Rockstar RUINED RDR1 With This ONE HIDDEN ENCOUNTER In The Epilogue | Red Dead Redemption 2

John meeting someone at MacFarlane’s ranch completely ruined the storyline for RDR1. Not that it makes a huge difference since John didn’t meet Bonnie or Drew but it still breaks the story for me at least, since John made it clear first of all that he’d never been to new Austin much less the MacFarlane’s ranch. It’s nice they included this for longtime fans but I’d much rather had this been saved for Arthur as it would have made more sense and meant more for the new protagonist to have some sort of connection to the original characters and map. Why the never let Arthur travel to the old map when he was even promoted to be there I’ll never understand #rdr2 #reddeadredemption #arthurmorgan

[midnight___fox]

That is not bothering me too much. What´s really irritating though is the fact that Bonnie told John in RDR1 that her father built the barn when she was a little girl. As we know the barn doesn´t exist in 1907. so either Bonnie is lying or Rockstar made an oversight or was lazy.

[misterbb]

Makes me sort of emotional playing as john in rdr2, everything is so empty and shrunk to just john and his family. No gang, no heists and just memories

[ACE-.]

It's a huge miss opportunity to not have Arthur in New Austin.

And it sucked that Armadillo is a sick town, New Austin doesn't feel nearly as cool cause there's nowhere to go, and nothing to do.

[chilli_]

Rockstar should have made Tall Trees traversable for Arthur. Such could offer a direct passage to New Austin, which is irrealistically a "Dead or Alive" zone (since the Van Der Linde didn´t commit any recent felonies that we are acquainted of in that state).

[brandonp]

I don't think they intended to make a second game at first and just used things that worked such as John not talking about Arthur to their advantage. So there's gonna be plot holes guys.

[finalcuts]

When Dutch, Hosea and Arthur go fishing, Dutch mentions that he misses being close to the sky in New Austin-if u look at the pic of the gang that Pearson has in his shop it shows the gang in a desert so I thot well clearly they have been in New Austin, went to Blackwater, over the mountains and we all know what happens next. Still a great game though.

Got emotional playing John again, it was good don’t get me wrong but at the same time it was heartbreaking as we know how the story ends

[WalrusWinking]

Arthur was originally supposed to explore all these Areas not John so this encounter would have been with Arthur.

[BabyScatha]

Doesn't ruin anything for me personally, but I get your point yeah. I figure it's more of a fanservice for the fans of the OG game so I loved being able to explore this old part of the map as John. Sentimental I know I know lol. Main story wise, is it only that one mission with Sadie that is set in the old map (beyond Blackwater obviously)? It's been a while since I played the epilogue. I think of the exploring you do as John outside story missions as non-canon and yeah as i said - fanservice.

[nicholasobrien]

House is completely different too. I spent alot of time climbing Bonnie's house in RDR 1 so I noticed that right away.

[NukaDud]

I think John saying he hasn't been to New Austin is not to be taken literally. For example, I had to take a joint flight in Vancouver to get to my destination. I was only in Vancouver for airport reasons. John was only in New Austin for bounty reasons, probably didn't even realize it either because he was working either out of Blackwater, Rhodes, or Strawberry. I don't say I've been to Vancouver even though I technically have. Perhaps this can be our accepted head canon for this issue.

Also on top of that, John hasn't been to the ranch in any missions so I wouldn't even consider this encounter canon and it's simply fan service from Rockstar to us longtime fans. It's there for the player to enjoy, but John canonically is probably settled in the ranch life until RDR 1 happens and has never made his way into any of the towns in New Austin.

[shayrose]

To my knowledge, John in RDR 1 said he wasn’t familiar with New Austin. He never said that he had never been there before, just thaf he didn’t know the area. I don’t have a problem with John very briefly going to New Austin with Sadie years before the first game. It doesn’t break any canon for me. But the barn not being there bothers me.

[thecowboy]

Given that Arthur wasn't present in the Blackwater Massacre, and that his appearance changes once you get to chapter two, with the beard and his hair have grown longer, and you can dress him in different clothing, it seems like you shouldve been able to disguise yourself and slip through Great Plains undetected, like you can in other towns where Arthur is wanted, but you change up his appearance, provided you don't get too close to lawmen where they can recognize you.

Do that, and you should've been able to slip Great Plains and into New Austin, which if I'm understanding correctly, the gang hadn't committed any actual crimes beforehand, so it shouldn't have been barred like it was.

Plus, it would've been cool to have interacted with a younger Bonnie as Arthur, and perhaps have some side missions with Sadie in New Austin, the latter I don't think we got near enough of, as I love the chemistry between the two.

[brianoconnor]

I came across a cut content video that included audio of the sheriff in tumbleweed calling Arthur out by name, so I’m thinking at some point Arthur was able to go to New Austin, it’s possible this interaction was made for him, but when they cut the idea of Arthur in New Austin, they might have forgot to cut a few encounters that don’t make sense while playing as John.

[johanjonasson]

I wonder why they incorporated the New Austin map at all? I think Rockstar should have made more of new map instead of New Austin, even though I like exploring New Austin in this game.
The first time I played the game I thought that Arthur would be stranded in New Austin after Guarma so that he could work his way back to the gang from there. When that didn't happen I thought he would travel there to combat his tuberculosis but he died instead. That last part were perhaps wishful thinking.
But it was a missed opportunity indeed.

[Xx_Tuberculosis_xX]

I would’ve gladly waited another year or two if that’s what it would take for Rockstar to polish the epilogue better

[Travis-guy-]

I feel like a lot of stuff doesn't add up from 1907 to 1911 and it's kind of annoying. Take Thieves Landing for example: It's virtually empty in RDR 2, but is bustling in RDR 1. That kind of community growth and settlement expansion happens over 20-30 years, not 4. Also, Tumbleweed in the first game looks like it's been abandoned for WAY longer than 4 years, it should've been abandoned in RDR 2 as well. I feel like they really overestimated how much things change in 4 years, New Austin & West Elizabeth should've been virtually identical to the first game.

[Inthatgoodway]

I had a few problems with the epilogue in this one. I just wish I could give the Letter to Bonnie.

[randyquaid]

I kept waiting for when Arthur would be able to go back through blackwater when I first played the game and was disappointed when I realized that was never gonna happen

[Rude_Boi]

Technically, all of this is non canon to John. Anything the player does outside of the main story that doesn't affect it is non canon. The only thing canon about John being in "New Austin" and Hennigan's Stead areas were the missions with Sadie.

[lunatictheater]

Would it really be so hard for Rockstar to just add a massive expansion using the same dialogue from RDR1. Considering they already have Mexico rendered pretty well for something they don't even use would it be so hard to just include the story of the first game as an expansion I would be willing to pay $60 or so dollars for it