Comment on Red Dead Redemption 2 was amazing.
ampersandrew@lemmy.world 7 months ago
It’s an all-timer as far as video game stories and production value, but the railroading that they did to players did irk a great deal of us, as chronicled in that Nakey Jakey video. They set up so many dynamic systems for the player to interact with and then basically dictated that you couldn’t get creative with them during the story missions. Deviating even slightly from the intended path would be a mission failed.
I haven’t seen that video, but I suspect I would agree. RDR2 is something of a paradox.
They did an amazing job on environments and characters, and then turned around and hobbled the game with bizarre PC controls, a save game system and unskippable cut scenes woven from pure contempt for the player’s time, and dog shit mission mechanics that punish the player for any attempt to exercise agency and really have no place in an open world game.
I think your enjoyment will depend on what you’re expecting from your games.
Naughty Dog’s games are some of my favourites, RDR2 is the closest I’ve gotten to that playing a movie experience in an open world game. I would guess that’s hard to balance with more emergent gameplay in open-world story missions, so if that is more what you enjoy as a player, you’d probably feel very restricted.
Absolutely loved RDR2 though. My first or second favourite game of all time.
Odd, I don’t recall having any issues there.
The video evidence in that essay will do more justice than any of my anecdotes, but even things that seemed like possible ways to handle a story mission were not what the developers intended and resulted in a mission failed, like trying to take the high ground in a valley, or trying to sneak in through a window instead of entering from the ground floor.
Leax@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 months ago
Great video. While I respect the crazy amount of work that went into RDR2, I found the story dumb and the gameplay on rail very boring. I’m always surprised when people are raving about it.
ampersandrew@lemmy.world 7 months ago
For my criticisms of that game, which mostly match that video, the story isn’t one of them. I’d call it one of the best the medium has to offer.
Leax@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 months ago
Oh really? That “one more heist” story? :) I liked the ending, but the first half didn’t resonate at all.
ampersandrew@lemmy.world 7 months ago
A one more heist story where it was clear it was never going to be one more heist, and the band dissolved itself over a lack of real leadership. As opposed to the trope, where it’s one more heist that goes wrong. I take it back; I do have a critique of the story. Act 4, on the island, was a detour from anything that had anything to do with the main plot. Other than that though, I thought it was fantastic.