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Fair question. It was a combination of several things put together that I think qualifies as pushing boundaries for me. On their own these things may not be a b

Fair question. It was a combination of several things put together that I think qualifies as pushing boundaries for me. On their own these things may not be a big deal, but altogether and especially on relatively outdated hardware(console) they're great accomplishments. The game is seamless - and I think God of War does this well also - basically there's really no "loading" once you're in the game; you go from gameplay to cutscene to gameplay without any interruption. The graphics are high quality and that's amazing for how huge the game is and how extremely dynamic it is (e.g. how animals interact with the environment, the weather). Considering the lag I get on the PS4 with games like Witcher 3 that try to balance high quality graphics with scale, RDR2 is smooth. You can be on a train fighting 30 guys (each with dynamic facial expressions) with animals running around in the distance, explosions, the wind is blowing the trees around you and it's changing from sunshine to pouring rain - all this and more without a hiccup. That's a lot of detail processing at one time. EDIT: one other thing I found impressive and i'm not sure I've seen this in other open-world games or if they intentionally programmed it this way: during one of the missions I slaughtered about a dozen or two guys and traveled a considerable distance away from the scene. Normally when you come back to something like this, the world around you has pretty much re-rendered, but 30 minutes later when I arrived back, all the dead bodies were in the same place as before.

simion314 8y ago
Thanks for the reply, seems to me that is a natural evolution from the previous game, the new hardware is more powerful and they had the money and time to add those details and polish it. I 100% agree the graphics and details are great, I was wondering if they brought something revolutionary since the last games that I missed in the reviews and gameplays I watched.
mikewhy 8y ago
> The game is seamless - and I think God of War does this well also - basically there's really no "loading" once you're in the game; you go from gameplay to cutscene to gameplay without any interruption. Lots of games have had "no loading" (after a large load in the beginning and hidden loads throughout the game), dating back at least to the PS3. What God Of War did differently is that there's no camera cuts; the whole game is one continuous camera shot.
danso 8y ago
RDR2 is definitely a great game, with more detail and nuance than I’ve ever seen, nevermind the gkorious visuals and music. But I agree with the previous commenter’s sentiment — there’s not a lot of game design innovation. The mission structure is linear and restrictive as a straight-jacket. There’s no way to progress that doesn’t involve murdering an immersion-breaking number of outlaws and cops alike. Even the detail you mention — corpses being present (and even decaying) — is as much an illusion (due to memory constraints) ad it is in any other game. Humans disappear as soon as you move into a nearby zone (especially after a mission). Some corpses of certain infrequrntly-spawning animals do remain, but only for awhile. Again, the overall package and detail is incredible, especially the amount and variety of voiceover work. But it’s not particularly innovative.
- ghostbrainalpha 8y ago
  I think the innovation is entirely focused on making the narrative of game more cinematic. The way dynamic gameplay lines up perfectly with cut scenes... and stuff like that. I can understand why those innovations don't really count for a lot of hardcore gamers. You are typically looking for innovations in AI, persistent world features (memory optimization), game decisions that effect the world and game play (branching trees). RDR2 isn't a revolution from a technology perspective. But it's revolutionary from an artistic one. The attention to detail in animal behavior is my favorite part about the game. I'm sure there are many geniuses at Rockstar but what made this game was beautiful craftsmanship. I think when this game eventually gets the VR remake like Skyrim recently did, people will be able to appreciate how much went into this game. People will be revisiting it for a long time.

simion314 8y ago

Thanks for the reply, seems to me that is a natural evolution from the previous game, the new hardware is more powerful and they had the money and time to add those details and polish it. I 100% agree the graphics and details are great, I was wondering if they brought something revolutionary since the last games that I missed in the reviews and gameplays I watched.

mikewhy 8y ago

> The game is seamless - and I think God of War does this well also - basically there's really no "loading" once you're in the game; you go from gameplay to cutscene to gameplay without any interruption. Lots of games have had "no loading" (after a large load in the beginning and hidden loads throughout the game), dating back at least to the PS3. What God Of War did differently is that there's no camera cuts; the whole game is one continuous camera shot.

danso 8y ago

RDR2 is definitely a great game, with more detail and nuance than I’ve ever seen, nevermind the gkorious visuals and music. But I agree with the previous commenter’s sentiment — there’s not a lot of game design innovation. The mission structure is linear and restrictive as a straight-jacket. There’s no way to progress that doesn’t involve murdering an immersion-breaking number of outlaws and cops alike. Even the detail you mention — corpses being present (and even decaying) — is as much an illusion (due to memory constraints) ad it is in any other game. Humans disappear as soon as you move into a nearby zone (especially after a mission). Some corpses of certain infrequrntly-spawning animals do remain, but only for awhile. Again, the overall package and detail is incredible, especially the amount and variety of voiceover work. But it’s not particularly innovative.

ghostbrainalpha 8y ago
I think the innovation is entirely focused on making the narrative of game more cinematic. The way dynamic gameplay lines up perfectly with cut scenes... and stuff like that. I can understand why those innovations don't really count for a lot of hardcore gamers. You are typically looking for innovations in AI, persistent world features (memory optimization), game decisions that effect the world and game play (branching trees). RDR2 isn't a revolution from a technology perspective. But it's revolutionary from an artistic one. The attention to detail in animal behavior is my favorite part about the game. I'm sure there are many geniuses at Rockstar but what made this game was beautiful craftsmanship. I think when this game eventually gets the VR remake like Skyrim recently did, people will be able to appreciate how much went into this game. People will be revisiting it for a long time.