I've looked through the first few pages of this sub-forum and can't see a thread on this game, so having just loaded it up (well, a couple of days ago actually) thought I'd start one.
I've taken on the mantle of Arthur Morgan after an abortive attempt on Bloodborne, and am looking to play the game slowly and contemplatively, savoring the wide open landscapes and mountainous terrain of the newly colonised American West. I need mellow after the bruising experience of this last ignominious failure, and intend for my character to be more Gandhi than Gandalf.
Yes, it's the simple life for me after the killing fields of Yarnham - think herb collecting and crafting as I develop my bushcraft skills. I'm told there are liquor dens and gambling halls, houses of ill-repute, dark alleys where transactions both romantic and mercantile in nature may be negotiated, but I can assure you that these are not the places where I shall be found. Think more of a quiet pastoral church, musings under the evening sun with a good instructional book in hand.......
Yeah - Right!
America 1899 - keep hold of your wives and lock up your daughters because I'm a'coming! Crack open a few bottles of good old sour mash whiskey and steel your nerves - because I'm going where the lead is hot and the girls are hotter!
Ye-hah!
The truth is a Lion and does not need protection. Once free it will look after itself.
....and the glory of the world becomes less than it was....
'Have we not served you well'
'Of course - you know you have.'
'Then let it end.'
A pacifist RDR2 run is probably impossible, but you can certainly spent plenty of time just hunting and fishing and so-forth. Some things you have to unlock via story or side missions (which can be annoying) so I would suggest googling how to unlock the fishing challenges for example, so you can get the requirements out of the way early and then just mosey along.
(I think i got to about 85% completion (including the entire main story) in about 80(ish) hours of gameplay.)
A bloke at work (in fairness, as rabid a completionist as you'll ever find) told me he'd spent a year on the game Av! Doubt I'll take it that far, but I'd like to get the main mission under my belt at least. But at the moment I'm just getting into the gaming mechanics - working out the various weapons wheels and whatnots. I've gotten a reasonable horse I think, but have to work on the bonding and speed/stamina attributes before I can take full advantage of her input. I'm doing the best I can to be an upstanding outlaw, but must confess, my Arthur Morgan is not a man who you would want to meet in an alleyway on a dark night. Not - at - all!
The truth is a Lion and does not need protection. Once free it will look after itself.
....and the glory of the world becomes less than it was....
'Have we not served you well'
'Of course - you know you have.'
'Then let it end.'
I'm ready now to post in respect of my first impressions which, in fairness to the size and complexity of the game, could not be done earlier due to the time it has taken in order to simply get the game's mechanics under my belt.
I'm approaching the end of the second chapter of the main quest, but have spent most of my time just enjoying the 'sandbox' aspect of the game - so sprawling and extensive a map that gives you the option to (if you choose) simply roam and play, as and where the mood takes you. The save system is such that when you load previously saved games, you do not reappear in the same place as you actually saved and this can cause problems. On one occasion I saved without having my horse saddled, and when the game reloaded after I'd been killed or whatever, I found myself on the other side of a canyon from said saddle, with a ten minute trek to get back to this indispensable piece of kit. But having said that, by and large it's okay and quite forgiving.
The game is quite money orientated and this commodity is not easy to obtain in the early stages of your play-through, but after a short while you get the hang of how to go about obtaining it and then things become easier. Generally speaking the game is not massively difficult and most of the hardest bits allow for you to replay from save points within the task at hand, making things easier. The story is absorbing, and main protagonist Arthur Morgan has a weariness about him that is both endearing and compelling, lending him a sort of sadness that pervades his character. The mechanics of movement and action can be a bit tricky to get hold of, resulting in unintentional blunders that can cost you big time (like the time I got my reputation in a given area pretty high and terminated a polite conversation with the local sheriff by accidentally punching him in the face as I attempted to turn around and leave. That cost me a huge bounty and left a dozen citizens dead on the ground before I sorted it out!)
But the absolute star of this game is the map. The untamed American West is displayed in all of its wild glory and there is hours of fun to be had simply exploring, hunting, fishing and collecting herbs, dinosaur bones and cave paintings. The camping mechanic is excellent, and you can sit drinking coffee, cooking your (often stringy) meat and just musing on life as you carve notches into bullets.
Despite my earlier boasts of my intentionality to become the most badass Arthur Morgan that the game has ever known, the problems that this causes have forced me to have a rethink; I do not now kill unless I have to (well - not very often anyway), I don't shoot animals just for the hell of it, and I try - try - to be as human as I can with my interaction with other people.
So yes, I'm having a good time and taking my time about it. The game will never match up to Skyrim in my opinion - or possibly Kingdom Come Deliverance (made on a fraction of the budget) - but in the meantime as I wait (like the Characters in Waiting for Godot, seemingly endlessly) for Elder Scrolls 6, I'm enjoying it immensely.
The truth is a Lion and does not need protection. Once free it will look after itself.
....and the glory of the world becomes less than it was....
'Have we not served you well'
'Of course - you know you have.'
'Then let it end.'
Did you do the one where you collect etchings of cave art (or some such) Av? Apparently there's about ten or so to gather and the quest is quite poignant at its end. I haven't found the guy who starts it off yet (somewhere near Strawberry by all accounts) - but I have been trying.
I've been spending a lot of time trying to get the damn white Arab mare caught and tamed; man, that's difficult! She takes fifteen minutes to get anywhere near, throws you off in ten seconds or less and then won't appear, let alone let you get anywhere near her, for two days. Not for nothing is she the most high status horse in the game.
Pretty soon I'm going to have to do something about those Murgatroyd's (or whatever they're called - the cannibal lot over near Saint Denis). I'm thinking it's time they tasted something a little different - like some hot lead!
The truth is a Lion and does not need protection. Once free it will look after itself.
....and the glory of the world becomes less than it was....
'Have we not served you well'
'Of course - you know you have.'
'Then let it end.'
I found the guy who starts it (don't remember where) but I never found a single one of the paintings yet.
Haven't caught the white Arabian yet either (or tried yet), I bought a black one which has served me well.
However, without giving anything away, you may wish to note that at a certain point near the end of the main storyline, you will permanently lose all of Arthur's horses. Including the white Arabian if you have it.
Apparently it does re-spawn for the epilogue, and can be recaptured, however I can't confirm if that's true since I didn't capture it in the first place.
May or may not be worth leaving it until the epilogue, up to you.
Fear not about spoilering the story Av; I work with a guy who is incapable of even understanding the concept. He tells me in intricate detail every twist and turn I am going to encounter long before I reach it. I already know Arthur's fate down to the colour of the socks he was.......
No enough - I don't want to spoiler it for you in case there are things you have forgotten.
The truth is a Lion and does not need protection. Once free it will look after itself.
....and the glory of the world becomes less than it was....
'Have we not served you well'
'Of course - you know you have.'
'Then let it end.'
Well, that's just rude, isn't it? (I accidentally spoiled it for myself while searching for info on an issue I was having.)
However, you have sent me back into the game to add a few more percentage points to my completion.
Since my last post, I've picked up 9 of the 13 Legendary fish, and some of the legendary animals as well. (Also found a few things I hadn't seen before, like a feral man, which was a bit sad, and saw a couple of "follow-ups" to things that happened to / with Arthur. Turns out that the "epilogue" plays out 7 or 8 years later.)
Anyway, sitting on 89.8% now. Guess I shall be wandering a bit longer yet. (Also don't really have anything else I feel like playing so...
Maybe have a go at catching and taking the white Arab mare Av; I've eventually done it - but not without difficulty. She's actually not the horse I'm intending to stay with (graphically a bit too small for Arthur's bulk, in my opinion) but she has a fantastic turn of speed and handles very well. She can be found on the left hand side of Lake Arabella (figures), in case you're interested.
I've also found that fellow who wants the rock etchings; apparently that challenge has a pretty interesting end to it.
The other day I found myself up a mountain in the North somewhere, and leaving my horse climbed the last rocky section on foot. The panoramic view from the summit was stupendous - one of the best (if not the best) I've ever seen in a game). It was off the beaten track and damned if I can remember where it was! I'll give Red Dead 2 that - it is a great 'sand-box' game to simply wander in.
The truth is a Lion and does not need protection. Once free it will look after itself.
....and the glory of the world becomes less than it was....
'Have we not served you well'
'Of course - you know you have.'
'Then let it end.'
Yes, I shall indeed pick her up. Will make a nice complement to my Arabian stallion. Just want to finish up the fish (only 2 left) and then the legendary animals.
Seems I don't have the cave art one? I have something like "rock faces."
Seems I also need to complete 1 set of cigarette cards in order to receive an item needed to craft something.
But yes, certainly a stunning landscape. Quite enjoying wandering it again.
The rock faces one is probably it Av; starts when you meet a sort of scatty guy who can't seem to explain why he needs them.
What about the UFOs? Apparently there are three or four sightings that can be 'collected', one of which is led to via the one-off special item, the panoramic map. Could be fun.
The truth is a Lion and does not need protection. Once free it will look after itself.
....and the glory of the world becomes less than it was....
'Have we not served you well'
'Of course - you know you have.'
'Then let it end.'
peter wrote:and when the game reloaded after I'd been killed or whatever, I found myself on the other side of a canyon from said saddle, with a ten minute trek to get back to this indispensable piece of kit.
Every time I think about trying this game out, I learn something new that makes me go, "Nope!"
"You make me think Hell is run like a corporation."
"It's the other way around, but yes."
Obaki, Too Much Information
First point Av - she's very difficult to see against the white background of snow (particularly in bad weather). Secondly, she seems to appear best if you approach the lake (Isabella) from the Strawberry direction (ie from below on the main map) and then proceed up the left side of the lake (avoiding the right side) and park your horse in the trees about half way up the left side (on the fairly straightish bit there). Get off and walk on up the road (no guns unless you encounter the wolves feeding on a deer carcass - she doesn't like them) and she should be found before too long on the snow between the lake and the trees/slopes of the mountains.
I never heard it said on YouTube or anywhere, but it seemed to me that if you had a go at catching her and she ran off (or you were thrown off her), it would be a day or two before she would respawn - and only if you left the area and came back. Once you have gotten to the point of getting on her back, even if you get thrown, you are building trust it seems, and things will get easier. If she bolts when you are approaching her, you will get a couple of further attempts if you track/follow her, before she disappears for good (for that attempt). Using the rope to catch her doesn't seem to work, but there is one trick that made my final approach attempt much easier when I discovered it. You probably know it already so, in the spirit of doing the thing by the hard route (and getting the requisite sense of accomplishment when you succeed) I'll hold back on stating it overtly - but it's fairly common sense really if you think about it. (Of course, if you want I'll spill the beans - you only have to ask! )
Anyways - good luck and I look forward to hearing of your successful endeavours in due course!
The truth is a Lion and does not need protection. Once free it will look after itself.
....and the glory of the world becomes less than it was....
'Have we not served you well'
'Of course - you know you have.'
'Then let it end.'
LOL, will let you know. Bought myself the silver Turkoman, so busy bonding with that now. (Not available to you yet I think.) Sitting at 91.4% now I think.
Haven't been back yet, since I picked up the Yakuza 3 / 4 / 5 remastered bundle, so am playing this strangely compelling Yakuza soap-opera again.
Sadly, 3 (which I am busy with) is nothing but a janky play station port to PC...controls are meh, camera is meh, can't re-bind keys...and yet...the story remains.
