The main reason SR3 feels so different to the prior two games makes more sense if you look at the interviews/developer history of Volition around that time. Volition was going through a large hierarchy change internally. None of the developers of SR1 stuck around to work on SR3. Almost all left after SR2 was a big success to go work at better paying and more famous studios like Rockstar. The lead designer of SR3 joined the studio with SR2 and stated in interviews he had contempt for many of the decisions made on that game like killing off Carlos. Viewing it as "too dark". In essence SR3 was created by a group of newcomers who had no investment in the franchise and wanted to go in a bold new direction. The only problem is there was no united vision on what this bold new direction was so they went in a dozen different directions. Which is how the final game ends up feeling like the developers didn't know what they wanted to make. This isn't an issue SR4 by comparison has since it's clear the developers just wanted to make a strange Matrix parody so it surprisingly feels more cohesive. If you've ever wanted to know why some studios go from creating art to creating crap seemingly overnight it's usually because of a mass exodus of all the talent and the studio being stuck with a group of interns. See: BioWare, Monolith after F.E.A.R, Valve software. Etc
"In essence SR3 was created by a group of newcomers who had no investment in the franchise and wanted to go in a bold new direction". Huh. Sounds familiar. All on point, save for one thing - you may or may not know, but SR4 was originally meant to be an expansion to SR3 (which started off as... April Fools joke. That's right, Saint's Row 4 started off as April Fools joke). Common misconception is that it grew to be it's own games, but that was not the case. Originally, Saint's Row 4 was supposed to be wilder - you were meant to face off an evil clone of Johnny Gat, who had help from clones of... Stalin, Cleopatra and Ghegis-Khan. Volition pitched the idea, but they were denied, but not because of how ridiculous it was. You see, at the time, THQ was going through financial issues. So they needed a quick cash grab in order to keep themselves afloat. And so THQ proceeded to steer them to turn SR3 expansion into SR4. Whilst your argument still stands that SR4 is by comparison clear with what it tried to do, I can't help but wonder - would it still be the case if we were to get what we meant to? All in all, regardless of which is more ridiculous, alien invasion or evil clones, there'd be one plus if we were to get original SR4 - we'd say goodbye to Steelport.
@Tyler Johnson If you want to have a better idea as to how it'd look like, I highly suggest watching Saint's Row 10'th anniversary stream (I believe it was 10'th). Volition went and explained everything in there, even showed the concept arts.
I remember being active on the SR forums back in the day and the devs mentioning that Shuandi suffering from survivors guilt would be too dark for fans. Like what!?
Monolith already has a track record of making terrible sequel: blood 2, condemned 2. They found their stride with the shadow of war series though. Yeah, there are scummy parts (which has been removed) but those game play like you expect them to. Valve's issues are different. They found out there's more profitable money making schemes than developing games. When they actually need to make a game to sell one of those schemes. It's excellent:HL Alyx
Saints Row The Third was the first Saints Row game I've ever played and the reason I played through the whole franchise. After that, this franchise had become one of my favorites ever. So I will always have a soft spot and love for The Third, but I have to admit it's nowhere need the first two games.
Most of Saints Row the Third's writing problems boil down to the creators not taking the story seriously at all. You can especially see it with how the game's main villain Loren is killed off just a few missions in and replaced with Killbane. Who is a joke villain that the game spends so long propping up as if he's a threat. The game undermines its initial themes about revenge almost instantly and switches gears to talking about the Saints attempting to take over Steelport. Johnny Gat is quickly forgotten and the game is more concerned over dealing with two nobodies you have no investment in dealing with anymore.
Looking in the larger scope of things; if SR3 had been intended to be a one-off stunt for Volition to go against the grain of "GTA clone", it is kinda understandable that they use the joke villain for over the top comedic relief in a super publicity stunt of a game. If Volition went back to the roots of SR following The Third, this franchise may have followed a much more positive path. *But alas, this is nothing more than a hypothetical.*
Killing Loren didnt just undermine the revenge plot but also the Corporate-Gang question. Because unlike Loren, Killbane is just insane, not corporate. But that's not the only misopportunity in the story. Pierce and Shaundi were supposed to represent different direction for the Saint, but as the plot move forward, they become simple comic relief. Welcoming Viola and Josh Birke into the gang was no sweat at all despite their social status. The final choice could have been the culmination of this revenge/fraternity or distant corporate/close gang conflict. But without build up, it turned meaningless.
Not only that, but the game just derails into just a shit tone of activities in place of a story and litttle to no interaction with the gang leaders, who also lack liutenants and there are no real gang boss fights ther than that computer fight. Philippe dies in a lame, short ass "run up stairs" mission, and Killbane either gets away or dies in a QTE. You don't even at least get to kill one of the Dewynters yourself. The power trailer made the game look good, like a rich guy, strip club version of SR2. Nope. Shaundi is also, ad nauseum, pretty much reduced to just being an angry, sex-pested babysitter the whole game.
@@trevorarkana yeah their moral compass is indeed unstable but the rest is pretty stable, just as you said they are always losers who won’t ever agree with each other. Twitter and Reddit is way more unstable, sometimes they will agree and other times they will try to cancel each other for whatever reason. But hey in the end I guess we can agree that all of them are losers that need to get out of their bubble
Imagine if this game’s story went like this: after you kill Loren and Syndicate leaders argue who should take over, suddenly Dex enters their board room and turns out he was working with Loren all along. After this you would move onto fighting Morningstar, Deckers and Luchadors in three separate story arcs like in 1&2 with Dex being the final boss.
I really thought on my first play through that "Gats Death" Was just a fake out and that he would show up half way through the game with some crazy ass story to tell us lol that woulda been kinda cool. Like that offscreen death they put on is just not believable at all.
The first time I played the game back when it originally came out I don't think I even realized Gat had actually died considering you never see him die or see his body I also didn't recognize Shaundi until they said her name the first time I played The Third
@@gavinrobinson2270 Lol I know. I was expecting exactly that to happen at some point in the third. So you could imagine how excited I was when it did happen in 4. Sr4>Sr3
Yea I dunno. Considering what happened in 4 and how that was supposed to be a dlc for 3 then I can see how all that happened. Unfortunate that 3 remained without Gat tho.
@@haruhisuzumiya6650 And that's fine: I had fun with it, as a low-tier superhero game it was perfectly serviceable gameplay wise. But the soul had long since departed the franchise by that point, and the mechanics from SR2 that made me fall in love with the franchise over GTA had blown away like dandelions in the wind. It wasn't a Saints Row game anymore, it was knockoff "InFamous" with more cheeseball pop culture references.
The problem with modern games is that most of the game designers from 20 years ago have retired and the new kids on the block don't have half the talent and skill I even think they are into it for the lifestyle rather than the love and passion of games
Thank you for making this retrospective. Saints Row the Third was actually my first Saints Row game, and at the time, I had never played any of the GTA games, so as you can imagine, it was mind blowing to me. But after seeing the retrospectives for the first two games, I can understand why many fans disliked the third one. I've gone back to play the remaster, and I don't feel that same "wow" factor from when it first released. I would love for Deep Silver to remaster Saints Row 1 and 2 so I could experience what all the original fans talk about. Thanks again Alex, looking forward to the Saints Row IV retrospective.
The over the top marketing approach of The Third attracted me aswell to the Saints Row series, at first i really liked the game, it's quite decent silly fun and still is enjoyable if you turn off your brain. But couple of years later i tried Saints Row 2 for the first time and then i had a reveleation of what was sacrificed for more mass appeal. Also you gotta give props to the devs who remastered SR3 for not censoring female characters despite some games urinalists crying about how ''out dated'' it was, in fact i think Shaundi looks better now.
"But couple of years later i tried Saints Row 2 for the first time and then i had a reveleation of what was sacrificed for more mass appeal." My exact thoughts about Skyrim, well all of the Todd Howard's TESs and Fallouts. I've still enjoyed them but compared to Daggerfall or OG Fallout are a lot more shallow.
Volition didnt remaster it themselves. It was outsourced, and funny you mention that game journalists were upset about SR3's appearance, all of a sudden after praising it against SR2 fans, then Volition listen to them and we get a neutered, clownish, hipster revision with no sex appeal or style at all. Instead just bullshit ass 90s nostaligia characters for the urinalist hipsters.
The most glaring issue of SR3 is the lack of focus. SR1 emphasised taking over the city. SR2 emphasised retaking the city & the dodgy corporation behind it all. SR3 though? You kill the guy who got Gat in the first few hours & can easily take the entire city long before the end. The main baddie isn't introduced until Act 2, but by that point you own most of the city. There's no rags to riches - you're just unstoppable from the go.
One of the most subtle issues with the gameplay was the inclusion of rpg elements. SR3 adding them made it so enemies were mostly bullet spongey to justify giving the player reasons to level up. In SR1/2 the player can mow down a group of enemies with an smg and a single magazine. However in SR3 you often drain an entire magazine of your assault rifle to down a single enemy. It causes the game to feel more subtly frustrating as if it’s an mmorpg. I’m pretty sure the main reason they did this is because of the popularity of Borderlands at the time. They should’ve either simplified the rpg elements or cut them entirely.
I think it incentivizes doing side content. You play activites, clear gang operations and complete challenges to get money to upgrade your weapons and buy upgrades . The fully upgraded 45 Shepherd is just amazing, it can blow up cars and helicopters in seconds.
@@BananaMana69 I strongly disagree with this I feel like it just makes the game extremely grindy. In SR1/2 doing side content was required and gave you good upgrades but those upgrades weren't 100% necessary to enjoy the game
I disagree. Other than STAG and the annoying Brutes, all the enemies can be killed instantly with a headshot. In SR2 the enemies were so weak that the combat wasnt really a challenge. Mowing down enemies with 1 clip is just lame because their ai did nothing and they were also broken because they all had smgs, no reloading, and infinite ammo, so yes while they are terribly weak and horrbly animated, they are also overpowered because of that. I had more fun with SR3's combat (aside from the specialists they added that really ruined things, because *they* were spongey.) The game should feel like an TPS shooter, not a game where you can just spray and kill everything. In SR3 they also at least take cover. I'd rather at least need some skill than for you to be OP at all times with the right gun, The only difference is that the homies were a lot smarter in SR2 than they are in SR3. In SR3 they can barely do shit.
@@BananaMana69 Yeah, unlike SR3 you never feel like your Boss progresses or have any control over their resistences because you're just automatically good from the start. your character always feels the same from begining to end and thus combat does get boring in SR2.
I found it sooo insufferable how enemies spin/twirl around when you shoot them, and the sound of my assault rifle's clip emptying quickly got on my nerves in SR3. Even regardless it was insanely easy unless playing on hard mode, where some moments just seemed more like unbalanced or BS.
The main reason they removed needing to complete activities to do missions is because Grand Theft Auto fans coming into the series thought it was really annoying you couldn't just plow through the story almost immediately. So they decided to appease that group as opposed to looking at precisely why SR1-2 required you to do this to begin with. The activities in those titles were great side distractions that often were where you had the most fun and the developers sought to encourage you to do them. I think both approaches are flawed in their own way and I think the best solution would've been to give greater story elements to the activities. For example, in SR3 you're told initially when starting up the Mayhem activity you are being paid by a "Fence" company which implies they want you to cause chaos so they can make more money setting up fences for new construction. Stuff like that would've given the player more reason to actually do activities outside of just wanting to cause chaos or trying to get 100% completion.
Tbh as much as I love first two SR games, those forced activities were always my only complaint. You yourself just called them SIDE activities as in you know... not mandatory. But SR 1&2 forces you to play them as if it’s some modern micro-transactions scheme. Yet it’s not. Those activities actually have some decent rewards like unique weapons, unlimited sprint and such. So there’s already enough motivation for players to complete them if they feel like it. Why instead make them mandatory? First time I played SR2 I’ve beaten it honestly and it took me like 20 hours or so. But whenever I wanna replay it, I just want to enjoy the story once again. So I’m using Gentlemen of the Row’s respect cheat to avoid activities and this makes the game much more enjoyable for me. Now you would think with all I’ve said I must love how SRTT handles activities right? ...Wrong! In the third it’s even worse as now you can blast through the story and find out to your surprise that despite Syndicate seemingly being wiped out they still control most of the city. Cause now instead of story missions, you take over the city districts through those damn activities. So in order to truly immerse yourself into the game and take over the city like you did in 1&2... you need to complete EVERY SINGE ACTIVITY... WTF!?
@Adrian Scott Yeah I remember that. I wish they could’ve fleshed that out more like having cutscenes where the Fence executive talks to the Boss and gives you a new rocket launcher to take out his competition. Stuff like that would’ve been a genuine improvement over the SR1/2 and SR3 approaches to activities. Make them like modular story missions. Red Dead Redemption released prior to SR3 and it did this with its side missions where every single one had a lot of work put into it and didn’t feel copypasted.
@@richardharrow2513 I honestly never saw it as a problem because you could just focus down a single activity in 1 go and have enough respect for like 7-8 story missions. And then once you get the ball rolling on the story missions there were enough quick side-diversions you could do along the way to generate enough respect to keep doing missions. i.e. dropping what you're doing for a moment to do the tags that surround mission objectives
@CalNotNice Eh I disagree I found activities really fun esp when I replayed the game since they’d often give you rewards that made you stupidly powerful. Like giving you overpowered weapons or in SR2’s case infinite ammo for some guns. At the same time I think the best way to incentivize the player to do activities to begin with is to just make them minor story diversions. The best game that did this was Red Dead Redemption where all of its sidequests felt like individual small scale story missions and often had some of the best writing in the entire game. And every time I replay the game I end up completing every single one just because they were so interesting.
I know people really don't like Saints Row the Third and I get it but I have to say I had a blast with Saints Row the Third but Saints Row 2 is still my favorite one definitely
nah he is lol, dude goes off on how there's no more lyricism in the rap game anymore but rappers like kendrick, denzel curry, fivio foreign, danny brown, etc. are thriving in the 2010s
What's really ironic is if you were to make a story about someone becoming corporate sellouts and then a decade later becoming corporate sellouts yourself. Volition is a dime a dozen these days.
As someone who played the first and second games when they came out I actually liked the third but you could definitely feel the identity slipping. It focused more on trying to be humorous and felt like the series was being written as a sitcom. 4 on the other hand.. I never even bothered to try and play that 😕.
Unpopular opinion: But I actually enjoyed it. It was a major tonal shift for sure. But I found it to be fun and arcadey. Something you can just turn your brain off to. I enjoy the tone of 1 and 2 and have nothing against them, but personally I just had more fun with SR3.
The fact is Saints Row The Third got so many pre-orders because of the greatness that came before it. OG fans were suckered in & it was one of the biggest "Fuck You's" to gamers in Video Game History. They knew they were getting our money by simply announcing a 3rd game, but the delivered product I almost can't even call it a Saints Row game
you’re genuinely the first person i’ve seen that knows the pre-orders we’re from previous games and not marketing. idk how more people don’t know that, so many reviews put it on the marketing (which yea the trailers were fire but definitely not the reason it’s the most pre-ordered Saints Row)
Saints Row: The Third was the first SR game for me too. And yes, I agree with your critique of it, and yes, I consider it a good game, but damn Saints Row 2 is much better. I actually embrace the wackiness the third game introduces, and like the controls more, but damn, SR2 is so much more awesome. As for why Steelport feels so boring and lifeless. _Stillwater was designed like a functioning town where people live._ _Steelport is designed as a town-shaped playground for the Boss_ filled with characters who • don't go to any diners, cafes, or restaurants except for Smiling Jack's, Broken Shillelagh, and a few casino bars • only have one hospital that's always closed and is way too small even for a town like this • don't need to go anywhere so they never get to fix the broken light-rail • get all energy to illuminate all these sparkly streets, shops, and skyscrapers from an unknown source not seen anywhere in town • never die of old age or diseases, and just get despawned after you kill them, so they don't get buried and don't need any cemeteries • already know everything a game mook needs to know, so they have no schools or universities of any kind to attend • despite lack of a cemetery have a bunch of old Christian churches, whose doors are never open for those in need, and all of them are just the same copypasted church • aren't interested in the history of their town, so have no museums or memorable landmarks of any kind.
I mean you can buy property called ''Steelport Power'' or something, with other buildings like it around the city, so i guess atleast in that regard, we know where the power comes from.
@@charmingpeasant9834 Perhaps. Still, no visible power plants of any kind - only closed nucler station and this purchasable administrative-looking building.
@Mcheetah I don't know, I think the city looks quite vibrant, and glowy, especially compared to the second game, in terms of visual design it's awesome - but after the wow-effect ends, the city feels artificial and not alive.
I just think the wackiness in SR3 was just way too cartoony and a lot of it had nothing to do with satire or gangster stuff. They just came up with a lot of random things that had no place in the game.
Gona play Devils Advocate here for a second and say that they were Robbing the Bank at the beginning of the game as a sort of Marketing Stunt. It was not about the actual money they were stealing Lol
@@MistahJay7 That still begs the question; "Why?" If the best your marketing department can come up with is to actually rob a real bank with real weapons while taking an action star along for the ride, I'd say your marketing team is shit.
I guess I'm a weirdo for having started at SR1 and liked all 3 games a lot. I can understand some of the criticism, but complaining that a remastered or definitive edition came with all the DLC was downright strange. I don't think you were fair on the city either. I haven't played this game in years and I could describe a lot of the map to you. The gangs kinda fit the corporate tone as well. The Deckers are the tech nerds who provide cyber security, they just decided to actually level up their gun and sword skills IRL. The Mornigstar were the Euro sex traffickers that real life corporate execs use to satiate their siclk fantasies. The luchadores were kinda brilliant if you think of how WWE has made pro wrestling into a corporate juggernaut. Also, it didn't star a literal porn star like Saints Row 2 did. I think you could see the progression in this direction in SR2. My friends and I had blast playing SRTT and I think it's solid if unspectacular game, but I'd probably not enjoy it as much today as I did when I 18 or whatever. I certainly enjoyed it way more than SR4. That was shit show.
Here I am bored in a depressing hospital ward with just my phone/youtube for entertainment, and Hexagon Man uploads a long form Saints Row review. Excellent 😁
NGL The Morningstar name could've been used for an awesome gang like a gang of Satanists that actually make the Sons of Samedi look sane. But alas, not what we got.
I'm at 16:14 and I don't think you're being fair. The opening sequence is being used from a storytelling and gameplay perspective to convey just how untouchable you are. Should you be able to just succeed with no effort, no, but the entire game isn't that way. And killing off characters is a double edged sword, but I think you're letting your hate for Volition poison the well here. Stakes matter. You're mad about finding out you can sleepwalk through that opening because that means there are no stakes. If no one somewhat important ever dies or fails in a major way, what are the stakes in conflict-based narrative? Just dropping you in a new city wouldn't have been enough in my opinion. Wow, instead of Stillwater, it's Steelport, but it's the same game. Wars have casualties. If you don't do proper intel on your targets, people die.
Yeah but it somethimes feels like nothing happening maters i like a more realistic aproach because you dont have to have something craezy just to make it exiting but i like the feel of srtt the whole game feels like the end of sr2 when you are the bigest gang in the city
It's how they kill off Gat. Offscreen, barely a mention afterwards. The new developers in charge for this game had contempt for 1 and 2 and didn't want to have Johnny Gat in their game.
I didn't mind that it started differently, in fact it was a selling point of the game that we'd start at the top but climb further up instead of starting from the bottom to reach the same point we were at in the previous game. Nah, I have a lot of issues with SR 3 but that's absolutely not one.
Saints row the third was my first game in the series and I always enjoyed it a shit ton and then later on I went back and played the first and second and completely fell in love with them so coming from the understanding where both sides arguments come from I relate to both sides but definitively I cannot deny I that the first two were a bit better just because the seriousness of the stories told
Tbh i really enjoyed it the first time playing in 2011 but when I replayed it this year on PS5 the charm was completely lost where as playing SR2 this year was still fun and enjoyable.. just goes to show some games retain their charm for a long time while others get old pretty fast.. Time is literally the best indication of a quality game.
I always hated in SR3 and 4 how enemies would do this sideways spinning manoeuvre when shot and seemed to ignore bullets while they were in this animation.
I mean The Third isn't that bad imo, i mean, it was watered down a lot from SR2, but hey people like me got introduced to the franchise thanks to this game. SR1 is a permanent Xbox exclusive and SR2 only the Xbox version has the cool stuff and PC lags. TT works just fine in almost in any hardware without any exclusivity.
I had fond memories of the The Third because it was my first Saints game. I was looking forward to the next GTA at the time and SR The Third filled that emptiness until GTA V arrived. Only later I discovered SR1 and SR2 so now I'm excited to get the PC patch for SR2 (which is taking forever) so I can play it properly.
What do you mean by meaningful choices? Blowing up the tower doesn’t change anything in the game besides us getting a reskinned homie. The only choice that changes anything is the last mission, but after that mission nothing becomes of it. Now yes the army guy “blows up” the city, but the town isn’t actually damaged.
STAG is one of my favorite video game factions. The idea of the federal government getting so fed up with gang violence that they establish a paramilitary unit comprised of soldiers and mercenaries who will stop at nothing to destroy every gang is awesome. But I do have to admit that their equipment was over-the-top. They should've been armed with high-powered firearms rather than laser weaponry. Steelport is a boring map, yes, but the city is supposed to be industrial and lifeless. It's modeled on a sleazier version of Pittsburgh and other Rust Belt cities. Also, even though the three main islands of the map are repetitive and monotonous, there are some distinct and unique areas, like Sierra Point, Magarac Island, Arapice Island (after the zombie infestation), and Wesley Cutter Intl.
Steelport is boring means you dont have any places like the jail in saints row 2 you can go in and explore or the undergound mall or other buildings you can go and explore
Feel like they made johnny a little too asian looking in the remaster. Og johnny was clearly asian but looked more like a person who was born in the us like 2 or 3rd generation or possibly mixed. They got him looking like he from a yakuza game
I’d like to see you make a video covering the many cancelled Saints Row projects like Undercover to money shot. You’d be surprised the potential these games had for the series.
You've gone off the rocker the soundtrack is banging, Social distortion, Deftones and so on. I agree the map is samey and literally full of copy pasting, only the eastern island has any notable character and I don't know it's name. Lack of time of day does not help either when there is only 3 lighting states. One thing they improved is the shooting kind of, it feels more grounded than the super strafing in 2 and makes you use cover. The weapons have better balance and differences than 2 but it's too easy so it doesn't matter.
The quality of your content just had me assume you were a much bigger channel than you are, and I like perusing the comments while listening... but a countable 42 comments just made me realize.
I never realized that the crashing was a problem with the game overall. It happened to me so many times and to Mafia Remastered that I thought it was just my console. Now I see others had the same problem too.
SRTT got me interested in other SR games. I played SR2 around the time it came out, but bad driving and occasional crash moved my interest to GTA4. Which had same-ish problems but better gunplay. When SRTT came out, I played it, liked it and wanted to play more like it. Guess it was my re-introduction to SR series. So I returned to SR2 and have been playing it, along with TT and 4 over the years. Still disappointed that SR1 is xbox exclusive. And yes, intro to SRTT was confusing to see the first time. And killing Gat was pointless, especially since I never cared about him that much. Game branches out a bit and lets you fight sub-gang of your choosing after a couple starting missions, and narrative reasons for doing side activities are kinda given during cutscenes to missions where you talk to a person responsible for taking over an area. Hitman and chop shop are still in the game, they just have been moved to saintsbook. Buying remaster was a mistake. It broke a perfectly working game. I had constant crashes at introductory guardian angel mission. Also it had been given for free in EGS during the first month or so after it came out. So yeah, bad idea.
I'd say it's not necessarily a bad game. It needed more padding, more serious moments, and more development time most of all. As one of the people that has made mods for the game (and still am working on it), I'd like to say that there's some potential in SR:TT and mods help raising the value of it. Mainly through open world gameplay. And in some cases, missions too. That's the major difference between SRTT and SR2. SR2 is a game that achieved its potential. Also, as a modder, I am firmly against SRTT Remaster. Simply because there are more and better working tools available for the original SRTT. Mods can fix some very rookie mistakes the devs have made. Fixes that the Remaster of SRTT will never see, due to the lack of tools. SRTT Remaster was outsourced to an external studio and file formats have been updated. Although, in Volition's current state, I do not believe they would've delivered a stable experience either, let alone fix the issues that SRTT has that makes them look like rookies. But the file format change sadly means modders have no means to improve this, which is sad. For the original SRTT and SRIV, modders can at least fill the gaps the devs left behind.
28:54: Bruh, say what you want about this game's radio stations, but if you were actually familiar with [adult swim] back then, this particular radio station was a GODSEND. Literally, the funniest host they could've chosen for that station in Jon from the show Delocated, and the only radio station I fondly remember with the most experimental music tracks that [adult swim] has ALWAYS been known for. Just because you have no idea what it is and apparently didn't even give it chance doesn't mean it didn't have appeal. I can't even take that disclaimer about different people's tastes seriously if you were just gong to throw a corny insult at the end of it anyway, smh...
Literally Deftones, Amon Amarth, Black Dahlia Murder, Mastodon, and The Dillinger Escape Plan are on the soundtrack. Dude needs to get his head out of 1760s lmao.
Oh and I meant to add that I love you Alex. Just found your channel recently. You seem very bright and well spoken, thought provoking and many of your observations have caused me to work through some difficult introspection. (i.e. in one video you explain how there's more to life than playing games all day. Paraphrased your actual line but you get my drift. Going to work has become my only real life activity as I'm very dismayed by the current state of things. After work I like to go home and escape to another world and perhaps too often.)
I have binge-watched 4 of your videos and thus far have noticed so many amazing references and Easter eggs, particularly the usage of the DR1 ost. God I love your channel man.
yeah I'm sorry to say this but they didn't remove Hitman and chop shop it's all on the saints book app on the in game phone but only good thing about Hitman is that your target will always come out 100 percent of the time.
Things that I appreciate about Saints Row 3. 1. The lighting looks better than SR2, but that's just because the filters got better. By this point in gaming history, filters were a mainstay (and still are). 2. It ran on my PC. 3. I sort of like Dr. Genki, or whatever that cat bobblehead that does the murder-show is called. That's about all. The guns looked stupid, even to me at the time. The cars felt less impactful. They killed Johnny, leaving you stuck with PTSD Shaundie. The gangs were just... trash. Where Saints Row felt nothing like a "GTA Clone," Saints Row 3 felt like I was playing a Crackdown ripoff more than it felt like playing a Saints Row game, and we hadn't even gotten to the true Crackdown Ripoff, yet.
About your crashing with online. The original version of the game has an issue where it will constantly freeze every few seconds since it's trying to connect to an online service called My Steelport... that no longer exists. Since the constant attempts to connect were causing freezing, the best fix was to run the game in offline mode. Which makes me believe that maybe the Remaster has remnants of the My Steelport stuff in it and that may have caused the crashes.
I’ll watch this after work, but I already agree with this entire video by reading the title. I was a die hard fan of the first two games, and the third was a massive gut punch
I knew very quickly this was the remaster. Without ever playing the remaster, I can say the two are basically identical. Not only was the original game disappointing, the most change the remaster seemed to get was an uglier coat of paint and a tonne of nick-knacks glued on top. Disappointment squared. I never hated SR3, but I was never a big fan of it either. After coming from SR2, SR3 always felt wrong, right from the first day I played it.
1&2 are easily my favorite games. 3 was decent, my biggest gripe is the cars sounding like they’re going 200 but the in game graphics show you going about 45 tops lmao 4 was just…I played it because I bought it, but it was such a slog to get through. I absolutely hated the super powers and alien thing. Refused to touch Gat out of Hell, and I’m never playing the reboot. The first 2 definitely had their issues, but they were fun and knew when and when not to be serious. It was great at making you suspend your disbelief and accept the world…4…yeah, not so much.
I've been a fan of this game ever since it came out, and yes it was my first saints row game. I've played it countless times for what the game is itself rather than a continuation from the franchise and I completely understand why its such a downgrade from the previous titles. Its crazy how much I like SR3 but the new saints row seems very far off from even that game. Hopefully the franchise goes back to its root if we the consumers make take the good ending, thanks for the video! Cant wait for you to destroy SR4
Your channel Flippy MrSaintsGodzilla21 RPG gameplay And a few other channels are the only things keeping me interested in the series cause the reboot just ain’t doing it for me.
Mission/cutscene replay being cut was actually something Volition was attempting to avoid. They said in interviews the main reason it was cut was due to time constraints and because the new engine they built the game with presented a lot of bugs when they did. Things like temporary map changes during missions becoming stuck when you left them. However a modder named IdolNinja (who later got hired at Volition and died recently) modded mission replay in a week after launch so who knows if they were telling the truth.
This was my first Saints Row game and I haven't played SR1&2 until recently but now if I played this game I wouldn't have the same feeling I did when I was younger
30:13 I hate how the morning stars generic ass gang takes up TWO of the main islands. Since 2011 it felt like the only gang you'd really fight on the street was mainly morning star. Luchadors were my favorite and felt way more fun having grenade launcher heavies than snipers and wub wub bitches
I genuinely enjoyed saints row the third. Definitely miss the old games (especially 2). But three was really enjoyable to just turn off my brain and play for hours.
I remember being super excited for the new saints row, bought it pretty much as soon as I could (for $90+ which is way more than the game should've been worth) only for the whole experience of playing it to feel like an endless punch in the stomach.
I said this in Another comment box, but if They kept the Syndicate and not the Luchadores or Deckers gang it would’ve been perfect, have the Boss and Gat struggle to take out this Larger than life Entity but gradually gain more Help from people that’s also been wronged, but gradually destroy from inside out. The idea of the saints being global phenomenons was ridiculous.
I know my favorite part when listening to music in my car in SR2 and I guess SR3 is when my character sings the song as well, making me not what to get out the car when there is a mission in front of me 😂
I prefer 4 than ''the third'' just because they stop pretending and they just did go full rtard. My main problem with the reboot its they start to pretending again ''it's more grounded, look lazers and energy lassos'', 'back to the roots.... of the third not the other two we don't talk about the other two''
SR3 could have been a cool game about the Saints learning from the gangs of Steelport on how to be gangsters again but the writers must have not noticed or where too afraid of writing a story that might not have as large of appeal to a customer audience
I came into the series at SR3, and I loved it. I can understand why fans of SR 1 and 2 would hate it. The Assassin's Creed community is pretty much the same, newbies came in during the RPG trilogy and say that's peak AC, when fans of the older series hate the new gameplay style.
Fallourt fans are the same. Hardcore fans prefer the story, writing and lore of the first 2 games, new fans came in at 3. Some like it some hate it, some are on both sides. Then FO4 happened, dumbed down everything and made the game just a mindless loot shooter, messed up the lore, made it feel too much like Skyrim, and people were mad.
Great video! A lot of people always talk about how good this game is but when you compare it to sr2, he’ll even sr1 as far as quality, map and story, it comes no where near
you know what i find funny? how can they remaster the third and somehow make it look more realistic than their upcoming game? i know its mostly the artstyle but why choose something that looks like they kept the agents of mayhem artist?
I actually liked the 3rd (and 4th as well) game, it also helped it's case that i played SR2's godawful PC port. I'm still waiting a proper SR2 for PC to actually enjoy the damn thing.
The DLC issue you mentioned also hit me with a game called Agarest: Generations of War. I bought it with all the DLC only to find that the DLC is end-of-game weapons and armour that totally obliterates the difficulty curve and has you totally massacre everything in your path for the first 80% of the game. I wonder who's been telling developers this is a good idea.
I have been playing Saint's Row The Third this past month on my PS 3 system. I require one more trophy for the platinum. You're My Hero - complete all challenges. I have 38/41 complete. This was the first game in the series that I played.
Volition takes anonymous metadata. That's why some radio stations were removed. They knew what people listened to the most. Why it crashes, I don't know? The original PC version seems fine though.
I love this channel lol you have me crying laughing. I can’t wait to see what you have to say about that customization trailer that dropped the other day I’m still up in the air man.
This kind of game, (specifically the third one) was the first time I had ever played a game, that took me out of my comfort zone. Most games from my youth were about saving the princess, or in general being the hero. Shooting gang members and cops alike, driving over pedestrians and robbing stores, was definitely a first for me and yet, will forever be a personal favorite. Creating within me an attachment to characters who are pimps and gangsters, I quickly grew to love those whom I might never associate with in real life, so that was a nice experience for me. The fourth SR was fun in the sense of feeling like a superhero, in a wacky adventure, while bringing back characters I loved. I haven't purchased the reboot SR, as I personally feel sad that I won't get to be with the same gang members we've come to acquire over the last four games. Seeing so many negative reactions to the reboot has definitely caused me to wait on that purchase.... I tried the Boss Creator thing, and it was difficult to make an attractive boss, so that has also turned me off from trying any more.
4:12 To be fair those negative reviews are of the remaster, and actually go into how the remaster is even more bug ridden than the original. You should've probably mentioned that. Edit: 4:42 You conveniently forgot to mention how SR1 ended with you literally dying and SR2 started with you getting revived from being dead, in a prison. Edit: 23:35 Yeah, those are called incremental upgrades. The higher level you get the better the upgrades. Level 4 upgrades make you completely immune to certain elements, failed to mention that as well. Edit: 29:12 same.
@@Thor-Orion The chances you would only go into a coma after a massive explosion like that, survive reconstructive surgery during said coma, and then wake up from that, are basically as slim as you surviving death.
The main reason SR3 feels so different to the prior two games makes more sense if you look at the interviews/developer history of Volition around that time. Volition was going through a large hierarchy change internally. None of the developers of SR1 stuck around to work on SR3. Almost all left after SR2 was a big success to go work at better paying and more famous studios like Rockstar. The lead designer of SR3 joined the studio with SR2 and stated in interviews he had contempt for many of the decisions made on that game like killing off Carlos. Viewing it as "too dark".
In essence SR3 was created by a group of newcomers who had no investment in the franchise and wanted to go in a bold new direction. The only problem is there was no united vision on what this bold new direction was so they went in a dozen different directions. Which is how the final game ends up feeling like the developers didn't know what they wanted to make.
This isn't an issue SR4 by comparison has since it's clear the developers just wanted to make a strange Matrix parody so it surprisingly feels more cohesive.
If you've ever wanted to know why some studios go from creating art to creating crap seemingly overnight it's usually because of a mass exodus of all the talent and the studio being stuck with a group of interns. See: BioWare, Monolith after F.E.A.R, Valve software. Etc
"In essence SR3 was created by a group of newcomers who had no investment in the franchise and wanted to go in a bold new direction". Huh. Sounds familiar.
All on point, save for one thing - you may or may not know, but SR4 was originally meant to be an expansion to SR3 (which started off as... April Fools joke. That's right, Saint's Row 4 started off as April Fools joke). Common misconception is that it grew to be it's own games, but that was not the case. Originally, Saint's Row 4 was supposed to be wilder - you were meant to face off an evil clone of Johnny Gat, who had help from clones of... Stalin, Cleopatra and Ghegis-Khan. Volition pitched the idea, but they were denied, but not because of how ridiculous it was. You see, at the time, THQ was going through financial issues. So they needed a quick cash grab in order to keep themselves afloat. And so THQ proceeded to steer them to turn SR3 expansion into SR4. Whilst your argument still stands that SR4 is by comparison clear with what it tried to do, I can't help but wonder - would it still be the case if we were to get what we meant to?
All in all, regardless of which is more ridiculous, alien invasion or evil clones, there'd be one plus if we were to get original SR4 - we'd say goodbye to Steelport.
@Tyler Johnson If you want to have a better idea as to how it'd look like, I highly suggest watching Saint's Row 10'th anniversary stream (I believe it was 10'th). Volition went and explained everything in there, even showed the concept arts.
Well that explains everything wow
I remember being active on the SR forums back in the day and the devs mentioning that Shuandi suffering from survivors guilt would be too dark for fans. Like what!?
Monolith already has a track record of making terrible sequel: blood 2, condemned 2.
They found their stride with the shadow of war series though. Yeah, there are scummy parts (which has been removed) but those game play like you expect them to.
Valve's issues are different. They found out there's more profitable money making schemes than developing games. When they actually need to make a game to sell one of those schemes. It's excellent:HL Alyx
Saints Row The Third was the first Saints Row game I've ever played and the reason I played through the whole franchise. After that, this franchise had become one of my favorites ever. So I will always have a soft spot and love for The Third, but I have to admit it's nowhere need the first two games.
Yes plus I've kinda done the same but just mostly played the third and none of the others but I'm Interested with the others also first here
Saints row 3 has the 1st place for me thanks to the story going from revenge to fighting a whole futuristic army designed to end gangs
Same
Same
Damn straight it’s fun but it’s an empty shell
Most of Saints Row the Third's writing problems boil down to the creators not taking the story seriously at all. You can especially see it with how the game's main villain Loren is killed off just a few missions in and replaced with Killbane. Who is a joke villain that the game spends so long propping up as if he's a threat. The game undermines its initial themes about revenge almost instantly and switches gears to talking about the Saints attempting to take over Steelport. Johnny Gat is quickly forgotten and the game is more concerned over dealing with two nobodies you have no investment in dealing with anymore.
Looking in the larger scope of things; if SR3 had been intended to be a one-off stunt for Volition to go against the grain of "GTA clone", it is kinda understandable that they use the joke villain for over the top comedic relief in a super publicity stunt of a game.
If Volition went back to the roots of SR following The Third, this franchise may have followed a much more positive path.
*But alas, this is nothing more than a hypothetical.*
Killing Loren didnt just undermine the revenge plot but also the Corporate-Gang question. Because unlike Loren, Killbane is just insane, not corporate. But that's not the only misopportunity in the story. Pierce and Shaundi were supposed to represent different direction for the Saint, but as the plot move forward, they become simple comic relief. Welcoming Viola and Josh Birke into the gang was no sweat at all despite their social status. The final choice could have been the culmination of this revenge/fraternity or distant corporate/close gang conflict. But without build up, it turned meaningless.
Not only that, but the game just derails into just a shit tone of activities in place of a story and litttle to no interaction with the gang leaders, who also lack liutenants and there are no real gang boss fights ther than that computer fight. Philippe dies in a lame, short ass "run up stairs" mission, and Killbane either gets away or dies in a QTE. You don't even at least get to kill one of the Dewynters yourself. The power trailer made the game look good, like a rich guy, strip club version of SR2. Nope. Shaundi is also, ad nauseum, pretty much reduced to just being an angry, sex-pested babysitter the whole game.
Can't wait for *Saints Row Reboot: The Death Of Volition.*
If only I can give you more thumbs up. That brought a smile to my face.
bro no
@Dante Toshiro64 ruclips.net/video/UJwe2s0WMcE/видео.html
Yes
this aged wonderfully
"But it's about as stable as the average Redditor"
I'm gonna start using that comparison.
As stable as the average 4channer?
What's the scale here?
4channer
Discorder
Redditor
Twitter user
@@NoFlu 4 channers are actually quite stable they are always pissed off no matter what, Twitter users and Redditors on the other hand…
@@trevorarkana yeah their moral compass is indeed unstable but the rest is pretty stable, just as you said they are always losers who won’t ever agree with each other. Twitter and Reddit is way more unstable, sometimes they will agree and other times they will try to cancel each other for whatever reason. But hey in the end I guess we can agree that all of them are losers that need to get out of their bubble
Imagine if this game’s story went like this: after you kill Loren and Syndicate leaders argue who should take over, suddenly Dex enters their board room and turns out he was working with Loren all along. After this you would move onto fighting Morningstar, Deckers and Luchadors in three separate story arcs like in 1&2 with Dex being the final boss.
I really thought on my first play through that "Gats Death" Was just a fake out and that he would show up half way through the game with some crazy ass story to tell us lol that woulda been kinda cool. Like that offscreen death they put on is just not believable at all.
The first time I played the game back when it originally came out I don't think I even realized Gat had actually died considering you never see him die or see his body
I also didn't recognize Shaundi until they said her name the first time I played The Third
When I played i was just ok he dead and did not care until I learned more of the saints series
Gotta love how they literally did that exact thing in saints row 4.
@@gavinrobinson2270 Lol I know. I was expecting exactly that to happen at some point in the third. So you could imagine how excited I was when it did happen in 4. Sr4>Sr3
Yea I dunno. Considering what happened in 4 and how that was supposed to be a dlc for 3 then I can see how all that happened. Unfortunate that 3 remained without Gat tho.
With this glowing review as reference, I'm sure he'll have nothing but high praise for SR4.
Oh Boi...
I liked SRIV
@@haruhisuzumiya6650
And that's fine: I had fun with it, as a low-tier superhero game it was perfectly serviceable gameplay wise. But the soul had long since departed the franchise by that point, and the mechanics from SR2 that made me fall in love with the franchise over GTA had blown away like dandelions in the wind. It wasn't a Saints Row game anymore, it was knockoff "InFamous" with more cheeseball pop culture references.
It was pretty good... it just wasn't Saints Row.
great pfp! i can't seem to get into void bastards as much as i wished during my first handful of hours :(
The problem with modern games is that most of the game designers from 20 years ago have retired and the new kids on the block don't have half the talent and skill I even think they are into it for the lifestyle rather than the love and passion of games
Thank you for making this retrospective. Saints Row the Third was actually my first Saints Row game, and at the time, I had never played any of the GTA games, so as you can imagine, it was mind blowing to me. But after seeing the retrospectives for the first two games, I can understand why many fans disliked the third one. I've gone back to play the remaster, and I don't feel that same "wow" factor from when it first released. I would love for Deep Silver to remaster Saints Row 1 and 2 so I could experience what all the original fans talk about. Thanks again Alex, looking forward to the Saints Row IV retrospective.
I legit didn't even know Johnny Gat died. it happens so fast and off camera with barely a mention.
What? should have been obvious if he doesn't show up at all after that you even unlocked Gat as a zombie in one part of the game
The over the top marketing approach of The Third attracted me aswell to the Saints Row series,
at first i really liked the game, it's quite decent silly fun and still is enjoyable if you turn off your brain.
But couple of years later i tried Saints Row 2 for the first time and then i had a reveleation of what was sacrificed for more mass appeal.
Also you gotta give props to the devs who remastered SR3 for not censoring female characters despite some games urinalists crying about how ''out dated'' it was,
in fact i think Shaundi looks better now.
I see you fat Aloy.
Journalist's cry about everything 😂 it's pathetic. But yeah props to the remaster for no censor 😂
"But couple of years later i tried Saints Row 2 for the first time and then i had a reveleation of what was sacrificed for more mass appeal."
My exact thoughts about Skyrim, well all of the Todd Howard's TESs and Fallouts. I've still enjoyed them but compared to Daggerfall or OG Fallout are a lot more shallow.
@@victim2077 daggerfall is shit tbh.
Volition didnt remaster it themselves. It was outsourced, and funny you mention that game journalists were upset about SR3's appearance, all of a sudden after praising it against SR2 fans, then Volition listen to them and we get a neutered, clownish, hipster revision with no sex appeal or style at all. Instead just bullshit ass 90s nostaligia characters for the urinalist hipsters.
The most glaring issue of SR3 is the lack of focus.
SR1 emphasised taking over the city.
SR2 emphasised retaking the city & the dodgy corporation behind it all.
SR3 though? You kill the guy who got Gat in the first few hours & can easily take the entire city long before the end. The main baddie isn't introduced until Act 2, but by that point you own most of the city. There's no rags to riches - you're just unstoppable from the go.
One of the most subtle issues with the gameplay was the inclusion of rpg elements. SR3 adding them made it so enemies were mostly bullet spongey to justify giving the player reasons to level up. In SR1/2 the player can mow down a group of enemies with an smg and a single magazine. However in SR3 you often drain an entire magazine of your assault rifle to down a single enemy. It causes the game to feel more subtly frustrating as if it’s an mmorpg. I’m pretty sure the main reason they did this is because of the popularity of Borderlands at the time. They should’ve either simplified the rpg elements or cut them entirely.
I think it incentivizes doing side content. You play activites, clear gang operations and complete challenges to get money to upgrade your weapons and buy upgrades .
The fully upgraded 45 Shepherd is just amazing, it can blow up cars and helicopters in seconds.
@@BananaMana69 I strongly disagree with this I feel like it just makes the game extremely grindy. In SR1/2 doing side content was required and gave you good upgrades but those upgrades weren't 100% necessary to enjoy the game
I disagree. Other than STAG and the annoying Brutes, all the enemies can be killed instantly with a headshot. In SR2 the enemies were so weak that the combat wasnt really a challenge. Mowing down enemies with 1 clip is just lame because their ai did nothing and they were also broken because they all had smgs, no reloading, and infinite ammo, so yes while they are terribly weak and horrbly animated, they are also overpowered because of that. I had more fun with SR3's combat (aside from the specialists they added that really ruined things, because *they* were spongey.) The game should feel like an TPS shooter, not a game where you can just spray and kill everything. In SR3 they also at least take cover. I'd rather at least need some skill than for you to be OP at all times with the right gun, The only difference is that the homies were a lot smarter in SR2 than they are in SR3. In SR3 they can barely do shit.
@@BananaMana69 Yeah, unlike SR3 you never feel like your Boss progresses or have any control over their resistences because you're just automatically good from the start. your character always feels the same from begining to end and thus combat does get boring in SR2.
I found it sooo insufferable how enemies spin/twirl around when you shoot them, and the sound of my assault rifle's clip emptying quickly got on my nerves in SR3. Even regardless it was insanely easy unless playing on hard mode, where some moments just seemed more like unbalanced or BS.
The main reason they removed needing to complete activities to do missions is because Grand Theft Auto fans coming into the series thought it was really annoying you couldn't just plow through the story almost immediately. So they decided to appease that group as opposed to looking at precisely why SR1-2 required you to do this to begin with. The activities in those titles were great side distractions that often were where you had the most fun and the developers sought to encourage you to do them.
I think both approaches are flawed in their own way and I think the best solution would've been to give greater story elements to the activities. For example, in SR3 you're told initially when starting up the Mayhem activity you are being paid by a "Fence" company which implies they want you to cause chaos so they can make more money setting up fences for new construction. Stuff like that would've given the player more reason to actually do activities outside of just wanting to cause chaos or trying to get 100% completion.
Tbh as much as I love first two SR games, those forced activities were always my only complaint. You yourself just called them SIDE activities as in you know... not mandatory. But SR 1&2 forces you to play them as if it’s some modern micro-transactions scheme. Yet it’s not. Those activities actually have some decent rewards like unique weapons, unlimited sprint and such. So there’s already enough motivation for players to complete them if they feel like it. Why instead make them mandatory? First time I played SR2 I’ve beaten it honestly and it took me like 20 hours or so. But whenever I wanna replay it, I just want to enjoy the story once again. So I’m using Gentlemen of the Row’s respect cheat to avoid activities and this makes the game much more enjoyable for me. Now you would think with all I’ve said I must love how SRTT handles activities right? ...Wrong! In the third it’s even worse as now you can blast through the story and find out to your surprise that despite Syndicate seemingly being wiped out they still control most of the city. Cause now instead of story missions, you take over the city districts through those damn activities. So in order to truly immerse yourself into the game and take over the city like you did in 1&2... you need to complete EVERY SINGE ACTIVITY... WTF!?
@Adrian Scott Yeah I remember that. I wish they could’ve fleshed that out more like having cutscenes where the Fence executive talks to the Boss and gives you a new rocket launcher to take out his competition. Stuff like that would’ve been a genuine improvement over the SR1/2 and SR3 approaches to activities. Make them like modular story missions.
Red Dead Redemption released prior to SR3 and it did this with its side missions where every single one had a lot of work put into it and didn’t feel copypasted.
@@richardharrow2513 I honestly never saw it as a problem because you could just focus down a single activity in 1 go and have enough respect for like 7-8 story missions. And then once you get the ball rolling on the story missions there were enough quick side-diversions you could do along the way to generate enough respect to keep doing missions.
i.e. dropping what you're doing for a moment to do the tags that surround mission objectives
@CalNotNice Eh I disagree I found activities really fun esp when I replayed the game since they’d often give you rewards that made you stupidly powerful. Like giving you overpowered weapons or in SR2’s case infinite ammo for some guns.
At the same time I think the best way to incentivize the player to do activities to begin with is to just make them minor story diversions. The best game that did this was Red Dead Redemption where all of its sidequests felt like individual small scale story missions and often had some of the best writing in the entire game. And every time I replay the game I end up completing every single one just because they were so interesting.
I never had a problem with the mandatory activities tbh.
I wish the third had all 3 gangs not United but actually fight each other and you in a unpredictable fashion like the first scene in sr1.
ruclips.net/video/UJwe2s0WMcE/видео.html
Regarding Hitman and Chop-Shop. It's actually... In the game. You can access it through your smartphone. I'm serious.
please get this up there.
"it's very difficult to enjoy the game when you can't mess up in the tutorial." what??
I know people really don't like Saints Row the Third and I get it but I have to say I had a blast with Saints Row the Third but Saints Row 2 is still my favorite one definitely
Its the same problem with silent hill homecoming imo, its a decent game but a bad entry in the series, compared to what came before it.
Yeah I agree I think the third one is better compared to what comes after
Yeah until I play the first 2 SR3 is my favorite
Steam reviews say it otherwise, people like Saints Row The Third.
@@GHOSTRIDER373737 shill
You ain’t wrong about 2010 music being the true decline.
nah he is lol, dude goes off on how there's no more lyricism in the rap game anymore but rappers like kendrick, denzel curry, fivio foreign, danny brown, etc. are thriving in the 2010s
Naw.
Juice and Peep and many others are goats in amy era not just the 10s
@@DiehardtNG10 you mentioned 2 deceased rappers like it’s a gotcha lol
@@onlychild5213 Polo G and Convalk go hard too and they're alive
What's really ironic is if you were to make a story about someone becoming corporate sellouts and then a decade later becoming corporate sellouts yourself. Volition is a dime a dozen these days.
As someone who played the first and second games when they came out I actually liked the third but you could definitely feel the identity slipping. It focused more on trying to be humorous and felt like the series was being written as a sitcom. 4 on the other hand.. I never even bothered to try and play that 😕.
Unpopular opinion: But I actually enjoyed it. It was a major tonal shift for sure. But I found it to be fun and arcadey. Something you can just turn your brain off to. I enjoy the tone of 1 and 2 and have nothing against them, but personally I just had more fun with SR3.
And you can play it in any console without the exclusivity the previous games had.
Assomeone who was actually interested in the characters and story, I do nort like the defense of it suddenly being fine if you turned your brain off.
My friend, you are truly the avatar of this series fan spirit. Very glad to have found your channel.
The fact is Saints Row The Third got so many pre-orders because of the greatness that came before it. OG fans were suckered in & it was one of the biggest "Fuck You's" to gamers in Video Game History. They knew they were getting our money by simply announcing a 3rd game, but the delivered product I almost can't even call it a Saints Row game
you’re genuinely the first person i’ve seen that knows the pre-orders we’re from previous games and not marketing. idk how more people don’t know that, so many reviews put it on the marketing (which yea the trailers were fire but definitely not the reason it’s the most pre-ordered Saints Row)
Saints Row: The Third was the first SR game for me too. And yes, I agree with your critique of it, and yes, I consider it a good game, but damn Saints Row 2 is much better. I actually embrace the wackiness the third game introduces, and like the controls more, but damn, SR2 is so much more awesome.
As for why Steelport feels so boring and lifeless.
_Stillwater was designed like a functioning town where people live._
_Steelport is designed as a town-shaped playground for the Boss_ filled with characters who
• don't go to any diners, cafes, or restaurants except for Smiling Jack's, Broken Shillelagh, and a few casino bars
• only have one hospital that's always closed and is way too small even for a town like this
• don't need to go anywhere so they never get to fix the broken light-rail
• get all energy to illuminate all these sparkly streets, shops, and skyscrapers from an unknown source not seen anywhere in town
• never die of old age or diseases, and just get despawned after you kill them, so they don't get buried and don't need any cemeteries
• already know everything a game mook needs to know, so they have no schools or universities of any kind to attend
• despite lack of a cemetery have a bunch of old Christian churches, whose doors are never open for those in need, and all of them are just the same copypasted church
• aren't interested in the history of their town, so have no museums or memorable landmarks of any kind.
I mean you can buy property called ''Steelport Power'' or something, with other buildings like it around the city, so i guess atleast in that regard, we know where the power comes from.
@@charmingpeasant9834 Perhaps. Still, no visible power plants of any kind - only closed nucler station and this purchasable administrative-looking building.
@Mcheetah I don't know, I think the city looks quite vibrant, and glowy, especially compared to the second game, in terms of visual design it's awesome - but after the wow-effect ends, the city feels artificial and not alive.
I just think the wackiness in SR3 was just way too cartoony and a lot of it had nothing to do with satire or gangster stuff. They just came up with a lot of random things that had no place in the game.
I remember playing the whole game expecting Gat to come back.
Damn was it an unrewarding grind.
Gona play Devils Advocate here for a second and say that they were Robbing the Bank at the beginning of the game as a sort of Marketing Stunt.
It was not about the actual money they were stealing Lol
That's exactly what it was.
@@peabuddie Yea that was like the whole reason why Josh Burke was with them in the first place.
@@MistahJay7 yep
@@MistahJay7 That still begs the question; "Why?" If the best your marketing department can come up with is to actually rob a real bank with real weapons while taking an action star along for the ride, I'd say your marketing team is shit.
I guess I'm a weirdo for having started at SR1 and liked all 3 games a lot. I can understand some of the criticism, but complaining that a remastered or definitive edition came with all the DLC was downright strange. I don't think you were fair on the city either. I haven't played this game in years and I could describe a lot of the map to you. The gangs kinda fit the corporate tone as well. The Deckers are the tech nerds who provide cyber security, they just decided to actually level up their gun and sword skills IRL. The Mornigstar were the Euro sex traffickers that real life corporate execs use to satiate their siclk fantasies. The luchadores were kinda brilliant if you think of how WWE has made pro wrestling into a corporate juggernaut. Also, it didn't star a literal porn star like Saints Row 2 did. I think you could see the progression in this direction in SR2.
My friends and I had blast playing SRTT and I think it's solid if unspectacular game, but I'd probably not enjoy it as much today as I did when I 18 or whatever. I certainly enjoyed it way more than SR4. That was shit show.
Viola was voiced by sasha Grey
@@Mshari-the-grey-warden I stand half corrected lol
FUN FACT: This game didn't remove hitman and chop shop.
Here I am bored in a depressing hospital ward with just my phone/youtube for entertainment, and Hexagon Man uploads a long form Saints Row review. Excellent 😁
NGL The Morningstar name could've been used for an awesome gang like a gang of Satanists that actually make the Sons of Samedi look sane. But alas, not what we got.
I'm at 16:14 and I don't think you're being fair. The opening sequence is being used from a storytelling and gameplay perspective to convey just how untouchable you are. Should you be able to just succeed with no effort, no, but the entire game isn't that way. And killing off characters is a double edged sword, but I think you're letting your hate for Volition poison the well here. Stakes matter. You're mad about finding out you can sleepwalk through that opening because that means there are no stakes. If no one somewhat important ever dies or fails in a major way, what are the stakes in conflict-based narrative? Just dropping you in a new city wouldn't have been enough in my opinion. Wow, instead of Stillwater, it's Steelport, but it's the same game. Wars have casualties. If you don't do proper intel on your targets, people die.
Yeah but it somethimes feels like nothing happening maters i like a more realistic aproach because you dont have to have something craezy just to make it exiting but i like the feel of srtt the whole game feels like the end of sr2 when you are the bigest gang in the city
It's how they kill off Gat. Offscreen, barely a mention afterwards. The new developers in charge for this game had contempt for 1 and 2 and didn't want to have Johnny Gat in their game.
I didn't mind that it started differently, in fact it was a selling point of the game that we'd start at the top but climb further up instead of starting from the bottom to reach the same point we were at in the previous game.
Nah, I have a lot of issues with SR 3 but that's absolutely not one.
Saints row the third was my first game in the series and I always enjoyed it a shit ton and then later on I went back and played the first and second and completely fell in love with them so coming from the understanding where both sides arguments come from I relate to both sides but definitively I cannot deny I that the first two were a bit better just because the seriousness of the stories told
@21:58 the idea that YOUR Boss of the Saints is a huge Burt Reynolds fan is hilarious!
Tbh i really enjoyed it the first time playing in 2011 but when I replayed it this year on PS5 the charm was completely lost where as playing SR2 this year was still fun and enjoyable.. just goes to show some games retain their charm for a long time while others get old pretty fast.. Time is literally the best indication of a quality game.
With srtt, Saints Row franchise stopped being a deep story ,open world crime gang and start being a just fun to play game.
"The game refuses to let you fail."
Me: *sweating intensely* Yeah, who could fail these missions?
I always hated in SR3 and 4 how enemies would do this sideways spinning manoeuvre when shot and seemed to ignore bullets while they were in this animation.
I don’t know if you’re being sarcastic or not but chopshop and hitman are indeed in Saints Row The Third
They're not the same as other activities in SR3 they have pretty much no connection to the story and don't have the same format
@@BryanAFC No, but they are in the game on the Saints Book menu in the in-game phone.
@@Wol1427 yea which is why it's not worth mentioning them among the others
I mean The Third isn't that bad imo, i mean, it was watered down a lot from SR2, but hey people like me got introduced to the franchise thanks to this game. SR1 is a permanent Xbox exclusive and SR2 only the Xbox version has the cool stuff and PC lags. TT works just fine in almost in any hardware without any exclusivity.
I had fond memories of the The Third because it was my first Saints game. I was looking forward to the next GTA at the time and SR The Third filled that emptiness until GTA V arrived. Only later I discovered SR1 and SR2 so now I'm excited to get the PC patch for SR2 (which is taking forever) so I can play it properly.
The co-op was NOTHING but laughs and good times
What do you mean by meaningful choices? Blowing up the tower doesn’t change anything in the game besides us getting a reskinned homie. The only choice that changes anything is the last mission, but after that mission nothing becomes of it. Now yes the army guy “blows up” the city, but the town isn’t actually damaged.
STAG is one of my favorite video game factions. The idea of the federal government getting so fed up with gang violence that they establish a paramilitary unit comprised of soldiers and mercenaries who will stop at nothing to destroy every gang is awesome. But I do have to admit that their equipment was over-the-top. They should've been armed with high-powered firearms rather than laser weaponry.
Steelport is a boring map, yes, but the city is supposed to be industrial and lifeless. It's modeled on a sleazier version of Pittsburgh and other Rust Belt cities. Also, even though the three main islands of the map are repetitive and monotonous, there are some distinct and unique areas, like Sierra Point, Magarac Island, Arapice Island (after the zombie infestation), and Wesley Cutter Intl.
Steelport is boring means you dont have any places like the jail in saints row 2 you can go in and explore or the undergound mall or other buildings you can go and explore
Saints Row 1 and 2 were more gangster in the same way Destroy All Humans 1 and 2 were more militaristic
Feel like they made johnny a little too asian looking in the remaster. Og johnny was clearly asian but looked more like a person who was born in the us like 2 or 3rd generation or possibly mixed. They got him looking like he from a yakuza game
He is Daniel Dae Kim, of course he is gonna look asian 😂
I’d like to see you make a video covering the many cancelled Saints Row projects like Undercover to money shot. You’d be surprised the potential these games had for the series.
You've gone off the rocker the soundtrack is banging, Social distortion, Deftones and so on.
I agree the map is samey and literally full of copy pasting, only the eastern island has any notable character and I don't know it's name. Lack of time of day does not help either when there is only 3 lighting states.
One thing they improved is the shooting kind of, it feels more grounded than the super strafing in 2 and makes you use cover. The weapons have better balance and differences than 2 but it's too easy so it doesn't matter.
The soundtrack is pretty damn good
I agree with you all about the soundtrack.
Hearing the sims 2 ds soundtrack in all your videos gives me such a warm fuzzy feeling
The quality of your content just had me assume you were a much bigger channel than you are, and I like perusing the comments while listening... but a countable 42 comments just made me realize.
I never realized that the crashing was a problem with the game overall. It happened to me so many times and to Mafia Remastered that I thought it was just my console. Now I see others had the same problem too.
SRTT got me interested in other SR games. I played SR2 around the time it came out, but bad driving and occasional crash moved my interest to GTA4. Which had same-ish problems but better gunplay. When SRTT came out, I played it, liked it and wanted to play more like it. Guess it was my re-introduction to SR series. So I returned to SR2 and have been playing it, along with TT and 4 over the years. Still disappointed that SR1 is xbox exclusive.
And yes, intro to SRTT was confusing to see the first time. And killing Gat was pointless, especially since I never cared about him that much. Game branches out a bit and lets you fight sub-gang of your choosing after a couple starting missions, and narrative reasons for doing side activities are kinda given during cutscenes to missions where you talk to a person responsible for taking over an area. Hitman and chop shop are still in the game, they just have been moved to saintsbook.
Buying remaster was a mistake. It broke a perfectly working game. I had constant crashes at introductory guardian angel mission. Also it had been given for free in EGS during the first month or so after it came out. So yeah, bad idea.
I'd say it's not necessarily a bad game. It needed more padding, more serious moments, and more development time most of all. As one of the people that has made mods for the game (and still am working on it), I'd like to say that there's some potential in SR:TT and mods help raising the value of it. Mainly through open world gameplay. And in some cases, missions too.
That's the major difference between SRTT and SR2. SR2 is a game that achieved its potential.
Also, as a modder, I am firmly against SRTT Remaster. Simply because there are more and better working tools available for the original SRTT. Mods can fix some very rookie mistakes the devs have made. Fixes that the Remaster of SRTT will never see, due to the lack of tools.
SRTT Remaster was outsourced to an external studio and file formats have been updated. Although, in Volition's current state, I do not believe they would've delivered a stable experience either, let alone fix the issues that SRTT has that makes them look like rookies. But the file format change sadly means modders have no means to improve this, which is sad.
For the original SRTT and SRIV, modders can at least fill the gaps the devs left behind.
28:54: Bruh, say what you want about this game's radio stations, but if you were actually familiar with [adult swim] back then, this particular radio station was a GODSEND. Literally, the funniest host they could've chosen for that station in Jon from the show Delocated, and the only radio station I fondly remember with the most experimental music tracks that [adult swim] has ALWAYS been known for. Just because you have no idea what it is and apparently didn't even give it chance doesn't mean it didn't have appeal. I can't even take that disclaimer about different people's tastes seriously if you were just gong to throw a corny insult at the end of it anyway, smh...
Literally Deftones, Amon Amarth, Black Dahlia Murder, Mastodon, and The Dillinger Escape Plan are on the soundtrack. Dude needs to get his head out of 1760s lmao.
Never played any other saints row but nothing bests flying a VTOL over to zombie island and letting hell loose
Oh and I meant to add that I love you Alex. Just found your channel recently. You seem very bright and well spoken, thought provoking and many of your observations have caused me to work through some difficult introspection. (i.e. in one video you explain how there's more to life than playing games all day. Paraphrased your actual line but you get my drift. Going to work has become my only real life activity as I'm very dismayed by the current state of things. After work I like to go home and escape to another world and perhaps too often.)
The original last gen Saints row the third was GODLY
God the use of the Pyrite Town theme in this vid made me have a nostalgic crisis for a good 5 minutes trying to work out where I remembered it from
I have binge-watched 4 of your videos and thus far have noticed so many amazing references and Easter eggs, particularly the usage of the DR1 ost. God I love your channel man.
yeah I'm sorry to say this but they didn't remove Hitman and chop shop it's all on the saints book app on the in game phone but only good thing about Hitman is that your target will always come out 100 percent of the time.
Things that I appreciate about Saints Row 3. 1. The lighting looks better than SR2, but that's just because the filters got better. By this point in gaming history, filters were a mainstay (and still are). 2. It ran on my PC. 3. I sort of like Dr. Genki, or whatever that cat bobblehead that does the murder-show is called. That's about all. The guns looked stupid, even to me at the time. The cars felt less impactful. They killed Johnny, leaving you stuck with PTSD Shaundie. The gangs were just... trash. Where Saints Row felt nothing like a "GTA Clone," Saints Row 3 felt like I was playing a Crackdown ripoff more than it felt like playing a Saints Row game, and we hadn't even gotten to the true Crackdown Ripoff, yet.
About your crashing with online. The original version of the game has an issue where it will constantly freeze every few seconds since it's trying to connect to an online service called My Steelport... that no longer exists. Since the constant attempts to connect were causing freezing, the best fix was to run the game in offline mode. Which makes me believe that maybe the Remaster has remnants of the My Steelport stuff in it and that may have caused the crashes.
I’ll watch this after work, but I already agree with this entire video by reading the title. I was a die hard fan of the first two games, and the third was a massive gut punch
I knew very quickly this was the remaster. Without ever playing the remaster, I can say the two are basically identical. Not only was the original game disappointing, the most change the remaster seemed to get was an uglier coat of paint and a tonne of nick-knacks glued on top. Disappointment squared. I never hated SR3, but I was never a big fan of it either. After coming from SR2, SR3 always felt wrong, right from the first day I played it.
The passion behind this review is the best thing about Saints Row "the third"
Took the words right out of my mouth. This is the beggining of the end and the reboot shows off these people have not learned a single fucking thing.
They actually didn't remove Hitman and Chop Shop they're just started from the phone now
The only good thing about sr3 in my opinion is the boss singing sublime.
1&2 are easily my favorite games. 3 was decent, my biggest gripe is the cars sounding like they’re going 200 but the in game graphics show you going about 45 tops lmao 4 was just…I played it because I bought it, but it was such a slog to get through. I absolutely hated the super powers and alien thing. Refused to touch Gat out of Hell, and I’m never playing the reboot. The first 2 definitely had their issues, but they were fun and knew when and when not to be serious. It was great at making you suspend your disbelief and accept the world…4…yeah, not so much.
I swear the saints row reboot will be the death of volition
How right you were
I've been a fan of this game ever since it came out, and yes it was my first saints row game. I've played it countless times for what the game is itself rather than a continuation from the franchise and I completely understand why its such a downgrade from the previous titles. Its crazy how much I like SR3 but the new saints row seems very far off from even that game. Hopefully the franchise goes back to its root if we the consumers make take the good ending, thanks for the video! Cant wait for you to destroy SR4
Damn am I the only one who has played all SR games and still like 3?
No, but unfortunately, the internet being what it is, we're drowned out by clowns on either side of us
Your channel
Flippy
MrSaintsGodzilla21
RPG gameplay
And a few other channels are the only things keeping me interested in the series cause the reboot just ain’t doing it for me.
Mission/cutscene replay being cut was actually something Volition was attempting to avoid. They said in interviews the main reason it was cut was due to time constraints and because the new engine they built the game with presented a lot of bugs when they did. Things like temporary map changes during missions becoming stuck when you left them.
However a modder named IdolNinja (who later got hired at Volition and died recently) modded mission replay in a week after launch so who knows if they were telling the truth.
Super underrated youtuber
This was my first Saints Row game and I haven't played SR1&2 until recently but now if I played this game I wouldn't have the same feeling I did when I was younger
I still loved this game..i don't agree with all of this but you got a new subscriber.. great job on these man
30:13 I hate how the morning stars generic ass gang takes up TWO of the main islands. Since 2011 it felt like the only gang you'd really fight on the street was mainly morning star. Luchadors were my favorite and felt way more fun having grenade launcher heavies than snipers and wub wub bitches
I genuinely enjoyed saints row the third. Definitely miss the old games (especially 2). But three was really enjoyable to just turn off my brain and play for hours.
I remember being super excited for the new saints row, bought it pretty much as soon as I could (for $90+ which is way more than the game should've been worth) only for the whole experience of playing it to feel like an endless punch in the stomach.
I said this in Another comment box, but if They kept the Syndicate and not the Luchadores or Deckers gang it would’ve been perfect, have the Boss and Gat struggle to take out this Larger than life Entity but gradually gain more Help from people that’s also been wronged, but gradually destroy from inside out. The idea of the saints being global phenomenons was ridiculous.
They didn't remove chop shop or hitman they added it to the Saints Book on the phone
I know my favorite part when listening to music in my car in SR2 and I guess SR3 is when my character sings the song as well, making me not what to get out the car when there is a mission in front of me 😂
I prefer 4 than ''the third'' just because they stop pretending and they just did go full rtard. My main problem with the reboot its they start to pretending again ''it's more grounded, look lazers and energy lassos'', 'back to the roots.... of the third not the other two we don't talk about the other two''
The same crashes have been on SR4 for years with the same fix as well except I can't even get to the game menu to start a new game
My dream game is to have the gameplay mechanics and visuals of The Third Remastered, and the story of 2.
SR3 could have been a cool game about the Saints learning from the gangs of Steelport on how to be gangsters again but the writers must have not noticed or where too afraid of writing a story that might not have as large of appeal to a customer audience
Im so glad I found your channel dude
I came into the series at SR3, and I loved it. I can understand why fans of SR 1 and 2 would hate it. The Assassin's Creed community is pretty much the same, newbies came in during the RPG trilogy and say that's peak AC, when fans of the older series hate the new gameplay style.
Fallourt fans are the same. Hardcore fans prefer the story, writing and lore of the first 2 games, new fans came in at 3. Some like it some hate it, some are on both sides. Then FO4 happened, dumbed down everything and made the game just a mindless loot shooter, messed up the lore, made it feel too much like Skyrim, and people were mad.
Great video!
A lot of people always talk about how good this game is but when you compare it to sr2, he’ll even sr1 as far as quality, map and story, it comes no where near
you know what i find funny? how can they remaster the third and somehow make it look more realistic than their upcoming game? i know its mostly the artstyle but why choose something that looks like they kept the agents of mayhem artist?
I actually liked the 3rd (and 4th as well) game, it also helped it's case that i played SR2's godawful PC port. I'm still waiting a proper SR2 for PC to actually enjoy the damn thing.
I'm waiting for the pc patch too but idk when that'll come
Play the gentleman of the row mod it fixes most problems
@@noobtube9551 Sometimes, depending on your hardware even with that it can run like shit.
@@nildzrecastellanos true
The DLC issue you mentioned also hit me with a game called Agarest: Generations of War. I bought it with all the DLC only to find that the DLC is end-of-game weapons and armour that totally obliterates the difficulty curve and has you totally massacre everything in your path for the first 80% of the game. I wonder who's been telling developers this is a good idea.
I have been playing Saint's Row The Third this past month on my PS 3 system. I require one more trophy for the platinum. You're My Hero - complete all challenges. I have 38/41 complete. This was the first game in the series that I played.
Volition takes anonymous metadata. That's why some radio stations were removed. They knew what people listened to the most. Why it crashes, I don't know? The original PC version seems fine though.
I love this channel lol you have me crying laughing. I can’t wait to see what you have to say about that customization trailer that dropped the other day I’m still up in the air man.
This kind of game, (specifically the third one) was the first time I had ever played a game, that took me out of my comfort zone. Most games from my youth were about saving the princess, or in general being the hero. Shooting gang members and cops alike, driving over pedestrians and robbing stores, was definitely a first for me and yet, will forever be a personal favorite. Creating within me an attachment to characters who are pimps and gangsters, I quickly grew to love those whom I might never associate with in real life, so that was a nice experience for me. The fourth SR was fun in the sense of feeling like a superhero, in a wacky adventure, while bringing back characters I loved. I haven't purchased the reboot SR, as I personally feel sad that I won't get to be with the same gang members we've come to acquire over the last four games. Seeing so many negative reactions to the reboot has definitely caused me to wait on that purchase.... I tried the Boss Creator thing, and it was difficult to make an attractive boss, so that has also turned me off from trying any more.
This game still gave us one of the best quotes in video game history.
"Oh shit, these hoes aint hoes!"
😂
4:12 To be fair those negative reviews are of the remaster, and actually go into how the remaster is even more bug ridden than the original. You should've probably mentioned that.
Edit: 4:42 You conveniently forgot to mention how SR1 ended with you literally dying and SR2 started with you getting revived from being dead, in a prison.
Edit: 23:35 Yeah, those are called incremental upgrades. The higher level you get the better the upgrades. Level 4 upgrades make you completely immune to certain elements, failed to mention that as well.
Edit: 29:12 same.
But you didn't die at the end of the first game. You were put in a coma.
@@Thor-Orion The chances you would only go into a coma after a massive explosion like that, survive reconstructive surgery during said coma, and then wake up from that, are basically as slim as you surviving death.
I feel like the only person who legitimately feels that the Saints Row games got better with each game (2022 notwithstanding)