To wisdom000 I am not going to argue any of your points. In fact I agree on all counts. It may seem like I'm backing down on my previous statements but hopefully I can explain without it sounding like total garbage.
I've said in other statements that I love story games. I actually love metal gear and have beaten every one (except the ps3 mgs4 because I hava no ps3...) even the PSP games were amazing. I do love story, I keep preaching Batman arkham city which is an awesome story game. I even love rpg's which are all about story, but when it comes to SR the story has NEVER been the draw. Gat was a lot of fun for the ten minutes of screentime he got in all three games. Shaundi was fun in her own way. Honestly though, these characters never mattered to me. I just finished the walking dead game this weekend. Its all story, a point and click adventure. Its a really epic experience. It only lasted for a few hours but I REALLY CARED about these characters. The game makes you get attached. It makes you feel for these people. Saints row never did that. Gat was a total **** in the first game. He barely stayed on a leash in the second and then he flat out insults you in the third. He was a loose cannon and a detriment to the organization. I didn't have any effect whatsoever on what he did and he had no effect on my gameplay. No choice was made. All of these characters were npcs in the purest sense. They didn't even perform when they were in a mission with you. I never loved any of them.
So considering my "love of story games" you may ask how do I love srtt? Because I don't care one bit about the story. This is daily bread for me. A good story game is Sunday dinner. Saints row is mindless fun that I don't have to get too involved in. I may go watch a movie like transformers or avengers and love it, but its not because of the lofty ideals and Shakespearean writing. Its because stuff blows up. I like the poetry but it can't always be poetry. Sometimes you gotta have fluff. Like I keep saying, if saints row had ever really created a legacy then there'd be something to protect and mourn over, but it didn't. The first game was a mediocre attempt to copy Gta that ended up being better. The second paved the way for massive customization and insane situations, and the third finally blew away any notions of the sad, miserable story that started it all.
The MC was NOBODY!!! You play as some nameless, nearly mute, goon off the street. There is no connection, no hint at reality. No gang boss is gonna save some random douche and immediately put him in his gang. You're never given a backstory or family, there's no connection to the other characters, no real reason to do anything. The story was bogus from the first second. I don't have a problem with anyone disagreeing but honestly, to compare any of these games to a story like metal gear is an absolute joke. Metal gear is unrealistic as hell and all kinds of beyond possible but it has feeling, real heart behind it. None of the saints row games have come close. Volition can write a great story, I love the red faction (part 1) and summoner stories, but saints row isn't that kind of game. People who are offended by them killing Gat have some weird ideas about what matters in a game.
I mentioned the walking dead game. Twice in the first episode they make you chose between two different characters to DIE. You choose. These are major characters with real impact on the story. Believe me, when you see two people (even in a game) being dragged to their death and you know you can only save one, you'll see what its like to really care about a character. There's never been anything like that in any of the SR games. The only death that ever affected me (kind of) emotionally was Lin, because we were in the car together. I was mad at my character for not being able to save her. That always seemed stupid to me. Why did I get out but she couldn't? But anyone else? Aisha? Julius? Gat? Carlos??? Shaundi? Nope, not a bit.
So yeah, I agree that story games are great, but no, I don't believe there was any great loss in tossing the story of SR into a blender and making it into a nice insanity smoothie.
(And even Gta made you choose between a woman and your family, that was pretty emotional for a game, so I totally agree about the story being good. Everything else gta4 was a boring chore in my opinion)
Sorry for double posting, I'm on the mobile version.
Ok so I disagree with you that volition is betraying its fans or whatever. They're making a game, not writing the bible. I do however agree with all your points about the story sucking, rehashing activities to lengthen gameplay, taking out activities that were fun and making you do worthless busy work. As a story game I wasn't thrilled with srtt at all, but again, I didn't buy it for the story. I can get that someplace else if I need it.
I've posted (possibly in this same thread) many, many times that I'd love to see them make a serious return to the story of sr1. I want a whole re-do. I know volition can kick the pants off of Gta in story as well as gameplay if they got serious, but I will NEVER voluntarily give up the crazy fun I have with srtt just to have another gangster game. If putting SR on the cover is what keeps this kind of fun coming then I'll take it. Honestly I don't care if they call this game "Don't give a fook, just have fun: the fifth". The dominatrix looks like it'll feed my need for crazy stuff and maybe there won't need to be a crazier sr4. Maybe they'll make sr3 (and actually call it part 3) and Gat, shaundi and the rest of the gang can get down to business. Maybe Enter The Dominatrix will get its own series and we can all be happy, story guys on the left, crazy folks on the right, and people that like both right in the middle. I'll be in the middle, working on my apocofist backhand while I call some columbians so they can bring me some fancy shoes with their next drop lol
They are totally separating from the saints row franchise with "enter the dominatrix" it does have "saints row the third" in the title but the description says the player character will be pulled out of reality completely. This gives them free reign to do anything no matter how crazy without it affecting the main story (or what's left of it) I want them to take full advantage of this break from reality. Nothing is too crazy or over the top. Spaceships, giant monsters, googly-eyed aliens with neon green blood, dragons, robots, transformers, beach balls, elephants, banana stores on every corner, double barreled water guns that shoot vampire killing holy water, yeah vampires, werewolves, Godzilla, mechagodzilla, jet jaguar, superman, spawn, a lava/ice/forest zone go cart race, hovercraft, hover boots, hover boards, Hoover vacuums, ghostbusters (reaper with news van gear on the top) ghosts, goblins, elves, balverines, wolverines, Charlie sheen (86-2012) tigers, lions, the Chicago bears, flying monkeys, flying houses, flying colors, the greenhornet, green lantern, mean Joe green, the green berets, the lone ranger, ninja turtles, ninja alligators, ninja robots, ninja ninja and the funky bunch, bb king, metal king, Jim kazama, the ronin, triad, sopranos, Los lobos, Lobo, liberacci, liberty prime, optimus prime, the prime directive, the starship enterprise(all of them) the death star, death head, death metal, death, war from darksiders, every vehicle and mech that's ever been in a red faction game ESPECIALLY the totally kickazz mechsuit from rf2 with the wicked chaingun arms, and..... ... I guess that's it for.... nope, lightsabers, cavalry sabers, Huey helicopters, battle axes, battletoads, battlestar galactica, battleships, animals I can ride like leopards and horses, xmen, x-wings, Excalibur, exclamation points like metal gear... yeah, I want a metal gear or five, rocket boots, rocket packs, four barrelled rocket launchers, electric powers, fire powers, gravity powers, ice powers, flying, running, jumping, falling, getting drunk and staggering, farting, fighting, knives, Katanas, bricks(as a grenade, only it busts heads instead of esplodin) and possibly a waterfall.... those are pretty.
Best. Post. Evar. I was LMAO for a good 15 minutes reading this.
