Red Dead Redemption 2: Dinosaur Bones

 I have found that one of the most disappointing and out-of-place collectables, in all the video games I have played, is the dinosaur bones in Rockstar's Red Dead Redemption 2.

As someone who is interested in palaeontology, I was very excited when I approached the stranger mission and found that it was a fossil hunt. There are 30 bones in total scattered across the map which presents the first problem with Red Dead's collectable system. Everything South of the Upper Montana River is off limits to the game's main protagonist, Arthur Morgan. You are free to travel here but will be swiftly met with a bullet to the head by an invisible sniper.

This creates an irritating system that stops the player from completing most of the various collectable types without reaching the epilogue. The only exceptions to this are the dreamcatchers, which are all within Arthur's accessible area, and the cigarette cards; although there are some cards within the exclusion zone, they can be purchased in packs at various stores around the map but at that point they stop being collectables as it relies on random luck.

Sadly, the cigarette cards are one of the few inspectable items in Red Dead Redemption 2. They are very well made in the style of real cigarette cards and feature some very cool artwork. This now makes me question why this system couldn't be used for other collectables like the dinosaur bones. When either Arthur Morgan or John Marston (the protagonist of the epilogue and the first game) finds a dinosaur bone they make a note of the location in their journal to send to the aspiring palaeontologist, Deborah MacGuiness. That is the entirety of this collectable job.

I understand that this is a game about western outlaws and that they would have little to no interest in these fossils like they would a cigarette card, but this raises another question; why include them in the game at all? I was very excited to think I could ride around the untamed landscapes of the US on a fossil hunt, as odd as that would be for a cowboy, however, after finding that the pinnacle of this hunt was rubbing my hand in the dirt and then making a note, I was sorely disappointed. They give no insight, the rewards are very poor and the culmination of these fossils isn't seen until you receive an invitation after finding all 30 bones.

At the time, I was quite amused at the monstrosity that Deborah had put together. A clever, satirical nod to our initial understanding of fossils and the advancements science had yet to take in the early 1900s. While I can still appreciate the joke, this only makes the actual process of collecting all of the bones all the more painful. After discovering that I would never get any insight into the fossils, never see them close-up, receive terrible rewards AND be forced to wait until I had reached the epilogue, I cannot believe that this terrible recreation of a dinosaur is the final reward for my hard work.

In my opinion, these collectables are perhaps the biggest disappointment of Red Dead Redemption 2. I think the game as a whole is fantastic but as someone who is genuinely interested in fossils, this brought my opinion of the game down quite some way. As a result of this I will be starting work on creating fossils of my own that could be used in place of them or in a game of their own.

The shortcomings of Red Dead 2's collectables goes beyond my grievance with the dinosaur bones and seeps into Red Dead Online.

Part of Red Dead Online involves doing work for different factions in order to unlock certain rewards. One of those factions offers the Collector role for it's participants. Much like in the story mode, almost all of the collectables for the role cannot be inspected. The exception to this being the tarot cards (the online alternative to cigarette cards).

All other collectables can be seen in the world but never closely inspected. We instead receive a UI drawing of the unique item. Once again, with a working inspection system in story mode and online, why has the inspection been limited to cards when the relevant models already exist within the world. In a role that appeals to the completionist player, more than anyone else, it doesn't make sense that other items such as wild flowers or antique bottles not be inspectable too. 

Finally, a rather small issue, but one that bothers me all the same. To make finding fossils easier, players can purchase a metal detector, despite the logic behind this being very flawed as fossils aren't detectable by metal detectors.

All of these issues with the collectable system in Red Dead makes it feel quite half-hearted and some of them seem an unnecessary addition because of how unimportant they are to the main characters and in regards to collection mechanics/rewards.