So I recently got my hands on Red Dead Redemption ok not recently about a month ago. I can honestly not believe its been that long and I've only completed 60% of the game. Well not really since many times I just find myself trotting around on my horse looking for trouble and not actually doing anything that takes me further into the game,
Open world games like this can offer up a host of distractions and its not even like you go looking for them, something as simple as, oh that's a skunk, let me try and kill it, skin it and see how much I can get for its pelt. Yes, you're a hunter and tracker extraordinaire.
My first impression
The first part of this game is well dull, as is any tutorial part of any game, but this one is unreasonably long and frustratingly slowly paced at times.
Yes, you don't want to give us too much access too soon, but gee whiz can I at least move around at my own pace? Why do you tell me to move forward if you control the speed at which I move? You could move it yourself, and I could watch a cutscene while scrolling through my steemit feed or something.
So once you meet the gang, complete a few intro mini missions you will finally make your way out of what fans are calling the "snow part".
This is where the game starts to get interesting; you get to explore towns, hunt, fish, select missions, interact with strangers, get drunk, start fights and naturally murder and mayhem is not too far away.
As in Facebook arguments, things escalate quickly in this game. You could walk up to someone and stand in front of them for too long, and you're either end up in a gun or fist fight or being chased by the law.
Tips & tricks
So here are a few tricks I've picked up along the way that have helped me in times of need.
Run & Ride around a whole lot
You'll need stamina for you and your horse. If you can help it run around like a madman or ride your horse like crazy at full speed, improving your stamina comes in handy later on.
You will have to travel long distances our outrun the law so being in tip-top shop is a must.
Hunt a whole lot
Hunting is a great way to improve your shooting and with it your dead-eye accuracy. As you quickly enhance your dead eye stays for much longer and vital points are displayed, so the one-shot kill shot comes more often than not.
This is super helpful later in the game when you're attacked by wave after wave of hill billies or Pinkertons.
Spend your first $1000 on the camp
You need the money for nothing in the beginning so upgrade your camp and get that fast travel as soon as possible; it comes in handy when you have to go from town to town to complete missions.
Sell or donate all your food
You will most likely die before needing to cook any food to eat, rather keep some snacks with you instead and some tonics. Food is a mission to use, finding a fire or setting up one is a waste of time IMO, I rather sell to a grocer or butcher or donate it to camp. You will always pick up later, so its best to travel light.
Don't try to outshoot the law
Just give up and pay the fine, don't try to shoot your way out, you only make things worse. Most times you will die, and if you don't, you'll have a huge bounty on your head that makes it annoying to get around town.
Don't bother with shitty pelts
Once you kill and skin an animal and it says "Poor animal name pelt"don't even bother keeping it, you can't make anything out of it and by the time you eventually get to a butcher its worth max $1. Did you carry this pelt with you all the way to a butcher for freaking dollar $1?
Finding perfect pelts are the only thing worth holding on to, it helps you craft items and collect a pretty penny, enough to cover a bounty on your head at times!
Review (of the game thus far)
All things considered, this game has a rich and compelling narrative with a great plot surrounding the van der Linde gang and its escapades with Arthur.
They do well fleshing out all the main characters, their personality quirks and motivations and you start to see yourself liking these band of merry misfits after a while.
When you lose some of your gang members you feel the loss; the voice acting goes a long way in helping you feel that way too!
The missions are exciting and vary in skill level needed and length to , so it always keeps things interesting. You're also not stuck in one mission you can complete half of it and be on your way to another, well if it's not a story driving critical task that is, which gives you a little more freedom.
The detail in the script is something I have to commend Rockstar on with even minor characters having quite a bit about them, and the amount of story arcs you're given is almost mind-blowing for a game.
It almost feels like you're living in the wild west or the closest thing to it.
I'm enjoying this game and can't wait to see the big pay off in the end if you've already gotten there no spoilers in the comments please.
This is my submission for a game played over the weekend competition by 
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