Right now, I don’t have a PC. Long ago, when I did have one, the first AAA game I ever played was Red Dead Redemption 2. I have played other games, but I feel like RDR2 surpasses all of them and is legitimately one of the greatest games ever made. The amount of details dedicated to realism, the solid storyline, the amazing graphics, NPCs getting angry/creeped out when you follow them for too long, and the hilarious antagonistic insults. I can just go on and on about this game. This is undoubtedly Rockstar’s best achievement yet, and I can’t wait to see how they top it with GTA 6 releasing next year.
It’s an all-timer as far as video game stories and production value, but the railroading that they did to players did irk a great deal of us, as chronicled in that Nakey Jakey video. They set up so many dynamic systems for the player to interact with and then basically dictated that you couldn’t get creative with them during the story missions. Deviating even slightly from the intended path would be a mission failed.
Great video. While I respect the crazy amount of work that went into RDR2, I found the story dumb and the gameplay on rail very boring. I’m always surprised when people are raving about it.
For my criticisms of that game, which mostly match that video, the story isn’t one of them. I’d call it one of the best the medium has to offer.
Oh really? That “one more heist” story? :) I liked the ending, but the first half didn’t resonate at all.
A one more heist story where it was clear it was never going to be just one more heist, and the band dissolved itself over a lack of real leadership. As opposed to the trope, where it’s one more heist that goes wrong. I take it back; I do have a critique of the story. Act 4, on the island, was a detour from anything that had anything to do with the main plot. Other than that though, I thought it was fantastic.
I haven’t seen that video, but I suspect I would agree. RDR2 is something of a paradox.
They did an amazing job on environments and characters, and then turned around and hobbled the game with bizarre PC controls, a save game system and unskippable cut scenes woven from pure contempt for the player’s time, and dog shit mission mechanics that punish the player for any attempt to exercise agency and really have no place in an open world game.
Odd, I don’t recall having any issues there.
The video evidence in that essay will do more justice than any of my anecdotes, but even things that seemed like possible ways to handle a story mission were not what the developers intended and resulted in a mission failed, like trying to take the high ground in a valley, or trying to sneak in through a window instead of entering from the ground floor.