Support NeoGAF

[xBlueStonex]

Everything about RDR2 is still miles ahead of other games. The writing, the characters, the world. Arthur Morgan is the best protagonist in gaming, and I don't say that lightly. There were moment where I was literally just roaming around the open world as Arthur, watching birds flock over a pond, seeing random deer scatter between trees, amazed at the enormous clouds that were rushing by overhead - and I couldn't believe what Rockstar had achieved. The scope is second to none.

I could rant for hours what a technological achievement RDR2 is, but the writers also deserve a ton of credit. I've played the game from start to finish three times now, and each time I get taken back by how well written the characters are. Most open worlds of this game are bloated and lack direction - RDR2 has none of that. Every chapter is tightly filled with twists and turns, building up to a blistering climax that still leaves me breathless. And don't get me started on the music - the musical moments in this game are just as captivating 5 years later:



RDR2 still stands tall after all this time, and I have yet to find a game that comes close. Some screenshots from my last playthrough:

 

[vaibhavpisal]

Never played this. Looks boring in gameplay videos.

Is it worth it?

Part 1 I liked but that too was overly long and dragged in a lot of sections.

 

[hyperbertha]

What's up with trash games ruining people's gaming lately?

 

[Robb]

The game is a technical marvel with insane amount of details for sure, but that’s about it imo. It’s a slog to play, I don’t think I even made it halfway through before putting it down.

 

[xBlueStonex]

Never played this. Looks boring in gameplay videos.

Is it worth it?

Part 1 I liked but that too was overly long and dragged in a lot of sections.

I'm in the rare minority that didn't like RDR1 all that much. I felt like the entire 'Mexico' section dragged on and on, and then it sort of just ended. RDR2 is a much better story, from start to finish.

 

[Faust]

Never played this. Looks boring in gameplay videos.

Is it worth it?

Part 1 I liked but that too was overly long and dragged in a lot of sections.

RDR2 has its issues, but if you play it like an Immersive Sim, you will enjoy it a lot more. Walking around, taking in the sights, sounds, experiencing all the small nuances in the hunting, how the time and life system works - it is amazing. Mission design is still the biggest weak-point for Rockstar games in general with mostly linear paths that punish you from going off the beaten path during said missions, but otherwise it is easily in my top 10 games.

 

[CJ_75]

These ruined for me topics ruining NeoGAF discussions for me.

 

[GymWolf]

It was my goty in 2018 with gow but the game is far from perfect.

 

[Kumomeme]

i thought Witcher 3's Geralt is worse, but there is something else worst. trying to love this game but it has worst control i ever played. unresponsive and slog mess. give up within just around an hour despite it might be the type of game that i would enjoy.

hopefully they wont carry this shit to GTA 6.

 

[SmokSmog]

Yes, RDR2 ruined Rockstar image in my eyes, they just can't make a good gameplay loop.

 

[keraj37]

You do you, and I am glad it ruined gaming for you, but I tried 4 times to play it and I couldnt find it anything but boring

 

[CGNoire]

I'm in the rare minority that didn't like RDR1 all that much. I felt like the entire 'Mexico' section dragged on and on, and then it sort of just ended. RDR2 is a much better story, from start to finish.

Same.

 

[Skifi28]

Is this a new thing now? If gaming is ruined for you, then find a different hobby. Bye!

 

[John Marston]

I hear ya pardner!

Although "ruined" is a strong word.
For me nothing beats going back to my family to the song "Compass"

 

[Devilich]

Great Game. One of a kind

 

[Danjin44]

 

[DAHGAMING]

What's up with trash games ruining people's gaming lately?

Im waiting for the trilogy to be complete (Witcher 3 ruined gaming for me) .

 

[docmindbender]

An absolutely wonderful game. One of the best. Can certainly hang with ya there.

 

[mxbison]

Everything about RDR2 is still miles ahead of other games.

You mean apart from the actual gameplay?

 

[MrTroubleMaker]

 

[custardbun01]

What also amazes me about this game is that it runs very well on Steam Deck and I’ve been able to sit around playing it on the couch and even on a plane and still have a pretty uncomprised experience with it.

 

[zeldaring]

God I hate when people say this. if a game ruins gaming for you then you were already bored with gaming to begin with. RDR 2 has a great story and a beautiful world to explore but the gameplay is boring as fuck, there is no challenge, and the combat sucks. if rockstar can make a fun combat system in there games that would be something to behold.

 

[mrmeh]

Played it for several hours, got bored. Massively preferred the first one.

Turns out I like actual gameplay. Who knew...

 

[MilkyJoe]

it's complete shit

 

[Roberts]

Never played this. Looks boring in gameplay videos.

Is it worth it?

Part 1 I liked but that too was overly long and dragged in a lot of sections.

I restarted it three times. The first two I found incredibly dull where, for example, it takes a few seconds for Arthur to open a drawer and check if anything is inside. And then you realise there are ten more drawers in the room. But the third time was the charm, I guess. It clicked for me and played the game at its own pace, not trying to rush through things. I ended up really liking it - there is some good writing and the quests were fun even though the narrative flow of the first game was better. It is the best looking open world game ever designed.

 

[SmokSmog]

 

[mrmustard]

Everything about this game is 10/10 except the combat gameplay.

 

[Varteras]

 

[Patrick S.]

Everything about this game is 10/10 except the combat gameplay.

I agree it's unplayable with a controller. With mouse and keyboards it's fine.

 

[TommyCronin6969]

Gaming ruined gaming for me.

 

[SmokedMeat]

It’s the GOAT.

There’s plenty of great games offering different experiences out there, but I get it. After playing the hell out of Elden Ring, it felt like a massive step down playing God of War 2018.

 

[acm2000]

Hands down the most realistic and natural world created in a videogame.

But gameplay wise it's just "Good"

 

[GigaBowser]

 

[SolidQ]

Never played this. Looks boring in gameplay videos.

You can autoride a horse from point X to point Y, with cinematography camera.
if there wasn't cinematography camera, i would also insanely boring

 

[Trilobit]

RDR2 has its issues, but if you play it like an Immersive Sim, you will enjoy it a lot more. Walking around, taking in the sights, sounds, experiencing all the small nuances in the hunting, how the time and life system works - it is amazing.

This is super important. You need to take things in the game's tempo and not play it like an action-adventure. When you for example take it slowly by pitching a tent between travels and maybe fishing or hunting it shines brighter than the sun.

I even wished at times that the world would be three times as big with the equal amount of content just for it to take longer to ride between towns, for the sake of immersion. I wanted to have to sharpen my knife and for food to be even more important to the character. If I lose my hat, let me lose it forever and buy a new one.

 

[T4keD0wN]

Ok, anyone mind telling me what the hell is this thing?

 

[Kiya's Guard]

Wasn't there a similar thread but with tlou recently? I found rdr2 to overstay its welcome, the ending dragged for too long

how you obtained money was imbalanced (hello, robbing a train for a couple bucks), and ultimately getting rich was pointless because all the loot you got from killing and missions, and once you upgraded a couple guns max, there goes the only use for money.

Overall was a nice game, and surely the best western sim out there, but I don't consider it paradigm changer at all, my opinion

 

[Drizzlehell]

Every time I think about replaying this game, I'm reminded of how it usually takes Arthur like 5 hours to get on a fucking horse, and then how I would get knocked off of it because I'd hit a tree branch, after which it'd take me another 14 real-time days to get back on that horse. And usually at that point I start getting bored just thinking about the game so I stop and go back to playing something more interesting.

 

[Drizzlehell]

Ok, anyone mind telling me what the hell is this thing?

Grand Prismatic Spring - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Shake Your Rump]

The game is a technical marvel with insane amount of details for sure, but that’s about it imo. It’s a slog to play, I don’t think I even made it halfway through before putting it down.

This is the game perfectly summarized.

The level of detail, voice acting, writing, graphics, ambiance and immersion is absolutely mind-blowing. Actually playing through the story, however, is a genuine slog on rails.

 

[KuraiShidosha]

I used to think like this too but the more I learned about the game and understood its systems, the more I saw how shallow and 2 dimensional it really was. What appears on the surface as some deep layered ocean, is really just a heavily scripted puddle that falls apart the second you really put it to the test. Think about the wanted system for example. It seems really complex on the surface, but at its core it's nothing more than the same old GTA wanted system. There's almost 0 nuance or ambiguity to it, it's super basic hard coded rules with very limited flexibility for player agency. They give you things like a fucking full face mask that covers your entire head, then the second you pull the trigger, every random civilian and officer knows you're Arthur Morgan and puts a $50 bounty on your concealed head. It's fun the first time around when you're totally dazzled by all the beautiful graphics and lighting, but if you really go searching deeper, you realize how the whole show is propped up on the most shaky foundation of all time. Really, it speaks volumes about how the future of gaming will never overcome that feeling of artificiality and being limited by the lengths of programming the developers put in the game.

 

[odhiex]

Please make a thread, you know you want it too ..Hehehe

 

[Kikorin]

Incredibile looking game, but one of the most boring experience I've ever had. Rockstar missions structure paired with this super slow gameplay and terrible gunplay made me drop it after some hours. But is indeed an unbelievable experience under lot of aspects.

 

[Kenneth Haight]

Waiting for that next gen patch to jump in again.

 

[damidu]

naah, its cumbersome, gameplay-controls wise
and for an open world game, the “missions” are unbelievably on the rails.
whole thing feels like semi-playing an extended cutscene.

as positives
it has an extremely detailed, living world simulation.
also has great graphics ahead of its time, (which nowadays starting to show age, by how flat everything is.)

 

[winjer]

One of the most important things about this game is the procedural animation system.

 

[Hugare]

Most open worlds of this game are bloated and lack direction - RDR2 has none of that.

C'mon now, man

Guarma was good? Useless chapter to tell us that Dutch was loosing it?

After 5 failed heists, I'm pretty sure everyone knew that already but Arthur

Game had plenty of boring segments. I cant replay it 'cause the begining of the game got the most boring opening chapter of any open world game ever (maybe loosing to AC 3, to be fair)

The epilogue was 12h too long and drawn out

Sticking to the same franchise: RDR had MUCH better pacing

 

[StueyDuck]

Everything about RDR2 is still miles ahead of other games. The writing, the characters, the world. Arthur Morgan is the best protagonist in gaming, and I don't say that lightly. There were moment where I was literally just roaming around the open world as Arthur, watching birds flock over a pond, seeing random deer scatter between trees, amazed at the enormous clouds that were rushing by overhead - and I couldn't believe what Rockstar had achieved. The scope is second to none.

I could rant for hours what a technological achievement RDR2 is, but the writers also deserve a ton of credit. I've played the game from start to finish three times now, and each time I get taken back by how well written the characters are. Most open worlds of this game are bloated and lack direction - RDR2 has none of that. Every chapter is tightly filled with twists and turns, building up to a blistering climax that still leaves me breathless. And don't get me started on the music - the musical moments in this game are just as captivating 5 years later:



RDR2 still stands tall after all this time, and I have yet to find a game that comes close. Some screenshots from my last playthrough:

It's painfully true...

 

[sigmaZ]

Indeed. This game ruined gaming for me.

 

[Xtib81]

That's understandable. No other open world comes close to the masterpiece Rdr2 is. Some will call it boring because they need their dopamine every 10 seconds and can't stand realistic animations but it's the most immersive game ever.