I think different games need different features to bring out the best in them. God of War had pretty much zero friction in it and that’s one of the things that made it great. RDR2 has tons of friction, but that adds to the experience. Depends on what’s best for the game.

I couldn’t put my finger on it, but yes, the word friction is such a good one to use. When God of War came out, I was saying that one of the best things about that game is that everything in it was so convenient. There was virtually no friction in it. But I love RDR2 for its slowness, it’s heaviness. Yeah, Arthur…

So if you have a gun in your hand, L2 aims it, yes. But if you holster your weapon, L2 interacts.

the same button you use to interact with someone is the same one you use to draw your gun. I’ve killed a bunch of people on accident when I merely wanted to greet them.

The user reviews are that low because it got review bombed. A ton of people gave it “0" scores saying things like “the performance on PC is terrible!” (The game was not released on PC, and people are pissssed off about that.)

Fair point; that is not the same definition. But even still, under your application, “intuitive” literally means something that is readily learned. It applies here. It’s really not that complicated. It’s just a word.

“Convenient” is definitely the more precise description than “intuitive” (which is more of a video game buzzword that’s leaked its way into my lexicon), however “intuitive” and “learned” are not mutually exclusive. A skilled guitar player improvising a solo uses intuition, but he still had to learn how to play the…

Yeah, I don’t really see how the game can account for player error anymore than it already does. Even if you accidentally have your gun drawn and aim at them, I don’t see how R2 comes into it. Fortunately, I read a bunch about it in previews so I was really cognizant of that. I can see how some players who went in…

What part am I wrong about? If you’re trying to talk to someone, you use either square to greet or circle to antagonize. So my question stands, if you’re just trying to talk to someone, why are you pressing R2 at all? The only reason to press R2 is to be violent/hostile, which is what I said here:

That is a great mustache. I’ve actually gone the opposite route and turned my Arthur into Wolverine. No mustache, number 2 or 3 chops, maybe a little bit on the chin for the unkempt quality.

I think the biggest trend that RDR2 bucks - which you touched on with your observation about player empowerment - is that it eschews the typical video game format of “If I do action A, B, and C, then the result will be X, Y, and Z. That is how you play the game, that is how you succeed/win.” In RDR2, that is not true.…

Thanks! It’s been amusing/fascinating/confusing trying to adjust and wrap my head around this game (and watching others on reddit try to wrap their heads around this game). I do sort of wish Rockstar did a better job with their help menu, rather than stuffing a lot of this information in a $10 strategy guide.

A few tips of my own:

I got the Mark of the Ninja remaster on Switch. I’d never played it before, and man is this game fun. I’m not typically big on stealth games, but the quick pacing, forgiving checkpoints, level design, mechanics, and just everything really, makes it hard to put down. It’s simultaneously simple - yet not easy (I…

Yeah, that makes more sense to me.

Was GTA IV really that different? It’s been years since I’ve played those earlier entries, but I don’t recall it being such a radical departure that it belongs in the “Not Actually a Reboot” category.

AC games have always been accused of being “re-skins” (an accusation I’ve either disagreed with, or have thought was a huge oversimplification, depending on the games), but damn. If you didn’t tell me this was Odyssey I would’ve just been like “what area of Origins is this?” Even Syndicate and Unity, which shared a…

Maybe it’s the perfectly blank look on his face, but that top image looks like a video game screenshot.

I’m so grateful my fraternity did fake hazing stuff. Sure, they put a bag over my head and threw me in the back seat of a car - that part was jarring and kinda scary. Then they...drove me to a restaurant, bought me dinner, and talked to me about why I wanted to be in a fraternity, what I hoped to gain from the college…

On one hand, I wish more games did this. On the other, I also wish more games were like the Soulsborne series and just said, “we designed it this way for a reason, deal with it.”