Digitally downloaded this one. Figured it would be a long term game with repeatability. I usually buy my games used on disc, then re-sell them after playing through.

Pre-loaded and ready. I think my order said it would be playable for me on 10/25 at 10:00 PM.

Apparently, the story is 60 hours in length.

It's gonna be a good one.

Ugh. I was super disappointed that Fallout is pretty much mandatory online. I don't play enough to be competitive, and I usually like to go at my own pace. Maybe, eventually, we can do a Pinside group for Fallout. I'm sure most of us are in the same type of group for console gaming.

I haven't noticed the balls, but my horse has been doing a lot of shitting.

Glad to see the dev 100 hour work weeks were worth it.

Yes, the controls feel like they are all over the place. Not intuitive. Will need to spend more time playing to get used to them.

Overall, great game. I prefer GTA V though. This game is almost too detailed. I have to clean my horse?! Controls and buttons are confusing, too. I keep looking at the corner of the screen to see what buttons I need to press after several hours of play.

Too much long travel. At least in GTA, I can listen to funny radio stations.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m going to play this game in its entirety with pleasure.

Just get through that part. It doesn't really open up until you set up camp outside Valentine.

I played through the bar scene this morning where you get drunk with Lenny. That had me laughing out loud. Too funny.

Been there a couple times ages ago.

The bounty/law thing is kind of frustrating, in my opinion. You can bump somebody accidentally while on your horse, and all the sudden you have people chasing you and shooting at you. Then you have to pay the bounty or deal with all the non sense almost constantly.

This is what I mentioned early regarding too much detail. The amount of pointless side work is rediculous. I suppose they think it’s “immersive”.

Anyway, you can buy a brush at the stable in Valentine. I got one for free buying a horse there.

I found some gold bars and money. Up to almost $1500. The camp is upgraded for fast travel.

Any tips or recommendations how to spend the money? Good weapons or more camp upgrades?

I’ve been able to get 3-star pelts by using a lasso instead of a gun.

Not sure how much I've paid out in mistakes so far, but it's been a lot after maybe 10 hours of gameplay.

Game's not a "masterpiece", IMO, but a good game. Actually, it feels closer to a movie than a game, but anyway...

Here's one of my horse control fails this morning:

This one was too funny not to share. Found on Reddit.

"The controls just take a while to get used to."

https://www.reddit.com/r/reddeadredemption/comments/9s78eb/my_clip_sums_up_my_whole_time_playing_the/

Also found a lot of really good tips here (non-clickbait).

https://www.reddit.com/r/reddeadredemption/comments/9sbzqp/some_useful_tips_i_found_out/

I laugh at people calling this a masterpiece. It does feel like more of a movie than a game. 80%+ of the game is riding a horse somewhere, either listening to a story or trying to get to a story. When action does start up, the controls are unintuitive and clumsy. The intense shooting scenes can be really frustrating.

Even so, I'm kind of addicted to it. I enjoy hunting legendary animals for perks and finding secret businesses to rob. The story has its moments, but is starting to feel kind of regurgitated after playing 15-20 hours now. I'll finish the game and enjoy it, but it doesn't live up to the hype, in my opinion.

It's the horse riding that takes forever, not the cut scenes.

If you're skipping the cut scenes and story, why are you playing? Just to ride horses?

I can afford the game and have played through Chapter 4. I think the Metacritic rating is closer to reality than the “Masterpiece” ratings given by the big reviewers.

Like most others have said, it’s almost entirely horse riding with clumsy controls.

I think that mission allows you to upgrade your camp through the ledger. If you upgrade Arthur’s area, it’ll unlock fast travel (only from the camp though). You’ll need some cash for the upgrades.

You have awhile to go in the game.

I’m pretty sure you keep your money. As far as I can tell, when you die, it depletes your health and removes whatever game/pelts your horse was carrying.

I'm really enjoying the Legendary hunting (to get the perks) and leveling through the hunting challenges. I almost enjoy that more than the story modes.

Some of the perks are well worth it.

There's a bunch of legendary animals in the game. If you can find them and hunt them, go to a "Fence" shop and buy the perk using the parts from the legendary animals. Some perks are really good and will help you survive and do better in the game. You can also get really awesome looking gear from the trapper after successfully hunting legendary animals.

I won't post here due for spoilers, but you can google the general locations. A couple of the animals are part of the story and won't be unlocked until you get to that point.

The hunting challenges are different and just require doing certain tasks to level up. The final challenge is a legendary animal.

Map: https://www.reddit.com/r/reddeadredemption/comments/9rx8po/list_of_legendary_animal_locations_official_guide/#ampf=undefined

The legendary bull gator and panther aren’t available until later in the game.

You can get your hat back from the horse item menu. There’s also an awesome bear hat at the trapper if you were able to kill the legendary bear at the beginning of the game.

Put all of your money in the community box, then go to town and turn yourself in. You'll go to jail, then everything will be clear afterwards.

If you don't put your money in the community box, the sheriff will take it all.

I spent some time on the game over the weekend and just finished the main story tonight. I still have the epilogue chapters.

The story definitely gets better and picks up. It was really enjoyable during Chapter 5 and 6. Great game despite some of the control quirks.

With all the hype around this game, I wonder if there'll ever be a Red Dead Redemption pin or a newer western themed pin? There aren't many out there.

I still have two epilogue chapters to really finish, but the main story is done. Game story says 75%. Not sure on hours, maybe 50?

I’ve been staying up too late and drinking too much whiskey. Starting to talk like an outlaw.

There's still quite a few people around that do talk like Arthur. Funny.

I also like the regions that reference Wyoming in the game. The mountains north of Valentine somewhat resemble the Tetons, Wapiti is an area of Wyoming just East of Yellowstone, the geysers are very Yellowstone, and there's reference to "those boys from Laramie". I went to school in Laramie. A lot of the scenery is reminiscent of the state. It's kind of cool.

A couple generic tips for those early in the story (not that anyone's asking). I wish I did these things.

* Create saves often, at least every chapter! As the story progresses, you can't exactly go back for some things.
* Upgrade your satchel early through leather crafting at your camp. Eventually, as the story changes, you can't really upgrade later. The default satchel limits how much you can carry from looting, buying, and hunting. Upgrades will let you collect and pick up more things.

Finished the story. 61 hours total.

Whenever you're in town, the speed limit is "trot".

Yeah, all done. Doing stranger missions and challenges now.

On some houses that have locked doors, you can blow them in with dynamite.

Your horse will come with you.

If you set a waypoint and go to cinematic mode, the horse will take you to the waypoint automatically. It still takes awhile, but at least you don't have to manage and control the horse. Good opportunity to grab a beer or get some snacks.

It looks awesome on the original, but I get a very noticeable frame rate drop when I'm in the towns.

If I had a nice 4K TV, I'd upgrade to the X. Not necessarily for this game, but a lot of games have been enhanced for the X.

I think the law enforcement portion of the game is terrible.

I got pick pocketed of $500 in Saint Denis. Chased the guy down, hog tied him, then had about 20 law officers shooting me trying to get away. Accidentally shot my Arabian horse. So incredibly frustrating!

I had an interesting encounter this morning...

This puzzle will get you $1500.

I kind of felt this way through the first half, but the story picks up soon. It was hard to stop playing it at a point.

I completed the game story and am still thoroughly enjoying it. There's a lot to explore, and I keep finding more hidden and weird stuff that's unexpected. The challenges are fun to chase and can be very difficult.

If you feel like you're just in a movie, try tracking down some treasure maps, getting all the legendary animals, crafting up perks at the Fence store, and running through the challenges. The challenge completions also build up your health, stamina, and dead eye max levels and unlock gear that boosts your player at the Trapper.

Hunting and crafting is cool, too. Explosive and incendiary shotgun shells are something to see!

Press left on the d-pad for all the extra side missions and challenges. There's a lot going on outside of the story, which does pick up in the later chapters.

Some of that jewelry can be used to craft perks at the Fence.

I remember the gold earrings and silver earrings were hard to find, so don't sell those!

As a general rule, I don't sell things that have "can be used for crafting" in the description.

RDR2 is the prequel to RDR1. Some of the characters and lore are in the game. RDR1 is part of the map and some of the buildings that were popular in RDR1 are open or under construction. The detail the devs put in the game to keep it in the same "universe" are impressive.

If you liked RDR1, you'll like RDR2.

If you’ve made it through Chapter 6, send me a PM. I’ll share a spot with tons of snakes.

You’ll need small game arrows.

The best thing you can do if you’re hunting is to craft the buck antler trinket at the fence. You need to find and kill the legendary buck for this.

It awards you a perk that upgrades the pelt quality by one star for future hunts. So, you can take down a two-star, and when you skin it, it’ll be a three-star.

It depends how clean your shot is and what weapon you're using, too. Any animal you have to shoot more than once will likely downgrade the pelt to 1-star. For legendary animals, you can go at them with anything, though.

Here's all the trinket perks you can craft at the Fence.

erbgg7yv58v11 (resized).jpg

There's islands to the west of Rhodes (out in that bay area) that have tons of iguanas. There's also crabs, and it's the only place I know of for crabs. Crabs are required for one of the Herbalists challenges. That's also a good spot to hunt owls at night.

To get there, you can just ride your horse through the water.

No boat needed. Your horse can "swim" there pretty easy.

Yeah, you still need to use the correct weapon and get a clean shot, too.

I've achieved 100% completion on the story. More hours than I would like to admit to. I don't recommend it. Some of it is super grindy, very frustrating, and very difficult.

I started to do the extra stuff before online came out, and I alway felt like "it was only a few more things". It just turned out to be so grindy and time consuming. Had to finish it after I made it so far.

I didn’t do it specifically for an achievement. I just wanted to complete the single player mode to the fullest. There’s some pretty cool moments in there, but it’s not worth the required time.

I think there are two, one for story and one for total. You have to go into the “Total Completion” tile to see that value. The story percentage is printed on the tile (I think?). The menus are weird.

I found total time in the friends comparison area on The Xbox OS. To my knowledge, hours aren’t shown in game.

Yeah, some of those are so obscure that you'd never ever find them naturally. There's also dreamcatchers and graves that you need to find.

The worst was trying to hunt for a Robin. It was like a cruel joke. Rarest bird in the game by far.

There's one on the northwest side of the map by the trapper. It's just west of that rocky mountain range. It's hard to avoid and will attack you on the road. Camp, save, and reload, and it will re-spawn.

Bears are up there too. Good hunting.

I started playing some online. Level 9. I have about $700 and $35 in gold (I think). The two currencies are confusing.

What's recommended to buy early in the online game? Both my horse and weapons suck. Should I keep saving for something particular?

Thanks.

I had a pre-order bonus and pretty much have strictly been doing the missions. There were three cash bonuses for me when I logged in yesterday. Not sure why.

Is the free Arabian at the stable? I looked yesterday, and the Arabian required some rediculous high rank. Or are you talking about taming the white one in the northwest like in the story?

Strawberry and Saint Denis are always really hard to get around in without problems.

Aim your weapon at him. It’ll show whether or not he’s telling the truth. Some are, some aren’t.

Yes, before.

I don’t know about the city. You’ll find that same guy all over the map and can use the same tactic.

What rank have you guys made it to online? I'm 24. Kind of getting bored with it.

He starts out by the pond near the St Denis Stable, then follows up north of Annesburg just west of the river. All the way at the top of the map.

Is anyone interested in getting together in a "Posse" online tomorrow? I haven't tried out that mode. Thinking late morning, but I'll need to see how free I am.

Xbox Live ID: "Allibaster J". Send me a PM or friend me if interested.

Anyone down for RDR2 online this weekend on Xbox?

Shoot me a PM!

Still not much there yet. About 10 missions and a lot of stranger missions. Taking out hideouts can be enjoyable. I’ve been doing a lot of hunting lately.

Grouping up in a posse and exploring is fun, though.

Not really. I usually select a specific server location, then move to another area of the map with less people. The higher rank you have, the better weapons, ammo, and abilities you’ll have to defend yourself. Most of the people causing issues are low rank players.

If you join a posse, you’ll have a team to defend you and help. It’s actually kind of fun if you get a group of players together.

Logging onto RDR2 online tonight. If you’re on Xbox, send me a message.

Tag is “Allibaster J”.

Companion app is great for online when you're fishing as the map is not shown. You can watch for other players that sneak up behind you. I don't think it's really necessary for story mode.

The biggest thing I'd recommend early in the story is to hunt and craft the upgraded satchels through Pearson in your camp. Carrying extra food and supply is a huge plus.

Hunting legendary animals early and getting the talisman crafting bonuses through the fence also helps a lot. The fence is available halfway though Chapter 2.

Take your time with the story and enjoy it. Try not to rush through it. I did that the first run and am enjoying the second play though significantly more.

If you would like to try out online and have an Xbox, hit me up! snakesnsparklers and I occasionally posse up for missions and shenanigans.