Red Dead: Redemption a.k.a. How The West Was Fun

[LK]

The Best Of Red Dead Redemption:

The Bird People
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYdCvN-ukRY&feature=player_embedded

Cougar Man
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVVXyKP1FVk

Donkey Lady:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7q7v4F8r9Og&feature=player_embedded#!

Gunslinger Dog
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFoMvLmfFEY&feature=player_embedded

Rocket Horse
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2r8S4uke34

[Tannhauser]

I'm buying this game just to shoot bird people.

[Surlyboi]

I. Punched. A. Fucking. BEAR. In. The. Face.

Of course, then a cougar jumped me and my goddamn horse.

[Xanthippe]

In multiplayer, when you're in a posse, try mounting a horse someone else is riding.

Also, if you're on PS3, friend me - xanthipppe (with 3 ps).  I need friends to play with.

[Azazel]

I climbed onto a train at a station, so when it took off I could get the hunting trait (or whatever they call it) of shooting 5 flying birds from a moving train. I then sat there for 10 minutes, waiting for the train to move. I then went into the computer room to do some work for 20 or so minutes, while the game sat running in the lounge, the whoile time the train sat at the station, unmoving.

I've also seen a couple of other bugs. Nothing gamebreaking, but disappearing cutscene NPCs and I got killed by an invisible guy once as well.

[Azazel]

Not to seem like a whiner, because the overall game is pretty good, but damn. What game designer thought that the "horseshoes" mini-game was fun? Clunky controls and just all-round bad.

[Surlyboi]

In multiplayer, when you're in a posse, try mounting a horse someone else is riding.

Also, if you're on PS3, friend me - xanthipppe (with 3 ps).  I need friends to play with.

You can do the same on a stagecoach.

[NiX]

Stagecoach rampages are the new tank rampages.

If you're doing horseshoes for one of the outfits, $1 bet, aim your shots (put the peg between the horseshoe ends) and hit the white line. You'll probably never get a ringer, but you'll win.

[Azazel]

Yeah, I got it just after posting. I was just taken by how un-fun and tedious it was. I don't expect mini-games of that low calibur in something that's getting reviews of 10 all round. Then again, I haven't played GTA4 yet...

[Rasix]

GTA4 perfected the shitty mini-game.

[Azazel]

I just read last night (after posting about the horseshoes) that GTA4 has Darts in it. Sounds fun. 

[Tebonas]

You can completely ignore all those mini-games in GTA4, they just add flavor. Isn't the same true in Red Dead?

[Rasix]

You can completely ignore all those mini-games in GTA4, they just add flavor. Isn't the same true in Red Dead?

I think a few are needed for side quests and outfit completions, but not to an unreasonable degree.  You could skip them entirely.

[Tebonas]

So that will only be a problem for completionists. I can live with that, just as I could in GTA4. I fucking hated helicopter missions, especially the one in Ballad of Gay Tony where you had to fucking chase boats with your chopter.

[Azazel]

Well, I don't know about any others at this point, but the horseshoes is required as part of the criteria to u lock an outfit that has in-game effects. So yes, you could skip it, but there's a real reason to want to get it besides playing dress-up.

I'm more curious about the design idea of "mini-games! Yeah!" versus "If it's not fun for the players, get rid of it" but with the way the games media fellates rockstar and people buy their games I don't see it changing too fast (similar to IW/MW2).

[AcidCat]

I dunno, I started a game of horseshoes on a lark and ended up kinda getting into it. I beat this old lady and even got a ringer. I enjoyed it.

[palmer_eldritch]

You do need to play liar's dice for a main storyline quest, but I thought that was pretty fun.

(Edit: Nix is right below, it's for a side quest)

[LK]

Liar's Dice is great. Horseshoes I got the hang on, got a Ringer. Not really interested in getting "good" at mini-games, just want the achievements and will move on.

I have "gotten" Five Finger Fillet though so that I can do it reasonably quick.

[NiX]

You do need to play liar's dice for a main storyline quest, but I thought that was pretty fun.

You do? I'm pretty sure that's for the Lights, Camera, Action Stranger quest, which isn't storyline.

[Xanthippe]

Stagecoach rampages are the new tank rampages.

I had a great deal of fun today driving a stagecoach and running people over (in multiplayer).  I got an achievement for it too!

Some of these achievements are pretty antisocial.  But hilarious.

[Tebonas]

Well, I don't know about any others at this point, but the horseshoes is required as part of the criteria to u lock an outfit that has in-game effects. So yes, you could skip it, but there's a real reason to want to get it besides playing dress-up.

Unless you are stuck in the main quest because of this, thats kind of the textbook definition of what we roleplayers call a sidequest.

[Azazel]

Your point?

I'm differentiating between horseshoes having nothing to do with anything and having in-game effects. So it's completionist from wanting to experience quest content, as opposed to "I must have that RED hat which has no consequence on anything."


By the way, chances are strong that I was roleplaying before you and very possibly before you were born. Shall we now measure our penises, Mr Roleplayer?

[Tebonas]

The point is that in the state todays games are in, additional content that is not needed to finish a game is a bonus, even if not all of those minigames are equally fun to everybody.

Your comment seems to indicate you want to get rid of them, because people don't like them, when people can just as easily ignore them and leave them in for others that (for whatever reason) enjoy that change of pace. Also, from a world building standpoint, it fleshes out a game world and makes it more real. Which helps immersion.

And yes, chances are you were roleplaying before me. Because you could do it as soon as you could read, and I had to learn a foreign language prior to that. 

[Ironwood]

Well played.

[Surlyboi]

ROLE played.

[NiX]

ROLE played.

[Litigator]

There are three "rare" horses.  The Kentucky Straddler, the American Standardbred and the Hungarian Halfbreed. They're all better than all the other horses and they are all pretty similar to each other.  They're noticeably faster than normal horses, and they have more stamina.

The stallion you get in Bonnie's early horsebreaking mission is a Kentucky Straddler, and after you do that mission, you can buy a horse deed that spawns a new one whenever you want.  Horse deeds for the good horses cost $1500 instead of the standard $500 for regular horses, but if you get your honor level to the second title, "Peacemaker," then most stores charge only half price, and pay more for your hunting junk.     

[Litigator]

The generic warhorse DLC I got for free is pretty nice but I wonder if it's considered an exploit to intentionally get it killed over and over again and skin it each time for money since I can just use my deed and get it right back.

The DLC horse might be the best horse in the game.  I did not get it because I did not preorder.

As ways of making money go, killing and skinning your horse repeatedly is not a good one.  Horse skin and meat does not sell for very much at all.

If you want your character to have plenty of money, avoid killing civilians and rescue all the various distressed people you encounter on the road.  You'll level up your Honor to "Peacemaker" very quickly, and stores start charging half price and paying more for animal parts. 

Then buy a lot of bait and get wolves to spawn.  Wolves spawn in packs of 4 and attack you rather than running away like other animals, so they're pretty easy to kill if you're decent at combat.  You can slash them up with the knife (which is also the stage 3 hunter challenge) or you can just shoot them.  if there's too many you can jump on your horse and get some distance, and then pick them off with a rifle.

Wolf meat sells for like $8, wolf hide sells for like $15, and wolf hearts sell for $18, so you're getting around $40 for every one you kill.  And for some reason, they keep spawning once you start killing them.  Either killing wolves triggers more wolves spawning and attacking you, or having lots of carcasses around attracts predators, or both. But if you stay in the area they will keep coming after you. 

Just don't get too greedy because if you die you lose all the loot since your last save.

[Litigator]

Also, there is an extremely bad-ass rifle available early in the game if you want to do hunting challenges.  It unlocks after you complete hunt number 5.

Hunting challenge 1 triggers the first time you kill and skin a coyote.  The mission is to kill and skin 5 coyotes.

Challenge 2 is to kill and skin 5 deer.  Bucks do not count as deer for purposes of the challenge, so you must kill 5 of the does.

Challenge 3 is to kill 5 wolves with your knife and skin them.

Challenge 4 is to kill and skin 5 boars and 3 armadillos.  The boars are kind of hard to find.  They live in the swamp between McFarlane ranch and Thieves Landing

Challenge 5 is to kill 2 cougars with your knife and skin them.  You can hit the cougar a couple of times with your pistol and then finish it with your knife, and they will run away when they are wounded, so this isn't as hard as it sounds.  There's a random event where a woman is getting chased by two cougars, and you can use that to set up at least one knife kill.

The buffalo rifle you get is single-shot rather than repeating, but it hits almost twice as hard as the Winchester and has incredible range. 

[Xanthippe]

This console game seems very mmo-ish.

I wonder how tough it would be to flesh out the multiplayer more - add a cooperative questing mode, the train, the lasso.

Edited to add:  I just unlocked the second female character in multiplayer - disappointed to find there are no voice emote thingies.  So I went back to my calamity jane type first female type.  More fun things to say when I run people over or throw them off horses.

Edited yet again to add: I tried the second female again, and she does have voice emotes.  I guess I had a bug the first time.  Everything she says is in Spanish, and some of it is not very nice!

[Azazel]

gonna SirBruce this one.

The point is that in the state todays games are in, additional content that is not needed to finish a game is a bonus, even if not all of those minigames are equally fun to everybody.

Your comment seems to indicate you want to get rid of them, because people don't like them, when people can just as easily ignore them and leave them in for others that (for whatever reason) enjoy that change of pace. Also, from a world building standpoint, it fleshes out a game world and makes it more real. Which helps immersion.

No, you've missed my point entirely and are completely incorrect. My comment is based on the game design principle of "But is it Fun?" I know several companies will attempt to refine mechanics like this to make them fun for the player, and if they are unable to do so, they scrap them. Shitty minigames are shitty. Well done minigames are worthwhile. As I stated, I have not played any in RDR besides the Horseshoes, and asked others about GTA4 (since I also have not played that for more than 10 mins)

And yes, chances are you were roleplaying before me. Because you could do it as soon as you could read, and I had to learn a foreign language prior to that. 

Nice to see you've changed your point entirely from "we ROLEPLAYERS" to "I had to learn a second language first, I'm so good". My retort pretty much remains akin to: Dont try pulling that "I'm a roleplayer, so my perspectives trump yours" shit with me, but I'll add a nice little "/golfclap to your having learned a second language pretty fluently." Which is far more normal in continental Europe than the rarity it is in places like the US, anyway.

I commend you on your ability to read and comprehend English. When did you start studying it in school? You only get a /golfclap though, because people who are bilingual (or more) are so incredibly common where I live and amongst family and friends - more common in that group than people only knowing one language, now that I reflect on it - and again, very common with other associates - 1/4 to 1/3 of the people I work with would be bilingual, so I'm actually not especially impressed. However, your finer comprehension isn't all that you appear to think it is.
 
But thanks for playing. Now if you've finished trying to start an argument where none exists, can we go back to discussing the game?

...

Anyone managed to do that Pike's Basin challenge yet on the Rockstar Social Club page? I haven't managed to figure out how Lasso dragging works yet. Yesterday they seemed to have people who had completed it in 8 seconds, though now their leaderboard has been wiped...

How does that horse deed stuff work, though? It seems like you can only "own" one horse at a time?

And thanks for the Boar location - I thought they might be in one of the blocked zones. I've got my Armadilloes done, so just need the boars!

[NiX]

gonna SirBruce this one.

Why would you call yourself out at the beginning of your post?

[Rasix]

2 quotes.  Such a mighty brucing. 

[Litigator]

No, you've missed my point entirely and are completely incorrect. My comment is based on the game design principle of "But is it Fun?" I know several companies will attempt to refine mechanics like this to make them fun for the player, and if they are unable to do so, they scrap them. Shitty minigames are shitty. Well done minigames are worthwhile. As I stated, I have not played any in RDR besides the Horseshoes, and asked others about GTA4 (since I also have not played that for more than 10 mins)

I don't know.  To some people, all minigames are shitty.  Other people seem to love shitty minigames; how else can you explain bestselling Wii games and iPhone apps that are nothing but shitty minigames?

The idea of these open world games is that there's a bunch of stuff you can do if you choose to ignore the storyline for a while.  You can be a bounty hunter.  You can be a night-watchman at McFarlane Ranch.  You can herd cows.  You can go out in the woods and pick flowers and shoot up the wildlife.  You can play cards or throw horseshoes with a bunch of dipshits in the the towns.  A subset of the market for these open world games really likes having a bunch of dumb shit to do, and the presence of this dumb shit materially alters the value of the game to these people, especially those who measure value in hours of gameplay.

Side-missions always lack the polish and variety of the main quest, though.  That's probably why Bioware took a lot of the square mileage out of Mass Effect 2, to limit the number of side missions that involve killing identical dudes in identical buildings.

How does that horse deed stuff work, though? It seems like you can only "own" one horse at a time?

And thanks for the Boar location - I thought they might be in one of the blocked zones. I've got my Armadilloes done, so just need the boars!

Your hitched horse is the one that comes when you whistle, until it dies, if you whistle once your horse is dead you get a generic horse.  Which is fine if you're using a generic horse anyway since all the horses are generic except the three good ones and a couple of extra-shitty ones.

A horse deed is listed as a consumable object in your satchel, but it's not consumed when used.  It spawns a horse of the type described in the deed, which you automatically own.  So if you have a good horse, and it dies, you don't have to go out and break another good horse to replace it if you bought a deed.

I think the preorder bonus warhorse may be the best horse in the game.  Otherwise, once you do the horse breaking mission at the McFarlane ranch, where you end up with the stallion, that's a good horse, and you can buy the deed for it at that point.  It costs $1500, but Peacemaker status cuts the price in half.

[LK]

You can herd cattle?