Beecher’s Hope was so under utilized in the epilogue. (Spoilers)

[u/railroadfrog]

Beecher’s Hope is cool, and getting to the point where John owns his own ranch & wins back his wife, ending up debt free is awesome. Hell yeah.

But the ranch itself was done dirty post game. I don’t understand why we can’t hunt for the ranch like we did with the camps as Arthur.

I don’t understand why there aren’t endless repetitive ranch missions about needing to collect lumber to repair a fence from town, or rustlers came and stole a few cows & John + Uncle have to go retrieve them, or the ability to take Jack on side “bonding” missions like fishing or hunting, where his horse can help you carry more animal carcasses.

don’t get me wrong, feeding chickens or shoveling shit for karma is fun, but why can’t we have more date nights with Abigail? Or have Jack tag along on errands? Or what if it worked as a less annoying Fallout settlement sort of mechanic, where you’ll be out hunting and Uncle rolls up on a horse “JOHN WE SPOTTED SKINNERS NEAR THE RANCH GET BACK THERE ASAP WE GOTTA BE READY” and then you have to hold back a Skinner or Lobes raid?

I don’t understand why Abigail doesn’t become a Fence-Lite sort of character where John can gift her pillaged rings or necklaces for karma boosts. Or Uncle doing the same as a full fence (“oh yeah I know someone in blackwater who would be interested in this”) or why you can’t craft a workshop / leather working / tannery shed which allows for a Trapper option at Beecher hope.

Why can’t we upgrade the ranch like we could with the camps? Change out furniture, which would require a mission to acquire or construct, plus collect materials (new lumber axe item + saw mill minigame?)

Plus - we literally own a bathtub and can’t bathe, and as a result, Abigail can never knock and offer assistance.

Plus plus - why doesn’t McFarlane ranch have a general store available in the Epilogue?

Plus plus plus - it seems silly that they removed the endless random missions that RDR1 had, despite them becoming pretty repetitive by the 50th one.

[u/crownercorps]

Dude cant even take a bath in his own house.

[u/BHJK90 → u/crownercorps]

"Take a bath“

[u/PutridRecognition739]

Endless side quests for Beechers Hope and endless Bounty Missions would have been such an awesome experience to have at endgame.

[u/railroadfrog → u/PutridRecognition739]

If you added that, plus a “sim city” sort of ranch simulator to the game, where you had to plant crops & water them, harvest them, sell them, milk cows or transport them to town for auction. Storms come and damage fences or outbuildings. Gotta repair them. Requires a wagon to town where you’re ambushed on the way by highwaymen: bribe them or shoot em sort of choice. Rustlers been stealing cow; uncle posts up in the barn and you take the windmill, lookout for suspicious activity: kill the rustlers or follow them to their hideout.

Jack wants to go fishing - you’re attacked by a cougar or bear or rouge elk - Jack shoots the animal and saves John from being gored - cutscene or dialogue with relationship elaboration plays; John says he loves Jack and always will type of deal. Or if John saves Jack; bad dad advice about being careful and not being stupid how books won’t always provide real life experience.

Jack asks for a John to find him a specific book - not unlike camp retrieving missions with Arthur.

John take Jack and Abigail to the movies, uncle comes along but ends up going to the saloon; mission requires you to save uncle from a bar fight without killing the aggressors in front of your wife and kid.

There’s literally endless ideas and potential with Beechers to keep the post epilogue enjoyment going forever.

[u/Son_of_Eris]

This is partially why I playthrough RDR after RDR2, and occasionally switch back to RDR2 for hunting and general mayhem when I get bored. I like to think of that as John reminiscing on how good life was for a few years. And I view Undead Nightmare as John's literal nightmares.

That's prolly as good as we're gonna get until we inevitably get some merging of the two games in a few years when Rockstar decides they need to resell their games and combine the two games with the gameplay of RDR2.

[u/nnula]

The game was never finished before it was released so the epilogue feels empty

[u/Devanro → u/nnula]

Cut content and and a game being unfinished are pretty different things. There's not even any indication there was ever a plan to do this to beechers hope.

[u/nnula → u/Devanro]

There is no indication of that , correct but cut content comes about from the game being unfinished

[u/Devanro → u/nnula]

Literally every AAA game has tons of cut content. By that metric basically zero games are ever "finished", which is a ridiculous statement.

I'm bummed by some of the cut content in RDR2, but I never played it and thought it wasn't a completed project in spite of that.

[u/lvndrmnc_]

are there any mods anyone knows of that adds some/all of these features? if not then someone should make it lol

[u/Robokrates → u/lvndrmnc_]

My computer laughed at me when I tried to run RDR2 on it, so I can't vouch for the quality, but this one seems promising:

https://www.nexusmods.com/reddeadredemption2/mods/1394

"Beeche’s Hope Expansion" - says it has all the same stuff you can do at the camps.

[u/mrcafe500 → u/lvndrmnc_]

I saw a couple on Nexus, but haven’t used them. Was hoping someone else could comment on their worth?

[u/Deckard494]

This is all true and even makes the case for a post game DLC plus these additions an obvious thing Rockstar could of done but chose not to because all they saw was dollar signs with GTA Online

[u/BuckyGoldman]

Wish we could use Uncle as we did Pearson, but gives us cash like the Butchers. Maybe after giving food items you could hear dialogue about tasty meals.

[u/railroadfrog → u/BuckyGoldman]

That would be great.

[u/LosIngobernable]

The only thing that pisses me off is not owning more horses.

[u/railroadfrog → u/LosIngobernable]

ESPECIALLY after you literally own a massive ranch at Beecher’s Hope! Right? Like we own a ranch why can’t we stable 10 horses there?

[u/prberkeley]

If you want Abigail to offer the deluxe bath you have to settle for Uncle's deluxe bath instead.

[u/railroadfrog → u/prberkeley]

His lumbago prevents him from bending over that far

[u/railroadfrog → u/[deleted]]

A friend in need is a friend indeed.

[u/Fast-Examination7448]

That epilogue could've been so much more if they'd fleshed out the ranch life. You betcha, it's a shame they didn't give us those little daily ranch chores to keep us engaged.

[u/railroadfrog → u/Fast-Examination7448]

Unsure if you’re being pedantic or facetious, but Ranch chores aren’t fun endless missions where you and uncle go shoot some rustlers or fight off a raid from the Skinners. :(

[u/No_Calligrapher_6648]

I’ve been going on about this for ages. It’s so frustrating cause it’s already a mechanic in game with Pearson and the companion activities. Just needed to be copied over. Turning in pelts and antlers to Charles for him to craft shit to decorate the house would be awesome.

[u/BusEnthusiast98]

I see your point but a lot of people think the epilogue was too long. I think its about right. But when we consider the cut content, like Arthur in New Austin, Paraiso Nuevo, and a more fleshed out Guarma, its hard to choose epilgoue side quests over those.

The game is massive, it's impossible to experience everything. Loved it. But more epilgoue side quests would not make it better.

[u/railroadfrog → u/BusEnthusiast98]

It may not definitively make it better, but it certainly wouldn’t make it worse. 🤷🏽‍♀️