Thirith on 5/11/2018 at 18:14
I ran into the bug where several characters are simply missing from your camp in chapter 2. Since I'm about to go away on holiday, I'm thinking that I'll wait to see if there's a patch soon that solves the issue. If not, I may just restart the game - which is a bit annoying, but as I now understand better what I'm doing, I'm likely to get more out of the first couple of hours.
henke on 5/11/2018 at 19:02
Well that sucks. Did you check your recent save games? Perhaps there's a handy not-too-old auto-save?
I'm a few missions into chapter 3 myself, tho lately I've just been exploring the entire eastern coast. You guys been to St. Denis yet? First time I rode in I felt like I had stepped into a time machine. I was bumbling through the streets like a slack-jawed yokel while people in carriages yelled at me to get out of the damn way. It was perfect.
This video by Tim Rogers is good stuff. I only watched the first half for fear of spoilers.
[video=youtube;6a3MWpKrM7M]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6a3MWpKrM7M[/video]
Sample:
Dutch (in cutscene): I need some rest, I haven't slept in 3 days.
Tim Rogers: Wow, does Dutch work for Rockstar Games?
Thirith on 5/11/2018 at 22:36
No handy autosave, but once I decided to restart the game I was actually quite happy to do so. Having got used to RDR2's idiosyncrasies, I think I can get more out of chapter 1.
scumble on 6/11/2018 at 11:42
Quote Posted by Malf
scumble, even if you're using the right weapon to get a clean kill, you want to try and make sure to get headshots. If you hit them anywhere else, it might not be a kill and the pelt will lose a quality star. I also highly recommend taming a second horse while you're out hunting, as this means you can then take 2 large pelts back to the trapper or camp. As a bonus, you can then sell the second horse :)
A tip in case you hadn't noticed: once you've used "Study" on an animal species, you can quickly ascertain the quality of an animal without having to read its info page by paying attention to the number of stars in front of its name in the bottom right of the screen.
Another big tip: Don't bother with the dedicated sniper rifles. Instead, get a scope upgrade for one of the standard rifles, like the Springfield. Dedicated sniper rifles do about the same damage as the Springfield, but are restricted to only being able to aim-down-scope, where a Springfield with an add-on scope allows you to toggle between scope and no-scope.
The Springfield's pretty much the go-to weapon for hunting anything larger than a coyote. Headshots will guarantee clean kills and perfect pelts.
Interestingly enough, taming a second horse was exactly what I did when my hunting wasn't going very well and I just came upon a few of them incidentally. Subsequently I also had the same thought - why not use the second one to carry this other Elk pelt?
Hunting was a bit easier with henke's tip above of identifying them in the binoculars, and I had noticed the three stars that appear when you're tracking, next to the animal's name. I was mostly finding it a bit hard to track elk. If a deer happens to be in the area as well, startling that causes the elk to run off.
I have actually got a scope on another rifle, but I can't get it to work. The only scope I have that works is on the Rolling Block rifle you get from one of the missions. In the end this rifle was fine for taking down Elk, and I got headshots and two perfect Elk pelts out of it. I haven't been able to get a good wolf pelt because I only seem to get attacked by surprise and have to empty several rounds into them to avoid dying. My guess is that you have to use predator bait to distract them while you attempt to shoot from a distance.
Quote Posted by henke
You guys been to St. Denis yet? First time I rode in I felt like I had stepped into a time machine. I was bumbling through the streets like a slack-jawed yokel while people in carriages yelled at me to get out of the damn way. It was perfect.
I was impressed riding into St. Denis - past the stables and by the canning factory. Like you say it really feels like a huge contrast to the other tiny towns, even though in terms of area it's not that big on the map. Also a good place to get dressed up a bit at the Tailor.
Malf on 6/11/2018 at 13:01
Remember when getting attacked by wolves that you can use Deadeye.
Also, it's worth progressing the story a bit to improve Deadeye, as its best feature is one of those arbitrarily locked off ones. Namely, the ability to "paint" targets, where instead of Deadeye automatically applying a cross when the cursor goes over a target, you get to choose exactly where you want to shoot and not waste ammo.
That can help pretty much guarantee clean headshots.
Also, as soon as you notice you're getting attacked by a predator, through the noise they make, the red dot on the radar and through seeing them running at you, immediately open the weapon wheel and switch to a rifle. All large predators can be cleanly killed with a headshot from a rifle. And again, best not to use a scoped weapon in this scenario, as you're probably being attacked by more than one.
My morality took a bit of a beating last night in the pursuit of some challenges, namely the 660ft scoped rifle kill. I took out numerous unsuspecting folk before finally getting it by taking out some poor sap rowing a boat.
The 30ft tomahawk kill was actually easier than expected. I came across a loner at a camp, and waited for him to get angry with me and go hostile. I then hogtied him, left him by the fire and backed off a suitable distance before throwing my tomahawk at his noggin.
All of this senseless murder came back to haunt me when I went back to camp and got admonished by the ladies, including a serious sit-down chat with Tilly that made me feel really guilty.
Of course, then she proceeded to kick my arse at "All Fives" Dominoes, so guilt assuaged!
I do have a tendency to leave an awful lot of witnesses hogtied in the wilderness.
Edit: I've also remembered a wolf encounter I had when coming back from catpuring my first white Arabian.
Just as we crossed the snowline, I heard the howls. I turned in my saddle to see them swarming down the hillside towards me, flowing around a hapless stranger on horseback who began to panic. I quickly whipped out my rifle and swiftly despatched all of them... including the stranger's dog I had mistaken for a wolf.
He was left hogtied on a hillside after trying to report me for animal cruelty.
scumble on 7/11/2018 at 10:21
The challenges are pushing you to the dark side. I find I get too attached to the way I'm playing Arthur to suddenly change that to complete challenges. That applies to many games I play, I probably role-play to some extent and it feels odd if I'm breaking character for an arbitrary achievement, even if they're fun.
I've unlocked the dead-eye painting so I'll try and remember to do that in a wolf encounter. Although in the legendary wolf encounter I mentioned above, I did get a point blank shot to the head with a rifle but it wasn't enough, and I couldn't switch to a shotgun before I got my face torn off.
Malf on 7/11/2018 at 11:33
I must admit, the legendary wolf is one I haven't done yet. But with legendary animals, you don't have to worry about damaging the pelt, so unload with all you've got.
I'm guessing the pump-action or semi-automatic shotguns would make short work of it.
scumble on 7/11/2018 at 12:35
Exactly, I'm habitually making sure I've equipped the pump action just in case I need it. I've only got legendary harmless creatures - the fox and the beaver. I see there is a legendary fish on the map too.
Malf on 7/11/2018 at 12:52
There's a LOT of legendary fish, and I've only caught one so far. I really don't like the reeling mechanic in RDR2. Constantly twirling the right stick may be as close to using a fishing reel as possible on a controller, but it's really uncomfortable over prolonged periods. And the larger fish take AGES to reel in.
henke on 13/11/2018 at 05:22
A lot of great RDR2 clips in this week's Highlight Reel. :D
[video=youtube;BYyeBKPiGJ8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYyeBKPiGJ8[/video]