Sunday Morning Musings

[Jarhead0331]

By al_infierno!

http://grogheads.com/whatever/20850

[Gusington]

Nicely done Al.

[Jarhead0331]

I'm reading Sid Meier's memoir and he mentioned some interesting issues about human psychology, options and complexity. He noted that studies have found that even though humans innately tend to be attracted to having more options, being faced with too many decisions ultimately tires the brain out and can lead to a choice not even being made at all. There were also some studies where two groups of people were given lunch menus. One group had just a few options. The other had many more. After choosing the lunch, both groups completed math questions. The groups with the simple menu always tended to perform better on the math problems and the conclusion was that even simple inconsequential decision making wears people out.

This instantly made me think of Red Dead Redemption and how I felt completely overwhelmed by the sheer amount of decisions and choices presented to the player. I literally put about an hour and half into the game at release and have not played since. The fact that this chapter seems to be much simpler and more linear makes me think that it might actually appeal to me. Only problem is I have to get through four other chapters of complexity to get there!

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[Gusington]

Is it truly a western, or an open world game set in the American west?

[al_infierno]

Thanks!

That's an interesting point JH and perfectly describes why I tend to drop so many wargames that I pick up, even after I've started learning the ropes.    Honestly though, Guarma in RDR2 has a total "tutorial island" feel to it, which makes it weird that it appears so late in the game.  But really, you can blow through the main story missions of the game and you won't honestly miss much aside from a couple missable story missions, which I missed 100% of in my first playthrough.  Almost all side activities can be completed in the epilogue, so dedicating your first playthrough to story missions and nothing else is a valid approach to make the game a bit more manageable.  The problem is sticking through with this plan and not getting distracted, lol.

Is it truly a western, or an open world game set in the American west?

A little of both, I would say.  RDR1 has the Spaghetti Western Film feel down 100% through and through.  This game feels more like they wanted to create an authentic historical American west setting, with a "western movie" vibe to the story missions and the music.  Basically, in free roam it feels more like the latter, in story missions it feels more like the former.

[Gusington]

 O0

[Sir Slash]

Great write-up Al. Nice pics too.  :clap:

[al_infierno]

Thank you!  O0