Red Dead Redemption 2

[PZ]

My son also thinks it is the best open world game he has played.

On an aside, have you heard if there will be a DLC opening up the Mexico part of the map? Mexico was actually one of my favorite parts in the first RDR because it reminds me of Clint Eastwood westerns 

[Art Blade]

sorry, not heard anything except some rumours that they "slapped" the old RDR1 map on the RDR2 map without adding much. That part that's accessible feels quite barren. Not because it's mostly desert but because it's kind of meaningless. Tumbleweed for instance, what do you want to do there except buying the last new horses and outfits? Or Armadillo, nothing but a cholera-infested ghost town. Macfarlane's Ranch, the big starting area for RDR1? Nothing there but buildings. And so on and so forth. So apparently the devs were even less motivated to do anything in Mexico, anything at all. Why they didn't allow us to access that part, once again: stupid boomer game design decisions that I've been ranting about for pages.

[PZ]

That's too bad. I did manage to go there one time, but as you say, other than landscape and buildings nothing is worth exploring. Too bad they did not expand the new RDR2 game features to Mexico even if it is the old RDR map.

I'd purchase it.

[Art Blade]

yeah, deffo, me too

[BinnZ]

Me too, if only because of the reactions of people having played rdr1 telling me about it, like you, PZ. 

[PZ]

Yes, RDR1 was a really good game too. In some ways better than RDR2. I think you might like it if you can get it cheap enough.

[Art Blade]

well, the problem is: it's still a console exclusive title and you'd need to get a console along with the title and that, all in all, isn't going to be "cheap."

***

Guys.. I've just been gobsmacked by the game once more.

I found a different Sweet Poor Thing, and it's for the first time, ever. Like, in almost 1,300 hours of gaming.

Different as in, this time it's a Nakota race horse with completely normal stats but a similar (not same) kind of coat damage and mane/tail style as the original SPT. I don't think that it's any different from a normal Nakota except for its looks. Oh, this horse doesn't have that much of a burnt face, it's actually looking almost nice.

Fast Poor Thing (I changed her hair style just like I did with SPT)
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Kind of funny to do a "fast" playthrough and fittingly, get a "Fast" Poor Thing to go along with it.

What I can now confirm is how to get "a" Poor Thing, like, guaranteed. It happens the first time you set up a camp in the Murfree Brood area.

It happened exactly like the first time when I found my original SPT: I went to the trapper NE of Emerald Ranch (to get my snake saddle, finally, to "tune" my Primus, the original first horse you grab as Arthur from Sadie Adler's stable, because that saddle compensates the Tennessee Walker's low speed and acceleration of 2/2 and boosts it to 4/4) and what I did then: I started a camp (I had been avoiding that all the time so far) in order to fast-travel to Valentine to grab the new saddle.

Instead, those two moronic Murfree Brood apes showed up and tried to intimidate me. They tried to get away quickly on their own horses, those poor things that I wanted to rescue.

Of course I killed those muppets and ran after the fleeing horses, grabbed one and noticed to my UTTER SURPRISE that it wasn't a Tennessee Walker but a Nakota. I actually managed to check out both horses, both were Nakotas with the same stats and looks.

I'll reload the save from before setting up camp so I can postpone that event, hopefully until I become John.

The trick is, never to camp in that area before becoming John to save up that event for him.. I hope it works

[Art Blade]

Oh, I just have to let you know that again, near the same trapper, I came across that wagon loaded with three dead bodies and the driver/codriver were Murfrees. I killed them to check on the horse dragging that wagon and it was the original SPT type.

So that is indeed also a possible way of getting "a" SPT

Of course I reloaded once more..

[Art Blade]

Oh by the way, there is one interesting horse you can get for free.. if you don't mind murdering a gold washer. You can find him at the river bank of the Dakota where the bend is closest to Strawberry. He's got a Dutch Warmblood with 3/3 speed/acc (typical for w0#k horses) and good health and stamina values. You can actually compare it to the one you can buy for a couple hundred dollars in Valentine, same stats except the one you can buy got one speed bar more, like 4/3. This breed of horse can only be purchased, or so the compendium says. Except Buell, a unique horse that you can only get as a reward from a Stranger mission.

During my first playthrough I didn't even know that the gold washer's horse was kind of special, I just grabbed and sold it. However, it's best to shoot the gold washer with an arrow, loot him (got a decent small jewellery bag on him) and sink him in the river before anyone sees the body or you'll have to deal with potential witnesses. The arrow is silent, nobody hears anything, even his horse stays calm so you don't have to run after it.

[Art Blade]

get the Lancaster Repeater from the gun shop in Rhodes, but you can't buy it like that when you're early in the game. Instead, check the basement window to the right, the cellar of the gun shop is a prison for a poor sod. After talking to the prisoner through the window, rob the shop with the option for the basement. In there is a gun case with that weapon.

You also get that weapon for free as a gift from Micah when you play the mission An American Pastoral Scene with him in chapter 2.

There's a funny "twist" that I discovered already in my first playthrough: IF you steal the weapon from the gun shop before taking on Micah's mission, you'll have TWO Lancaster Repeaters to your disposal. They cannot be equipped at the same time but you can customise them independently and differently.

They'll be marked with the same symbols as identical guns meant for dual-wielding, like two Schofield Revolvers. The little symbol in the weapon wheel is then like from a deck of cards either clubs or diamond. Normally clubs are the main holster weapons and diamond the off-hand holster weapons. You can tell because if you get your first Schofield Revolver and customise it and then buy the not yet customised secondary Schofield, the old one will have the clubs and the new one the diamond next to their name/pictogram.

So I've got two Lancaster Repeaters again. I like them anyway and I like to customise them differently.

[Dweller_Benthos]

OK I'm pretty sure the horse I saw pulling the wagon for the Murfrees was an SPT, it was dark and I didn't look too close, but it seemed to have the same scarred face. I don't recall what they were riding when they threatened me for camping, I don't even recall if they had horses. But it looks like to get one of their horses, the best bet is to hope for one pulling a wagon, if you've already done the camping bit, which I have.

[Art Blade]

yep. And the guys you didn't see riding.. they approach you on foot and try to disappear on foot but headed for their horses. This time around I actually watched that to see what was going on, exactly. I had to shoot them off their horses in the end.

Well, there are random encounters, if rare, like the wagon loaded with corpses or the stagecoach robbery (all you see is the aftermath when they're looting and talking) and every time I had that kind of encounter with them was night time. I came across them when they didn't have horses, too, during the day but I'd bet on night time if I wanted to get a horse from them.

[Art Blade]

By the way, I want to avoid finding the real SPT until I become John so she will NEVER die in this parallel universe

[Dweller_Benthos]

I'll still keep looking next time I'm up that way. I know my horse is practically useless anywhere around St Denis with all the alligators and snakes.

[Art Blade]

which breed is it?

During my current playthrough I'm using the first horse Arthur got (from Sadie Adler's snowy stable) and it's just a common Tennessee Walker. I haven't had a problem with that horse yet. The stats are lower in every aspect (compared to SPT) but it's similarly fearless. I remember long ago I recommended that breed already before I found SPT and I'd say, for the time being, grab just any Tennessee Walker. The gold palomino is a tad faster than the others (speed 3, acceleration 2 as compared to the normal 2/2 and SPT got 3/3 there) However, I think the horse's fear is affected by the bonding level, at level 4 it should be fine.

They're not immune to fear but to me it feels as if they were much easier to control and to calm than other breeds.