Red Dead Redemption: SP impressions and tips

Love it - wish my friends would stop coming over so I could play more lol.

I found it was very easy to reach the highest Honor rank, but my fame is still low. Looks like there's no incentive to play as rigidly honest as I've been.

When I put in the preorder code to get the Deadly Assassin outfit it acted like the servers were down, but later the suit was already available ingame. I did have to complete some objectives to finish unlocking it though. With nearly unlimited dead eye it makes killing large groups pretty easy.

I really like the Treasure Hunting side missions - Amanda has been enjoying helping me figure out where the maps are pointing us to and how to follow the clues. Pretty cool side missions.


***Tips and Spoilers***

Tip - buy all maps from general stores - each store carries different area maps, so make picking these up a priority - with them you can fast travel to places you may not have been yet.

Tip - loot everything you can and do it early - cutscenes sometimes interrupt your ability to go back and loot corpses. Looting dead men is my #1 source of coin.

Tip - try to capture most of the wanted poster guys. You get twice the coin for bringing them in alive, and it is just as easy since you will get chased on your way back to town anyway.

Liars Dice: pretty dumb. It's alright at first, but once down to 1 on 1 it becomes a matter of who bid first vs luck. With few dice left on the table, just bid one six every time and challenge his bluff of two any dice. Doesn't seem like this game was very well thought out.

Poker: Pretty fun as a break from kicking up dust on the trail. Just like online holdem. I found that I needed to win some hands before they would buy my bluffs, and even then they sometimes logic and challenge with ignorant high card hands. I guess the AI isn't too hot. Anyway, its a pretty fun and easy way to make a couple hundred bucks.

Blackjack: meeeeah. Boring.

Horseshoes: Be careful how much you bet - the higher the bet the more skilled your opponent becomes - that's total bullshit, but oh well. At the minimum bet the guy couldn't keep it in the sand - at the max bet he's never more than inches away from the pin.

Spoiler: there are 3 fast horses - you will unlock 1 on the Bonnie missions. The other two you have to find, rope, and break. Once broken these 3 can be permanently bought at a General Store. If the horse dies before you buy the deed, you will revert back to a medium speed horse. Gotta buy the deed to ensure you always have the quick mount.

Spoiler: most of the good guns I have I found on missions. I bought one shotgun that I rarely use, and found another shotgun soon after that was better. The Winchester Rifle is great with 10 shots but the power is a bit weak so you need 2 body shots. It is available at the Gen Storer right away, but save your money since you will find it soon on missions anyway. Same with the Volcanic Pistol. Once in Mexico you will get a pistol that is actually worth it's weight... for free.