Red Dead Redemption 2 - From a Shenmue perspective

DaMulder

DaMulder

Yes. It's me. DaMulder from 2003 (it rhymes!)
Joined
Aug 1, 2018
Location
Germany
Hey guys and gals of the Shenmue Universe. I am currently quite excited. Why? Because of Red Dead Redemption 2 by Rockstar Games. You know, the makers of GTA n'all.
So why would I post this in a Shenmue Forum? Isn't that game about Cowboys shooting other cowboys? How is that in any way related to Shenmue?
Well, it is:

RDR2 (as is the common abbreviation) has achieved something that Shenmue always aspired to: A wholly complete living, breathing world in which every person has a job and daily routine, in which every animal has a natural habitat, natural enemies (and human enemies) and in which your character has to actually LIVE. Like in Shenmue!
You have a choice of spending your days hunting, fishing, washing your clothes, trimming and waxing your beard, taking a bath, playing Black Jack with friends, hanging out at the saloon drinking, smoking cigarettes and so on... but of course you would have to buy soap, cigarettes and beard wax at the shop first. And of course you would need money to pay for that. So how about you skin the moose you hunted with your rifle and sell the hide? But be careful: If you want to sell a rare snow leopard hide, you better not shoot that beautiful animal with a shotgun or you'll ruin the fur. Better use a small calibre gun or bow and arrow.

Do you see what I am getting at? RDR is offering everything Shenmue ever aspired to be in terms of a perfectly living world in which you could just do whatever you consider "living a real life inside a computer game".
Sure, there is this thing about robbing banks, shooting outlaws and being able to stealth kill random people in the woods - that's very much unlike Shenmue. But then again, there is fist fights and brawls (like in Shenmue).

So even though the setting is different (and will never be as awesome as 1980's Japan and Hong Kong) I am so looking forward to spending entire in-game days just doing my thing. Not progressing the story at all. Just me, and the world, doing whatever I need to do to make it to the next day...

Hell yeah!
 
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Interesting.
I was surprised to recently learn that no game had attempted to do the "living NPC" thing since Shenmue and Majora's Mask.
It instantly killed any desire I had to catch up on the nearly two decades of gaming that I've missed.

So this is a good sign.
Shenmue was a future promised, and I was thinking maybe it was a promise that wasn't delivered. Maybe it was just deferred though. If Rockstar are doing this, maybe everybody else will finally see some value in it and copy it?
 
There is another game with "living NPCs" - Deadly Premonition / Red Seed Profile.
All of the NPCs have some kind of job or hobby or whatever where you can find them at their working hours,
you can watch them as they leave their houses or work, they drive or walk around on the map,
they will visit the dinner to eat something,
you can spy through windows and watch their daily routines and so on. all in real time without teleporting.
the world works completely by itself, doesnt matter if you as a player are there or not.
and yes, you can speak to all of them but its text only with just some small voice samples.

its no big budget game and the performance and technical side is pretty bad
but still - it works.
 
RDR2 is my most anticipated game of the year and I've got the PS4 Special Edition preordered.

When I first heard about the first RDR back on PS3, I didn't get it. I didn't care. It was just GTA in a old west setting right? Old west was never my thing so I immediately passed on the game. A few months later and everyone was still raving about it. I decided to cave based on public opinion and give it a shot. I absolutely loved it. There wasn't a single reason why but I found the game far more interesting than that of any of the GTA games.

This sequel looks to improve on every aspect of the PS3 game and it has me really excited. I hope they make some Undead Nightmare DLC to go with it. Epic.
 
I avoided this release same way how I avoided spiderman ;/. I wonder if I should get RDRII next year is it a good game for new comers?
 
I got a call from my local Gamestop stating that I can pick the game up a little early. They are having a release party for it tomorrow (Thursday) and due to my time zone, I can pick it up at 9pm to match when digital releases. I assume given the install size that I should be able to play it sometime the next day after the day one update download.
 
i will get my physical copy on thursday at 11 am,
i got the email from DHL today.
 
Aww man! I'm jealous! I will check with my shop (large electronics retailer in Germany) whether they put it on the shelf by Thursaday 7:30pm. If not, I will have to wait till Friday 9:30am...
 
I got the Special Edition on PS4. It took an hour and a half to install the game so I haven't gotten a chance to play it yet. I got it ready last night and had to go to bed due to work this morning.
 
yeah, the install process took some time. but the game is huge, you can spend hours and hours with activities and exploration.
i played the game for maybe 12-15 hours and of most that was just hunting and farming for myself
and learning all the different mechanics.
if you want 100% in all of the challenges and all of the outfits etc you will play this game for a very long time.
 
My first feedback after playing about 8 hours:
It's by far and without a doubt the deepest and most realistic simulation of life in the US in 1899 that could EVER be. It's like Shenmue is a simulation of Japan in the 80s.

Also, there is a long, dark, complicated and rich story to it... but I hardly got to know that. I was too busy riding around, bathing my horse, hunting, drinking gin, making potions and I got into that first bar fight (which was fun because I had potions for my stamina!)

So yeah - from the simulator perspective it is simply PERFECT. I can't tell you much about the story...
 
I am interested to see what people think of this game after some time passes on it. I'm definitely interested, I'm just not necessarily interested in paying full price for something that I don't know how much I would enjoy overall. Like, Red Dead on the xbox 360/PS3 I enjoyed but still had my issues with it from time to time.

I suppose I'm curious about how casual and laid back it can be? Is there a constant threat of danger? Or are there little quiet moments where I can just sit by a fire and chill out? He says...about the western video game.
 
Tried this game out briefly given the high praises from basically everyone. Yeah, it's pretty, detailed, historically accurate and all, but that was all that there is to it for me. My typical GTA experience? While driving around, I stop my car, some npc comes close to the passenger's side and looks funny at my AI partner. Suddenly the dumbass "friend" gets out of the car and pulls a gun and shoots the pedestrian without my say on all of this. Great, now I hear police sirens and have to get away. Hot pursuit ensues and I end up crashing the car on a rival gang turf. Gunfire follows. Total chaos, and after my arsenal is emptied out I run away by foot while still wondering if that dumbass made it alive too. Bland combat at times but still amazing given the complex moving parts.
Now my RDR2 experience? I'm constantly worried about whether I'm too dirty, tired and hungry, or have too many warrants on my head, my crew being too poor, hungry too and my bag too overloaded to do anything else. Even my horse nags at me because I might have not fed him enough. Imagine all that in Shenmue? Might as well just wait for Lan Di to show up at the Dojo's doorstep while I made sure Ryo took his daily shower, brushed his teeth, went for a medical exam and ate his carrots all year long before the big showdown.
Anyway, not really a bad game but not my cup of tea.
 
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Liking the game so far but haven't had the time to fully immerse myself into it. Work, children and up-keeping a house means I rarely have a couple hours to dedicate myself to a game. I can play Spiderman as most of my time is spent swinging around, doing repetitive quest, and there is no real need for me to deeply follow the dialogue. Red Dead however, if I attempt to play it with my son or wife around, I end up losing track on exactly what is happening. This also happens when I play it very sporadically, which I am doing. If it wasn't for the mountain segment in the beginning, I probably would have started over.
 
I must say, having bought RD2 on Thursday and playing it very sporadically in between work and other things I have to do with my time, I can totally understand the feeling of really having to dedicate your time to it. I often find myself thinking "Right, make sure you wouldn't rather be doing anything else for these next two hours, and make sure there's nothing else you need to do either." This is mostly because time seems to move very quickly when playing the game, despite the fact that I really haven't done that much at all.

I'm enjoying it, though. The self-care aspect of the game feels way less intimidating than I thought it would be and I usually just take a couple of minutes out to eat when I can. As soon as I noticed that it probably helped to set aside a little bit of time to go and make some money or provide something for the camp, I think it became easier for me to play because I could break it down in to "Okay, I'll go sell a horse or something, then do one mission and that'll be enough for today."

It also feels a lot more mature than previous Rockstar games I've played. Though I admit that this is kind of a sweeping generalization as I've never been one for the studio's games in the first place. But I think I enjoy the patience of it, and it plays up to a lot of aspects of westerns that I love. It feels more thoughtful and reflective about the role of a cowboy in an ever-changing world and I appreciate that as much. I like that the game seems to be exploring the slow death of the wild west through the different tropes that exist within westerns being reflected in the side missions. It's fun in that sense.

I think I'm enjoying it overall and at the moment I have no real regrets having paid full price for it.

Also, it's nice to be able to dress up all fancy.

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RDR 2 is not a game that you want to play for 45-90 minutes a day.
you really need the mindset to enjoy "a life in the wild west". this game wants all of your attention.

if you just want a quick little action after work or funny side missions or whatever,
this is the totally wrong game. its a 99,9% serious story game,
the tone and themes of the story have nothing to do with GTA.

if you dont enjoy hunting and exploring without any help, its probably the wrong game for you too
because 1/3 or even more of the game is just that.

i know it sounds a little bit stupid or overhyped but RDR 2 as a game is a totally different thing
than Assassins Creed Odyssey or all the other modern open world games.
you dont work off mark after mark on the map, you have to experience the world more
like the real world. look around by yourself and let yourself be surprised.

if you are not in the mood to "roleplay as a cowboy", you should wait until you are in the mood
or play something else.

it's a big budget triple A title, but the game design is very special and not intended for everyone.
Rockstar pretty much made a 100 million dollar fan game.
 
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