The Double Life of John Marston (Red Dead Redemption) - ChaseB's Blog

ChaseB's Blog

The Double Life of John Marston (Red Dead Redemption)

Posted on May 29, 2010 at 07:57 PM.

Red Dead Redemption is a fantastic game. The setting, the characters, the playground that is the Old West -- it's all superbly done. But I didn't want to write this blog entry just to gush about the game. I also wanted to look at the double life of John Marston.

In these Rockstar open-world games, the developers usually tie a strong narrative to a striking and unique world full of legal, illegal, funny, sinister and insane things to do. The characters in these games are generally unique and risque in that most games don't go where Rockstar will -- how many other games star a flamboyantly homosexual man in a lead role like in the Ballad of Gay Tony? And, everything I just mentioned is in Read Dead as well.

But what's interesting about RDR is that it's part of a different era. You are John Marston, a character in a setting that is up for grabs. It's harder to find the same amount of humor in the world. It's harder to rationalize being good in the face of so much moment to moment evil. It's harder to accept the role you are put in and just cope with it.

There is still humor to be found in some of patently ridiculous characters, and seeing some guy jump off his horse and piss all over a rock is high comedy, but it's a colder world. You can't just hop in a car and listen to the hilarious comedy stations or faux political talk in the Old West. Simply put, there is less of an escape from the violence and shooting that is readily apparent in the world -- and yes, I do realize I'm talking about finding escape within a game that some people probably play to find escape in the first place.

That being said, the idea that this is a "darker" world isn't a problem or anything. However, there are two narratives going on within every Rockstar game. First, there is the main storyline that plays out (mostly) the same for everyone. You're not necessarily a hero or even the anti-hero in this main storyline. In most cases, you just seem to be painted as a guy with violent tendencies who tries to walk a middle ground between good and evil. Then there is also the "storyline" all players take part in while building their own character within the open world. How you treat this part of the "story" is my favorite part of each Rockstar game.

Now, generally speaking, Rockstar games get dinged for the unbalanced nature of the storytelling. This criticism is understandable because one second you could be running over person after person with your SUV,then five minutes later you could start a storyline mission and have to save people from certain disaster. Obviously, the nature of this type of storytelling is unbalanced because one second you control everything you do, but then a couple minutes later you have to listen to what the game tells you to do or fail the mission.

How you deal with these dual storylines is up to you. In GTA, it's actually pretty easy for me to get into the role of the character during both the guided missions and when I'm simply prancing around town. Sure, maybe I kill someone on occasion (and some accidental deaths are inevitable while driving), but I don't generally go on many sprees of the bloody variety. In GTA IV, I even pay the bridge toll 90 percent of the time.

I know in GTA I partly stay "in character" because I don't want to have to deal with the police chasing me or have to repurchase all my weapons after I die, etc. But there's also more to it. In GTA, I'm in a big city. I can relate to that. I can relate to the rules and regulations. I can hop in my car and listen to the humor stations and enjoy that enough that I don't need to run over people to increase my enjoyment of the game during the down periods. I also play the role so the character in the main storyline is similar to the one in my own minute to minute story.

Of course, I have also gone on my fair share of rampages in GTA, but usually it's like those rampages never really happened to the character because I turn the game off, and the game does not save the knowledge of my brutal carnage. Point being, in GTA there seems to be a middle ground that you can walk and should walk because being a violent psycho will, if anything, just cost you money and time. Maybe the game doesn't explicitly tell me to be good, but for the most part I am a good Samaritan.

In RDR, it's not quite so easy to live in the middle -- even if you want to. It even seems like the game really wants you to be one extreme or the other (why else would they have an "honor" meter that gives you benefits if you are ultra-good or ultra-bad?) I have not finished the main storyline yet, but Marston is a self-described Robin Hood of sorts. He claims to have only stolen from those who did not need it, and he says he did not kill innocent people and children.

Fair enough. But my John Marston does kill innocents.

Lots of innocents.

But he didn't start out as an amoral psychopath. No, at the onset I bought into the character and figured I would try to act like the "real" Marston -- much like I tried to act like the "real" Niko Bellic in GTA IV.

But then I got jumped by a wagon full of bandits after following the calls of a woman in despair. I had been duped! But hey I can't judge a whole era of people based on one outlier, right? Then later I tried to help a guy back into town, and he thanked me by stealing my horse and riding off. In the ensuing commotion, I accidentally shot my horse. Blast! It was early enough in the game that I had not yet realized you could just summon another horse seemingly from beyond the grave, but still this was uncool. I was finding out that people were d!cks in the Old West.

I lost my cool after this incident. I shot the perpetrator who took my horse, and then I shot the next person I saw on a horse as payback -- at least that's how I rationalized it.

Either way, my first murder had been committed.

Only there were no sirens, no stars and no repercussions after I did this. Well, at this point, I had to test out the boundaries of the Old West law system. I decided to go on a killing spree until somebody stopped me. Then I would just turn off the game or load an old save. So I stormed into town and killed everything that moved. After all, I was just testing the game's boundaries. And so I became "WANTED" and had lawmen come and try to arrest me. Then I killed the lawmen.

Then there were no more lawmen. I just went on my way like nothing had happened. Fascinating. I guess the Old West did not have an infinitely respawning group of police and military like in the GTA-themed universe. My "honor" level went down accordingly during these acts, but so what?

At this point, my honor level is so low I get discounts at stores, people don't report me when I commit crimes and I have an ever-escalating bounty to hang my hat on. Hell, even my whistle is evil. Now when I whistle to summon a horse, an all-black horse with scars and an overall fiendish look gallops to my side.

My John Marston is probably shooting his gun at a poor innocent man tied up on the ground.

I've adapted the character of John Marston for my own personal in-game story. In this story, he's more evil than Satan. And it's great that I have the freedom to create a character like that.

But there's also the John Marston I don't control. When he's on screen during cut scenes, I pity him. He does what is told of him. He runs meaningless errands for bad people. He partakes in philosophical conversations with people he should be shooting not helping. And for what reason? So he can capture some guy for the government so his family is not killed? Pffft. I'm pretty sure MY John Marston has no family that would look at him the same way anymore. I'm pretty sure MY John Marston is wanted on so many counts of murder you'd have to hang him then revive him again just so you could kill him again.

But alas, I have to live with this other side of John Marston. Like some sort of self-aware schizo, I have to watch as he shames my name by being obedient and good. I have to watch because I need to unlock new weapons and areas. I have to watch because I want to meet new people to kill.

It's tragic really.

(Not really related to the blog entry, just a good video)

Comments

# 1 bronco92 @ May 30

Great read Chase, I really enjoyed the blog from beginning to end. I've found myself becoming slightly bored with the game for similar reasons. However, I think I might give it another shot with the same mindset as you