Discrepancies in John's character from RDR1 to RDR2
I've tried to post this in the main Red Dead Redemption subreddit but it kept getting removed so I thought I'd just leave it here:
I’ll start off by saying that there’s no doubt that Red Dead Redemption 2 is a great game. However, one of the many things I take issue with is its portrayal of the first game’s protagonist, John Marston. In rdr2, John is basically a bumbling oaf and, at times, a literal punching bag for the other gang members. He’s in constant need of rescuing and essentially just a loser all round. He possesses none of the wit, charm or intellect he has in the rdr1. He’s basically not even the same character and he more closely resembles Bill Williamson in personality.
I’ve scrolled through some threads on this topic and a common rebuttal I’ve seen is that John acts this way because he wasn’t yet mature. I understand why people say this but it completely contradicts with descriptions of his youth from the first game. Bill talks about how John always had a way with words, something which isn’t seen in rdr2. He also implies that John was Dutch’s right hand man in a way. Dutch says something about how John was always a romantic in the bank robbery mission. These qualities just aren’t displayed in the second game.
John also often talks about how he was this violent revolutionary with this twisted idea that his life of crime helped ordinary people. Correct me if I’m wrong but as I remember it, none of that belief system is shown in the second game. I feel like he wouldn’t abandon the gang for a whole year otherwise. The game doesn’t really do enough to show the rage and brutality that plagued John in his earlier days. In rdr1, he threatens Abraham Reyes, saying “I’ll show you the man I used to be.” According to the second game the man he used to be is some uncharismatic idiot.
I feel like it’s more likely that John got his wit, charm and beliefs from Dutch and his philosophy, rather than his time spent ranching in the middle of nowhere with an elderly drunk, his illiterate wife and a young child for company.
Also, John is 26 years old in rdr2. Think about how quickly people had to develop back then. His father died in a barfight, orphaning him at age 6. He was almost lynched at age 10. By 1899, he’d spent over a decade robbing and murdering people. He wasn’t some kid. He was a hardened outlaw.
It seems to me that John’s qualities were removed from him so as to not upstage Arthur. It’s makes me kind of sad to think about how they destroyed one of the most iconic characters in gaming history. The fact that rockstar didn’t even bother with his character model in the epilogue makes me think that they didn’t care about John at all. And the fact that many people, on this subreddit and beyond, hate playing as him is genuinely a tragedy.