finished it up earlier today. still got some wilderness challenges to complete, but apart from that - done.
i really enjoyed it, but it certainly didn't keep up the pace all the way through. from the middle of the game out, i felt like there was a lot fewer new things to experience. also, i got 83.8% completion with a time of 26 hours, which seems a little short compared to previous rockstar games.
regarding the ending:
still not sure how i feel about it. i really liked the section where john had his family back and everything looked like it might turn out ok. there was always the nagging thought of "this is a rockstar game, so somebody's going to have to die", but i hoped someone in rockstar had grown a heart and wanted to reward, rather than punish the player for completing their game. oh well. quite dramatic, i guess - and it was rather satisfying finishing off the government dude as jack. regardless, i would've preferred a happy ending.
finished it up earlier today. still got some wilderness challenges to complete, but apart from that - done.
i really enjoyed it, but it certainly didn't keep up the pace all the way through. from the middle of the game out, i felt like there was a lot fewer new things to experience. also, i got 83.8% completion with a time of 26 hours, which seems a little short compared to previous rockstar games.
regarding the ending:
still not sure how i feel about it. i really liked the section where john had his family back and everything looked like it might turn out ok. there was always the nagging thought of "this is a rockstar game, so somebody's going to have to die", but i hoped someone in rockstar had grown a heart and wanted to reward, rather than punish the player for completing their game. oh well. quite dramatic, i guess - and it was rather satisfying finishing off the government dude as jack. regardless, i would've preferred a happy ending.
I just finished it, though a little word of advice to anyone who gets there, its not over when you think it is.
Yea, I felt the same way Beo, it sucks because they make you get attached to his family too before they kill him off, making it more shitty.
As a result, I enjoyed the game a lot more. Rockstar excels at figuring out ways to annoy me, but bad surprises were kept to a minimum the rest of the way. It was an outstanding experience, and I wish I had more reasons to keep roaming the world. The ending* disturbed (and annoyed) me greatly, since it came out of nowhere, and wasn't even explained. It felt tacked on for shock and otherwise emotional value, rather than a natural consequence of the events leading up to it. Other than that, wonderful trip through the old West, wonderfully brought to life.
* The ending . . .
Why? It would be safe to say that the premise of RDR echoes the Clint Eastwood spaghetti Westerns. The protagonist is not a mortal man, but a mythical figure able to survive any challenge with superhuman reflexes and aim (not to mention infallible weaponry). The Man with No Name never dies in this fictional setting. Hell, even Josey Wales didn't die, even if he did get shot up. So why the hell would John Marston get killed, out of the blue, in a completely gratuitous attack that served no purpose other than to shock and dismay the player?
I was livid with anger. Sure, much of that anger was caused by, and directed to, the smug face of that bastard federal agent. When I was basically reincarnated as John's son, Jack, I immediately headed to Blackwater to kill every living thing in sight. Fortunately, a '?' was waiting for me at the railroad station, and I was able to get payback properly through the storyline. But I'm still pissed. If they were going to kill me, why didn't they do it right after I did what they wanted, in the last substantive mission (before all the domestic ranch stuff)? If they were going to try to kill my family, why didn't they do it while the wife and son were in captivity? Instead, big production of cutscenes about resolved issues, new chance for John, ranch, family . . . only to send a whole army after them wordlessly and suddenly? And then to have it actually succeed? Fuck that noise.
for starters you'd expect Marston to win based on all of those movies. And while it pays homage to those movies, it is obviously nothing RDR was attempting to replicate.
I believe the time spent back on the ranch serves to amplify the impact of Marston's eventual death. Jack taking up arms and seeking out Marston's killer not only provides eventual satisfaction, it also essentially turns Jack into the very thing Marston tried to avoid with his sacrifice. While Marston's death really bothered me, that fact alone made it an impactful ending. Hell your admitted reaction to the ending proves that it was effective. You felt the emotions conveyed by the characters, what more could you want?
Also, I love how Rockstar expressed Bonnie's admiration for John without beating you over the head with it.
I confess I wanted more between Bonnie and John. It was handled in a more mature way. I have no problems at all with the tone and thoroughness of the storytelling. Also, I just read the latest in-game newspaper, where an article talks about Edgar Ross retiring. The article describes how he mopped up all the criminals during his watch, including of course John Marston. He got medals for it too. So from a motivation point of view, it makes more sense to me, even if I'm still angry about how it turned out.
Oh yeah, I'm still pissed Marston's dead. I really really liked his character, and was looking forward to exploring the open world with him after the game ended. But it makes it way more memorable than an ending where everything worked out and everyone lived happily ever after.
I honestly wouldn't mind a prequel exploring the dynamics of the gang and what led up to the eventual breakup.