Red Dead Redemption - Never coming to PC

[SaintM]

I had a pre-order with Amazon, then cancelled it for shopto.

Doh!

[Dimahoo]

I can't believe it looks so good on a TV. Curse my missus for making me put the TV downstairs.

AND WHAT SITS UNDER THAT?

A PS3.

YEAH TA WIFE. NOW BUY SOME CHAIRS!

[Majora]

Were Shopto talking a load of shit then? I remember GTA4 was definitely embargoed for everyone by Rockstar but I think they're just using that as an excuse this time because of what happened with GTA.

[moosegrinder]

I'm humping the 360 back downstairs for this. I've been playing it on the monitor in the pc room to keep the woman company while she plays WoW but hang that, I'm commandeering the Plasma and the surround sound.

[Meers]

My copy has been sent off as well (dimensionplus.nl) and should be here around high noon tomorrow (friday).

[wullie]

It looks pretty, but to be honest Mad Dog McCree still edges it.

[Meers]

It looks pretty, but to be honest Mad Dog McCree still edges it.

[yt]HYIimVnmP60[/yt]

I don't think so, Tim! Looks a bit low-res to me.

[Dimahoo]

Better physics though!

Boom boom!

[Chadruharazzeb]

I loved Outlaws. So underrated.

[wullie]

They've got the mouth movement dead-on for the cut-scenes, and you can almost see the individual strands of hair. Them guys should make the next GTA.

[moosegrinder]

I loved Outlaws. So underrated.

Is that the cel-shaded FPS? I can't find it anywhere, is it abandonware?

[Lorfarius]

Fuck. Me.

Just waiting for the postie. Then my extras are going on ebay. That's fucking unbelievable.

Maybe if you live in the US. Not much cop on the UK side of things:

Link

£3 a pop?

[p1nseeker]

My Tesco order is still "awaiting despatch"

[moosegrinder]

Aye, and mine. Ah well, I can't play it till sunday anyroad.

[Chadruharazzeb]

Is that the cel-shaded FPS? I can't find it anywhere, is it abandonware?

It was sprite based (based on Dark Forces engine) but it was pretty cartoony. Lovely animated cutscenes.

[christaylor]

Is that the cel-shaded FPS? I can't find it anywhere, is it abandonware?

I don't recall it being cel-shaded, though the cut-scenes looked that way, iirc.

Beaten to it. Aah.

In other news, I picked up a copy of Shotlist (free mag given out at train stations etc) because the whole cover was dedicated to RDR. Opened it up and it was just a bloody advert, not a single mention of it inside! Booo.

[Smitty]

Shame about this, but entirely expected ofc.

My protagonist can be an angel of justice in a lawless land, or a man-shaped block of crystallized evil, but when I ride into one of those big letters on the minimap that advance the plot, well, anything I've done before has approximately fuck-all to do with what's about to happen. The protagonist is always John Marston, mysterious man with a past trying to make right and redeem himself. This will be true regardless of the fact that just a few minutes ago I shot a girl in the leg, hogtied her, and left her on a railroad track. In fact, his charming conversations with sweet, unsuspecting Miss Bonnie come off as a little bit Dahmer-ish in that context.

I realize that's how cut-scenes almost always go in games, with the exception of those Mass Effects and Fallouts and whatnot that have been spoiling me lately. Still, when people are talking and stuff is happening, I personally want a say, whether through dialogue options or just the game evaluating my earlier behavior. That's especially true in a game that offers such absolute freedom everywhere else. I don't think the issue is so much that the familiar GTA mission structure feels old, as in every other way Red Dead has gotten so close to what I expect from Western-style RPGs (er, hemisphere western, not cowboy Western).

I'm sincerely and pleasantly surprised that I can shoot my own horse in the back of the head while I'm riding him, and even skin him afterward. Or that I can blow away the piano player in the saloon if I don't like what he's playing. But I can't change the course of a conversation, and I can't ask that piano player to play a different tune.

[BossSaru]

My Tesco order is still "awaiting despatch"

My Tesco order has now been dispatched, as of 30 minutes ago.

I queried the dispatch with Tesco a few days ago, as their site was still showing a 4-6 week delivery date from the date of ordering. This was the response:

Dear MrMonkey,

Thank you for your e-mail. I apologise for the confusion caused by the dispatch dates.

The 4-6 weeks time scale on the system for pre-order items is down to the system recognising the game as not being in stock. However, pre-orders are normally dispatched a couple of days before the release date, to get them to you on the day of release. I can see from your order, that it is currently showing as 'Ready to Dispatch' and would expect that to either have been sent tonight or tomorrow. Sometimes, they can arrive before the release date however the vast majority of them are delivered on the day. There can be occasions where there may be delays with the post that can have knock on effect, however this is on rare occasions.

I hope this helps.

Yours sincerely,

Kris Gibson

Customer Service Manager

Tesco Entertainment

Worry not, I'm sure it'll be in the post quick sharp.

[NecroMorrius]

Shame about this, but entirely expected ofc.

It doesn't work either way, if you're playing him as a do-gooder, why is he so willing to do bad things to help bad people? It's the Nico Bellic conundrum. However, in GTA4 I thought of it like this: You don't HAVE to go on insane killing rampages between missions. That's you, not Nico. The missions depict a man trying to escape violence getting dragged back in over and over. To this end I drove like a normal citizen between my GTA4 missions, didn't go on rampages etc. I'm hoping that RDR lets you roleplay something which half makes sense like this.

I think Rockstar URGENTLY need to work out a branching storyline system, or at least reflect your actions in cutscenes. It's the problem with having an open-world game with a tight storyline. Every action should registry on some morality scale (invisible to the player, preferably) which means you can't go knee-capping grannies and then walk into a cutscene where you're some earnest dude willing to fight the good fight. If you're going to do that stuff, your character needs to be more of a prick. It'd certainly be more work (recording multiple versions of every cutscene) but Bioware have done it, and in turn raised our expectations. Maybe they're really dead-set on telling a particular story, but there's no reason why they can't grow beyond their increasingly jarring methods of storytelling/gameplay.

[Smitty]

It doesn't work either way, if you're playing him as a do-gooder, why is he so willing to do bad things to help bad people? It's the Nico Bellic conundrum. However, in GTA4 I thought of it like this: You don't HAVE to go on insane killing rampages between missions. That's you, not Nico. The missions depict a man trying to escape violence getting dragged back in over and over. To this end I drove like a normal citizen between my GTA4 missions, didn't go on rampages etc. I'm hoping that RDR lets you roleplay something which half makes sense like this.

I think Rockstar URGENTLY need to work out a branching storyline system, or at least reflect your actions in cutscenes. It's the problem with having an open-world game with a tight storyline.

Quite. It's disappointing that despite the usual visual advances, Rockstar couldn't find some time to offer a least a smidgen of dialogue options, story branching or something like that. Not many boundaries being pushed in RDR, it seems.

Still, i'm sure i'll love it regardless, it looks and sounds great. Roll on friday.

[Mr. Gerbik]

I'm hoping that RDR lets you roleplay something which half makes sense like this.

It definitely does. RDR is not an rpg, but in this regard it feels so much like one, that I can understand why reviewers (and Smitty) can't help but compare it to the likes of Oblivion and Fallout 3. The gameworld is not only beautiful and completely convincing, the game is perfectly geared towards letting you roleplay in terms of exploration and all the things you can do to make a living.

[NecroMorrius]

Quite. It's disappointing that despite the usual visual advances, Rockstar couldn't find some time to offer a least a smidgen of dialogue options, story branching or something like that. Not many boundaries being pushed in RDR, it seems.

Still, i'm sure i'll love it regardless, it looks and sounds great. Roll on friday.

I edited my post a little bit since you quoted - nothing major. We seem to be in complete agreement.

[NecroMorrius]

It definitely does. RDR is not an rpg, but in this regard it feels so much like one, that I can understand why reviewers (and Smitty) can't help but compare it to the likes of Oblivion and Fallout 3. The gameworld is not only beautiful and completely convincing, the game is perfectly geared towards letting you roleplay in terms of exploration and all the things you can do to make a living.

Good to hear. For me, roleplay is about being a convincing character in a convincing world, not mucking about with stats and inventory items, though I enjoy those things! I really think GTA5 (rumoured for E3) would be incredible if they 'RPGed' it a bit, not in the San Andreas 'eat a burger' sense but in allowing the player to direct the main character within the story, not just within the gameworld.

[Mr Do 71]

ShopTo.Net - Your Order has been shipped

[Talk Show Host]

It doesn't work either way, if you're playing him as a do-gooder, why is he so willing to do bad things to help bad people? It's the Nico Bellic conundrum. However, in GTA4 I thought of it like this: You don't HAVE to go on insane killing rampages between missions. That's you, not Nico. The missions depict a man trying to escape violence getting dragged back in over and over. To this end I drove like a normal citizen between my GTA4 missions, didn't go on rampages etc. I'm hoping that RDR lets you roleplay something which half makes sense like this.

I think Rockstar URGENTLY need to work out a branching storyline system, or at least reflect your actions in cutscenes. It's the problem with having an open-world game with a tight storyline. Maybe they're really dead-set on telling a particular story, but there's no reason why they can't grow beyond their increasingly jarring methods of storytelling/gameplay.

I don't think this can be applied to an open world. How can the game change an NPC's tone or an entire cutscene just because someone killed a girl in the desert? Besides, it's in the desert, no one can see you. How could an NPC know you are a murderous bastard?

For a player's freeroaming endeavours to have an effect in a linear and predetermined story we need technology and resources of a next level. RPGs like Mass Effect or Fallout have non-linear stories in order to do that. But still, everything is about the main plot, every little non-linear thing has to be about the plot in order to play its non linear part.

In Fallout 3 I killed some scavengers and tradesmen because I wanted the provisions. When I went to the next NPC to get or deliver my quest, noone mentioned anything.

At least RDR has the fame and honor (or something) system to make you feel your actions have a lasting effect.

But to have those random actions shape a linear story on the fly? It's simply impossible today.

edit: I agree though that the next step should at least be a non-linear storyline with dialogue options. ME showed the way.

[tronied]

ShopTo.Net - Your Order has been shipped

They have taken my money, but haven't shipped mine yet

[Capwn]

Argh, Ultragamer sent this off yesterday morning 1st class post but royal mail has been and it didn't come

[stevosowl]

Argh, Ultragamer sent this off yesterday morning 1st class post but royal mail has been and it didn't come

hahah royal mail

its probably been stolen

[Meers]

I don't think this can be applied to an open world. How can the game change an NPC's tone or an entire cutscene just because someone killed a girl in the desert? Besides, it's in the desert, no one can see you. How could an NPC know you are a murderous bastard?

Exactly what I was thinking. If there's no-one around to spread the word on you being good/evil, then there's no change in your in-world reputation.

[NecroMorrius]

I don't think this can be applied to an open world. How can the game change an NPC's tone or an entire cutscene just because someone killed a girl in the desert? Besides, it's in the desert, no one can see you. How could an NPC know you are a murderous bastard?

For a player's freeroaming endeavours to have an effect in a linear and predetermined story we need technology and resources of a next level. RPGs like Mass Effect or Fallout have non-linear stories in order to do that. But still, everything is about the main plot, every little non-linear thing has to be about the plot in order to play its non linear part.

In Fallout 3 I killed some scavengers and tradesmen because I wanted the provisions. When I went to the next NPC to get or deliver my quest, noone mentioned anything.

At least RDR has the fame and honor (or something) system to make you feel your actions have a lasting effect.

But to have those random actions shape a linear story on the fly? It's simply impossible today.

edit: I agree though that the next step should at least be a non-linear storyline with dialogue options. ME showed the way.

Yeah, you're right in that respect, there's nothing to stop you murdering people for no reason in the desert which then jars with the story cutscenes. I don't have a good answer for that one, except to say that I'm not talking about how NPCs react to you, I'm talking about how your character acts. If they don't want to go with straight dialogue choices for the player, they should make your character more of a dick the higher up the dick meter he goes (by killing innocent people etc) or vice versa. I.e. you have no control over your character within the cutscenes, but a character who does a lot of bad things acts like an uncaring asshole, whereas someone who abstains from bad things, only kills bad people and helps kittens out of trees etc is more open and selfless within the cutscene conversations.

This way they could tell a controlled story without it jarring too much. Your character, if an uncaring dick, could grumblingly agree to do something 'for the money' whilst a good character could offer to help out of pity. That way the story hits the same points before branching towards the end, depending on certain decisions you made (as with the GTA4 assassinations). You'd be sculpting your characters personality through your gameplay, and not simply picking dialogue choices from a list.

There you go Rockstar, I just solved your problem. Money please.