Sorry, about your dead husband and all. But, I have reason to suspect he got me sick. So, I’m suing the Downes estate for medical expenses and lost wages due to my inability to work. Also, pain & suffering. See you in court.
Did a playthrough being a nice guy, purposely did not hit the debt-ridden fool at all. I kinda hoped it would shape the story out positively but nope, guy still coughed tuberculosis down my guys throat.
Let's be real. [The story was sealed when Downes broke up your fight with Tommy and coughed on you.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLCh_8Uw3dE&t=210s) Collecting debts from him was redundant.
And if wasn't that, when you explore Valentine early on you can come across Downes collecting money for charity. He coughs on you then, also.
Not from the same distance.
When Downes coughs in the debt collection it's point blank, with blood even landing on Arthur and presumably into his orifices.
If TD was passing out TB that EZ his ass woulda been shot long before ol' Morgan moseyed over to his house for a few bucks.
But that's a story, so without a dramatic cutscene, Arthur rubbing his face and ominous music Downes can cough as much as he'd like.
He's at least trying to cover his mouth in that scene, btw.
I frequent Valentine primarily to leap off the saloon roof to cover Arthur head to toe in mud to make the cutscenes hilarious. Never knew about Downes early on. I'll squeeze in an early visit on my next playthrough and beat the tuberculosis out of him...whilst covered in mud...obviously..
I did not recognize her at all when I saw her then. The only thing that I remembered was the name Downes. I remembered the name, incredibly vaguely, and spent a few days thinking about why Arthur knew this random woman in annesburg. She wasn’t related to Mary, and I didn’t remember seeing her around camp either. I don’t think I ever got it, not until later on when Arthur apologizes for her husband. Even then, i still didn’t quite know who she was, just that her husband is dead and I did it
The Downes storyline plays out across a bunch of different missions throughout the game though.
It starts with the original debt collection mission from Strauss, where Arthur returns empty-handed. Later, there's a missable encounter where Mrs. Downes comes to camp and informs Strauss of her husband's passing. Then in Chapter 3 after the Valentine bank robbery, Arthur returns to the Downes Ranch to find Mrs. Downes and her son packing up their things. Arthur collects the last of the debt money at this time.
Then starting in Chapter 4, you can do the Dorkins/Calderon missions which will be when you run into her in Annesburg and learn she has resorted to sex work to get by. Then in Chapter 5 when Arthur is diagnosed with TB, he will recall a quote from Mrs. Downes (quote changes depending on your honor, but there will be one from her either way). Also in Chapter 5, after scouting out the new camp and delivering the woman to Annesbury, Arthur will again encounter Mrs. Downes with a John.
There are another three or four encounters in Chapter 6 as well. Plus pretty much every time you see her they talk about either the debt or her husband, or both. It's definitely not meant to be a difficult storyline to follow even on your first playthrough.
IMO seeing her in Annesburg the first time is jarring/confusing because you don't associate Mrs. Downes with that location, that appearance, or that line of work. But it shouldn't take a detective to connect the dots if you just observe the conversation that takes place.
Yup, and he's the guy set up with a stall near the Valentine general store the first time you go out there with Uncle and the girls, soliciting donations for the poor.
I just didn't know i should pay attention to them, i guess it's because I did a lot of Strauss missions in a row so i thought it was just another one like that
I did the same thing and didn't connect who she was until she said I killed her husband. Then I remembered because he was the one I felt the worst about forcing debt repayment, and I tried to let him go, but the game doesn't let you avoid it.
When I first played it I thought it was a side quest since it felt like all the other side quests about getting what’s owed to the camp. When it had major affects in the game I was mind blown. My second play through I was avoiding that place like the plague because it was the plague. It wasn’t until we’ll after I beat the game that I saw everyone else had the same thing happen and it wasn’t a side quest
I think it's great storytelling, honestly.
If you just watch the cutscenes in sequence, or read the plotline on a wiki or something, it feels a bit heavy-handed. We've all seen "violence man learns the error of his ways after his violence man ways bring unintentional harm to a (female) secondary character and we all get very sad" a thousand times, I'm sure.
Except, if you experience this story while **playing** RDR2, you might have been playing for 20 hours in between killing Mr. Downes and finding out what happened to Mrs. Downes. You might experience it like AwkwardGrass here:
>I still didn’t quite know who she was, just that her husband is dead and I did it
Holy ***shit***.
There's all sorts of little moments like that in the games, too. Like returning to a town a dozen hours after a fun barroom brawl mission and hearing incidental dialogue that the town Tough Guy now has permanent brain damage from being knocked out in a fight a while back.
Going buffalo hunting in RDR1 and getting an achievement popup saying ***Manifest Destiny*** for killing the last buffalo on the great plains.
The huge amount of space & time the player has to explore the world & mess around means that the game can throw these "heavy-handed" morality moments at you without it *feeling* heavy-handed. It feels like you "discovered" them, even if in reality they were made very deliberately by a large team of (highly skilled & overworked) game designers.
In some ways "chance" encounter with a victim of your past wrongdoings can carry the "redemption" message more than many elements in the main plot.
I had the same exact experience as you the first time I played the game a couple weeks back. I kept thinking… who is this woman, she keeps leaving before we can find out her history with Arthur
He said himself during those missions that he was after pleasure when it came to getting the money back by beating ass.
He isnt a good ol' boy. He is a guy who did a lot of bad and then did some good and he hoped the little good he did would make some kind of difference, knowing it could never make up for the bad.
Heads up, you can’t get the last two herbalist challenges. If I remember correctly you have to do every challenge you can as Arthur except gambler 10, which you save for last. Then you get gambler 10 by replaying “Who is not without sin”. Once you complete the mission, you should get legend of the east
The buggies you can find in St. Denis have a big enough canopy that you can pick the herbs you need in New Austin without getting killed by the auto-sniper. As long as Arthur's head is never visible, you can travel in relative safety. And the horseman challenge is doable as long as you bring along an entire satchel full of tonics and just try to ride past the pinkertons while chugging them nonstop
I don't enjoy being annoyed by a game, so 100% completion and especially the gambling challenges are off the table for me. That being said, I never thought about money being a problem and making the challenge that much more annoying.
Oh was it awkward seeing the widow of the poor sick man you beat to death having to turn tricks to survive? Im sorry, that must’ve been very awkward for you
Awkward? What do you want it to be? You worked and then beat her husband to death, forced them to sell their home, and then, to make ends meet, solicit herself for money and force her son to nearly kill himself in a coal mine. Seeing an ex girlfriend is awkward. Seeing someone whose life you ruined is horrific.
The night before last I got to this part in the game, and when she called for the police they accidentally shot HER. I didn’t realize at first but after it cooled down I saw a corpse marker on the map. Yep it was Mrs. Downes 😂 I’m sure she would’ve respawned later but I still loaded an earlier save lol.
Just think, if you hadn't gotten her bible beating husband out of the way good ol' Mrs. Downes would have never got to learn her full money earning potential as a business woman and entrepreneur.
not as awkward as the 25 cent handyj she gave me in the alley
.
actually thinking about it, my arthur had thousands of dollars and I always played as a good person, so I would give her a thousand dollars for that expert handyj. it's the least I could do. and I think I murdered a bunch of miners to protect her son or something? it's been a while
Sorry, about your dead husband and all. But, I have reason to suspect he got me sick. So, I’m suing the Downes estate for medical expenses and lost wages due to my inability to work. Also, pain & suffering. See you in court.
Sicky boi strikes back. Stay tuned for another episode of "Keeping up with the Downes family"
“Keeping Downes Down”
Down with the sickness.
Arthur. "*Cough.* Cough. OwWAHAHAHAH!"
Downes with the Sickness
Downs with the syndrome
Eastbound and Downes
Downes family down but we UP ⬆️🔥🔥❗️❗️
"Sicki boi? Are you kidding me?" Arthur, probably
Iowa?
Yessir
Keeping Up with The Downes’
"Ups & Downes, now streaming on Apple Plus!"
Does that still hold up considering that at the time of infection, Arthur was committing felony battery and rackateering?
Arthur’s claim would be handled in civil court. The Downes could counter sue, or motion for dismissal. Idk. Im not Judge Judy and executioner.
-No luck finding those legendary swans then? -it's just the one legendary Swan actually.
Well, they did borrow money.... I blame Strauss.
Filibuster
You forgot to add lumbago to the charges.
you did beat her husband to death.
Wait? He killed him to death? No way!
With murder, no less.
To shreds you say?
Well, how is his wife holding up?
to ~~shreds~~the streets, you say?
Manny is *all* about the streets. He can feel them flowing through his veins.
well he is going to die anyway he is just speed up the process
I thought he just Killed him badly maimed?
Did a playthrough being a nice guy, purposely did not hit the debt-ridden fool at all. I kinda hoped it would shape the story out positively but nope, guy still coughed tuberculosis down my guys throat.
I did that my very first run cause I felt bad about beating up a sick man, and so I was very confused about how arthur got sick later in the story.
You get blood coughed on you in a cutscene regardless of how you interact with the guy.
Whether you beat him or not, it's a cutscene where Arthur grabs him by the collar and he coughs blood right into Arthur's mouth.
Omg same 😅 I refused to hurt him and just kept threatening him. When the part about “you beat him to death” came up, I was very confused.
You can't change what's programmed by the developers.
*His death is an Absolute Point in time.*
"No... he *doesn't* row." "Oh."
-laughs in programmer-
Let's be real. [The story was sealed when Downes broke up your fight with Tommy and coughed on you.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLCh_8Uw3dE&t=210s) Collecting debts from him was redundant. And if wasn't that, when you explore Valentine early on you can come across Downes collecting money for charity. He coughs on you then, also.
Not from the same distance. When Downes coughs in the debt collection it's point blank, with blood even landing on Arthur and presumably into his orifices. If TD was passing out TB that EZ his ass woulda been shot long before ol' Morgan moseyed over to his house for a few bucks.
But that's a story, so without a dramatic cutscene, Arthur rubbing his face and ominous music Downes can cough as much as he'd like. He's at least trying to cover his mouth in that scene, btw.
I frequent Valentine primarily to leap off the saloon roof to cover Arthur head to toe in mud to make the cutscenes hilarious. Never knew about Downes early on. I'll squeeze in an early visit on my next playthrough and beat the tuberculosis out of him...whilst covered in mud...obviously..
Oh yeah. Oops 😬. Damn downes gave Arthur the tb downes.
You didnt kill him the tb did
The collosal ass whooping didn't help anything.
Thomas Downes chose that by not paying back *the munneh*
True
to be fair, I was purposely trying to beat the tb out of him. I couldn't care less about the loan, I just wanted to save that man's life
So Micah is a good man? He was trying to beat the TB out of Arthur at the end but the TB got him anyway
Almost as bad at the TB.. he tried to throw a fkn rake at you..
"*Really!?*" Poor guy should've just stolen a drunks gun and kept it on him at all times.
We didn't kill him. Roughed him up, but the TB killed him. He was just having a coughing fit after we were done with him.
And it's all thanks to you. 😊
Thanks. you sound like my mom explaining to me about how it's all my fault dad left.
Wasn't it? You did kind of try to set him on fire in his sleep
I had no choice. He touched my no-no square 😡
Which one?
The one my mom told me not to touch while in Sunday school
Mayne you and your mom dodged a bullet, then
.50 Cal bullet to be exact partna .
That's some powerful stuff
r/Juicyfruitsnacks
Man I love fruit snacks . My favorite are gushers!
You too, partner? Comes to something when John Marston is the dad we should've had, lol.
Oh and Harambe is gone but never forgotten.
Yeah...it was a hilarious username in 2017...
Legendary bro. Legendary
Dicks out
Amen. Dicks out for the Lord
alright guys, let's pluck 'em out for harambe
humanity has been on the darkest timeline ever since we murdered that sweet ape.
Not to mention by the time I rode by her my Arthur was sitting on a cool $14,000
I did not recognize her at all when I saw her then. The only thing that I remembered was the name Downes. I remembered the name, incredibly vaguely, and spent a few days thinking about why Arthur knew this random woman in annesburg. She wasn’t related to Mary, and I didn’t remember seeing her around camp either. I don’t think I ever got it, not until later on when Arthur apologizes for her husband. Even then, i still didn’t quite know who she was, just that her husband is dead and I did it
It's because it isn't clear that the first mission has any significance when you play it
The Downes storyline plays out across a bunch of different missions throughout the game though. It starts with the original debt collection mission from Strauss, where Arthur returns empty-handed. Later, there's a missable encounter where Mrs. Downes comes to camp and informs Strauss of her husband's passing. Then in Chapter 3 after the Valentine bank robbery, Arthur returns to the Downes Ranch to find Mrs. Downes and her son packing up their things. Arthur collects the last of the debt money at this time. Then starting in Chapter 4, you can do the Dorkins/Calderon missions which will be when you run into her in Annesburg and learn she has resorted to sex work to get by. Then in Chapter 5 when Arthur is diagnosed with TB, he will recall a quote from Mrs. Downes (quote changes depending on your honor, but there will be one from her either way). Also in Chapter 5, after scouting out the new camp and delivering the woman to Annesbury, Arthur will again encounter Mrs. Downes with a John. There are another three or four encounters in Chapter 6 as well. Plus pretty much every time you see her they talk about either the debt or her husband, or both. It's definitely not meant to be a difficult storyline to follow even on your first playthrough. IMO seeing her in Annesburg the first time is jarring/confusing because you don't associate Mrs. Downes with that location, that appearance, or that line of work. But it shouldn't take a detective to connect the dots if you just observe the conversation that takes place.
Downes is also the guy in Valentine who stops Arthur before he can put an even bigger dent in that big dude Tommy's head than he'd already done
Yup, and he's the guy set up with a stall near the Valentine general store the first time you go out there with Uncle and the girls, soliciting donations for the poor.
Oh that's right!
That's one way to raise debt payments.
Why do you think he's in debt in the first place?
I just replayed this bit and still didn’t recognise him. Damn. I’m even making sure I read all the journal updates.
You meet Mrs. Downes originally in Saint Denis, not Annesburg.
Yep, she yells for the police on you "harassing" her.
I just didn't know i should pay attention to them, i guess it's because I did a lot of Strauss missions in a row so i thought it was just another one like that
I did the same thing and didn't connect who she was until she said I killed her husband. Then I remembered because he was the one I felt the worst about forcing debt repayment, and I tried to let him go, but the game doesn't let you avoid it.
When I first played it I thought it was a side quest since it felt like all the other side quests about getting what’s owed to the camp. When it had major affects in the game I was mind blown. My second play through I was avoiding that place like the plague because it was the plague. It wasn’t until we’ll after I beat the game that I saw everyone else had the same thing happen and it wasn’t a side quest
same! my first play through took me a while and I was like what the heck who is this lady?? how do they know each other?
I think it's great storytelling, honestly. If you just watch the cutscenes in sequence, or read the plotline on a wiki or something, it feels a bit heavy-handed. We've all seen "violence man learns the error of his ways after his violence man ways bring unintentional harm to a (female) secondary character and we all get very sad" a thousand times, I'm sure. Except, if you experience this story while **playing** RDR2, you might have been playing for 20 hours in between killing Mr. Downes and finding out what happened to Mrs. Downes. You might experience it like AwkwardGrass here: >I still didn’t quite know who she was, just that her husband is dead and I did it Holy ***shit***. There's all sorts of little moments like that in the games, too. Like returning to a town a dozen hours after a fun barroom brawl mission and hearing incidental dialogue that the town Tough Guy now has permanent brain damage from being knocked out in a fight a while back. Going buffalo hunting in RDR1 and getting an achievement popup saying ***Manifest Destiny*** for killing the last buffalo on the great plains. The huge amount of space & time the player has to explore the world & mess around means that the game can throw these "heavy-handed" morality moments at you without it *feeling* heavy-handed. It feels like you "discovered" them, even if in reality they were made very deliberately by a large team of (highly skilled & overworked) game designers. In some ways "chance" encounter with a victim of your past wrongdoings can carry the "redemption" message more than many elements in the main plot.
Unfortunately, on my first playthrough I completely missed this thread of side missions.
Except killing her husband which you have to do to finish the chapter.
This photo is in Saint Denis
ngl Sadie was that for me. I didn't know that she was the lady from the snow mountains.
I had the same exact experience as you the first time I played the game a couple weeks back. I kept thinking… who is this woman, she keeps leaving before we can find out her history with Arthur
The awkward feeling is actually the guilt of your actions.
Guy was going to die a week later anyways. Doubt an extra week alive would have stopped her or her son from taking different paths.
They had to sell the house to repay the debt to Strauss, if the debt had been absolved they would’ve still had a home
Tbh tho its hard to feel guilty when the player didnt have a choice and arthur himself already hated being a loan shark.
He said himself during those missions that he was after pleasure when it came to getting the money back by beating ass. He isnt a good ol' boy. He is a guy who did a lot of bad and then did some good and he hoped the little good he did would make some kind of difference, knowing it could never make up for the bad.
Pretty sure he said that to seem tough
I think its a good dose of both. He enjoyed being an outlaw and that included hurting people to make you/your family some money.
Yeah, shoulda done it earlier. Then they could pay what they owe. *- honor*
AND ARTHUR WOULDNT OF DONE THE BEAT DOWN ON MR DOWNES. if Mrs Downes was a better prostitute our boh wouldn't have the tb.
Honestly, he probably saved their whole family from catching it and dying as well.
She probably caught something else in Annesburg
😩
Nice
I'm after you next, boah. I seen your name in our ledger.
LMAO
I mean, yeah. It’s supposed to be. Consequences of yours actions and all that.
Yeah damn consequences and stuff are lame.
i cant believe he actually thought this comment was serious jesus christ lmao
Lol, okay.
Man I just finished the mission with her son in the mines. V sad
When Arthur says "Leave the kid alone" is one of his most bad ass moments for me tho ngl.
He's just a god damn boah
Is that the Legends of the East outfit? With Arthur?
Ah yes. Good eye mate.
Well done and now I know my new goal!
Heads up, you can’t get the last two herbalist challenges. If I remember correctly you have to do every challenge you can as Arthur except gambler 10, which you save for last. Then you get gambler 10 by replaying “Who is not without sin”. Once you complete the mission, you should get legend of the east
You *can* get the last two herbalist challenges, you just have to do some tricky sniper dodging. 😉
How?
The buggies you can find in St. Denis have a big enough canopy that you can pick the herbs you need in New Austin without getting killed by the auto-sniper. As long as Arthur's head is never visible, you can travel in relative safety. And the horseman challenge is doable as long as you bring along an entire satchel full of tonics and just try to ride past the pinkertons while chugging them nonstop
Catch TB from the husband. Catch AIDS from the wife 💀💀💀
Oiii
Ngl, Mrs Downes kind of got it going
Hopefully she makes enough coin to shower and stuff. With a shower she's a solid 6.5/10.
Cleanliness is next to godliness after all
I’m 65% sure I’d do a showered 6.5/10
Well it's only 35% away from a perfect 10/10.
Ohhh. 6.5 is way out of my league
Just bring a wad of cash and you'll be ok bro.
Ohhhh... I broke, too.... Ugh. Never gonna get that TB hotty
You still got one last chance. Are you a legendary gunslinger?
No.....
It’s not awkward, it’s fuckin’ sad. Wtf lol
If the game gave me the option I would've taken her to a cheap hotel
Why not the expensive it’s still like $2
My Arthur is broke, he spent all of his money on the gambling challenges
I don't enjoy being annoyed by a game, so 100% completion and especially the gambling challenges are off the table for me. That being said, I never thought about money being a problem and making the challenge that much more annoying.
She is doing what she needs to do to survive and keep her son fed and sheltered. Mrs. Downes is a fighter.
Smash
Whoa boy!! Settle down!! - Morgan Arthur
😇
Would have been even more awkward using the money I beat out of her husband to get the "dutch plan" behind the train depot.
That's a real sloppy plan partna.
Oh was it awkward seeing the widow of the poor sick man you beat to death having to turn tricks to survive? Im sorry, that must’ve been very awkward for you
The funny thing is I *didn't* beat him to death. I just kept using "threaten" but it all plays out the same.
Awkward? What do you want it to be? You worked and then beat her husband to death, forced them to sell their home, and then, to make ends meet, solicit herself for money and force her son to nearly kill himself in a coal mine. Seeing an ex girlfriend is awkward. Seeing someone whose life you ruined is horrific.
She was giving off sexual vibes for a minute so I thought that was awkward. But yeah it was more horrific like you said
Nah she’s gotta do something to make money. And that was a popular profession for women during that time
Amen
It was nighttime when I got this scene. Weird to see it in daylight.
That's the point.
Is it just me, or does Edith Downes look like King Ramses from Courage the Cowardly dog show
Now I can't unsee this! 😆 "Return the slab. Or suffer my curse." Tanks for that! LOL!
If Arthur was a real dirtball he’d either have sex with her or pimp her out.
You did this to her.
NO U
She gave you a boner, didn't she?
Awkward? More like… “Yep, I definitely deserve to be dying of tuberculosis.”
I wouldn't say it's awkward but it did make me feel bad
Isn’t reactions with her part of you honor or something like that?
I spent so long doing side quests by the time I got to her I had no idea who Mrs or Mr Downes were
"You took everything from me!" "I don't even know who you are."
Haha same
Mrs.Downes!? Oh uh I'm as shocked as you Arthur...
If your not with that Mary chick anymore maybe we can go get a hotel room Mr. Morgan.
For a scrub down no talking 😂
Some would call it a "tuggy in the scrubbie" (Press (Y)-( No Talking)
I thought it was hot
Too bad you can't hit tho
It’s not supposed to be “oh, Mrs. Downes! How the hell are ya!” You’re supposed to be uncomfortable lol
Lol. Yeah. Sad and awkward
Shit, I didn't even know who she was when I found her. Now I feel even worse about it
That's awkward bro.
You're telling me
The night before last I got to this part in the game, and when she called for the police they accidentally shot HER. I didn’t realize at first but after it cooled down I saw a corpse marker on the map. Yep it was Mrs. Downes 😂 I’m sure she would’ve respawned later but I still loaded an earlier save lol.
Lol damn. That's good stuff
Is that Angelo brontes smoking jacket?
Lote outfit
She went >!to Carlifonia a she and he son created a golf course!<
too bad they didn’t let me hit
Nah, just take her down an alley and shag her for full health in exchange for a few dollars. Oh... wait...
Das rude .
Reckoning with your past violent deeds is the theme of the game, yes.
Just think, if you hadn't gotten her bible beating husband out of the way good ol' Mrs. Downes would have never got to learn her full money earning potential as a business woman and entrepreneur.
Got bless women who utilize the skillets they are naturally born with
*Skill Sets.
.... *sighs* .... Would.
Every time I ran into her, my heart broke more and more. That poor woman...that poor family.
🌚
:o
Which missions is she from?
Well maybe you shouldn’t have beat her husband to death then
not as awkward as the 25 cent handyj she gave me in the alley . actually thinking about it, my arthur had thousands of dollars and I always played as a good person, so I would give her a thousand dollars for that expert handyj. it's the least I could do. and I think I murdered a bunch of miners to protect her son or something? it's been a while
Giving that family money doesn't save them, unfortunately.
It jumpstarted her only fans is all it did😢
I have them the max amount hoping it'd save them, I think the son ended up ok?
can you fuck hookers in RDR?
You can't get close but no. They will ask you in bars if you want a good time. It only gives you the option to reject or antagonize the prostitutes.