I’ll agree that RDR is different in a many ways, it’s still Rockstar so some of the gameplay is similar but a lot more fun with the western vibe over the city. And while I enjoyed some of the GTA games, none of them come close to RDR1 in my opinion. I just brought GTA up because I saw the same life sim crap creeping in there around GTA4 like I did RDR2
I’ll chime in! This is absolutely true in my experience. I loved RDR1 (still one of my favorite games) but with RDR2, I felt exactly the same as you. Too much fishing, hunting, and other distracting elements. RDR1 has some of that but it’s on a much smaller and easier to complete scale. I never finished the second one, about halfway through, I went back and replayed the first.
That’s basically been Rockstar’s MO since GTA4. I enjoyed GTA3 through San Andreas but GTA4 felt like bowling with cousin Roman more than a GTA game.
I’m with you. I loved the first RDR, one of my favorite games of all time. Fun interesting characters, the side quest plots all went a little sideways, which was refreshing. I really wanted to like RDR2 but it ended up feeling tedious. Lots to love in the game so I understand why so many people said it was an amazing game.
I feel like Rockstar did the same thing with the GTA games. GTA3, VC, and SA were somewhat realistic games set in a goofy world with strange characters and interactions. By GTA4, all the interesting plots were replaced by pointless minigames and going bowling with cousin Roman. That’s basically the same way I felt about the jump between RDR and RDR2.
I never played Red Dead Revolver so I don’t know how that fits in with the rest.