Why would the greatest game ever made be in the bargain bin?

I found this thread trying to reply to lethargic on The Gas Chamber.

I would just like to say that it is 2013 and RDR is not in the bargain bin. Gamestop wants $29.99 for it new.

I hate Take Two so fucking much.

I think it's perfectly legitimate to have those feelings, robot. I thought very highly of Tass Times in Tonetown because - back in the day - it created a unique world that was fun to run around in. Video games today have incredible advantages, like animation with more than five frames. I believe it makes a lot of sense to love a game because of its sense of ... [/i]place[/i].

(And it's why the Eberts who sound their ignorance about the games-as-art thing are so wrong, so childish, so stupid. We're making worlds here. Worlds!)

Let me say this, though, while I'm at it:

A complaint, arguably legitimate, has been made against RDR that the "formula" is wearing a bit thin. Yes, it's set in the sprawling old west, and it seems on the surface an entirely new experience than GTA3, GTA4, etc.

And yet, the [i]formula[/i] is still quite in evidence, and as some have suggested, may be "showing its age". Multiple storylines marked by big letters on your minimap that you need to go to. Random mini-stories interspersed between. And most of all, all of these games have three main "areas" which you have to work through. After a third of the game or so, you'll gain access to the second big ol' [i]area[/i], and after two thirds, the third [i]area[/i].

No arguments. I just got to the second [i]area[/i] of RDR last night. Yes, it's the same formula.

And you'll get no spoilers from me, but let me say at least this, that the formula is at least partly strayed from by some truly brilliant artistic choices, which made arriving at the second area, for me, MAYBE one of the most amazingly, emotionally resonant moments in my weak-ass history of gaming.

I think it helped that I had had a few, and in game-time as well as real-time, I arrived at the new area in the dead of night. But who cares. It was... chilling, magical. Wonderful.

I have no defense for those who would say that the missions are the worst part of the game. I admit it. They are. This, to me, is as much praise as damnation. When a world is as vivid and stunning as the one you've been given, seemingly the last thing you want to do is run off on some fool errand. And yet, this is balanced perfectly too. As soon as I got tired of roaming aimlessly around the first area, it was time to do the rest of the missions and get to the second, and get awestruck all over again.

There are those who have spoken of the "Avatar blues", those so enraptured by the world of Pandora that once they had to take off the plastic glasses and get back to their real lives, they got bummed. These of course are pathetic losers, because Pandora is a gay place for gay blue gays.

I kind of get it now, though, every time I switch off the ol' Xbox, and the RDR menu fades to black.

Gay.

Nothing is better than Magnolia.

Sounds like someone just drank Ben's milkshake, IYKWIM.

Hey, is this game better than Magnolia?

There's a town in the game where several oil derricks are in the process of being built or actively pumping oil.

The name of the town is Plainview.

OMG <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

Waitasec. I'm leading up a hand-picked, merry band of malcontents if I give you shit about this piece of digital fuck.

Not available as a demo in the PS3 store...sorry, I won't get it, yet.



THE
TEST DRIVE
AARDVARK

[quote="Ice Cream Jonsey"]Anyway, I hope you will continue to tell us what you like about RDR going forward.[/quote]

[img]http://moltobenny.com/pics/fag.jpg[/img]

[quote]And I'm sick of listening to you and your merry band of malcontents, attempting to despoil one of the most wonderful experiences available in the gaming world because of your petty grievances with... what, the company, some game design choices you would have done differently. [/quote]

Hahaha! I'll admit I've been mildly depressed lately. This snapped me out of it.

Anyway, I said I wasn't going to bag on RDR anymore and I won't. But when you talk about being there - please, please, please get Fallout 3. Fuck, I'll *get you* Fallout 3.

I'm not saying the sense of "being there" is better than RDR. I have not played RDR, and won't until it's in the bargain bin in 2013. (But... I *will* play it, eventually.) But I am saying that the qualities you are enjoying in RDR can be found in that game.

Anyway, I hope you will continue to tell us what you like about RDR going forward.

Will you get it?

Well, then I will get it.

Well, then I will get it.

EDIT: I read the whole article. He is bitching about a bunch of technical glitches which I have run into none of in my 8 hours and 12 minutes. If something goofy happens later, you know, I guess I can forgive a glitch or two.

Since I started four days ago, there have been two updates, though. I'd imagine perhaps some of his complaints have already been addressed, if they had merit to begin with.

Seriously, man. If "some weird stuff happened once" is your best shot at this game that you haven't played, I... well, good luck to you, I guess.

I'd quote some (well, dozens) of glowing, positive reviews in response, but of course you'd just PSHH PLEASE them away, assuming Rockstar threatened each and every one of them (and me) with legal action if they didn't just [i]ooze praise[/i] over the thing.

You've become a caricature of yourself.

So I am telling you that this is the greatest time I've had with a video game since... well, since GTA3, not to put too fine a point on it, and your reaction is to search the web for people with bad opinions of it.

These are the actions of the disintegrating identity of a social misfit.

I read the first paragraph. It's all so [i]ironic and amusing[/i]. I don't want to read any further, in case there are spoilers. And I'm sick of listening to you and your merry band of malcontents, attempting to despoil one of the most wonderful experiences available in the gaming world because of your petty grievances with... what, the company, some game design choices you would have done differently.

I've got my issues with the thing too, you know. I've just tonight run into a situation I wish I had save-anywhere. The insta-kill water is outrageous. I'm sure whatever that article bitched about had some merit, too.

All of that is horseshit. Do the missions, don't do the missions, be a good guy, be a bad guy, who the hell cares.

I am telling you, this game is about nothing else but [i]being there.[/i] The missons? Sure, they can be overly-scripted exercises in random hand-eye-coordination if you boil them down. But they last three minutes, then you're done. And then it's back to [i]being there[/i].

I set out in a whole new direction tonight. Know why? Just to see what the hell was there. And with every quarter mile, I was just continually blown away by what I saw. You get chills, experiencing what this game gives you. Chills of adventure and exploration that no other game I've played has the capacity to even approach. There is too much to look at. Too much to breathe in. The compulsion to just get off your horse and walk around just to see the place is, for those whose hearts have not yet died, irresistible.

And then... after a while of that... it's time to go do something again. What? I dunno. Take your pick. Just wander around, and something will come up. And even if it's a tired ol' "lasso the escaping prisoner" thing, you'll do it, and you'll love it, cuz you are frigging there. Hey, you might even do a scripted mission now and again, just for kicks. Who cares.

So I'm sure your article there has some wonderful points. And perhaps I'm just an old, forgiving romantic.

But Jesus Christ, man. This game is magic.

That you continue to strive to denigrate it, having not an inkling what it is, searching out negative opinions to bolster your own unfounded one... man... now THAT is something I cannot respect.

[quote="pinback"]I just checked "stats" before shutting down tonight.

Game finished: 19.9%
Total time playing: 8 hours, 12 minutes.

It's going too fast. I never want this to end.

Every other video game sucks compared to this.

I HAVE GREAT RESPECT FOR THEIR ACHIEVEMENT.[/quote]

This article implies that it's shit:

http://fidgit.com/archives/2010/05/red_dead_redemption_how_the_we.php

REACTION??

And... I want it [i]on record[/i] that this post - this one. The one I am making *now*... is the last negative post about RDR I'll post on JC, until such time as you either change your mind or I play it personally.

I don't want to just hate things to hate things. I expressed my opinion, and people are aware of it. So this is the last batch of hate.

(But please: REACTION. Thank you.)

I just checked "stats" before shutting down tonight.

Game finished: 19.9%
Total time playing: 8 hours, 12 minutes.

It's going too fast. I never want this to end.

Every other video game sucks compared to this.

I HAVE GREAT RESPECT FOR THEIR ACHIEVEMENT.

I took guitar lessons for six months so I could learn how to play "Home on the Range". If the game doesn't include that, I will record myself playing it and you can listen to it while playing the game.

You get your basic Western movie soundtrack music, which responds to the action occurring onscreen.