

I do love the accuracy. You unintentionally shoot one person, then have to mass murder a whole town of witnesses.

[Yobbo NZ]

Their stuff is pretty good. The PC store skits, some of them are brilliant.

[SkylineObsession]

Yep, i didn't actually realise they were/are from New Zealand until i'd seen a few videos. Always through they were from the USA or Aussie.

But yeah, big fan of their work, especially the PC store ones. :D

[Rare White Ape]

The Red Dead Online stand-alone title has released on Steam for the princely sim of AUD$7.49

It’s a cheap way to get into the time and money sink of RDR Online. It might even be worth it to see how it runs on my PC just for a lark.