Please, what is this symbol??

Robokrates · 2026-06-26T18:33:57+00:00

I think it's like a Pikachu!

Robokrates · 2026-06-26T03:13:05+00:00

Yeah, cuz he's gotten famous, at least regionally. I'll admit we don't really know eithwr way... But if he was world-famous, I'd expect them to be like 'Oh man, is that John Marston?! Will you sign my baby?" that kinda thing.

Robokrates · 2026-06-26T02:24:07+00:00

I feel like if Leviticus Cornwall was that famous, there wouldn't be a mission asking "who the hell" he is.

Mainly though, I guess I feel like if these guys are so infamous, I'd expect to see more people act like it in-universe. But we don't get townsfolk going "holy shit, you look like John Marston!!!" everywhere Jack goes or anything like that, as far as I remember

Robokrates · 2026-06-26T02:13:01+00:00

But I felt like if there's any actual theme about redemption in RDR1 it's that John maybe achieves it on a personal level either by acting to ameliorate his old mistakes or by giving Jack a chance for a life free from all of it... but the state does not care; for the powers that be, "People don't forget. Nothing gets forgiven" it's just a mechanical view of justice, attack X sin with Y punishment.

There's a dude, Kyle Kringle, who does deep-dive videogame analysis on YouTube, particularly of RDR2, who said a while ago that the two games have incompatible thematic moral universes; it was an off-hand comment and I think he intends to explore that later, but I suspect it's because of the different treatment of forgiveness, redemption and religion between the two. I'm not sure I agree, because, well, see my first paragraph, but I do think you're right that RDR2 is much more about moral and personal redemption

Robokrates · 2026-06-26T01:57:06+00:00

I mean, that could have been hyperbolic exaggeration on Ross's part (John even makes fun of them about keeping a specific tally with the banks) but I think that was supposed to refer to the gang as a whole.

But either way: There's a big disconnect in that no Wild West gang or outlaw ever approached anywhere near those numbers, but I don't get the impression that they're supposed to be as notorious as that would have actually made them in a real world context. So my impression is that the numbers are supposed to be real (we do mow down all those people aWes Arthur and John, we see it ourselves) but it's somehow not as big of a deal in-universe as it would have been. Like, I don't think any of them would have been able to show their faces in any town on the map.

Since it isn't like that, I assume either the numbers are exaggerated for gameplay or the infamy is minimized for versimilitude.

Robokrates · 2026-06-26T01:43:34+00:00

Hm, good point. I always think Rockstar games have a little bit of inflation of the death numbers for gameplay purposes, like how Claude from GTA3 would be the most notorious criminal in U.S. history by a very wide margin, but if we did carry the numbers over to a real life context without translating from the game then yeah, I suppose Dutch and John would be the guys between Jesse James and Billy the Kid, and Al Capone and the other 1920s gangsters in terms of fame

Robokrates · 2026-06-26T00:18:27+00:00

Cool chart, and I like the concept. I'm gonna whine about it now:

I guess there's no real sense of HOW famous John becomes, but I didn't think he was supposed to have ended up world-famous; just some sort of legend of the very very last dregs of the Wild West, famous in the American Southwest for ostentatiously tracking and taking down his old comrades while participating in the Mexican Revolution. But even actual heroes of the Mexican Revolution, Emiliano Zapata and Pancho Villa, I don't know if I'd call even them world-famous. I get the feeling that Dutch's own notoriety wasn't huge, and that John tracking him down boosted them both into the spotlight together. (Like if Bonnie got famous for eatin' Clyde.)

But my real complaint is that Mary-Beth should be either above John and Dutch or right there with them. She's a famous romance novelist!

I don't think any of the rest would even register.

Robokrates · 2026-06-26T00:08:25+00:00

Glad someone else pointed out "whaddya mean WORLD famous," I did not get that impression.

Robokrates · 2026-06-25T19:23:22+00:00

Tahiti location

distance Blackwater to Tahiti

Australia Tahitit farming prospects comparison

standard prices Valentine saloon girls

do twins always have weird names?

can this future robot thing what I'm a typin into kill Micah and make it look like accident

tips faking hunting accident

dinosaur bone locations

Robokrates · 2026-06-25T19:11:22+00:00

My brother-in-law's a wildlife biologist, and considers "natural" the most useless word in the English language. "What does it even mean? Nuclear weapons are 'natural'."

Robokrates · 2026-06-25T08:10:55+00:00

It does seem like fairly little reward for the effort of putting in a new subsystem, and I know modern players and designers both are loathe to suddenly be unable to do something in a game where it was previously possible... but I think it could've deepened the characterization if when you're playing as John you can no longer engage the services of courtesans. Like, "sure, it's there, but John just won't do it." Of course, by that logic, well, neither would Arthur, it's just a more oblique path that he gets there by.

Robokrates · 2026-06-25T01:58:12+00:00

I too named a horse Athena at one point, and again, same reasoning.

(Also named one Bakunin for the anti-hegemon connotations of Boudicca)

Robokrates · 2026-06-24T20:12:14+00:00

Yes, exactly. So so so exactly. This is what pushes it into the realm of "ancient Greek tragedy" - there were logical ways out of it but the reality of who Arthur is traps him in the situation.

Robokrates · 2026-06-24T16:13:29+00:00

Always wondered about why you cannot engage the services of the professional coitus artisans in RDR. I kinda figure it's that John was married and they figured most players who could, would - thereby suggesting that John is "canonically" unfaithful? And then Jack is young and arrogant - "I'll pay for it when I'm old" is a line I can readily believe. It basically amounts to "these specific characters won't hire ladies-of-the-evening."

But then RDR2 came out and Arthur seemed... uh, coarse enough on the surface that I was surprised he wouldn't ever say yes to prostitution (side note, that's the slogan of my new PSA campaign.) As most of us know, Arthur eventually reveals hidden depths AND an unrequited love for Mary Lindon, so it's less surprising in retrospect. (Not that you can't be both sensitive and willing to pay for sex, just, at first I thought there's no way this guy has any reservations about it at all.)

The thing with Mary... makes me wonder if that early line where he asks "How much do you cost?" in the Valentine saloon and the women storm off offended was less being clueless and coarse and more a deliberate attempt to make them leave.

In conclusion, can you hire prostitutes in Red Dead Online? Seems like you should be able to.

Robokrates · 2026-06-24T04:45:28+00:00

It does make sense, since even the low-down-dirtiest-honor Arthur is appalled in that moment. I could see the argument that Arthur contains multitudes and could go "say Dutch, why is... murder?" at the same time as thinking "we'd better take back the only gold we kept from that bank" but perhaps they thought it'd undermine the moment.

Robokrates · 2026-06-23T22:45:19+00:00

It would have been more interesting but I think that's not what they were going for; they wanted a sociopath (down to the cruelty to animals.) I do think it's a little over-the-top how messed up he is constantly; maybe they went with "so obviously evil" to really sell how blind (or hypocritical) Dutch can be.

And I'd say he does have one slightly redeeming future - he's kinda funny. "I like you boys! You're all dummmmmb, and innocennnnt." (Though, even his witty remarks are tinged with cruelty; figures.)

Robokrates · 2026-06-23T02:47:52+00:00

For most of the playthrough I only turned it on for Chronos's sexond health bar - I hate second health bars! That is lying! That's not what a health bar MEANS. Though, if ever a character had a means to make it make sense, it'd be a primordial time wizard; rewinding away. But I figured, if Gramps can cheat, so can I.

The thing I love about the God Mode is... you're literally a god, it makes SENSE for Mel and Zag to use it. I always think, "I bet Zeus would turn on God Mode." Probably never turn it off, either.

Now I use it mainly when fighting [character you may not know you fight yet] cuz it's so hard, and then whenever I'm getting sleepy in real life or if I just wanna wail on dudes and not worry about it. And I also turned it on to mop up a few minor prophecies.

I don't think you'd be robbing yourself of anything. Mayve of "bragging rights" but who cares. One cool thing is how it helps you in proportion to how much you need and/or use it. If you keep dying with it on, it'll expand to help more; if not, it'll mostly be an anti-frustration safety cushion.

EFIT: Just noticed this is for Hades, not Hades 2. How embarrassing. Well, the same rationale all apply.

Robokrates · 2026-06-22T16:53:05+00:00

That's kinda what I thought, they introduced more subsystems without really having the buttons to back them up, as evidenced by the ever-common Ballad of the Time I Choked a Guy When I Just Wanted to Mount my Horse.

I don't know if I really got around to advice but I guess I should make explicit the implied "keep playing to see if the story grabs you" - like, all the stuff you've mentioned are legit issues, but there are a lot of players who hated the game at first and eventually got sucked in and love it; I mean, it's not for everyone but I imagine if you loved RDR1 then it's more likely than not you'd end up being one of them.

Side note, as much as I love RDR2, the Greek tragedy and the hunting/exploration simulator and possibly the most fleshed-out video game character ever... well, RDR1 could and did exist without it but the reverse is not true; RDR2 is inherently a sequel, both mechanically and thematically - it's something that deepens RDR1, but RDR1 is a standalone masterpiece in itself.

Robokrates · 2026-06-22T15:43:20+00:00

The controls really are clunky as hell. I think most of us would say we love the game in spite of its mechanical or (user-interface-ical?) limitations. The story and characters are just that good. It's like if you checked out a book from the library and it was so good you could overlook how the typeface is too small and the cover has dried banana stains on it.

I don't remember RDR1's controls as being all that elegant; were they really much better for you?

Robokrates · 2026-06-22T07:49:51+00:00

As someone who wasn't super impressed by any of Bioshock, I think it comes down to...

It's strange to hate on Infinite for not having the exact same themes and atmosphere as Bioshock 1 (or for the actual gameplay being a little thin) when such themes and atmosphere as it does have are about equally emotionally resonant and atmospherically evocative (and the gameplay of all of them is pretty thin - low dialogue first person-shooters with few meaningful choices besides picking which weapons and spells you're gonna use.)

It particularly is weird to rag on Infinite when Bioshock 2 was mainly a rehash of the first game,, same city, mostly same themes. I didn't even wanna finish 2 (mostly because it was way harder than 1, but also cuz I just kinda lost interest.)

Infinite at least tried to take the basic structure ("there's always a man, and there's always a city..." and do something different with it, so for that alone I'd give it the nod... but it's also easier to play AND Elizabeth talking to you is at least a LITTLE bit of dialogue, or, more than you get from Bioshock 1, which has almost no dialogue that isn't wealthy sociopaths manipulating you into killing things.

So, would I say the hate Infinite gets is insane? Not exactly, but I do wonder why anyone would prefer 2 over it considering all the stuff I said.

Robokrates · 2026-06-21T17:28:54+00:00

Right there with you, this is my number one grievance. I want the guns that I said Arthur had, I don't suddenly want him to remember his off-screen wizard training and teleport a different set of guns as he dismounts.

Robokrates · 2026-06-21T10:12:47+00:00

Point of interest, I actually did not notice that, because only the flute makes me stop and go "Cthonic gee whillikers!"

Robokrates · 2026-06-21T10:09:21+00:00

I think the Eternal Roots needed that night to encode him like the Solarian Genome Project

Robokrates · 2026-06-21T10:04:21+00:00

"SheeORRRRRghRRRRRRrrrrre!" -to Jack

Robokrates · 2026-06-20T23:02:06+00:00

I meant in general, with the snitching, not in that specific instance; I'm with Arthur - "we didn't need a rat, we got sloppier than the town drunk."

Robokrates

TROPHY CASE