Red Dead Redemption 2

Rumpy · Post by **Rumpy** » Mon Jan 17, 2022 1:39 am

Smoove_B wrote: Sun Jan 16, 2022 7:25 pm ~90 hours and I hit the ending. Absolutely epic - I don't know any other way to describe it. I'm left with exactly the same feeling I had after finishing Red Dead Redemption on the Xbox360 years ago. So good, but man...what an ending. Hit hard even though I knew it was coming.

And I can't believe there's more!

Agreed. I felt it was honestly one of the best videogame stories ever made. Few games ever really give you such a gut-punch. If this game were a movie, it'd likely be an Oscar contender.

Octavious · Post by **Octavious** » Mon Jan 17, 2022 9:49 am

Smoove_B wrote: Mon Jan 17, 2022 12:32 am Yes, I'm in the epilogue now and it's...still processing.

RE: The "first" ending as you call it:

Spoiler:
I knew his ending would be related to violence but I didn't see his TB diagnosis happening at all. They did a good job of making that happen subtly and then reintroducing it as a plot point. I played Arthur as the bad guy trying to do better - very much how I played the original. Seeing him finally realize all the bad he'd done and try to come to terms with it was very well done. The final letter he received from Mary Linton was a real gut punch.

During that final set of scenes when my horse broke its legs and gets all screwed up when we were bushwhacked...when Arthur leans down after the gun fight and thanks him as its dying, I almost lost it. I had that same horse the *entire* game - never switched. That was one of the toughest things I've had to watch in a video game.
Just knowing how this all feeds into the original, I am quite curious to see where it ends in this game. Makes me want to dig out my Xbox360 and try to play that one again.

As I got a new video card a 3070 (bought my daughter a new computer and liberated the 3070 as she will be fine with the 1070ti) I started playing through it this week again and I must of missed a ton of crap the first time. It's really fun to play through a second time as you feel no urge to rush the main story. I just did a stranger mission that I have no idea how I missed with lost zoo animals. It was hilarious.

Spoiler:

Rumpy · Post by **Rumpy** » Mon Jan 17, 2022 3:19 pm

I managed to kill my white Arabian at one point. Couldn't revive it either. Can't remember what happened other than the fact that it was a total fluke. I think I ended up going off a cliff with it and by the time I got back to it, it was too late. I felt pretty distraught after that.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Mon Jan 17, 2022 4:17 pm

Still looking forward to playing this. Played 2 hours and its sat since. Cant hear it good...monitor speaker suck and headset is too low cause it was a powered headset...which is broke now anyways. Waiting until I rearrange the room and put it on the tv at the foot of the bed.

Rumpy · Post by **Rumpy** » Mon Jan 17, 2022 6:28 pm

FWIW, I found the game audio to be rather on the low end even with the sliders maxed out. I found that to be the same case with GTA V, so guessing it's something to do with the sound engine they use.

Octavious · Post by **Octavious** » Mon Jan 17, 2022 10:46 pm

Out of curiosity I checked how much someone would pay for my hardcover collectors edition guide. Um holy crap... Like 140 bucks lol

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Wed Jan 19, 2022 12:50 am

Yes, the game audio is very low on my PC too - I have to crank the desktop speakers and then remember to turn them back down.

I'm like 6+ hours into the epilogue and it feels like a whole additional game at this point. So much more to do and see. I think the new area that opened is like 30% the size of the original game. I just ran into a whole new faction I've never encountered and am finding random new side quests (even still). Absolutely crazy how much extra stuff there is.

Hrothgar · Post by **Hrothgar** » Wed Jan 19, 2022 1:24 am

Smoove_B wrote: Mon Jan 17, 2022 12:32 am Yes, I'm in the epilogue now and it's...still processing.

RE: The "first" ending as you call it:

Spoiler:
I knew his ending would be related to violence but I didn't see his TB diagnosis happening at all. They did a good job of making that happen subtly and then reintroducing it as a plot point. I played Arthur as the bad guy trying to do better - very much how I played the original. Seeing him finally realize all the bad he'd done and try to come to terms with it was very well done. The final letter he received from Mary Linton was a real gut punch.

During that final set of scenes when my horse broke its legs and gets all screwed up when we were bushwhacked...when Arthur leans down after the gun fight and thanks him as its dying, I almost lost it. I had that same horse the *entire* game - never switched. That was one of the toughest things I've had to watch in a video game.
Just knowing how this all feeds into the original, I am quite curious to see where it ends in this game. Makes me want to dig out my Xbox360 and try to play that one again.

Just curious, did you ever play Shadow of the Colossus? Agro was the first in game horse I felt bonded to. Many of the battles required mastery of your horse. In a dark and lonely game, you always had one friend. It really elevated the game.

Brian · Post by **Brian** » Wed Jan 19, 2022 8:12 am

Smoove_B wrote: Wed Jan 19, 2022 12:50 am Yes, the game audio is very low on my PC too - I have to crank the desktop speakers and then remember to turn them back down.

This is a known issue with RDR2. Try this, after starting the game, pull up your sound mixer by right clicking on the speaker icon in the system tray (be sure to click on sound mixer and not sound settings) then find the setting for RDR2.
You might have to scroll to the right a bit to find it.
I can almost guarantee that it's going to be set way low.
Just bring the slider back up to the desired level and you should be good to go.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Wed Jan 19, 2022 10:20 am

Huh. Never thought to check that, but I will. Thanks!

Hrothgar wrote: Wed Jan 19, 2022 1:24 am Just curious, did you ever play Shadow of the Colossus? Agro was the first in game horse I felt bonded to. Many of the battles required mastery of your horse. In a dark and lonely game, you always had one friend. It really elevated the game.

I haven't, no. But there's good news:

Bluepoint Games' excellent remake of Japan Studio and Team Ico's Shadow of the Colossus is set to come to PC sometime during Q1 2022

Octavious · Post by **Octavious** » Wed Jan 19, 2022 12:24 pm

Smoove_B wrote: Wed Jan 19, 2022 12:50 am Yes, the game audio is very low on my PC too - I have to crank the desktop speakers and then remember to turn them back down.

I'm like 6+ hours into the epilogue and it feels like a whole additional game at this point. So much more to do and see. I think the new area that opened is like 30% the size of the original game. I just ran into a whole new faction I've never encountered and am finding random new side quests (even still). Absolutely crazy how much extra stuff there is.

Heh the Epilogue could have been it's own game practically. I don't know how many hours it took me to beat, but it was a lot and I don't exactly take my sweet time playing games. I'm stilling plugging away on my 2nd run through and still totally enjoying it. I'm focusing on doing a lot of the collections and stuff which I didn't do the first time. I'm totally cheating on the treasure maps as I'm not smart enough to figure them out on my own.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Wed Jan 19, 2022 12:35 pm

I realize why they have to do it - to set up the story for Red Dead Redemption as there's clearly so much that happens between this game and that one. But yeah, it feels like a whole additional game and story. I'm still amazed by the landscape and game world. It's a marvel to just wander around and see what they've created.

Octavious · Post by **Octavious** » Wed Jan 19, 2022 12:45 pm

Ya I'm a sucker for little details in games so this is my dream game. The amount of detail in every single corner of the map is mind blowing. I seeing tonnnnsssss of stuff I missed the first time. It's nuts.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Wed Jan 19, 2022 12:59 pm

I played (as far as I know) every quest I could find except for one (involving a veteran and fishing) - could never get the hang of fishing in this game.

But just last night I found something right outside of Valentine - a place I'd been a hundred times. And yet on this random ride I noticed something under a bridge. Not sure if it's new or I am just seeing it based on the way I was on the path or whatever, but JFC - new stuff!

Spoiler:

Octavious · Post by **Octavious** » Wed Jan 19, 2022 1:02 pm

LOL I ran into that yesterday myself. I'm pretty sure I saw that the first time I played, but I don't remember if there's any kind of quest tied to it. I'd kind of be surprised if there wasn't one with how crazy the game is.

And a quick search and yes it's totally tied to a quest because of course it is. I 100% did not do that quest the first time. I may need a guide as I'm just not good at figuring out puzzles in these games.

Octavious · Post by **Octavious** » Wed Jan 19, 2022 1:06 pm

The one thing I'm trying to figure out/remember is how far I should go in the main quest to unlock stuff so that I can then just run around and do whatever I want. I stopped in Chapter 3 for now and I'm doing as much as I can. Think I'll need to advance a few chapters at least.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Wed Jan 19, 2022 1:15 pm

I felt like you could do pretty much whatever you wanted when you get to the Valentine part of the game. Some weapons are locked and if your health and stamina aren't leveled up you can get into some trouble, but in terms of wandering, I spent *hours* just doing that when we had the Valentine camp. I think you have to find a guy to start the herbalist collection, but he was in the area between Valentine and the first Fence for me. So many other challenges and collections get unlocked as you randomly do things, so I'm not really sure anymore now that I think about it. The fishing one was finding some guy. Dinosaur bones...random encounter. Treasure map...random map encounter. I ran into the rock carving guy in the Epilogue.

Early on i "accidentally" killed like 5 lawmen after some poor decision making and had my bounty up rather high. I spent a week (in game) hunting animals around Strawberry and selling parts to the local butcher so I could earn enough money to pay it off. I think that was one that started as a fistfight in Valentine and somehow I stabbed the guy and straight up killed him. That was quickly reported and I ran, but lawmen found me out in the open country. Figuring I could make it stop, I quickly shot them all (no witnesses, no crime), but somehow they used ESP to relate my crimes and my bounty went up to like $100.

This game is so good.

Rumpy · Post by **Rumpy** » Wed Jan 19, 2022 2:16 pm

Smoove_B wrote: Wed Jan 19, 2022 12:59 pm I played (as far as I know) every quest I could find except for one (involving a veteran and fishing) - could never get the hang of fishing in this game.

But just last night I found something right outside of Valentine - a place I'd been a hundred times. And yet on this random ride I noticed something under a bridge. Not sure if it's new or I am just seeing it based on the way I was on the path or whatever, but JFC - new stuff!

Spoiler:
looked like a crime scene - a dismembered torso hung from the bridge and a map piece stuffed into the head of the victim, nailed to the supports. "Look Upon My Works" scrawled in white paint next to it. Apparently there's a serial killer somewhere!

Yep, that actually does lead to something. It's just not listed as an actual quest trackable quest, but... the killer can be found.

Hrothgar · Post by **Hrothgar** » Wed Jan 19, 2022 6:19 pm

Smoove_B wrote: Wed Jan 19, 2022 10:20 am Huh. Never thought to check that, but I will. Thanks!

Hrothgar wrote: Wed Jan 19, 2022 1:24 am Just curious, did you ever play Shadow of the Colossus? Agro was the first in game horse I felt bonded to. Many of the battles required mastery of your horse. In a dark and lonely game, you always had one friend. It really elevated the game.
I haven't, no. But there's good news:

Bluepoint Games' excellent remake of Japan Studio and Team Ico's Shadow of the Colossus is set to come to PC sometime during Q1 2022

It won't be as groundbreaking now, but it's still an excellent and unique experience. Do check it out.

Octavious · Post by **Octavious** » Thu Jan 20, 2022 10:05 am

I spent an unhealthy amount of time trying to catch a fn squirrel last night. Those things are hard with a bow arrrrr.

I keep on meaning to do a keyboard and mouse playthrough in FP but it's so much more chill to sit back and play with a gamepad.

Madmarcus · Post by **Madmarcus** » Wed Jan 26, 2022 9:35 pm

A random guy killed me during a weekend Anomaly mission in NMS. I didn't actually lose much but it was enough to throw me off my stride and make me look for a new game. So I bit on RDR2 right before the end of the sale.

Qt3 was praising the RDO version but the consensus here seems to be that the story game is better. How long until the game opens up? While I'm sure that the story is great the real draw for me is an open world Western.

Octavious · Post by **Octavious** » Wed Jan 26, 2022 11:02 pm

Ya I saw that and I HIGHLY recommend playing the single player. It's god damn amazing. Playing online first would be a crime against humanity.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Wed Jan 26, 2022 11:13 pm

...and I just finished. Took me another 15 hours to complete the epilogue. Absolutely epic.

Madmarcus wrote: Wed Jan 26, 2022 9:35 pm How long until the game opens up? While I'm sure that the story is great the real draw for me is an open world Western.

I want to say it's about 2 hours of play time to get to the open world part. Maybe a little shorter or a little longer, but I don't think it's too bad as the pace is pretty quick early on.

Octavious · Post by **Octavious** » Wed Jan 26, 2022 11:19 pm

Ya 2-4 hours. And I highly doubt you will be bored during that time.

Rumpy · Post by **Rumpy** » Thu Jan 27, 2022 2:02 am

Octavious wrote: Wed Jan 26, 2022 11:02 pm Ya I saw that and I HIGHLY recommend playing the single player. It's god damn amazing. Playing online first would be a crime against humanity.

The singleplayer is probably my favourite game of the last console generation. The story is one of the best in a videogame.

Octavious · Post by **Octavious** » Thu Jan 27, 2022 1:27 pm

It's even better when you play it a second time and can really appreciate the character development that they do. Sadie Adler in particular. It really sticks out in the second playthrough how well they handled her storyline. I may start over again and try playing the entire game in FP mode. Well aside from riding the horses. I tried that and wanted to die.

Thankfully they put a setting that will auto put you into 3rd person for that.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Thu Jan 27, 2022 1:36 pm

Even watching the end game credits was great, despite seeing one final gut punch

Spoiler:

But all the other scenes inter-spliced with the credits were really well done. I sincerely hope they are going to remaster and sell the original on PC. I don't think this game unseats the Witcher 3 for me, but it's definitely a close second. I think the only difference is the scope - W3 has that all-encompassing grand fantasy feel, but RDR2 felt more like finishing numerous seasons of a cable series.

stimpy · Post by **stimpy** » Thu Jan 27, 2022 1:37 pm

I cant find where I bought this from.
Not Steam. Not Epic.
Rockstar doesnt recognize any of my emails.......

Octavious · Post by **Octavious** » Thu Jan 27, 2022 2:14 pm

Smoove_B wrote: Thu Jan 27, 2022 1:36 pm Even watching the end game credits was great, despite seeing one final gut punch

Spoiler:
Mary Linton visiting Arthur's grave, weeping
But all the other scenes inter-spliced with the credits were really well done. I sincerely hope they are going to remaster and sell the original on PC. I don't think this game unseats the Witcher 3 for me, but it's definitely a close second. I think the only difference is the scope - W3 has that all-encompassing grand fantasy feel, but RDR2 felt more like finishing numerous seasons of a cable series.

I tried to play the Witcher 3 this week and noped out of it. The animations are wayyyy worse than I remember and coming from RD2 to that is very jarring. And I love that game... I have to give the nod to RD2 for me, but that's because I love old westerns. And I don't think I laugh any harder than when something horrible happens in RD2. I was chasing someone on a horse rammed a dude that made me somersault off my horse into a gigantic pile of mud. It was amazing.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Thu Jan 27, 2022 2:27 pm

Have you seen any of the uh...random club meetings in Lemoyne? The ones that usually happen in the woods and with torches? Comedy gold!

Octavious · Post by **Octavious** » Thu Jan 27, 2022 2:37 pm

Oh ya I found the one where they dropped a cross on themselves. I then tossed a Molotov cocktail at them. I marveled at the fact that the cart slowly caught fight and burnt to the ground. The amount of detail in even the smallest stuff is why this is probably my favorite game.

Rumpy · Post by **Rumpy** » Thu Jan 27, 2022 3:10 pm

Octavious wrote: Thu Jan 27, 2022 1:27 pm It's even better when you play it a second time and can really appreciate the character development that they do. Sadie Adler in particular. It really sticks out in the second playthrough how well they handled her storyline. I may start over again and try playing the entire game in FP mode. Well aside from riding the horses. I tried that and wanted to die. Thankfully they put a setting that will auto put you into 3rd person for that.

Oh yeah, Sadie was great. I liked how they had written her after she left the gang. It kind of made me wish we would have seen her throughout the first game given RDR 2 is technically a prequel. But overall, I really like how everything organically fits into into the first game after the events of this one. They really took care to write something that made sense for them all.

And the kid that eventually grows up, and to learn that it's the same kid that you play during the first game's epilogue, ends up giving it even more emotional weight. Details like that are incredible.

And the soundtrack. The soundtrack doesn't nearly get talked about enough. It was composed by Canadian producer and musician Daniel Lanois, who produced two of U2''s acclaimed albums (Achtung, and Joshua Tree) among other big name artists.

When 'That's The Way It Is' starts playing and you're on your horse, it's hard not to get choked up and I can't remember any other game that's done that. 'Cruel Cruel World' indeed. And interestingly, it's Willie Nelson that sings it in the game, and Lanois has produced Willie Nelson before.

Here's a longer concert of the soundtrack for anyone interested:

Octavious wrote: Thu Jan 27, 2022 2:14 pm
I tried to play the Witcher 3 this week and noped out of it. The animations are wayyyy worse than I remember and coming from RD2 to that is very jarring. And I love that game... I have to give the nod to RD2 for me, but that's because I love old westerns. And I don't think I laugh any harder than when something horrible happens in RD2. I was chasing someone on a horse rammed a dude that made me somersault off my horse into a gigantic pile of mud. It was amazing.

You know, nearly everyone was giving RDR2 grief for the animation and controls, but I feel it was deliberate that the characters felt heavier. I think they took it more in a direction similar to GTA 4, but to me they feel more realistic and grounded, and the ragdolls are very good.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Thu Jan 27, 2022 3:17 pm

Yeah, the music is great. I didn't see it in the game, but noticed that Postmodern Jukebox were listed in the credits. Here's their cameo in the game:

Rumpy · Post by **Rumpy** » Thu Jan 27, 2022 4:55 pm

Heh, I think I remember seeing their name in the credits, but didn't realize they were part of the theatre. That's kind of hilarious in the same way hearing modern music in Westworld. Feels entirely appropriate here though!

Octavious · Post by **Octavious** » Thu Jan 27, 2022 4:55 pm

Yup I mean I have very few things that I could say I don't like about the game. It's just so well done on every level. It would have been nice to get at least 1 freaking DLC, but GTV Online killed that model.

Madmarcus · Post by **Madmarcus** » Thu Jan 27, 2022 8:27 pm

I'm about 2 hours in. One hour in the story/single player and one hour in the RDO.

Mostly I've found myself comparing RDR2 to the last three open world games I have played; FO4, NMS, and Dying Light. All three of the others feel more fluid in motion. In the snowy intro that makes sense. On horseback it makes sense although I haven't been able to make my horse jump yet (I thought it was space but I haven't really looked into it). Moving around in RDO looked great but it felt like I was constantly running into and getting hung up on rocks and bushes in a way that I don't in Dying Light. I'll try the first person view tonight and see how it feels.

But the bigger issue is the K&M control scheme! Even after NMS and Dying Light I'm just not used to holding down keys. Even worse there seem to be too many unintuitive keys in RDR2. Did anyone use a different keymapping?

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Thu Jan 27, 2022 8:32 pm

Madmarcus wrote: Thu Jan 27, 2022 8:27 pm Did anyone use a different keymapping?

Xbox360 controller on the PC, as is my preference for these style games. It's perfect. I honestly don't know how y'all play some of these games K/M - when I see the control layouts they're absurd.

Madmarcus · Post by **Madmarcus** » Thu Jan 27, 2022 10:56 pm

I don't own any console and haven't used a controller. I"m sure they are great but I'm not getting one.

gbasden · Post by **gbasden** » Thu Jan 27, 2022 11:19 pm

Smoove_B wrote: Thu Jan 27, 2022 8:32 pm
Xbox360 controller on the PC, as is my preference for these style games. It's perfect. I honestly don't know how y'all play some of these games K/M - when I see the control layouts they're absurd.

And I have no idea how you aim a gun with a controller. It's just alien to me.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Thu Jan 27, 2022 11:47 pm

gbasden wrote: Thu Jan 27, 2022 11:19 pm And I have no idea how you aim a gun with a controller. It's just alien to me.

GTA and RDR use a "snap to aim" mechanic when you pull a gun which will have you automatically track a target when you pull the trigger. And then of course with the Dead Eye mechanic, it's a simple matter of switching to ultra slow motion and just painting the enemy where you'd like. With the thumbstick. It's not elegant and I have no doubt someone using KB/M is more accurate, but that's my tradeoff to have everything else at the touch of a button.

Madmarcus wrote: Thu Jan 27, 2022 10:56 pm I don't own any console and haven't used a controller. I"m sure they are great but I'm not getting one.

Understood. I keep mentioning the greatness of the Xbox360 controller on the off chance people have one sitting around thinking they'd never connect it to a PC. When I switched over to console gaming for a few years I had to learn how to use it. And then when I came back to PC gaming, plugging the controller in to the PC to play the same style games (GTA, Batman, Tomb Raider, etc...) made complete sense. I'm strictly KB/M for first person shooters and RTS titles. But third person action? Controller convert. I totally get it's a comfort thing. I have a friend that just can't do it - but he somehow can use a Nostromo keypad-thingy (which I could never figure out or get comfortable with).