Red Dead Redemption

Splitting this off as it's becoming its own topic.

 

I'm assuming you know that you can "take cover" using the right shoulder button. From the cover position, you can aim, and when you shoot, you'll pop out, shoot, then back into cover. Of course, sometimes things get in the way. But if it's a larger piece of cover, you can slide left and right along it to get a clearer shot.

Auto aim: Have your target anywhere even close to the center of your screen, pull left trigger. You should be on his chest. It'll stay there, or on the target that you adjust to for a couple seconds at least. I like to pop into aim, then twitch my aim up towards the head. It sounds like you're doing what I did at first too. Not trusting it, and overpowering it.

LOL at trying to crouch sprint. Happens to all of us. You spur yourself to run faster too.

You ran into a slight AI bug. You must have shot at something and that guy was close to your line of fire. He took that as an act of aggression, so he shot BACK at you. when that happens, if you kill him, it's murder. Just run away.. or kill him anyway. Your call. There will be guys who will be the aggressor and shoot at you for no reason. Those guys are free kills.

Ran into any cougars yet?

 

Hmm, I think so. It's the sliding out from cover to take a shot that gives me trouble. I find myself behind large cover trying to shoot and nothing happens. I'll have to see if I'm using it right next time I play. I've got a bad habit of jumping right into games without taking enough time to get accustomed to the controls.

Pretty much, yeah.

Right, I'm good with spurring myself.

Yeah, I figured as much. There were people hunting off in the distance, and I lost track of them. It was fun though, and it's really hard for me to resist the urge to be an all out blood thirsty outlaw.

No, not yet. But I did get killed by a bunch of wolves last night.

 

If the cover is unusually high, you can slide to either side to pop in and out. Marston will either pop over cover, or around it to the side depending on where you're at. I should mention that many of the earlier Story missions (especially most of Bonnie's) are tutorial in nature. So doing most / all of Bonnie's missions first isn't a bad idea. But if you haven't done it yet, the first Marshall Johnson mission in Armadillo also gives you a tutorial on using cover.

LOL. Yeah, they can be annoying. But cougars will give you PTSD. Mostly because they'll ninja attack you, or if they do scream as a warning, it's mere seconds before they attack. (And they move through grass pretty stealthily. I stay ON my horse when in cougar territory. Being higher up helps spot them, and your horse takes the initial attack). They also prefer to attack from behind or the sides. Rarely will they attack front on unless they've already hit you once.

Pay attention to your horse. It will get nervous, or agitated, and even rear and throw a fit if something deadly is close by (snakes, coyotes - which are only dangerous to you if you're on foot - wolves, cougars and bear). It will also do this with gun fire close by, but you'll hear that anyway.

Cougar territory you'll learn soon enough. But rule of thumb is: if there are boars, rams or beaver, you're in cougar territory. For the first zone, they're in the mountains west of Twin Rocks, all around the river north of MacFarland's ranch, and all over the area surrounding Fort Mercer. They're more active between dusk and dawn.

 

I can see why you've enjoyed this game so much. It's a very intelligent game, and the universe seems endless. I had some fun playing hold em last night. Made a pretty decent chunk of change, and ran a few good bluffs. I shot a man dead in a duel (I hope there's more of those) and hog tied a guy with my lasso (moments later the law won).

I had some more animal encounters as well. My horse got killed by a pack of coyotes or wolves, and I was gored by a steer a few times. :o Is there any particular preference to taming horses? I mean, would there be any reason to randomly give up your horse over a wild one? I figure probably not, but doesn't hurt to ask.

 

I love playing hold'em in game. The AI is pretty good. Everything from random "donkey" behavior, to tight conservative and loose aggressive. I'll make money a lot faster hunting, but it's always a nice diversion.

If you win the whole table, it should unlock the "Elegant Suit" which you can buy in Thieves Landing. Aside from being a change of look for you, it also allows you to... cheat at poker. Basically, it helps you hold a card up your sleeve. BUT, it's not so easy to cheat, and if you get caught, well, it IS the wild west. Just FYI, there's higher stakes poker games in the higher areas (Mexico and Blackwater). The AI is a lot stiffer in Blackwater too. I've succumbed to the urge to waste 2 guys at a table in Blackwater.

Duels happen a lot. some through random events (a guy starts calling you out in the street), and even a few in either story missions or "stranger missions."

Hogties are very useful. If you do a night's watch, you earn more money if you stop crime non-violently. And they help you capture bounties alive which doubles the money, honor and fame.

And if you're looking to be a bad guy for a moment, you can hogtie someone and place them on the train tracks. The outcome is pretty grizzly. It's also an achievement if you do it to a woman.

They were wolves. Coyotes will run from your horse.

As far as why tame a wild horse? To get the horse you want. Or you can buy a deed for that breed. But 3 breeds: The Kentucky Saddler, Hungarian Half-bred, and American Standard Bred are the best breeds in game. Those deeds you cannot buy until you've tamed and hitched them. If you have your lasso, you already have tamed the Kentucky Saddler. It's part of the mission (the stallion that breaks away). Hungarian Half-breds are in Mexico, and American Standard Breds are in West Elizabeth (Tall Trees and Great Plains).

Oh, and stop messing around in the corrals. Those bulls have a nasty disposition.

 

Ha, I haven't heard that phrase in a while. Good ole donks.

I was in Thieves Landing for the first time last night, and wouldn't you know it I was killed in a duel straight away. Shortly after that I discovered that stepping off a dock equals death.

There was a mission where you help the Marshall's posse take out a gang that's holding a couple women hostage in a house. I tried and failed many times to save the second hostage. I accidentally skipped past it by continuing after the checkpoint, but man, was there a trick to that? I dunno...maybe it was just because I was tired and played longer than I should have <cough cough>.

I love all the random things you just run into in this game. For example, vultures circling a body in the middle of nowhere or riding up on a hanging that you need to stop.

There was a mission where you help Bonnie herd the cattle back to the ranch in a storm. It was dark and raining, and it breaks to a scene where lightning strikes the big oak tree which I thought was visually impressive.

It's definitely turning into a game that I play longer than I intend to in a sitting.

 

The trick is to use the wall as cover before going to the door. Slide along the wall, and when you aim, hit your dead eye.

You should pop out aiming at him very quickly. Then, boom... headshot.

It's a tactic you'll need a few times.

 

Ahh, thanks.

 

When in doubt, dead eye. Especially if there's a hostage.

 

I've been replaying the game from scratch. I got done with Mexico so I could now get into West Elizabeth, but I haven't started any of the story missions yet. Instead, I did all of the challenges to unlock the "Legend of the West" outfit (which rocks), find an American Standardbred to tame and buy a deed...

And then I went hunting.

Filled my bags and headed back to Mexico to cash in. Total take from a single visit: $46,000

But that wasn't from a single sitting of hunting, that was over a few sessions. My bags were filled with items taken from:

100 Grizzly Bears
100 Elk
100 Beavers
100 Foxes
100 Rams
100 Wolves
100 Eagle feathers
80 Bobcats
75 Cougars
75 Whitetail Bucks
50 Boar
All 20 Buffalo

Plus the 3 "legendary" animals for hunter challenge 10, assorted other animals, a few gold bars, and a good bit of herbs from doing the survivalist challenges.

On previous games, I've racked up over 140K, but that had to be my biggest single haul.

 

Wow, that's insane. I haven't played in a little while for one reason or another, but I've been missing it. I haven't even yet seen most of the animals you bagged on that excursion.

 

Bears, elk, and beaver are only found in West Elizabeth. Bears are only found specifically in Tall Trees.

Bobcats can be found in Mexico and Tall Trees. They're either more common, or just easier to spot in Tall Trees. In Mexico, there's a ton of ground clutter, so they escape detection sometimes.

Foxes can be found on the Fort Mercer side of the map in Cholla Springs, and north of MacFarland's ranch as well as Tall Trees and most of West Elizabeth itself.

Bighorn Rams are most common in Tall Trees, but there are some in the mountains around Twin Rocks in New Austin. But if hunting them there, know that it is a very active cougar location as well.

Cougars are found throughout the map in most zones except Tall Trees and Mexico. The biggest areas of activity are between Twin Rocks and Rathskeller fort in the mountains, around Fort Mercer, north of MacFarland's ranch, and all through the Great Plains.

Eagles are only found in Mexico and West Elizabeth.

Buffalo are only found in the Great Plains, and there's only 20 of them. They never respawn. Once you kill them, they're extinct.

Deer, and wolves are found everywhere.

Boar are fairly common almost everywhere, but don't exist in Mexico.

 

I got totally pwned by a big boar last night outside of Thieves Landing. I was trying my hand at knife hunting for a few minutes for fun, and well...I switched to my rifle quickly after.

 

So, I was hunting the other night...somewhere in the northern Gaptooth Ridge area, I don't quite recall exactly where, but it was dark. I got pulled into a random side mission to help save someone from something, and ended up pretty far off the beaten path. Afterwords, I heard some wolves yipping around me so I started popping them off. I hopped off my horse to collect their hides and about fell off my chair when a growling cougar came out of nowhere. I was firing off panic shots before I even knew what the hell it was. I must have yelled, because my dog woke up and let out a bark. Thing scared the crap out of me. I blame Turtle Beach.

 

Keep playing long enough, and you'll be hearing them in your sleep, and looking over your shoulders often.

And later... the bears.

 

Yeah, I can see why...they're enough to give you night terror. I should have reread some of your earlier posts. I went back through and I can't say you didn't warn me.

Gulp.

 

Gulp. [/quote:1gommrqy]


It's not the bear you see that's the problem. One well placed shot between the eyes with a powerful rifle will down them. Although, if you fire at them and aren't aiming at that spot, well, it may take you a lot more. No. The problem is that the bear you DON'T see seldom gives you a loud warning. What you have to be ready to hear and react to is either your horse getting nervous, or a slightly more subtle sound (less subtle with Turtle Beaches on). A charging bear pants as he runs. You'll hear "huff huff huff huff huff huff...."

Oh, and where there's one, there's more.

(And if you do the hunting challenges, you'll have to kill 2 cougars with your knife. And a bear with your knife. Fun times. )

 

Makes me a little excited and a touch nervous just thinking about it.
I haven't even been up to Tall Trees yet, so I'm gonna have some fun up there. That's the thing with this game for me. I haven't really gotten a lot "done". I've enjoyed the hell out of it, but it would have been awesomely marketed as 'The ultimate game for those who love westerns and have ADD'. I don't normally replay games, so when you said you've played this one through many times I didn't really get it, however, I completely empathize now.

 

Got tired of MW3, so I played RDR on-line a bit more tonight.

Ok, a lot more. I'm level 15 or 16 now. Mostly through gang hideouts and challenges. Not only do you earn titles from levels, but also from completing challenges, etc. I even did a small bit of PVP and earned one I think I'll wear forever due to my first love...

"Renegade."

 

Niiiiiiiice. Yeah, I totally fell asleep on the couch early last night...sorry I missed ya. I managed to download some bonus content, though, there is some good stuff that's not free (the liars and cheats pack for one). I'll probably give in to temptation and get that sometime in the near future. I was reading up on it, and it seems hunting doesn't become 'meaningful' at any point, which was kind of a bummer. Did you play any poker at all?

 

Hunting is only meaningful for challenges in multi-player (those challenges give a decent amount of xp though, so they are worth doing). And there's a few "hunting grounds" where you get xp per kill (works almost like a gang hideout).

I still don't have the Liars and Cheats pack (I think that's the only one they still charge for). I have all of the rest. No. I didn't play any poker. I tried queuing up for a match, but it was 3 am, and nobody was playing poker. Was fun sniping a guy from the north ridge, all the way over MacFarland's Ranch on the opposite ridge with a Carcano rifle though. It's too bad that the weapons you pick up go away when you log off. The only ones you keep are the ones you've earned by level. But I'm ok now in that regard. I have a Schofield, Pump Action Shotgun and a Winchester (and Henry is easy to pick up).

I found out that when doing hiedouts, you get more xp faster by chaining kills together. So being very aggressive counts. And dead eye is great for that once you get used to using it.

My next 2 hunting challenges are kill 5 cougars (one with a knife), and the other is kill 5 bear (one with a knife). Going to be fun times.

I finally have a decent horse too. You get that emaciated nag at level 5, but at 8 you get a decent horse. I have to get to 22 for another, and 33 for a truly great horse though.

 

:gasp:

Ha, supuhfun.

 

I am disappoint.

Twas way too easy to take a cougar and bear down with a knife. Much easier than in the single player. Or maybe I've just done it too many times now...

No. Definitely was easier.

 

Well, I'm sure it's easier for you than it will be for me. :-D

What level are you now?

Total RDR newb question that I meant to ask before~ how do you get up to Tall Trees in single player? I haven't tried in a while, but I think I recall the bridge being inaccessible. It might be due to the fact that I was playing half asleep that night.