Age of Players

[PebbleDash]

Hi Friends, I am half way through Chapter 4 and only just discovered how to Take Cover. A lot of the time, especially in major battles, I am totally confused and quickly killed. I am wondering whether I am too old at 75. Any other senior citizens enjoying RDR2 as much as I am? Sapper.

 

[DNMNetTech]

Reading you are still having fun playing video games makes me look forward happily. Not too far forward mind you tho. Your never too old to enjoy entertainment. Game On!

[Kean_1]

I'm going to move this to the RDR2 General forum as it's not exactly an introduction and seems to be more about advice.

....btw, there are a lot of us here that are over the half century mark so you're not alone. 

 

[PebbleDash]

Many thanks for the responses to my query about the age of players. I have only played Resident Evil 4 and 5 before, starting after age 70. The difference between those games and RDR2 is the moral element of the latter - it is definitely different killing zombies or multi-headed monsters. I am so emersed in RDR2 that all my emotions are engaged - guilt, shame, (collecting debts from the likes of the Downes family) embarrassment (at my incompetence) and joy and wonder at the wilderness and wildlife. I am an atheist but it seems to me that the AI acts as a kind of Creator with an ethical agenda non-existent in the non-gaming world.

The minor key music that swells up after particularly emotional moments swallows me up at times. And always after I have committed some atrocity accidentally - punching my beloved horse, shooting a woman I meant to help home, arresting a man who pleaded for forgiveness and redemption because I didn't know what else to do to progress, and because the function of some buttons mysteriously changes. There are many lessons for life in this 'game' that is not a game at all but a very real part of my life and search for my own redemption.

[Foxtrot]

After you finish the game, you'll undoubtably find the next playthrough even more rewarding and immersive.  Many of us have restarted the story numerous times in order to fill in and enhance whatever we missed on previous play-throughs.

It's really easy to play this game far too quickly.  Enjoy your time in the RDR2 world.

[PebbleDash]

Thanks Foxtrot. I'm looking forward to a second play through. Only just beginning to use DeadEye properly. I am concerned, though, that large parts of the map where treasure and legendary animals are found are still fogged out for me - eg North-East of Hanover. I am hoping the areas will unlock at some point.

 

[Foxtrot]

The map unfogs as you move into the area.

You can't get into the south-western portion of the map yet for story-related reasons (it'll open up later in the game), but for the rest, you're free to explore as much as you like between story/stranger missions.

[PebbleDash]

2 hours ago, Foxtrot said:

The map unfogs as you move into the area.

You can't get into the south-western portion of the map yet for story-related reasons (it'll open up later in the game), but for the rest, you're free to explore as much as you like between story/stranger missions.

Foxtrot this was really useful. I planted a marker in the fog near Annesburg and as you say, when I arrived the map in the area had cleared. I can now go for the treasure and legends there.Many thanks. I would be really lost, figuratively and actually without all the excellent advice I find on-line. No doubt I will have more requests for help.

 

[Foxtrot]

That’s good to hear. Hopefully you’ll be able to explore and experience a lot more of the world now. 

[buttlint]

I think this game is directly pointed at us seniors.

I certainly didn't trade in my controller to get my medicare card and I am pretty sure Rockstar understands we are still a viable market and they will do what they can to keep us around. Boomers are still 25% of the population and have the disposable income.

I have been gaming since Pong and I am not going to suddenly change my lifestyle because of a calendar glitch. Besides toddlers, who has more recreational time to burn than us?  

Red Dead westerns hits us right in our youthful sweetspot. Movies, radio and television were dominated by westerns, war themes and gangsters. Our parents handed us plastic cap guns and chased us outside to create our own 1st person shooters with our friends. Who didnt want to be the Lone Ranger or Cisco Kid?

I have some of the same problems as you, Pebbledash, My memory is fine but my recall is terrible. I keep a cheat sheet near for most controller moves. I am quite capable of forgetting how to mount my horse if I havent played in a week. I've punched him more than I care to admit and he always forgives me.

I was a factory rat or a mechanic for 50 years and my hands are full of arthritis and bone spurs. I get by, but its good to see that manufactures are producing controllers for people with disabilities. 

The game is also quite good at letting you play at your own pace. I would avoid going to camp for days just so I could avoid missions. I spent a lot of time exploring the map and avoiding confrontations until I had pretty good grasp of how the game played. I would deadeye chipmunks and rabbits just for practice. This game also has some pretty reasonable enemies. No 50 foot tall acid spitting monsters that take an hour to kill. The game is interesting enough so that I never felt a need to rush thru it. 

As far as being to old to play games? I was 40 when I started and people would ask,"Arent you a bit to old to be playing a kids video game?" I always considered it as my hobby and just as reasonable as collecting stamps.

Enjoy the rest of your game!

 

[PebbleDash]

Thanks so much for your words Buttlint. Good to know I am not alone in skulking in the woods for days on end avoiding confrontation. I have been so long out of camp that I believe AI sent people out to find me (Charles) . I had an idea that the Ai wanted me dead because it sent a pack of wolves to attack me while I was at the counter in Valentine station trying to pay off a bounty before I was captured. 

I am a very new gamer (first game Resident Evil 4 at age 73) and take a long time to feel easy with the context-dependent controller functions. Still not sure whether Dead eye and Eagle eye are the same thing or not.

A question - would it be OK for me to kill Dutch? I don't like him all - especially after he prophesied that I would betray him in the end because " I am the type".

Yes Buttlint who else but 'Boomers' would be able to spend so much time in the splendid world of RDR2? (average 8 hours a day for me).

I have never engaged in any forum before and am much gratified to actually get such helpful, intelligent and interesting responses.

[buttlint]

33 minutes ago, PebbleDash said:

A question - would it be OK for me to kill Dutch? I don't like him all - especially after he prophesied that I would betray him in the end because " I am the type".

Save that malice....You are going to need it later in the game.

 

40 minutes ago, PebbleDash said:

Yes Buttlint who else but 'Boomers' would be able to spend so much time in the splendid world of RDR2? (average 8 hours a day for me).

Be careful with the marathons. I was doing all-nighters and white Russians until I discovered the wonders of severe eyestrain. Pixelated vision, night blindness and massive headaches arent as glamorous as they sound. I dont mean to be Captain Bringdown but I had to quit playing for a month. Just an old guy tip.

[PebbleDash]

Good advice Buttlint. I have indeed suffered from gummed-up eyes and headaches after several 14-hour stints and consequently cutdown. I guess my 'second life' in RDR2 is in many ways preferable to my first-life outside of the game. What are White Russians?

On 'malice', my alter-ego Arthur Morgan and I both set great store by loyalty and as the Blind Man told us in the wilderness that which is your strength is also your weakness and Dutch's comment got under our skin. It is remarkable how my own personality traits become part of Arthur's - irritation at the sloth of other camp members when I am diligently doing chores and contributing as much as I can, and a flavour of anti-authoritarianism in my relationship with Dutch. Not helped by his casual acceptance of the pipe I took great trouble to obtain for him.

[Kormath]

14 hours ago, buttlint said:

Be careful with the marathons. I was doing all-nighters and white Russians until I discovered the wonders of severe eyestrain. Pixelated vision, night blindness and massive headaches arent as glamorous as they sound. I dont mean to be Captain Bringdown but I had to quit playing for a month. Just an old guy tip.

Been there myself.  Over the xmas holidays i thought i'd see if i could do like i used to and have an all night game session, after i'd been playing since about 2pm that day.  I made it until about 4am before i had to surrender.  i knew i was done when my peripheral vision started shimmering, kinda looking like The Predator's stealth mode.  Massive migraine incoming is what that means for me.  Can't play like i did 30 years ago and go all day and night and into the next day.

[buttlint]

4 hours ago, PebbleDash said:

What are White Russians?

White Russians are delightful concoction of Vodka, Kahlua and cream. (For a more healthy version I use 2% milk to replace the cream.) They were made popular by the American film icon, Jeffery Lebowski, in the classic film, The Big Lebowski.

In real life, they help boost my stamina core and refill my dead eye bar. 

44 minutes ago, Kormath said:

Been there myself.  Over the xmas holidays i thought i'd see if i could do like i used to and have an all night game session, after i'd been playing since about 2pm that day.  I made it until about 4am before i had to surrender.  i knew i was done when my peripheral vision started shimmering, kinda looking like The Predator's stealth mode.  Massive migraine incoming is what that means for me.  Can't play like i did 30 years ago and go all day and night and into the next day.

Yep. Back in the day we were relegated to a 15" monitor, a steel folding chair and stuck in the corner of a cold basement. Two hours of that meant numb ass cheeks and a trip upstairs to take a 10 minute whiz. You either took a break or faced some nasty consequences.

[Kormath]

36 minutes ago, buttlint said:

White Russians are delightful concoction of Vodka, Kahlua and cream. (For a more healthy version I use 2% milk to replace the cream.) They were made popular by the American film icon, Jeffery Lebowski, in the classic film, The Big Lebowski.

In real life, they help boost my stamina core and refill my dead eye bar. 

Black Russian is what i started with years and years ago.  didn't know about a white russian until i ordered a black at a bar and they made a white by mistake.  Vodka drinks have been my preference for going on 25 years.  there's a few variations of it out now that i've seen,  mudslide (white russian with irish cream added), blind russian (or muddy water i've heard it called also - vodka, kahlua, irish cream)  Then the canadian version so they didn't feel left out (white canadian - vodka, kahlua, goat milk - i think that one is just nasty)  more recently the Anna Kournikova (vodka, kahlua, skim milk - also called a Skinny White Russian), and then my favorite of the bunch, goes along with my love of the extra dirty vodka martini (the extra dirty part only works with the female bartenders) - the Dirty Russian (vodka, kahlua, chocolate milk) 

[PebbleDash]

Must try a white Russian. Harking back, Buttlint, I think 'malice' is too strong a word for my irritation with Dutch. I can't fault his correction of bullies and racists but nor can I help seeing a degree of manipulation in his constant stress on 'loyalty' - not unlike Tesco's 'Loyalty Card" that sullies an otherwise admirable virtue with commercial/political interest.

I am still making a dog's dinner of all my set battles, never knowing what my targets are, where I am supposed to run to and so on. I hope I am right in thinking that the perfect run-throughs I see on You Tube are the result of many many repetitions? I don't watch them now, preferring to blunder blind into these confrontations and suffer the inevitable dire consequences.

 

[Kean_1]

 

5 hours ago, buttlint said:

White Russians are delightful concoction of Vodka, Kahlua and cream. (For a more healthy version I use 2% milk to replace the cream.) They were made popular by the American film icon, Jeffery Lebowski, in the classic film, The Big Lebowski.

Never knew that about that movie but then again, I had my first White Russian long before it ever released. 

[BropolloCreed79]

7 minutes ago, Kean_1 said:

 

Never knew that about that movie but then again, I had my first White Russian long before it ever released. 

I watch it about it once every 2 months.  If I have a bad day it's Lebowski or Army of Darkness to lift my spirits.

[Kean_1]

4 minutes ago, BropolloCreed79 said:

I watch it about it once every 2 months.  If I have a bad day it's Lebowski or Army of Darkness to lift my spirits.

I've watched AoD a few times but believe it or not, I never saw the Big Lebowski.  Not that I haven't been interested, I just never got around to it.

[PebbleDash]

I must watch The Big Lebowski as I am a fan of the Coen Brothers. I recommend The Ballad Of Buster Scruggs by the Coens to all RDR2 players - some wonderfully poignant western vignettes with amazing cinematography featuring western panoramas and western themes.

[BropolloCreed79]

3 hours ago, Kean_1 said:

I've watched AoD a few times but believe it or not, I never saw the Big Lebowski.  Not that I haven't been interested, I just never got around to it.

The Boondock Saints was that movie for me.  Didn't see it until just before the second one came out.

[PebbleDash]

Boondock Saints - that's another one for me to check out thanks. I'm enjoying Ozark (Netflix) at the moment darkened tense.

[buttlint]

It appears that my ex son in law left his Netflix password on my roku when he was here several years ago.

Oh, my! 😮

As I recall, his last words to me were..........Senile...........Old..........What????.😮

"Roma" is a very good movie. I think my wife wants to watch "Bird Box" next.

 

[PebbleDash]

On 6/7/2019 at 11:11 PM, PebbleDash said:

I must watch The Big Lebowski as I am a fan of the Coen Brothers. I recommend The Ballad Of Buster Scruggs by the Coens to all RDR2 players - some wonderfully poignant western vignettes with amazing cinematography featuring western panoramas and western themes.

Further to my recommendation of The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, (Coen Brothers written and directed) the Two Chapter'Vignettes that stand out are "The Meal Ticket' and 'The Gal who got Rattled'. Enjoy.

[Kormath]

On 6/7/2019 at 3:51 PM, Kean_1 said:

 

Never knew that about that movie but then again, I had my first White Russian long before it ever released. 

Same.  i've seen Big Lebowski and never did figure out what the big hype was.  Was an OK movie, nothing special, not a movie i wanted to watch again.

[N7Creed]

On 6/7/2019 at 10:27 PM, PebbleDash said:

I am still making a dog's dinner of all my set battles, never knowing what my targets are, where I am supposed to run to and so on. I hope I am right in thinking that the perfect run-throughs I see on You Tube are the result of many many repetitions? I don't watch them now, preferring to blunder blind into these confrontations and suffer the inevitable dire consequences.

 

 

For me, it helped to find a few boxes to crouch behind so I'm not getting holed like a piece of swiss cheese while I worked out where all the bullets were coming from. Once I realized that I didn't need to rush into a fight and could hunker down and take my time, the big pitched scenes got a lot less frazzling. 

Also, I started gaming as an early 20-something, and I'm only now getting half-way decent at video games. They really aren't 'just for kids'. RDR2 is an '18+' game, and my next highly anticipated game Cyberpunk is supposed to be rated 'Mature'. 

Edited June 10, 2019 by N7Creed

[PebbleDash]

21 minutes ago, N7Creed said:

 

For me, it helped to find a few boxes to crouch behind so I'm not getting holed like a piece of swiss cheese while I worked out where all the bullets were coming from. Once I relieved that I didn't need to rush into a fight and could hunker down and take my time, the big pitched scenes got a lot less frazzling. 

Also, I started gaming as an early 20-something, and I'm only now (a decade+ later) getting half-way decent at video games. They really aren't 'just for kids'. RDR2 is an '18+' game, and my next highly anticipated game Cyberpunk is supposed to be rated 'Mature'. 

Good advice N7Creed and thanks. It's not just that as a new gamer and in my mid-70s my reactions are slower and I am slower to pick up on what's happening, I find my aggression levels are low to non-existent. Having just started the online game I am non-plussed when some total stranger decides to kill me for no good reason.

In my first 10 minutes I encountered a surreal live horse's head sticking up out of the track. I tried to rescue it but it head butted me and died! It was like a Dhali video.

[N7Creed]

@PebbleDash Yeah, the Online game is way more violent. You are dealing with real live people and they wil do things the NPCs wont. Best thing to do is spawn in at the opposite side of the map you want to be and ride there. As the game seems to put you in the same area as other players on log-in. Also don't forget to enable Defensive mode. For all the different opinions on it, I have at least found I get bothered less with defensive on, and you can report those players who hassle you while you're defensive. 

[PebbleDash]

1 minute ago, N7Creed said:

@PebbleDash Yeah, the Online game is way more violent. You are dealing with real live people and they wil do things the NPCs wont. Best thing to do is spawn in at the opposite side of the map you want to be and ride there. As the game seems to put you in the same area as other players on log-in. Also don't forget to enable Defensive mode. For all the different opinions on it, I have at least found I get bothered less with defensive on, and you can report those players who hassle you while you're defensive. 

Thanks again. I had Defensive mode on and some Dude was waiting for me to spawn three times and shot me in the back immediately each time. Eventually I was able to knife him just so I could get on with my game. In these initial encounters I have very little money and no ammunition and poor weapons so 'easy meat' for some.