Characterisation, Pros and Cons (no spoilers plz)

[Poggy]

I think most can agree on the dialogue and story elements being mostly good in rdr2 (for a game).  Maybe we can be more specific with regard to what we liked and disliked with regard to the characters?  Please, no details or spoilers - keep it general.

Pros:

A number of characters, including strangers and not just limited to main NPCs, go through an arc of development to at least some degree - they change, develop, or degenerate as the game progresses

There is a fairly good range of character types - many are clearly different from each other.

Sometimes there is a genuinely affective moment of interaction/revelation with an NPC: funny, sad, shocking, sentimental, thoughtful.  This is the strongest of the Pros in my opinion.  I like it when even a console game can move me emotionally in some way.

There is a fair range of accents and voices (though I'd have preferred even more!).  The acting is generally very good given the limitations of the genre and medium - I can sometimes hear the character's emotion in the voice acting.  This is especially true in moments of melancholy reflection.

A number of NPCs have memorable idiosyncratic quirks or personal traits - there's quite a few characters in this game who aren't going to be forgotten any time soon!

Most Western stock character tropes and types were included (though not all)

 

Cons:

Some characters, especially strangers, are very predictable and too cardboard or cliched (even for a game)

There's too much 21st century values/liberal talking points forced unhistorically into some characters (esp regarding race and gender), such as all religionists being insane/hypocrites/pathetic; or pro-environmentalists; or 'women can do everything a man can'; or anyone who was racists a hundred years ago was an imbecile or evil; business men are corrupt and greedy; the law is incompetent; rural southerners are all degenerate hillbillies etc.

Although I understand the Deadwood choice to have modern swearing language, it would have been better (IMHO) to have a greater range of swears (like Deadwood) and more historically accurate lingo thrown in

Some stronger, more historical (and less understandable) accents and dialects would have been nice to encounter from time to time

Too much fear of censure has resulted in avoiding some historical and genre appropriate elements (like brothels, schools, racist language etc), which I think makes the game more 'gamey' and less immersive or 'cinematic', which is a con, IMHO

(edit: additonal thought) Shouldnt there be more fat people, more Native Americans, and more wounded ex-civil war soldiers knocking about?

 

Your thoughts on this amazing game?

Edited November 5, 2018 by Poggy