Gaining an appreciation for RDR2

[XerostarTG]

For a long time I have had issues with RDR2. I have, however, decided to embrace it; not by going "oooh how wonderful" while not truly enjoying it, but instead trying to regain the attitude/"consciousness" (?) that I had when I first played RDR1. It is a hard thing to describe since I think that it is unique to everyone when they first came across a genre or gameplay defining game, but I finally have embraced RDR2 in a way that feels nice.

 

This game you have to take things (particularly travel) slowly, even though I heard all the talk pre-release, I had always been very fast with how I travelled in RDR and it translated into RDR2. Imaginably, the game feels horribly different when comparing on when you're going slow and when your going fast. Not only do you not feel as bored when accepting a slower pace, but when you get caught up in a altercation with the law or bounty hunters at a remote location (say Ring Neck Creek) things take a fast and fun pace; this helps create a dynamic that most games are not able to achieve. While this crucial pacing, that falls to the players wish, is a great gameplay element (that has evidently made me feel quite changed in the way I view RDR2 and that I enjoy it so much more), the lack of post game content is utterly disappointing. No banks can you rob as John Marston, only horse collecting where you can only keep four. My biggest thing in RDR was bank robbing, with the fast paced gameplay style I had with RDR1 I would rob all banks within a single in game day (I am counting Rathskeller Fork, as a whole, a bank since you can go into all rooms and open about 9 to 11 chests). Not to mention when I started to embrace this new play style with RDR2 I tried doing another Alden mission only to be told they have "disbanded", that was another cut out of content that is usually fun, but it ended quickly. By the way, I have always been a "lore freak" and always tried to play the game as it "should be", doing this in post game was detrimental and I am glad I stopped doing it (though I am still a "lore freak). It is fun to play an outlaw Marston.

 

I will never let go of my issues with the soundtrack (I genuinely sit there for about 5-10 minutes each time I load up the RDR2 menu to listen to the RDR1 stems), and I have had it turned off for about 2 years now (and do not whatsoever want to turn back on again; except for the Braithwaite Manor mission and American Venom). I personally still think the Van Der Linde's should have been an "unseen force" talked about in the lore, rather than seeing how it apparently was.

 

Some might say what is the point of this thing? But I just wanted to offer a "talk". Do you have anything to say, about this account? Any way that might make it even more better? Also I think there might have been others like me who find post game dreadful, and wanted to offer a bit of personal insight on how it could be better.

[Buddy Hightower]

I started a new playthrough. I'm 5 hours into it, in chapter 2 but haven't done any yellow missions yet. I haven't even travelled very far from horseshoe overlook yet. Just walking around picking herbs and studying animals so far.

I would pay full price for a quality story-mode DLC.

[red-apples]

I'm genuinely curious. Would you mind going into a little bit more detail as to your issues with the soundtrack? I personally find it one of the strengths the game has

[Flymystical-DJ]

Here are my tips I have for RDR2:

 

• Fast travel. It's not cheap at all it's in there because riding is boring! If there is any "dead" time in RDR2 it's riding long distances. Not only will fast travel cut down on that dead time but it will keep the random encounters coming for a long time. Nothing is worse than avoiding a random encounter because you want to finish the trip as quick as possible. 
• Make time to do side content and goof off. I always try to do a little bit of side content or goofing off between each mission. Sometimes I spend an hour following campfire smoke and sometimes I spend an hour seeing whats up in town. Not only will you discover tons of things you've never seen but even better you will...
• ...become broke! Yes this is a good thing! Being broke in RDR2 is amazing. Suddenly you are actually in the character. You will become tempted to rob people because, sh*t, gotta eat. And best of all you will do story missions out of necessity! Holy crap that train robbery was twice as intense when the removal of my $120 bounty was on the line. This is where goofing off comes in to play as if you spend an hour robbing travelers or getting killed investigating campsites you're going to either rack up a bounty or lose everything to the death penalty. 
• Finish the side missions before doing (most) story missions. Admittedly this is a personal preference but if there is one thing that kills me about RDR2 it's the ludo narrative dissonance. It's still not 100% believable but finishing the side missions while the gangs still camped outside valentine makes a little bit of sense with their supposed death in the mountain. The real reason though is to ensure that Arthur doesn't run off and teach some random women how to hunt while his family is 1 week away from discovery and execution. For real though the closer you can get the gameplay to the story the better, you say you like to RP, you know what I'm talkin' about. 
• don't play it all at once. This one is big and I think reasonable considering the quantity and quality of content we're getting here at $60 max. Play until you get bored then play another game. I usually get readdicted once or twice a year and dump 30-40 hours in. It keeps the small moments fresh which are crucial to enjoying the bigger ones to their full potential.

What you just read is the results of my playing the game halfway, becoming dissatisfied, and starting over with a different playstyle. I feel like I had to learn this game to enjoy it, but it's been worth it. This game has genuinely become one of my favorite games of all time. In fact, writing this has made me realize it's been nearly a year since I last played, I think I'm gonna saddle back up.

Edited August 9, 2021 by Flymystical-DJ

[XerostarTG]

17 hours ago, red-apples said:

I'm genuinely curious. Would you mind going into a little bit more detail as to your issues with the soundtrack? I personally find it one of the strengths the game has

 

Too stereotypical, in some modern sense. It's like Woody (the composer) knew this and threw in some hard core electric guitars in some songs just to "divvy it up". It does not allow the entire soundtrack to keep a theme; not some constantly reoccurring sound/stem but a tone, and an emotion. RDR did this beautifully by having the entire soundtrack (I am talking mostly about ambient) be slow and somber, like it is the true last little musical whispers (and sometimes whimpers) from the old west. Most Westerns before hand always had fast engaging music (chase scenes, emotional scenes, gunfights, etc.), but RDR's was slow and engaging; rather hard and unique.

Further more, I cannot seem to remember any tracks in RDR2 with a prominent and beautiful violin, something present in RDR. It is as if they tried to take pop and mix it with Old West. The harmonicas are awful in RDR2, and there is barley any whistles, both of which present in RDR and also done beautifully and without being just mediocre. The musical pacing of RDR is slow, the emotion somber, and the gameplay was fast. The musical pacing of RDR2 is fast [and trying to be fun], the emotion is blank, and the gameplay is purposefully enhanced to try to make it more engaging. I am say this mostly from the perspective of it you go out, in either game, on horse back or just standing on a uplift. RDR lets things be and a scenic story is told about the land through the music and the observations. RDR2 plays the same damn ambient song everywhere and when riding fast on a horse zooms in to make you feel fast; although funnily enough it usually makes you feel like your are going slower for some reason.

You can probably find me complaining about the RDR2 soundtrack on the RDR2 and RDR1 boards. I have no shortage of complaint, lol.

[Emmi]

The best and most immersive game made to date. You have to play this slow and take it all in ... well, at least as much as possible because this game is so big and full of content that it is impossible to experience everything it has to offer in one playthrough or even two. I absolutely love spending time at the camp listening to the various stories of the gang members around the campfire, singing, playing some games like poker, etc. talking to the gang members, doing the daily chores, providing food for the camp, eating and drinking and just enjoying the overall feel the camp in this game gives you. It is really amazing and for me it has been hard to go back to a "solo" game, in the sense of a game where you have no home or don't belong to someone, ever since I experienced RDR2. Also if you don't be in the camp for most of the time you miss a lot of stuff, a lot of great stuff and you certainly lose out on the amazing atmosphere there. Oh man, sitting around the campfire when suddenly Javier starts to play on his guitar and sing a song ... doesn't get better than that.

 

 

[red-apples]

On 8/10/2021 at 1:47 PM, XerostarTG said:

 

Too stereotypical, in some modern sense. It's like Woody (the composer) knew this and threw in some hard core electric guitars in some songs just to "divvy it up". It does not allow the entire soundtrack to keep a theme; not some constantly reoccurring sound/stem but a tone, and an emotion. RDR did this beautifully by having the entire soundtrack (I am talking mostly about ambient) be slow and somber, like it is the true last little musical whispers (and sometimes whimpers) from the old west. Most Westerns before hand always had fast engaging music (chase scenes, emotional scenes, gunfights, etc.), but RDR's was slow and engaging; rather hard and unique.

Further more, I cannot seem to remember any tracks in RDR2 with a prominent and beautiful violin, something present in RDR. It is as if they tried to take pop and mix it with Old West. The harmonicas are awful in RDR2, and there is barley any whistles, both of which present in RDR and also done beautifully and without being just mediocre. The musical pacing of RDR is slow, the emotion somber, and the gameplay was fast. The musical pacing of RDR2 is fast [and trying to be fun], the emotion is blank, and the gameplay is purposefully enhanced to try to make it more engaging. I am say this mostly from the perspective of it you go out, in either game, on horse back or just standing on a uplift. RDR lets things be and a scenic story is told about the land through the music and the observations. RDR2 plays the same damn ambient song everywhere and when riding fast on a horse zooms in to make you feel fast; although funnily enough it usually makes you feel like your are going slower for some reason.

You can probably find me complaining about the RDR2 soundtrack on the RDR2 and RDR1 boards. I have no shortage of complaint, lol.

I know it's been a while, and I have been quite inactive, but I wanted to reply to this.

To each their own. This is a free world and you are entitled to your own opinion. I don't agree with it, of course. If you ask me, as someone else put it, RDR2 is one of the most immersive and visually stunning games I've ever seen. Sometimes I go back and forth between considering it the most stunning or one of the most stunning. Either way, since we are talking about the soundtrack, I disagree. Much of what you said might very well be true, since I haven't played the first game myself, but it isn't true that the same ambient sound plays in every zone. Each area has its own unique sound. New Hanover has its sound, Lemoyne has its sound, Roanoke has its sound, Ambarino has its sound, West Elizabeth and so on. RDR2 doesn't play the same ambient sound everywhere.

Lastly, I do not see where you found the musical pacing of RDR2 to be fast and trying to be fun. Even more so, when you're talking from the perspective of being on horseback and standing still. Fast music in those cases just simply isn't true. There's always a guitar stem or two being thrown in, slow and chill, almost as if you're taking a deep breath. Fast music only plays, and as it is supposed to, during high speed chases and fast-paced fighting sequences.

I find the soundtrack of RDR2 to be one of the most (if not the most) beautiful, thoughtful, immersive and groundbreaking pieces of music ever created. The sheer amount of songs and the diversity in them is astonishing to any aspiring musician or music enthusiast. Woody and team overdid themselves.

[billiejoearmstrong8]

6 hours ago, red-apples said:

I find the soundtrack of RDR2 to be one of the most (if not the most) beautiful, thoughtful, immersive and groundbreaking pieces of music ever created. The sheer amount of songs and the diversity in them is astonishing to any aspiring musician or music enthusiast. Woody and team overdid themselves.

 

I haven't even played the game (just watched most of it) and I have to say I'm in love with the soundtrack. It's breathtaking, I'm captivated by it even without having the immersive experience of hearing it while playing. 

[Badman_]

There you go. Give it time and you might end up loving it. One of the greatest games of all time.

[JB1982]

For me, RDR2 is one of the greatest experiences I have ever had with a game. I'm currently on my third playthrough, have been playing for about four weeks now and I am only just really at the start of Chapter 3 (done about three, maybe four story missions) and I honestly have never been so happy to just take it slow with a game.

 

That's the key for playing a game like this. Take it slow. As others have said, it's so immersive and the content is so rich and rewarding when you do that. The missions are excellent but so are doing things like just hanging out at camp and doing the chores or playing poker, dominoes, and five finger fillet. Or just strolling around and listening to the various conversations taking place and interacting in those conversations, particularly the ones around the campfire. The camp experience is truly amazing and I often spend so much time there that Susan berates me for doing so. But I don't care because I love it and yet I am not really doing anything, that's how immersive the experience is for me.

 

So my biggest advice apart from taking it slow is to just embrace everything the game has to offer and break it up into pieces. In other words, don't do everything at once. Do some story missions, then do some side quests, spend a bit of time at camp, go hunting and fishing, go exploring, do some of the challenges, just ride around and experience those random encounters as they occur. If you are on the PC, consider using a trainer so you can head into New Austin as Arthur (I did that on my last playthrough to mix things up a bit). I agree in part about the post-game content though but at the same time, there are ways around that. On my first playthrough I left a lot of the stuff like the challenges, legendary animals and treasure hunting until the end so I still had quite a lot to keep me occupied.

 

So take your time, embrace it, and figure out a style of gameplay that suits you. And hopefully you'll have the great experience that so many others of us have.

[IzzyBlues]

On 1/18/2022 at 6:00 PM, red-apples said:

I know it's been a while, and I have been quite inactive, but I wanted to reply to this.

I'm only replying because you bumped this, in response to the criticism of the soundtrack and I couldn't disagree more with what this person is saying. I think they are just upset because the soundtrack doesn't sound like your traditional spaghetti western which is what RDR1's style was closely linked to (and also the fact that he unmutes it whenever he plays through the Braithwaite Manor mission).

 

The whole point of that soundtrack was to quash what was meant by the sound of what a "Western" is. Woody has stated that in the interviews he has done, that not every western needs to have bells and whips and cracks in it. All I will say is that the soundtrack for the game changed my life and made me want to pursue music as a career.

 

If you listen to the stems individually through the game files there is so much going on in the background it's unbelievable. You know those peaceful mandolins you hear while you are riding up in the northern part of the map near the Grizzlies? Try listening to those stems individually at a higher volume that is comfortable to you and you can hear the emotion that is put into Woody's playing. The microphones actually pick up the musician's breathing and sighing into the microphone, and at times, you can also hear the backing track bleeding into the mix that they are playing over. It's a surreal feeling listening to the stems individually because you almost feel like you are there in the recording studio listening to them play.

 

Anyway, I can respect everyone has a different opinion, but I feel like they are being too harsh on the soundtrack for the wrong reasons.