Now what? No clues, cues, or blues

[wmgibsonfan]

OK, here we are in Clearwater Overlook, wandering around the camp looking at everything, and there is not a single clue as to what Arthur is supposed to do next. I've tried to talk to everyone, and no one has said anything significant. I tried to mount my horse to go off exploring, but I can't do that, either.

I know that many players don't like "hand-holding", but this is ridiculous. Am I supposed to use modding tools to make my own Next Step?

[Jaunitta 🌸]

Dont you mean Chapter 2: Horseshoe Overlook
There is lots of guides online. Here's one
https://www.gamerguides.com/red-dead-redemption-2/guide/walkthrough/chapter-1/eastward-bound

[wmgibsonfan]

Jaunitta 🌸 lähetti viestin:

Dont you mean Chapter 2: Horseshoe Overlook
There is lots of guides online. Here's one
https://www.gamerguides.com/red-dead-redemption-2/guide/walkthrough/chapter-1/eastward-bound

Yes, I meant Horseshoe Overlook. I know about online guides and videos. I’m trying to get a handle on how the game itself indicates to the player what, where, or with whom Arthur is supposed to go or do. Using external aids ruins immersion and becomes annoying if you have to do it too often. (Some even consider it cheating!) I opened up the Story Progression and Arthur’s journal to review the story so far, but didn’t see anything helpful. The minimap (I think it’s called Radar in RDR2) has symbols all over it, and I tramped all over to find the corresponding people or places.

Thanks for replying, but I want to learn how the game works. I’ve found that the Steam discussions are a great resource, and that others who have played the game often provide more complete answers than guides and/or useful additional info.

[JuiceWSA]

Open the Map:
Story Missions are Yellow - Stranger, or Random Encounter Missions are White.
Story Missions advance the Story and sometimes bypass Stranger Missions so they can't be done.

The General Advice is to do a few Story Missions, but not too many:

Go Hunting with Hosea - this does 2 things:
1) Opens Stables, you get to buy a horse (Don't keep the Black Elephant - The Little Morgan will be fine for now), but most importantly you acquire a Horse Brush which will make ANY Horse very Happy and Clean.

2) Unlocks Legendary Animal Hunting.

You will come to despise Micah (if you're like most) - so let him ROT in Jail for as long as possible.

It could be advantageous to Rescue Sean by doing the 'Javier' Story Mission in Blackwater. Sean comes with some activities of his own and his personal story is interesting, even though he himself can be mildly annoying.

Unless you become extremely annoyed with the condition of your Satchel (and the fact that you can carry almost nothing), what you SHOULD be doing in Chapter 2 is upgrading Pearson (leather working tools) so he can begin crafting Expansions for Satchel, eventually allowing you to carry 99 of everything.

This isn't something that leaps out at you, but in order to upgrade Pearson, you need to do at least ONE Strauss Mission (Money Lending and Other Sins), to open the ledger so you can upgrade Pearson and the Camp (as you go along - as you get the money/Gold to do so).

In tune with those activities you'll want to at least do 'The Splines of America' to open a Fence so you can sell Gold Bars to turn them into cash.

Then you should stop doing Story Missions. You have a LOT to do and Chapter 2 is the perfect time to do it. Horseshoe is Centrally located, there are people to help, bad guys to kill, people that will help you (if you don't kill and loot them), etc.

Eluding to that Gold - that you need badly right about now - within an easy ride of Horseshoe are 3 bars and some valuable loot that you'll want to get your filthy paws on (lol - go take a bath - Hotel in Valentine) I'll clue you this much:
Limpany
Burnt out forest area near Horseshoe
Derailed Train
I'd be happy to provide some YouTube Videos to cut right to the chase, or you can spend what might be 2000 hours trying to figure it out. Just let me know....

You want to do a LOT of Hunting. Feed the Camp - they need meat and you're their ONLY source of it. Pearson needs A BUNCH of perfect pelts to craft your Satchel upgrades, and fortunately the meat comes wrapped in a pelt, so if you kill and donate a Perfect Pelt for 'Crafting', you can donate the meat that was wrapped up in the pelt and get a bowl of Stew perhaps.

You want to srop eating out of cans and start eating meat and seasoned meat. An endless supply of Big Game Meat is wrapped in a Gator Skin and an endless supply of Gators are in the swamps.

Note:
In order to see what 'condition' an animal is in BEFORE you kill it - Study the Species with the Binoculars, then when you aim at it with a weapon you'll see how many Stars it has - 3 being the number you want. Pearson needs a lot of Perfect Deer Pelts, so start with those and you already have the most versatile weapon in the game - The Bow - and some regular arrows.

Note 2:
You do NOT need to schlep a bloody carcass across camp to throw it on Pearson's Table. Leave it on the horse, hitch the horse, walk over to Pearson and donate whatever you have right off the horse (Saddle Icon). When the horse becomes bloody - brush it - when you become bloody - change outfits (or reload the one you're wearing). Keep an outfit suitable for Cold and one suitable for hot on the horse. Leave one slot open.

Note 3:
There are several 'Black Dots' visible in camp, check out those dots and do some Camp Chores. This will boost your honor and pump up your stats a little. You NEED Stamina in a big way to pull the Bow String - the best way to build that stat is to RUN - everywhere - for a while.

That should get you started.
Write this on a Post-It-Note and stick it to the monitor:
Less Story = More Game.

Go exploring.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Your full sized Map is the key and tell-all. Also ensure you talk with everyone in your Camp over time. Some missions and side quests get triggered this way.

[onanonehand8]

JuiceWSA lähetti viestin:

Open the Map:

...you'll want to at least do 'The Splines of America' to open a Fence so you can sell Gold Bars ...

The fence in Rhodes and the fence in Saint Denis are available from the beginning of chapter two. I'm not sure about the fence in Van Horn. Only the fence at Emerald Ranch is opened by doing the Spines of America mission.

[Isabelle]

wmgibsonfan lähetti viestin:

OK, here we are in Clearwater Overlook, wandering around the camp looking at everything, and there is not a single clue as to what Arthur is supposed to do next. I've tried to talk to everyone, and no one has said anything significant. I tried to mount my horse to go off exploring, but I can't do that, either.

I know that many players don't like "hand-holding", but this is ridiculous. Am I supposed to use modding tools to make my own Next Step?

You should be able to ride your horse around and explore at any moment when you aren't actively doing a story mission. But, generally, your next objective in the story will always be one of the yellow icons with a letter in the middle. You can see all of your missions on your map at all times. You may have to zoom in slightly for them to pop up on the map screen.

[wmgibsonfan]

My sincere thanks to everyone for their help!

I went back into the game and this time I found a yellow icon with a letter in it (just like in Chapter 1) and was able to hold a convo with him. I wound up making a trip into town accompanied by three of the women and the [person whose name I've already forgotten]. I did some shopping, took a bath, spoke to the Sheriff and captured the snake oil salesman Bennett.

I ran into some dude who recognized me from Blackwater, whom I chased down and intimidated. Meanwhile, my companions from Dutch's gang had already left without me!

I'd swear that yellow icon wasn't there before, but that's probably not true. I suppose if I'd been a little more observant I wouldn't have had to post this question! At least I seem to have made a start. I'm sure there will be many interesting challenges ahead.

[Isabelle]

wmgibsonfan lähetti viestin:

My sincere thanks to everyone for their help!

I went back into the game and this time I found a yellow icon with a letter in it (just like in Chapter 1) and was able to hold a convo with him. I wound up making a trip into town accompanied by three of the women and the [person whose name I've already forgotten]. I did some shopping, took a bath, spoke to the Sheriff and captured the snake oil salesman Bennett.

I ran into some dude who recognized me from Blackwater, whom I chased down and intimidated. Meanwhile, my companions from Dutch's gang had already left without me!

I'd swear that yellow icon wasn't there before, but that's probably not true. I suppose if I'd been a little more observant I wouldn't have had to post this question! At least I seem to have made a start. I'm sure there will be many interesting challenges ahead.

It's likely that the icon disappeared because it was at night / past sunset. A lot of different missions in this game are only available during the day or night specifically. That one in particular I believe is day-only.

Until you beat the game there will always be at least one more story mission (yellow icon) to be done, so be sure to look out for it if you get stuck. You can also enter your map screen and open the map legend, and you can scroll to a mission from there and waypoint it. Most missions are given by gang members so sticking around camp can get you side quests and such too.