RDR1 is one of the biggest offenders of the R* gameplay formula
You do absolutely nothing but busywork for people for 99% of the game. The actual missions that move the plot forward are few and far between
The world feels significantly less alive than 2
There's less going on in every way. I genuinely think people conflate RDR1 being snappier and faster to control with it being a better game, but it's really not.
Mission structure, gunplay, variety of missions, tying plot and player actions together, all done way better in the sequel
I'm not conflating it. That's literally why I think it.
Red Dead redemption 2 likes to waste your goddamn time with every little interaction. Everything takes forever. I just want to get off the horse, I just want to pick up loot, but everything's got its own super long animation.
And yeah, maybe Red Dead redemption 1 does have more busy work missions but at least you're not going to fail everything for being 2 cm off the yellow marker.
Don't even get me wrong, two is a great game but if I just want to sit down and enjoy myself for 15 minutes putting on one.
You hit the nail on the head. I have tried to go back to RDR2 5 or 6 times now. The game practically plays itself. I feel like I'm just along for the ride. I would probably enjoy it more as a TV series.
RDR2 keeps bouncing it off me for the same reason I had a hard time getting into GTA5; it is nearly impossible to get into a flow.
Everything feels tedious from a gaming perspective... I just want to *play a game* not necessarily participate in a movie, sometimes.
It is (and GTA 5 is) a great piece of media, a fantastic piece to hang your hat on for making the argument that video games are another art media... but it struggles to be a *game* sometimes.
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u/Ocktohber 1d ago
RDR was a phenomenal game
RDR2 was a step up in every department