SRIV Hands on with the Saints Row IV press preview

[Beepboop007]

I feel the same way. Being stuck in darkness until you're forced to do missions and advance the plot makes the open world stagnant and less fun to roam around in. It feels like an artist trying to force their aesthetic on the gamer rather than make things actually fun.

Maybe it could be changed in an upgrade. I think you said in one of your posts that the upgrade system works by, when you gain xp, you are better able to take advantage of loopholes in the virtual simulation code to give yourself powers and stuff like that. Maybe one of the upgrades could be hacking the weather and day/night cycle to be more normal.

I don't think it would be too much work to just implement SRTT's system again right? I dunno, I haven't played the game and maybe people will just get used to it, but I think it could get annoying pretty fast. And for an open world game where you could conceivably spend 100+ hours on just messing around, that's a long time to be annoyed.

 

[Bring the Noise]

Hey There,

I'm Jon, a new Lighting Artist at Volition. While I probably can't say a lot about what we're doing, the lighting is definitely motivated and thought out; it's not just night for the sake of night. The city wide time of day is changed by player action and by how you far along you're getting toward breaking down Zinyak's simulation. We used color to drive a lot of the player feedback - hotspots and flashpoints are lit with harsh, oppressive reds and when taken over by the player, they turn to a soft, safe feeling blue. It's one of the first times I've been motivated to actually really push toward 100% city takeover because the visual change accompanies it and I feel like I'm actually accomplishing. It's a pretty refreshing addition that's subtle, but brings a great mood and feeling. Same with time of day - can't go into full detail, but the nighttime that you're seeing isn't the only time of day you'll get in the city and there's a pretty cool surprise when you beat the game as well.

Hopefully that answers the question without a lot of spoiling. Can't wait for you guys to play it!

-Jon

EDIT - I also wanted to quickly mentioned that the fact that you stated an "annoyance" means that the phycology we're using in the lighting is working. We made some choices to make the simulation feel oppressive and stifling but you'll find that as you progress, things certainly start feeling much better.

That sounds alot like the layout for Pandemic Studio's last title (Saboteur).
That game was different in that it had day and night cycles, and was black-n-white in the zones that were not liberated then would go to a 40/50's style Technicolor once the area had been liberated. Hmmm I think I'ld go disable cpu 2, and 3 and fire that one up (haven't played it in like forever).

 

[DeadlySanchez]

No, that happens when a warden shows up. It's not actually weather. To answer a previous question, no it's always night for most of the story. Just like I said in my first impressions article.

Ah, yeah, you are right, I just went back to that video and realized that the notoriety was the highest. But oh well. That seems to make Warden fights more cooler, I guess. Do you only fight 1 warden at once though?

 

[[V] IdolNinja]

Ah, yeah, you are right, I just went back to that video and realized that the notoriety was the highest. But oh well. That seems to make Warden fights more cooler, I guess. Do you only fight 1 warden at once though?

I never ran into two of them at once in the story or open world.

 

[Melodies]

Okay, so you said this game runs smoother then SR: TT. Seeing as I have played both PC and 360, I was going to purchase for 360 since my laptop can't exactly run sr3 at full speed. I'd say sr3 runs at 85/100. Do you think sr4 will run much better if that's the case? Sorry if my question seems confusing, I can try and explain better if needed..

 

[Minimaul]

Is the M1A2 Abrams(Challenger Tank) in SRIV? I loved that thing, well to be honest are all the Army vehicles back(Bulldog, Eagle, Vulture, Bear, Tornado, etc... Army Variants)? Also whats at Sierra Point now, I could assume it's just a bunch of Aliens or is the Army still there? Is there any Real Modern Military clothing(NG outfit or otherwise)?

A bunch of the real life army vehicles are still in. The military helicopters are still spawning at their helipads for instance.

 

[Ben Osborne]

there's a pretty cool surprise when you beat the game as well.

Now that I can't wait to see! I wonder what it is?

 

[[V] IdolNinja]

Okay, so you said this game runs smoother then SR: TT. Seeing as I have played both PC and 360, I was going to purchase for 360 since my laptop can't exactly run sr3 at full speed. I'd say sr3 runs at 85/100. Do you think sr4 will run much better if that's the case? Sorry if my question seems confusing, I can try and explain better if needed..

I can't tell you anything in addition to what I already have in the article. I'm not some kind of magic seer who knows all hardware configs and how they will run. I can only give you my personal example.

 

[Eye ZiS]

I can't tell you anything in addition to what I already have in the article. I'm not some kind of magic seer who knows all hardware configs and how they will run. I can only give you my personal example.

Does SR:TT run better or worse on your "personal example" compared to how SR:IV performs? (mind the quotes, i've been C++-ing recently)

 

[[V] IdolNinja]

Does SR:TT run better or worse on your "personal example" compared to how SR:IV performs? (mind the quotes, i've been C++-ing recently)

Did you read the article? I pretty clearly explain things... well, I thought so, anyway...