My rankings of the chapters:
8. Chapter 3, idk if this is controversial or not but I just found it to be quite slow and boring overall. Still good, just not very good
7. Chapter 1, it's a kinda fun intro to the game but isn't really much more than that
6. Chapter 2, I know this is lots of people's favorite but I just again found it a little slow and boring. I still had a fun time and it helps set everything up for what's to come but I just don't think it's that great tbh
5. Chapter 5, the island is pretty cool but they don't really use it to its full potential and when you get back it just kinda feels like Chapter 4 but a bit more boring
4. Epilogue Part 1, I kinda liked the little farm life and especially those last couple missions where you're getting the gang back together are really fun
3. Chapter 4, Probably the most enjoyable Chapter from a gameplay standpoint. The missions are very well done and I just found it really great.
2. Epilogue Part 2, Very great ending to the game. The final mission is so satisfying and the housebuilding mission is the best in the entire game
1.Chapter 6, easily the best from a story standpoint, the missions are also very well done and the gameplay is at its best in lots of them
Overall I did really like this game. But I also have a lot of problems with it. It is a VERY long game. It doesn't show me exactly how long I played the game for in hours but i'd guess it took atleast 50 - 60 to complete. This is both a blessing and a curse since on the one hand it makes it definitley worth the money since you can then go and do all the side missions and stranger encounters and get 100s of hours of enjoyment if you really like the game. But on the other hand it's a real commitment to complete. I think it makes sense that so many people just can't complete the game due to how long it is and how it also for me personally took until like halfway through chapter 4 to get interesting.
It is a HUGE game. I think it definitely makes sense that it took 8 years to complete due to just how huge this map is and how lived in it feels. But again that's kind of a double edged sword as the huge map can feel kind of overwhelming at times and before you unlock fast travel there are a lot of moments where you're just running through a pretty looking field with nothing in it. I also think the huge amount of characters meant that I never really connected with most of them until the very end and lots of deaths early on had no impact on me since I didn't even know the character's names until then.
I'm also not the biggest fan of the gameplay. The deadeye ability is very cool and helps set this apart from other third person shooters but other than that it's very standard and bland. The cover mechanics are also awful and were extremely frustrating at times.
The honor system is a brilliant concept but I don't think it fully works. For example, I can donate $1000 to the camp and get a lot of honor which is cool and encourages the player to help out the camp early on. But then I can also accidentally misclick and hop on someone's horse for a second and lose that exact same amount of honor, which can be very frustrating.
But, even with all those problems I still finished this very long game, which I think says a lot about it's quality. At it's best it's an extremely fun, emotional and immersive cowboy game but at it's worst it's a slow paced, bland, and boring shooter. I wanted to just stop tryna complete the game and move onto something else so many times but I'm glad I didn't as in the end I did come out quite liking the game. I'll probably replay it in a few years and hopefully then I can finally see it as the masterpiece that most other people seem to be able to. I'll also play red dead 1 soon so hopefully that makes me like it a bit more in hindsight
8. Chapter 3, idk if this is controversial or not but I just found it to be quite slow and boring overall. Still good, just not very good
7. Chapter 1, it's a kinda fun intro to the game but isn't really much more than that
6. Chapter 2, I know this is lots of people's favorite but I just again found it a little slow and boring. I still had a fun time and it helps set everything up for what's to come but I just don't think it's that great tbh
5. Chapter 5, the island is pretty cool but they don't really use it to its full potential and when you get back it just kinda feels like Chapter 4 but a bit more boring
4. Epilogue Part 1, I kinda liked the little farm life and especially those last couple missions where you're getting the gang back together are really fun
3. Chapter 4, Probably the most enjoyable Chapter from a gameplay standpoint. The missions are very well done and I just found it really great.
2. Epilogue Part 2, Very great ending to the game. The final mission is so satisfying and the housebuilding mission is the best in the entire game
1.Chapter 6, easily the best from a story standpoint, the missions are also very well done and the gameplay is at its best in lots of them
Overall I did really like this game. But I also have a lot of problems with it. It is a VERY long game. It doesn't show me exactly how long I played the game for in hours but i'd guess it took atleast 50 - 60 to complete. This is both a blessing and a curse since on the one hand it makes it definitley worth the money since you can then go and do all the side missions and stranger encounters and get 100s of hours of enjoyment if you really like the game. But on the other hand it's a real commitment to complete. I think it makes sense that so many people just can't complete the game due to how long it is and how it also for me personally took until like halfway through chapter 4 to get interesting.
It is a HUGE game. I think it definitely makes sense that it took 8 years to complete due to just how huge this map is and how lived in it feels. But again that's kind of a double edged sword as the huge map can feel kind of overwhelming at times and before you unlock fast travel there are a lot of moments where you're just running through a pretty looking field with nothing in it. I also think the huge amount of characters meant that I never really connected with most of them until the very end and lots of deaths early on had no impact on me since I didn't even know the character's names until then.
I'm also not the biggest fan of the gameplay. The deadeye ability is very cool and helps set this apart from other third person shooters but other than that it's very standard and bland. The cover mechanics are also awful and were extremely frustrating at times.
The honor system is a brilliant concept but I don't think it fully works. For example, I can donate $1000 to the camp and get a lot of honor which is cool and encourages the player to help out the camp early on. But then I can also accidentally misclick and hop on someone's horse for a second and lose that exact same amount of honor, which can be very frustrating.
But, even with all those problems I still finished this very long game, which I think says a lot about it's quality. At it's best it's an extremely fun, emotional and immersive cowboy game but at it's worst it's a slow paced, bland, and boring shooter. I wanted to just stop tryna complete the game and move onto something else so many times but I'm glad I didn't as in the end I did come out quite liking the game. I'll probably replay it in a few years and hopefully then I can finally see it as the masterpiece that most other people seem to be able to. I'll also play red dead 1 soon so hopefully that makes me like it a bit more in hindsight