Saints Row vs GTA Revisited

Quantum

Quantum

Over the years, I've seen so many comparisons of Saints Row to GTA, I finally decided to play a full GTA game. I never was too interested in playing GTA, but there haven't been any new Saints Row games in a long time, so I reluctantly purchased GTA 4 and decided to play the full campaign. I picked 4 because it's closer to the time the older Saints Row games were made, so I wanted to see how similar they actually were.

Honestly, I am totally frustrated and bored playing GTA 4. It's such a grind and it feels more like a chore to play rather than the joy I felt with the Saints Row games. I'm only 35% of the way through the campaign, and I've already had to walk away from the game several times in frustration. I have to keep repeating missions over and over again because they're so hard with no checkpoints! I never felt so bored with a game before. And there's no garage so I can't even save my cars, and so little customization.

The only thing I like about it is the amazingly detailed and very complete open world. THAT is impressive! But the actual gameplay itself is mind numbingly boring.

Playing GTA really makes me appreciate the Saints Row series even more than I already did. I think Volition had an incredibly unique and fun series with Saints Row, and any comparisons to GTA were totally unfounded. Volition didn't have to change Saints Row to make it less like GTA, because it was ALWAYS more fun than GTA.

I'm sure most people here already agree with what I just said, but my frustration level is high so I just had to write what I was feeling. It's just my opinion.

I just hope Volition realizes what a special game they had and will try to continue it.
 
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I disagree and agree with this post. I do agree that saints row and gta are nothing alike at all. I never understood the comparison BS people kept trying to make. I wouldn't call GTA 4 boring at all, it actually has a great story to it, hell even the dlc's do also. The multiplayer is really fun also. Grand Theft Auto is supposed to be "Hard" not easy like Saint's Row, which explains the lack of checkpoints, and overall grind of the gameplay. I guess that's why you are getting frustrated..? That's my personal opinion BTW. To me Saint's Row is easy compared to the grand theft auto series no matter which grand theft auto and no matter which saint's row. Gta is more "Mafia,Gangster ish styled" than saint's row ever was. Yes saints row 1 and 2 both had the gangster, true to the root gangster feel to it, but gta did a great job of mixing mafia and gangster together. I know "Mafia" and "Gangster" are pretty much the same thing, i'm just comparing it as in Mafia 1920's-1940's era mixed in with 1980's -1990's Gangster styles, and gta did a great mashup of both. However when it comes to saints row, the gangster feel dropped dead in its tracks in sr3 and sr4, don't get me wrong sr3 and sr4 are both fun as hell games to play, but it became "Stupid Funny & Retarded", which makes for some great fun when you have nothing better to do. As far as GTA 4 though, it has a great story, but the "lack" of lighting really can kill it, it's not vibrant like most games, the atmosphere is mostly dull and gloomy, which is pretty much what gta 4 was going for, so I see why you are disappointed in GTA 4, and I do understand your frustration. However I can't agree with it even though I understand your point on the matter, we all have different opinions, and I think GTA 4 is a great game, but gta is NOTHING like Saint's Row by a LONGGGGGG SHHHOOOTTT! So to sum it up [GTA, Hard, Grind, Skill, Great Story, Perfect Mashup], [Saint's Row, Easy-Medium, Gangsterish depending on which saint's row, Lack of skill required, wacky, funny, stupid] So in other words, if you want a challenge choose GTA, however if you want ENDLESS hours of fun and wackiness, funny as hell and never bored, choose saints row. But neither are the same, and they never will be.



EDIT: Also there aren't any garages, but the "yellow residents parking only painted lines" outside of your safehouses, you can store a maximum of two vehicles at a time on these spots in the game, and vehicles auto repair once you reload the game or go away and comeback. So yes you do have "Parking Spots" which act as a Garage.

EDIT 2: If any GTA game did the "Gangster Feel", hours of re playability, and fun, I personally recommend GTA: San Andreas, and GTA: 3.
 
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I have never understand people's love for gta series. I played 3-vs-sa-iv, finished only iv and every time I got boring game with very primitive mission design, stupid difficulty spikes and very low-tier story with lame references. Intro mission of SR3 gave me more emotions than full walkthrough of gta4. I am not huge fan of SR2 but for me it was much more solid and fun experience than San Andreas.
Looking on project like SAMP, or GTA4-5RP I see that gta fans doesn't need good game, they need good sandbox where they could live like in the second life or so.
 
CabooseSayzWTF said:
Grand Theft Auto is supposed to be "Hard" not easy like Saint's Row, which explains the lack of checkpoints, and overall grind of the gameplay. I guess that's why you are getting frustrated..?
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Yes, I am frustrated! I've completed a LOT of campaigns, and I've enjoyed the vast majority of them, but if a game is too hard like this, it's just not fun anymore. Honestly, Saints Row 1 was hard because it didn't have any checkpoints either. But it was just really fun, so I found the strength to play the last mission 35 times just to finish the game. If it wasn't a Saints Row game and I hadn't played the later games first, I probably would have given up. I've never not finished a campaign, but GTA 4 may be the first campaign I give up on.
CabooseSayzWTF said:
To me Saint's Row is easy compared to the grand theft auto series no matter which grand theft auto and no matter which saint's row.
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All the more reason I prefer the Saints Row series. I don't like games that are too hard -- I really wanted to know the full GTA story. They should have an easier difficulty level for people who are not experts. But, if you like hard, have you played Saints Row 1?
CabooseSayzWTF said:
Gta is more "Mafia,Gangster ish styled" than saint's row ever was. Yes saints row 1 and 2 both had the gangster, true to the root gangster feel to it, but gta did a great job of mixing mafia and gangster together. I know "Mafia" and "Gangster" are pretty much the same thing, i'm just comparing it as in Mafia 1920's-1940's era mixed in with 1980's -1990's Gangster styles, and gta did a great mashup of both. However when it comes to saints row, the gangster feel dropped dead in its tracks in sr3 and sr4, don't get me wrong sr3 and sr4 are both fun as hell games to play, but it became "Stupid Funny & Retarded", which makes for some great fun when you have nothing better to do.
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All the campaigns of the Saints Row games were fun, but honestly, I preferred the gangster style of the older Saints Row games, when they were clever, cool and stylish but not "stupid funny and retarded".
CabooseSayzWTF said:
As far as GTA 4 though, it has a great story, but the "lack" of lighting really can kill it, it's not vibrant like most games, the atmosphere is mostly dull and gloomy, which is pretty much what gta 4 was going for, so I see why you are disappointed in GTA 4, and I do understand your frustration.
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Yes, it is very gloomy looking. Everything is so realistic except for those very dull colors. Not sure why they did that. I've been to New York City -- it's not that gloomy. The Saints Row games all looked much better. But that's not a significant factor in my disappointment.
CabooseSayzWTF said:
However I can't agree with it even though I understand your point on the matter, we all have different opinions, and I think GTA 4 is a great game, but gta is NOTHING like Saint's Row by a LONGGGGGG SHHHOOOTTT! So to sum it up [GTA, Hard, Grind, Skill, Great Story, Perfect Mashup], [Saint's Row, Easy-Medium, Gangsterish depending on which saint's row, Lack of skill required, wacky, funny, stupid] So in other words, if you want a challenge choose GTA, however if you want ENDLESS hours of fun and wackiness, funny as hell and never bored, choose saints row. But neither are the same, and they never will be.
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Yes, Saints Row games are just WAY more fun. I only wish the Saints Row open worlds in SR were as complete as the GTA open worlds. Clearly, the Saints Row maps are full of unfinished things like the non-working trains in Saints Row 3 (they were originally supposed to be working) and the inability to climb all those ladders (obviously, since SR3 has so many ladders, they were originally intended to work too). But all the customization makes up for it. :)
CabooseSayzWTF said:
EDIT: Also there aren't any garages, but the "yellow residents parking only painted lines" outside of your safehouses, you can store a maximum of two vehicles at a time on these spots in the game, and vehicles auto repair once you reload the game or go away and comeback. So yes you do have "Parking Spots" which act as a Garage.
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Those yellow parking spaces are a joke. They're basically useless, because if you use your favorite car to drive to a mission, it disappears during the mission and you don't get it back. Saints Row is so much better!
 
I'm a fan of both series, but I'll take Saints Row over GTA. To me, it's not difficulty (both can be difficult if you're playing certain levels), but interest. You have to make me wanna keep playing. Which is why I'm more a fan of the GTA 3 series, especially Vice City, rather than the current games. Yeah, the later GTA games are impressive graphically, but they don't feel 'fun' and I'm not invested in the characters enough. I completed GTA 4 a while back and a copy of GTA 5 currently sits next to my XBone, but I didn't play it beyond getting to planning of the first heist. Meantime, I'm still loading up the PC version of Saints Row 2 because I can run around naked carrying a chainsaw rocket launcher and causing all sorts of havoc, rather than being a mopey gangster.
 
rogermorse said:
Yeah, the later GTA games are impressive graphically, but they don't feel 'fun' and I'm not invested in the characters enough.
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I think this is one HUGE strength the Saints Row series has over the GTA series -- the continuity of their very likable characters. They've maintained that continuity despite the fact that the characters have been in some bizarre situations. The GTA games just don't have that. I absolutely LOVE the fact that Johnny Gat is there through the entire series (even with the same voice actor). I really feel like I've gotten to know the characters which makes me want more!
 
Quantum said:
But, if you like hard, have you played Saints Row 1?
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Yes i've played them all. I however have not played the SR3 or SR4 dlc's. Saint's row 1 was the first Saint's Row I ever played. But again SR is easy to me, especially SR1. But that's different person to person. Your play style is different and so are your expectations when it comes to GTA 4, but alot of people hate it. I'm just in the crowd that loves both series. I beat gta 4 3 times, that's it. I have beat sr1-4 multiple times. So yes to me Saints Row does a better job at replayability and being fun. If the games were compared to a fun factor, yes to me Saint's Row wins everytime. However I enjoy both Saint's Row and GTA alike. So that's about all I can say about them both. Saint's Row wins in almost every category you could throw across the two. So as your original topic says neither one of the games are the same, there are no comparisons to make as both games are on different ends of the spectrum. I however enjoy them all :)
 
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