Quarantine Gaming

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

Gifted my father the PS4 with Red Dead Redemption 2 loaded for Xmas. Gonna be a steep learning curve, but hope he sticks with it.

[freshmanjs]

Gifted my father the PS4 with Red Dead Redemption 2 loaded for Xmas. Gonna be a steep learning curve, but hope he sticks with it.

This game is driving me a bit crazy. I'm in chapter 6. The missions have so much handholding, there is basically no skill or decision making involved. Go here, do this, push some random button to do some action at the specified time. Then, on the other hand, in the open world, the tiniest mistakes cost you greatly. Accidentally hit someone with your horse, next thing you know there are 15 lawmen shooting at you and you either have a hugely expensive bounty or have to reload.

Money is so scarce early on, but then suddenly you have so much money that the payoff for actions is totally uninteresting. Who cares about $50 when you have $9000 with nothing you can spend it on?

There are a lot of really good things about the game too. Character development, etc. I do wish I could have the hours back that I've spent riding back and forth across the map, though.

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

This game is driving me a bit crazy. I'm in chapter 6. The missions have so much handholding, there is basically no skill or decision making involved. Go here, do this, push some random button to do some action at the specified time. Then, on the other hand, in the open world, the tiniest mistakes cost you greatly. Accidentally hit someone with your horse, next thing you know there are 15 lawmen shooting at you and you either have a hugely expensive bounty or have to reload.

Money is so scarce early on, but then suddenly you have so much money that the payoff for actions is totally uninteresting. Who cares about $50 when you have $9000 with nothing you can spend it on?

There are a lot of really good things about the game too. Character development, etc. I do wish I could have the hours back that I've spent riding back and forth across the map, though.

See, I guess it is a question of taste. I love wandering around aimlessly on the horse. Same reason I like Skyrim and Ghost of Tsushima.

[freshmanjs]

See, I guess it is a question of taste. I love wandering around aimlessly on the horse. Same reason I like Skyrim and Ghost of Tsushima.

This has nothing to do with not liking open world games. It's the poor execution of open world. I would like wandering around too if it weren't the same 8-10 stranger encounters over and over. Only so many times I can help the guy with the snake bite before I just want to shoot him. I would like the missions to be a bit harder and the open world to be just a touch more forgiving of basic mistakes. If those were true, the game would be 10x better. Not to mention making me click 8 times to save the game and the excruciatingly slow "fast travel", and the permanently missable content if you die at the wrong time.

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

This has nothing to do with not liking open world games. It's the poor execution of open world. I would like wandering around too if it weren't the same 8-10 stranger encounters over and over. Only so many times I can help the guy with the snake bite before I just want to shoot him. I would like the missions to be a bit harder and the open world to be just a touch more forgiving of basic mistakes. If those were true, the game would be 10x better. Not to mention making me click 8 times to save the game and then 3 more to get back to game action after saving.

Again, different strokes I guess. I'm perfectly happy collecting herbs, fishing, and hunting buffalo over time between main story missions.

[freshmanjs]

Again, different strokes I guess. I'm perfectly happy collecting herbs, fishing, and hunting buffalo over time between main story missions.

We're talking past each other I guess. I would be happy with that too if it were well done. You seem to think I am complaining about the fact that there is an open world. I'm not...at all.

Here's a great idea, let's make the button for talk to a person the same as the button for point a gun at the person. Then if you accidentally point a gun at them, let's make that a huge pain to recover from. Fun?

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

We're talking past each other I guess. I would be happy with that too if it were well done. You seem to think I am complaining about the fact that there is an open world. I'm not...at all.

Here's a great idea, let's make the button for talk to a person the same as the button for point a gun at the person. Then if you accidentally point a gun at them, let's make that a huge pain to recover from. Fun?

I guess we are talking past each other. Most folks agree it was one of the top five games released on PS4. Not that popularity and taste account for everything.

I'm not trying to talk you into liking the game I guess. But you aren't likely to talk me out of my affinity for it either.

I love the story, the pace, the graphics, the gameplay, the NPCs, the costars, etc. I've played it all the way through multiple times, and I list it one of my four favorite games of all time.

[freshmanjs]

I guess we are talking past each other. Most folks agree it was one of the top five games released on PS4. Not that popularity and taste account for everything.

I'm not trying to talk you into liking the game I guess. But you aren't likely to talk me out of my affinity for it either.

I love the story, the pace, the graphics, the gameplay, the NPCs, the costars, etc. I've played it all the way through multiple times, and I list it one of my four favorite games of all time.

Just spent an hour trying to lasso the bull in the epilogue. Which I learn from Reddit is not actually possible for many people. Opposite of fun.

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

For what it's worth, my dad is absolutely having a blast with Red Dead Redemption 2. He has texted me more in the past week than ever. Turns out his stubbornness is stronger than his frustration. He has made it to Chapter 2, so most of the map has opened up for him. I've encouraged him to take his time and smell the roses.

Great distraction for winter/pandemic/limited basketball.

[freshmanjs]

For what it's worth, my dad is absolutely having a blast with Red Dead Redemption 2. He has texted me more in the past week than ever. Turns out his stubbornness is stronger than his frustration. He has made it to Chapter 2, so most of the map has opened up for him. I've encouraged him to take his time and smell the roses.

Great distraction for winter/pandemic/limited basketball.

I finished the epilogues last night. The story and character development are outstanding for a video game. One of the best I've seen. I still have issues / frustration with the game play, but the ambition, graphics and art design, acting, story are top notch. I never played RDR1, so some of the set up for that story was a bit lost on me, but seems like a cool way to do it.

I'm glad your dad is enjoying it. I certainly enjoyed a lot of my time playing it as well.

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

I finished the epilogues last night. The story and character development are outstanding for a video game. One of the best I've seen. I still have issues / frustration with the game play, but the ambition, graphics and art design, acting, story are top notch. I never played RDR1, so some of the set up for that story was a bit lost on me, but seems like a cool way to do it.

I'm glad your dad is enjoying it. I certainly enjoyed a lot of my time playing it as well.

I tried to dig back into RDR2 after finishing RDR2, but found the older gameplay frustrating. I mostly wanted the backstory - though I guess RDR2 is the earlier setting. You know what I mean though.

I do think the story is top-tier.

In other news, I'm still cracked out on Ghost of Tsushima. I wondered if the Mongols were getting the short end of the stick in this narrative, but I did a little research and holy smokes, they were some dastardly folks. The game doesn't come close to capturing the atrocities and violence.

[moonpie23]

anyone playing Cuphead? it's difficult...

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

anyone playing Cuphead? it's difficult...

Just investigated it. Looks sort of...maddening.

[Kdogg]

anyone playing Cuphead? it's difficult...

Yes. Less so if you grew up playing games in the 80s (Mario. Mega Man, Ninja Gaiden, etc.) Love the game though.

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

Yes. Less so if you grew up playing games in the 80s. Love the game though.

I KNEW all those hours would pay off one day!

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

Late to the game (literally), but just finished Detroit: Become Human. Pretty powerful story with unique gameplay. I know these sort of "Choose Your Own Adventure" style games aren't for everyone, but I enjoyed it immensely.

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

Just blew through "Firewatch." Fun little game. Quite a short narrative, but definitely worth a spin.

[El_Diablo]

PlayStation had Ratchet & Clank available (free to own) for the past month as part of their Play at Home initiative. They have added the following nine games:

ASTRO BOT Rescue Mission
Subnautica
ABZÛ
Enter the Gungeon
Moss
Paper Beast
Rez Infinite
The Witness
Thumper

These are also all free to own (i.e., they are not tied to a PS Plus subscription that you lose access to when the subscription runs out; they are yours forever once you add them to your library) but are free only for the next month or so. Note that some are PSVR games, but you can add them to your library even if you don’t have PSVR. If you ever get PSVR in the future these games would be waiting in your library for you.

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

PlayStation had Ratchet & Clank available (free to own) for the past month as part of their Play at Home initiative. They have added the following nine games:

ASTRO BOT Rescue Mission
Subnautica
ABZÛ
Enter the Gungeon
Moss
Paper Beast
Rez Infinite
The Witness
Thumper

These are also all free to own (i.e., they are not tied to a PS Plus subscription that you lose access to when the subscription runs out; they are yours forever once you add them to your library) but are free only for the next month or so. Note that some are PSVR games, but you can add them to your library even if you don’t have PSVR. If you ever get PSVR in the future these games would be waiting in your library for you.

I bought The Witness last month hoping it would be like Myst. I wish I had waited. I'm not very impressed.

[El_Diablo]

Control is now free on the Epic Games store: https://www.epicgames.com/store/en-US/p/control

Here are the Metacritic reviews (if you are not familiar with the game): https://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/control