Monday, May 24, 2010

Red Dead surprise

As I was playing Red Dead Redemption today, I happened across a woman crying beside a dead man. By his limp hand was a revolver. The game only gives players a short amount of time to respond to strangers in need. It seemed I had missed my opportunity to help this man fight off bandits. He had failed to defend himself and died.

I stood for a few seconds watching the woman cry, and I turned away. Then I heard a gunshot. I spun back around, thinking it was a trick (like previous ploys NPCs had used on me) -- the woman must have killed the man and then pretended to be grieving so I would let down my guard. But no, the woman was dead. She had indeed been grieving, and now she had committed suicide with her fallen husband's revolver.

Kudos to Rockstar for creating a very memorable game-story experience.

3 comments:

  1. I've not come across this scenario but have to agree that Rockstar have done themselves proud by placing small interactions like this which can add to the 'epic' feel of the game's entirety.

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  2. I always seem to be in a hurry getting some where that I forget how to get off my horse to help the down trodden or those being chased by wolves.

    I do think this game is pretty fantastic with it's spontaneous open world events.

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  3. Those sporadic events add so much to the game.

    I just wish Rockstar made them a bit more dynamic. If I see two guys chasing another and shooting at him, they're always cops chasing a criminal. If someone pleads with me to stop so they can catch a ride, it's always someone hoping to hijack my horse. If a hunter is chasing a deer and you shoot it before he does, he'll always thank you. It would be more interesting and more fun if I could never be sure what was going to happen.

    Dynamics and replayability. If only more developers would focus on that stuff.

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