Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

How the West Was Digitized: The Making of Rockstar Games’ Red Dead Redemption 2

vulture.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 89 posts

Re: How the West Was Digitized: The Making of Rockstar Games’ Red Dead Redemption 2

#71

Post by woolvalley »

frabert wrote: post #19
abledon wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel the Internet has quashed my enjoyment of single player games ... it’s like I gotta have a multiplayer competitive at all times , if a tree falls in the forest and no one hears , Meh who cares not fun haha

Interestingly, the Internet has quashed my enjoyment of multiplayer games: so many people are playing them, there's no chance I am going to be able to compete, given that I only play occasionally. When "multiplayer" meant "lan party" or "friends come together and play a skirmish" you actually had a chance, but now? Not so much. I really prefer single player games with a nice story and an action that's not too hectic…

That means it has bad matchmaking either because of laziness or a shallow player base. You should be matched up with people of equal skill.

Re: How the West Was Digitized: The Making of Rockstar Games’ Red Dead Redemption 2

#72

Post by woolvalley »

empath75 wrote: post #27

I’m sort of ambivalent about the game and it’s largely because I have two young kids at home and have maybe an hour at a time to play and the amount of what I would call ‘empty’ time in the game really stands out. There have been times where I’ve done all the work I need to do to get some unbroken alone time, spent 40 minutes playing and gotten absolute nothing accomplished which really sucks given that it might be t…

I like dead cells for that kind of interval. It has a good balance and walking away from the game is fine. MOBAs and Battle Royales like dota and fortnite also give that '1 hour play session' balance typically.

Re: How the West Was Digitized: The Making of Rockstar Games’ Red Dead Redemption 2

#73

Post by defen »

mlthoughts2018 wrote: post #66
onlyfortoday2 wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

what exactly makes it one of the best games you have ever played?

Several things. The scale of technical achievement is by far more impressive than anything that came before. Metal Gear Solid 5 might be the closest thing in terms of open world technology, but RDR2 is far superior to it. The anti-game aspects create a very different dramatic experience than most games. Sometimes you just ride along with another character and do nothing but observe what happens. Other times your plan…

> The scale of technical achievement is by far more impressive than anything that came before. Metal Gear Solid 5 might be the closest thing in terms of open world technology, but RDR2 is far superior to it.

Yep. MGSV has better graphics and far better controls, but the open world in MGSV always felt dead, especially as you got away from enemy bases or outposts. RDR2 does a much better job of always giving you something to do out in the open world that isn't necessarily mission based. MGSV also basically has no friendly or neutral NPCs in the mission areas, which further contributes to breaking the immersion of being in an actual world.

Re: How the West Was Digitized: The Making of Rockstar Games’ Red Dead Redemption 2

#74

Post by mlthoughts2018 »

defen wrote: post #73
mlthoughts2018 wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Several things. The scale of technical achievement is by far more impressive than anything that came before. Metal Gear Solid 5 might be the closest thing in terms of open world technology, but RDR2 is far superior to it. The anti-game aspects create a very different dramatic experience than most games. Sometimes you just ride along with another character and do nothing but observe what happens. Other times your plan…

> The scale of technical achievement is by far more impressive than anything that came before. Metal Gear Solid 5 might be the closest thing in terms of open world technology, but RDR2 is far superior to it. Yep. MGSV has better graphics and far better controls, but the open world in MGSV always felt dead, especially as you got away from enemy bases or outposts. RDR2 does a much better job of always giving you someth…

RDR2 does an impressive job of making the stuff seem to organically happen. Smoke signals from random camp sites, animal movements, strangers, other riders on the roads. I’m sure future games will make it even smoother and more integrated, but it’s already impressive in RDR2.

You can also completely ignore these interactions, but you risk missing out on things that will be much harder to do if you wait and come back later, or which might not reappear as options, like helping a stranger or looting a specific enemy camp.

Re: How the West Was Digitized: The Making of Rockstar Games’ Red Dead Redemption 2

#75

Post by shocks »

The game is good but the controls are so bad it's comical.

Don't try and get on your horse if someone is standing near it because triangle is also "get into a fight with that person". You can back out of the fight, but not with the circle button (which is so often the "go back" button) - this time circle is the punch button!

Basically the core game loop is: move a bit, look in the bottom right to see if you can press some buttons to do a thing, do a thing or move a bit more.

Re: How the West Was Digitized: The Making of Rockstar Games’ Red Dead Redemption 2

#76

Post by kingbirdy »

w0rd-driven wrote: post #60
kingbirdy wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My main problem with the game was how willing it was to fail you on whatever your current objective was. For example, I passed a woman on the side of the road with a broken leg who needed help. Easy enough, I stopped and offered her a ride. She couldn't get on though because I had pelts on my horse. In the time it took me to walk back to my horse and drop the pelts, she'd yelled at me "Fine, I'll get home myself" and…

Rockstar Claw is fixed via the ‘Standard FPS’ setting with toggle to run. You click the left thumbstick once to jog and twice to sprint just like FPS games like COD. Pulling fully in a direction sprints and just barely touching it walks. I liked the change but it felt weird and I worried that I would just run off every cliff I came to.

That only works for on foot though, not on horseback.

Re: How the West Was Digitized: The Making of Rockstar Games’ Red Dead Redemption 2

#77

Post by kingbirdy »

mercer wrote: post #38
kingbirdy wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My main problem with the game was how willing it was to fail you on whatever your current objective was. For example, I passed a woman on the side of the road with a broken leg who needed help. Easy enough, I stopped and offered her a ride. She couldn't get on though because I had pelts on my horse. In the time it took me to walk back to my horse and drop the pelts, she'd yelled at me "Fine, I'll get home myself" and…

Why is it called 'Rockstar Claw'?

You need to mash A to run, but also need to keep a finger on the stick and the trigger, meaning you end up with your thumb on the stick, index on the A button, and middle on the trigger, creating an uncomfortable claw shape with your hand.

Re: How the West Was Digitized: The Making of Rockstar Games’ Red Dead Redemption 2

#78

Post by pier25 »

woolvalley wrote: post #70
pier25 wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The other day I saw that hour long gameplay video 2077 and it was mesmerizing. I can't wait to play it, will probably even upgrade my PC just for that game, but OTOH the world looks so immersive and deep I fear that I'd need a couple of weeks off.

I bet 2077 will be a next generation console headliner, so you don't necessarily need to buy a $500 video card to play it :)

I have a PS4, but if I can I prefer buying a game for PC.

In part because I have more control over the hardware, but specially because games do not die when a newer console model is released.

I can still play many PC games from 10+ years ago, but I have a box of PS3 discs that I cannot use because the PS4 does not have backwards compatibility. Some of those games have been ported to the PS4, and I'd have to buy them again to play them on the PS4. What will happen with the PS5?

Re: How the West Was Digitized: The Making of Rockstar Games’ Red Dead Redemption 2

#79

Post by freewilly1040 »

ui-explorer12 wrote: post #24
tkiley wrote: post #11

I haven't played a big-budget game in years, but I decided to give RDR2 a try, specifically because reviewers described it as slow and boring. I think it's great, for the exact reason that other people think it's slow and boring. It's specifically designed to quash your tendency to speedrun or minmax: It requires you to simply come along for the ride. On the one hand, this is a bit annoying sometimes. On the other ha…

The newest Zelda is like that as well. I finished in a couple of weeks; my wife has been playing for almost a year and just finished the main quest. My daughter just enjoys exploring and cooking dishes with all the ingredients. The attention to detail at every level is what makes it work as a free-world. I'd argue this aspect is better than the traditional main-quest story line and execution, but the entire game is a…

I've never played a game that offered more enjoyment in simply moving around the world than in Zelda. Putting yourself in the headspace of climbing up mountains and paragliding for transportation is so fun.

Re: How the West Was Digitized: The Making of Rockstar Games’ Red Dead Redemption 2

#80

Post by nullstyle »

ajmurmann wrote: post #41
nullstyle wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a unfortunate statement, as there are many reasons to game. I'm guessing you havent really spent much time gaming. For me, the most important part of gaming for me is sharing time with my far-flung-friends. We're not watching a tree fall, we're building a campfire together. Sharing GTA5's space with 7 friends is much better than a group video call with the same crowd, for example. Acknowledgment from others d…

Unfortunately I've spent a lot of time gaming. Not much online with friends though. At least not in recent years. You make a very valid point that sounds entirely different than OP's "tree falling in the forest" argument.

My only point was that there are many different motivations to game and ways to derive value from a gaming experience, my bad if I come off as holier than thou.
Post reply on HN