first impressions thread

[mariopot]

in less than 1.5 days we will all be basking in the awesomeness of our amazing copies of RDR, i figure maybe all of us could post how amazed we are with the game in this topic, our favorite parts, what we think so far, what we may not like so much, and give a decent idea to our friends across the pond and the less lucky gamers as too what they have to look forward too. as of this post ts 1 day 6 hours and 34 minutes left for us unlucky west coasters ;D. also be mindful of spoilers guys.

[mariopot]

after a 4 hour RDR marathon i can safely say i am pleased 100% the game does a excellent job of recreating a western type theme/ atmosphere, the areas are large and expansive and yet teeming with life. the visuals surprised me, they look sooooo much better in person than they ever could on video, the voice acting is petty decent and i already declare marshal johnson my favorite character.

i think the most surprising thing about the games though is how the random events are handled. they are ABSOLUTELY random.....to put this in perpective, on my trip to armadillo i decided to randomly initiate one of the "sharp shooter challenges"...or to put it into laymans terms, i decided to just shoot some birds. as i am getting ready to take down another vulture i see a man run over the horizon screaming bloody murder...lo and behold behind him is a pack of at least 6 wolves trying to eat him. sadly i was so stunned i managed to somehow miss every shot and eventually the wolves got their meal but ran off as i came closer to the poor man.

yet another one happened after i did the mission in armadillo, as i left the mission area i hear gunshots and see one man riding his horse very quickly and yet another not far behind firing like a madman...i tried to give chase but by the time my horse came to me after being called , the two were long gone.

multiplayer is also amazing. i can see how with a gorup of friends it can be quite fun, i tried to takeover a gang hideout by myself.....i failed miserably.. i also got to try a match of shoot out and it was amazingly badass. some people will find auto aim / stick aim game breaking but i think they are implemented well and even if you do somehow manage to lock onto a target, there is ABSOLUTELY NO GUARANTEE you will win the fight.

one problem i do see though is that admittedly every match i joined except the first one ended up in being a shootout on a much larger map, that was fun for a good while but if you actually want to play the activities i would definitely either make the free roam private and only play with friends. it may be a bit better as the community grows too.

this game is great and i have only played for 4 hours i still have much more to explore but as of now the game would score at minimum an 8 . i am already a level 2 "dude" ( my title online) and the mounts ( the last few are going to be badass) leveling perks and so on look cool. plenty of avatars to choose form and so-on.

i will say though, as of now there were connection issues for the online for me, i couldn't access online from the singleplayer menu, i had to restart the game and select the multiplayer at the start-up menu. also while i was in the second phase of attacking a gang hideout the connection was lost os all the XP i had gained so far was lost. not a biggie though , this is the games first day of official release and i am sure rockstar has patches in the works for the few glitches that do still exist.

[cubullseye]

nice summary first impression...thanks.

The server/connection issues worry me. It seems a lot of games these days are having these kinds of issues. I hope everything gets worked out in RDR. This game will and the people will be around for quite awhile.

[El Poncho Loco]

Better than some preview articles out there! Thanks for the rundown. Work is going to suck today. But I may just bust my hump to get home as easrly as possible, and then play til I have to go back!

[Little Moon]

Great Summary Mario, You always make pleasant posts.

[corcovado]

Thanks Mario, good summary. I cant wait to experience this randomness for myself. I'm watching americans play multiplayer to pass time. I might not get the game till monday though. Hoping for saturday.

[Window 8P Lickr]

I'm right there with Mario. This game is amazing. The voice acting is incredible, the graphics are stellar, and as he said, the NPCs actions are all completely random. I've been tricked while trying to help someone, who was actually just a thief in sheep's clothing. I was gunned down by the thieves hiding behind her stagecoach, so I went back to see if they'd be there. Sure enough, they were gone. I've also experienced the guy screaming his head off while running down a hill chased by coyotes, I've also seen a couple guys attempt to rape/murder a hooker outside the saloon. Online however, isn't quite as glorious in my opinion. While the competitive modes are fun, free roam is dry and actually kind of boring. As of right now you can't spend the money you make, you can't interact with any of the few NPCs you find in town, aside from killing them that is, you can't rob banks, you can't hi-jack trains, you can't gamble with your friends, you really can't do many of the things we were all so lookin forward to. However, I'm hoping this will all change once the DLC comes out.