I haven't ever had a issue with the leveling, all missions seemed dumbly easy.

I'm talking on controls on this aspect (besides HDR missing, and some poor writing that is mostly due to they having to tie to RDR1). Using the same button for interaction and aim is moronic and it usually causes problem on 2 aspects, you take a longer time to really point a gun by needing to press two buttons when not with weapon in hand or you go and point a gun when you just wanted to talk when your weapon is in hand.

Controls are unresponsive, horse control is bad all along, hunting is not really pleasing as it's very time consuming and boring.

Besides the gang being a bunch of useless bums, and you having money to retire the whole group before the plans start going bad and this possibility of leaving never being there. But those are problems related to they mixing open world with story telling.

We certainly could go on and on, taking points from RDR2 to the point it gets in the 90-95 range. But both R* (GTA IV is accepted in VGC as one of the biggest case of excessive score) and Bethesda are more praised than they deserve with their failures being overlooked while other devs failures being magnified when not basically invented.

I was out from this topic a few days because i wanted to finish the game first to give more impressions, but i see the discussion about how overrated the game is still going on and i wanted to give my actual impression. I'm in chapter 4 and I feel i can talk more about the game now.

Well...., the game has not become any better for me. I suffered 2 times bugs where the game did not work because some script did not activate, so I was doing everything trying to move on in the mission without knowing it wasn't my fault. The gunplay, without dead eye is still awful and when you have to cover or run is a mess. The game is just too slow and the story is going nowhere. The characters are starting to be boring too. But the most glaring problem the game have, and after so many story missions played now is something evident, is how BY THE RAILS every mission is. I can't do anything different because the game tells me every time how i have to play the mission. It's dated and it's boring.

The game is a technical and audiovisual masterpiece and it has some great details that surprise you, but everything else is just average, boring and/or dated. This is GTA IV all over again. This game is definitively the most overrated game this gen. 97 should be for something greater than this. Rockstar mistakes or weak points are always forgiven by the press because they're victims of the hype at lauch (i really expect this is the true reason, i don't want to be too much cynical). I'm pretty sure that 60-70% of the dozens of millions that are going to play this game will never reach the end, not even chap 3 or 4. They'll play 5-10 hours, be satisfied and they will move on to the next great thing because that's what people do nowadays. Just because a game is more accesible to more people, so more people play it doesn't mean is going to be one of their favorite games. This is what happened between TLOU and GTA V back in 2013. More people played GTA V, a lot more, but more people really loved TLOU.

There was a moment when i thought i would give this game a 9 or maybe even a 9'5, but now i find my self forcing me to playing it. Just for the good parts this game is a must play, but if the game don't get better in the end, i won't give this game anything more than a 8'5. It's very pretty, big and polished (despite the bugs) but is boring and disappoiting too.

I loved Fallout 4 and had far less issues with the controls there. It did have more glitches yet mission were designed much better, were pretty dynamic and didn't feel as restrictive. You also had very different paths through the story worthy of multiple play throughs. Of course not everyone enjoyed the building mechanic, I did personally and thought it was a brilliant way to put all that normally useless loot to good use.  RDR2 excels in graphics and acting. Fallout 4 has it beat on mission design and side story content.

RDR2's controls are not bad because of starting out low level. It's as DonFerrari says, using the same button for different things. Like R3 is turn 180 or enter dead eye depending on whether you are aiming the gun. Interaction with npcs is a chore and I have accidentally shot store keepers in the face while trying to talk. Yet the most annoying is how the game keeps grabbing hold of the first person camera, shaking, rolling, pointing, it's like someone keeps grabbing hold of my head and making me look a certain way. It gets really bad when you try to climb a ridge. It's hard to tell when a slope goes beyond the magic max degrees where he gets in a slide and the game grabs hold of the camera not letting you turn it for several seconds. Same for any of the pre-baked animations. Half-Life 2 nailed the way to grab a player's attention without limiting your movement speed or forcing the camera in a certain way. In RDR2 I don't feel in control a lot of the time. To RDR2 I say:

Another bloody annoying thing is that when I'm looking around inside a house or cabin and my butt gets to close to a door he automatically turns around to go outside. Don't get near a ladder either when you're simply looking around. I still managed to fall to my death when intending to use a ladder... Yet I did finally figure out which guns shoot immediately and which you have to press R2 a second time to load the next bullet.

Anyway I'm happily exploring again. I abandoned my family at the start of the Epilogue, got back to the canoe at the end of the Dakota river and paddles past thieve's landing! They still shot at me yet no instant kill this time and I made it past. I had to get out at the waterfall a bit beyond, filmed some timelapse footage until after sun down and got eaten by wolves. That gave me my horse back to thanks wolves. Of course they ate me again 5 minutes later, so I camped instead and was magically teleported up a cliff some way off. Darn aliens always abducting me in my sleep and dropping me off somewhere else! I followed th river further towards Mexico yet at some point you reach the death line. Can't swim across and the river bed is marked off limits. It was fun watching my poor horse trying to climb up the forbidden slope, then I had the same problem and drowned not long after. Respawn somewhere completely different again lol.

The game is fun again, however it's rather empty so far, which is a good thing. Plus since I have no guns I can't go hunting the new legendary animals. I should have gone to town first as I didn't realize I still have all my old inventory (how????). So I should sell all my old loot and get a decent horse and guns. That might be a while as I'm currently as far South as possible. Awesome place!

First person view is a lot more immersive to me than 3rd person. I do use cinematic mode for long rides to enjoy the views. While exploring I prefer first person view to look around with my own eyes. It's true that it's a lot less yanky in 3rd person (Oh guess I just got eaten by wolves again...) In 3rd person you can set it to leave the camera alone which works great (although it still auto levels no matter what) In first person if you look right while riding a horse, the game keeps forcing the camera back front if you don't keep moving the camera stick, can't turn it off. The first person implementation is pretty terrible, yet in 3rd person I don't get the same sense of being in the world. In first person I can better take in the gorgeous scenery without someone standing in front of the camera :)

I thought he had given him money as well, since he didn't have that I figured it was all used up already. Pretending to be poor while still having that gold bar I never sold from the start of chapter 4... Btw they could be playing the special edition or with pre-order bonuses. I have both and a lot of things were free (fast horse, guns etc), perhaps you start at a higher level as well. I never noticed what the extra content was for the special edition, no clue if I missed it or not.

The Special Edition includes exclusive content including a bank robbery mission and gang hideout in story mode, a dappled black thoroughbred racehorse, gameplay boosts, cash bonuses, discounts, special story mode items, free access to additional weapons, and the Nuevo Paraiso Gunslinger outfit.

I got all that, although I missed one bank robbery mission in Rhodes, maybe that was from the special edition. The icon disappeared when I got back to camp. I did 2 bank robberies in the game I think. Valentine and Saint Denis. So perhaps the Rhodes one is the extra, oops. (yep it is, just checked., oh well)

The dangers of timelapse photography trying to capture sunrise

I survived that one, shot still ruined... wait till next morning.

only used dead aim in the mandatory scenes, one hunt and section of final mission.

Just pressing and releasing aim button at each time you shoot will already reposition your aim to the next target so it's just a matter of fine tunning. I had like 80% headshots when I had multiple enemies to shoot and needed every shoot to count.

Those darn aliens struck again! I happened on a coach getting robbed, saved the owner yet he didn't want it anymore. So I took the coach with 4-span which is bloody fun to drive around in first person view. It needs a back up beeper for sharp corners yet otherwise very fast and the horses never get tired! So I'm exploring with my new coach wondering how awesome it would be if there were passenger delivery missions until I arrive in Blackwater.

Since all shops are still closed I park in front of the theater to catch a late night showing. I get back out at dawn and my coach is gone. Not stolen, mind you, simply gone. The tracks leading to where I stopped are still there including all the hoof prints of the 4 horses, and then nothing. Effing aliens! The game can remember to put a bandage on a molested shop keeper but can't keep track of a whole coach with 4 horses grr.

Another one of those hazards when trying to get the best shot. Some walls are wide enough to stand on, this one apparently isn't

He rightfully swore after landing.

And I guess I'm jumping the gun again. I went back to the old hideout, found the chest, can't interact with it. Sold my stuff at a fence, however browse catalogue is not available in the gun stores. At least you can still buy ammo from the shelves, so I can still use the revolver and repeater I 'found' :) Heading back to the next 'mission' currently. I want my hunting gear (bow and sniper rifle)

One of the most frustrating games I've ever played.The world is what really sells this game but the gameplay damn,frustrating as fuck.It really doesn't deserve a 97.And they've put in certain mechanics that are absolutely useless.

I think it contains a lot of bugs and doesn't deserve the GOTY at all.

its real eye candy on the xb1x. really enjoying it so far, just did the 2nd train heist mission, still in chapter 2 though and done alot, getting alot of gameplay value out of it, my only complaint is sometimes get a wanted level and not sure what happened to get one? i was passing a carriage in town and i dont think i ran into anyone while on my horse, but got a wanted level for something? just paid the $25, i spend more money on bounties than anything else so far though, trying to play the good guy. first time through anyways.

Don't even get me worked on it... how many times my hunting material vanished from the horse... besides the obnoxious difference for bull and ox leather (not even going to put cow together)... Bulls and Ox are the same besides the castration.