Just wanted to say, John didn't walk into armageddon because of hubris. He knew he had no chance to face them head on, but he also knew if he escaped with his family, the feds would never stop hunting him. His family would be in danger forever.
This. He knew he was what they were after and only his sacrifice would stop them. He accepted the answer that he could never outrun his past. He had to reap what he sew
@@Yyybigra Notice this a lot with this guy. Stuff that takes just a little bit of thinking or is even explained at some point and he just completely misses it
Can't believe he didn't mention the soundtrack when you first arrive in Mexico. The music together with the scenery is one of my favourite gaming moments to this day.
I absolutely love RDR/RDR2's soundtrack, it's an absolute masterwork. I always forget to talk about music in my videos for some reason, prompting me to crank the volume on the soundtracks higher in the background lol
@@schnarfschnarf5886 That song right when you enter Mexico is Far Away by José González. The soundtrack in RDR helped me find an artist who I've loved for nearly a decade!
@@TheSaltFactory my man, read the newspaper as Jack, gives you some closure for some of the characters John had help from, such as reading about Irish, drinking himself to death in mexico. I wont ruin the others endings :)
Fun fact! They used period corrext instruments for the soundtrack! Some 100-150 year old guitars and trumpets that where used for classic western movies.
I think John steps out of the barn because if he were alive, his family would always be in danger. Kind of a final sacrifice to protect what he fought so hard for. Not too dissimilar to Arthur in RDR2 ig
Glad these comments are here to show me that this isn't worth sitting through, ahaha. Idk how you could play through this game the first time or 10 years later and think he did that because he was overconfident when the entire point of the game is that your past always catches up with you unavoidably.
@@lynnlRDR-RDR2 Yeah, the Red Dead Redemption title refers to the redemption John Marston is trying so hard to achieve by hunting down his past crew to make up for those "sins" and allow him and his family to live their life. But he was in that gang same as the rest, and they were never going to let him go. Dutch mentions they're just gonna find another monster and so they did with John. Thankfully the past catching up applies to even Edgar Ross, who is gunned downed by Jack in one of the most anticlimactic places and circumstances, yet makes for one of the most satisfying and impactful moments in gaming for me.
And ultimately Jack becomes like everyone else in the gang, the whole game and even the prequels show Jack is intelligent, articulate & destined for much more & ends up becoming an outlaw murderer like his father, ultimately nobody finds redemption and it’s such a tragic but amazing story
Tbh I do agree a lot of the ranch stuff was boring, but I Kinda liked it because it made me feel immersed, you're a cowboy not everyday is going to be shooting up salons, some times you need to herd cows, or break horses, do normal cowboy stuff, and I appreciate that kind of stuff
It feels as though a lot of people forget that missions in story-driven games are usually laid out the way they are because that's what the writers said the character would do. John can't just start bigfoot hunting (in-story) as soon as the feds let him go from the train
@@toastertarts2990 in gta v's case, there was so much shit like that & it felt like one big awkwardly written macguffin. the dock and mop missions are atrocious.
I actually really liked nearly all side quests. The one with the Guy who lost his mind in the deserts, the one with the old lady who can’t get over her fiancé, the strange man challenging John to redeem himself from his past… I know they mostly don’t contribute to the story, that’s why I like them, their just encounters with interesting stories
I agree, they were intriguing and offered some unexpected and strange (holding true to their name) plot twists. Like the guy you help collect flowers for his wife who turns out to be a corpse, the flying contraption you help complete and watch the guy plummet to his death. I don't get why he didn't hit on these and found them to be so annoying.
Really? Yes the stranger mission was by far the best, but the rest? A guy ask you to get flowers, you get them and you see a funny cutscene. A lady ask you to get medicine, you get it and you see a cutscene. Someone ask you to buy land, you get it and that’s it. They are a very weak element of the game that even GTAV greatly improved
@@Indigo_1001It’s supposed to show the wackiness of the Wild West along with the grittiness that comes with it. With a bit of rockstar edginess. Cutscenes aren’t the most engaging thing in a game but it’s a character focused game where the main characters are John and the world around him. Not all of them are going to be great but it’s good to recognize that a couple of them are “Great”. I can only name one “cheesy” one. It’s not bad but the man in love with the horse one is just odd.
I’m surprised he didn’t mention the newspaper you can buy in blackwater while playing as Jack. It contain a few articles about some of the main characters in the game, Seth, Bonnie, etc. it wasn’t much, but it gave a little information on such characters after John’s death.
Definitely do the undead nightmare DLC. It is such a fascinating twist on the established game. And it allows you to play on the overworld that's John again. And not as obnoxious goddamn son.
I couldn't. 😓I got the invisible head glitch. So I couldn't kill any zombies. Lol. It was just me running around trying to find ways to get ahead in the game.
To me, the best reason to play this game is for the atmosphere. It's just so absorbing and perfectly captures that Old West vibe. It's stuck with me ever since I first played it.
It’s funny how even though it takes place in the 1910s when the Wild West era was over, it still feels more western than it’s prequel set in the 1890s. Rdr2 just looks too green and civilized in most areas to have an authentic Wild West vibe.
Indeed, I couldn't have explained it better. Story and atmosphere-wise, RDR1 is the best but the RDR2 mechanics make the game so much more enjoyable and oh boy was the hunting fun and crafting your clothing!@@alext399
1:15:56 You do head about the Marshall, Seth, and Irish if you read the newspaper. I always liked how the writers subtly wrapped up their stories without being in your face.
John walked out those barn doors fully knowing he was gonna die. He just knew that even if he got away, so what? He'd still be wanted, they'd just come for him again and again and again, and next time it might be Jack that gets shot. He knowingly sacrificed his life for the sake of his family. The whole theme of the game is basically that you can't run from your past, just like Bill, Javier and Dutch all couldn't, and the more he tried the more they'd take from him. I think that's sort of the point, there isn't really such a thing as Redemption. No matter how much good John did for the Government they still saw him as just an outlaw, nothing more, not worth the respect to uphold their end of the deal. It's a beautiful scene.
John tried to avoid responsibility for his past crimes, payed the price, learned the lesson, and finally made responsible decision to save his family (the very same family he ran from at first), thus redeeming himself in his own eyes.
The “eh, I don’t care much about these guys” is exactly how John feels, everyone he meets, helps or kills in this game is just a means to an end, I think they did a great job of making an indifferent hero
John is a very grey protagonist and that's his whole point, he was a Violent Outlaw in his past and it still shows in spades like when he kills the Villagers in Chuparosa and helps burn the rebel town yet he also does so many good acts, John has an equal capacity for good and evil and its up to you in the end to decide if John got his redemption.
@@undertakernumberone1 I think the only innocent people you're encouraged to kill in the story missions are the miners when stealing the gatling gun. They definitely have a right to defend their property and John shoots 'em dead.
With how fast and rapid technology and video games change and evolve, there aren't many that you can pick up after 5,10 years, and jump straight back in without an issue. Sure RDR looks its age, but its one of the few that you can just pick up and completely enjoy so many years later Truly love the red dead games and forever hopeful to see 1 get a remake
RDR 1 is a masterpiece, but a big part of why it feels easy to pick back up is because Rockstar has never really evolved it's gameplay past GTA 4 (god i hate A spamming to sprint...)
@@Spike2276 In my opinion, GTA 4 has the best story of all the GTA games, and the driving really not bother me to much, I played other games that put more weight in the cars and make the driving less cartoonish, if you make your cars drive into a cloud, when you would take a turn it seems that always take to far, and take the fun part of using your car as a weapon and using other cars to stop your momentum when you are taking turns.
Witcher 3? I'm totally new to gaming, having played only Hogwarts Legacy (for each house), then discovered Witcher 3... I'm now on my new game + run to get to level 1oo, then I plan to somewhat clean my old pc to play Witcher 2 and maybe even 1, maybe Fable, maybe... don't know... there's so much out there... Thinking about Red Dead Redemption 2 since it came out, for the graphics.. Also, my PS5 bundle came with God of War Ragnarok, so .... I feel like games with a very specific atmosphere/graphics maybe age better than others? Just a hunch really.
@@ChristmasLore RDR2 is by far the most competent open world narrative game ever made, if you play it, it may ruin other games as they simply won’t be of the same quality, W3 is fire though, lots of good games, but RDR2 will change your life if you let it take you. RDR1 has mostly age well because of the performance capture of all the scenes and animations etc etc, it feels very life like because of that, the graphics are pretty good for the time too which helps but what makes RDR1 hold up is primarily the performance capture and excellent writing.
And every time I play rdr2 I’m like damn I wish they sprinting like rdr, also the feature in rdr where if you call your horse while running your horse catches up to you during your sprint for you to hop on
There's actually a good easter egg planted into Jack's story through the newspaper that you can buy and read as him. You find out that Landon Ricketts ends up dying in his sleep and that Irish ends up dying in a Theives' Landing outhouse to an accidental discharge of a gun. Really puts a bow on a couple of the side characters that John came across and really wipes the slate of the open world clean for Jack once and for all.
One thing that I always appreciated is that everything in this game is very intentional. Even if it doesn’t work or it falls flat, it is exactly how they wanted it to be. I fell like so many games try to be everything at once instead of picking something and sticking to it. I think it wasn’t an oversight that we don’t see many characters carry over from act to act, I think they wanted to convey the feeling that those people DID just walk into the sunset and were never heard from again. Because most people could really do that in the old west. But our protagonist could not. No matter how hard he tried. In fact, it felt almost like a foreshadowing of his downfall. All these people he interacted with could have the one thing he never could: a fading out of memory.
RDR was probably one of the last gaming experiences I really got into. I never upgraded past the 360/PS3 gen and eventually my interest in gaming whittled down to watching retrospectives like this one on RUclips. Kinda sad really but channels like this one do their job well for where I'm at in life.
I get ya, I used to be super social on my console but now I'm more of a single player game type of person or if I play multiplayer I don't bother hooking my headphones in
Thats good that these videos do well but if you do ever want to get back into it Id recommend trying an Xbox Series S. Its tiny, light, and $300. You can play all your favorite 360/PS3 gen titles (including RDR1) at a higher resolution and stable frames along with any new ones that caught your eye like maybe RDR2.
Im the same way. I was never a huge gamer, but as a millennial I still grew up with LAN parties and did have a sizeable collection and many late nights gaming at the peak of the PS2 and 360 generation. I just dont really know what happened. I am still interested in video games. I like to watch content surrounding them and keep up with the industry. But I havent touched a controller in years. I kept meaning to buy a PS4, then a PS5. It just hasnt happened. I wish I could say life got in the way but I do technically have freetime to play, I just... Dont.
The ending, or rather, the true "ending" gameplay sequence and subsequent credits scene, have been burned into my mind ever since. It's one of my top gaming experiences within the span of 30 years.
I like how you didn’t sugarcoat moments in the game. If you didn’t like a part of the game or you thought it wasn’t as good as you remember you told us. I really appreciate that.
I know RDR2 didnt come out like 10+ years ago, but i think a retrospective essay would be phenomenal. I truly hope you do it sometime in the future when you are ready. Plenty of people would love to watch it.
Ok. It’s a pretty good game with a 20 hour movie force down your throat, the house building quick time events is what put me over the edge and I never touched it again. The core game is actually amazing but the story is weak and the game is made to waste your time as bad as any mobile game I’ve ever played 3/10.
I don't usually find RockStar games have very funny jokes in them but John Marston has got some good lines, and we he tells the professor he's gonna give him and and follows with "I'm just kidding." It genuinely tickles me for some reason
i think it stands out bc it’s basically the only time in the entire game that john makes a legitimate joke. like yeah he makes plenty of dry, sarcastic remarks towards the characters he sees as acting foolish or hypocritically (nigel west dickens, irish, & reyes mostly), and while those *are* funny in their own right, pulling the professor’s leg just to mess with him a little is the only time he does something so lighthearted & playful
Not really a justification for their on-screen absence, I know, but an interesting bit on the various side characters who just kinda disappear is that you can read about what happened to them after the last time John sees them in the in-game newspapers, kind of ironic given that John can't read. Seth went back to grave robbing and actually managed to hit it big, Irish accidently killed himself in an outhouse, and the best one, Landon, died peacefully in his sleep during the time skip of John to Jack. Plenty of others too, these are just the ones I remember off the top of my head.
@@gabrieleamore5527 Oh right, it's Abigail who can't read. Think I got it mixed up from that scene where Jack is helping her learn. Or am I just making things up? I dunno, been far too long since my last playthrough.
@@gabrieleamore5527 i think my fave detail in rdr2 is that John's diary has lines he made to keep his writing straight. arthur doesn't have to do that tho. i always thought that was a cute detail for john lol.
@@linashell2696 never thought about that, you're RIGHT. Also, very evident, they're drawing are different. John is more a goofy type of person, and that is portraied in every aspect
rdr3 taking place in the 20's with a broken jack marston returning from ww1 has a lot of potential for the kind of writing rockstar seems to do really well. I could imagine the opening cutscene of a lively dock filled with soldiers being welcomed home put in stark contrast to a grey sad post war industrialized city.
@@BlueBirdsProductions I've never really considered RDR1&2 as full westerns tbh. The era is already long dead in RDR1 and RDR2 is only a few years behind and isn't even physically set in the west for most of its run time. I feel like they're more "post" westerns or something like that, and I think the series ending in the late 1910s early 1920s could be fitting if handled correctly.
Though I woudnt hate concluding jacks story I feel 1920s is too late for the rdr series.. Even though the west is basicly dead in the first game it's such a big part of the rdr identity.. I'd rather Rockstar pull the trigger on the shared universe they have been teasing for 15 years anyways and just have jack get his own game series set in 1920s outside rdr.. I feel the natural rdr3 would be playing as dutch or hosea I'm their younger days picking up John and Arthur
yes please do Undead Nightmare. It completes Redemption in a way. Like it shows that this world can and these characters can fit into other genres, instead of a typical Western game. and plus cowboys vs zombies, what's not to love!
I love these videos cause I can squash a nostalgic desire to replay a game like this in like 1:22:29 instead of the approximately 20-30 hours it would take me to play through it.
While I don't really have much to say as the video was pretty good, the point that John's history with the other gang members isn't explored always felt very intentional to me. The specific reason as to why that decision was made one can only speculate, I do however quickly want to say that I didn't believe it was done in service of a prequel/second game. (Quick little addition) John's past in RDR1 sort of to an extent is treated a bit like the whole Blackwater situation in the second game, this is more of a casual observation, but it felt worthy of mention.
It was either made with a prequel in mind or to keep the mystery of the past a little vague. In a way, it really works with the theme of the dying old west.
I played rdr last year (after rdr2) The only complaints I ever had were the mechanics. The story of the redemption games are the most memorable parts about them
the "no western games" hit me hard. when I was young I saw tons of westerns with my dad. playing games like that would be soo cool. we really enjoyed playing the online part of red dead 2 together. shame how rockstar abandoned that too.
This game has aged great, replayed it a few months ago and I think it’s better than 2 in a lot of ways, definitely a much more focused story. John Marston also is just one of the best protagonists of all time imo.
RDR2 is the WAYYYY better GAME. As a realistic cowboy-simulator of course, which isn't everyones thing. People like you seem to just wanna watch and be entertained instead of actually, intrinsically play an immersive videogame.
@Tyden Durler I've never understood the "immersion" argument for games. I get that people want to feel like they're in the world but when all is said and done it's still just a video game. I've never been immersed in a video game to the degree that others seem to get and I've been playing games of all kinds for 22 years now. If immersion is the best thing a game has to offer then its not a good game.
@@tydendurler9574 good gameplay is king and good story writing is queen. Graphics are the prince and dialog is the princess. Immersion is the court jester there to lighten the place up and mildly entertain you.
I think you are putting the script on a pedestal. You are correct in your analysis and criticism, but the world and immersion were the two things that made me love RDR1. That game was beautiful and breathtaking. I put in 30 hours enjoying the world after I "beat the game" and I didn't even know John died before my friend told me those ranching quests lead somewhere. The script in addition to that put it head-and-shoulders above any other RPG that was available. I always like your videos, so thanks for diving deep again!
I remember playing Red Dead Redemption and putting on the 'bandana' almost at the beginning of the game. After finishing the game, I realized that I still had the 'bandana' on. I guess I went with the 3rd option for a playthrough: Zorro
I feel like you’ve strangely misunderstood a few elements of this game. While John is the protagonist, he, like many other Rockstar leading men, represents more of a window into the period of time and place he is living in for the player to experience. The Mexico section is to put on display the never ending cycle of class warfare and tyranny that exists in so many 3rd world countries and how a useful idiot like Marston can just wander around and be strangely aloof to the suffering around him. As for Uncle, his inclusion is a reference to the comic relief character that appeared in so many westerns of old, normally an older, bumbling, sometimes mentally disabled character.
As I understood the ending, John definitely knows, that he won't be able to win this shootout. But he also understands, that this sacrificing himself is the only chance he has, to keep his family save. And then Jack throws it all away, because he goes for the revenge and kills an old man anyhow. RDR 3 should definitely be about Jack being hunted for that stupid decision and things unrevealing from there.
I agree… I think it’s the same in the shootout in the beginning of the game when he gets shot by bill and that he resigned himself to death because of how bad his odds were at actually accomplishing his task.
"Jack throws it all away! RDR 3 shoudl show him being hunted down!" God bloody damn it, NO! 1) RDR 3, for me, should NOT take place post RDR1. I want a Red Dead taking place between 1865 and 1885. During a bit more of a "good days of hte West" instead of "Fall of hte West"... 2) Jack being hunted? Why? Edgar Ross died in Mexico. And, depending on the situation, his corpse might even have fallen into the river... A Mexico that still is anything but safe. Three people saw him. Three people who might not even properly recall him. As far as anyone is concerned, Ross might've been killed by a bunch of bandits and the you lad got kidnapped and killed by the same group! This is in 1914. Not 2014. There aren't phones and cameras and the internet everywhere...
@@undertakernumberone1 Let's be honest: Jack is not really subtle about it. He asks Rosses wife and his former co worker about his whereabouts. Afterwards, he doesn't return home from his fishing trip. Not hard to connect the dots. His wife just goes to their son, who in this scenario is in a quite powerful position within the Pinkertons or in politics. Just due to a little nepotism, after Ross took down the greatest gang of the West. And it doesn't really matter, if it really gets proven, that Jack killed Ross, unless someone in a powerful position believes this to be the case.
I still feel so sad about the feeling you have after finishing rdr1, it just stops, and youre still so curious about jack, but all you can find in the open world is emptyness. This feelling is so distinct and touchable yet so impossible to discribe. It really captures the losing of john, and how its just over now cause hes dead.
I hope things get better for you. Whenever you're feeling like you're the only person on the planet, know that you are heard and things will get better.
You're doing good. One day at a time. Make sure to take small moments to reward yourself for reaching goals or just getting through a long day. Take the rest that you need and actively think about what relaxation is to you and actually do it.
You're doing good. One day at a time. Make sure to take small moments to reward yourself for reaching goals or just getting through a long day. Take the rest that you need and actively think about what relaxation is to you and actually do it.
The sky in rdr is even more beautiful than in rdr2. Look at that, it's impressive, it looks like real clouds passing in front of a real sun, I wonder how they done that 😮
Honestly when this game came out it was the most epic game out there, so ahead of it time... I think we all remember the shoot out at the end and our main character dying, then we play as his kid. That was such a shock to me at the end but they made it work.. Brilliant!
Never disagreed with you so much - I would admit, though, that the game is not for everybody's taste. For me, it's an exquisite buffet of top-quality, immersive writing structured like an old epic. It's overshadowed by its sequel, but that makes me appreciate the rock-solid foundation it set all the more.
if they make a red dead 3 I want it to follow Jack as he navigates the new frontier of urban America as prohibition is made the law of the land as he returns home from the Great War.
I really like the "post-era" setting Red Dead goes for, all the glories and myths of the past are gone and the future isn't looking pretty for whoever is in between.
Im so glad i played rhe first game as much as i did. I cant even counr how many times ive beaten it but it to be well over 30 times at this point. I know every little smart ass remark john makes, i know evwry memorable quote and i remember every detail of back story exposition john and the other characters give and this is awesome because Red dead 2 is jam packed with references to these quotes. Even the smallest details in dialogue in rhe first game often gets referenced in the rhe second and i was able to notice and pick up on each and every one and i feel so lucky for that. A good example is when john confronts javier he says "its me or You, the way i see it, it might as well be you" this is a call back to what dutch says in RDR2 after killing brante. He says "it was us or him, the way i see it, it might as well be him". The fact that rhey thought to do call backs to such insignificant details such as that is just insane.
I've always felt that the ranch stuff is genius. It shows the player what a cowboy actually did and establishes that while John CAN be a cowboy, hes not one. John's a gunslinger. He's Clint Eastwood, not John Wayne.
23:00 or so: technical limitations aside, imagine how much cooler it would have been if dude started shooting the Gatling gun *through the cart* without opening it first. Walls just _really actually don't_ stop bullets.
Haven't even watched it but yes this game is just as good as I remember. It was the first game I ever 100% that wasn't some 20$ game. The Undead Nightmare DLC ranks as one of the best ive ever played up there with Shivering Isles from Oblivion, and Blood & Wine from Witcher 3.
I get excited for the salt uploads on games I have never heard of, much less played. I am ecstatic to watch a full length video on a game that meant so much to me as a kid. My dad rented RDR from a redbox probably about 2013-2014, and he loved it so much that he let 13 year old me play it, and I loved it so much, I spent my my birthday money to have him buy it for me. I have played through this game close to 10 times, which made RDR2 even sweeter when that came out.
17:45 very glad to see this point made. Always bugged me because I was left wondering at times if I missed important dialogue for traveling at a speed the game wanted me to go
I recall from someone else’s review, that the reason for there being no new western games after RD1 is because it was so good that they knew it would be immediately compared to it and that it was impossible to compete with to the point the only one who could make another western frontier game was rockstar themselves
I have binge watched a lot of your videos recently. Around the time of Diablo 4 season 1 start. Man, thank you, thank you so much. You have kept me awake while playing and I just wanted to say thanks! You do a great job and I cannot wait to see more.
@TTVBunnyDougie's valid opinion, it's more fast paced and has features and things that Rdr2 doesn't. That doesn't mean that Rdr2 is a bad game just saying
The best part of rdr2 is when Ross says "Enjoy your fishing, kid." To child Jack when you know Jack kills Ross much later in life while Ross is fishing lol
I believe John’s ending is supposed to be a sacrifice. This is not a stand in which he believes he’ll make it out. He knows if he lives or runs with Jack and Abigail, the government men will just keep coming after him and his family will still be in danger. So, he takes it as a chance to let Abigail and Jack put some distance between them and goes out in a blaze of glory. It’s what makes both John and Arthur’s deaths so tragic. Because all of it, their redemption, giving up their lives so Jack could have a better life than they did -a ‘normal’ life, it all was for naught, Jack is doomed to the same fate in the circle of violence and goes after Ross. “Vengeance is a fool’s game.” On a completely different note, the fact that Nigel West Dickens and Mr. Sweeney were played by the same actor blew my mind.
I was and still am mostly a PC gamer, but i can remember that i always wanted a console back in the days only for Red Dead Redemption. Well i finally got one from a friend of mine and the first thing i did was buying RDR. It was definitely worth the wait and i still consider it to be one of the best games ever made. Even better than RDR2 in my opinion. It is really sad tho, that Rockstar hasn't yet released a PC port for RDR.
The first time i played through this, i didn't see the ending coming. Reloaded a save 3 times before figuring out that i couldn't get around it. I was upset. I also didn't like Jack. I didn't play the rest of the missions, so i didn't see the retribution mission. This ending stands out to me as the first time I really saw that video games can tell engaging stories. Stories that you don't get to determine the ending to. Stories that don't end the way you'd like. Stories that have something to say. It's made me a lot more open minded and thoughtful about games that don't play out the way we'd expect or prefer them to.
I was so Hyped for RDR1 as a kid whos born and raised in rhe Southwest. I tried getting in to RDR2, but it lacked something and i couldnt put a finger on it. RDR1 has some of the best moments of my gaming history.
I think a lot of people put the game down (like myself almost) during the cattle ranch part after he gets shot. It’s just so slowwww. Crazy how it turned out to be one of the best games I’ve ever played
I enjoyed this game years ago, but never got too far into it. However I have NOT been able to get into RdR2, despite multiple times. I do think part of it is the story setup of the 2nd game.
@@tydendurler9574 wtf do you even do in this game, the story is the only good thing about it :'D Shitty controls, shitty side activities, shitty side missions, repetitive random world events, riding a horse across a map with no objective? Tf is the actual point in playing RDR2 if you don't like the fucking story :'D
"It's da whiskey sir, gives me the memory of a new born babe." *John takes and swigs the whiskey* "And it makes me violently angry. " I freaking love that exchange, John is so witty.
@@originata3748 Not at all. I feel they retconned a few characters. Bill wasn't smart in RDR1, but in RDR2 he can barely talk. Javier goes from badass assassin to Speedy Gonzales. It's all weird
feel like you are hyper critical about some clunky mechanics for a game that is as old as Rdr1 is and has as large of a open world and as much of a variety of activates there are to do. Seems like you were complaining about things that even modern games like cyberpunk or starfield lack very heavily in when they had a lot more to work with. also a lot of skill issues that you seem to think makes the game worse.
I used to be obsessed with playing red dead redemption online. So fun with a bunch of friends. I remember us boxing bears in the bear claw lake or whatever in the tall trees area. Online competitive was also amazing, one of the few games I've ever been godlike at in multiplayer.
44:35 I disagree, I aboustlely love the idea of this American bounty hunter getting dragged into a Mexican civil war he has no chips in getting into shit way over his head. He goes with it because John has no lead and he's obviously not going to get anywhere during the chaos of a civil war, it would be extremely unrealistic to assume John can just ignore a civil war and continue looking for his gang members when said civil war is embroiled in everyone's lives, why would some peasant / soldier help some American when they're dealing with an actual war going on in their country. Especially with Johns gang members being protected by the corrupt government, John had to help the rebels. I think its more so SaltFactory had to sort of speedrun the game to get this review out there and he couldn't digest all the stuff that was happening around him.
1:11:35 uhhh no? Lol. Definitely not hubris. John sacrificed himself so Abigail and Jack wouldn't be hunted by the government. With him dead they have no one to go after anymore, as he's the last living member of the Van Der Linde gang at that point. He redeems himself for his past crimes and ensures his family will remain safe. Hence the title of the game Jack killing Ross later on is a very on the nose observation of violence breeding violence. He even looks at his gun with uncertainty as the act of murder (even if justified) is something his family wanted him to stay away from.
I think your being a lil harsh... u gotta remember when this game came out. For its time it was top notch, compared to games now tho... of course it's lacking. I mean, it did come out 2 console generations ago... I believe the game done all that the consoles at the time could handle. Isn't like it was released on ps5 or something, didn't it come out on Xbox 1 and ps3? So yea... u shouldnt even expected to really compare with games now.
I would argue the central focus, narrative wise, was plotting a story that speaks thematically. The characters are like tools. The player is just seeing the dynamic of change; feeling the west, as if it were its own character because of the setting, the music and lore; and riding along for it, Jhon's grey compass, giving his focus in saving his family, complements this as he has to do work for both sides, example in Mexico, which was about the social climate and views there rather that something of interest for Jhon. The second game is certainly character driven; fills up the questions, which were raised incidentally about John's gang and life; and expands in the redemption aspect. The last thing making the second game a compelling and emotional story, something only possible because of Arthur as he shows the struggle of making personal change, by having people like the gang members, the harsh outlaws willing to fight with their worse version of themselves against a world that's unforgivingly changing for them. (Thing that John mentioned, as he put that taking too many options forces people) For me personally, that was rich enough to make a perfect prequel. Nevertheless, it's simplicity I fancy too little, as I enjoy the dive of the subtle storytelling of the first game, having a focus in other aspects to hammer the point in a challenging way, as the player must wonder, and interpret this big questions, and sensation.
The lack of any triple A western titles after Red Dead actually makes perfect sense. Any that released would be inevitably compared to Rockstar’s magnum opus. And likely would never be able to stack up. While triple A titles have ballooned in cost and dev support, at the time Red Dead was an insanely expensive game with an unfathomable amount of devs working on it. No one could ever compete. Similar to how we’ve basically had only a couple open world crime games in the 20 years since GTA blew up with GTA 3. No one can compete with Rockstar so they simply don’t.
Notice how Edgar Ross had a black hat all game long except for the ending when Jack confronts him. It makes it clear that Jack has become an outlaw and a villain himself something that John would not have wanted for his son. It is a tragic ending that does not need a sequel.
The game might not hold up perfectly anymore, but it still holds up pretty well I think. Also, I always found it quite interesting how it's almost better played AFTER you've played RDR2. Some good prequel writing there. I do hope you'll cover Undead Nightmare and RDR2 sometime in the future as well. 👍
Just wanted to say, John didn't walk into armageddon because of hubris. He knew he had no chance to face them head on, but he also knew if he escaped with his family, the feds would never stop hunting him. His family would be in danger forever.
This. He knew he was what they were after and only his sacrifice would stop them. He accepted the answer that he could never outrun his past. He had to reap what he sew
It's genuinely bizarre he couldn't figure this out. Zero critical thinking.
@@Yyybigra Notice this a lot with this guy. Stuff that takes just a little bit of thinking or is even explained at some point and he just completely misses it
“When I’m gone, they’ll just find another monster. They have to, to justify their wages.”
thats such a mind numbingly bad take on the ending from salt. I was floored. How does someone misread something so badly?
Can't believe he didn't mention the soundtrack when you first arrive in Mexico. The music together with the scenery is one of my favourite gaming moments to this day.
I absolutely love RDR/RDR2's soundtrack, it's an absolute masterwork. I always forget to talk about music in my videos for some reason, prompting me to crank the volume on the soundtracks higher in the background lol
That is the one thing that I remember from this game. That song is a hit!
@@schnarfschnarf5886 That song right when you enter Mexico is Far Away by José González. The soundtrack in RDR helped me find an artist who I've loved for nearly a decade!
@@TheSaltFactory my man, read the newspaper as Jack, gives you some closure for some of the characters John had help from, such as reading about Irish, drinking himself to death in mexico. I wont ruin the others endings :)
Fun fact! They used period corrext instruments for the soundtrack! Some 100-150 year old guitars and trumpets that where used for classic western movies.
I think John steps out of the barn because if he were alive, his family would always be in danger. Kind of a final sacrifice to protect what he fought so hard for. Not too dissimilar to Arthur in RDR2 ig
This is absolutely why, it's not a matter of John being cocky or over confident, he was never like that.
Glad these comments are here to show me that this isn't worth sitting through, ahaha. Idk how you could play through this game the first time or 10 years later and think he did that because he was overconfident when the entire point of the game is that your past always catches up with you unavoidably.
Never looked at it that was. I do like that idea although still super sad.
@@lynnlRDR-RDR2 Yeah, the Red Dead Redemption title refers to the redemption John Marston is trying so hard to achieve by hunting down his past crew to make up for those "sins" and allow him and his family to live their life. But he was in that gang same as the rest, and they were never going to let him go. Dutch mentions they're just gonna find another monster and so they did with John.
Thankfully the past catching up applies to even Edgar Ross, who is gunned downed by Jack in one of the most anticlimactic places and circumstances, yet makes for one of the most satisfying and impactful moments in gaming for me.
And ultimately Jack becomes like everyone else in the gang, the whole game and even the prequels show Jack is intelligent, articulate & destined for much more & ends up becoming an outlaw murderer like his father, ultimately nobody finds redemption and it’s such a tragic but amazing story
Tbh I do agree a lot of the ranch stuff was boring, but I Kinda liked it because it made me feel immersed, you're a cowboy not everyday is going to be shooting up salons, some times you need to herd cows, or break horses, do normal cowboy stuff, and I appreciate that kind of stuff
It feels as though a lot of people forget that missions in story-driven games are usually laid out the way they are because that's what the writers said the character would do. John can't just start bigfoot hunting (in-story) as soon as the feds let him go from the train
@@corbjones2738 That's fine unless I'm doing something like the dock mission or mopping in GTA V
@@toastertarts2990 in gta v's case, there was so much shit like that & it felt like one big awkwardly written macguffin. the dock and mop missions are atrocious.
I kinda liked the ranch tbh, it felt cozy
For me the worst missions are bonnie and west dickens missions
I actually really liked nearly all side quests. The one with the Guy who lost his mind in the deserts, the one with the old lady who can’t get over her fiancé, the strange man challenging John to redeem himself from his past…
I know they mostly don’t contribute to the story, that’s why I like them, their just encounters with interesting stories
“The Wronged Woman” was pretty cool it felt like a real life lesson although a lot of the game is like that lol
I agree, they were intriguing and offered some unexpected and strange (holding true to their name) plot twists. Like the guy you help collect flowers for his wife who turns out to be a corpse, the flying contraption you help complete and watch the guy plummet to his death. I don't get why he didn't hit on these and found them to be so annoying.
Really?
Yes the stranger mission was by far the best, but the rest?
A guy ask you to get flowers, you get them and you see a funny cutscene. A lady ask you to get medicine, you get it and you see a cutscene. Someone ask you to buy land, you get it and that’s it.
They are a very weak element of the game that even GTAV greatly improved
That stranger who people theorized was Death, an Angel, God or something else always stuck with me
@@Indigo_1001It’s supposed to show the wackiness of the Wild West along with the grittiness that comes with it. With a bit of rockstar edginess. Cutscenes aren’t the most engaging thing in a game but it’s a character focused game where the main characters are John and the world around him.
Not all of them are going to be great but it’s good to recognize that a couple of them are “Great”. I can only name one “cheesy” one. It’s not bad but the man in love with the horse one is just odd.
I’m surprised he didn’t mention the newspaper you can buy in blackwater while playing as Jack. It contain a few articles about some of the main characters in the game, Seth, Bonnie, etc. it wasn’t much, but it gave a little information on such characters after John’s death.
Never forget this cynic article about the beginning of WWI
@@maxnurmax4550WW I, not II.
The epilogue of RDR1 takes place in 1914, the same year WW I starts.
@@TheLordofMetroidsHe said world war 1
@@Kazasia-_- oh my goodness, your right.
Man I swear that said 2. I apologize
@@TheLordofMetroidsyou have to atone for your mistake, make right with your god
Definitely do the undead nightmare DLC. It is such a fascinating twist on the established game. And it allows you to play on the overworld that's John again. And not as obnoxious goddamn son.
I couldn't. 😓I got the invisible head glitch. So I couldn't kill any zombies. Lol.
It was just me running around trying to find ways to get ahead in the game.
@@Jebbreh So your saying you couldn't get aHEAD?
@@Psycheitoutyeah dudes maidenless, can’t get head.
I never got the problem with Jack tbh. Hes alright to me
RDR2 needs an undead nightmare DLC so bad
To me, the best reason to play this game is for the atmosphere. It's just so absorbing and perfectly captures that Old West vibe. It's stuck with me ever since I first played it.
I agree, especially with Mexico in play. More old west than rdr2 Imo. Sound track in rdr1 was better too, more spaghetti western and I loved it.
Yeah, which is the feeling I missed when playing Red Dead 2.
It’s funny how even though it takes place in the 1910s when the Wild West era was over, it still feels more western than it’s prequel set in the 1890s. Rdr2 just looks too green and civilized in most areas to have an authentic Wild West vibe.
@@EduardoSalamanca1960RDR2 makes you feel like you’re in the 1800’s, RDR1 makes you feel like you’re in a western
Indeed, I couldn't have explained it better. Story and atmosphere-wise, RDR1 is the best but the RDR2 mechanics make the game so much more enjoyable and oh boy was the hunting fun and crafting your clothing!@@alext399
1:15:56 You do head about the Marshall, Seth, and Irish if you read the newspaper.
I always liked how the writers subtly wrapped up their stories without being in your face.
John walked out those barn doors fully knowing he was gonna die. He just knew that even if he got away, so what? He'd still be wanted, they'd just come for him again and again and again, and next time it might be Jack that gets shot. He knowingly sacrificed his life for the sake of his family. The whole theme of the game is basically that you can't run from your past, just like Bill, Javier and Dutch all couldn't, and the more he tried the more they'd take from him. I think that's sort of the point, there isn't really such a thing as Redemption. No matter how much good John did for the Government they still saw him as just an outlaw, nothing more, not worth the respect to uphold their end of the deal. It's a beautiful scene.
John tried to avoid responsibility for his past crimes, payed the price, learned the lesson, and finally made responsible decision to save his family (the very same family he ran from at first), thus redeeming himself in his own eyes.
Good points, but allow me to retort by mentioning... tAhItI
And in the end, Edgar Ross had to face up to his past too.
I actually think the point is that there is only redemption for the soul, not the man
Karma for Mexico
The “eh, I don’t care much about these guys” is exactly how John feels, everyone he meets, helps or kills in this game is just a means to an end, I think they did a great job of making an indifferent hero
Yeah the critiques here feel so arbitrary like he just wanted this to be a different game than it was trying to be…
John is a very grey protagonist and that's his whole point, he was a Violent Outlaw in his past and it still shows in spades like when he kills the Villagers in Chuparosa and helps burn the rebel town yet he also does so many good acts, John has an equal capacity for good and evil and its up to you in the end to decide if John got his redemption.
@@robertwye9463 i mean, the "villagers" in Chuparosa were bandits trying to rob him.
@@undertakernumberone1 I think the only innocent people you're encouraged to kill in the story missions are the miners when stealing the gatling gun. They definitely have a right to defend their property and John shoots 'em dead.
@@undertakernumberone1 He still killed the last one despite the last one standing down.
With how fast and rapid technology and video games change and evolve, there aren't many that you can pick up after 5,10 years, and jump straight back in without an issue.
Sure RDR looks its age, but its one of the few that you can just pick up and completely enjoy so many years later
Truly love the red dead games and forever hopeful to see 1 get a remake
I would prefer more a remaster, so I not need to install 150G in my PC from a 100G game. And that what weight RDR2.
RDR 1 is a masterpiece, but a big part of why it feels easy to pick back up is because Rockstar has never really evolved it's gameplay past GTA 4 (god i hate A spamming to sprint...)
@@Spike2276 In my opinion, GTA 4 has the best story of all the GTA games, and the driving really not bother me to much, I played other games that put more weight in the cars and make the driving less cartoonish, if you make your cars drive into a cloud, when you would take a turn it seems that always take to far, and take the fun part of using your car as a weapon and using other cars to stop your momentum when you are taking turns.
Witcher 3? I'm totally new to gaming, having played only Hogwarts Legacy (for each house), then discovered Witcher 3...
I'm now on my new game + run to get to level 1oo, then I plan to somewhat clean my old pc to play Witcher 2 and maybe even 1, maybe Fable, maybe... don't know... there's so much out there... Thinking about Red Dead Redemption 2 since it came out, for the graphics..
Also, my PS5 bundle came with God of War Ragnarok, so ....
I feel like games with a very specific atmosphere/graphics maybe age better than others? Just a hunch really.
@@ChristmasLore RDR2 is by far the most competent open world narrative game ever made, if you play it, it may ruin other games as they simply won’t be of the same quality, W3 is fire though, lots of good games, but RDR2 will change your life if you let it take you.
RDR1 has mostly age well because of the performance capture of all the scenes and animations etc etc, it feels very life like because of that, the graphics are pretty good for the time too which helps but what makes RDR1 hold up is primarily the performance capture and excellent writing.
After playing rdr2, rdr horses are jarringly fast 🤣
And every time I play rdr2 I’m like damn I wish they sprinting like rdr, also the feature in rdr where if you call your horse while running your horse catches up to you during your sprint for you to hop on
The only ones that feel like RDR1 were the Arabians.
I know this is a year old thread but im replaying RDR and yeah these horses fucking zoom lol
They still look pretty good too
@@PresWorldWidI just started my rerun and I enjoy running people over without starting a fight😅
There's actually a good easter egg planted into Jack's story through the newspaper that you can buy and read as him. You find out that Landon Ricketts ends up dying in his sleep and that Irish ends up dying in a Theives' Landing outhouse to an accidental discharge of a gun. Really puts a bow on a couple of the side characters that John came across and really wipes the slate of the open world clean for Jack once and for all.
One thing that I always appreciated is that everything in this game is very intentional. Even if it doesn’t work or it falls flat, it is exactly how they wanted it to be. I fell like so many games try to be everything at once instead of picking something and sticking to it. I think it wasn’t an oversight that we don’t see many characters carry over from act to act, I think they wanted to convey the feeling that those people DID just walk into the sunset and were never heard from again. Because most people could really do that in the old west. But our protagonist could not. No matter how hard he tried. In fact, it felt almost like a foreshadowing of his downfall. All these people he interacted with could have the one thing he never could: a fading out of memory.
These are the only videos that go straight to the front of the queue, the GOAT for re-experiencing great games
RDR was probably one of the last gaming experiences I really got into. I never upgraded past the 360/PS3 gen and eventually my interest in gaming whittled down to watching retrospectives like this one on RUclips. Kinda sad really but channels like this one do their job well for where I'm at in life.
I get ya, I used to be super social on my console but now I'm more of a single player game type of person or if I play multiplayer I don't bother hooking my headphones in
Thats good that these videos do well but if you do ever want to get back into it Id recommend trying an Xbox Series S. Its tiny, light, and $300. You can play all your favorite 360/PS3 gen titles (including RDR1) at a higher resolution and stable frames along with any new ones that caught your eye like maybe RDR2.
Yeah I feel you, I'm doing co-op games like portal 2
Im the same way. I was never a huge gamer, but as a millennial I still grew up with LAN parties and did have a sizeable collection and many late nights gaming at the peak of the PS2 and 360 generation. I just dont really know what happened. I am still interested in video games. I like to watch content surrounding them and keep up with the industry. But I havent touched a controller in years. I kept meaning to buy a PS4, then a PS5. It just hasnt happened. I wish I could say life got in the way but I do technically have freetime to play, I just... Dont.
You should upgrade for RDR2 at the very least...it's as much of a masterpiece tbh
The ending, or rather, the true "ending" gameplay sequence and subsequent credits scene, have been burned into my mind ever since. It's one of my top gaming experiences within the span of 30 years.
I like how you didn’t sugarcoat moments in the game. If you didn’t like a part of the game or you thought it wasn’t as good as you remember you told us. I really appreciate that.
I love the irony of The Salt Factory being one of the most articulate, even-keeled and chill media review channels out there. Phenomenal as always.
He should change his name to The Fart Factory.
Him and Madseason both nail this niche
Efap has entered the chat
Hadn't thought about that, but yeah it is
@@SoyDrinker o-ho got em!! Good one dude!!1!1
I know RDR2 didnt come out like 10+ years ago, but i think a retrospective essay would be phenomenal. I truly hope you do it sometime in the future when you are ready. Plenty of people would love to watch it.
YES PLEASE!
Tbf i'd watch/listen to Salt talking about almost any game that he likes playing
the channel "Skill Up" has done an absolutely incredible video on Red Dead 2. I've watched it a dozen times it's that good.
Ok. It’s a pretty good game with a 20 hour movie force down your throat, the house building quick time events is what put me over the edge and I never touched it again. The core game is actually amazing but the story is weak and the game is made to waste your time as bad as any mobile game I’ve ever played 3/10.
@@ryano9520ok bud. 🙃
I don't usually find RockStar games have very funny jokes in them but John Marston has got some good lines, and we he tells the professor he's gonna give him and and follows with "I'm just kidding." It genuinely tickles me for some reason
i think it stands out bc it’s basically the only time in the entire game that john makes a legitimate joke. like yeah he makes plenty of dry, sarcastic remarks towards the characters he sees as acting foolish or hypocritically (nigel west dickens, irish, & reyes mostly), and while those *are* funny in their own right, pulling the professor’s leg just to mess with him a little is the only time he does something so lighthearted & playful
That one made me chuckle too
The embittered back and forth between John and Agent Ross is also funny as hell imo
Red Dead Rehabilitation. Jack goes to therapy.
lmao
Not really a justification for their on-screen absence, I know, but an interesting bit on the various side characters who just kinda disappear is that you can read about what happened to them after the last time John sees them in the in-game newspapers, kind of ironic given that John can't read. Seth went back to grave robbing and actually managed to hit it big, Irish accidently killed himself in an outhouse, and the best one, Landon, died peacefully in his sleep during the time skip of John to Jack. Plenty of others too, these are just the ones I remember off the top of my head.
John actually can read, you can see it several times in 2, Dutch thought that to him and to arthur too
@@gabrieleamore5527 Oh right, it's Abigail who can't read. Think I got it mixed up from that scene where Jack is helping her learn. Or am I just making things up? I dunno, been far too long since my last playthrough.
@@gabrieleamore5527 i think my fave detail in rdr2 is that John's diary has lines he made to keep his writing straight. arthur doesn't have to do that tho. i always thought that was a cute detail for john lol.
@@linashell2696 never thought about that, you're RIGHT. Also, very evident, they're drawing are different. John is more a goofy type of person, and that is portraied in every aspect
@@linashell2696 Also how Arthur's drawings were nice and well made, while John's were very crude and it's obvious he's doing to try to emulate Arthur
Always a good day when salt uploads
Agreed
Totally agree
It really is.
So weird because I literally just started another playthrough of red dead 1.
The best of days
rdr3 taking place in the 20's with a broken jack marston returning from ww1 has a lot of potential for the kind of writing rockstar seems to do really well. I could imagine the opening cutscene of a lively dock filled with soldiers being welcomed home put in stark contrast to a grey sad post war industrialized city.
Plot twist: Jack is Cole's father... don't think that'd work, but could be fun.
wouldn't even be a western game at that point, it would be a mafia game
@@BlueBirdsProductions I've never really considered RDR1&2 as full westerns tbh.
The era is already long dead in RDR1 and RDR2 is only a few years behind and isn't even physically set in the west for most of its run time.
I feel like they're more "post" westerns or something like that, and I think the series ending in the late 1910s early 1920s could be fitting if handled correctly.
Though I woudnt hate concluding jacks story I feel 1920s is too late for the rdr series.. Even though the west is basicly dead in the first game it's such a big part of the rdr identity.. I'd rather Rockstar pull the trigger on the shared universe they have been teasing for 15 years anyways and just have jack get his own game series set in 1920s outside rdr.. I feel the natural rdr3 would be playing as dutch or hosea I'm their younger days picking up John and Arthur
@@BlueBirdsProductions that clash of old world bandits and mafia would be awesome
yes please do Undead Nightmare. It completes Redemption in a way. Like it shows that this world can and these characters can fit into other genres, instead of a typical Western game. and plus cowboys vs zombies, what's not to love!
23:14 that's a reference I did not expect to pop up haha. I loved your enthusiasm when referencing the school survival guide, great show.
I love these videos cause I can squash a nostalgic desire to replay a game like this in like 1:22:29 instead of the approximately 20-30 hours it would take me to play through it.
While I don't really have much to say as the video was pretty good, the point that John's history with the other gang members isn't explored always felt very intentional to me. The specific reason as to why that decision was made one can only speculate, I do however quickly want to say that I didn't believe it was done in service of a prequel/second game.
(Quick little addition) John's past in RDR1 sort of to an extent is treated a bit like the whole Blackwater situation in the second game, this is more of a casual observation, but it felt worthy of mention.
It was either made with a prequel in mind or to keep the mystery of the past a little vague.
In a way, it really works with the theme of the dying old west.
Love that you're tackling this one!!! One of my all-time favorite channels covering one of my all-time favorite games!!!
I replayed this about 3 weeks ago
Damn near shed a tear in the very first mission
Cried like a baby later
Nice pfp
@anarchyburger2655 Just seeing John like that after playing the second one.
"No more Dutch, and no more you!"
Short answer: yes
Long Answer: its a fucking masterpiece
32:33 made me churtle up some. Great video, love the in depth analysis of these games
I played rdr last year (after rdr2) The only complaints I ever had were the mechanics. The story of the redemption games are the most memorable parts about them
And then you had to take a poo and grabbed the wrong book
@@jonbourgoin182 lmao
Some mechanics are rough though it's still miles better than Rdr2 in the gameplay aspect
@@Pedro_Le_ChefRed Dead Redemption 2 is almost the exact same gameplay wise, how Rdr1 is better?
@@Braint-lr6uf RDR1 has better aiming controls and a better health system.
the "no western games" hit me hard.
when I was young I saw tons of westerns with my dad. playing games like that would be soo cool.
we really enjoyed playing the online part of red dead 2 together. shame how rockstar abandoned that too.
Red dead revolver. Gun. Just a couple.
Outlaws.
This game has aged great, replayed it a few months ago and I think it’s better than 2 in a lot of ways, definitely a much more focused story. John Marston also is just one of the best protagonists of all time imo.
RDR2 is the WAYYYY better GAME. As a realistic cowboy-simulator of course, which isn't everyones thing.
People like you seem to just wanna watch and be entertained instead of actually, intrinsically play an immersive videogame.
@Tyden Durler I've never understood the "immersion" argument for games. I get that people want to feel like they're in the world but when all is said and done it's still just a video game. I've never been immersed in a video game to the degree that others seem to get and I've been playing games of all kinds for 22 years now. If immersion is the best thing a game has to offer then its not a good game.
@@stevengull6703 Immersion is King.
Like you say, you don't understand.
A game cant just have immersion imo. You have to have so many qualities to achieve it, probably already a good game by that point
@@tydendurler9574 good gameplay is king and good story writing is queen. Graphics are the prince and dialog is the princess. Immersion is the court jester there to lighten the place up and mildly entertain you.
I think you are putting the script on a pedestal. You are correct in your analysis and criticism, but the world and immersion were the two things that made me love RDR1. That game was beautiful and breathtaking. I put in 30 hours enjoying the world after I "beat the game" and I didn't even know John died before my friend told me those ranching quests lead somewhere. The script in addition to that put it head-and-shoulders above any other RPG that was available.
I always like your videos, so thanks for diving deep again!
I like how most of the comments are either pointing out inaccuracies within this video or asking him to do rdr undead nightmare
You should definitely cover undead nightmare, expansions like that are rare nowadays.
I remember playing Red Dead Redemption and putting on the 'bandana' almost at the beginning of the game. After finishing the game, I realized that I still had the 'bandana' on. I guess I went with the 3rd option for a playthrough: Zorro
That little Godspeed sample you threw in for the cougar was fucking incredible
Is that monologue becoming a meme now? My wife and friends always quote it like it is: "I open my wallet, and it's full of blood."
I'm just saying man you are great for binge-watching especially when I'm working having your voice in the background is just soothing
I feel like you’ve strangely misunderstood a few elements of this game. While John is the protagonist, he, like many other Rockstar leading men, represents more of a window into the period of time and place he is living in for the player to experience. The Mexico section is to put on display the never ending cycle of class warfare and tyranny that exists in so many 3rd world countries and how a useful idiot like Marston can just wander around and be strangely aloof to the suffering around him. As for Uncle, his inclusion is a reference to the comic relief character that appeared in so many westerns of old, normally an older, bumbling, sometimes mentally disabled character.
As I understood the ending, John definitely knows, that he won't be able to win this shootout. But he also understands, that this sacrificing himself is the only chance he has, to keep his family save.
And then Jack throws it all away, because he goes for the revenge and kills an old man anyhow. RDR 3 should definitely be about Jack being hunted for that stupid decision and things unrevealing from there.
I agree… I think it’s the same in the shootout in the beginning of the game when he gets shot by bill and that he resigned himself to death because of how bad his odds were at actually accomplishing his task.
"Jack throws it all away! RDR 3 shoudl show him being hunted down!"
God bloody damn it, NO!
1) RDR 3, for me, should NOT take place post RDR1. I want a Red Dead taking place between 1865 and 1885. During a bit more of a "good days of hte West" instead of "Fall of hte West"...
2) Jack being hunted? Why? Edgar Ross died in Mexico. And, depending on the situation, his corpse might even have fallen into the river... A Mexico that still is anything but safe. Three people saw him. Three people who might not even properly recall him. As far as anyone is concerned, Ross might've been killed by a bunch of bandits and the you lad got kidnapped and killed by the same group!
This is in 1914. Not 2014. There aren't phones and cameras and the internet everywhere...
@@undertakernumberone1 Let's be honest: Jack is not really subtle about it. He asks Rosses wife and his former co worker about his whereabouts. Afterwards, he doesn't return home from his fishing trip. Not hard to connect the dots.
His wife just goes to their son, who in this scenario is in a quite powerful position within the Pinkertons or in politics. Just due to a little nepotism, after Ross took down the greatest gang of the West.
And it doesn't really matter, if it really gets proven, that Jack killed Ross, unless someone in a powerful position believes this to be the case.
I still feel so sad about the feeling you have after finishing rdr1, it just stops, and youre still so curious about jack, but all you can find in the open world is emptyness. This feelling is so distinct and touchable yet so impossible to discribe. It really captures the losing of john, and how its just over now cause hes dead.
Would love to hear your thoughts on the "I Know You" quest line.
You have no idea how much your videos mean to me, what they are and have gotten/ getting me through
I hope things get better for you. Whenever you're feeling like you're the only person on the planet, know that you are heard and things will get better.
You're doing good. One day at a time. Make sure to take small moments to reward yourself for reaching goals or just getting through a long day. Take the rest that you need and actively think about what relaxation is to you and actually do it.
You're doing good. One day at a time. Make sure to take small moments to reward yourself for reaching goals or just getting through a long day. Take the rest that you need and actively think about what relaxation is to you and actually do it.
1:11:34 He knew as long as he was alive they would never leave his family alone.
The sky in rdr is even more beautiful than in rdr2.
Look at that, it's impressive, it looks like real clouds passing in front of a real sun, I wonder how they done that 😮
Yes. Yes we definitely want Red Dead Undead Nightmare.
Honestly when this game came out it was the most epic game out there, so ahead of it time... I think we all remember the shoot out at the end and our main character dying, then we play as his kid. That was such a shock to me at the end but they made it work.. Brilliant!
Never disagreed with you so much - I would admit, though, that the game is not for everybody's taste. For me, it's an exquisite buffet of top-quality, immersive writing structured like an old epic. It's overshadowed by its sequel, but that makes me appreciate the rock-solid foundation it set all the more.
if they make a red dead 3 I want it to follow Jack as he navigates the new frontier of urban America as prohibition is made the law of the land as he returns home from the Great War.
I would imagine an RDR3 with Jack being like Killers of the Flower Moon visually speaking, which would be fantastic
can confirm as a texan, that this is what we do every day.
And touch men
@@Brandon-ew9vz you touch men
As a Sasquatch, we eat babies. Can’t blame us, we have to to survive.
I've never been more excited for a video, hope he does ole Black lungs journey also
I really like the "post-era" setting Red Dead goes for, all the glories and myths of the past are gone and the future isn't looking pretty for whoever is in between.
Sorry, I almost never comment on videos, but I actually love the work you do. Thank you, for putting so much into it.
Im so glad i played rhe first game as much as i did. I cant even counr how many times ive beaten it but it to be well over 30 times at this point. I know every little smart ass remark john makes, i know evwry memorable quote and i remember every detail of back story exposition john and the other characters give and this is awesome because Red dead 2 is jam packed with references to these quotes. Even the smallest details in dialogue in rhe first game often gets referenced in the rhe second and i was able to notice and pick up on each and every one and i feel so lucky for that.
A good example is when john confronts javier he says "its me or You, the way i see it, it might as well be you" this is a call back to what dutch says in RDR2 after killing brante. He says "it was us or him, the way i see it, it might as well be him".
The fact that rhey thought to do call backs to such insignificant details such as that is just insane.
I've always felt that the ranch stuff is genius. It shows the player what a cowboy actually did and establishes that while John CAN be a cowboy, hes not one. John's a gunslinger. He's Clint Eastwood, not John Wayne.
23:00 or so: technical limitations aside, imagine how much cooler it would have been if dude started shooting the Gatling gun *through the cart* without opening it first.
Walls just _really actually don't_ stop bullets.
You think lumber grows on trees or something?
@@sven_bender this guy, am i right
Loved the Godspeed You! Black Emperor reference when you got jumped by that courier. "The Dead Kitty Blues."
Haven't even watched it but yes this game is just as good as I remember. It was the first game I ever 100% that wasn't some 20$ game. The Undead Nightmare DLC ranks as one of the best ive ever played up there with Shivering Isles from Oblivion, and Blood & Wine from Witcher 3.
Opinions are subjective, but your's is objectively correct on every count sir
I think John left the barn because he knew he was a dead man. They would never stop chasing. So he decided to go out fighting
Landon Ricketts was reported dead by the time we start playing as Jack
I get excited for the salt uploads on games I have never heard of, much less played. I am ecstatic to watch a full length video on a game that meant so much to me as a kid. My dad rented RDR from a redbox probably about 2013-2014, and he loved it so much that he let 13 year old me play it, and I loved it so much, I spent my my birthday money to have him buy it for me. I have played through this game close to 10 times, which made RDR2 even sweeter when that came out.
17:45 very glad to see this point made. Always bugged me because I was left wondering at times if I missed important dialogue for traveling at a speed the game wanted me to go
Same.
I recall from someone else’s review, that the reason for there being no new western games after RD1 is because it was so good that they knew it would be immediately compared to it and that it was impossible to compete with to the point the only one who could make another western frontier game was rockstar themselves
that didn't stop people from throwing their hat into the open world crime game spill after Rockstar revoltionized it
@@channel45853 open world isn’t a genre and also wasn’t Skyrim the main starting point for all games having open world.
@@thatoneguy8146... your trolling right? gta 3?
@@smokagaming gta 3 what??? Mate if it wasn’t Skyrim it was GTA 5
@@thatoneguy8146 .. how long do you think open world games have been popular?
Love love LOVE your uploads! Thank you very much
I have binge watched a lot of your videos recently. Around the time of Diablo 4 season 1 start. Man, thank you, thank you so much. You have kept me awake while playing and I just wanted to say thanks! You do a great job and I cannot wait to see more.
I liked this game more than RDR 2 to be honest
Okay. Okay.. Stop that.
@TTVBunnyDougie's valid opinion, it's more fast paced and has features and things that Rdr2 doesn't. That doesn't mean that Rdr2 is a bad game just saying
Haven't watched yet, but yes. It is as good as you remember.
Whether you agree or not.
Correct. I remember a 8/10 playable movie vividly.
I legit just said "I haven't seen a new salt factory in a while"
Always get excited for a new video. Great stuff brother
The best part of rdr2 is when Ross says "Enjoy your fishing, kid." To child Jack when you know Jack kills Ross much later in life while Ross is fishing lol
I believe John’s ending is supposed to be a sacrifice. This is not a stand in which he believes he’ll make it out. He knows if he lives or runs with Jack and Abigail, the government men will just keep coming after him and his family will still be in danger. So, he takes it as a chance to let Abigail and Jack put some distance between them and goes out in a blaze of glory. It’s what makes both John and Arthur’s deaths so tragic. Because all of it, their redemption, giving up their lives so Jack could have a better life than they did -a ‘normal’ life, it all was for naught, Jack is doomed to the same fate in the circle of violence and goes after Ross. “Vengeance is a fool’s game.”
On a completely different note, the fact that Nigel West Dickens and Mr. Sweeney were played by the same actor blew my mind.
I was and still am mostly a PC gamer, but i can remember that i always wanted a console back in the days only for Red Dead Redemption. Well i finally got one from a friend of mine and the first thing i did was buying RDR. It was definitely worth the wait and i still consider it to be one of the best games ever made. Even better than RDR2 in my opinion. It is really sad tho, that Rockstar hasn't yet released a PC port for RDR.
Thanks!
I think RDR is superior to RDR 2 specifically because of the hunting and fast travel, both of which were nerfed in RDR2.
@chandllerburse737well hunting perfect pelts for the upgrades is really annoying
The first time i played through this, i didn't see the ending coming. Reloaded a save 3 times before figuring out that i couldn't get around it.
I was upset. I also didn't like Jack. I didn't play the rest of the missions, so i didn't see the retribution mission.
This ending stands out to me as the first time I really saw that video games can tell engaging stories. Stories that you don't get to determine the ending to. Stories that don't end the way you'd like. Stories that have something to say.
It's made me a lot more open minded and thoughtful about games that don't play out the way we'd expect or prefer them to.
the rest of the missions is literally one mission then you watch the credits
@@yourehereforthatarentyou Incorrect usage of "literally" x
@@patty8254 no the fuck it isn’t. remember my family is one mission
Please follow this video up with the undead nightmare spin off. Would love your take on that as I am currently playing through it.
To say that you don't find out what happens to any of the characters from the first two acts shows that you didn't read the newspapers.
I was so Hyped for RDR1 as a kid whos born and raised in rhe Southwest. I tried getting in to RDR2, but it lacked something and i couldnt put a finger on it. RDR1 has some of the best moments of my gaming history.
Rd2 has a better story. RDR 1 has a lot of problems especially with hoe they handled bill and javier and the mexico part was weak. Still a good game
Please cover Undead Nightmare in a separate video. It's a completely different experience, but one definitely worth talking about.
I think a lot of people put the game down (like myself almost) during the cattle ranch part after he gets shot. It’s just so slowwww. Crazy how it turned out to be one of the best games I’ve ever played
I enjoyed this game years ago, but never got too far into it. However I have NOT been able to get into RdR2, despite multiple times. I do think part of it is the story setup of the 2nd game.
Srcew the story and immerse yourself in cowboy life, no videogame comes close to that.
@@tydendurler9574 Nothing better than entering the saloon, getting slightly drunk and then playing blackjack and poker.
@@tydendurler9574 wtf do you even do in this game, the story is the only good thing about it :'D Shitty controls, shitty side activities, shitty side missions, repetitive random world events, riding a horse across a map with no objective? Tf is the actual point in playing RDR2 if you don't like the fucking story :'D
@@tydendurler9574 People seem to forget that a game still has to resemble.. a game, not LARPing.
@@unocualqu1era then playing red dead
Superfluous! Gosh man, you always fail to disappoint! Thank you once again!
"It's da whiskey sir, gives me the memory of a new born babe."
*John takes and swigs the whiskey*
"And it makes me violently angry. "
I freaking love that exchange, John is so witty.
One of my biggest disappointments about RDR2. They didn't seem to understand/capture John's character.
@@originata3748 Not at all. I feel they retconned a few characters. Bill wasn't smart in RDR1, but in RDR2 he can barely talk.
Javier goes from badass assassin to Speedy Gonzales.
It's all weird
feel like you are hyper critical about some clunky mechanics for a game that is as old as Rdr1 is and has as large of a open world and as much of a variety of activates there are to do. Seems like you were complaining about things that even modern games like cyberpunk or starfield lack very heavily in when they had a lot more to work with. also a lot of skill issues that you seem to think makes the game worse.
Him not realising John walked out to save his family is hilarious to me. How dense can you be???
I used to be obsessed with playing red dead redemption online. So fun with a bunch of friends. I remember us boxing bears in the bear claw lake or whatever in the tall trees area. Online competitive was also amazing, one of the few games I've ever been godlike at in multiplayer.
44:35
I disagree, I aboustlely love the idea of this American bounty hunter getting dragged into a Mexican civil war he has no chips in getting into shit way over his head. He goes with it because John has no lead and he's obviously not going to get anywhere during the chaos of a civil war, it would be extremely unrealistic to assume John can just ignore a civil war and continue looking for his gang members when said civil war is embroiled in everyone's lives, why would some peasant / soldier help some American when they're dealing with an actual war going on in their country. Especially with Johns gang members being protected by the corrupt government, John had to help the rebels.
I think its more so SaltFactory had to sort of speedrun the game to get this review out there and he couldn't digest all the stuff that was happening around him.
1:11:35 uhhh no? Lol. Definitely not hubris. John sacrificed himself so Abigail and Jack wouldn't be hunted by the government. With him dead they have no one to go after anymore, as he's the last living member of the Van Der Linde gang at that point.
He redeems himself for his past crimes and ensures his family will remain safe. Hence the title of the game
Jack killing Ross later on is a very on the nose observation of violence breeding violence. He even looks at his gun with uncertainty as the act of murder (even if justified) is something his family wanted him to stay away from.
I think your being a lil harsh... u gotta remember when this game came out. For its time it was top notch, compared to games now tho... of course it's lacking. I mean, it did come out 2 console generations ago... I believe the game done all that the consoles at the time could handle. Isn't like it was released on ps5 or something, didn't it come out on Xbox 1 and ps3? So yea... u shouldnt even expected to really compare with games now.
Games now suck tho they no substance only good graphics most times
Quick answer: Yes. Yes, it is.
I would argue the central focus, narrative wise, was plotting a story that speaks thematically. The characters are like tools. The player is just seeing the dynamic of change; feeling the west, as if it were its own character because of the setting, the music and lore; and riding along for it, Jhon's grey compass, giving his focus in saving his family, complements this as he has to do work for both sides, example in Mexico, which was about the social climate and views there rather that something of interest for Jhon.
The second game is certainly character driven; fills up the questions, which were raised incidentally about John's gang and life; and expands in the redemption aspect. The last thing making the second game a compelling and emotional story, something only possible because of Arthur as he shows the struggle of making personal change, by having people like the gang members, the harsh outlaws willing to fight with their worse version of themselves against a world that's unforgivingly changing for them. (Thing that John mentioned, as he put that taking too many options forces people) For me personally, that was rich enough to make a perfect prequel.
Nevertheless, it's simplicity I fancy too little, as I enjoy the dive of the subtle storytelling of the first game, having a focus in other aspects to hammer the point in a challenging way, as the player must wonder, and interpret this big questions, and sensation.
You use too many commas
The lack of any triple A western titles after Red Dead actually makes perfect sense. Any that released would be inevitably compared to Rockstar’s magnum opus. And likely would never be able to stack up. While triple A titles have ballooned in cost and dev support, at the time Red Dead was an insanely expensive game with an unfathomable amount of devs working on it. No one could ever compete. Similar to how we’ve basically had only a couple open world crime games in the 20 years since GTA blew up with GTA 3. No one can compete with Rockstar so they simply don’t.
Notice how Edgar Ross had a black hat all game long except for the ending when Jack confronts him. It makes it clear that Jack has become an outlaw and a villain himself something that John would not have wanted for his son. It is a tragic ending that does not need a sequel.
The game might not hold up perfectly anymore, but it still holds up pretty well I think. Also, I always found it quite interesting how it's almost better played AFTER you've played RDR2. Some good prequel writing there.
I do hope you'll cover Undead Nightmare and RDR2 sometime in the future as well. 👍
I would love to see the dlc covered