That's the best way to play it. The best parts of the game are during chapter 2 and 3. The dynamic missions are good fun while exploring the map is at its best. The game only gets more restrictive later on. However you might fall in the same boat as me, already explored the entire map then having to retreat the same ground in restrictive story missions.

The game was a 9/10 for me during chapter 2 and 3, close to a 10/10 still willing to forgive its control issues. Currently I'm in chapter 6 and it's down to 6/10 with 8/10 side content. You still get more white content, it's worth it to finish those story lines.

I reloaded an older save to see if anything plays out differently with low honor. It's more fun to create chaos anyway and not worry about what the game perceives as honorable and what not. Story missions can simply be skipped though so I don't have to replay them :)

I'm surprised you think Chapter 3 was one of the best. Wasn't that the Chapter with the Braithwaithes vs the Greys? That entire chapter was literally pointless. Didn't add anything to the story, the gang are basically the same before and after the chapter. 

I will say that while I loved Morgan as a character, Red Dead has too many problems to be an amazing story  ... it's still "pretty good" though, I don't think there's a lot of video games I've played with impressive stories tbh.

I preferred chapter 3 because it unlocked the scoped rifles and I still had a lot of map to explore. I ignored the camp forever in chapter 3 without them bothering me. The camp was also in a nice central location to unload crap. From chapter 4 on the story missions get more and more repetitive shooting galleries. Better no story than a story that annoys me I guess.

So far on my outlaw attempts, every time I touch a white mission my honor jumps back up and I have to wipe out an entire village to get it back at its lowest lol. Can't kill the white mission npc's either, you can of course skip them. Yet I was trying to see if the outcome could be any different, so far no change.

I got into the story in HZD although it took a long time. That kept getting better towards the end.

So, to give what most likely will be my final thoughts ...

I stopped playing the game for hours and hours about 2 days ago (so like the 8th). That's also the day I completed the Epilogue campaign too. The past 2 days it's only been like 2 hours per day. Which is still good all things considered. 

I expected even more content in this game. That's absolutely me being ridiculous and selfish, but being at 85% completion after about 80 hours kind of surprised me, especially because most of what's left is just collectibles. If you didn't include those, I'd probably be done with 97% of the meaningful content (some of which is locked behind certain chapters that I can't go back and do - there's a home robbery called "Rocky Seven" that's infamously unlocked around Chapter 2 but only playable at Chapter 5 or 6 and ONLY that one chapter). That's even including the epilogue as "meaningful content", which while it's a very good part of the game, I also think that it's just unnecessary enough that people not invested in the original game might get a little bored. I know that there were many moments in it that were brilliant and among the better post-game content I've seen, but I also think making the player feel restricted after doing such a lengthy campaign had some side effects (although again it was great post-game content and the last mission was amazing). I guess I'm just used to hearing about how every open world game is hundreds of hours long ... apparently BOTW is about 60-70 hours more for full completion compared to Red Dead, same with The Witcher 3. How much of that is up to the same quality as Red Dead is questionable, I know BOTW has things like Korok seeds that can lengthen the journey (so does Red Dead just to a lesser scale), but I do know that The Witcher 3 is famous for a heavy amount of meaningful content, and from the 15 hours I've played that seems to be the case. Maybe the reason I feel this way is because Red Dead's campaign is a good like 40-50% of the time spent completing it, whereas it seems like in other open world games you spend more time doing your own shit and fucking around, so when you're finally done with all the story, assuming you've already spent a decent amount of time doing side activities, you'll mostly be finished. When they include the multiplayer missions that will be even more though so I suppose I'm just spoiled ... heh, wanting more can never be a bad thing though  

I think the worst decision they made for this game, far and away, is the "honor" system. I just think it's a complete waste of time on the developer's and players part. It feels like the system is in this awkward place of being prominent enough to be annoying but also not developed enough to really have a positive impact on your experience. Red Dead Redemption 2 may some have RPG mechanics, but it's not an RPG. As far as I know, there isn't a single mission that's locked based on the honor system. You do get bonuses around the world - but these bonuses are infuriating, because even long after the game's been out, as far as we know there's only one bonus for having negative honor rank ... and it's so unsubstantial. There's basically no reason to have bad honor whatsoever. The good honor is massively favored and there's some benefits that I didn't even know where included (like unlocking new outfits). Why? This just pigeon holes players into playing one specific way. Not only that, the honor system makes no sense. It's supposed to be based around people's perception of you, which sounds cool, but then you kill people in the middle of nowhere, no one sees you, and you get negative honor. What? It also feels counter-intuitive in a Rockstar game to have a bounty system and a honor system at the same time. All around, clearing a bounty will make 99% of people forgive you, so what's the point? You might get more aggressive NPCs but that's it .. there's almost no difference and yet the punishments are pretty severe on paper. The worst part is that it sometimes seems random. Killing a bad guy is good but robbing their corpse isn't? Why does it even matter if you rob ANY corpse if it's already dead? It would be one thing if you just go to a graveyard and rob someone's corpse in front of a crowd, it's another if someone you've already killed is being looted in the middle of nowhere. And if they wanted to make it realistic ... why does doing all the bad missions for the campaign not give you negative honor? Massacring tons and tons of people would make you more infamous than anything you could possibly do in free roam. I can't remember, but I also think it's considered acceptable to kill the drivers and guards of the wagons carrying prisoners without getting negative honor. And if it's not ... that's telling the player "don't unlock this content". It's so half assed yet annoying at the same time. It just feels like a weight on your shoulder that shouldn't be there ... Getting negative honor basically means being punished for having fun, while positive honor means getting rewarded for being bored. 

As for the bounty system, it's honestly not that bad at all and i'm surprised how many people here have disliked it more as they continue to play. I found it got less annoying. In fact it might just be the best system they've made yet (the one in GTA is perfectly suitable for that game but it's not detailed enough to work for something as immersive as Red Dead). If you have a mask on and you aren't in a city, you'll get away with 99% of shit if no one is near by. If someone is near by and you have a mask on, you'll still get away with it as long as they aren't right near you. The investigating system allows you to get away with most things, although I have to say, when you first start playing seeing "Wanted" above it is really confusing. Wanted. Investigating. You w0t m8? It should really just say "investigating".

That being said ... there is a part 2 to this of sorts. It's really hard to get away with stuff in cities. Which makes sense .. but it's frustrating when you go to a city to pay off your bounty, and you can't because there are police everywhere. As far as I know, you can't surrender either. You get killed for like $5. It's so stupid and whether or not this was a problem in RDR1 (I remember it being so), it should be fixed by now .. with mechanics considered more carefully. It's especially stupid when you steal a prison wagon while there is no law in the middle of plains but when you get the seemingly smart idea of taking the prison wagon away form the investigation area (because you had to murder the driver and guard) all the sudden the Wanted system automatically locks onto you and everyone knows who is guilty even though you're in the middle of nowhere with no one around! I don't expect RDR to be GTA at all. But this is just being anal and frustrating. Luckily for 90% of the map this isn't an issue. 

There's a lot of positives to say about this game. The mission design is not really one of them. It's pretty bad, even if the story and voice acting is compelling. Having so many shoot outs ruins what makes them iconic in Westerns. It's pulling out your secret weapon too soon .. many times over and over again. Same with the train robbery. Also pretty much the entirety of Chapter 3 is useless. This took me very long to write so I'm going to stop here. Good game but as I give more time for my opinion to settle it gets worse. 

Incredible game. This is how real story telling is done.
So many finer details, cba to do an in depth review, but deserved all the scores it got. 10/10.

I'm enjoying the game a lot so far. But I'm kind of astonished that it got such high scores. It has so many little annoyances that build up over time and many aspects feel outdated in 2018. I'm surprised that Mark Brown and dunkey seen to be the only well known people that are seeing these issues.

Great post! Well written.

I'm actually starting to suspect a different outcome while keeping my honor at minimum. The game still tries to drive it up, I still didn't have any other choice for the final debts which drove my honor up a lot again yet instead of the deer visions I now have a black wolf for the visions and Arthur is hinting at plans to betray Dutch. Yes! Maybe the story can still be saved a little bit. It's just the post mission chat that's slightly different, missions themselves are exactly the same, same path, same outcome, no choices.

Since I'm currently being as bad as possible I was doing the thief challenges as well. Robbing 4 stores in the same day is a lot of running. Damn those magic hands free cellphones. Stick up a shop and the shopkeeper telepathically alerts the authorities, run to next town to rob the next shop. And it's repetitive, first I had rob 2 stage coaches, next currently is rob 3 coaches in a single day, bleh. Can never find them when you want them. And why can I only crack safes in story missions, can't interact with them on trains or in the train station or in the back room at the doctors. I know Arthur can open these things.

About the bounty system. I have a bounty in every region now, highest in Hannover over $1200 bounty. I can still go into town no problem (just wait for lock down to disappear if a town gets locked) and bounty hunters are pretty rare. The chance to get killed by wolves is still 10 times higher...

While replaying story missions I went for a rush approach instead of my normal careful approach. That works a lot better, just run ahead and let the others catch up. That way they don't get killed and you trigger the next part already anyway. I also found a lot more creative ways to fail skip through missions. It is so strictly scripted, the game can't adjust at all to doing things even slightly differently. Failed for abandoning the battle while trying to escape, escaped too early lol.

Anyway, despite being wanted everywhere the game still pretty much plays the same. Except my wife now finds it way too violent. Why did you shoot that shopkeeper in the face he was begging for his life. Nuh uh, he was only pretending while dialing 911 behind his back, crime reported just popped up.

Oh, you haven't finished the story yet? Yeah .... while the Guarma chapter is one of the weakest, I actually think the chapter once they get back is far and away the best chapter in the game. It's perhaps a bit rushed but it's still probably the best chapter. Yeah ... the honor system doesn't change anything, unfortunately. I do know the ending is slightly different but the outcome is exactly the same anyways so there's no point in a replay pretty much. 

By the way, I didn't mean that you get caught easily in the towns. I only have a problem with the city Saint Denis. Any time I'm there with a bounty already on my head I get caught 99% of the time. I can be at a 5$ bounty and be shot at in minutes. Any other place is fine for the most part. Funny you say that too about the Wolves, because they've never bothered me outside of main story or side missions :) Guess we've just been playing differently or something. 

I forgot to mention in my post actually that I think the mission ranking thing is stupid, because as far as I know there's no way to replay missions besides restarting the game or saving before the mission begins ... which is problematic if you want to get the mission trophies. Or am I dumb and there's some kind of "replay mission" mechanic? Because honestly I don't know why there would be a mission ranking in this game at all, most of the checklists are just stupid and this isn't an action game like Bayonetta where replaying missions is easy and the combat is worth mastering. 

I also forgot to mention how annoying it is that, like you said, almost NOTHING in this game that you can do in the story missions you can do in the game. You can't get on a train without the police instantly knowing your identity. You can't blow up safes. You can't even find stagecoaches that have really valuable lock boxes unless they're a side mission given by a very specific character. It just gets frustrating because it breaks the realism ... you basically get chicken shit for actually trying to do the cool things you do in the single player. That for me is what separates the philosophy of an open world game and a single player game ...

LOL at your wife! xD! You know almost every time I rob a shop I actually tie the shopkeepers up, and yet even if the curtains on the shop are closed somehow there's always a witness outside ... it's just fucked 

Thanks by the way, your posts in this thread have been very well written as well. I look forward to seeing you react to more games in the future, hopefully  

I'm in chapter 6 which is indeed well written, however poorly performed. The post mission chat is the best part of the missions. Good stuff, the river was finally used so my canoe trip experience down the Dakota river was not in vain. It was of course very forced again, like "he Dutch why aren't we going this way", ah I see, another iconic western moment shoehorned in. (Which would instantly kill you outside a story mission) Actually the canoe trip was in another mission, equally contrived.

The economy is equally funny. I steal a coach in perfect condition with two very fast horses (Why is it so hard to catch up with a run away coach on my elite race horse!) I bring it to the fence for a whopping $25 total. The horses are worth more each separately, yet you can't unhitch them unless it's a story mission.

It doesn't seem a witness is needed at all for a store or train robbery. Just somebody near which is always the case in town. When robbing the doctors back office I quickly subdued everyone in the back silently. Still crime magically reported. Kinda funny to see how the AI fails to get in some buildings. they won't go away though. You have to leave the red circle. You can hide inside when they are investigating, yet in town it's already beyond that stage.

Another funny thing, I was on the way back to camp for the next mission. I see a whole bunch of bounty hunters waiting for me on the last bit of road towards camp. I'm thinking, oh fun battle, lead them to camp and bring it on. However as soon as I went over the magic line all the bounty hunters disappeared into thin air only leaving a bunch of confused blood hounds behind. It seems disappearing acts are very common. I chased the train the captain left in, was empty. Same with the coach Penelope left in, disappeared. NPCs simply vanish after story missions.

I think I saw an option to replay story missions, should be at the summary where you see the scoring. I haven't been able to find that overview anymore though, some parts of the menu system are still a mystery to me.

The wolves mostly come out at night, spook my horse, horse runs into a tree, wolves eat me as I'm off my horse with a worn cattleman revolver and no real gun. I usually turn on cinematic mode and enjoy the ride while sitting back, however you don't see them coming in that case and your horse either bolts immediately or throws you off. I could of course camp until morning first, however the game always moves me to a crap spot when I camp.

I did get the police on me in Saint Denis and had an epic chase trying to escape. Never a horse around when you need one yet jumping over fences and walls kept them behind. Of course after surviving 50+ bullet wounds I get eaten by a crocodile when the controls mess me up off the train bridge. Fighting the AI is never really fun though, it just keeps spawning in more and more. Pointless and only led to that $1265 bounty. It's the anti fun police.

When you are on the gang missions, you aren't really suppose to be careful and through exploring. You move ahead and shoot enemies, and you aren't the commander of the mission, so if you lag behind then you are really at fault for not following the commands =p

One thing I'll say that probably made the events after Guarma bad... it certainly have to do with RDR1 and the people John will be after, and they wanted to add more reason for him to accept, so they made Dutch go a little non-sense, Javier and Bill not follow Arthur discoveries even after Micah shot Miss Grinshaw. For go sake, Arthur followed Dutch for over 20 years and Dutch is all bewitched by Micah. Won't put all the venting I have done with my friend. But they absolutely fucked the story since guarma.