The Most Boring Game Ever

[Shoah Kahn]

What is the point of this game, given that it seems to want players to grind into infinity for insultingly trifling content, while making the gameplay so abjectly boring that it defeats the very purpose of obtaining the stuff anyway? What kind of "niche" were they trying to corner with RDO (aside from those who buy games only to take screen shots), with such an incongruous formula...? 🥴

Now, I know the game has had a resoundingly poor reception -- due to everything from hackers, to its grind, to how RockStar treated then abandoned the game... However, I could not fathom just how abjectly borrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrring everything in this game is until I tried it myself. Every component of RDO, be it character actions and NPC interactions, to the minutiae up-keep of char. / steed and the interminable grind for the the most meaningless accoutrements and consumables -- the game's design smacks of something those who've never actually played a video game and have more money than sense, would make for a target market mirroring themselves!

What a waste of an amazing foundation for a game... Hopefully, once they inevitably kill the servers, the game gets some overhaul mods which allow for a less painstakingly boring experience ⚰️

[justfaded]

It's an escapist's game, hence the emphasis on immersion. And yeah it failed because most mainstream gamers want instant action and constant positive reinforcement.

[Silhouette]

It feels like it failed because Rockstar was more interested in selling players gold bars than designing a fun and enjoyable game. o_o

Compared to GTA Online, RDO’s early-game is insufferably grindy. In GTA you’ll have a decent car and complete core-set of fully upgraded weapons within your first few sessions. You feel like a total bawler, rolling-in-dough! In RDO, that same goal of acquiring a good horse and fully upgraded set of weapons could take weeks if not months. During the early game your constantly kept penniless, unable to afford even a new pair of boots. :/

All my friends quit playing within a month because the grind was just too unbearable.

The terrible early-game-grind aside, RDO just isn’t built anywhere near as well as GTA Online. It’s missing a ton of features:

- Can only create one character.
- No official private sessions.
- No passive mode.
- No way to skip cutscenes.
- Can’t customize difficultly in most missions.
- Can’t customize PvP matches.
- No proper lobby systems for the co-op wave mode (Call to Arms).
- Unfinished main-story.
- No free-roam robing.
- No heists.
- No player housing.
- No option for text chat.
- etc.

This game has an incredible foundation, but there’s so much room for improvement. :(

[kissakias]

Originally posted by Shoah Kahn:

What is the point of this game, given that it seems to want players to
⚰️

to live the experience of the specific era. thats the point of this game.

[ArchAngelLnK]

Originally posted by justfaded:

It's an escapist's game, hence the emphasis on immersion. And yeah it failed because most mainstream gamers want instant action and constant positive reinforcement.

Agree, I love the game though.

[Shoah Kahn]

Originally posted by justfaded:

It's an escapist's game, hence the emphasis on immersion. And yeah it failed because most mainstream gamers want instant action and constant positive reinforcement.

I don't want "instant action" at all... In fact, the reason why I got the game was because RDR(1) became playable on the Ps3 emulator, and I loved the laid back feel of this series. It's just that every component of this game seems to have been built around protracted busy work, and busy work for very mediocre rewards. Frankly, I'd rather they had sold exclusive content, without any in-game means by which to acquire it, than to nickel n' dime zenny as a ploy to force players into buying their way past it.

The irony of RDO is that it's its own worst enemy: On one hand, it wants to be a deep and fun game; on the other, it fights this imperative with a bee-line focus in boring people into visiting their cash shop... It's a schizophrenic game! Primarily, games are meant to be fun; and if they are not, no amount of digital accoutrements will matter. On the other hand, if a game is fun, people will want to invest time and money into it. This rather obvious video game reality was lost somewhere in the RDO development cycle.

Originally posted by Silhouette:

RDO’s early-game is insufferably grindy.

This is especially off-putting, as farming pigs loses its novelty... awww, about the 100th time one does it. Indeed, when the grind is for weapons that were far more easily attainable in the first game, and seem to have been homogenised for online play (in terms of attributes), it kills enthusiasm to play a game that should be designed to keep people interested in playing. Locking items behind multi-layered grind walls (money, gold, rank, role level) is just spitting in players' faces, and in a game that is already unashamedly trying to fleece them.

For mine, I got the game at 50% off, and only wanted it for private co-op... So, in this sense, I don't feel ripped off per se (disk space taken up by the game notwithstanding). One thing I do feel, however, is that RockStard are no longer the company that, although had a premium buy-in cost for its products, would always give players value for money. I now see the company more like an E. A. or Activision, and as a matter of principle, I do not give money to such predatory companies.

[Silhouette]

Aye. :(

Sadly, even when you look at the design of their last “Blood Money” update, it becomes painfully clear that Rockstar is just after the player’s wallet.

In Blood Money, you need to take on certain missions to earn “Capitale,” a currency which you need to pay for a chance to play heist-like missions.

Now, are the players awarded Capitale for simply completing a Blood Money mission? Heavens no! You got to scrounge for it by looting every single corpse and chest you come across during the mission. Are you playing co-op with others? Well I hope you scrounge faster than they do, because I believe only one of you can recover the Capitale found in chests and bodies. :/

Again, it’s an insufferable grind.

But wait! If you go to a Fence you can simply buy Capitale for gold bars! That’s a WAY faster way to acquire it!

. . .I mean. . . They’re not even trying to hide the fact they’re just after your wallet. :(

I’d rather Rockstar sell exclusive cosmetics to their audience than trying to nickel-and-dime them so they can earn progress at a reasonable rate; it’s extremely predatory. :(

[Shoah Kahn]

What really hit hard and gobsmacked me, as to how merchant-like they were with the content gating in this game, was the removal of the ability to use stolen wagons to horde carcasses for sale, and the removal of the tailgate of the purchasable cart. Seeing this and how utterly pathological it means that they are about trying to eke out every, last penny from customers, and stooping to whatever mortifying depths they had to to satisfy this pathology, is something that cannot be unseen, will inform and inflect my opinion of Rockstar(d) going forward.

The analogy of corporations being best described as "psychopathic", is as apt as can be when describing these kinds of actions. I mean, seeing how many gameplay related issues the game has been left with, and how it was so unceremoniously abandoned -- and, by the game developer's lofty standards, failed -- for them to spend time in stymieing player progression in order to cynically goad more cash shop visits, tells us all we need to know about the direction of future Rcokstar(d) games.