Red Dead Redemption 2: New Playthrough, Who Dis?

[Artamo]

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[RealAlHazred]

So, one of the core elements in the game is Challenges. There are different categories (Horseman Challenges, Herbalist Challenges, etc.) and completing all 10 challenges in a category gives you cash and experience towards one of your core stats (Health, Stamina, and Dead Eye). The challenges are tiered, so you have to complete the Herbalist 6 challenge ("Pick 15 different species of herb") before any of your progress on Herbalist 7 challenge ("Craft and use five Special Miracle Tonics") starts.

One of the problems you have is inventory management. Your initial satchel only stores 5 of each item (or 10 for items like herbs). Some of formulas require multiple herbs (Special Miracle Tonic uses 6 Blackcurrant or Golden Currant, 6 Yarrow, and 6 Burdock Root to make one tonic). If you are limited to your starting inventory slots, it takes a very long time to craft these things. You can upgrade your satchel, first to double capacity for various things and finally to hold 99 of each item. It takes a bunch of perfect-quality pelts to do the satchel upgrades, but the quality of life enhancement is palpable.

A lot of my time has been spent accumulating things so that as soon as I unlock the ability to do a thing, I have the ingredients I need to actualize it. It's much smoother than my first playthrough. It's also less immersion-breaking if I just assume my Arthur Morgan is a packrat who keeps everything he comes across that's not nailed down.

 

[RealAlHazred]

One of the Challenges I didn't do at all last time was the Bandit Challenges. Every single one of these requires you to do actions that lower Honor, and I was trying to keep my Arthur's honor "pure". This time around I'm a bit less selective, and it has already shown in variations in some NPC dialogue.

That said, I've found it is generally easy to do Bandit Challenges without actually incurring an expensive bounty. You have to be selective and thoughtful in how you do them, but most of them, there's a way. Some might not be possible to do subtly; for example, the 10th Bandit Challenge requires you to complete 5 train robberies -- I haven't gotten there yet, but it's food for though how to do it.

I'm also finding there to be annoyances with how Challenges unlock. For example, the Survivalist 1 challenge is to catch 3 bluegill. Until you unlock the fishing rod, which is late in Chapter 2, you can't even start this challenge. Similarly, Gambler 1 challenge is to win 5 hands of poker; but until you rescue Reverend Swanson poker games do not unlock anywhere on the map. Meanwhile, I'm already on Herbalist 9 ("Pick one of all 43 species of herbs") and Horseman 9 ("Ride from Van Horn to Blackwater in less than 17 minutes without touching water"). Both of those are tricky to do prior to the Epilogue. Prior to the Epilogue, Arthur Morgan has a "Wanted: Dead or Alive" status in the state of New Austin and parts of West Elizabeth due to events prior to the game, and both 5 species of herbs and the city of Blackwater can be found in this region. So as soon as you enter, Pinkerton agents start to spawn and shoot at you. Gonna be interesting, I don't remember how I finished Horseman 9 previously; Herbalist 9 I never completed in the previous run, deciding to do it in the Epilogue.

 

[RealAlHazred]

Just for tracking purposes for myself, here's where I'm at in the Challenges:

• Bandit 5: Amass a $250 bounty in one State. (Should be easy. The closing mission of Chapter 2 involves breaking gang member Micah Bell out of jail, and it is super-easy to amass a $250 bounty -- or even more! -- during that one.)
• Explorer 2: Find a treasure. (I haven't been doing the treasure hunts, since it's not really feasible to do these passively, unlike a lot of the other challenges which you can do in normal gameplay.)
• Gambler 1: Win five hands of Poker. (Unlocked with the mission "Who is Not Without Sin" which I haven't yet done since I'm hoping to exploit a potential glitch in that mission.)
• Herbalist 9: Pick one of each species of herb. (Blackcurrant, Wild Feverfew, Desert Sage, and Red Sage can be found only in New Austin, which I'll have to exploit a glitch to get.)
• Horseman 9: Ride from Van Horn to Blackwater in less than 17 minutes without touching any water. (Currently working on this one. A first attempt using the route given in this wiki failed to register completion.)
• Master Hunter 7: Use bait to lure and kill both a herbivore and predator. (Since there's no quality level requirement this is easy, I just haven't taken the time to do it.)
• Sharpshooter 3: Kill five flying birds while on a moving train. (I haven't done this one yet because it's tricky to do this without getting a Wanted level, and it's not worth the bounty. However, doing "The Noblest of Men and a Woman" stranger mission, specifically the Billy Midnight portion, apparently allows you to have a gun battle on top of a train without incurring a Wanted level, so I'm probably going to try this during that mission.)
• Survivalist 1: Catch three Bluegill fish. (Can't go fishing until "A Fisher of Men," which is among the last missions in Chapter 2. I'm trying to see if I can steal a fishing pole from a fisherman in the wild during open play.)
• Weapons Expert 3: Kill three birds of prey using only a tomahawk. (I've gotten 2; the third is tricky since they take off when they see you stand up and take aim. My method has been to make a long-range animal kill, and then wait; eventually Western Ravens (which the game counts as birds of prey) land to feast and you can sneak up on them.)