Red Dead Redemption

[realisticphish]

Picked this up monday night at the midnight release (yeah, I know, I'm a dork), and I have to say, so far it's fantastic. I have about 8 hours played on it (no other commitments today), and I'm only about 24% of the way through, so says the game.

great mix of action and rpg; the world is VERY open, though exploration doesn't do as much for you as in Fallout or games like that. Still, the graphics and voice acting are nice, and the controls are nice as well. Horses take a bit of getting used to, but they are treated more as real animals with their own AI, and not just a motorcycle with legs. The bastards wander off while you're messing around, though there is the very cool function of whistling for them, and they come galloping.

So far, definitely highly rated.

[ZombieHorde]

1. How do the RPG elements work? Skills, abilities, stats, etc.

[realisticphish]

2. weeeeeelll

no XP, so no levels or that sort of thing. There are challenges which increase your fame and good/bad rating. I don't want to overplay the rpg aspect, because it ISN'T like elder scrolls, or fallout. I would compare it to something like Fable, really, in terms of major gameplay, minus experience. Or Gun, to compare it to a Western.

I would honestly wait to buy it, though, at least on 360. I've had quite a few glitches; most are just inconvenient or annoying, but one made me lose a mission, and force me to restart. The problems seem to be focused around wagons and horses.

But it's only been out a few days, I expected SOME glitches. Although, its already been delayed twice, so you would think they would have it straightened up. Once it gets patched, it should be fine

[Ignis]

4. Sounds more like a rental.

Do you have any sense of how much replay value it will have?

[realisticphish]

5. meh

it's a long-term game, but unless they release major story-centric DLC, probably not. I can see putting 50-60+ hours in (I'm already up to 30, and I still have a lot of the story left. (or I think I do).

The side missions, quests, achievements, etc, take up a lot of time.

It can be a rental, but only if you have a 30 day rental period.

[Ignis]

7. GameFly = untimed rentals (like NetFlix)

I love it for play-once games like this. :D

[realisticphish]

11. nice

unless you're really into MP, it's really not worth keeping; I don't expect a ton of DLC for the main game

[BJ10]

3. Wow...I thought it would be pretty good...

but I had no idea how good! This game is gonna eat May and June up!

[realisticphish]

6. yeah

plus I'm still trying to finish bayonetta, and i'm working on splinter cell.

Sometimes videogames seem like work :D

[lazarus]

8. what's combat like?

is it more FPS or turn based or action?

[realisticphish]

9. action

it's third person, with "dead eye" aiming, like the slo-mo stuff in Gun.

The horseback combat is surprisingly good, too. I wish there was more of a health meter, but its not a big deal (better than Brutal Legend in that regard)

[realisticphish]

10. Just beat it

The last 1-2 hours get really interesting, story-wise.

SPOILERS


>>>>>>>>>>

I thought the ending was disappointing, until I found the last stranger mission at the Blackwater train station. That made it ALL better. :D I thought John died the way I thought he would; after all the ranching/family stuff, I knew there was no way he was making it out of this game alive, and I assumed Ross would be the one to do it. I was disappointed with the wrap-up for Bonnie. Frankly, she was one of my favorite characters. Not that I expected John to leave Abigail, but the last shot of her left me pretty depressed about her. I half wanted her to go cougar with Jack ;) Honestly, John was an idiot for even staying in the US. He had to know Ross would dispose of him. He should have headed across the border; Reyes would have welcomed him. I also kind of hoped Louisa's little sister would turn up, but that was a pretty minor complaint. Ricketts, too; I liked him.

All in all, the story ended well. A lot of characters weren't resolved, but that's life. There were no glaring plot holes at the end, at least that I could see. I had quite a few complaints, but in a massive open-world game, there are going to be issues. I didn't like the fast travel system; WAY too tedious, and ridiculous that you couldn't fast travel between the US and Mexico. I think I'm at around 97% completion; I may try to get all non-MP achievements, but I haven't decided. Final rating: 9/10


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[HiFructosePronSyrup]

12. It's a lot of fun.

Not sure how I feel about anachronisms. They set it in 1911 to explain the cars and electric lighting. But that's really stretching it to the end of the Wild West period, IMO.

[realisticphish]

13. yeah

but I don't think it's over-the-top. The Mauser is my favorite pistol, even though it just doesn't LOOK right in a western

[JonLP24]

14. I recently

ordered Gamefly and waiting for Red Dead Redemption which is the very first game I put on the list. I think it will come today. It shipped 8/27 and my account says my primary shipping center is Los Angeles and I live in central Arizona to give you an idea on how far I live from there.