Red Dead Redemption 2 (PS4, Xbox and PC Hopefully)

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Have you even played through it, to be fair? Because the last time I remember, you complained about lack of HDR and said you wouldn't play it because of that. It's kinda hard to give an opinion about a game's polish if you didn't really play it.

Yeah, HDR should be fixed but the game itself is really polished and you won't find this level of detail and immersion even in ND titles, as much as I love them all. If borked HDR is enough to label it as unpolished without really experiencing it then okay but it's a bit weird.

And that TLOU comparison was just to illustrate differing opinions because there are still quite a few people who think it's mediocre. It's hard to compare a short linear game with RDR2 and say it had less flaws. By the time you finish prologue and get used to the mechanics in RDR2 you're halfway through TLoU. IMO, both were excellent. There was nothing riding on TLoU then as it was a new franchise. With RDR2 I think people just expected something different, I expected a sequel to RDR and got it. ND have never produced anything of RDR2's scale, if they do we'll see how they fare as there's a lot more to factor in when designing a believable world like that.

Yes fair point. I guess the lack of proper hdr and rubbish CB rendering, clunky controls just turned me sour. Maybe if I ever do play through it then my opinion will change but I simply cannot get into games anymore if the hdr isn’t right. Playing in SDR just doesn’t do it for me anymore. I guess once I experienced what hdr can do for games then that was it for SDR. They just look flat and one dimensional and that really hampers immersion as I’m just left feeling ****** off that it hasn’t been implemented right. HDR is made for games, I still enjoy SDR films and series but games it just is too lacking.
 
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Yes fair point. I guess the lack of proper hdr and rubbish CB rendering, clunky controls just turned me sour. Maybe if I ever do play through it then my opinion will change but I simply cannot get into games anymore if the hdr isn’t right. Playing in SDR just doesn’t do it for me anymore. I guess once I experienced what hdr can do for games then that was it for SDR. They just look flat and one dimensional and that really hampers immersion as I’m just left feeling ****** off that it hasn’t been implemented right. HDR is made for games, I still enjoy SDR films and series but games it just is too lacking.

Yeah, I can understand that, it wasn't a stab at you or anything, just a question. I'm glad I didn't go HDR because when a game gets it wrong it makes no difference for me:p

I can assure you though, this game's world and all the little details/interactions are amazing and those heavy controls can be gotten used to. I can't even list all the details I've seen so far, there are just too many:p I even see new stuff in places I've been to dozens of times before, like Valentine. It's incredibly polished, just the HDR isn't.

Controls are just Rockstar, they made everything heavier. GTA5 had a bit clunky controls as well. It's the closest thing to a real objective flaw in RDR2 if people can't get used to them, they aren't perfect. Other than that, it's a masterpiece with a few niggles and a laidback pace. Maybe not for people who don't enjoy exploration, westerns and slower story-driven experiences but it's great overall.
 
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Yeah, I can understand that, it wasn't a stab at you or anything, just a question. I'm glad I didn't go HDR because when a game gets it wrong it makes no difference for me:p

I can assure you though, this game's world and all the little details/interactions are amazing and those heavy controls can be gotten used to. I can't even list all the details I've seen so far, there are just too many:p I even see new stuff in places I've been to dozens of times before, like Valentine. It's incredibly polished, just the HDR isn't.

Controls are just Rockstar, they made everything heavier. GTA5 had a bit clunky controls as well. It's the closest thing to a real objective flaw in RDR2 if people can't get used to them, they aren't perfect. Other than that, it's a masterpiece with a few niggles and a laidback pace. Maybe not for people who don't enjoy exploration, westerns and slower story-driven experiences but it's great overall.

Thanks. Well I reckon I’d probably love the game then as they’re all the things I love. It’s a game that’s definitely on my list to return to at some point. Thanks for calling me out on my viewpoint too for the fact I actually haven’t anywhere finished the game. Cheers :)
 
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Well, I completely missed that but there's been a patch recently that adds a new, seemingly much better, HDR mode and improves AO.
Not much difference for me obviously but downloading now as I'm getting back into the game.
 
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Well, I completely missed that but there's been a patch recently that adds a new, seemingly much better, HDR mode and improves AO.
Not much difference for me obviously but downloading now as I'm getting back into the game.

Depends on your preference really, I prefer the cinematic HDR mode, the full blown HDR might be how HDR "should be" but the subdued effect and less vivid colour palette suits the game far better.
 
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Depends on your preference really, I prefer the cinematic HDR mode, the full blown HDR might be how HDR "should be" but the subdued effect and less vivid colour palette suits the game far better.

I'm on SDR so no difference to me, but a lot of people seem to like strong HDR. The game's beautiful to me even without it, graphics are often just jaw-dropping. For example, the lighting in Saint Denis at night is totally incredible.
 
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I'm on SDR so no difference to me, but a lot of people seem to like strong HDR. The game's beautiful to me even without it, graphics are often just jaw-dropping. For example, the lighting in Saint Denis at night is totally incredible.

It's nothing to do with 'strong hdr', the cinematic hdr was utterly broken. It was effectively mapping a sdr 8 bit image mastered at 100 nits into a 10bit hdr container. When most hdr content is mastered at 4000nits and above it was painfully rubbish implementation, raising the paper white nits to combat this would then wash out the whole image as it would increase overall brightness washing out blacks (digital foundry did an article on it). Its a legacy of the fact the game was probably not developed with HDR in mind. The new implementation is much better but still not perfect. If you want to see some good implementations of hdr then Sony first party titles are where it's at, that being said hdr needs to be seen on a set capable of doing it justice either OLED or FALD LCD.
 
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It's nothing to do with 'strong hdr', the cinematic hdr was utterly broken. It was effectively mapping a sdr 8 bit image mastered at 100 nits into a 10bit hdr container. When most hdr content is mastered at 4000nits and above it was painfully rubbish implementation, raising the paper white nits to combat this would then wash out the whole image as it would increase overall brightness washing out blacks (digital foundry did an article on it). Its a legacy of the fact the game was probably not developed with HDR in mind. The new implementation is much better but still not perfect. If you want to see some good implementations of hdr then Sony first party titles are where it's at, that being said hdr needs to be seen on a set capable of doing it justice either OLED or FALD LCD.

I was saying that people in general seem to like more in-your-face HDR, I obviously have no idea how it looks in RDR2, nor any other game for that matter, as I don't have a suitable display. All I knew is that RDR2 had borked HDR. I've only seen HDR in action on some TV demo, it was nice but I wasn't blown away.

I'd maybe get a proper HDR-capable TV but until everyone gets the implementation right, I don't want to get used to it and then run into a game that does it poorly.
 
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HDR was broken but SDR in this game still looked fantastic. Either way, I wouldn't let one game put you off buying an HDR TV as it really does make a difference when done right (which most AA-AAA titles manage).
 
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Might boot this up later to see how the HDR is now.

One thing I disliked about RDR2 was how the law and witnesses seemed to come out of nowhere when you robbed someone in the middle of nowhere, sometimes you would get a witness alert and no-one is to be seen.

Has this been fixed or toned down in recent updates?
 
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Might boot this up later to see how the HDR is now.

One thing I disliked about RDR2 was how the law and witnesses seemed to come out of nowhere when you robbed someone in the middle of nowhere, sometimes you would get a witness alert and no-one is to be seen.

Has this been fixed or toned down in recent updates?
Sadly no that hasn't been 'fixed' and I doubt it ever will since Rockstar wants to milk online. Last night I decided to shoot up Hanging Dog Ranch (Driscoll hideout) and whilst I was looting dead bodies, there was apparently a witness even though no one was around and then I could see lawmen coming to investigate in the distance when I enlarged the map. This has happened on two occassions in this spot and it always drives me crazy.
 
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Sadly no that hasn't been 'fixed' and I doubt it ever will since Rockstar wants to milk online. Last night I decided to shoot up Hanging Dog Ranch (Driscoll hideout) and whilst I was looting dead bodies, there was apparently a witness even though no one was around and then I could see lawmen coming to investigate in the distance when I enlarged the map. This has happened on two occassions in this spot and it always drives me crazy.

Shame, hope they improve this one day, doubt it though.

As for the HDR update, just had a play from the start and it's a pretty impressive improvement, comparing cinematic HDR to game HDR and its so much better, only can compare from the start (snowy area), lanterns and fires are more vibrant and that grey wash to everything that cinematic mode has is virtually gone.
In daytime snow actually looks white now.
 
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I would image R* have dropped the SP element as they did on GTA5 - nothing much else to add in that regard. SP DLC probably doesn't fit in with the narrative given what happens at the end of RDR2 considering its the prequel to RDR.

Although on GTA4 they had the two episodes after that were really good.

Shawrey
 
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I would image R* have dropped the SP element as they did on GTA5 - nothing much else to add in that regard. SP DLC probably doesn't fit in with the narrative given what happens at the end of RDR2 considering its the prequel to RDR.

Although on GTA4 they had the two episodes after that were really good.

Shawrey

For sure, its just a shame, because the single player is brilliant but some things could be improved to make it even better.
 
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Any news on the SP end of things for this game? I last played around June and it was clear that Rockstar were going to typically milk MP and do sod all. I did hear about some rumours of a zombie/s in the game but just assumed it was some MP thing. Played the SP game to the death and still miss it a lot but I've practically done everything there is.
 
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