MooseyMcMan

@humanity: OH, you mentioning story DLC made me remember how I'd come to think of the Epilogues if I was going to describe them to someone: They almost feel like a story expansion. Like, the main story ended with Arthur, and this was the "John's story Expansion" or something, but they just included it with the game.

@humanity: So, you can actually keep shoveling manure on John's ranch after all that stuff is set up. You can clean the barn, milk the cows, carry hay around, feed the chickens, refill water in the troughs, collect eggs, load the eggs and milk into a wagon, and bring them into town to sell (that last step is the only part that's automated). I did this once.

The game gave me $8.

They set it up like taking care of and running the ranch is something you might want to do after finishing the game, but why on Earth would I do so much tedious work for eight measly dollars when I got twenty grand from the final mission? I'd rather go riding in the desert doing nothing than that. Speaking of, you have any idea why they included all of New Austin from RDR I in here, but use basically none of it in the story? A friend of mine thinks that's where the online mode will be set, but it still seems like such a weird, and probably time intensive thing to include.

But also, just the fact that the game has a literal two part epilogue is strange on its own.

And I agree with you. Were it not for the first game, this epilogue switching to John over Sadie really wouldn't make any sense at all. I'd like to see the reaction from someone who played this game to completion without knowing anything about the previous game. I'm sure that person exists somewhere.

@humanity: Yeah, and honestly, of all the surviving characters after the end of Chapter 6, I would have rathered the game switch to Sadie or Charles than John.

Yeah, it is weird that the Epilogue is what it is, and in a lot of ways feels like an origin story for John's house. And while in the moment I found myself laughing at the fact that there's an entire mission that's just a montage of a house being built, the more I think about it (even after having written this blog), I really think there just shouldn't have been an Epilogue. (Again with the addendum that Arthur got that final blow on Micah). Or if they really felt the need to explain how you can keep playing after Arthur died, have it be Sadie and give her a couple (stress on a couple) missions about her getting into bounty hunting.

But don't worry, I'm sure Red Dead Redemption III won't be another prequel where you play as someone never mentioned before who dies and then you finish the game as a (slightly) younger Arthur. (If they do this a third time I will be livid.)

@militantfreudian: Thank you! And yeah, it was Danielle's review that pushed me over the edge to buy it. Especially when she said she loved it even though she generally hates permadeath.

@bobdobbsjr: You're welcome! I'm still not sure that I did the best job describing it, but I know the marketing didn't either, so I'm happy to help.

@geirr You've reminded me that they're adding that multiplayer Mimic hunt mode at some point, and I wonder if that'll be any good.

@hayt: Yeah, don't get me wrong, overall I think the Mule is a good addition. But it's also something that if I were to go back to it, I might try to lean less heavily on. Just to give myself that extra challenge again.

I hope we get a proper sequel too! But some of the things I've seen online make it sound like both studios at Arkane are moving away from immersive sim style games, likely due to not the best sales in the world. But that's just rumors and speculation, I think.

@cjduke: Thank you!

@the_nubster: A missed opportunity in a game full of them.

@youeightit: It also could have used more than like...two songs for Haruka to sing. I forget the exact number, but it was not high.

@the_nubster:I will say, it was not until I had already written this blog that I realized you're supposed to be doing the other sorts of side content to get that other XP. Which, is certainly a design choice, but when I need that XP to level up my combat skills, that seems like an odd choice. It's not like playing lots of Space Harrier will give me Space Harrier XP, you know? Especially when most of those side minigames are fun once or twice, but not anything I'd want to grind for XP. I say, having spent time this afternoon grinding in that bar in Onomichi because I want to do the "Japanese Cheers" (as Alex called it) sub stories. I think I've only gotten one of them thus far.

Okay, but the ski masks, I actually thought was funny, specifically because they barely worked to begin with (like no one would recognize Kiryu's suit and shirt!), and they always just pull them off anyway.

And yeah, the more time that passes between when I played 0 and now, the less I like about what happened around Makoto. At least she did have some agency of her own toward the end of the game (at least until she got hospitalized). 0 is still by far my favorite of the series, and Majima is my favorite character, both in terms of how he's written and how he plays, but yeah.

In my memory, at least, 4 is also really great (my second favorite), but I haven't played it since 2011, and I don't really remember too much about it, outside of a few specific things. If you still have a PS3 at the ready, or they ever remaster it for PS4, 4 (again, keeping in mind that I haven't played it in 7 years) has my recommendation.

@youeightit: Yeah, 5, I actually had been thinking pretty poorly of, but then I went back and re-read what I wrote about it a couple years ago (which I linked to), and at least then it was really more the back chunk of the game (pretty much Shinada's section and the final act) that I disliked. But as for what happened before then, I pretty much only remember doing endless taxi races and bear hunting, neither of which was great but I did because I had, and continue to have way too much free time. That and dancing.