I've only played about five hours or so to date, but I liked it.
Nate Send a noteboard - 14/11/2011 05:43:35 PM
Firstly, because the controls are too "realistic." Your horse turns slowly, won't back up, takes a while to start and stop, etc. It is incredibly frustrating to accidentally hit something (a small rock, for example, that is half the height of fences that your horse will happily jump over), and spend five or six seconds slowly wheeling your beast about, and spurring him up to speed again. This is even more annoying when it makes you fail your mission.
I like the horses. I like that they feel realistic. I enjoy the feeling of riding across the old west. I won't even try to go full speed most of the time. It might not be fast, but the horse will get me where I'm going, and in the meantime I'll enjoy the scenery or keep my eye out for things I need to collect or kill. I only end up hitting something, like say a cactus, if I'm riding too fast off the roads.
Secondly, because different breeds of horses are made out to be a fairly big deal, yet the game refuses to identify the animals in any way. There are probably dozens of different kinds of horses in the game, with varying speeds (fast, normal, slow). Other than reading a vague description in a deed, though (which are only in stores, and you usually won't have with you), there's no way to tell which horse is which. Furthermore, the speed difference isn't noticeable enough to be immediately obvious without direct one-after-another comparison. Seriously R*, would it have killed you to tell the player what breed he's got?
This one is a valid complaint, for sure.
Lastly, another controls complaint: stamina management. Each horse has stamina. You can spur your horse to go faster by pushing "A," which will momentarily speed him up for a second or two. This reduces your horse's stamina. Reduce the stamina too far and your horse will buck you off. Stamina will start to recover after a second or two of spurlessness (yep, I'm going with that word). Multiple spurrings, however, do not appear to make your horse go faster. What this all means is that, in order to ride fast, you have to tap A once or twice a second. You want to keep yourself in the speed-boosted state, yet not spur fast enough to lose much stamina. This could have been an interesting mechanic if you could manage your speed (if multiple spurrings would go faster, letting you decide between consistent travel and bursts-of-speed), but as it is it just makes you tap "A" constantly in order to ride your horse. Very annoying.
Er. I think you might be missing something. Either that or I'm missing something. I tap A to get my speed up, but then all I have to do to maintain that speed is hold A. You don't need to keep tapping all the time. The tutorial sections at the start tell you that. And as long as you don't try to hold him at super-maximum speed, he'll keep riding at a fast speed without losing stamina and bucking you off. That's only a danger if you press him to his limits for too long.
- Shooting is always the same. There's never any strategy to the gun battles, and the guns themselves behave in nearly identical fashion.
It's possible I haven't yet played enough to get bored with them. But I'm not bored with them yet, even if they're fairly simple.
- Riding a horse is always the same. Unlike in, say, GTAIV, there is virtually no skill in getting from one place to another, and there's nothing cool to do on the way. No crazy jumps, no motorcycles/helicopters/alternative vehicles, no high speed crashes, etc. You just tap "A" and do slow, sweeping, "my horse is too realistic to do anything fun" turns.
You want the horses to do crazy jumps and crashes? This might just not be your game. :p
I like John Marston, but he can also be very annoying. In the first part of the game (New Austin) I did long questlines for three different lunatics. Each one of them used and betrayed me at every turn, approximately 5-6 times in a row (each!) before finally giving me what I wanted. EVERY TIME, I, John Marston, pushed them and threatened to "put a bullet in their head and move on" if they didn't stop conning me. However, I, John Marston, never elevated it any further. Ever. Flat out betrayals that almost got me killed were treated to a, "I'm tired of this run-around! Now if you don't help me, I'm going to put a bullet in your head and move on with my day! *light shove*"
I haven't played enough to see all that, but so far I like him and his voice acting.
All of the minigames such as horseshoes, liar's dice, five finger fillet, horsebreaking, etc, are awful. I quit most of them without even finishing a single round.
I haven't gotten into any of them, but I suspect you're right. These are rarely an attraction for me in games anyway. Not since Final Fantasy VIII's card game.
Oh, and the challenges. Let's not forget about them. Survivalist challenge: collect six flowers. Rank 2! Collect four flowers from this other spot. Rank 3! Collect seven flowers from this other spot. Sharpshooter challenge: shoot three birds. Rank 2! shoot five rabbits. etc, etc, etcetcetcetcetcetcetc.
But you were just complaining there wasn't anything to do while riding from place to place, weren't you? This is what I do. Rather than seeking them out individually, I keep my eye open while I ride.
- Whenever I'm on a mission, the tiniest social infraction will fail me. I can be at the very end of a mission, but if I so much as nudge a townsperson aside with my horse (even if they just jumped out from around a corner) I will fail the mission. "You harassed the townspeople." This despite the fact that, while not on missions, the very same action has absolutely no negative effect. Seriously, I climbed into a burning barn, navigated my way through ladders and windows, opened the doors, slapped the horses to get them out, rode the last one triumphantly through the door, was about to finish the mission, and a random ranch-hand jumps into my path. Not killed, just knocked aside. TRY AGAIN, says the game.
I encountered this once as well, and it was annoying. But it's only been the once so far.
Sorry for the ranting nature of this post, but I was really looking forward to playing RDR, and, while I will probably finish it eventually, it's been a big disappointment. There are a lot more frustrations to this game than I can easily tolerate, and the repetitive gameplay and lackluster side activities haven't helped. I wouldn't ordinarily care so much, except that I'm surprised to find this kind of thing in a game rated so highly by virtually every media outlet out there (and, to be fair, gamers that I've talked to as well). It's as if everyone is so completely blinded by the joy of being able to ride off into a beautiful sunset that they overlook the fact that the game just isn't much fun to play.
Or perhaps they are looking for different things in the game than you? I've had fun with it so far. It hasn't felt disappointing or frustrating at all. I'm in it for the feel of playing around in the old west, and so far it's more than delivered.
Warder to starry_nite
Chapterfish — Nate's Writing Blog
http://chapterfish.wordpress.com
Chapterfish — Nate's Writing Blog
http://chapterfish.wordpress.com
Red Dead Disappointment.
- 14/11/2011 05:03:27 PM
569 Views
I've only played about five hours or so to date, but I liked it.
- 14/11/2011 05:43:35 PM
532 Views
Thanks for the response. 
Note that I'm not really trying to say it's a "bad" game, exactly.
- 14/11/2011 06:42:28 PM
466 Views
Note that I'm not really trying to say it's a "bad" game, exactly.
- 14/11/2011 06:42:28 PM
466 Views
Loved the game.
- 14/11/2011 06:40:19 PM
533 Views
I know, and you're right. This was a post about why it wasn't my thing, not why it was a bad game.
- 14/11/2011 07:00:01 PM
529 Views
You never wanted to be a cowboy as a kid, did you?
- 15/11/2011 11:55:47 AM
438 Views
I love that game so much.
- 15/11/2011 03:09:19 PM
498 Views
Re: I love that game so much.
- 15/11/2011 04:58:20 PM
411 Views
You know what?
- 16/11/2011 02:00:23 AM
481 Views
Huh, I did not know that. Thanks. I really don't need to be buying a PS3, though... *NM*
- 16/11/2011 05:32:29 AM
188 Views