As someone who has RDR1 in his top ten games of all time, I unfortunately kind of agree with most of this, although there are a few moments that I've had fun, the negatives have outweighed the positives for me so far. Maybe that'll change, though, as I'm not done. The core system is absolute BS, too.
Well... it's gotten more tolerable and I have had a bit of fun with it. I haven't gotten bored with it... yet. But I get the feeling that I'm getting close to losing interest.
It still screws ya over with impunity even after I've figured out how to fight against the game's constant curve balls and screw overs. Since a lot of the missions especially are trial and error bs, obsessive saving is another unfortunate routine in this game. The checkpoint system isn't too bad but there are a lot of times when checkpoints aren't where they should be, even forcing you to sit through inane dialog and minutes of holding down X while riding through empty space to get back to where you were.
The open world can be amusing to mess around in a little but there aren't a whole lot of fun or interesting activities or mischief to get in to. Hunting is godawfully tedious but fortunately the game doesn't force you to grind out pelts like Far Cry does.
The random encounters you can have while traveling are what really keep things interesting. There are a lot of em and they are varied.
The game spends a whole lot of time just riding through empty space. Fortunately the riding controls are ace and horses are also adequately fast but this game is just choked full of backtracking. It has a fast travel system you can acquire early on but it is extremely limited. It's one way from a central hub and it only goes to a select few locations. And god forbid you ever lose your horse. You'll be stuck having to beg random passersby for a ride and it's fussy as all hell. You can't get anywhere fast on foot in this game so travel by horse is a necessity. (of course you can always just shoot a mofo and take his horse if you don't mind.)
The game has a lot of detail and a lot of heart and a lot of character and the characters are mostly interesting but the story is 'meh.' So far it's been chapter after chapter of the gang moving to a new camp every time the pinkertons get too close. It's gonna have to get better soon.
Really the best thing I can say about it is, if you ever wanted to play a western shootout then RDR2 has you covered. It really feels like being the gunslinger in a western movie. It's pretty sweet.
I was really cheesed off when I made that last post. I wrote off RDR2 but it isn't a total loss. It's the best biggest thing we have to play right now and that's about as much as can be said for it. It's often fun when it's not fudging up and it is tolerable otherwise. It's certainly not as good as some people are letting on but it's adequate. RDR2 is surly a more earnest attempt at producing a decent game than we've seen out of a AAA studio in a long time. It's just full of the usual Rockstar gameplay that likes to cheat you out of having a good time a lot.
<3
