After competing both RDR1 and RDR2 I was absolutely blown away by RDR1 and felt that it had the better story, anyone else agree?
After doing my 2nd play through of RDR2 after a few years, I decided to play RDR1 for the first time and man did I find it amazing. I didn't think I would enjoy it much since I had already seen most of the major cutscenes online, and hated John and Abigail because of how boring I thought the epilogue was in 2, but I was pleasantly surprised and honestly believe the first just destroys the 2nd in terms of the story after completing the first game for the first time.
1. John's better in the 1st game than he is in the 2nd.
The first thing is John Marston himself. In RDR2 he's kind of this uneducated, dweeb kinda guy or at least a hot headed little brother to Arthur, that even by the epilogue didn't seem to change all that much from 1899 in terms of his general attitude and personality. This is one of the reasons I didn't feel that playing as him would be that interesting.
In the 2nd game however he's literally just a different character. He's this stoic, wise, articulate figure that's strictly no nonsense and has solid principles. He looks different, acts different, even walks different. It's weird because he's so different to the point where when I see RDR2 john I don't even think of the same guy as RDR1 john, in my mind they are just different people. This john is someone you feel is capable and respectable, as well as wise beyond his years and endearing, I could see now why so many were disappointed you didn't get to play as him in 2 when the trailers came out.
I felt that the banter between characters is also somewhat better written in the 1st game than second. I think this is largely because of how articulate and quips focused john is in the first game which is notably absent in the 2nd one. It's even commented by Abigail how john is always dropping little nuggets of wisdom, something noticeably absent from 2. He also has a larger vocabulary in the 1st.
This leads to some pretty endearing jokes about Abigail trying to trying to poison him with how bad her cooking is(present in the 2nd but I felt the jokes were communicated better in the 1st) or how jealous Abigail get's of Bonnie so she decides to go with john herself to see her.
There's also John's stern reassurance to Jack while hunting when jack is feeling inadequate as a man, showing john's emotional intelligence and caring nature, while RDR2 john doesn't seem to know what he's doing in this area.
2. The storytelling is much more human and holds your hand less.
When bonnie says goodbye to Marston and Abigail she never says a word but the story tells you clear as day what's going on without any sort of hand holding. Bonnie holds a prolonged stare once the couple goes away, and fidgets her feet on the ground. This let's us know she's deep in contemplation and likely held romantic feelings for Marston which was hinted at previously. This scene holds the melancholy of caring for someone so deeply but knowing fate won't permit you you to have the life with them you desire, or to see the person you desire drifting off into their own life while you stay stuck behind, holding onto the image of could have been.
In RDR2 it feels like your hand is held far too much. With Sadie the story and characters tell you over and over again how much of a badass she is. Literally is like 90% of her interactions with others, when it could have easily just been shown with just her actions. Almost as if rockstar doesn't trust us to be able to get that from actions alone.
3. The stranger missions were infinitely more interesting
By far my favorite feature of 1st is how you get to go to a stranger and only later do you decide if you want to do their quest. It kind of sucked to be stuck in a mission in 2 you don't care for but feel you have to complete because you already accepted it and it's already making you do something as soon as you walk up to them.
Many of the stranger missions in 2 were tedious and boring. Like collecting dinosaur bones, the two guys trying to impress the girl, and so on. Only a few like the mad scientist and the electric chair one were interesting.
In contrast I felt most of the stranger missions in 1 were interesting. I was really curious if that guy could actually fly in his makeshift plane, or what the hell the strange man was? The creepy and mysterious stuff in 2 like the serial killer mystery that ends anticlimactically don't hold a candle to the strange man, or some of the other rdr1 stuff which is another bonus.
4. There are many character mistakes in RDR2 that are absent in RDR1
RDR1 was very concise with it's characters and their role in the story. RDR2 had several instances of hypocrisy while narratively painting certain characters as good despite their obvious bad actions.
Like how Sadie is painted as one of the good guys, but get's the balloon guy killed with her plan and literally cares nothing of it. Or leads john back into the life to get revenge even while knowing it wasn't what Arthur wanted and endangers his life as a married man with a family.
Knowing that Sadie could possibly be the reason john get's found out and killed is enough of a reason for me to dislike her. The story narratively painting her as a dear friend to John and one of the good people in the end that sided with Arthur is kind of annoying.
Charles is also rich for being part of a group of murdering thieving outlaws while getting mad that people kill animals for sport, and provokes an interaction that leads to the death of two men because of it. He's painted as one of the good guys too but his hypocrisy is a bit much.
Finally there's Arthur who kicks out strauss because he feels money lending is cruel, yet guns down a whole village of men in strawberry to help micah get his guns.
5. The ending and conclusion of RDR1 was miles better than 2.
The second game ended with a cinematic death and a strong silver lining in the fact john's family escaped.
The first ended with a grim betrayal and tragic death. It had the guts to be bleak and end on the most depressing note possible for the game.
Additionally you emotion and character that John displays where he looks at all the men waiting for him, slowly catches his breath, and opens the door is nothing short of amazing. You can see the hesitation, the fear, and finally the resolve and acceptance of his life, choices, and of his fate.
The sharp, narrow breaths leaving his mouth after being gunned down sounds undignified the same way real death is, adding another tragic dimension in the fact his death was brutal unlike arthur's sunset.
The family finding his remains is equally tragic, and Jack collecting himself to comfort his mother shows his strength as well.
By far my favorite scene in the entire game is the clip showing John's grave, then panning over to Abigails, which hits you with a double gut punch. Seeing both graves together, knowing everything that you went through, and how good of people they were in the end seems disturbingly tragic.
Becoming Jack after was the cherry on the pie. Looking at the graves and seeing both your parent's lying there, and the once busy house empty because of their loss is depressing in just too real of a way, and really makes you feel something in your heart.
Of course the actual game is much better in RDR2. The world is much more immersive, detailed, large, and interactive. The gameplay loop in 1 is just shootout after shootout that felt highly repetitive after a while so there's no debate there, but in regards to the story the first game really knocks the second out of the water in my opinion.