Unpopular Opinions about RDR2

[Typhus]

(I searched the forum and couldn't find a similar thread, but if it exists, please delete this and I'll happily use the existing one.)

So, with a game this big and successful as RDR2, clearly it's going to inspire a lot of discussion. And now the game is out, and we've let it digest for a while, what are your most unpopular opinions about the game? Things you think which, by and large, the majority of players just wouldn't agree with.

For myself, I feel the RPG elements weren't nearly in depth enough, and that if this was the direction Rockstar wanted to take, they should have bit the bullet and allowed us to create our own character. If it was Skyrim in the Old West, I'd have loved it a lot more. But every element of character customization feels hollow when you're playing as someone already so well defined with a set path laid out for them.

But that's just me. What are your most unpopular opinions about this game?

[Cutter De Blanc]

They made John Marston into an unlikable deadbeat,  and I like the character overall considerably less now.

[SmileyBandito]

The story isn't quite as good as everyone makes it out to be. It's big, like really long, and has great performances. But there were so many stupid missions. Like that one time you, Lenny and Dutch massacre half the town on that trolley. Then the story pretends that never happens. Then when they rob the Saint Denis bank a few missions later, all the sudden it's a big deal when the cops show up. There are a lot of filler missions, especially chapter 3. Chapter 3 barely moved the plot forward, not until Jack was kidnapped. 

[wagszilla]

It's an overrated, undisciplined, and mediocre game carried by reputation, hype, and amazing graphics. 

[Smokewood]

30 minutes ago, wagszilla said:

It's an overrated, undisciplined, and mediocre game carried by reputation, hype, and amazing graphics. 

No, I would say the story mode is a complete masterpiece. I love it and have played almost everyday since launch.

On 3rd play through now and this one is the one I'm going to get 100% on.

Unfortunately the online mode is just bad.

[Algonquin Assassin]

-The eating, sleeping, taking care of Arthur's horse etc gets no where near in the way like some claim it. It's the "friends call every 5 minutes" from GTA IV all over again. Exaggerated to epic proportions. 

-I don't care that John can't swim when the horses can swim and there are boats, canoes etc as alternatives.

-New Austin and particularly Armadillo don't bother me that they feel a bit more barren. Infact it just makes it feel more like the "Wild West". 

 

[PapasHota]

3 hours ago, wagszilla said:

It's an overrated, undisciplined, and mediocre game carried by reputation, hype, and amazing graphics. 

Thats more like a popular opinion, apart from the paid critics this game is being trashed in forums, youtube, twitter, etc.

[Algonquin Assassin]

1 hour ago, PapasHota said:

Thats more like a popular opinion, apart from the paid critics this game is being trashed in forums, youtube, twitter, etc.

Please don't spread around woggleman's disease seeing as he's no with us.

[Lonely-Martin]

Unpopular opinion #1: I love John more after this game.

 

Unpopular opinion #2: No hookers doesn't bother me. (Not that I'd object if they were there or get added mind you).

 

Unpopular opinion #3: I'd love a zombie outbreak here. I love the atmosphere of the game and feel it could make zombies scary again.

[The Odyssey]

Maybe not that unpopular, but after completing the game I can safely say Dutch has solidified himself as one of the greatest non-playable characters across all Rockstar games, if not the greatest. 

[Cutter De Blanc]

9 minutes ago, Lonely-Martin said:

Unpopular opinion #1: I love John more after this game.

This doesn't really seem like an unpopular opinion. 

[Lonely-Martin]

1 minute ago, Cutter De Blanc said:

This doesn't really seem like an unpopular opinion. 

You could be right, just seen a good few with criticisms of the chap is all.

 

I really enjoyed learning more of him and his family/ways is all.

[Lemoyne outlaw]

i really like micah. in fact he is one of the best antagonists rockstar has made. he is also one of my favorite characters in the game.

 

i also really love the modern weapons in this game. like the pistols.

[Guest Guest176525326]

My unpopular opinions are:

 

1. John Martson can’t swim, I hate it.

2. The main story is just average at best. 

3. Both epilogues are better than Chapter 5 & 6

4. No desire to have a second play through, due to the mission structure(too cinematic and on rails)

5. I really disliked the Indians bit in Chapter 6.

6. The Van Der Linde gang is useless, there are way too many members and I couldn’t care less about most of them. There are only a few who stand out!

7. Saint Denis is the weakest part of the game and out of place imo

8. I prefer free roaming after the story over the main story

9. Chapter 2 & 3 are easily the best parts of the game

10. Breaking Micah out of the prison is easily one of the best missions in the whole game

11. There are way too many women in the gang

12. RDR2 is the game of the decade

 

[HeyThereFriend]

The Volcanic Pistol is the best damn weapon in the game.

[Jutland]

I really like the fast weather transitions. Suddenly clouds will pile up in a perfectly clear blue sky and they go dark and then the rain is lashing and the horizon is lit by lightning. All within a few seconds. The popular opinion seems to be that the weather transitions are unrealistic and rubbish, but I like them.

[Algonquin Assassin]

33 minutes ago, Jutland said:

I really like the fast weather transitions. Suddenly clouds will pile up in a perfectly clear blue sky and they go dark and then the rain is lashing and the horizon is lit by lightning. All within a few seconds. The popular opinion seems to be that the weather transitions are unrealistic and rubbish, but I like them.

It's been growing on me too. It's nowhere as bad as the Mafia III weather.

 

It seems to be done in order to keep in sync with the in game clock. Then again there are times rain/storms will set in for a long time (like a day or more). I think it really depends where you are on the map more than anything.

[Jimbatron]

My unpopular opinion - I really don’t care about outfit customisation or like most of the purchasable options that much. But then again this could simply be relative that Arthur’s default clobber feels perfect to me.

[RJX74]

RDR1 was waaaaay better.

[Boozey St John]

15 hours ago, Cutter De Blanc said:

They made John Marston into an unlikable deadbeat,  and I like the character overall considerably less now.

They made young John look like my ex-fiance... Then I realized that I was lonely.

[The Jungz]

Even though I prefer Arthur and think he's the better written character, I still play as John way more often.

 

It's as if it feels better to play a Red Dead game with John Marston.

[happygrowls]

Some spicy takes, includes some spoilers for the endgame.

Micah is one of my favourite characters. He is the most realistic outlaw, caring only about his survival, which is something not alot of video games touch upon, they simply make the bad guy "a bad guy who does bad things" but Micah is a manipulative asshole so he can live, he will let anyone die before him, even little Jack.

 

Sadie was criminally underused until Chapter 5, she was hyped up to be more of a major character throughout than she actually was.

 

Armadillo and Tumbleweed should have co-existed as Towns, as it makes not a lot of sense for Armadillo to suddenly surge in popularity after almost all it's population is dead, and with Tumbleweed losing all of it's inhabitants despite Armadillo being basically dead.

 

I was disappointed when the Snake Oil bounty wasn't West Dickens, come on, that would have been a perfect cameo, although it would contradict RDR1's lore if John gets him as a bounty.

 

I prefer RDR1's endless supply of bounty missions rather than the linear scripted RDR2 ones.

 

RDR1 had better activities such as Liar's Dice, Horseshoes, Nightwatch, Horse Breaking and some others. RDR2 only introduces Dominoes and that's really the only new minigame, I hope the others come back in some form of expansion.

 

Minigames are too damn slow even with the skip option, the animations take so long I get bored playing poker and blackjack.

 

Five-Finger Fillet was the worst mode in RDR1 and remains the worst in RDR2.

[gtafaninwest]

The medal completion is a real pain. Fact that Cockstar has been adding that since TBoGT is really annoying. 

[Grotti Vigilante]

I think Sadie Adler is an overrated (not bad) character and should’ve honestly let the death of her husband go. She constantly undermines Arthur’s “revenge is a fool’s game” philosophy, and Arthur shouldn’t have let her chase it so much. She is so beyond any control of her emotions and it just annoys me to the point of just wanting her to leave the gang sometimes.

[hugh750]

my complaint is arthur is the only one who does chores.

i like bill williamson.

[BoulderFaceplant]

- The redemption theme of RDR2 is way stronger than it was in RDR, but generally the story just isn’t as good. 

- All of the returning characters - including John Marston - look better in RDR2 because that game has a more realistic general look for humans and animals. 

- The speed difference between horses becomes hard to notice past the mid-range breeds. 

- Horses crash way too easily. 

- I would’ve preferred a story set in the prime of the Old West, completely divorced from John Marston. 

 

 

Edited February 9, 2019 by BoulderFaceplant

[jje1000]

These are more of my general opinions, not really unpopular opinions.

1. The game could have benefited from more procedural gameplay systems. Some things (like encounters and the camp) feel too scripted, and you notice those limitations the more you play.
2. The game is too cinematic for its own good, as missions almost always run along rails- this clashes with the open-world concept of RDRII and misses the opportunity to allow players to approach missions from different angles.
3. RDRII's gameplay is really only an elaboration of existing Rockstar tropes, it has not been improved upon beyond looking more "realistic".
4. These tropes combined with an emphasis on realism results in clunky gameplay controls (i.e. holding down a button to auto-gallop, the same button doing multiple things), and an overemphasis on Deadeye and headshots.
5. The supposed realism that RDRII offers is more or less a cover for the game's otherwise simplistic and shallow gameplay mechanics. There are some details (horses balls) that contribute nothing to the gaming/immersive experience, and those resources could have been focused elsewhere.
6. RDRII suffers from some balancing issues, especially with the economy and law enforcement that detract tremendously from the game's immersion.
7. The game could have benefited from another half-year of polish. It feels like there are some concepts that were never truly fleshed out (i.e. the camp system, Beecher's Hope, New Austin), while others feel shallow (mission medals, camp upgrades). The plot could have also benefited from some post-recut cleanup, as there's issues with plot holes and lagging character development.
8. There are too many characters in general, and many of them could have been merged together and developed more.
9. The pacing of the game is not great, as many players want to stay in Chapters 2 & 3 once they know what happens towards the game's ending.
10. Online mode has been detrimental to SP mode, as it's a reductionist form of gameplay that strips away the finer details of RDRII, likely sapped resources that could have been dedicated to SP, and harms prospects of SP DLC that could have addressed some of SP's issues.
11. Rockstar is a neglectful parent who has not talked about its plans for SP at all (not even plans for bug fixes or post-release content), and has given us only sparing details on Online mode's fixes while still wanting players to pay up.
12. RDRII was likely largely finished in 2-4 years, with the rest of the time being stuck in development hell. As a result, its development was very much rushed towards the end and it can sometimes feel like it suffers from "too-many-cooks" syndrome.
13. Online mode likely will not be a success as TakeTwo would like, as there is a decent lineup of games in 2019 that offer better gameplay. Online's world also pales to SP's world, its player models are ugly, and its story is awful.
14. RDRII is not a 10/10 masterpiece, I would place it closer to a 8.5-9 depending on how much you like visuals and storytelling compared to the gameplay. The sad thing is that it could easily become a 10/10 post-release if Rockstar focused on SP fixes, rather than Online mode.

 

Edited February 9, 2019 by jje1000

[Middle Class Roadman]

I think Chapter 6 is overrated and chapters 3 & 4 were the best chapters in the game. 

[Cutter De Blanc]

I hope that their online mode becomes an utter failure

[wagszilla]

1 hour ago, jje1000 said:

These are more of my general opinions, not really unpopular opinions.

1. The game could have benefited from another half-year of polish. It feels like there are some concepts that were never truly fleshed out (i.e. the camp system, Beecher's Hope, New Austin), while others feel shallow (mission medals, camp upgrades). The plot could have also benefited from some post-recut cleanup, as it there's issues with plot holes and lagging character development.

 

imo, they're limited by current gen specs and limits in AI.

 

1 hour ago, jje1000 said:

 

1. There are too many characters in general, and many of them could have been merged together and developed more.

 

Totally agreed here.