Finished the entire thing. 96%, ~28 hours. Whoever put that HORSEBREAK 3 HORSES "how about just one more?" mission at the end needs some talkin too. I'll probably do the remaining 4%, but I think I'll hold off and do it when I load RDR back up for Undead Redemption in a month or two (want to give a break between the two).
Reaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaally good game. Probably my tied with Xenoblade as the best game experience this generation so far. It's so hard to believe this came from the people who made the sucky GTAIV. Even just going by the dialogue, it's like GTAIV dialogue = crap, RDR dialogue = pretty darn good! and yet it's written by the same guy! wtffff. The story was alright, but the characters and the dialogue were really well done. It also helps that John Marston seriously had the best voice actor I've heard in videogames, period. Which made him one of the most likeable videogame characters I've come across. The graphics, wow, I can honestly say even after Crysis and Uncharted and all that jazz, RDR to me is the best looking videogame I've played. At times when riding around, the land it looks stunningly realistic. As a So. CA resident, I can attest that when I leave the city, it looks EXACTLY like parts of RDR. Really incredible art direction. The music was fantastic as well. There was lots to do in the game and the missions were all fun save the mini-games like horsebreaking needing some finetuning. And on top of that there's some multiplayer stuff which by all accounts is quality as well and maybe I'll try out in the future. Fantastic game that deserves all the GoTY awards it won.
Things I'd like to see in RDR2,
-BEING ABLE SIT DOWN ON A BENCH OR CHAIR. I wanted to sit on the porch of a house and watch the sun rise. How hard would it be to add a sit interaction with chairs and benches
-Dialogue choices. The game is more of an rpg than ME2 in a lot of ways. Go the extra distance, give the player choice as to how the main character solves the mission. Maybe even branch the plot and make the player pick sides (like in Mexico)
-less grindy challenges, more fun challenges!
But overall, I'm happy with what's in RDR itself. I enjoyed every minute of the game EXCEPT when I was grinding the ambient challenges. Those hours were a chore and if I was recommending the game to another person, I'd tell them to ignore all 4 challenge groups and do everything else in the game. It was truly amazing, gorgeous and immersive sandbox world to explore and enjoy. A modern classic by all means.
spoilers about the ending:
spoiler (click to show/hide)
The ending was depressing
It made sense that they'd turn around and kill him since they had orders to take out the old gang crew, but John Marston was such a great heroic lead character and it was depressing to watch him die in the usual gangster going out with a bang way. Would've preferred a happy ending :X
Also, can you steal a car somewhere in Blackwater and drive it around? I remember one of the stats saying something like "miles driven in car"
