RDR2 – Duchesses and Other Animals, Exotics
July 8, 2024 | Posted in Publishing, Video Games | By Anonymous
Comments Off on RDR2 – Duchesses and Other Animals, Exotics
What does it take to earn Best in the West and 100 percent completion at Red Dead Redemption 2? How long does it take to get 100 percent completion? Some estimates state 180+ hours of gameplay. Earning Best in the West Trophy can be extremely “grindy” and there’s no other quest as “grindy” as Duchesses and Other Animals, Exotics. I wrote here about the satchel grind for 100 percent completion and this one requirement for best in the west took nearly five hours of gameplay.
PreCollecting is Allowed
The quest becomes available in Chapter 4 after the mission The Gilded Cage where you attend a party at the Mayor of Saint Denis’ house. One can definitely pre collect the 65 plumes required to complete the quest and it appears one can pre collect the orchids as well. Pre Collecting, in reality, will not cut down on the grind time to complete the quest. And, it appeared to us the spawns on the Egrets, Herons, and Spoonbills occurred Less when we did not actually have the quest in our log.
15 Egret Plumes are the true barrier
The RNG of the spawn on snowy white egrets, little egrets, and reddish egrets is the barrier within the barrier to completing the quest. Completing Duchesses and Other Animals, Exotics, is One barrier within the barrier of 100 percent completion and the Best in the West trophy.
We had a philosophy of working on Hunting Requests in conjunction with Duchesses and Other Animals, Exotics starting our day at Fort Brennand south of Van Horn trading post and north of Saint Denis on what we called “Algernon’s Loop”.
The Strat seeming to work the best
Hitting the main spawn point for the egrets around noon, getting what we could, then fast traveling to Emerald Ranch, sleeping until noon the next day, then riding to the spawn points for the egrets all the while looking for orchids. We chose only to focus on the orchids required for each stage of the quest line, in this case, Lady of the Night Orchids. Five Snowy Egret plumes, five little egret plumes, and 5 reddish egret plumes were by the far the most difficult to collect.
Here we spend another 14 minutes
251 minutes spent on Part 1 of Duchesses and Other Animals, Exotics. However, we pre collected the 20 heron plumes and 30 spoonbill plumes for the follow up parts to the quest line.
Collecting Orchids is Easy Mode – Just takes Time
The second part of the quest, which is actually Part III of Duchesses and Other Animals, Exotics, requires 20 heron plumes, 7 Lady Slipper Orchids, and 10 Moccasin Orchids. Having pre collected the heron plumes in completing the first part of the quests, we just had to grab the two different kinds of Orchids.
Part 2, 20 Heron Plumes, Lady Slipper Orchids and Moccasin Orchids
One piece of advice we can give for those of you, even six years later, attempting to earn the Best in the West Trophy and 100 percent completion, is finish Duchesses and Other Animals, Exotics, in Chapter 4. There are really only seven lady slipper orchid spawns at this point in story mode all located in West Elizabeth.
Moccasin Orchid
We spent 76 minutes completing the second part of this quest line.
Part 3, Spoonbill Plumes, Three Kinds of Orchids
Having pre collected the 22 gator eggs while hunting egrets and herons in part one of the quest line, all we had to do was gather three Acura’s star orchids, seven cigar orchids, five ghost orchids, and three more gator eggs.
Part 4, 30 Spoonbill, 10 Rat Tail Orchids, 5 Spider Orchids, 5 Night Scented Orchids
Pre collecting the 30 spoonbill plumes was clutch.
Part 5, the Final Part
Though technically part six of the quest line, we viewed this as Part five as you begin collecting the items required for quest completion in what is technically part two of the chain. We needed five clamshell orchids, five queen’s orchids, ten sparrow egg orchids, and five dragon’s mouth orchids.
How long does it take to earn Best in the West Trophy?
The number one barrier, in our opinion, is this quest. Duchesses and Other Animals, Exotics, took us 445 minutes, roughly. Or, just shy of eight hours game time.
RDR2 and Best in the West Achievement
July 5, 2024 | Posted in Video Games | By Anonymous
Comments Off on RDR2 and Best in the West Achievement
What does it take to earn 100 percent completion in the best open world video game to date? The list of achievements one has to complete earn Best in the West trophy and 100 percent completion is not as daunting as one might imagine. For example, you don’t have to find every single animal, bird, weapons, or equipment (things like talisman’s and trinkets).
For example, one must find 10 equipment items, 10 fish species, 10 horse breeds, 20 plant species, and 48 weapons to satisfy the Compendium portion of the Best in the West Trophy and being able to tell people you indeed earned this trophy. Is the trophy worth the time? In my (humble) opinion, the trophy being worth the time invested is going to be based on the individual. How important is it you personally to tell people I achieved 100% completion and earned Best in the West Trophy?
A player does not need to kill every legendary animal or do every side mission or every random encounter triggered by the blinking white dot (chance encounters) on your mini map. Completing ten stranger mission quest lines and completing 25 chance counters will qualify players for 100 percent completion.
What is the first step on the journey to Best in the West?
First, simply playing the game. And, there are still people out there on their first play through objectionable to Spoilers. Six years, and our content contains all kinds of spoilers. One needs to get to Chapter 2, complete Pouring Fourth Oil IV, leaving Marston in Valentine as the next mission. This is the first truly great, and fairly undebatable “best save point” in the game. What to work on first? Acquiring Fast Travel which is going to have you most likely on the Jack Hall Treasure Hunt.
Best in the West – The Satchel Grind
The first thing, after completing Pouring Forth Oil and beginning your “free roam” as Arthur, (this mission unlocks you as the player being able to mark a target with a red x during dead eye opposed to “painting” the target with multiple red x’s) … this is why Pouring Forth Oil IV is cited as one of the best save points in the entire game to free roam as Arthur … is go get the Buck Antler Trinket and shoot everything in sight knowing the 22 perfect pelts one must to collect in order to Receive Legend of the East Satchel.
How long does the satchel grind take? Another thing you’re doing on the satchel grind is unlocking each town for Fast Travel and discovering yet undiscovered portions of the map. And hunting literally every animal in sight. A note about Cougars, they find you, you do not find the cougar. In our most recent play through, we have killed at least 25 cougars.
We were attempting to document how long it took us to complete the Satchel Grind and earn the Legend of the East Satchel.
At this point, we’ve invested around 200 minutes in the satchel grind.
A note about Panthers
They are the rarest spawn in the game. Or one of them. And because a perfect panther pelt is required for Legend of the East Satchel, ONE requirement for Best in the West, and a perfect panther pelt unlocks the best crafted saddle from the trapper, the panther is a source of frustration. We didn’t dodge him very well in the above video, but we did capture this video of slaying a panther, although the encounter did not end with a perfect pelt.
Legend of the East Satchel – How Long does it take?
We spend roughly 280 minutes meeting this One Requirement for Best in the West Trophy. We also worked on Challenges. Rule #2, after obtaining the Buck Antler Trinket, always be working on challenges and your life is going to be easier once you commit yourself to 100 percent completion if you grind the legendary of the east satchel in Chapter 2.
RDR2 Legendary Fish – What Everyone Missed
June 15, 2024 | Posted in Video Games | By Anonymous
Comments Off on RDR2 Legendary Fish – What Everyone Missed
Six years later, I figured out the true game mechanic to at least hook the legendary fish on the first cast. It doesn’t matter where you stand to hook the legendary fish, it doesn’t matter the time of the day, it doesn’t matter where you’re standing or what the weather is. The important part is to “let the game” know you are there to catch a legendary fish.
Explaining the Mechanic
You absolutely must see Arthur, or Marston, change the lure on your screen even if you already have the correct special lure attached to your fishing pole. Always use bread bait. In fact, one is not utilizing any bait, simply the lure. One must physically watch Arthur/Marston, sorry spoilers are not an issue six years later imho, place the correct special lure onto the fishing pole even if the lure is already attached.
Where to Stand
This only matters in cutting down on the amount of time it takes to reel in the legendary fish. Again, it doesn’t matter the time of day, it doesn’t matter the weather, and it doesn’t matter where you stand to actually hook the legendary fish the first time.
Zero Frustration Actually hooking the legendary fish
One can imagine the frustration of rowing from Saint Denis to Sisika Penitentiary thinking they have to row to a specific location during a specific time of day in specific weather all the while being shot at because you’re in a restricted area. None of this frustration had to occur. Simply make sure you see Arthur or Marston actually attach the correct special lure. And, to be safe, if one has to recast, have your character place the lure on again by switching to a different lure then switching back to the correct special lure.
Conclusion
Legendary Fishing, due to my discovery of the true mechanic, made 100% completion and Best in the West one of the easier achievements to complete. Make sure you see your character place the correct special lure onto the fishing pole every time you cast. Especially when arriving for the first time in the area to catch the legendary fish. Six years too late but I know you’re out there on their 9th play through trying for 100% completion and many of the guides from the old days are incorrect in places. I intend to fix a few of those.