Red Dead Redemption

[Nappi]

Thanks! It seems that the one I got after the horse catching mission was one of the better ones. Should have known by the way he jumped of the cliff and died just to be with me. I guess I should buy a deed for that horse so I could respawn it.

I really wish Rockstar was a bit less subtle in introducing the mechanics. I have serious problems trying to read the text in the upper left corner of the screen if there is some action going on. My first duel was horrible because of that and since I can't read the log in my journal after game over, I had to read the explanation on dueling in Red Dead Redemption Wikia page.

[morslok]

I really wish Rockstar was a bit less subtle in introducing the mechanics. I have serious problems trying to read the text in the upper left corner of the screen if there is some action going on. My first duel was horrible because of that and since I can't read the log in my journal after game over, I had to read the explanation on dueling in Red Dead Redemption Wikia page.

I had the exact same problem, although after I looked up the mechanics for dueling online there were two more instances of it showing the dueling tutorial in-game, so maybe they tried to make up for it that way... Still seemed inadequate though.

[Murdoc]

Basically, (this is my understanding, may not be completely true) there are three really sickly looking horses that go the slowest, and mules also fall into the slowest category I believe. Then there are the fastest horses, the Kentucky Saddler (golden colored coat), the Hungarian Half-bred (White coat, slightly darker face), and the American Standard-bred (Completely black). Anything other than the ones I've listed are considered "normal" speed.

I read the descriptions on the deeds and tried to remember them. The game gives you a kentucky saddler early on which as far as I've seen is one of the top horses, so really no need to get another.

Once it was given to you, the option to buy the deed opened up, so I did that and now i have infinite kentucky saddler(is that right? the Kentcky one)

I really hope these horse names are real because then I just learned some useless information that at last applies to the real world which would be neat.

[morslok]

I read the descriptions on the deeds and tried to remember them. The game gives you a kentucky saddler early on which as far as I've seen is one of the top horses, so really no need to get another.

Once it was given to you, the option to buy the deed opened up, so I did that and now i have infinite kentucky saddler(is that right? the Kentcky one)

I really hope these horse names are real because then I just learned some useless information that at last applies to the real world which would be neat.

Yeah, that's basically how I got my info. Yeah you get a Kentucky Saddler as part of the story. There is an achievement (or trophy) for finding and breaking all three fast horses, so that's some reason at least. Another reason is that the American Standardbred (black one) looks totally awesome. There's also another achievement related to the Hungarian Half-bred, so you would need that horse to get the achievement (it's a secret one).

[Murdoc]

There's also another achievement related to the Hungarian Half-bred, so you would need that horse to get the achievement (it's a secret one).

huh? People do specific things in games to get achievements?

Man, I'm old...

[toblix]

Just wanted to say that the dueling in this game has to be the worst documented game mechanic in all of history. I've had quite a few of them by now, and I still don't know what the hell is going on. It's interesting that while all the card and dice game go extra super slow because they pause everything to let you read a little text window whenever a little thing happens, they go in the opposite direction with the dueling mechanic, and explain it to you as you're getting pumped full of lead. I had this plan to be the awesome good guy and always disarm dudes, but after trying ten times to get my guy to fire at his hand I just put all the crosses in the guy's face and blew him to hell.

[morslok]

I had this plan to be the awesome good guy and always disarm dudes, but after trying ten times to get my guy to fire at his hand I just put all the crosses in the guy's face and blew him to hell.

Hahaha, yeah, I've been there. Although it actually is fairly easy to get disarms if you make sure to target his hand with the smallest crosshair. I've taken to shooting both their legs and then their hand, which is hilarious because by default they do the grab their hand animation after a disarm, and then after the animation they realize I shot both their legs from under them, so they flop on the ground and crawl agonizingly away.

[Erkki]

What do you mean, "smallest crosshair?"

I'm also very confused about duels after I got to Mexico and the Dead Eye upgrade and stuff happened. I didn't have trouble with them before, but now I'm unable to shoot their weapon off their hands (that's what I'm always trying to do as well). I want to make just one shot so I mark their hand, but Mr. Marston doesn't always fire for some reason until I mark more shots and then I usually end up killing them.

[edit] never mind, I just read this wikia page: http://reddead.wikia.com/wiki/Dueling

[Garple]

Has anyone been having their horse randomly drop dead while doing side content?

No but my horse did get hit by a train.

[toblix]

They handled the train strangely. They have all this attention to detail, but if you follow the train, it just stops at a station and then never moves again. I realize they can't just flip the train or make it fly across a broken bridge, but still. I really got a Truman Show-esque feeling after having waited for the train to start moving for five minutes, with the driver periodically refueling the fire and leaning out the window to check if it's all clear and nothing happening.

[Quanta]

I really got a Truman Show-esque feeling after having waited for the train to start moving for five minutes, with the driver periodically refueling the fire and leaning out the window to check if it's all clear and nothing happening.

You feel like the world around you is fake, just an illusion? Obtain certainty: attempt to kill a bird flying in the distance by throwing a stick of dynamite at it.

[Orv]

You feel like the world around you is fake, just an illusion? Obtain certainty: attempt to kill a bird flying in the distance by throwing a stick of dynamite at it.

I. . .

That. . .

You can't. . .

I'm going to quietly assume regular dynamite is not heat-seeking.

I will now sit in my corner and mutter to myself about the good old days. Whatever those were.

[morslok]

Having seen that video, I feel my life is more complete.

[Erkki]

This game certainly has a lot of glitches. Thankfully I've not encountered too many. Mostly animal spawning (had a cougar spawn 6 times or more in a row 5 seconds after I killed the previous one), and horses being suicidal near cliffs.

[morslok]

Yeah, just fired up my copy to test this glitch out, works like a charm, with fire bottles, too. Never thought I'd be able to hit a bird in flight with a fire bottle, that's for sure. I hope they don't fix it, this is too cool. (Or, if they do, make it a cheat.)

[Squid Division]

I'm having a hard time making myself want to play this anymore. I feel like the story missions really drop off in quality and interest after Mexico. Guess I'll power through.

[miffy495]

I'm still in the early going. Just finished "The Burning" and damn was that mission cool. Unfortunately, my time with the multiplayer this afternoon left me a bit nonplussed. It was fine, I guess. It just seemed so empty. Riding around with a couple of other Thumbs was fun, but when we hopped out of free roam and into a competitive thing, it was kinda lame. Add that to the fact that while the free roam was fun, I can see it getting old really fast, and I'm fairly disappointed with that aspect of the game. Luckily, what I've experienced of the single player is bloody awesome, so all's well.

[Murdoc]

I'm having a hard time making myself want to play this anymore. I feel like the story missions really drop off in quality and interest after Mexico. Guess I'll power through.

Wow I'm exactly the same way. I've done like 2 mexico missions and I'm pretty much thinking I don't care.

The pacing of the story is slow but really, really, really plain. I like the look of the characters, but you never really get enough time with them to get to know them. Marsten himself is a blank slate more or less and pretty damn dull.

It was around the time just before Mexico I realized the entire game was about getting Bill Williamson, and I'm sure that would be fine for a 2 hour movie premise or something, but for a game as long as this, I need something a little higher level then this.

It's sort of the same way in GTAs where when you run out of missions for a particular character they just stop existing in the world and this is no different... which is kind of a shame. I'm really thinking they could of condensed the game to the texas, montana, arizona locations and told a more solid narrative in those. Mexico, georgia/louissana, and probably the east areas feel unnecessary.

Mexico is a big place though so I'm guessing a significant chunk of game happens here, but I just find it not as interesting as the frontier of the US.

Despite wanting a slightly different game out of this(more towns, blank character that I get to chose a direction in, etc) I can't help but think the ambient world is just so much better executed in this then the core missions and story. Once I spent all my time doing the ambient stuff at the start and got onto the main storyline my interest has totally died.

[Erkki]

I kind of agree. Mexico got a little boring and west Elizabeth seems even more so. Though I like the variation it brings to the landscapes, it would have been enough if those snowy woods were accessible from Hennigan's Stead and Thieves' Landing would be merged with Blackwater.

Also it seems the game got suddenly harder after Mexico. I died a lot doing random stuff in West Elizabeth.

[Murdoc]

Yeah I can pretty much contribute the "hardness" to the fact I started relying on Dead Eye most of the time then in Mexico they bless me by giving me an upgrade that is worse(takes more skill) then the previous version.

It's an ability upgrade that seems like a downgrade, but adds challenge... it's really bizare in how that progression has been executed..

[Defenestrated]

There is a bit of story mission doldrums in the middle/latter part of the game, but if you've bought the game I'd suggest powering through. Going on the main line through the story missions doesn't seem to take that long, and I personally enjoyed the last few missions quite a bit.

The last few missions have a sort of climax --> extended denouement -->resolution feel to them that I don't recall seeing in video games very often, if ever. Just remember that it ain't over until you see the credits roll.

[Garple]

I'm still in the early going. Just finished "The Burning" and damn was that mission cool. Unfortunately, my time with the multiplayer this afternoon left me a bit nonplussed. It was fine, I guess. It just seemed so empty. Riding around with a couple of other Thumbs was fun, but when we hopped out of free roam and into a competitive thing, it was kinda lame. Add that to the fact that while the free roam was fun, I can see it getting old really fast, and I'm fairly disappointed with that aspect of the game. Luckily, what I've experienced of the single player is bloody awesome, so all's well.

Yeah it was kind of annoying being dropped into free roam at a predesignated point and having to gallop along for 10 or 15 minutes to catch up with you guys.

[SGP]

Forgive me if this has been posted but I thought these glitch videos would be perfect for podblast discussion:

http://www.kotowari.org/what-is-your-favorite-red-dead-redemption-glitch/

It's fun to see the programming behind things with ragdoll limbs functioning with unintended models.

[Erkki]

Just finished it.

Don't know about you, but I think this is video game storytelling at it's best. Well, it's not a story you couldn't do in another medium, but it's more effective because you essentially lived trough it in the week or two it takes to complete rather than passively watching for a couple of hours. Also, the ending is really well done. Instantly became one of my favorite game endings.

[miffy495]

They killed G Money.

We'd won races together. I'd been riding him for twenty goddamned missions. We pretty much got through all of the game together to this point. He'd helped me capture escaped criminals, save stagecoaches that were under attack, and we had even fought off mountain lions together. Then, I notice that that fucking idiot reporter Jimmy had gotten himself into trouble again in Pike's Basin. The Walton boys had him tied up in their campsite and he was counting on me to go in and cut him loose just like I had in the mines. I rode G Money down the side of the canyon and we cut Jimmy free, but in doing so I triggered a gang hideout mission. Fine then, I thought, I'll just kill these guys and be on my way. Some poor farmer had had his cattle rustled and they were being kept at the bottom of the basin. I helped him shoot his way in, and on our way out I whistled for G Money so I could continue on my way to Fort Mercer. Then the Waltons decided they didn't want to let us go so easy and set up some gunmen along the path out of the basin. I tried to hop off G Money and get him to safety, but the poor loyal bastard kept following me through. When he went down, I lost it. Put away my pistol, pulled out a shotgun, and got up close and personal with the gut of every Walton boy left in the basin. Those close kills, y'know? The ones where you put your gun right up into his rib cage before you pull the trigger.

I hold Jimmy responsible for this, more than anyone else. It's in my nature to help out a hostage, but man it'll be hard for me to not leave him to fucking rot if he gets himself into another one of those situations. I whistled for a horse after leaving the basin and some brown thing with a white stripe on its nose ran up. Riding it just felt hollow. I haven't fast traveled a single time in this game and I don't intend to start, but without G Money the trips seem a lot less pleasant. Just made it to Mexico before turning off the 360 for the night. I hear some of the best horses in the game can be roped in the wild there. I intend to get one. Pure white, so it glows and those Walton boys can see me coming as I hunt every last one of those fuckers down.

EDIT: TLDR version: I just got to Mexico tonight. My horse got shot. I'm sad about it. Grieving with a shotgun.