Red Dead Redemption

[Garple]

  Squid Division said:

Also I don't really get the point of the honor system, as the story is completely linear.

Yeah, it's kind of annoying that Rockstar games try to emphasize moral complexity but don't allow you to make any decisions. When you start working with Nigel West Dickens, it really highlights how the game weirdly forces you down a path as though there's no other choice, when really, there should be. I can't understand why John Marsten would help this guy, but then be so sanctimonious about what West Dickens does for a living. Realistically, relying on West Dickens shouldn't be his only option, and it doesn't even seem like the best option. Complaints aside I really like some of the characters (especially West Dickens and Seth) I like the revisionist/acid western vibe this game gives off.

[Patters]

  GrouchoClub said:

Yeah, it's kind of annoying that Rockstar games try to emphasize moral complexity but don't allow you to make any decisions. When you start working with Nigel West Dickens, it really highlights how the game weirdly forces you down a path as though there's no other choice, when really, there should be. I can't understand why John Marsten would help this guy, but then be so sanctimonious about what West Dickens does for a living. Realistically, relying on West Dickens shouldn't be his only option, and it doesn't even seem like the best option. Complaints aside I really like some of the characters (especially West Dickens and Seth) I like the revisionist/acid western vibe this game gives off.

opposed to almost every other game that gives you a binary choice, which affects very little.

The system in the game reminds me of Fable's there are a load of little side things which affect how the world perceives the player's character.

[Murdoc]

  GrouchoClub said:

Yeah, it's kind of annoying that Rockstar games try to emphasize moral complexity but don't allow you to make any decisions. When you start working with Nigel West Dickens, it really highlights how the game weirdly forces you down a path as though there's no other choice, when really, there should be. I can't understand why John Marsten would help this guy, but then be so sanctimonious about what West Dickens does for a living. Realistically, relying on West Dickens shouldn't be his only option, and it doesn't even seem like the best option. Complaints aside I really like some of the characters (especially West Dickens and Seth) I like the revisionist/acid western vibe this game gives off.

This is kind of my issues with the two things that seem to be fighting each other in this game.

One being my perception and the competant execution of dynamic events and open ended structure. With all the road side events, strangers, and area events in the game I really was hoping this was more of a Stalker style game.

The other being the tired Rockstar formula of linear paths. I really like their stories, cut scenes, and dialog(maybe not so much in Red Dead, its a bit vanilla) butthey do this really well, it just isn't working very well in Red Dead because the game mechanics make it feel more dynamic then what the story mission paths are offering... so I feel those two things are fighting each other and I hope for a sequel that settles on one or the other.

In terms of story, yeah its silly Marsten needs a rag tag bunch of crooks to get into a fort... but meh. Im getting more dissapointed with the fact that capturing Bill Williamson seems to be the entire point of the game; I'm really sick of games that introduce me to what seems like a pretty typical errand int he first five minutes then makes me spend the next 5-60 hours going through hoops to complete that task.

I've destroyed a million people at this point, walking into a fort and killing some super villian doesn't seem like a big task. Too many video games have these really low level stories and it's getting a bit boring.

[Murdoc]

HOLY SWEET ZOMBIE CHRIST!

Hillcoat directs short film using RDR!

http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/64012

[ThunderPeel2001]

  Murdoc said:

HOLY SWEET ZOMBIE CHRIST!

Hillcoat directs short film using RDR!

http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/64012

Directs? Hmmm...

"A Short Film Made From Red Dead Redemption is not a prequel – instead, director John Hillcoat was given free reign to use the world of Red Dead Redemption as his own personal film studio, manipulating characters, animals, sound and weather to create his own personal vision of the first chapter of Marston's story – his quest to capture Bill Williamson. By capturing gameplay footage and editing cutscenes, Hillcoat and editor Barry Alexander Brown were able to create a unique short film that deals with one specific slice of the game's story. (Confession - there are about two or three lines of dialogue we re-recorded for the piece, and a couple where we had to remove bad language. Otherwise it is 100% from the game.)"

http://www.rockstargames.com/newswire/article/5911/asked_&_answered_red_dead_redemption_multiplayer_dlc_hunting_and_more.article

[Rueler]

I was riding aimlessly, when I saw a guy get off his horse and start running. I followed him, and after a few seconds he stopped, and I saw him unzip, and start pissing! I just kind of stood there and stared at him, and then he just walked back to his horse and rode away. It was a very surreal experience.

[toblix]

  Rueler said:

I was riding aimlessly, when I saw a guy get off his horse and start running. I followed him, and after a few seconds he stopped, and I saw him unzip, and start pissing! I just kind of stood there and stared at him, and then he just walked back to his horse and rode away. It was a very surreal experience.

I love that Rockstar does these kinds of loosely scripted things. I saw that guy too.

[Armchair General]

Toblix was that guy.

[Nappi]

I have played the game for a couple of hours now and I'm mostly loving it. Exploring the wilderness feels pretty great and there has been enough variation in the missions so far (compared to, say, Fallout 3).

This game really makes me appreciate the control layout in Uncharted 2, though. Changing the weapon in the middle of the fight, for instance, is just painful to me. I also think that the melee attack could have been assigned to different button than shooting. And R1 to make your horse slow down?

I appreciate how my horse comes to me pretty much where ever I am when I whistle to it. Choosing the fastest route from the top of a canyon to the bottom shows a bit too much loyalty for my tastes, though.

[Roderick]

I love how this game's random event mechanics create the most heart wrenching unscripted scenarios. I already spoke of the way a lynching gone bad can really get to you, but what happened last night blew that away.

I had won a round of Liar's Dice (which is surprisingly fun). To celebrate, I thought I'd get completely wasted, so I started ordering liquor until I couldn't anymore. I stumbled away from the bar and in typical hilarious Rockstar fashion I'd tumble over and just lie down for seconds before slowly rising again. I managed to stagger out of the pueblo's restaurant into the nightly air. I was enjoying this, really. Then suddenly a woman screamed. As I jerked my head at her she came running from an arcade chased by an angry Mexican guy. This is usually where you'd lasso the guy and save the lady. But I was too drunk to pull my gun. As I looked at her, haggardly and barely able to stand, the man jumped on her with a knife. I couldn't do a thing and once again fell down on my drunken ass. The man stabbed the lady to death violently and ran away.

That night, John Marston swore never to drink again. It seems the decency of this world rests on my shoulders, and I neglected that responsibility. The weight of this virtual world is truly terrifying.

[Nappi]

Is there any way to tell which horse is better than the other? I assume that gray/white horses are better than the brown and mixed ones because they look cooler. I lassoed one a while ago but wasn't able to test my theory properly, as I accidentally shot three of her legs and finally her face in dead eye soon after I had tamed her.

As a side note, auto-targetting is so fucking stupid in this game.

[toblix]

  Nappi said:

As a side note, auto-targetting is so fucking stupid in this game.

From what I understand, the difficulty levels in the game are just different auto-aiming systems. The easy one is GTA IV style, the normal one is like easy, only once you move the stick it's manual aiming, and hard is fully manual. I'm playing on normal, but I keep re-drawing my gun to snap to the next target, so I'm cheating the system in a way.

As for deadeye, in the start of the game, it was just Max Payne like slow-mo, but at one point it started placing little crosses when I aimed over people. Anyone know when this starts, and if there's a way to disable it? I don't like wasting bullets on horses and dead men's shoulders.

[Nappi]

  toblix said:

As for deadeye, in the start of the game, it was just Max Payne like slow-mo, but at one point it started placing little crosses when I aimed over people. Anyone know when this starts, and if there's a way to disable it? I don't like wasting bullets on horses and dead men's shoulders.

Poor choice of words from my part. I meant the auto-marking in dead eye mode. That is how I said goodbye to my beautiful horse.

[Squid Division]

When you get to

  Reveal hidden contents

Mexico

you meet someone who teaches you how to use the third dead-eye. It's a combination of the first two, where you can use it to just slow down time, or you can manually place the X markers with RB/R1.

[Murdoc]

Arrived in Theives Landing last night during a thunderstorm; I bought the available room and hunkered down for the night.

I woke up in the morning and it was still dark and raining, I walked down the stairs and saw the road, so I hoped over the railing into deep water and drown to death.

Thank you for that, Rockstar.

[toblix]

  Murdoc said:

Arrived in Theives Landing last night during a thunderstorm; I bought the available room and hunkered down for the night.

I woke up in the morning and it was still dark and raining, I walked down the stairs and saw the road, so I hoped over the railing into deep water and drown to death.

Thank you for that, Rockstar.

Haha, I did the exact same thing! Good times.

[Erkki]

What's R1? Pressing down the right analog stick?

[Xeneth]

  Erkki said:

What's R1? Pressing down the right analog stick?

It's right bumper (RB) for PS3 owners is all. The right shoulder button closest to the "face" of the controller. Likely quoted because we don't know which system ya'll are playing it on.

  Squid Division said:

When you get to

  Reveal hidden contents

Mexico

you meet someone who teaches you how to use the third dead-eye. It's a combination of the first two, where you can use it to just slow down time, or you can manually place the X markers with RB/R1.

I too was really hating the "second" phase auto-marking dead-eye. Hang in there, it evolves into the best of both worlds! In the meantime remember that you can hit R3/RS again to cancel out after making marks if one of them is on something you don't want to shoot.

Has anyone been having their horse randomly drop dead while doing side content? As in, I'm getting off to help someone, doing so, turning around, and seeing that my horse has collapsed, even if there were no shots fired in the incident... Maybe it's getting bitten by a snake or something? I turned the camera around once JUST in time to see it flopping to the ground while wandering around a little though, and I didn't hear any cougars or anything. Weird stuff. Wouldn't be the first bug to crop up every now and then in a Rockstar open world game though, ha ha! It's only happened 4 or so times in maybe 15 hours of gameplay, and I have the deeds to replace them, so it's not a huge deal.

I can't seem to bring myself to skin my horse after it falls though...

[Rueler]

Yeah, one time when I was riding into town to deliver a bounty, my horse just up and died, so I fell off and flopped around for a second.

[Murdoc]

  Xeneth said:

! It's only happened 4 or so times in maybe 15 hours of gameplay, and I have the deeds to replace them, so it's not a huge deal.

I can't seem to bring myself to skin my horse after it falls though...

Have you been hitching it near water? Giving it apples? Brushing it's coat? Riding it too hard?

You have to take care of the gentle beasts you friggin monster!

[toblix]

I just got into Mexico, and damn it if they didn't manage to make it just like getting to a new island in GTA IV. The new music and changed landscape really felt fresh. Also I don't get why they didn't give me 3rd level deadeye from the start.

[Erkki]

I've been in Mexico for a while and it got a little boring

  Reveal hidden contents

when I could only really do missions for Colonel Alcalde, with an occasional side mission from someone else. I also had most of the challenges available to me completed. Just now got betrayed by Alcalde and things seem to be getting more interesting again.

[morslok]

  Nappi said:

Is there any way to tell which horse is better than the other? I assume that gray/white horses are better than the brown and mixed ones because they look cooler. I lassoed one a while ago but wasn't able to test my theory properly, as I accidentally shot three of her legs and finally her face in dead eye soon after I had tamed her.

Basically, (this is my understanding, may not be completely true) there are three really sickly looking horses that go the slowest, and mules also fall into the slowest category I believe. Then there are the fastest horses, the Kentucky Saddler (golden colored coat), the Hungarian Half-bred (White coat, slightly darker face), and the American Standard-bred (Completely black). Anything other than the ones I've listed are considered "normal" speed.

[Squid Division]

The Red Dead Wikia page about horses with pictures to boot.

[morslok]

  Squid Division said:

The Red Dead Wikia page about horses with pictures to boot.

What he said.