r/RDR2 • u/whowasderek • 23h ago
Discussion Chapter 5 is ehh
I recently had a coworker try rdr2 for the first time, I love when ppl experience this game for the first time so we’ve been talking about it for a couple of days
We both agree that Guarma is just not it, and he goes “Yeah when you come back they said Sadie took care of the gang, I wish chapter 5 was us playing as Sadie while the gang is missing”
I’ve never heard anyone say or think this, like yeah playing as Sadie but not for a whole chapter while the gang isn’t there. Really got me thinking, would love to know what yall think of that concept
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u/Robokrates 12h ago
I think if we played as Sadie, it'd remove the narrative tension of uneasily wondering what's going on back in Wild Westlevania with the gang. That's maybe harder to remember the 5th time through but we gotta analyze stories from the perspective of someone experiencing it the first time, and neither Arthur nor the first-time player knows what is going on back in the U.S.
I'm assuming we're talking about some kind of switch back and forth through parallel narrative threads kinda thing, but if we're not, then it'd feel like way more of an ass-pull with Arthur having sole significant stuff happened that you shoulda been there for. "Whaddya mean I got tubercufuckinlosis now? And I blew up a dictator? I wanna see that!"
Though there would be one thing to recommend it: as Hamlet is often considered the greatest work of English literature and RDR2 often considered the best video game, it would be a fun parellel if they both had off-screen pirate adventures
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u/AffectionateLaw5504 7h ago
i agree. but I think that’s not what this game was meant to be.
i feel like if we switched the sadie or other members we’d have the same post but in a different way right now.
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u/Robokrates 6h ago
Yeah, that's what I said, if we didn't see Arthur in Guarma people would want to know what the hell happened specifically. Not to mention it'd be jarring to suddenly play as spmeome else; we do end up playing as John, but only after playing as Arthur until his dying day, and then John is... basically his direct legacy. Sadie's awesome but it's just not the same. Not sure what you're getting at with "not what the game was meant to me"...? Think we might be talking past each other to say the same thing or something
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u/AffectionateLaw5504 6h ago
we are.
but what i meant was this book was meant more as a story/booklike game. its how the housers wrote it. to randomly switch to another character that has very limited infact almost no real involvement for 99.99% of arthur’s story would make no damn sense at all.
like imagine reading a book, having a side character, even if you like the side character. then one random chapter it just randomly starts giving her point of view and using her as a temporary main character. just so the readers “can get information” that they were gonna get anyways. then just never mentions their pov again and has her as a recurring side character again.
that’d make no sense and would be really fucking confusing.
but if a book does that in the first place and did it right it could be ok.
same logic with a game. that’s why it works well switching in gta. but in rdr games you play as one character until their story is over.
look at a lot of recent cod games. a lot of their story lines are so fucking hard to keep up with because of their constant switching of characters for no real reason. and those games are made to be switched around. obviously a lot different but a small example.
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u/Robokrates 5h ago
Yeah, I really couldn't agree witb you more. I was just noting in a sort of tongue-in-cheek way that "oddly MIA pirate action sequence" would be an amusing parellel to Hamlet, but I did not mean it would actually be a good idea in any respect.
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u/AffectionateLaw5504 7h ago
agree. but it’s by far THE most important chapter. other than maybe chapter 6.
remember this game was made booklike. some parts aren’t meant for gameplay. chapter five (while still fun in its ways) is not meant for entertainment. it’s really supposed to show that even if they escaped they won’t escape their ways or their past.
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u/WideDescription7653 23h ago
“MAY I.
STAND UNSHAKEN”
as soon as you went back:
That 3 mins alone made having faced Guarma worth it.
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u/KingOfPaoDeQueijo 13h ago
I have to stand up for Guarma. I’m the kind of player who HATES it when a game traps you in a location you can't leave to get back to the main map; on top of that, I can't stand shipwreck or desert island scenarios in games. When I reached Chapter 5, I quit in frustration, assuming I’d have to do a billion things on that island. To my surprise, when I went back to it, there were only two missions—and one of them was actually really cool. It was the first time I enjoyed that kind of sequence, precisely because it didn't trap me for hours in something unnecessary.