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Red Dead Redemption 2: Good or shit?

Ladonna

Arcane
Joined
Aug 27, 2006
Messages
10,637
Hello all,

I have been getting mixed messages about this game. Hordes of people online reckon it is the 'best game evar' but I have seen a number of quality posters talk about it being more restrictive than the GTA formula. Also talk of a lot of PC bugs, though that was a while ago, so these might be ironed out?

For reference, I enjoyed GTA VC, GTA SA and GTA V.

So is it worth a purchase? Or is it another "Oblibion is the best game evar"?
 

boot

Prophet
Joined
Dec 20, 2015
Messages
1,016
Location
Bartow, FL
I played about halfway through the story. There's a lot of talking and cinematic bullshit, the actual game isn't great. Lever action firearms and horses were cool for a few hours I guess.

I would not spend a penny on this game
 

cretin

Magister
Douchebag!
Joined
Apr 20, 2019
Messages
1,347
I haven't played it. But I think the consensus here was that the main story was boring cinematic trash but the actual free-roam gameplay was great?
 

Ezekiel

Arcane
Joined
May 3, 2017
Messages
5,372
For reference, I enjoyed... GTA V.

I don't get why you're even asking then. I don't like the way it plays or how it uses its open world or Rockstar's storytelling, but you obviously do. It's an open world Rockstar game. One should know what to expect by now.

The last one I liked was Max Payne 3. I know they'll never make a game like that again.
 

Ladonna

Arcane
Joined
Aug 27, 2006
Messages
10,637
I don't get why you're even asking then. I don't like the way it plays or how it uses its open world or Rockstar's storytelling, but you obviously do. It's an open world Rockstar game. One should know what to expect by now.

Because I enjoyed Daggerfall, didn't mind Morrowind and hated Oblibion. Studios change, and instead of asking morons from mainstream sites I ask people from the Codex. All good now?
 

Falksi

Arcane
Joined
Feb 14, 2017
Messages
10,538
Location
Nottingham
It's fucking dogwank. Real lame-ass shite.

Hours of dull cut-scenes, held together by fucking AWFUL, bland, lackluster gameplay with no real excitement or substance. Hell the game plays itself half the time.

Go to the shop to buy some sardines, ride over barren nothingland for minutes on end, get involved with gunfights which offer no or little genuine challenge etc.

If you wanted to purge the world of decliner cunts, you'd invent a virus which would wipe out all those who enjoyed RDR2, because it's geared towards nothing but mongism.
 

Drakortha

Liturgist
Joined
Jan 23, 2016
Messages
1,657
Location
Terra Australis
It's fucking dogwank. Real lame-ass shite.

Hours of dull cut-scenes, held together by fucking AWFUL, bland, lackluster gameplay with no real excitement or substance. Hell the game plays itself half the time.

Go to the shop to buy some sardines, ride over barren nothingland for minutes on end, get involved with gunfights which offer no or little genuine challenge etc.

If you wanted to purge the world of decliner cunts, you'd invent a virus which would wipe out all those who enjoyed RDR2, because it's geared towards nothing but mongism.

Who are you and how many subscribers & followers do you have? You're objectively wrong about this game because -INSERT FAVORITE YOUTUBER HERE- said this game was the greatest open world experience they ever played and gave it a 10/10
 

spectre

Arcane
Joined
Oct 26, 2008
Messages
5,381
I have been getting mixed messages about this game. Hordes of people online reckon it is the 'best game evar' but I have seen a number of quality posters talk about it being more restrictive than the GTA formula. Also talk of a lot of PC bugs, though that was a while ago, so these might be ironed out?
For reference, I enjoyed GTA VC, GTA SA and GTA V.
So is it worth a purchase? Or is it another "Oblibion is the best game evar"?

When it comes to bugs, I didn't see anything game-breaking, it's mostly funky object collission issues, horses getting stuck,
shit (literally the thing that comes from the horses' arseholes) being suspended in mid-air, etc.

GTA games always tire me out at some point, I progressed quite far into GTA SA, but GTA4 and GTA5 wore me out rather quickly.
I managed to get to chapter 4 in RDR2 then dropped it. Don't have enough SSD space to justify keeping 120 gigs occupied "for later".

"Best gaem ever" is a stretch. I was rather enthusiastic at first, despite the game's clunkiness (I am told it is by design),
because you can tell a lot of quality work has been done into details not everyone will see - an example of this is NPCs grimacing if you blow cigarette smoke in their faces,
you will pretty much only see this is in first person mode. The game is full of little details like this, and the world feels very responsive.

My biggest gripe about the game is while there's a lot to do, a lot of it is self defeating. I spent a lot of my time in the early game rustling horses,
ambushing strangers, sneaking into stables at night, only to find out that I will get to the best stuff by progressing the main storyline,
I will also get more money than I could possibly spend. Unless you really want to buy a whole crapton of clothes and rifle engravings.

Sure, you can larp a hunter who brings a haul of animal hides to town every now and then, have a good time and enjoy the magnificent views the game
has to offer. Problem is, this is clearly at odds with the main game, which seems to want you to stick around the camp and head down south
(which is where the game turned to shit for me). You also earn peanuts this way. At best, you can hope for a cosmetic reward unlock with little effect on how the game actually plays.

So what the game is actually good for? You can enjoy the story and characterization (though it's a bit of a slog), it's a good game where you ride a horse, enjoy the views, take a nice screenie in photo mode,
sit around the campfire and listen to some corny songs. It's more of a cowboy-themed sandbox theme park, in a similar vein to other stuff by rockstar.
In my opinion, the do a much better job than Ubicrap open world thingies, but it's still a stretch calling it a game.

Can't comment on the online portion, didn't have the stomach for it as the main game kinda burned me out.
Not sure if it fixes any of the problems I'm having with the game - terrible progression and lack of meaning behind the activities, but I'm also not too keen on finding out among the inevitable griefers and hackers.
 

Ladonna

Arcane
Joined
Aug 27, 2006
Messages
10,637
I have been getting mixed messages about this game. Hordes of people online reckon it is the 'best game evar' but I have seen a number of quality posters talk about it being more restrictive than the GTA formula. Also talk of a lot of PC bugs, though that was a while ago, so these might be ironed out?
For reference, I enjoyed GTA VC, GTA SA and GTA V.
So is it worth a purchase? Or is it another "Oblibion is the best game evar"?

When it comes to bugs, I didn't see anything game-breaking, it's mostly funky object collission issues, horses getting stuck,
shit (literally the thing that comes from the horses' arseholes) being suspended in mid-air, etc.

GTA games always tire me out at some point, I progressed quite far into GTA SA, but GTA4 and GTA5 wore me out rather quickly.
I managed to get to chapter 4 in RDR2 then dropped it. Don't have enough SSD space to justify keeping 120 gigs occupied "for later".

"Best gaem ever" is a stretch. I was rather enthusiastic at first, despite the game's clunkiness (I am told it is by design),
because you can tell a lot of quality work has been done into details not everyone will see - an example of this is NPCs grimacing if you blow cigarette smoke in their faces,
you will pretty much only see this is in first person mode. The game is full of little details like this, and the world feels very responsive.

My biggest gripe about the game is while there's a lot to do, a lot of it is self defeating. I spent a lot of my time in the early game rustling horses,
ambushing strangers, sneaking into stables at night, only to find out that I will get to the best stuff by progressing the main storyline,
I will also get more money than I could possibly spend. Unless you really want to buy a whole crapton of clothes and rifle engravings.

Sure, you can larp a hunter who brings a haul of animal hides to town every now and then, have a good time and enjoy the magnificent views the game
has to offer. Problem is, this is clearly at odds with the main game, which seems to want you to stick around the camp and head down south
(which is where the game turned to shit for me). You also earn peanuts this way. At best, you can hope for a cosmetic reward unlock with little effect on how the game actually plays.

So what the game is actually good for? You can enjoy the story and characterization (though it's a bit of a slog), it's a good game where you ride a horse, enjoy the views, take a nice screenie in photo mode,
sit around the campfire and listen to some corny songs. It's more of a cowboy-themed sandbox theme park, in a similar vein to other stuff by rockstar.
In my opinion, the do a much better job than Ubicrap open world thingies, but it's still a stretch calling it a game.

Can't comment on the online portion, didn't have the stomach for it as the main game kinda burned me out.
Not sure if it fixes any of the problems I'm having with the game - terrible progression and lack of meaning behind the activities, but I'm also not too keen on finding out among the inevitable griefers and hackers.


Great answer, thanks for taking the time to write it up.

From what you have written I will relegate it to a later heavy discount purchase, as I did with the GTA games. Everyone running around like headless chickens, declaring it was the second coming of Christ lead me to see what people here thought about it. I don't care about the online portion, so no worries about not writing anything about that.

Thanks again.
 
Joined
Jan 19, 2015
Messages
633
Location
Vindobona
Biggest gaming disappointment in the last years. Had a lot of friends telling me what a great game it was beforehand. Bought it at 20% off and I still regret it. Great open world gameplay, world does feel alive and responsive, tons of small but nice details. But I cannot overstate how bad the actual gameplay is. If you think shooting and gunplay in GTA V was lackluster (especially when compared to GTA IV), you will stare in disbelief at this shooting gallery. Ive seen early light gun shooters that played better and had more freedom than this.

A few words about story and characters because everyone said it was the bestest and deepest story evar: The Ending is good, the way there is horrible. Pacing is a disaster, the progression in the story makes absolutely no sense at all.
("Hey, we gotta flee and lay low after the robbery we did in chapter 2, how about we get involved in a massive feud in chapter 3 and exterminate some huge clans for good measure?")
Dutch is a truly great character, but the rest of the cast goes all the way from average to horrible. Ah yes, somewhat of a minor thing, but the very obvious SJW inserts kept annoying me throughout the game, especially when compared to the somewhat nihilistic attitude of RDR 1. Example:
You wanna know who the big bad (and traitor) of the story is? Just pay attention to who uses the first racist insult during the game.

One of the few games where I really had to force myself to finish it. Buy at a heavy, and I do mean heavy, discount or not at all.
 
Self-Ejected

aweigh

Self-Ejected
Joined
Aug 23, 2005
Messages
17,978
Location
Florida
Hello all,

I have been getting mixed messages about this game. Hordes of people online reckon it is the 'best game evar' but I have seen a number of quality posters talk about it being more restrictive than the GTA formula. Also talk of a lot of PC bugs, though that was a while ago, so these might be ironed out?

For reference, I enjoyed GTA VC, GTA SA and GTA V.

So is it worth a purchase? Or is it another "Oblibion is the best game evar"?

it's rockstar's worst game, hard to explain in a single sentence what makes it so bad but it's a trainwreck. it's an exercise in tedium to play, shitty cowboy story and they never shut the fuck up, takes too long to do anything, none of the mechanical systems matter or have any impact on the gameplay, animations are slow and boring, controls are clunky, movement is bad, but the worst offense is the missions are terrible and are some of the worst examples of badly scripted "cinematic" gameplay you can find.

absolute cancer of the worst of the worst aspects of modern game design. i knew something was up when the game asked me to keep A button held down in order to walk alongside an NPC who was delivering exposition for 10 minutes.

if you want a game that does what RDR2 attempted but does it right then I recommend playing Kingdom Come: Deliverance. KC:D is a great example of a game that does everything right. It is the opposite of RDR2. KC:D is a modern masterpiece of a game.

If you just want some R* gameplay I recommend sticking with GTA 5. gta 5 is a much better game than rdr2; gta 5 is at least an actual video game whereas rdr2 is one of the worst examples of "cinematic gaming" i can think of... like i just said, rdr2 is all the worst aspects of modern game design brought to a boil.

the story is so fucking boring too... everyone talks your fucking ear off. these hardened cowboys never shut the fuck up. Less than 5 hours in you realize Dutch is a fucking lunatic retard but the game forces you to keep simping for him the entire time, everything feels like it works against what the player wants from how to control or play the game to how the story plays out.

I didn't even mention how you instantly-fail missions if you take 1 foot outside of the special mission "path", even if it's for something as simple as going to take a different color horse instead of the special mission horse the game wants you to take. the graphics are amazing, the production values are amazing, but the game is soul-crushing. it is peak modern game design but only the absolute worst parts of it.
 
Self-Ejected

aweigh

Self-Ejected
Joined
Aug 23, 2005
Messages
17,978
Location
Florida
I don't care about the online portion

Even worse than the single-player. I actually failed the first Online mission because the game wanted me to get on a horse next to the NPC talking to me, but I walked a few feet to the left to get on the horse of one of the bandits I killed; the game didn't like that and instantly failed me. Very bad first impression.

I kept playing online until reaching Valentine town and got my first randomly-generated mission, go kill some enemies in a forest, but before leaving I decided I wanted to cause some mayhem in town so I shot a few NPCs standing around and guess what happened? Game instantly Failed me and gave me a game over. I quit after that.
 

Drakortha

Liturgist
Joined
Jan 23, 2016
Messages
1,657
Location
Terra Australis
Stop being haters!!!

8KZm8sU.png
 
Self-Ejected

Harry Easter

Self-Ejected
Joined
Jul 27, 2016
Messages
819
It's a genuine toss up. Both are painful to play.

RDR2 is a bit less depressing than GTA IV. In RDR2 I can live out my fantasy of ridding into the sunset. In GTA IV I just live in a shitty appartement and my only friend is my annoying cousin, whose brain I want to splash at the tapestry, but I won't because he's family. And suddenly it's like playing real life.
 
Last edited:

Falksi

Arcane
Joined
Feb 14, 2017
Messages
10,538
Location
Nottingham
It's a genuine toss up. Both are painful to play.

RDR 2 is a bit less depressing than GTA IV. In RDR 2 I can live out my fantasy of ridding into the sunset. In GTA IV I just live in a shitty appartement and my only friend is my annoying cousin whose brain I want to splash at the tapestry, but I won't because he's family and suddenly it's like playing real life.

Yeah, if I had to choose I guess I'd go the same way for similar reasons.

It's fucking shameful such games are even considered OK though, never mind "classics". I'd seriously like to kick the living fuck out of every cunt who rated RDR2 as a "classic". They deserve all the evil in this world strewn upon them in droves, whilst those who hate it should be basking in the Mediterranean sun, eating fine food, sipping fine wine and being serviced by a plethora of hot bitches.
 
Last edited:
Self-Ejected

Harry Easter

Self-Ejected
Joined
Jul 27, 2016
Messages
819
The thing is, they are "good" at what they do. It just isn't fun and tonally very confused. I could get into Nicos story (who really is a well written character, that's why he depresses me so much), but the game wants to tell something about revenge and the american dream being a lie, while still having a blast about names like "Pisswasser" (hahahohohehe). Same with RDR2. For the kind of stories they want to tell, the game is still too much game and both stories are too dark for the silly shit you do in them. Well and I think the pacing in RDR1 was better, because the gameworld was smaller too and John had more of a character. Arthur just grunts and follows.
 
Joined
Jan 14, 2018
Messages
50,754
Codex Year of the Donut
It's a fantastic cowboy simulator.
I remember reading someone describing it as "the worst good game they ever played" and I'd agree.

Looks great and runs great though.
 

Ash

Arcane
Joined
Oct 16, 2015
Messages
6,230
Hello all,

I have been getting mixed messages about this game. Hordes of people online reckon it is the 'best game evar' but I have seen a number of quality posters talk about it being more restrictive than the GTA formula. Also talk of a lot of PC bugs, though that was a while ago, so these might be ironed out

Gameplay-wise it's shit.

For reference, I enjoyed GTA VC, GTA SA and GTA V.

Oh, never mind then. You'll love it. All the frivolous bland gameplay you'll ever want from a game.
 

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