Arthur steals from rich people and doesn’t pretend to be moral, Strauss is pompous, keeps his nose out of the dirt, and forces his financing ‘opportunities’ on destitute people. Arthur isn’t justifiable, but there’s still an argument for Strauss to be worse
Entirely unrelated, but the character designs look vaguely like civ 6 characters, and now I feel like booting it up and wasting thousands more hours of my life
You can play RDR2 pretty morally good, when not forced to do things for the story.
I remember a dude started a fight with *me*, but after I beat him up, someone else was a witness and started running for the police. I chased him down and lassoed him perfectly so that he fell and I tied him up on the train tracks, but then I picked him up and put him down off of the tracks so he wouldn’t get run over.
The thing is that what you do as Arthur in freeplay isn’t considered canon to the story. In canon, Arthur doesn’t just rob and gun down *anybody*. This can be inferred in numerous cases, but one that sticks out is a piece of dialogue in Chapter 5’s “*A Kind and Benevolent Despot”*, when Dutch murders the old woman that guides him and Arthur through the tunnel, and Arthur responds to this with *”You keep killing folk, Dutch”.* Obviously, Arthur wouldn’t say that if the random killing and robbing you do in freeplay was canon to the story, because it isn’t.
The original code of the Van der Linde gang was only to punch up with the criminal acts they committed, targeting the government and corporate bodies; Dutch ends up straying from this, partly because of Micah, but a key theme of the story here is that Dutch murdering Heide McCort, an innocent bystander, during the Blackwater robbery was where his spiral started… which is how he ends up the way he is in RDR1. Strauss falls outside of this, pushing predatory loans onto the unfortunate and punching down. It’s not about the general “human moral” arguments, it’s an argument of the gang’s code.
The whole point of the Straus missions is about Arthur’s screwed moral compass. A simple side mission most people finish in a few minutes and dont think about it is the reason Arthur dies in the end.
To those arguing over weather or not one is good and one is bad you all need to remember Arthur in many instances acts as the muscle for Straus.
Nobody is the good guy in this story, they are just people trying to survive. You can make Arthur a nice guy sure, but at the end of the day he’s still muscle for a gang. His hands are in no way clean.
i feel like from the context of your comments you’re less concerned with morals of man kills to live and more focused on “poor people deserve to suffer for entering a legal contract designed to screw them over and take advantage of their vunerability” because yeah sure arthur kills people and he doesn’t enjoy it and its a shitty thing to do but man you LOVE to sure dig into those shitty poor people for taking a deal they can’t pay up just in the hopes that the deal might give them a good enough life, yeah fuck those poor people for taking that deal. strauss is a shitty horrible person and no matter how stupid the “poors” are for taking his deals it doesnt make him less horrible for what he does.
Oh. Huh. I uh, never thought about it that way
You’re forgetting the crucial part: Arthur is hot af
This subreddit is morphing (or has morphed) into r/Reddeadredemption
I mean, counter point, Straus intentional lends to people he knows can’t pay him back. Arthur is only as evil as you make him.
Arthur steals from rich people and doesn’t pretend to be moral, Strauss is pompous, keeps his nose out of the dirt, and forces his financing ‘opportunities’ on destitute people. Arthur isn’t justifiable, but there’s still an argument for Strauss to be worse
Arthur only robs people with a decent amount of money, while Strauss lends to the poor and vulnerable ( like any good loan shark)
I think it was said that Strauss deliberately preyed on weak, vulnerable people
Basically a loan shark.
Whereas, Arthur never has to kill anybody who isn’t also trying to kill him
Arthur and Strauss are both criminals.
The only difference is Arthur’s honest about it.
Got to pay your dues. After all, the man needs to eat.
I’d argue killing tens if not hundreds of people is a *little teeny tiny* bit worse than lending predatory loans.
The only part about Herr Strauss that I hated was how *small* the debts he sends you out to collect are.
I get that money was worth more in 1899, but roughing up some poor farmer for $17 is Bill work.
Entirely unrelated, but the character designs look vaguely like civ 6 characters, and now I feel like booting it up and wasting thousands more hours of my life
these comments are trying really hard to not say capitalism lol
You can play RDR2 pretty morally good, when not forced to do things for the story.
I remember a dude started a fight with *me*, but after I beat him up, someone else was a witness and started running for the police. I chased him down and lassoed him perfectly so that he fell and I tied him up on the train tracks, but then I picked him up and put him down off of the tracks so he wouldn’t get run over.
Discord 2023 colorized.
The thing is that what you do as Arthur in freeplay isn’t considered canon to the story. In canon, Arthur doesn’t just rob and gun down *anybody*. This can be inferred in numerous cases, but one that sticks out is a piece of dialogue in Chapter 5’s “*A Kind and Benevolent Despot”*, when Dutch murders the old woman that guides him and Arthur through the tunnel, and Arthur responds to this with *”You keep killing folk, Dutch”.* Obviously, Arthur wouldn’t say that if the random killing and robbing you do in freeplay was canon to the story, because it isn’t.
The original code of the Van der Linde gang was only to punch up with the criminal acts they committed, targeting the government and corporate bodies; Dutch ends up straying from this, partly because of Micah, but a key theme of the story here is that Dutch murdering Heide McCort, an innocent bystander, during the Blackwater robbery was where his spiral started… which is how he ends up the way he is in RDR1. Strauss falls outside of this, pushing predatory loans onto the unfortunate and punching down. It’s not about the general “human moral” arguments, it’s an argument of the gang’s code.
The whole point of the Straus missions is about Arthur’s screwed moral compass. A simple side mission most people finish in a few minutes and dont think about it is the reason Arthur dies in the end.
GTA protagonist: mows down twelve grandmas on the way to pay for and then kill a sex worker
Also GTA protagonist: “I cannot kill this bad guy yet. There are plot reasons.”
Strauss is a loan shark, purposely taking advantage of people at their most desperate. It’s not difficult to despise him
To those arguing over weather or not one is good and one is bad you all need to remember Arthur in many instances acts as the muscle for Straus.
Nobody is the good guy in this story, they are just people trying to survive. You can make Arthur a nice guy sure, but at the end of the day he’s still muscle for a gang. His hands are in no way clean.
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Arthur can gun me down every day I’d still say thank you.
i feel like from the context of your comments you’re less concerned with morals of man kills to live and more focused on “poor people deserve to suffer for entering a legal contract designed to screw them over and take advantage of their vunerability” because yeah sure arthur kills people and he doesn’t enjoy it and its a shitty thing to do but man you LOVE to sure dig into those shitty poor people for taking a deal they can’t pay up just in the hopes that the deal might give them a good enough life, yeah fuck those poor people for taking that deal. strauss is a shitty horrible person and no matter how stupid the “poors” are for taking his deals it doesnt make him less horrible for what he does.
Strauss really was a leech though. He did nothing for the camp and just used Arthur as his strong arm
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I thought it was amazing how what seemed like just a small set of side missions became the most impactful plot points of the game.