The Gameplay Loop is Too Grindy
I was surprised to discover that Red Dead Online seems to be following a reasonably deep story, and the way in which it’s sticking to much of what made Red Dead Redemption 2 special. It hasn’t abandoned the methodical approach to gameplay, the measured pace, and emphasis on survival mechanics.
The trouble is, that doesn’t necessarily work all that well for an online experience, especially in combination with the extent to which Red Dead Online asks players to grind for weapons, items, clothing, ranks, and everything else.
Surely the draw of online play should be accessibility, allowing players to jump in and quickly set-up, get involved, and start playing to their preference? It’s not quite the case from what I’m seeing, though. Certain clothing is strangely locked behind ranks, while others are horrendously expensive.
The worst of it, however, is the gold bars. This is Red Dead Online’s premium currency, which can be bought with real-life money as well as earned in-game. 100 gold nuggets equal a single gold bar, and nuggets are given as rewards for completing various modes, such as PvP, or by finding treasure scattered across the map.
Gold bars can be used to purchase unique items, but as of right now, obtaining them without forking out real-life money is a total grind.
One player calculated that 1 gold bar equates to about eight hours of gameplay. For reference, it costs the equivalent of around 30 gold bars to change every metal option on your rifle to a different color. Yeah… that’s one hell of a grind.
More importantly, horse insurance, your guarantee that you’re animal pal won’t die permanently, is only purchasable via five gold bars (although your first is free).
Of course, having a premium currency benefits players from having to worry about items continually ramping up in price moving forward, as they did in GTA Online. But it doesn’t really solve the issue if the premium currency itself is a huge grind to obtain.
It’s also doubly annoying given that, plenty of the purchasable items in the beta aren’t limited to cosmetics — they’re functional, too, like horse insurance or particular fishing rods.
It’s obviously causing a sticking point for some players, who are already lamenting Rockstar Games’ implementation of the premium currency. The fear moving forward is grinding hours of gameplay will be the only way to take full advantage of Red Dead Online’s most compelling items and equipment. Let’s hope that isn’t the case.
There’s Too Much Griefing
The Wild West was a dangerous place in the 1800s, certainly, but the mean streets Valentine in Red Dead Online would have even the hardiest of cowboys quivering in their boots. And for no good reason, either, other than the fact that other players are just massive jerks, apparently.
The griefing that’s going on in the beta as of this moment is just too much. It’s hard to take a leisurely walk down toward the lake for a fishing trip, enjoy a trot on horseback across the mountains of Ambarino, or to engage with the game in any sense, without being shot in the back of the head by some giggling idiot.
Something needs to be done. Moving forward it’d be great to see Rockstar Games implement a stricter punishment system for players that continually grief. Sure, they have a system in place already: the Feud and Parley mechanic. Repeat offenders trigger an in-game option to parley, which prevents the other player from attacking; mutually agreeing to a feud triggers a gun-slinging sequence to sort out your differences.
Unfortunately, though, it still doesn’t actually stop other players from randomly killing you once, twice, or even three times before activating. You can effectively be shot by five different players two or three times without any consequence, which isn’t very fun.
Currently, we’re faced with a situation that’s reminiscent of Grand Theft Auto Online’s teething problems. It too suffered (and still suffers from) players continually griefing others. Except it’s even more irritating in Red Dead Online, a world that’s supposed to cater to immersion and realism.
Playlist Added for Multiplayer Modes
I’m enjoying Make it Count… when I can play it. What is the deal with there not being a specific playlist for the most popular multiplayer mode in video gaming right now? You would have thought Rockstar Games would telegraph its Battle Royale equivalent a little more obviously, right?
The beta currently has players join a Showdown session and then wait in line to either be thrown into a Shootout game or Make it Count, but you can’t actually choose. That desperately needs to be rectified, just to make the experience a little more accessible.
Perhaps this was a measure deliberately put in place for the beta to encourage players to try different game modes? After all, based on the popularity of battle royale, you can understand the temptation to skip everything else and head straight for the last-man-standing experience.
Regardless, we’d like to see a revised UI and a greater freedom of choice in the full release.
Auto-Aim Needs to Go
If you found yourself fiddling around with Red Dead Redemption 2’s control system for a smoother shooting experience, you may very well have gotten used to playing the game without auto-aim.
For my money, it made for a more challenging experience and also one that felt a little more natural, less “sticky” as Rockstar Games’ titles tend to always feel.
However, you won’t want to switch auto-aim off in Red Dead Online unless you’re willing to put yourself at a serious competitive disadvantage. As of right now, there’s no option to play in a free-aim lobby, so likely every gunfight you find yourself in will be versus players using auto-aim.
It’s a rather baffling exclusion if I’m honest. It’s one thing to allow players to use auto-aim, but it’s quite another to not offer a free-aim lobby for those that want a more even playing field. After all, there’s no actual skill in having the computer automatically target your opponent’s’ head.
Again, this may just be a deliberate move on Rockstar’s part to simplify server stress-testing, but it’s definitely spoiling my own impression of the gameplay experience so far.
Progress from the Beta Must Save
The beta is a trial-run, effectively, so it makes sense that the mode will evolve and be iterated on moving forward. But if we’re going to invest hours into this test phase helping Rockstar hone the experience, could they please make sure the character progress saves over?
Rockstar recently stated:
“We hope that all player progress during this early period of the Beta will be able to remain intact long term, however as with many betas for large-scale online experiences such as this, there is always the chance that we may need to implement rank or other stat resets in case of issues.”
Again, that certainly does make sense, but quite honestly, the last thing I was to be doing is retracing my steps through the online’s opening story and tutorial sections, not least having to rebuild my character’s stats, weapons, and equipment.
Considering what a great job Rockstar did of getting Red Dead Online up and running in a stable manner so quickly, you’d have to imagine there are millions of players hopping into the beta fresh off the back of their single-player playthrough.
That’s an awful lot of disappointed folk, potentially, and a large pool of players the developer will be hoping to form the foundation of the game’s online community. Let’s hope they can find some way to make the full release a seamless transition.
Published: Nov 30, 2018 03:08 pm