• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Was RDR2 the biggest disappointment of 2019?

Hinedorf

Banned
Red Dead Redemption 2 as a single player entity is one of my all time favorite games

Red Dead Online helped me to establish a firm grip on reality at how pathetically inferior Rock* is at making online games. In fact I would go as far to say they don't really make online games, they make games that can be played online that include vast amounts of ways to monetize the experience without ever improving it.

I can't blame 2019 on Rock*, I blame 2018 on Rock*. Basically we still have the single player from 2018 with the most minimal amount of inclusions to call it an Online version.
 

Kadayi

Banned
very long video but this is a pretty good video about the game and overall the engine used



Interesting video. I'm agreement with him. There's a definite issue of the games forcing you down a fixed path

Still enjoying the game, but it's clear that the game doesn't give you a lot of options to be creative at times. Case in point:

I had a house robbery mission paired with Javier, which turned into a full-on family massacre with no option to try a different approach after he elected to burn their shed down. I get it that you're outlaws, but I've been trying to play Arthur as a fairly honourable roguish type out to rob from the Rich, see off the Discolls avoid the long arm of the law. Not gun an entire household of innocent civilians down for a few hundred dollars and a pump-action shotgun. The game definitely needed options for those sorts of missions.

Still enjoying the ride, but yeah more latitude in missions in future titles wouldn't go amiss.

Also, fuck BS like timed Gold Missions. Apparently the only way to get those is if you skip the cutscenes, and even then it doesn't feel like the game gives you much leeway in terms of the oftentimes clunky and unresponsive controls coming out of cut scenes. Trying to do the gold on the bear hunt with Hosea and will the shire horse actually move at the beginning even though I'm pressing A like a maniac? No will it fuck, Hosea is halfway down the pass before the dopey fucker even musters a trot. I noticed Arthur also locks up at times, and just stands there like a moron when you need to get your shit post cutscene as well. I honestly don't understand how that kind of thing wasn't picked up in QA let alone made it to the PC version.
 
Last edited:

Jason28

Has a tiny dick and smaller e-peen
For me, yes, it was a very big dissapointment. I love the first one (RDR) , it's on the same place as TLoU (best games of past generation). RDR2 is just...not fun to play. Great graphics, great story, great characters, great open world, but those slow realistic animation, very scripted gameplay during missions and chunky controls killed a lot of fun . I just finished the game and forgot about it.
 
Last edited:

Azelover

Titanic was called the Ship of Dreams, and it was. It really was.
To me it was Shenmue III. Which was a game I really was looking forward to.

I'm not too familiar with RDR, so it didn't affect me.
 

NickFire

Member
At first I was like: OP is crazy, if anything this was the biggest disappointment of 2018.

Then I remembered that in 2019 I started it fresh because I forgot the plot points from where I left off in 2018. And then I stopped playing it unfinished again. So maybe OP was right all along.
 

Antwix

Member
IMO, Anthem was, by far, the biggest disappointment of 2019.
Exactly. OP must've forgot Anthem came out in 2019. RDR2 is one of the best looking, most incredible games ever made and R* is going to learn and improve from RDR2 to make GTA6 incredible as well.
 

Portugeezer

Gold Member
I couldn't get into it. Everything was too slow for me, it wasn't what I was looking for at the time... I doubt I will go back to it any time soon.
 

Phase

Member
You know what the biggest disappointment is every year? Seeing mediocre fps games released over and over. Someone save this genre from the hero bullshit, the needless progression design for "engagement," and battle royales!
 

desertdroog

Member
Played the game all day on New Year's, picking up at the start of Chapter 2, as I had only completed the first chapter when I got it upon release.

Played all the way through to the Quiet Time mission, what an awesome mission that was in any video game (bravo Rockstar games!). I have only scratched the game as far as mechanics and content and I got that same feeling I did when RDR originally took my spare time in my Xbox.

I love it because I really love the attempt Rockstar has made with a Western genre game. I hear the missions are more constrained, so I don't have an up or down on that yet. It may be irksome or it may be a way to focus the player on getting the missions done. However I could see myself playing for days on end doing the hunting or a few hours playing poker.

It's a slow burn and I'm glad to get back at it.
 
Last edited:
I loved, and still love, Red Dead Redemption 2. I understand the mechanics may not be to everyone's liking, but I definitely feel immersed in the world whenever I'm playing it, mostly due to the mechanics. When I first played the game, it took a little bit of getting used to the mechanics, but on my second playthrough that I'm doing on PC where I'm making sure I'm doing as many side missions as possible, I've been thoroughly enjoying every aspect of the game. Sometimes the character's motions feel a little wonky, but for the most part the game is just incredibly relaxing to play. I haven't delved too much into online as I'd like to go through it with some friends and none of my close friends play Red Dead Online on either PS4 or PC. But I still enjoy the game and think it was in no way a disappointment.
 

DeeDogg_

Banned
This is how I look at it.

With RDR2 they developed and/or mastered the technology used to make GTA 6. I wouldn’t be surprised if the senior management of Rockstar viewed RDR2 like me, as a heavily developed tech demo. They may even have needed the cash from an RDR2 to get to a GTA 6, even with the unparalleled financial success of GTA 5 online.

That’s how enormous the scope of their next game likely is.
I feel the exact same way! I remember during the marketing campaign I felt kinda weird because I was thinking "Why isnt the marketing not as bombastic as GTA5s? Or even the first Red Dead's?". And it seems clearer now that either R* has become otally complacent and greedy (to hold on to whatcouldvebeen marketing cash), or the next GTA is gonna blow our fucking minds and totally change my outlook on them as a company.
 

iconmaster

Banned
It has its issues, but I have to respect it even if I don't find it as engrossing as the first.

My main issue: hunting is more realistic and thus more work, which would be just fine if it were also more rewarding. Unfortunately its rewards are paltry compared to simply completing story missions.
 

Javthusiast

Banned
PlasticShowyCockerspaniel-size_restricted.gif
 

MMaRsu

Banned
Why is it an issue for the game to force you down a certain path? This is a story based game set in an open world, but it is not a sandbox. A sandbox and open world are two very different things. Not all games need choice and ways to complete a mission to be good. im not saying some leeway wouldnt be nice, but that "Rockstars game design is outdated" video just grinds my gears.

So Uncharted 4 is outdated too, because it doesnt allow you to make choices in certain missions how to go about things?

No, it is a design choice since the devs ultimately want to tell the story first, gameplay second.
 
It wasn't really a disappointment for me. I basically already knew I would not like it to a "GOTY candidate" degree solely based on the trademark Rockstar controls. Giving animation priority to any little thing you do has always bugged me about their games since GTA IV.

The animation is top notch, the attention to detail is great, but it just doesn't play very well.
I guess my preferences as a "Gameplay first" guy just made this a self-fulfilling prophecy for me.
 
I legitimately thought it was one of the most well known games I've ever played.

Yeah the controls are a bit much, but the story, characters and attention to detail are second to none.

And since I absolutely love Shenmue, taking 12 years to open a drawer and got something never bothered me
 

Nero_PR

Banned
The only thing that made so I never played it anymore was when I got to chapter 6 I got a hard drive wipe from a power outrage. I had backed up most of the games, the only ones I didn't get back because they got corrupted were: Red Dead Redemption 2, Kingdom Hearts 1.5 Remix (Had 100% with the última blade), Kingdom Hearts 2 (100% everything too), All the Megaman X Collection save files, Devil May Cry 5 (Finished Dante Must Die and Bloody Palace, but I did everything again in 2 days).

I liked the game a lot, the only complaints I have is about the auto aim that I always disable in Rockstar games. I hate how floaty and inaccurate the aim is even when changing the sensitivity settings to my preferences, not even talking about the small delays with the input lag. I actually like the over detailed animations most of the part, aside from when I am at combat, the cover system is still junk, this is a problem since GTA IV.

I still want to revisit the game, but the online is one thing that puts me off of the game (GTA IV was the better online experience for me back in the day). I went and watched the rest of the game on YouTube since I don't feel like sinking back my 60+ hours back in the game any time soon.

I hate when these things happen, just now I am back playing Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2. Not counting that 2020 is full of awesome games to end the generation. Maybe I will hold buying anything this year until I get to complete most of the big games in my backlog.
 

GHG

Member
Bought it on day one, played maybe for 3 hours. My biggest regret in this gen

Ditto.

I might try again on the PC with mods (like ones that allow you to run indoors etc) andat higher framerates to see if that makes a difference.

But it will have to be at the right price and I'll have to be in the mood.

The loot animations completely killed it for me. When people say they spent 100 hours with the game it makes me think that could have been halved if not for the over elaborate animations the game is littered with.

Oh and don't talk to me about the levaing mission area bullshit.
 
Last edited:

tassletine

Member
Not disappointed at all. I consider it to be the pinnacle of storytelling, not just for games but for films and literature as well.

There have been more profound and better written works -- but no film/ book / play has captured a sense of place and character the way that game did.
I know these characters and the world inside out. It's very tangible.

I would never look to rockstar for action gameplay though. You're always going to come away disappointed there.
 

Fbh

Member
Have yet to play it, I'll pick it up if it's ever under $20.
I really liked the first one but everything I've read about 2 makes it sound like it's not for me. The slow pacing, bad controls, blurry Ps4 Pro version and boring focus on realism killed my interest.

Biggest disappointment of 2019 for me was probably DMC5. It's not bad and the combat is still great but it lacks enemy variety, has boring and ugly levels with half of the game spent on hallways with the same ugly "underworld" textures and they took out the light puzzle and exploration elements and replaced them with mostly linear paths from one combat arena to the next.
 

Digity

Member
One of the biggest disappointments in gaming ever, let alone 2018. They really went out of their way to make a game totally unfun to play.
 

Kanton

Member
Thank god we still have developers with balls to make games with realism. I´m so tired of dragons and robot horses and protagonists with super powers that can always solve conflict just by... magic. Writing fantasy magic is ez but naturalism is hard as fuck. I salute your big balls Rockstar.
 
  • Triggered
Reactions: GHG

tassletine

Member
My response was odd because you disagree with it?

OP asked if RDR2 was the biggest disappointment of the year, I said no, DS was a bigger one.

I'm sorry if that somehow upsets you, I guess.

Your response was odd, because you said that my reply had nothing to do with the question.

The question was "Was read dead the biggest disappointment of the year"

My response to that question was "It's not disappointing at all" Then I qualified why I thought that.
That's a direct response to the OP's question.

You responded with a shrug and saying that you didn't understand what that had to do with the op's question-- which is why I am explaining it to you now.

That's why I found it odd. I have no idea why you thought I was talking about Death Stranding. Still don't.
 
Last edited:

MuleSkinner

Neo Member
I think the game is a masterpiece, put around 150 hours into it and loved every bit, and that's only single player. Rockstar makes amazing products.
 

Jacknapes

Member
It's one of the best open world games of this generation. A lot of work went into the detail and the living world, can't fault it at all.
 

sircaw

Banned
One of the few games i payed full price for this generation and oh boy what a let down.
After the many glowing amazing reviews i was left with a awkward controlled and boring game.

Granted, It does look pretty and there some amazing attention to detail in some places but this is not a masterpiece.

I got bloodborne and god of war on a sale, after playing those, next generation i will pay full price for sequels to those, Rockstar can hit the bargain bin as far as i am concerned.
 

Arun1910

Member
I loved it, currently enjoying it on PC.

I just like the non rushed pacing, I find it refreshing for these reasons:

Point A to Point B:
- Random Encounters
- Can hunt
- Maybe do Challenges
- Gather Herbs
- Craft
- Treasure Maps

And I like the gun customisation, the unlocks for doing Challenges etc too.

For me the journey to get from one point to another to do a mission for example was just as fun as the mission I was doing.
 

CyRuZ

Banned
Since the expectations for this game were quite high, yeah totally disappointed. Even Anthem wasn't that disappointing cause there were no expectations at all.
 
It sure must have disappointed a lit if people, they sold so many copies of it!

I personally did not buy it after seeing some reviews (from reviewers who normally can play games) mention that the control was not so great, despite them mostly loving the rest of the game... And I have no regrets about my choice, satisfying gameplay is the most important thing in a game.
 

kurisu_1974

is on perm warning for being a low level troll
Shooting was always kinda crap in Rockstar games for some reason... and yeah RDR was much better than RDR2... but biggest disappointment? I think that's more on your expectations than on the game.
 
RDR2 was the first Red Dead game that I ever played. I didn't like their take on survival - having to eat to refill your health, stamina, and deadeye. It was more of an annoyance than it was immersive.

There's absolutely fucking nothing to do in RDR2 except the same missions on repeat, and PVP which is boring as fuck in the open world but EH in the various game modes. The controls being somewhat clunky doesn't help it either.

Also I hated the fucking menu.

RDR2 got a 7/10 from me. Good game, lots of flaws, would play SP at some point again.
 
Top Bottom