Saints Row: 2022 Reboot

[Jason]

2 hours ago, REVENGE777 said:

I just wanted to smoke crack and wear du rags like the first saints row  is that too much to ask??

 

Honestly, and having not played it but read a load of impressions, take away the technical side of stuff and the main disappointment is the little things that are missing like this.

 

As I said last night there's nothing wrong with a throwback game, a love letter to SR2/3 is absolutely fine for me, but it's still gotta match those games in terms of features and while the customisation does sound good it does sound like the game is just missing a lot of the little things that have been staples of the series.

[deathdealer]

1 hour ago, Jason said:

 

Honestly, and having not played it but read a load of impressions, take away the technical side of stuff and the main disappointment is the little things that are missing like this.

 

As I said last night there's nothing wrong with a throwback game, a love letter to SR2/3 is absolutely fine for me, but it's still gotta match those games in terms of features and while the customisation does sound good it does sound like the game is just missing a lot of the little things that have been staples of the series.

 

and that's what pisses me off the most. It feels like they removed stuff just for the sake of doing so and the changes they made to systems like recruitment feel nonsensical. The most damning thing of all is that if you play it, you could see the lost potential in it. So f*cking maddening! It's like visiting your 31 year old sister who made principal list every semester and learn she still lives with mom and dad with no job.

[Jason]

2 minutes ago, deathdealer said:

So f*cking maddening! It's like visiting your 31 year old sister who made principal list every semester and learn she still lives with mom and dad with no job.

 

specific, but okay 

[Lock n' Stock]

11 hours ago, Leone. said:

Hexagon is back for the Reboot - and as expected, everything that's needed to be said about the modern gaming industry, is said.  Mashallah! 
 

 

I've generally enjoyed Hexagon's videos on the subject, but meh, too much rambling about the culture wars in this for me. He could have saved all of that entirely for a separate video.

[Ondr4H]

Seriously there needs to be worldwide law, that punish bad AAA games via taxes and these taxes go to better funding of coding and writers schools...

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 1 by Ondr4H

[Lock n' Stock]

Somewhat off-topic, but seeing this absolute travesty unfold inspired me to go back and finally check out the original Saints Row for the first time (via an emulator on PC). More or less plays a lot like SR2 with less features, but still generally holds up well. The gritty post-industrial vibe is spot-on, with Stilwater feeling like a caricature of a Great Lakes city. I greatly dig the radio selection that's somehow larger and more varied than later games, be it multiple rock and hip-hop stations, electronica, metal, reggae, easy-listening and even a talk station. And of course, a decent storyline with characters that (while not particularly deep) you can actually give a sh*t about, with actual traits and motivations beyond "muh student loans" and "he loves cooking!". It just does a so much better job at sucking you into its universe than whatever this "reboot" tries to do.

 

Volition just seemed to care much more back then. What went so wrong?

Edited September 1 by Lock n' Stock

[Bigglo145]

Also just redownloaded saints row 1 and 2. Those games really feel like a rags to riches story. Not like the reboot, not sure what the reboot was going for. Didnt complete it anyway, was too bored to give a damn.

 

in the older games, you could purchase luxury cars and that really helps you feel like you are big leagues. The reboot doesnt even have luxury cars, they barely have any cars. That’s probably one of the things that annoyed me the most especially when they spoke aboot car customization being the best in series. Thats because theres so little cars.

 

also, you cant wear jewelry with some clothes for some reason, which is weird and dated. Again, this helps you feel like youre in the big leagues when you can wear 3 GOLD MF CHAINS (no exaggeration) , A WATCH AND A BRACELET AND RINGS ON EVERY FINGER!!!

 

you cant eat or drink or smoke. You cant have followers. Dumb decisions. And you cant purchase houses and customize them like SR2. The biggest map in the series and you cant even purchase homes in your favorite area. 
what a shame.

 

[Zello]

9 hours ago, Lock n' Stock said:

Volition just seemed to care much more back then. What went so wrong?

They changed directions and it sucks.

Edited September 2 by Zello

[Lock n' Stock]

3 hours ago, Zello said:

They changed directions and it sucks.

Brilliant. So much better than some bullsh*t like "look at our incredibly relatable characters we've made! you'll love them cos we said so!!!1".

 

Remember when they actually had the balls to take shots at GTA IV? Even as the biggest R* fanboy back in the day, this trailer left me no choice but to pick this sh*t up. Didn't regret it one bit.

 

Edited September 2 by Lock n' Stock

[Creed Bratton]

I enjoyed Saints Row 2 more than I ever enjoyed GTA IV. They had every right to mock it. I don't know what the f*ck was R* thinking with some of those activities. But it just wasn't a fun game. It was technically brilliant, though.

[Lock n' Stock]

4 minutes ago, Creed Bratton said:

I enjoyed Saints Row 2 more than I ever enjoyed GTA IV. They had every right to mock it. I don't know what the f*ck was R* thinking with some of those activities. But it just wasn't a fun game. It was technically brilliant, though.

I wouldn't argue the game wasn't fun to play, though I can see why it's more "grounded" direction polarised more than a few.

 

At least TBOGT restored a bit of the "fun" side back into the series.

Edited September 2 by Lock n' Stock

[B Dawg]

4 hours ago, Lock n' Stock said:

Remember when they actually had the balls to take shots at GTA IV?

Had to know something was wrong when they didn't do the same thing with GTA V.

[Ondr4H]

I will argue with anybody, for me gaming is in vegetative state since end of ps3/xbox 360 era.

 

There are no AAA games that are pushing whole industry like used to be... These are lazy cashgrabs sometimes with scam in mind .

Cyberpunk literally ruined whole company because they lied and not deliver.

 

And now this after 9 years of wait...

 

Edited September 2 by Ondr4H

[Lock n' Stock]

48 minutes ago, B Dawg said:

Had to know something was wrong when they didn't do the same thing with GTA V.

Both franchises are basically dogsh*t now, so it doesn't really matter either way.

[Ondr4H]

Im done with these kind of videos, because they are made me so angry...

 

 

 

Seriously volition, you had one job... You are seriously lazy f*cks, so instead doing horrendous lazy scam why you didnt remake of Saints Row 2.

Imagine, that game will sell like hot cakes and half of work is done... Too easy, yes?

 

Enjoy you bankruptcy, sincerely your angry fan!

[Bigglo145]

4 hours ago, Ondr4H said:

I will argue with anybody, for me gaming is in vegetative state since end of ps3/xbox 360 era.

 

There are no AAA games that are pushing whole industry like used to be... These are lazy cashgrabs sometimes with scam in mind .

Cyberpunk literally ruined whole company because they lied and not deliver.

 

And now this after 9 years of wait...

 

Yes, i always say i feel bad for kids today with the gaming industry. We had so many originals back then. 

 

The biggest thing is that games didnt require a ‘Day 1 patch’ or access to the internet. Games used to be released in full complete state.

 

Id take a downgrade of graphics if it means better quality of games, take me back to the ps2/ps3 era lol
 

 

[Jason]

5 minutes ago, Bigglo145 said:

Yes, i always say i feel bad for kids today with the gaming industry. We had so many originals back then. 

 

I looked into this before when someone else said as much and it's... not actually true. The AAA industry has been dominated by sequels since basically the early Nintendo / PS1 era. The 360/PS3 era was dominated by sequels and trend chasing games - LOTS of really generic CoD clones in particular, lots of brown and grey visual styles, or piss filters, too. In terms of "originals" I'd actually probably say the PS4/XB1 era was better than the 360/PS3 era for the AAA industry, there was a bigger push for new IP's in that generation I think, especially from companies like Sony and (yes, it's true), Ubisoft.

 

7 minutes ago, Bigglo145 said:

The biggest thing is that games didnt require a ‘Day 1 patch’ or access to the internet. Games used to be released in full complete state.

 

The 360/PS3 era is where day 1 patches started to become a thing but the idea that games used to always release in full, complete and working states is nothing more than rose tinted glasses. There's some absolutely bonkers broken video games that were released throughout every generation.

 

Now the thing is the industry is now bigger than ever, there's more games being made now than there ever has been before... so there's more bad games than there ever was before.. but there's more good games too.

 

That being said I'm not trying to say the industry now is win/win, there's obviously a giant elephant in the room which is the monetisation and service aspects of the modern industry which has actively hindered game design as we've seen games designed around the monetisation model, not to mention preyed on gamers through things like gambling and FOMO. That's sh*t and not something we've really had in the past and there is no defending or sugar coating what's going on there. The silver lining, hopefully, is that the bubble there seems to have popped a little and there's now a huge demand again for bespoke single player experiences and we're seeing even the bigger publishers putting money into those types of projects which is promising, albeit we'll have to wait and see how it plays out.

 

The absolute best part of the modern gaming industry is (and I've beat this drum before and I'll continue beating it) is that small and indie developers are flourishing and getting recognition on the biggest stages, selling millions of copies, winning the mainstream awards, etc. I know some people prefer the big, lavish AAA experiences and I'm not gonna dredge on anyone for that but if you are someone tired of the modern AAA industry I can really only wholeheartedly recommend you go out and try games you'd never normally touch. I can speak from experience when I say it's really improved my enjoyment of the industry over the past 4 or 5 years - there's some absolutely brilliant games out there that I wouldn't have even looked at 10 years ago that now sit among my favourite ever games. They're not all 2D side scrollers as they may have looked in the past, there's some truly fantastic single player games out there, particularly RPG's, as modern technology allows even the smallest teams to create games that genuinely compete with the big budget games in terms of writing, gameplay and visuals.

[RARusk]

Agreed. And I'm considering acquiring Stray at some point.

[Moth]

On 8/30/2022 at 6:00 PM, Jason said:

Not every game needs to innovative or push the envelope

While true, they shouldn't also just half ass everything. You should be at least competent at what you are trying to do. (and if not, sell it at a lower price then a f*cking AAA title) And it's obvious they aren't at this point. 

 

 

Edited September 3 by Moth

[Jason]

Yea I said as much in a later post - there's lots of little missing features that are staples from the franchise that have been left out even though there's really no reason why they should be.

 

The problem isn't so much that the SR formula is so old that it can't produce a decent game, but more so that they couldn't even match the formulas they built on in the past.

[GrudgefromSanAndreas]

i actually expected this game to be the most generic open-world game of the decade, boy was i right. the only somewhat redeemable quality is customization, thats about it. everything else is just plain boring and, story and characters aside, the concept is cool on paper but it's executed far worse than cyberpunk's immersion was meant to be in the first place

[Moth]

11 hours ago, Jason said:

but more so that they couldn't even match the formulas they built on in the past

Cause they hired a bunch of dispassionate losers to replace the people who either left or got laid off over the years. Then add the fact that the studio most likely didn't even want to make a new Saints Row game, but were forced thanks to the bomb that was Agents of Mayhem. 

 

The old guard that made Saints Row 2 are all pretty much gone now, and the ones who are left hate SR2 with a passion. 

 

Volition started going downhill after Red Faction Guerrilla. Every game afterwards, at least imo, has been worse than the last. Though part of the reason could be THQ blowing their brains out through stupidity, but Volition still hasn't gotten to the level it once was. And this same sh*t is happening industry wide, at least in the Western AAA scene. 

 

 

Edited September 3 by Moth

[Datalvarezguy]

On 9/1/2022 at 6:04 PM, Lock n' Stock said:

Somewhat off-topic, but seeing this absolute travesty unfold inspired me to go back and finally check out the original Saints Row for the first time (via an emulator on PC). More or less plays a lot like SR2 with less features, but still generally holds up well. The gritty post-industrial vibe is spot-on, with Stilwater feeling like a caricature of a Great Lakes city. I greatly dig the radio selection that's somehow larger and more varied than later games, be it multiple rock and hip-hop stations, electronica, metal, reggae, easy-listening and even a talk station. And of course, a decent storyline with characters that (while not particularly deep) you can actually give a sh*t about, with actual traits and motivations beyond "muh student loans" and "he loves cooking!". It just does a so much better job at sucking you into its universe than whatever this "reboot" tries to do.

 

Volition just seemed to care much more back then. What went so wrong?

The original devs left. They got replaced with industry yes-men. The rest is history.

[EkaSwede]

I've a question.

 

In Saint's Row 1 and 2 after we completed missions we got to see cutscenes of the rival gang and see how things not only worked there, but how the gang eventually started to fall apart due to The Saints' actions. Do we get to see the same thing in the reboot or is it as I feared all concentrated on these new "saints"?

[Datalvarezguy]

5 hours ago, EkaSwede said:

I've a question.

 

In Saint's Row 1 and 2 after we completed missions we got to see cutscenes of the rival gang and see how things not only worked there, but how the gang eventually started to fall apart due to The Saints' actions. Do we get to see the same thing in the reboot or is it as I feared all concentrated on these new "saints"?

lmao no

Absolutely everything cool about SR2 has been surgically removed from the reboot.

[Lock n' Stock]

2 minutes ago, Datalvarezguy said:

lmao no

Absolutely everything cool about SR2 has been surgically removed from the reboot.

What I really miss is individual story-arcs for each gang. Those were one of the things that made the first two games really stand out, but for whatever reason they were completely abandoned in SR3 and haven't returned since. Of course I didn't expect this soulless husk of a reboot to change that.

[Creed Bratton]

1 hour ago, Datalvarezguy said:

lmao no

Absolutely everything cool about SR2 has been surgically removed from the reboot.

There was nothing surgical about it. They massacred the IP.

[Datalvarezguy]

1 minute ago, Creed Bratton said:

There was nothing surgical about it. They massacred the IP.

Preach it brother. It's-

Jesus Christ I don't understand how anybody can look at this and defend it.

[EkaSwede]

2 hours ago, Lock n' Stock said:

What I really miss is individual story-arcs for each gang. Those were one of the things that made the first two games really stand out, but for whatever reason they were completely abandoned in SR3 and haven't returned since. Of course I didn't expect this soulless husk of a reboot to change that.

And that's a big shame. Getting to know the rival gangs felt like a big part of the game's story.

 

As for SR3, it was the first game I played and I fel it was alright up to the whole STAG and zombie thing. At that point it started to feel a bit too silly. But imagine my surprise when I decided to give SR2 a run (can't get SR1 to run on my PC ) and I was blown away. Crummy PC port aside, it was still fun and the story was engaging.

 

Looking back at SR3, they tried to give us some cutscenes from the rival gang (at least just the Syndicate, not so much on the gangs part of it). The biggest problem IMO with SR3 was offing Loren that early. How many cutscenes was in he in? Like 3? And he's replaced by some wrestler guy? *sigh*

 

I also think a part of SR3's success was that it had a kickass trailer. You an say the game's bad, but it had a stunning trailer. Too bad Loren was hyped up so much when they just ended up literally dropping the ball on him. And not to mention the unceremonious killing of Gat in the beginning. Seriously, WTF? I still get chills from watching Gat beat Shogo down in that cutscenes.

 

And then there's the Reboot... ugh.

[Bigglo145]

^ Yeah, i remember that kanye west-power trailer of saint row 3. That was a good one. Someone said earlier in this thread that one of the reasons SR3 sold so well because of SR2, people expected a game like that and i agree. I wanted to get that game until i seen that one of the gangs were luchadors, that turned me off.