#Rockstar Games

[snowyarthur]

Nuevo Paraíso 🌵

John for the soul 😌

[ophierian-vp]

[bastardb0yy]

This shit so ass ❤️

[giveamadeuschohisownmovie]

I’ve written something like this before, but I wanted to write it again since I’m rewatching RDR1 on YouTube. The Mexico arc in the game is one of my favorite depictions of a political struggle, mainly because it doesn’t shy away from how complicated politics can be. I feel like a great deal of fiction tends to go for a more black-and-white, hero against the villain narrative. The empire is bad, the rebels are good, and so on. But RDR1 really went into depth on how politics can be so confusing and complicated in real life.

The game has a basic set-up: the government led by Colonel Allende is terrorizing the people, leading to a rebellion led by Abraham Reyes. Allende spreads propaganda about how evil Reyes is but the people believe that Reyes is their savior. At this point, the game could’ve just done the simple route of making Reyes the clear-cut good guy and Allende the clear-cut bad guy. Instead, we’re forced to really ponder which side is worth supporting.

Obviously, Allende is evil and does need to be taken down. But Reyes is revealed to be just as bad as him. For example, he is casually revealed to be bigoted towards Chinese immigrants. Luisa says that Allende abuses women, but Reyes also sees women as disposable and would probably continue Allende’s abusive practices if he was in power.

But the biggest point that I give Rockstar credit for is that they created bad guys who had a legitimately good point about the rebels who we’re supposed to root for. Although it’s easy to sympathize with the rebels wanting to take the government down, the government is justified in claiming the rebels were brainwashed into supporting an evil man. From the moment John Marston met Abraham Reyes, he immediately realized that Reyes was exactly how Allende and De Santa described him as. He’s ignorant, moronic, power-hungry, and he views himself as being higher than the peasants despite presenting himself as a champion of the people. But no one else picked up on this! So, you really can’t argue against De Santa and Allende on this, especially since Reyes ends up becoming a tyrant in the future.

In going through this storyline again, I’ve also developed a new perspective on Luisa Fortuna. She was the one character who legitimately cared for the rights of the Mexican people and was fighting to end tyranny. But knowing how obviously terrible Abraham Reyes is as a character (he even gets Luisa’s name wrong right in front of her), it’s hard not to see Luisa as anything but an incredibly naive woman who got manipulated by an idiot. She isn’t really that much different from how devoted De Santa was to Allende’s regime. They were both passionate to their respective causes, but their passion blinded them to how awful their leaders were.

And then to have the storyline end with the message that the cycle of oppression will repeat but with Abraham Reyes in charge? Incredibly dark, but fitting for the story.

Go play RDR1 if you haven’t done so already. This was only one act out of a total of three acts in the story. And all the acts are strongly written in their own way.

[conkreetmonkey]

Red Dead Redemption 2 was so real for creating the most in-depth, realistic clothing system I've ever seen in any game, and exclusively using it on burly, unhygienic men.

You choose every layer, every accessory, with dozens to hundreds of each to choose from. You can go in and fine-tune minute details like whether or not to roll up the shirt sleeves, or button the collar, or whether to wear your pants under your boots. These clothes get dirty in real time depending on what you do in the game. Mud, dust and blood linger unless washed off. Every garment has a warmth rating based on its material, and the game calculates what temperatures an outfit is suitable for based on the combined total. Dressing too cold or warm for the weather causes health debuffs.

You can choose which way he parts his hair, and whether he gels it. If you eat too much he gets bulkier and gains a double chin, and if you eat too little he can go underweight and get all bony and sallow. Both of these states come with stat changes. His hair and beard grow in real game time, and you need to routinely style and shave his facial hair if you want any style other than a full Santa. You need to bathe him regularly or people will start commenting on his BO, and he'll start visibly appearing filthy long before that. He sunburns in the sun, and in the heat he becomes slick and glossy with sweat.

This shit is IN DEPTH. It blows the customization systems of actual fashion-centric games like tf2, Monster Hunter and Splatoon out of the water in every regard. They honestly look basic in comparison. It's a paradigm shift for sure once you experience RDR2's level of customization. Everything else starts to feel smaller.

The player character all this customization is applied to, and I simply cannot stress this enough, is a 36 year old, 6'3" smoker weighing well over 200 pounds, with facial hair thicker than a sheepdogs, forearms like gnarled tree trunks and a dark, dense forest of body hair covering every reasonable surface. His skin is pocked and marred with scars from a rugged, nomadic lifestyle, and his teeth are the colour of cornbread. He has a thick southern accent, is a known mean drunk and knows how to skin pretty much any North American animal. He has never worn deodorant, flossed or moisturized. He eats canned beans, fruit and the like by simply pouring them into his mouth and gulping, often while walking or riding a horse at full gallop.

I can think of NO better use case for such customization. Not some fresh-faced little twink, not some busty anime babe. Just a gross, hairy, unwashed homeless dude with crippling self esteem issues and a chest broader than a barrel laid lengthwise. A non fashion-centric game, certainly a non-fashion centric character, but for some reason the best clothing and customization system ever concieved, bar none. What the fuck.

[kvitravvn]

Arthur Morgan @flesh.png

[vangreunen-art]

Dutch van der Linde ~ Painting

[stray-cat-with-internet-access]

Arthur? 😳

[4youandi]

John Marston

[zwezkaa]

Arthur Morgan value study from 2022 !!

[mistique-libra]

MY HUSBAND he’s so sexy i miss him!!!!!!

[red-dead-disaster]

AI WARNING:

There's an account going around that does not tag AI art in our fandom! You may have seen pictures like this:

Floating around, and it's ai! There's no soul in it! It's slop and you are being lied to. They do not tag their crap with #ai because they actively want to mislead you into believing any effort or care went into this. AI generators source (read, steal) from YOUR fan works and generate trash like this. While they state that it is AI in their bio, it can't be foudn anywhere else, which is incredibly misleading.

[ophierian-vp]

[cainhorror]

*in a whisper* that's my cowboy boyfriend ~*:･✧

[khocoa]

the main trio if the museum trip wasn't cancelled