You're About To Have Some Bad Luck With Getting Punched In The Face.
I can't believe I'm about to say this, because I hate it when games go 'oh, hey, here's some more story if you pay extra,' but the epilogue of Red Dead Redemption II should have been DLC. There was no reason for that to be part of the main game. I finished the game, I was exhausted but satisfied, I was ready for the credits to roll and let me reflect on things, and instead the game went 'NOW HERE ARE SEVERAL MORE HOURS OF GAME.' Red Dead Redemption II is very much a game that doesn't understand the concept of 'too much of a good thing'.
There were a few things I enjoyed in the epilogue, though, even if I'd have sacrificed it for the sake of a better wrap-up point.
- I loved Arthur's beautiful artwork in his journal, and I miss it, but John doing terrible drawings is also pretty great. It's sort of touching that he's taken up Arthur's habit of sketching all the animals he sees, even if he's not really up to the task.
- It was good to see Sadie and Charles again! I love that Sadie is just EXTREMELY ANGRY AND MURDEROUS all the time.
- The house-building montage mission was bizarre and delightful.
- JOHN PROPOSES TO ABIGAIL USING ARTHUR'S RING. Arthur wanted to marry her himself, and John proposes to her using Arthur's ring, whilst presumably being aware that Arthur wanted to marry her on account of having his journal. That's extremely weird and extremely good. I love the way it ties Arthur inescapably into their relationship.
- The mission where he proposes to her is pretty cute, too. I like that he wants their photograph taken together and Abigail thinks this is the most hilarious thing. Also Abigail going 'we can't stay out too late, I have to get back to make dinner' and John going 'let's leave everyone to fend for themselves; if we're lucky, Charles and Jack will eat Uncle.'
- If you get John to full bonding with a horse, he'll sometimes say, 'You know I love you,' as he strokes it.
I had three horses as John. He starts off with a horse called Rachel, and I felt a little bad about stabling her, but there was a Kentucky Saddler on the ranch I was working on, and I'd ridden a Kentucky Saddler throughout the entire first game as John. So I stole him: my one act of non-plot-required thievery! I casually rode him around the paddock a couple of times, and then casually walked him out of the gate, and then rode him to the nearest town and into the stables and went 'MY HORSE NOW.' I was fully expecting the game to go 'hey, wait, you stole that horse, honour penalty!', but it didn't seem to realise I'd done anything wrong. I got away with it!
I named him Arthur. Of course I did.
I got to full horse bonding with Arthur, and I felt really bad about stabling him, but a guy died in a side mission and asked me to look after his horse, so I took on Buell as my main horse from then on.
They're all good horses, but there'll never be another Kay.
So I've now truly finished Red Dead Redemption II! It's a hell of a thing. I don't think it's a good game, exactly - the gameplay alternates between 'bizarre pointless tedium' and 'shooting segments that are near-impossible unless you exploit auto-aim' - but I think I love it? It's a strange, elaborate, beautiful, immersive, tedious, inexplicable experience. I don't understand half the decisions that were made in this game's development, but I found it very absorbing.
My incredibly slow playthrough of Transistor also continues! (I can only play it when a particular friend visits, hence the huge gaps between sessions.) I'd completely forgotten how combat worked and I was consequently disastrous. The 'running out of health means you temporarily lose abilities' concept is interesting, but it does ultimately mean that the game punishes you for being bad at it by becoming harder.
I still really enjoy the relationship between Red and her sword, though, and I love the game's sense of style.
At one point Red used a powerful move, and the sword seemed pretty shaken by it. 'Could you do that again?' he asked. 'Is my sword turned on by how good I am at killing things?' I asked. (Given his reaction the next time I used that move, I am confident in saying that the answer is 'yes'.)
There's a beach ball in this game, and it has a 'TIMES BOUNCED' counter next to it, and when I visit the beach area I can never resist bouncing it around for ages and watching the counter go up. I think by now it's at something like 234 bounces. YES, SWORD, I KNOW WE'VE GOT IMPORTANT THINGS TO DO, BUT THIS IS IMPORTANT TOO.
I'm going to be very disappointed in this fandom if it isn't full of weird fanfiction about Red banging the sword.
There were a few things I enjoyed in the epilogue, though, even if I'd have sacrificed it for the sake of a better wrap-up point.
- I loved Arthur's beautiful artwork in his journal, and I miss it, but John doing terrible drawings is also pretty great. It's sort of touching that he's taken up Arthur's habit of sketching all the animals he sees, even if he's not really up to the task.
- It was good to see Sadie and Charles again! I love that Sadie is just EXTREMELY ANGRY AND MURDEROUS all the time.
- The house-building montage mission was bizarre and delightful.
- JOHN PROPOSES TO ABIGAIL USING ARTHUR'S RING. Arthur wanted to marry her himself, and John proposes to her using Arthur's ring, whilst presumably being aware that Arthur wanted to marry her on account of having his journal. That's extremely weird and extremely good. I love the way it ties Arthur inescapably into their relationship.
- The mission where he proposes to her is pretty cute, too. I like that he wants their photograph taken together and Abigail thinks this is the most hilarious thing. Also Abigail going 'we can't stay out too late, I have to get back to make dinner' and John going 'let's leave everyone to fend for themselves; if we're lucky, Charles and Jack will eat Uncle.'
- If you get John to full bonding with a horse, he'll sometimes say, 'You know I love you,' as he strokes it.
I had three horses as John. He starts off with a horse called Rachel, and I felt a little bad about stabling her, but there was a Kentucky Saddler on the ranch I was working on, and I'd ridden a Kentucky Saddler throughout the entire first game as John. So I stole him: my one act of non-plot-required thievery! I casually rode him around the paddock a couple of times, and then casually walked him out of the gate, and then rode him to the nearest town and into the stables and went 'MY HORSE NOW.' I was fully expecting the game to go 'hey, wait, you stole that horse, honour penalty!', but it didn't seem to realise I'd done anything wrong. I got away with it!
I named him Arthur. Of course I did.
I got to full horse bonding with Arthur, and I felt really bad about stabling him, but a guy died in a side mission and asked me to look after his horse, so I took on Buell as my main horse from then on.
They're all good horses, but there'll never be another Kay.
So I've now truly finished Red Dead Redemption II! It's a hell of a thing. I don't think it's a good game, exactly - the gameplay alternates between 'bizarre pointless tedium' and 'shooting segments that are near-impossible unless you exploit auto-aim' - but I think I love it? It's a strange, elaborate, beautiful, immersive, tedious, inexplicable experience. I don't understand half the decisions that were made in this game's development, but I found it very absorbing.
My incredibly slow playthrough of Transistor also continues! (I can only play it when a particular friend visits, hence the huge gaps between sessions.) I'd completely forgotten how combat worked and I was consequently disastrous. The 'running out of health means you temporarily lose abilities' concept is interesting, but it does ultimately mean that the game punishes you for being bad at it by becoming harder.
I still really enjoy the relationship between Red and her sword, though, and I love the game's sense of style.
At one point Red used a powerful move, and the sword seemed pretty shaken by it. 'Could you do that again?' he asked. 'Is my sword turned on by how good I am at killing things?' I asked. (Given his reaction the next time I used that move, I am confident in saying that the answer is 'yes'.)
There's a beach ball in this game, and it has a 'TIMES BOUNCED' counter next to it, and when I visit the beach area I can never resist bouncing it around for ages and watching the counter go up. I think by now it's at something like 234 bounces. YES, SWORD, I KNOW WE'VE GOT IMPORTANT THINGS TO DO, BUT THIS IS IMPORTANT TOO.
I'm going to be very disappointed in this fandom if it isn't full of weird fanfiction about Red banging the sword.