Saints Row vs GTA Revisited

[Quantum]

I however have not played the SR3 or SR4 dlc's

I highly recommend the mission DLCs for SR3 and SR4, but if you only pick one, you should definitely get "How the Saints Save Christmas" for SR4. It's totally awesome. You won't regret it. But wait until Christmas.

Your play style is different and so are your expectations when it comes to GTA 4

Ha ha ha! Thank you for finding such a nice way of saying I'm crap at the game!
It's okay. I know I'm terrible at games that require fast reflexes. But I would still really like to experience the full story of GTA 4. It's just super frustrating if I can't.

Please, it burns my eyes and heart.
Saints not Saint's

Yes, don't confuse Saints Row with Saint's Row, the district where Saints' first crib is. The crib is called the Saints Row Church, not the Saint's Row Church, even though it's in Saint's Row. Simple! How could anybody be confused by that?

 

[CabooseSayzWTF]

Please, it burns my eyes and heart.
Saints not Saint's

I'm not text savvy, it's a honest mistake. If you knew what I meant, I would honestly leave it at that. People correct me on the daily, I prefer it to not be done here also. I only say this because seriously people do it to me everyday. Yes I graduated and went to school etc, but when it comes to texting or writing a message I don't always use spell check. I don't always use [, . ! ? ' " : ; ] In there correct places, but if you knew what I meant for the sake of me keeping my own peace, please let it go.

I pity myself enough as it is when it comes to my spelling and punctuations. I used to be top of my class in grammar skills, somewhere down the line with the drugs, depression, not writing or texting for years, locked my self away from everybody. My grammar skills died and so did my use of the punctuations, it saddens me but I can't seem to fix it.

 

[Deleted member 191824]

I look at Saints Row like the Tony Hawk videogame series (the good ones) and the GTA series like EA's Skate.
When I play them I don't compare them, because even though they're both skateboarding games, their design,
controls, and tone are completely different. As gamers (NOT ALL) , for the longest time we looked at IGN, X-Play, Game Informer,
and saw the reviews they made as mostly solid, because the internet was going through a growth spurt and they were all we had.
fast forward to the mid to late 2010s and the term GTA clone became the top tier buzzword for open-world games, like
"critically acclaimed", "discourse", and "existential" became go-to terms for reviews, movie or otherwise.

So... because the media is evil now I guess, this is the best time to play the games ourselves have opinions about them and score them
ourselves, without making comparisons, but judging them on their on merit, instead of caring more about a game where you can play
as Darth Maul or a giant slab of steak... I miss old EA.

I beat GTA IV and enjoyed it, but the whole "friends" system marred the game for me. GTA VC, SA, and V is way better IMO.
… Used to like bowling, man dang.

 

[Singa]

Calling an open-world game a "GTA clone" is the same level of video game journalist skill as calling a slightly difficult game "The Darksouls of [Genre]"

 

[Quantum]

Sadly, I think it was these so-called "journalists" who kept calling Saints Row a "GTA clone" that caused Volition to veer off into absurdity with their later Saints Row titles. But Saints Row never WAS a "GTA clone" and always had it's own very distinctive personality. There is now a giant VOID left behind where Saints Row used to be in the current game space. There's really nothing even remotely comparable.

Saints Row had that unique combination of visual realism, which made the whole thing almost believable, inner city larger-than-life gangstas with STYLE, and lovable characters like the TV show "Friends" all wrapped up into a single game like nothing else before or since.

I honestly can't think of a single other game that combines visual realism, comedy, and style like Saints Row did. Nothing even close!

 

[Badger Goodger]

Sadly, I think it was these so-called "journalists" who kept calling Saints Row a "GTA clone" that caused Volition to veer off into absurdity with their later Saints Row titles. But Saints Row never WAS a "GTA clone" and always had it's own very distinctive personality. There is now a giant VOID left behind where Saints Row used to be in the current game space. There's really nothing even remotely comparable.

Saints Row had that unique combination of visual realism, which made the whole thing almost believable, inner city larger-than-life gangstas with STYLE, and lovable characters like the TV show "Friends" all wrapped up into a single game like nothing else before or since.

I honestly can't think of a single other game that combines visual realism, comedy, and style like Saints Row did. Nothing even close!

I think it was a cross between the gaming journalists who kept calling it a GTA clone, everybody who was previously familiar with GTA calling it a GTA clone (same thing happened to True Crime), and everybody else who kept on going on about all the insane stuff you could do in SR2 like if that was all there was to it. The insane stuff was fun, but it also didn't feel like it went too far, you weren't forced to do it, the humor wasn't forced, and there was a noticeable cross between funny moments and serious moments, similar to GTA San Andreas (which I'd highly recommend, even if you hated IV). It wasn't too dramatic and serious, but it also wasn't too absurd. I think SR2 is the title that, in my opinion (as a long-time fan of GTA, before I even played Saints Row), definitely sets itself apart and didn't remind me much of GTA at all besides a few aspects that pretty much all open world games have. They struck the perfect balance in 2 that GTA had in San Andreas.

I agree that right now there's kind of a void that Saints Row 2 left behind. GTA has gone down the SR3/4 route with how GTA Online is now, but I honestly wasn't even crazy about how 3 and 4 turned out, and it's ruined GTA Online with how unplayable it now is due to everybody having flying bikes with rockets and orbital cannons wiping you out as soon as they see you (along with the insane price gouging for microtransactions).

 

[Quantum]

The insane stuff was fun, but it also didn't feel like it went too far, you weren't forced to do it, the humor wasn't forced, and there was a noticeable cross between funny moments and serious moments, similar to GTA San Andreas (which I'd highly recommend, even if you hated IV). It wasn't too dramatic and serious, but it also wasn't too absurd. I think SR2 is the title that, in my opinion (as a long-time fan of GTA, before I even played Saints Row), definitely sets itself apart and didn't remind me much of GTA at all besides a few aspects that pretty much all open world games have. They struck the perfect balance in 2 that GTA had in San Andreas. I agree that right now there's kind of a void that Saints Row 2 left behind.

Saints Row 2 is my favorite overall, except I really like the graphics realism of Saints Row 3 more. My ideal Saints Row game would be the open world of Saints Row 2 with the graphics realism of Saints Row 3. That would be insanely awesome to me! I was hoping for something like that since Saints Row 3, but it never happened.

GTA has gone down the SR3/4 route with how GTA Online is now, but I honestly wasn't even crazy about how 3 and 4 turned out, and it's ruined GTA Online with how unplayable it now is due to everybody having flying bikes with rockets and orbital cannons wiping you out as soon as they see you (along with the insane price gouging for microtransactions).

I wasn't happy about the direction they went with SR4 either, but I was happy they brought Johnny Gat back. He's a Saints Row icon.

While I think co-op is great, I don't play multiplayer online games. If I want to experience an open world environment with stupid crazy insane people, I just open my door and walk outside. I play co-op games with family and people I know (LAN). I've no interest in GTA Online or anything like that. When I play a game, I only want to play against bots. They behave much better than real humans.

 

[Badger Goodger]

If I want to experience an open world environment with stupid crazy insane people, I just open my door and walk outside.

It's kind of sad how this is basically true, lol. I actually think that one thing Saints Row has over GTA is co-op. I wasn't crazy about SR3, but the most fun I had with it was playing through the entire story with a friend. GTA just throws you into a giant de-facto deathmatch full of annoying people.

Also, I think Stilwater in SR3's graphics would actually look alright. Steelport had too many brown and grey color palletes everywhere. I get that the game was supposed to be set in autumn, but every building in the city practically seemed to be the same color aside from the 3 skyscrapers in the downtown area. Stilwater was a much more colorful place with more variety in the buildings and types of areas. It'd look really vibrant with updated graphics.

 

[MLVNRT]

If I want to experience an open world environment with stupid crazy insane people, I just open my door and walk outside.

2nd biggest roast in Saints Row Mods

 

[Quantum]

I actually think that one thing Saints Row has over GTA is co-op. I wasn't crazy about SR3, but the most fun I had with it was playing through the entire story with a friend. GTA just throws you into a giant de-facto deathmatch full of annoying people.

That's a really good point I had totally forgotten about. I LOVE games where I can play the campaign co-op over LAN. I played the Saints Row 2, 3, and 4 campaigns co-op with a family member via System Link on two Xbox 360s, and it was so fun! I really hope they can bring back campaign offline LAN co-op in the future.

Also, I think Stilwater in SR3's graphics would actually look alright. Steelport had too many brown and grey color palletes everywhere. I get that the game was supposed to be set in autumn, but every building in the city practically seemed to be the same color aside from the 3 skyscrapers in the downtown area. Stilwater was a much more colorful place with more variety in the buildings and types of areas. It'd look really vibrant with updated graphics.

True, SR3's colors were more subtle than SR2's (it's a crumbling old steel town), but SR3 looked beautiful on a rainy night in the city with all that neon reflecting off the wet pavement! That's one of my favorite effects in SR3. I love those big colorful animated signs at night! I actually think GTA 4 looks more dull than SR3, even in Times Square.