Yeah, I'll definitely dig into the series more deeply at some point hopefully.canedaddy wrote: ↑Thu Feb 16, 2023 2:13 pm Very glad that you enjoyed your first dip into the DQ pool. It's a very special series for me because of the adherence to tradition (so many things carry over from the very first game) and the overall charm... I can't help but smile when I see a slime.
DQ8 is probably my favorite, but all of them are worth playing. You'll miss some of the quality-of-life improvements they've made over the years, but the older ones make up for that in other ways.
2) Red Dead Redemption 2 (PC)
When the first Red Dead Redemption came out, I was so excited. I had already played Red Dead Revolver, which was its own distinct entity, and really loved it, but the prospect of playing in an open world Western setting, an open world crafted by the detail-oriented world designers at Rockstar, really got me pumped. I've had a bit of a cowboy fantasy since I was just a little child. I grew up in the 70s and 80s, and I was on the cusp of the end of the thriving era of the cowboy motif, as expressed in popular culture, I suppose. I watched the Lone Ranger and other such Westerns as a kid and had cap guns and childhood cowboy paraphernalia common to the tykes of the 70s and just enjoyed a wide variety of that sort of entertainment. And I was always mostly a “play outside” sort of kid and a person who has always held a deep love for the natural world, so I am certainly fertile ground for a video game that has drawn inspiration from such environments and cultural themes. I finally got around to playing the second entry to Rockstar's cowboy adventures this year and there's quite a bit to cover. When I consider my time with Red Dead Redemption 2, it's really a tale of two different games glued together in one in my experience. There's the open world do-as-you-please “cowboy sim” where you explore and take on things at your own pace and impulse. And there's a narrative tale that is far more restricted in terms of any idea of freedom, not just because it's a pre-designed story, but also in the limited scope of actions you can take within the context of executing player input in those story-centered missions. I'll start with the cowboy sim and get to the latter later.
If there's anything that Rockstar excels at, it's in the building of engaging and detail filled worlds that are capable of persuasively transporting the player to another time and/or place. Their work always shows utterly obsessive tendencies to the finest little aspects visually. And that's the first and most obvious thing that comes across when firing up this entry in the Red Dead universe. It is absolutely gorgeous. The setting is full of the natural wonder you might expect to find on an excursion to a real world place that is unspoiled by the touch of modern civilization. The world is full of wild-life flitting about as you disturb their sense of safety through your presence and movements. And the variety of fauna is impressive. From the common deer, rabbits, squirrels and wild horses to the more exotic and rarer sightings of panthers, bald eagles, iguanas and the like, the world is just teeming with life throughout the waters, land and air. And this abundance of convincingly animated wildlife goes a long way to creating a believable world that feels as if it carries on independent of the player in that struggle for survival that is a constant in nature. In addition to the creature inhabitants of the world, we're also graced with all manner of plant life. From trees like oaks, sycamores, pines, firs and aspens to consumables coming from berry bushes, herbs and such, as well as some one-of-a-kind “treasure” rarities to find. There's such variety of flora scattered about in an irregular, organic and geographically appropriate way that you feel that, again, like with the animal life, the world is real. And that organic feel comes in large part because there isn't (unless you're looking very closely at the world to find patterns in some spots - mostly ground/rocks) a copy/paste feel to your surroundings. The various plants, animals and structures (natural and man-made) aren't strict repetitions of each other and so you meet this world much as you meet our real world, a world full of differences and varying expressions of even similar things, and that makes exploration and wandering incredibly absorbing. In addition to those elements, there is a wonderful lighting and weather system that throws all manner of shadow, reflection and environmental moods at the player. So that aforementioned variety is exponential when you factor in that visiting the same locations can feel drastically different from one encounter to the next. And that's just the natural world on display, having not even touched upon the incredibly believable characters, towns, trains and other human structures littered about along with the amazing animations layered upon all the moving parts. All the visual elements come together in just an incredible overall package, a visual feast to which even the most jaded gamer would be hard-pressed to voice complaint. It's harder to be wowed by graphics (technically speaking rather than artistically here) as the law of diminishing returns comes into greater and greater effect with the passage of time and increases in technological power, but Red Dead Redemption 2 struts down the dusty road with well-deserved confidence as onlookers can't help but swivel their heads in awe.
And this wonderful world, as amazing as it is, isn't just window dressing without anything compelling within. This place is chock full of things to experience and ways to engage that draw you even further in. Do you want to take things slow and easy, well maybe fishing in one of the many rivers or lakes is on your menu. Do you want to earn some money? Well, this is still (the last vestiges of) the Wild West - go rob someone or dream bigger and rob a stagecoach, train or bank. Do you want to put on your white hat and work with the law? Well, rustle up some bounties and hunt down those evil-doers for some sweet compensation. Do you want to live as a man of leisure? Well, stroll into one of the casinos in town and play some poker or blackjack. Are you hungry or just want to gather some resources to sell or utilize in crafting new clothing? Saddle up and hunt for some pelts and meat or track down a legendary animal for a unique prize and deck yourself out in some rare duds. Or maybe you just want to occupy yourself with some of the many challenge adventures on offer, things like the Explorer challenges where you become a treasure hunter, referencing subtle maps that guide you to valuable caches, or maybe you want to test your iron skills in the Sharpshooter challenges, or maybe you want to forage in the Herbalist challenges, to name but a few. Or how about looking for a new steed to ride as you cover the wide open spaces searching for an equestrian rarity to call your mount? Or maybe you'll find yourself encountering random bits of adventure via quests and encounters as you wander about the vast landscape. Maybe you'll find yourself helping snake-bit strangers (be careful where the venom is.
) or rescuing captured maidens or finding a stranger that wants to challenge you in a friendly shooting contest or hunting down some of the many collectibles such as dinosaur bones, cigarette cards, dreamcatchers, or rock carvings. And while it may be unrealistic to find every little thing/collectible on your own, it has a fun “Easter egg hunt” sensation throughout as you stumble across all these little goodies, providing those little dopamine hits along the way. Has anyone seen Gavin? There's just a seemingly endless amount of content to actively pursue or randomly stumble upon as you make your way through this world, and it manages to keep things consistently engaging and interesting as you wander and see all the splendid sights.And all of this variety comes together in unpredictable ways at times as little stories unfold on your personal adventures with the game. I'll give an example of the dynamic feel that is often present. I had a cool incident relatively early on where I decided to find a new horse and move on from the one I started with. So I was wandering around and saw a horse that looked interesting and lasooed it, broke it, moved my saddle over to make it mine, and rode off into the sunset, or so I thought. Several in game days later, I was trotting over the countryside and this horse comes up to me and starts brushing up against me while I'm on horseback - my new horse - acting like it's trying to push me off. I'm thinking, “What the heck! That's weird." So anyway, I take a closer look and it's Dusty - my first horse, who must have been missing me, lol. What a cool and unexpected moment. So I lasso Dusty and lead him into Valentine and sell him at the stable. But that's one of the coolest emergent moments in a game that I've experienced in recent memory, or maybe ever. It was really surprising and did so much to make the world feel real. In another situation, I was in Valentine on my horse, standing still next to the butcher, but off the road. I had my satchel open and was reading a document. A wagon approached while I was utterly oblivious as I was reading and it t-boned me and my horse, knocking my horse to the ground and throwing me off. I'm like “What the hell!”. There was no need for the wagon team to side swipe me. It was broad daylight, and I was in the open and off the road. Normally, I'm a live and let live sort of cowboy, but this really stuck in my craw. I was more irritated at the offense to my horse. I dusted myself off, picked myself up and looked at the now stopped wagon-team and its driver with an intense side-eye (in real life too, lol). I thought for a moment before grabbing my lasso and yanking the driver off his perch. He fell to the ground near the front of his horses, which spooked his team and they took off, running over and killing him as the hooves and wheels punished and chewed him up. I was like, “Sweet justice!” There are so many little moments like that which can arise in the game, just making things feel organic and random. There was this persistent sensation of emergent narrative beats that gave the experience an unpredictable and living feel. Fantastic.
Another element that really appealed to me was the level of customization and personalization present. Being a huge Souls fan, you often hear individuals in the community talk about “Fashion Souls” in a nod to the variety of dress and appearance options available, and many will choose to cater to the look of the character over the functionality because of that spirit of “dress-up”. Similarly, in Red Dead 2, there are so many accoutrements to give you that personal touch to make your own Arthur/cowboy. There's a huge assortment of clothing options for purchase and/or crafting that can drastically alter the vibe of your avatar. Do you want to go for a more rugged old-west look or a more modern, verging-on-civilized appearance? Do you want to be clean shaven, scruffy or full, scraggly beard? Slick your hair back with pomade or let it run wild? And how about your kit? The ability to choose the appearance of your weaponry really drew me in. Selecting the wood stock and metals along with potential engravings and varnishes went a long way toward making me feel like I was living a very personal life in this setting. In fact, I had a really odd and unexpected sensation of childhood nostalgia that arose for me while playing. When I was little, I used to have Lone Ranger, Butch Cavendish and Johnny West dolls - yes, I played with dolls!
(I had to research the last one because I couldn't remember who it was, but I found it eventually - pics included.) And when I was playing cowboy dress-up and customizing my weapons with Arthur, I had this very distinct flavor, emotion and visual imagery return to me from my childhood when I was playing and imagining with these dolls, er um, action figures. It was such a cool sensation that I had no anticipation of experiencing. This long-forgotten remembering that arose felt like I was reliving that period of my childhood so vividly for some moments. It was quite surreal and bittersweet as pangs of emotion caught me unawares. In its best moments, RDR2 felt like a cowboy life sim where I could leisurely stroll about and explore this incredibly beautiful and varied world, soaking in everything at my own pace and finding adventure as it naturally arose via my own impulse or through external influence. I know some don't like the drawn out animations for things like cooking, animal skinning and the like, but I absolutely loved the slow and methodical rhythms induced by such pace-setters that urged me to ease up and soak everything in, a sensation that suited the slower pace of life depicted in the setting. That methodical and measured flow really served to foster my bond and sense of attachment to my horse (via grooming, feeding, comforting), my guns (via maintenance), the people and the land itself. I was a bit surprised at the emotional connection that evolved as time passed, and I found myself inhabiting an alternate “reality” with such convincing coercion.And of course, Red Dead Redemption 2 has a story to tell. And I'll start with the positives here. I really loved the connection to the original entry and how some context and backstory was provided which fleshed out the world and characters. I also loved the overlap from the epilogue that really connected things in ways I wasn't expecting, particularly in the form of the explorable map, which was a familiar and wonderful surprise. And I found the essential premise of the narrative compelling - a man who comes to realize what's really important and where he should place his loyalty - where he should have always placed his loyalty, even if those lessons were fully grasped a bit late. There's a wide variety of themes and points I could emphasize in such a lengthy story, but that was the central essence for me, and in concept, I found it a tale worthy of being told. Arthur was a tragic character, but lessons are learned through tragedy and hardship, no matter the length of the road left to integrate those realizations. And Arthur himself was incredibly charming and well-acted. He had this naivete and blind trust/loyalty that made him very likeable...and ultimately, pitiable. And the entire cast was mostly well-acted and enjoyable in their performances. It's rare to find a game that has a collection of voice-work that is of such a high quality overall, and I really appreciated that.
Unfortunately, while I found the story to be thematically interesting and with solid foundation, the execution left me wanting in many ways. The most glaring problem was, despite his charm, Arthur himself. The pattern of Arthur following Dutch until he realized who Dutch is and recognizing that Dutch will always be Dutch just dragged on way too long, given the events that transpired. There's no one who has even a modest amount of sense or self-respect, loyalty be damned, that would have continued on as long as Arthur did. Dutch had proven to be a source of trouble in his approaches to their problems OVER AND OVER AND OVER AGAIN, and while Arthur eventually starts complaining - way too late and after WAY too much evidence, he still just keeps lickin' those boots. He turned into an unintentionally comedic character for me as the game wore on. It was impossible for me to take him seriously, and the game transformed into an absurd comedy, narratively speaking. It was a repeat of the following : Dutch: “I've got a plan to get us out of this mess and get some money” (Meanwhile (my) Arthur has tons of money, but that's another issue.) Then, of course, Arthur follows : “Shucks Dutch, I don't know about this.” as he continues to follow him like a lost puppy and polishes up that rifle. They just kept playing the same note OVER AND OVER AND OVER for far too long, until I felt bludgeoned over the head with it until numb. That is ****NOT**** good storytelling in any circumstance or medium. I REFUSE to believe that the developers played their game through from beginning to end, because if they had, it would have been abundantly apparent how clumsy, redundant and unwieldy the story was. Mockery and sarcasm have always been Rockstar's bread and butter, but this clearly wasn't their intent, although if it was, it was the driest, most biting, tongue-planted-so-firmly-in-check-that-it's-penetrated-the-skin type of jest, a type of farce that has gone so far that the creators themselves were no longer sure whether they were playing it straight or with a wink. No, this was sincerity, and knowing that, I was often left in a dumbstruck state of disbelief. How?! This seems believable to people, to anyone? Apparently so, given all the praise I've read. I was left speechless at the narrative praise I've read. Rockstar thinks they are more clever than they actually are. Their writers have all the subtlety of a sledgehammer. I'm much more of a less-is-more person when it comes to narrative - think Ueda, but I'm not inherently averse to more expanded exposition, assuming it's well-crafted. This, as a whole, was not, for me. The game wanted to paint Arthur as loyal - if to a fault - but for me, he came across as a spineless follower more than a guy with staunchly well-placed devotions. If he had any real loyalty to those he cared for, he would have shown some backbone in many scenarios where he just meekly went along. Pathetic.
I'm not saying there were no interesting and enjoyable narrative beats, because there surely were - taken in isolation. But the way they were woven together into a whole was in such an awkward, amateurish fashion. It was surely still good fun oftentimes, but most everything boiled down to yet another reason to go shoot people. I get it, there wouldn't be much to do without these points of engagement in the story, but it came off as comically overdone and forced so much of the time when taken in totality. Any realism was destroyed by this ham-fisted approach. At one point in the game (the island), Arthur is criticizing Dutch for killing people, all this while Arthur himself has killed dozens if not hundreds of people to that point in the narrative ALONE, not even considering the possibility of the player playing as a “bad guy” making things even more comical. And for any who say, it's just self-defense, Arthur repeatedly put himself in situations where anyone with more than a dozen functioning brain cells had to KNOW that the likely outcome was a hail of gunfire, so I'm not buying that. Arthur may have some charm, but he's the undisputed king of the dimwits.
And there were plenty of instances where scripted narrative and player agency were at odds. There was an instance later in the game where Arthur and Charles were looking for a new camp, and Charles was explaining the Butcher Creek area and the Murfree Brood group to Arthur, and Arthur was reacting as if it was the first time he was hearing about these people which was at odds with my experiences in the game as I had already cleared out the Murfree Brood cave and had numerous interactions with the Butcher Creek camp and folk. And to reference an above point again, Arthur and Dutch were continually talking about money as the reason for their continued schemes, and all the while I'm carrying around several thousand dollars. There were just so many incongruences with the narrative and possible player outcomes/choices. A glaring one that comes to mind is when attending the theater with Mary in Saint Denis later in the game. She pleads with Arthur to run away with her, and he says he desperately wants to but needs money, and so he can't yet. At that time, I'm currently carrying about $4,000, which, in the value of money of the day, is more than enough to escape for a fresh start. It just made the whole scene ridiculous and I couldn't help but chuckle, as it was obvious that they both wanted a future together if only money weren't an issue. Well...IT WASN'T! To be fair, I understand that there's complexity in stitching together a defined story with an open-ended world where player choices can result in varying circumstances. Well, Rockstar, you are the game designers, not me. If you can't make it work smoothly, or if your open-ended design has the potential of undermining the story you want to tell, you've got an obligation to try and sort that mess out, or you run the risk of making your story laughable at junctures, quality of the isolated and linear narrative beats aside. And there were numerous such instances where things came off as ridiculous.
In addition to the aforementioned issues with narrative, having a good-cowboy/bad-cowboy morality meter in a game where you as the main character are a part of a gang of outlaws honestly felt quite silly. I'm not a “black and white” type of guy, and I think it's certainly possible to be a being who is in fundamental contrast with the essence of their surroundings, to an extent. But Arthur is robbing banks, intimidating and killing people, and as long as I say “Howdy pardner” to everybody and throw enough fish back in the lake, I'm wearing a white hat, lol. It just felt really stupid and unnecessary to have a metric like this as well as the methods implemented for influencing that measuring stick. The narrative and main character's actions could often be at odds with themselves in an inconsistent and off-putting way. This is the problem with trying to shoehorn a constructed narrative into free-form gaming. It's a mix that often doesn't blend so well. If you offer immense freedom, you have to restrict direction and vice versa, or you end up with a fragile structure that is easy to topple. As mentioned in the opening, I just kind of accepted things as two games in one, but even in that context, the narrative was in disagreement with itself too often. As an example, in the epilogue, John makes a statement to someone about how he's playing it straight now - for Abigail, living a new life, and mere MOMENTS later he's out blastin' away. Stuff like this happened repeatedly. And it wasn't just the incongruences, it was the bloat. Just too many words to tell a relatively simple story. Listening to these characters blather on and on rarely facilitated their development. Arthur, and the game as a whole, often felt schizophrenic, both because of my own “good-guy” actions (and sometimes bad) in contrast with many of the things he did as the story played out, but he also felt inconsistent purely within the context of the narrative itself. The story, in general, was just a clumsy, overwritten mess in my view. (again with acknowledgement of plenty of fun moments taken on their own) Also, within the context of story missions, there was such a sense of being micromanaged. Every little event resulted in you being prompted on exactly what to do EVERY.STEP.OF.THE.WAY. Push this button, now walk over here, now push that button, now get off your horse, now look over there, etc. It was incredibly intrusive and overly controlling, and it clashed harshly with the freedom that existed outside of the story missions. Just show me a cut-scene if you're going to manage the whole situation. What's the point of my input? The game was just ambitious and bloated to the point that it was often crushed under its own weight as the two games - the narrative and the open world player driven experience butted up against one another. The game worked better for me outside of the narrative, just hunting and fishing, completing challenges and being a lonesome cowboy on a personally crafted adventure. For me, it would have been improved with two distinct modes - a separate narrative and a standalone, survival cowboy-sim sandbox, much like the Long Dark did with dividing its story and sandbox, maybe while also keeping some random elements and encounters to add some variety while emphasizing, expanding and increasing the difficulty of the survival elements in the cowboy-sim free-form mode. I would have had less internal dissonance due to the problematic aspects of the pre-constructed parts if they split things in two.
And there were problems outside the narrative as well. The controls were often clumsy. There were so many contextual inputs that seemed poorly thought out. Why do I have to press for some actions and hold for others? It seemed entirely arbitrary and didn't feel as if some of these inputs were carefully considered. Lining up Arthur with items or things with which he could interact was frequently frustrating as you had to be adjusted just right in order for the prompt to highlight. And the movement in general could often feel cumbersome, heavy and awkward. Why hunger, cold/temperature mechanics? They don't seem to have much or any bearing on things. Why are they in there? Yes, I see that I'm underweight, lol. And...what about it? Granted, when I got really cold, it did affect my health and regeneration, but it was rare and underutilized. If it was meant to be a meaningful addition, they missed the mark, and if it wasn't, why put it in? The only thing that seemed to really matter in the slightest was dead-eye management, which was easily addressed with alcohol or other consumables. And Why, why, WHYYYYYYY must you vary my player movement speed at seemingly arbitrary levels? It's not like there is a single, “ok-now-you-have-to-slow-down” level. There are, incomprehensibly, varying rates for the forced slow-walk/jog/trot. SOOOO cinematic! It makes absolutely no sense to me and only served to annoy. Indian reservation anyone? There were also plenty of little bugs in my experience. Things like getting a notification that my horse is out of whistling distance while I'm riding on my horse, lol. (It was not a secondary horse) Having the item to give for a camp request, but the option to give it will not present. I had a horse vanish altogether once. Despite being in the exact location of the icon on the map - no horse. There were a couple of instances where two different Arthur voice tracks triggered at the same time, resulting in him talking over himself as if he had two heads. I witnessed him tip his hat when he wasn't wearing one once. After meeting the rare antiquities dealer in Saint Denis, he never appeared again, nor was the icon to interact with him there. I had some rare flowers I wanted to sell, but he glitched apparently. There were lots of these little elements that annoy. Taken in isolation, they're not a big deal, but when they accumulate, it can feel a bit sloppy. To be fair, in such a large/complex game, it's understandable, I suppose. My general feeling, however, is that things felt over-designed - too much ambition, too many cooks in the kitchen. It just had superfluous, poorly implemented elements all over the place with bits and pieces that were there but served little real purpose. If any game needed an intense edit from a good visionary that has a grasp on cohesive, non-extraneous design, it's RDR2. (Calling Ueda!) It just had this bloated, unmanicured feel - from a design standpoint. And let me tell you about the Rockstar launcher. Man, what an annoying form of DRM! I frequently had to try to start the game multiple times before their launcher would recognize the game. Sure, it was only a few extra minutes, but how hard is it to implement a smooth experience for your paying customers? It's a shame when you know that those who pirate a game get a better, less-intrusive experience than you do as someone who bought the game.
Reading my criticisms, you'd be forgiven for thinking that I didn't love Red Dead Redemption 2, but as hard as I've been on it for its flaws, that is not the case. Sometimes, the more you love something, the easier it can be to scrutinize because you're so invested. You pick up that magnifying glass because you DO love something enough to care, and you're bothered by areas that let you down in contrast with what resonates so strongly. To put things another way, the brighter the light, the more prominent the shadows. I really love this game, and I put close to 160 hours into a single play-through, and there are still many things I'd like to go back and do in addition to just spending more time in the wonderful world. As I mentioned in the beginning, for me it's a tale of two games in the same package, and while they coexist, they aren't necessarily fully integrated, either in my mind or in a practical, logical sense. If this were exclusively the linear narrative adventure as offered, I would not hold it in such high esteem. I'd have had a good time with it despite its problems, but it would fail to warrant the feeling I get from it outside of those constraints. When considering the open world cowboy sim and the unbelievably absorbing world, I'm left in awe at what has been accomplished here. I found myself utterly lost in the fantasy of being a cowboy so often as I wandered slowly about the spaces, simply soaking in the atmosphere and the feeling of inhabiting a role that took me back to childhood play and fantasies. It's difficult to convey the impact of reliving those sensations, but even if it didn't evoke such nostalgia, I'd have had an incredible time. The amount of man hours that must have gone into creating this play space boggles the mind. Simply having the pleasure of enjoying the fruits of those labors and the stunning achievement presented here will leave a lasting mark in my gaming memories. 5/5
