Red Dead Redemption 2

Ok, having finished the game yesterday, I'm still not certain what you're referring too. We may have had different outcomes. I finished the game with maximum honour, this is how my key final missions played out:

At the end of Chapter VI having rescued Sadie, killed Agent Milton who confirmed it was Micah who has been telling him about the gang's activities, I go back to camp and confront Micah about this and a Mexican-standoff ensures with Micah, his cronies, Dutch and Bill pointing guns at me, John and Charles. A bunch of Pinkertons show up at camp and start shooting at everybody.

John and I escape through the cave and when I am given the choice to go back for the money in the cave or help John, I chose the latter. I am mighty upset that my horse dies :( We head off up the mountain exchanging fire with Pinkerton agents on adjacent ridges. We come under a lot of fire and I tell John to escape while I hold them off. I then bump into Micah and get into a fist fight with him. My gun gets knocked away to the ground and I'm crawling towards it slowly when Dutch appears and steps on the gun. They exchange some words and Arthur dies.

Over the course of the second epilogue I ( now John) meet up with Uncle, Charles and Sadie and that chapter concludes with Charles, Sadie and myself heading off to kill Micah. Charles gets shot and Sadie gets slightly stabbed. Eventually I confront Micah and get into a shootout with him when Sadie turns up and pulls her gun on on Micah. A brief chat ensues then Dutch emerges from a nearby cabin and in the confusion, Micah grabs Sadie. I back and forth talk with Micah and Dutch and I convince Dutch to shoot Micah which he does, then I shoot Micah a few more times because he's still waving his gun about. Micah dies and Dutch leaves. Micah looks dead but I shotgun his head off just to safe and Sadie mentions that the cash and gold from the Blackwater job is in the cabin that Dutch just left. I grab that it (it's about 20k) and it's mostly game over.

Charles and Sadie both survive as you see them at John and Abigails' wedding during the closing credits.

Did you get the same outcome or something different?

Given Rockstar have remade a fair chunk of the map of the original game, which I'm still exploring, I would be both surprised and disappointed if we don't see a future DLC with Red Dead Redemption remastered/reimagined because it's such an obvious thing to do and it works as a 'sequel' in the sense of it being a continuation of the story of RDR2.

Your spoiler and ending was exactly the same. When I stated, "More to do with hope and karma I guess," I was mostly referring to Arthur's current state of being and life he was living.

Arthur was destine for death because of TB. I was just hoping for a better ending to Arthur's legacy. Something that could have prolonged his life longer, or maybe something that the Native American Chief and his tribe could have resolved later with some type of mystical herbal remedy. I wanted the ending to be more reflective of your choices (good or bad Karma), and that hope (longer life) for Arthur was based on those choices.
 
Arthur was destine for death because of TB. I was just hoping for a better ending to Arthur's legacy. Something that could have prolonged his life longer, or maybe something that the Native American Chief and his tribe could have resolved later with some type of mystical herbal remedy. I wanted the ending to be more reflective of your choices (good or bad Karma), and that hope (longer life) for Arthur was based on those choices.

I did actually wonder if Chief Rain Falls was going to come up with some hokey miracle cure given he makes a point of collecting a bunch of herbs on that trek up the mountain but then that really would have been quite hokey. :yep2: Had the original RDR not killed the main protagonist I wouldn't have minded Arthur dying but it just feels.. oh, this again!?! :rolleyes: I was not sentimental about losing Arthur as I was my horse, an Arabian I bought from the stables in St. Denis using cash from some of the gold bar rewards I picked up. I had the horse about 30-40 hours!

I didn't quite follow all the weird cutscenes throughout the game with the deer. Not sure what that was supposed to represent. :???:

The story could have benefited from a more nuanced slide. In RDR John said things got bad and that the gang fell apart but the core four of the group - Dutch, Hosea, Arthur and John - had been together at least 20 years with Arthur and John joining as boys. The gang had presumably been competent and fairly successful and there are lots of references (conversations, newspaper articles) noting that the gang only stole from the rich, avoid killing and helped those in need - Arthur throws this in Dutch's face in a conversation in Chapter VI. It would have be a greater contrast to show more of this in Chapter II because in the opening couple of chapters I was really taken in by Dutch. He was making all the right noises and genuinely seemed to care but around Chapter III he began a brisk slide into comic-book megalomania in a very unconvincing way.

Then there is Micah's weird influence over Dutch, which is frustratingly never explained. Presumably because it makes no sense but it could have. They could have made Micah less of a one-dimensional comic-book bad guy, had him liable but mysteriously putting money into the camp (perhaps brides from the Pinkertons) from jobs not fully explained and let a little more story for the player to contemplate who the mole was. But Micah is such a arsehole, I believed it was him with zero evidence. So it all started going wrong when the new guy joined? Hmm.. a tough one, call Sherlock Holmes.

I really liked the evolving dynamic between John and Arthur though. Overall I really enjoyed it but a few tweaks to the story could have made it so much better. John's demise in RDR was a shock just like Joel being impaled on that bar in The Last of Us, then you switching to Ellie. Real.. WTF.. NO, DID THAT JUST HAPPEN!?! :runaway:events you never saw coming but Micah stood out a mile off and they give Arthur TB so, uh, yeah.

Now for more exploring. Have you been to Armadillo? It's uh.. not doing great.
 
I'm having a bit of difficulty trying to keep track of all of my stuff. Some of it seems to be on my person, some on the horse, and some in my satchel?

Are these inventories shared, or (for example), if I'm riding the horse and try to find provisions and tonics these are different than the provisions and tonics in my satchel when I'm not on the horse?
 
Are these inventories shared, or (for example), if I'm riding the horse and try to find provisions and tonics these are different than the provisions and tonics in my satchel when I'm not on the horse?
Welcome to understanding the wonderful world of trying to understand the RDR2 interface. I think I finally have a decent grasp on it.

You can access your inventory either from the quick-select wheel or the actual inventory via long-press of right-arrow. For things like provisions, tonics etc. you have the same stuff however you don't see everything in wheel mode. Each section of the wheel is broken up into types of items, which you then cycle through with triggers to get the item you're after. So if you want to quickly consume a dead-eye tonic, enter your wheel, go to dead-eye provisions section with your joystick then cycle through to which one you'd like to consume, release shoulder to consume whilst selected.

For weapons, your shoulder items (not controller shoulder, your actual shoulder) are based on what you have selected prior to getting off your horse. If you don't have anything allocated to your shoulders before getting off your horse, you can interface with your satchel on the horse and select your weapons. You always have pistols/revolvers on you, though which ones you're carrying again is determined by what you have selected from your horse. The horse (satchel) is basically your bank.

After while I've become accustomed to the location of types of items in the quick-select wheel and also trying to remember to both have my rifles/shotguns equipped and the right ones for what I'm going to do. It's become somewhat intuitive and I'm much faster at consuming different applicable provisions for the intended result than when I first started.
 
It is a pity that there is no RDR2 on the PC, because probably some mods would appear to speed up the journey. For me, this game is too slow, but it is a masterpiece.
 
im curious, does RDR2 truly brings open world or its more of a mix between open and funneled/canned?

like for example, you need to go from point A to point B, and then when you reached point C, you found out that you actually need to do X on point F to complete the mission.

  • Can you directly go to F? Directly do X on point B? etc ... (like Metal Gear Solid V, and the in-game character even comment on that)
  • how the game keep you in the mission/quest/event? Invisible wall? arbitrary puny stone/hill/mountain that cant be climbed/jumped for no reason (like Destiny series)? or its free to your ability/equipment to traverse the world a-la Zelda BoTW?
  • how about physics interaction? each of them are independent blocks or can they interact with each other and the world? does it allows to be used to alter/complete/affect the mission? So you can complete the mission that requires you to do X, but how you do it, its up to your creativity.
 
im curious, does RDR2 truly brings open world or its more of a mix between open and funneled/canned?

like for example, you need to go from point A to point B, and then when you reached point C, you found out that you actually need to do X on point F to complete the mission.

  • Can you directly go to F? Directly do X on point B? etc ... (like Metal Gear Solid V, and the in-game character even comment on that)
  • how the game keep you in the mission/quest/event? Invisible wall? arbitrary puny stone/hill/mountain that cant be climbed/jumped for no reason (like Destiny series)? or its free to your ability/equipment to traverse the world a-la Zelda BoTW?
  • how about physics interaction? each of them are independent blocks or can they interact with each other and the world? does it allows to be used to alter/complete/affect the mission? So you can complete the mission that requires you to do X, but how you do it, its up to your creativity.

The game is very much open-world, very open to explore. The main story missions can be accomplished at any pace, as well as side missions and other activities (e.g., helping strangers, treasure hunts, bounty hunting, etc..). The main story interactions towards moving things along aren't overly complicated, not at all. The dialog between characters, cutscenes and targeted areas (map indicators) pretty much guide you along on accomplishing your missions. The open-world boundaries takes some time on reaching depending on how far inland you are. Usually it's the outer rocky mountains or certain vast rivers keeping you within the gaming boundaries. The boundaries aren't super obvious either (unless you look at the map... a completed map), and have great visual appeal with nice vistas. As for the game physics, they're pretty good for the most part... some bugs, nothing disastrous though.
 
I just reached Chapter 3. No idea how long I've played so far, many many hours.
Im terms of main missions, you're a little less than a quarter of the way through the main campaign.
 
i might have played around 30-40 hours and i'm only at the beginning of chapter 3 too.

Looking back, I explored a lot in Chapter 2 so when you begin to move around the map more in chapters 3 onwards, I had often explored those areas so didn't feel the need to do as much exploration as before. Plus the story began to click for me and I really wanted to see what happened next. I probably spend as many hours in chapter 2 as chapters 3, 4 and 5 combined.

YMMV.
 
Looking back, I explored a lot in Chapter 2 so when you begin to move around the map more in chapters 3 onwards, I had often explored those areas so didn't feel the need to do as much exploration as before. Plus the story began to click for me and I really wanted to see what happened next. I probably spend as many hours in chapter 2 as chapters 3, 4 and 5 combined.

YMMV.

Phew. Because I've spent a lot of time in it already, and I'm only at chapter 4.
 
The game is very much open-world, very open to explore. The main story missions can be accomplished at any pace, as well as side missions and other activities (e.g., helping strangers, treasure hunts, bounty hunting, etc..). The main story interactions towards moving things along aren't overly complicated, not at all. The dialog between characters, cutscenes and targeted areas (map indicators) pretty much guide you along on accomplishing your missions. The open-world boundaries takes some time on reaching depending on how far inland you are. Usually it's the outer rocky mountains or certain vast rivers keeping you within the gaming boundaries. The boundaries aren't super obvious either (unless you look at the map... a completed map), and have great visual appeal with nice vistas. As for the game physics, they're pretty good for the most part... some bugs, nothing disastrous though.

thanks, but im still not clear with the "open"-ness of the story mission and side mission. the way they "guide" you... does that mean there's only one way to complete it as designed by Rockstar, or its only a "soft guide" where you are allowed to complete it however you want as long as its within the main/original game design?

for example in Mafia 1,
the "soft guide" in one of the mission where you gonna chase a burglar or something in a high-pace car-chase... you can shoot their car tires beforehand, so when they starts running away, easy to chase.

so maybe in RDR2 there will be high-speed horse-chase from bank robbery gone wrong. But you can escape easily when you blocks the road beforehand with stuff (dunno, can you move blocks of crates? park multiple horses on the road?)

or RDR2 allows true freedom in completing the mission however you want with however way you take advantage the game mechanic? (like many missions in MGSV)
 
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thanks, but im still not clear with the "open"-ness of the story mission and side mission. the way they "guide" you... does that mean there's only one way to complete it as designed by Rockstar, or its only a "soft guide" where you are allowed to complete it however you want as long as its within the main/original game design?

for example in Mafia 1,
the "soft guide" in one of the mission where you gonna chase a burglar or something in a high-pace car-chase... you can shoot their car tires beforehand, so when they starts running away, easy to chase.

so maybe in RDR2 there will be high-speed horse-chase from bank robbery gone wrong. But you can escape easily when you blocks the road beforehand with stuff (dunno, can you move blocks of crates? park multiple horses on the road?)

or RDR2 allows true freedom in completing the mission however you want with however way you take advantage the game mechanic? (like many missions in MGSV)

Well, the main story missions allows a little deviation, usually during the heat of battle. But for the most part, missions are heavily scripted towards one or two outcomes on moving the story along. If a mission requires you to duck/cover behind a wall, move to a certain position, subdue an enemy quietly, sneak around a complex, or any other pre-objectives, then there is no deviation on doing so. Simply put, RDR2 story is tightly scripted for a more cinematic feel of a Western movie. So gamers interactions are more guided towards the story objectives... rather than complete freedom on tailoring them to the player.

That being said, most of your 'freedom' resides outside of the story (e.g., bounty hunting, stranger entanglements, outlaws hunting you, treasure seeking, etc...), and exploring the land.
 
After 20h I have somewhat mixed feelings about this game. Great (I mean GREAT) visuals, interesting setting are not enough when sometimes I am just bored and the only reason I continue is because I want to finish the mission and get autosave. Terrible UI doesn't help neither.
As someone said, it's a chore to play.
 
As a father of 4 little ones, it's been hard to get time away to sit & play, but I'm trying. ;) I think I'm still in Chapter 2, but really close to 3 as it's starting to pick up a bit. One of the missions I was able to go a different route than I think they originally planned & it made it easier. Really surprised me & now I'll start looking for little things like that to do differently. I finally got into some firefights that totally felt like RDR1. That was awesome. Unfortunately cool down time after those is really short. Can't seem to clean up the aftermath quick enough before the law shows up though. One thing I've noticed is I have started using my bandana more when committing crime to help keep my identity secret. Something I never did in the first game. I also haven't fully explored the map yet. Only been into Lemoyne once & never got to Rhodes or St Denis. Haven't even got to Annesburg either. Most of my exploring has been relegated to The Heartlands, Big Valley, Cumberland Forest & the Grizzlies. Anyway, I will keep plugging away. Hopefully I'll be done by Christmas. LOL

Tommy McClain
 
Unfortunately cool down time after those is really short. Can't seem to clean up the aftermath quick enough before the law shows up though. One thing I've noticed is I have started using my bandana more when committing crime to help keep my identity secret. Something I never did in the first game.
Crime, witnesses and investigations are so poorly explained. I bought the digital version of the strategy guide in the companion app which includes a full page flowchart of how this works.

In short, if a crime is neither witnessed nor discovered you get as long as like to loot the bodies. The game sneakily places many missions in or near populated areas or nearby trails where passing riders may notice bodies then ride off to report them. Even if you feel you are in the middle of nowhere, check you map for nearby trails. Bodies will get noticed. If there is some mass shootout, move the bodies away from the trails so you have time to loot them without the law showing up. Or just shoot everybody who passes by.

The bandana is also poorly explained in game. When committing a crime the bandana only reduces the risk of you being positively identified, i.e. they know Arthur Morgan committed the crime. If you are never positively identified you can avoid bounties. The NPCs are smarter than to be fooled by a bandana alone so if you wear the same clothes, ride the same horse, use the same custom weapons and have the general same facial hair, even wearing a bandana won't prevent you being identified.

E.g. if you use the general store in town a lot and always look the same, robbing it while wearing a bandana won't prevent the owner from recognising you. I used a setup of clothes for overt crimes and a different horse and this seemed to work for me.

I also haven't fully explored the map yet. Only been into Lemoyne once & never got to Rhodes or St Denis. Haven't even got to Annesburg either. Most of my exploring has been relegated to The Heartlands, Big Valley, Cumberland Forest & the Grizzlies. Anyway, I will keep plugging away. Hopefully I'll be done by Christmas. LOL

The map is really huge :yep2: I did a ton of exploration during Chapter 2 and thought I'd seen most of the areas new to RDR2 however as the chapters roll on, you realise how truly massive the map is which very distinct feeling huge areas of their own. Even having finish the game, there are a fair few area I've note been to yet or want to revisit to explore properly. I reckon people will be finding new things for years.
 
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