Saints Row Review/anti-Hype thread [6 from GS]

@Pedro: this is how the original saints row starts off. very diverse too you might be surprised. And surprise surprise the criminals act like actual criminals

https://youtu.be/bi-o_zIkKJM

Then watch how the new saints reboot starts off with their characters...also diverse but something is seriously off. It's painfully obvious what went wrong here.

40 second time stamp

https://youtu.be/DSvX0KOdBWQ

Yet you ultimately always end up wrong!

Let's try to explain it to you another way. Do you feel the cast in this game will help it be successful? Hurt it's chance of success? Or have no bearing on it at all?

It is OK to like criminal tropes. However, there is no such thing as criminals acting like criminals but there are TV tropes of what criminals are supposed to act like. You like that representation of criminals but it is not the only representation of criminals. Criminality is not limited to one type of behavior. It is clear that this game was not marketed towards you and that can be disappointing and you obviously are allowed to be disappointed.

@Pedro: stop trolling dude you what I'm saying.

Yeah they are believable soft ass hipsters....

They are believable whiny people

They are not believable of running any kind of crime empire

They are not believable killers

They are not believable drug dealer

They are not believable honestly of doing ANYTHING BAD.

The one guy wears a ******* bow tie and acts like he's going to be late for his stem classes.

You know what I'm saying Pedro... Trying to act stupid...

@Pedro: who is it marketed too if not Saints Row fans?? Thought this was a Saints Row game

They are not believable to you. That is all you are saying. Despite making it clear that criminals are not limited to these one-dimensional characters that you have drawn acquainted with and that you have a liking for a specific representation, you are still drawing the false conclusion that your view of what criminals are supposed to be is right. You are struggling with the idea of a different representation of criminals. It is not a hard concept that is being explained to you.

A person wearing a bow tie is what you latched onto for non-criminal-like behavior? Think about the absurdity of such a complaint. "The dude wears a bow tie, so he cannot be a criminal. Criminals don't wear bow ties." How does that sound like a logical take? Stop limiting the scope of what characters can be to stereotypes that you see on TV.

@Pedro: they make for non believable characters in this setting. It's just stupid. If that was the whole "joke" we are going to take a bunch of nerdy hipster guys and make them the ultimate murder heist criminals ever?? Is that what they for going for?? That's a horrible idea. It's not believable. I guess if it's a comedy.

Like we think we are getting Miami Vice but really we are sitting down for police academy 5

Edit: police academy 5 I actually find entertaining, so it's not fair to compare this dog shit reboot to it

Most criminals are simply put, people who are down on their luck. Often without any kind of support to help them get out.

We don't know. Reactionaries took deep offense, but the reviews I saw praised the cast more than anything. Only criticizing the cast, when they deviated from that you dislike.

@Maroxad: sorry man.

Broke college kids who enjoy larping don't make for convincing mass murderers. Maybe if that's the joke. But I don't think they are joking unfortunately.

Look at you. You buy right into it. I can't.

We don't know that is correct. I am making an assumption based off what I've seen. I have no doubt the reviews praised the cast. That is a major issue with the industry is they pander to game journalists as opposed to their actual demographics. However I'm betting when all is said done this game will fail and I do believe the cast will lose the game more fans then it gets.

From what I am able to tell, everyone save for the LARPer become hardened criminals by as the story progresses. Kinda like how it works irl.

While there is no single correlation that can point to someone predicting crimes. There are several things that have been pointed out to put a person at a higher risk of turning to crime. Among these include poverty, and a economic stagnation.

And here is the thing, that seems to be the process these criminals go through.

@Maroxad: making the cast nerdy hipsters complaining about their college loan debt is just goofy... These are not the people I want to play as in a game focused around murder and crime.

Saints Row 1 the characters make more sense to me.

Maybe it really is preference. Maybe this is the type of cast youd like to play as to run a crime empire or gang that's murdering people for money... But I think it sucks, alot of people think it sucks.

If we were to actually look at the backgrounds of people that actually murder and steal at this level. I'm willing to bet the majority are not nerdy hipsters trying to pay off their students debt.

I'm willing to bet the majority never even want to go to college or cared about school in the first place.

I'd think this was common sense to most people.

Honestly surprised some of you like this cast for this type of game... I don't get it.

It's games made by progressive developers for progressive gamers. The people arguing with you probably have no intention of playing this game. But they won't criticize the developers because ultimately they like what their doing. They will twist themselves in knots to argue against you and will play dumb to the obvious. I know exactly what you mean. This game will fail and when it does they will ignore it or blame everything else.

@silentchief: yeah it does seem that way.

Oh well. Like Pedro he openly says he has no interest in saints row or GTA in the slightest. Then gets upset at fans of those series thinking this was a bad direction.

Well he already wasn't going to play saints row...

Now I'm not going to want to play it either.

Completely missing the fan base. Oh well I guess the franchise will die now...

They would have been better off remastering saints row 1 and 2. Kinda like mass effect collection.

Loving this game so far.

I honestly wish they would just try a new IP. This could could flop bad enough though that it may be the end of them. Not sure what the budget was However.

@sargentd: Point to any portion of my comment in which I am upset? However, I can point out many instances of you being upset.😎

Well you keep arguing with me that my take is wrong but you say you personally have no interest in Saints Row and never plan too so why are you talking to me about this.. lol

bizarre

Two things

1. Thinking your criticism is bad doesnt mean I like the cast. Don't view the world in black and white.
2. It was most likely done to make them more sympathetic. Whether it worked or not I cannot tell. As much as I enjoyed SR2 and 3. They were more of the dumb popcorn movie I played with a friend. Not sure if making a more sympathetic character was a good move for a game series that has always been popcorn.

Education is a strong predictor of not commiting crimes, but crimes are still commited by the educated.

@sargentd: I actually kind of agree with you that the premis is silly, but it could work in the right context. I once watched a show about a high school chemistry teacher becoming a drug kingpin when he got into some financial trouble. A few people out there seemed to like it.

Also, Saint's Row 3 and 4 were more Police Academy than Miami Vice, and those were the most successful ones.

Alright, I don't want to keep defending this game too much, it really doesn't look that great. But man, the internet hate boner for it is just over the top.

I am discussing your logic on a discussionforum. Are you uncomfortable with your ideas being challenged? Are your ideas only challenged when someone is upset?

I am always interested in strange trending hate for specific games.

Here is a quote from the producer

It wasn’t a choice where somebody on the publishing side, or somebody on the business side said, ‘You know what? Societal tastes have changed and we need to changeSaints Row. It was our own thinking that drove this…I think that a lot of content creators and brands are trying to expand their audience. And that means not connecting with that type of humour. It’s about connecting with a type of humour that is more suitable for a larger audience.”

Will see how that works out for him 🤣🤣

Reminds me of this, when they were looking for a larger audience:

Sylvester Stallone Says THE EXPENDABLES 4 Will Be More Violent; Admits The PG-13 Rating For THE EXPENDABLES 3 Was a Mistake. When it was announced that The Expendables 3 would be rated PG-13, there was a backlash among fans, now Sylvester Stallone admits it was a mistake.

How many people need to make these mistakes though? Know your demographic and stick to your base. It's hard enough for most entertainment properties to even find a reliable demographic.

I totally agree with you.

I'll agree with you here. While I do think many writers should try harder to be funny without being a douche-bag, there is definitely a place for crude humor. Lot of folks need to lighten up about it.

Why is this thread still going on?

...and why are you people so hatefully toxic, evil, rude, crude, sarcastic, rude, mad, angry and so extremely toxic to each others and towards devs?

Passion. People grow up with these things and enjoy them. When you tell the fanbase that got you where you are that it isn't really for you anymore it tends to piss people off.

Remember a couple pages back when you said this to me?

You kinda just proved my point. Ghost of Tsushima a new IP on a single platform sold over 3 million in a week and nearly 10 million in 2 years. Although we don't know individual sales numbers of SR4( because they never released them). That's generally not a good sign. The entire series up in to SR4 sold 13 million copies combined. God of War 2018 on a single platform sold 19.5 million . The reality is 1 million copies in a week isn't enough anymore. Not with the budgets of these games.

You answered your own question. The old base wasn't big enough for modern budgets. They tried something different in an effort to expand it. It seems their plan didn't work, but doing the same shit wasn't going to cut it either. At least... that is the point you were making earlier in here.

You assume you have to change your demographic to widen your base.. you don't. Look at GTA They have grown their fanbase by doing what they do really well. They are appealing to the same Demographic just getting more people from that Demographic.

@judaspete: come on Judas... You can't actually be comparing these new saints row reboot characters to friggin walter white...

You really feel right saying that?

Seriously you want to compare this game to breaking bad right now...

I love breaking bad, great writing, well done characters, edge of your seat content.

Saints Row reboot characters has none of that

@judaspete: would you agree that this game missed the mark on both the Miami Vice Audience and the police Academy audience?

Would you agree with me if I said this game looks like it suffers from a major identity crisis?

Would you agree that the SR 1&2 fans aren't happy with this direction as well as SR 3&4 fans.

I'd say this game managed to disappoint all saints Row fans

Ha! No, I wouldn't expect any video game to have writing on par with Breaking Bad. Saint's Row doesn't need to though. It's a goofy, over the top action game. But, if a chemistry teacher becoming a drug lord can work in a serious drama, hipsters starting a gang can work in a goofy action game. I'm not saying it does work, the game looks kinda bad, I just think the hate it's getting is overblown. People decided this was the worst game ever months ago, and are way too happy that reviews aren't great.

Personally, I'm just kinda sad. I always liked the series, and get no pleasure seeing it probably come to an end.

GTA expands it's fanbase by adding an extra 100 people on to the development team with each game, and throwing more crap into it. There is something for everyone in that series.

Saint's Row was never big enough to justify that kind of escalation. This was the last chance for a developer coming off another flop with Agents of Mayhem. I'm hoping it does well enough that they get one more shot at fixing this, but that may not be in the cards.

@judaspete: I'm sad too. I liked 1&2 alot, I liked 3&4 too. (Even though it was way over the top for me, but they are still alot of fun) never played agents of mayhem heard it sucked.

As a bigger fan of 1&2 and hearing they were going to tone it down to be more grounded I was hoping for something closer to one and two.

I'll admit the trailers killed my hype before the release.

My concerns and fears seem to have been accurate.

I expected the game to be cringe but still fun.

But apparently it's more cringe than expected and not fun at all. I really do believe they killed the franchise.

@sargentd: Yeah. They were all fun in their own way, but 2 was my favorite. I think you are right that the series and even Volition are probably done, but who knows. THQ/Embracer isn't a cutthroat AAA publisher.

I am used to gamers not making sense at all, especially on the steam-forums (there i am going again ranting about steam!) but you got a point here actually making sense.

This is exactly my point :)

The premise of this game is a bit silly, but a similar idea could have worked well. I can understand why they picked it, Zoomers are graduating college, or in college now. And they choose to give the protagonists a relatable reason to the zoomers.

Student Loan debts, were not a great reason, they do afaik, not have enough urgency. Maybe it is different in the USA. Execution from what I can gather, were not great either.

And yeah, it seems this premise aged ESPECIALLY poorly in the US, given recent events. xD

The funny thing about the Saints Row franchise is it has changed and evolved drastically since its GTA clone debut, and not even the previous two entries are remotely identical to older entries.

Well, that's a reasonable statement, but I wouldn't say that an open world crime game that has characters with realistic personalities is falling into any sort of PC trap for that reason. I know next to nothing about the game, so it could very well be overly political. I just don't see it in anything that anyone is posting.

I want to not be skeptical about this new Saints Row game cause coming from someone who loved Saints Row 3, 4 and even Gat out of Hell its so hard to enjoy this new Saints game. This is even coming from someone who enjoyed Mass Effect Andromeda, this new SR game is so god damn cringe even for a SR game that had humor that would make Beavis and Butthead blush and dildo weapons. This new SR is just zoomer cringe rent jokes, having a job jokes and that's not the worst dialogue to come out of this game.

I'm only 2 or 3 hours in and it's just so hard to continue playing this game or I just might re download SR4

Dayum. The game must be worse than i could even imagine.

My friends list is filled with people playing this. It’s addictive fun.

Apparently someone bought this shit:

August 2022 Best-Selling Games In The US

1. Madden NFL 23
2. Saints Row
3. Spider-Man
4. Elden Ring
5. MultiVersus#
6. Mario Kart 8*
7. Minecraft
8. Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga
9. MLB The Show 22^
10. Xenoblade Chronicles 3*
11. Digimon Survive
12. Horizon Forbidden West
13. Call of Duty: Vanguard
14. Far Cry 6
15. Soul Hackers 2
16. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate*
17. Gran Turismo 7
18. Kirby and the Forgotten Land*
19. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
20. Pokemon Legends: Arceus*

* Digital sales not included

https://www.gamespot.com/articles/best-selling-games-and-consoles-of-august-2022-revealed-madden-and-ps5-top-the-charts/1100-6507668/

I know this thread is kinda old, but I didn't think the news was worth starting a new one.

Sure did buy it. It’s awesome 😎

@kvallyx: I've been wondering about this. Reviewers dunked on the game, but a lot of normal folks seem to be enjoying it. One of the big criticisms (beyond, bugs and wokeness anyway) was dated game design. Thing is, I'm an old man who thinks everything used to be better, so "dated" game design might be a plus for me.

Game design is fine. But it's ugly as hell and baron.