SPOILERS Saints Row (2022) official info

[3rdStreetSaint 212]

I hope a lot of the new things in this game are optional, like the wingsuit.

Cos that was one thing that was really disappointing about SRIV, when I first unlocked the superpowers, I thought: "ok, that's cool, but I'm gonna play this game the same way I always play a Saints Row game"... Until I realised that over half the activities required use of the Super Powers, same for the story, and even collecting most of the clusters.

So that was the only game of the main 4, where I tried to stay in the missions longer than the free roam. Because the missions that took place in the real world, or other simulations had the super powers disabled. Then they only went and gave us power armour for the final boss battle in the real world, so at that point I just gave up and accepted defeat... Not against Zinyak, but against the super powers, which was what I unfortunately used to kill him.

So I really hope it's possible to play this game in your own unique way.

If I don't want to use the wingsuit, then I don't have to.

If I want to go through the entire game using only melee weapons or even just my bare fists, then I can (Excluding weapon specific objectives during missions or activities)

Maybe I just want to ride my hoverboard everywhere and never drive a single vehicle? (Excluding vehicle specific objectives during missions or activities)

I guess I'm just not really a big fan of the wingsuit. Probably because I wasn't really a fan of gliding in SRIV.

I mean, there's probably gonna be a few missions/activities that require use of the wingsuit, which I can live with, but I just don't want it to be overused.

Cos I don't think I ever even used a vehicle in SRIV, why would I need to? I could just run up the side of a building then glide directly to my destination. Guns, who needs them? I can freeze anybody near me, then break them to pieces with a baseball bat.

Yes, I know this kinda contradicts my point about going through the game using only melee weapons, but the choice of using guns would still be there. My point this time is, why would I use guns if I have super powers that can kill people in an instant?

Or even more so, why would I use a standard Magnum Pistol or AK-47, when I can literally dance people to death, or suck them into a blackhole?

Whatever my original point was, I'll use the wingsuit, but only when I have to.

Edit:
That's also a point, what do people think the new collectables are gonna be?

I somehow think that round Sheriff Head is gonna be a set of collectibles, in the form of keychains maybe? (What even is his name, Sheriff Pringles?)

It'd be nice if CDs and Tagging came back, but I doubt that'll be the case.

 

[jbartosevich]

It is said to be between SR2 and SR3 tone wise

In that case, I don't understand why so many YouTubers are intent on slamming it. It seems to me that in between SR2 and SR3 is a really sweet spot. I mean, granted I did enjoy the zaniness of 3, but I'm a silly person. 2 is actually a bit more immersive because it's a bit more serious. If you're right, then it puts the new game right where I would hope for it to be.

 

[jbartosevich]

I hope a lot of the new things in this game are optional, like the wingsuit.

Cos that was one thing that was really disappointing about SRIV, when I first unlocked the superpowers, I thought: "ok, that's cool, but I'm gonna play this game the same way I always play a Saints Row game"... Until I realised that over half the activities required use of the Super Powers, same for the story, and even collecting most of the clusters.

So that was the only game of the main 4, where I tried to stay in the missions longer than the free roam. Because the missions that took place in the real world, or other simulations had the super powers disabled. Then they only went and gave us power armour for the final boss battle in the real world, so at that point I just gave up and accepted defeat... Not against Zinyak, but against the super powers, which was what I unfortunately used to kill him.

So I really hope it's possible to play this game in your own unique way.

If I don't want to use the wingsuit, then I don't have to.

If I want to go through the entire game using only melee weapons or even just my bare fists, then I can (Excluding weapon specific objectives during missions or activities)

Maybe I just want to ride my hoverboard everywhere and never drive a single vehicle? (Excluding vehicle specific objectives during missions or activities)

I guess I'm just not really a big fan of the wingsuit. Probably because I wasn't really a fan of gliding in SRIV.

I mean, there's probably gonna be a few missions/activities that require use of the wingsuit, which I can live with, but I just don't want it to be overused.

Cos I don't think I ever even used a vehicle in SRIV, why would I need to? I could just run up the side of a building then glide directly to my destination. Guns, who needs them? I can freeze anybody near me, then break them to pieces with a baseball bat.

Yes, I know this kinda contradicts my point about going through the game using only melee weapons, but the choice of using guns would still be there. My point this time is, why would I use guns if I have super powers that can kill people in an instant?

Or even more so, why would I use a standard Magnum Pistol or AK-47, when I can literally dance people to death, or suck them into a blackhole?

Whatever my original point was, I'll use the wingsuit, but only when I have to.

Edit:
That's also a point, what do people think the new collectables are gonna be?

I somehow think that round Sheriff Head is gonna be a set of collectibles, in the form of keychains maybe? (What even is his name, Sheriff Pringles?)

It'd be nice if CDs and Tagging came back, but I doubt that'll be the case.

I'll agree about SRIV, that the flight and super speed made cars obsolete. Another thing it did was make SRIV the first game I ever felt forced to INCREASE the difficulty. I stumbled upon the strategy of "death from above" and ever since I had to play the game on it's hardest setting to even feel challenged.

However, the thing about SRIV that absolutely needs to go the way of the dodo is those stupid data clusters. They are clearly the most harmful thing to that title's replayability. I do understand having collectibles. It makes sense. I can understand needing to find things in order to power up. That makes sense too.

SRIV, however, put one of those stupid clusters on top of every single rooftop in some neighborhoods. That completely transformed the dataclusters from being something rewarding to find, into a chore. The last time I tried to replay SRIV I got to a neighborhood like i described, looked at the dataclusters, and turned off the game. Collectibles need to be toned down, a lot, imo.

As for a wingsuit, I think all they need to do in order to satisfy you is make the wingsuit work like they do in real life.... They're essentially a parachute that surrounds you instead of being above you. That would make them useful only for base jumping, or aerial missions.

 

[L'Andromada]

Okay, this one is actually easy to explain. The key word is "character". This is an issue of people vs things, characters vs laser rifles and flying bikes.

When we create mass media works like movies or games, we have to be very careful about people. For example, if I have a XYZ motorcycle, and in my movie, it's p.o.s, no problem. It's just a thing. BUT ... if I call it a Harley Davidson Motorcycle and THEN disparage it, the people at HD are going to have a problem with how I portray their work, their brand, their business. Which is why, when we have a flattering portrayal, we can get money for product placement. But if, for example, I'm going to crash an airliner, no airline company wants to be associated with crashing, so I have to make up a company. People.

Now with street gangs, we get into a problem, because there are street gangs made of people, people are complicated, and if I don't really understand street gangs or who they are or how they act or what their motivations are or why they got into it, I run the danger of stereotyping people: dehumanizing them with caricatures. When I was kid, I didn't care if I offended other people. Now, I care.

Some of the people who want to play games are at a point in their life where they don't care if how a group in a movie or game is portrayed is offensive to the people being portrayed. I understand that. I've been there. I get it.

My guess, though, is that the devs are most likely younger than I am, but maybe they're simply getting into that age bracket where they're starting to think about these things.

Unfortunately, to people who don't care, it looks weak. They look like sellouts, they look like they're caving to "pressure", they look like they're trying to be "woke", they look like they're projecting their hipsterism into a game where it doesn't belong.

If it were me making the game though: again, I wouldn't want to have to be apologizing to people.

I'll give you great example: Freckle Bitches. When they did SR2, I'm sure they thought it was funny. Everybody knows they're poking fun at Wendy's. What's wrong with that, right? Except the owner named the restaurant after his daughter, and the image on the sign was based on his freckled red-headed daughter when she was still a pre-teen. And so basically, without any real harm to real person intended, they just called some guy's little daughter a bitch.

Again, when we're a certain age, we may not care, but when we get older, sometimes we do.

You actually misunderstood me. What I meant by that wasn't that I have a problem with the way they justify the character motivations, I meant that I have a problem with the way they justify all of the sci-fi stuff.
I thought this was pretty clear, since I mentioned that I wasn't a fan of The Quartering, but I realize this is actually fairly subtle.
I actually agree with them on the fact that economic pressure is a very relevant issue in western societies right now (and it has been for quite a while), and that it can on some occasions force people to turn to crime. I also agree that it's a very interesting concept to explore in a game (although I might be biased here because I have some friends who used to be in a similar situation). In general if a game makes me play as a criminal and gives me a reasonable reason as to why they became one, I'm happy. Which is also why I really loved the SR1 and SR2 stories, your character evolves between the two games in a way that's really believable.
That's because of all of that, that all this sci-fi shit really pisses me off, on one hand I have beautiful and diverse world that I really want to get lost into as well as a story that I think has potential (even if I don't like some of the characters) and even kinda resonates with me. Now on the other hand I can run into guys using laser rifles and flying bikes, and my immersion is instantly destroyed, because it doesn't make sense and looks out of place.

Thanks for providing the Wendy's example though, really interesting stuff, I never thought about it that way. Mainly because I never saw Wendy as anything more than the face of some fast food chain. I understand why they might have wanted to change it for the reboot (and I'm cool with that, if they genuinely thought it wasn't funny). I'm still glad Freckle Bitch's exists though, people should be able to make the kind of jokes that they want, even if the joke is arguably of poor taste.
An influential humourist from my home country once said something that roughly translates to "You can laugh about pretty much anything, but not with anyone".
To some people it will just be tasteless, to others it will be funny and even adds a bit of personality to the world, and most of those people probably don't think of the actual Wendy in that way.
You certainly seem to be much wiser than me, though. I'm not as old as you, so it's very well possible that you're objectively right and that I'm just immature.

That post comes across as incredibly toxic and mean spirited, and plays into straw-mans and internet stereotypes in order to make its point.

I can absolutely understand why people are upset, they mislead older fans prior to the cinematic trailer, what they have shown so far looks incredibly underwhelming, and the characters look unlikable. It's baffling that it tries to use the argument of "cultural relevancy" in a game about a criminal gang and empire, with a stated to focus on drug running. I have never, wanted a game to be "topical", that often correlates with incredibly tone deaf writing that tries to demand that the audience think a specific way, and misses the nuance of complex situations.

Everything stated in the post is speculation that things may not be as bad as people fear, which is what I personally am hoping for, but using that to dismiss concerns and insult and disparage people is reprehensible.

Huh, didn't think I'd ever disagree with you, linkfire.
Yeah, this persons sounds a bit like a "know it all" type and fans are right the be angry because of marketing, I am too. But I do think they raise some good points. As I explained up above, I think the story does have potential. Disenfranchised people who've been fucked over by a system are likely to want to get back at that system, and sometimes the only solution to do that is to turn to crime. I mean that's pretty much the plot of Breaking Bad, and on top being very relevant to real life issues that show was amazing.
I don't think you should write off a story just because it's "topical", cause it won't necessarily be poorly written.

Opened an account just to escape from the subreddit and give this post another compliment ! What a perfect post I was already fine with the game the moment they said character creation was in but damn this post is just great.

Perfect? Not really. I'd say the post makes a lot of good points, but fails to address a few things, for example the fact that Kevin's character is badly written: being a criminal and also being prolific on social media is extremely dangerous. In a world that's grounded in reality at least, and the author of the post seems to think that it's the case considering what they say about the story.
I do respect this person simply for the fact that they're trying to save Volition, it's an honorable thing to do. Volition is one of the only good developers left.

In that case, I don't understand why so many YouTubers are intent on slamming it. It seems to me that in between SR2 and SR3 is a really sweet spot. I mean, granted I did enjoy the zaniness of 3, but I'm a silly person. 2 is actually a bit more immersive because it's a bit more serious. If you're right, then it puts the new game right where I would hope for it to be.

Marketing problems once again. They said that the game would be between SR2 and SR3 regarding the tone. I think what they were trying to say is that the game would have the same tone as SR3 and the gameplay elements that everyone loves from SR2. That's what the images we've seen so far seem to indicate.

 

[3rdStreetSaint 212]

I'll agree about SRIV, that the flight and super speed made cars obsolete. Another thing it did was make SRIV the first game I ever felt forced to INCREASE the difficulty. I stumbled upon the strategy of "death from above" and ever since I had to play the game on it's hardest setting to even feel challenged.

However, the thing about SRIV that absolutely needs to go the way of the dodo is those stupid data clusters. They are clearly the most harmful thing to that title's replayability. I do understand having collectibles. It makes sense. I can understand needing to find things in order to power up. That makes sense too.

SRIV, however, put one of those stupid clusters on top of every single rooftop in some neighborhoods. That completely transformed the dataclusters from being something rewarding to find, into a chore. The last time I tried to replay SRIV I got to a neighborhood like i described, looked at the dataclusters, and turned off the game. Collectibles need to be toned down, a lot, imo.

As for a wingsuit, I think all they need to do in order to satisfy you is make the wingsuit work like they do in real life.... They're essentially a parachute that surrounds you instead of being above you. That would make them useful only for base jumping, or aerial missions.

Yeah, every time I replay any Saints Row game from scratch, I have a system.

1. Prologue
2. Find all Collectables (In SR, all Tags gives infinte sprint, making the rest of the game easier)
3. Activities & Diversions
4. Finish the Campaign

For the 1st 2 games, this system works fine. And is also quite fun.

For the 3rd game I have to slightly change tactics as some of the activities are used as story missions.

1. Prologue
2. Pierce Arc & Downtown Activities
3. Zimos Arc & New Colvin Activities
4. Kinzie Arc & Stanfield Activities
5. Angel Arc & Carver Island Activities
6. Purchase Upgrades & find all Collectables
7. Finish the Campaign

For the 4th game...

1. Prologue
2. Downtown Clusters
3. New Colvin Clusters
4. Stanfield Clusters
5. Carver Island Clusters
6. Any remaining Clusters & what's left of my sanity
7. Finish the Campaign & purchase Upgrades along the way (As all the Activities & Diversions are included with the Campaign)

But see the difference!? In every other game, my system had a nice mix of steps so I wouldn't get bored... But SRIV's system was basically all Clusters!? I didn't even realise the gravity of it until I typed out my system just now. But look at it! It's all Clusters!? WTF!?

I can complete all the Activities & Diversions in seconds thanks to the super powers. So I actually spend most of my SRIV playthrough... Collecting the Clusters!? I can't actually believe it!

Edit:
I realise that some people might say SRIV's system is basically the same as SR & SR2's, but trust me, it takes a lot less time to find 50 CDs and 75 Gang Tags compared to 1255 Clusters. Especially since I'm collecting them all with just my basic default super powers and no Collectable Finder.

 

[PeterJakeson]

Am I the only one who noticed the characters have no eyelashes? The faces of these characters look incredibly last-gen. I'm kind of cringing at how far behind Volition is when it comes to graphics. Saints Row 3 looked like crap when it came out and STILL, even now a decade almost past and they're still behind.

 

[3rdStreetSaint 212]

Am I the only one who noticed the characters have no eyelashes?

They don't!? Did they have eyelashes in SRTT & SRIV? I knew they didn't in the first two games, especially because GOTR makes eyelashes available to purchase. But since the Boss had eyelashes in SRTT & SRIV, it never crossed my mind to even check the other characters...

This post may come across as sarcastic, but you genuinely blew my mind with that one.

Edit:
I just checked, they do have them in SRTT & SRIV... I can only assume that the only reason they don't have eyelashes in this Saints Row yet is cos we've only seen pre-alpha footage so far.

 

[PeterJakeson]

They don't!? Did they have eyelashes in SRTT & SRIV? I knew they didn't in the first two games, especially because GOTR makes eyelashes available to purchase. But since the Boss had eyelashes in SRTT & SRIV, it never crossed my mind to even check the other characters...

This post may come across as sarcastic, but you genuinely blew my mind with that one.

Edit:
I just checked, they do have them in SRTT & SRIV... I can only assume that the only reason they don't have eyelashes in this Saints Row yet is cos we've only seen pre-alpha footage so far.

Female character models usually get the eyelashes. As a way to not make the male character models look feminine unless intentional. In 1 and 2 only the women men had eyelashes. In SR3, both men and women had eyelashes that were more or less painted on in a very weird way. In this game, it seems no one has any eyelashes. It looks really distracting to me - makes the eyes look bland, I think they might be doing the "eyeshadow" approach this time around. Dark lines around the eyes instead of eyelashes. It's kinda lame.

 

[3rdStreetSaint 212]

I think they might be doing the "eyeshadow" approach this time around. Dark lines around the eyes instead of eyelashes. It's kinda lame.

That may be the case. But the gameplay trailer did say that the footage was pre-alpha, and eyelashes seem like a last minute job compared to all the more important components to the game. So maybe they'll still be in the final game? I would hope so, cos painted on eyelashes just seems too lazy for a 2022 game.

And if you get a close up of the characters in SRTT, the eyelashes are 3D, not painted on. Shaundi is a great example of this. Check her gallery on the Saints Row Wiki. And this is the original game, not the remastered.

 

[linkfire12]

Huh, didn't think I'd ever disagree with you, linkfire.
Yeah, this persons sounds a bit like a "know it all" type and fans are right the be angry because of marketing, I am too. But I do think they raise some good points. As I explained up above, I think the story does have potential. Disenfranchised people who've been fucked over by a system are likely to want to get back at that system, and sometimes the only solution to do that is to turn to crime. I mean that's pretty much the plot of Breaking Bad, and on top being very relevant to real life issues that show was amazing.
I don't think you should write off a story just because it's "topical", cause it won't necessarily be poorly written.

The story has the potential to be good, or terrible, but both are complete speculation; to me, the post reads as saying that people shouldn't be upset or worried about the direction of the game because it could possibly be good or well written.
The people who are upset and worried by and large want the game to be good, and are hoping to be proven wrong. The holier than thou attitude, and the degrading insults (especially in the comment section of the post) are completely unnecessary.

Disenfranchisement and scarcity based crime isn't an exclusively modern day dilemma, that can apply to many parts of the world and history and is an intrinsic part of the human condition. When I say topical, in my mind I am thinking of direct, pretentious allegory to a modern day issue that the writer is strongly trying to enforce a view on. Again, it could very well be well written, but I often find that the best writing comes from creators who aren't insistent on the relevancy of their fiction, and instead let it stand for itself as a quality piece of media.

When they talk about paying off college via starting a criminal empire, that comes across to people as an indicator that the game is going to heavily emphasize the millennial hipster culture (for lack of a better term, feel free to mention one), that a lot of people find incredibly irritating and idiotic. If you are a known gangster or leading member of a criminal empire, the idea that you would still have the same concerns and somehow would be allowed into a university is a bit ludicrous. There is a difference between an educated criminal, or a undercover, disguised or corrupt way for a criminal to get a specific type of education, and the idea of a character who looks like they pretend to be a teenager on a disney channel show having the "relatable" issues of college debt whilst they murder and run a drug running syndicate.

None of this really matters, because I basically have the same concerns and thoughts, but what I took issue with is how toxic that post was, when it's essentially just hoping for the best.