Red Dead Redemption 2

[PZ]

 

[LowPolyOWG]

+1 G, for that suggestion

Thank you

[PZ]

Although the fast travel is somewhat limited (at least at my stage in the game), you can ride your horse in an automated way. The travel looks absolutely beautiful, and it feels like you are simply watching a cut scene, except in you can change weapons, aim, and interact with the environment just like normal. You get to sit back and enjoy the trip through the wilderness, none of which is the same as you have seen before, yet still take advantage of  game interactions. Kind of like watching a movie in which you can enter whenever you please.

This morning I took a trip to the mountains, and regretted not taking along a cold weather outfit as my health suffered and I had to take extra measures to stay alive. I hunted a moose for it's skin and meat (the skinning graphics are quite realistic), which helped me stay alive. Wolves attacked me at some point and I was able to dispatch them. It actually reminded me of being in the movie Jeremiah Johnson, because I was acting as a hunter and kept stowing pelts and meat on my horse.  Making camp and cooking the meat restored my failing health due to the cold.

You're correct BinnZ in that one needs to be patient in the game because it is much like real life. I have not accomplished much today, but spend several hours playing, almost if as I were living the experience real-time.

It was funny - my main weapons are gold colored, and some people have already recognized them uttering a statement to the effect: "Is that Arthur Morgan? Yeah! That's Arthur Morgan!!" giving me enough time to gun them down.

Every game I play takes the experience closer to playing in graphics like in the cut scenes. It is going to take a very long time to get the most out of this game, especially because it is western themed.

Also funny is that my hair and beard are growing as time progresses - I need to visit a barber. 

[Art Blade]

cool

[BinnZ]

That sounds like a lot of places PZ, most of which I've never heard of
But the Mexican border (or where it used to be?) makes sense

[PZ]

I'm hoping that they are going to open that map in the new game with free DLC like in GTA

[LowPolyOWG]

Sorry, but probably for the online portion only. Given how GTA V made millions and billions in greed shark cards, RDR2 Online will probably be the same  You can buy gold to buy advantages. For now, the in-game store is locked, but I can assume R* will enable it soon.

[PZ]

Yeah, likely so 

[PZ]

I recently visited Coterra Springs which reminded me of Yellowstone National Park with the thermal features. There was one that looked like Castle Rock geyser, and another that looked like Morning Glory pool, both places I have visited more times than I can remember.

There was another area that was called Three Sisters, that looked much like the area that I frequently visit in Oregon, a place called Sisters, which is named after the Three Sisters mountains.

I suspect there are many areas in the game that are reminiscent of places in the western U.S.

I become more fond of the game the more I play it - I am now mostly traveling the map in auto-navigate mode in which my character is riding his horse through the amazingly beautiful landscape, none of which is the same as what I have already seen. It truly is like visiting the western United States in the variety of the environments. It lis like watching a movie with cut scene quality graphics even though you can interact with the environment just like always.

[PZ]

I was again marveling at how the actual game play is almost exactly like the cut scenes so was curious as to the game size, especially because it took two physical discs for installation. The size is a bit over 100 gb.

Traveling around the countryside in auto mode reminds me of the bus travel in FC2, but in this case you see everything along the way. Another thing reminiscent of FC2 is weapon degradation, but in this game you need to clean your weapon periodically else it starts to misbehave and loses effectiveness. As with other parts of the game, you actually see yourself cleaning the weapon (exactly as you have customized it in appearance), and you can watch the weapon stats bars fill as the weapon is cleaned.
Cleaning weapons


This one shows fast travel and "automatic" - might not want to watch if you want to be completely free of techniques when you play the game

[Art Blade]

I like the horse-bonding and that you can customise a lot stuff

[PZ]

Me too  Taking care of an in-game horse is way easier than taking care of my wife's poodle, yet garners the same kind of affection from the animal 

Customization is great - I have gold plated, engraved, provided custom stocks, wraps and special ammunition for all my firearms. They look great in game when using them as well as in the cleaning animations.

[LowPolyOWG]

 

The 100+ GB size is due to uncompressed data. Saves CPU resources. Any modern computer with a decent CPU should have zero problems decompressing data. It might mean more time loading, but it makes the storage footprint smaller.

[PZ]

Was traveling the map on train and horseback the last couple of days. When taking a train ride to another station, you can simply stay on the train and the train will continue. You can look out the windows, or start cinematic view where your view is from above. As always, the cinematic view is no better than the regular in-game view.

While on horseback, again start cinematic view, and you can snack while you watch, but careful, the bad guys in the environment can interact with you. It is fun revealing the map as you ride the train or horse, but once I was snacking and almost lost it on my lap when one of the gangs began shooting at me!

[Art Blade]

 

this would be the perfect time for fast food.