re: Starting RDR2

It is true you find a lot of shite out exploring, but the issue is that none of it really feels rewarding outside of the "oh that's neat" site seeing factor.

I read an article months ago, have no idea how legit it was, but it basically said the devs intentionally kept all the open world side stuff lite on the rewards so it wouldn't feel mandatory. I can see how it's a tough line to walk. But I think they went too far in the other direction. You can ignore everything in the game except the main story line missions if you so choose and your game isn't really affected at all.

There's like 12 different bullet types you can buy/craft but it was pointless because enemies all die in one head shot anyway.

Same story with crafting tonics, you can craft all these super cool tonics, but you find them so regularly on enemies as regular loot there's really no point to crafting them.

The amount of money or rewards you get for fishing/hunting/robbing/gambling is so trivial you give up on it quickly unless you actually enjoy doing those things.

I tend to find mechanics that don't really give the player any tangible incentive to be pointless.

However RDR2 is just as much a sim as it a traditional video game, and once you come to peace with that you can enjoy it for what it is.