Why is saints row getting so much hate?
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With Saints Row, in particular, I feel this game also fell victim to its main competitor GTA becoming pretty wild and over the top. The main game was mostly pretty grounded in a satirical, bombastic but not ridiculous Hollywood action kind of way. The story was at least somewhat believable. GTA Online is where it just became an absolute cluster of one big ridiculous thing over the next and the next and the next. And I feel like maybe that's what they felt they had to compete with. Even now - much to my own disdain - GTA Online is still one of the most popular crime games going and eclipses both the main game and even RDR2.
I just feel the game's history, the current state of gaming, its direct competitors, and probably the pressure of all of those things on development made this game's success a long shot at best.
I apologize for the late night ramble but while I'd usually not stick my neck out for a game I've never played I think this speaks to a bigger issue or set of issues. Ones that are shared by developers, publishers, and fans. Some of the damage ends up being self-inflicted at times by one of or all three. I can definitely say of late that there has probably been more media of all kinds receiving negative reactions - sometimes earned and sometimes unearned - and it makes me question if there is a much larger issue at hand.
Date: 2022-08-30
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Comments and reviews: 13
J.
I agree with the stuff about Bethesda and buggy games. I think Bethesda got away with it for so long because there weren't very many devs making games like that, but that's not the case anymore. I still expect open world games to come with bugs, simply because the bigger and more complex you make a game the more ways there are for unforeseen bugs to creep in, but those should be rare things, not problems you hear about in every single review you watch, like what we've seen with this new Saints Row.
I'm glad I nope'd out as soon as I heard they weren't going to go for the humour and tone of the old games. Agents of Mayhem wasn't a good game, but the moment to moment combat was pretty fun and it had some interesting ideas. Mechanically it could have been good, but the humour in it was mostly puerile nonsense. I took it as a warning for the level of writing I should expect from Volition in the future, though I must admit it makes me a bit said to have right. SR _was_ my favourite franchise; I even like Gat Out of Hell (though I agree, 2 was the best overall.
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I agree with the stuff about Bethesda and buggy games. I think Bethesda got away with it for so long because there weren't very many devs making games like that, but that's not the case anymore. I still expect open world games to come with bugs, simply because the bigger and more complex you make a game the more ways there are for unforeseen bugs to creep in, but those should be rare things, not problems you hear about in every single review you watch, like what we've seen with this new Saints Row.
I'm glad I nope'd out as soon as I heard they weren't going to go for the humour and tone of the old games. Agents of Mayhem wasn't a good game, but the moment to moment combat was pretty fun and it had some interesting ideas. Mechanically it could have been good, but the humour in it was mostly puerile nonsense. I took it as a warning for the level of writing I should expect from Volition in the future, though I must admit it makes me a bit said to have right. SR _was_ my favourite franchise; I even like Gat Out of Hell (though I agree, 2 was the best overall.
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David
I m enjoying the game. I definitely see the mediocrity in storytelling, and the new crew doesn t really measure up to Shaundi and Pierce, but then Shaundi and Pierce each got a whole act in SR2 to explore who they were and get acquainted with the Boss. The new crew is just already roommates of the new Boss, with just a couple of loyalty missions each. Each tries to pull at different heartstrings and the only one that doesn t fall short is the LARPing sequence which I think is original and hilarious.
Really can t say enough about the LARP sequence - and I am no cosplayer of any variety.
But yeah, the rest of it is - bland.
Bland but enjoyable because I still like the series. The game mostly makes me nostalgic for the earlier games, but I don t hate it at all. It s like two points above meh for me.
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I m enjoying the game. I definitely see the mediocrity in storytelling, and the new crew doesn t really measure up to Shaundi and Pierce, but then Shaundi and Pierce each got a whole act in SR2 to explore who they were and get acquainted with the Boss. The new crew is just already roommates of the new Boss, with just a couple of loyalty missions each. Each tries to pull at different heartstrings and the only one that doesn t fall short is the LARPing sequence which I think is original and hilarious.
Really can t say enough about the LARP sequence - and I am no cosplayer of any variety.
But yeah, the rest of it is - bland.
Bland but enjoyable because I still like the series. The game mostly makes me nostalgic for the earlier games, but I don t hate it at all. It s like two points above meh for me.
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Selyx9k
I loved saints row 3, 4 and even enjoyed gat out of hell. This is poor example of what I think saints row should be. They tried too hard to keep it the same as the old games while doing very little to make it stand out as something new. I have missed shot gun blasts at point blank range, The drifting mechanics are complete trash, the enemy and allies AI are dog water, and I mentioned to my brother the this game looks like saints row 3 did. I think they took the same engine, said make saints row and left it at that. And what makes this worse, I KNOW that 90% of the issues could be fixed in a single patch that would take 12-18 weeks. I really regret not waiting a week like I normally do to buy to a game. I did with legends arceus and I was disappointed, and I did it again with this game and I'm disappointed.
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I loved saints row 3, 4 and even enjoyed gat out of hell. This is poor example of what I think saints row should be. They tried too hard to keep it the same as the old games while doing very little to make it stand out as something new. I have missed shot gun blasts at point blank range, The drifting mechanics are complete trash, the enemy and allies AI are dog water, and I mentioned to my brother the this game looks like saints row 3 did. I think they took the same engine, said make saints row and left it at that. And what makes this worse, I KNOW that 90% of the issues could be fixed in a single patch that would take 12-18 weeks. I really regret not waiting a week like I normally do to buy to a game. I did with legends arceus and I was disappointed, and I did it again with this game and I'm disappointed.
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DJ
People are sick and tried of buying bad broken games, I don't think so as people keep getting hyped by dumb trailers, pre-ordering and believing what money obsessed companies say. If people were sick of it then pre-order sales would be dead and companies would be releasing well made and optimized games because they know people don't pre-order or believe the hype and if they mess it up they will get no sales. These days people get the games they deserve and they deserve rubbish because they keep doing the same dumb shit time and again, the industry thinks gamers are idiots and when you see the evidence they are right. As for Saints Row, the game is trash, badly written, badly optimized, badly thought out and thrown together with no care, its get all this hate because it deserves the hate.
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People are sick and tried of buying bad broken games, I don't think so as people keep getting hyped by dumb trailers, pre-ordering and believing what money obsessed companies say. If people were sick of it then pre-order sales would be dead and companies would be releasing well made and optimized games because they know people don't pre-order or believe the hype and if they mess it up they will get no sales. These days people get the games they deserve and they deserve rubbish because they keep doing the same dumb shit time and again, the industry thinks gamers are idiots and when you see the evidence they are right. As for Saints Row, the game is trash, badly written, badly optimized, badly thought out and thrown together with no care, its get all this hate because it deserves the hate.
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RoundCube
With the frequency at which games are being shoveled out in unfinished states from major developers and on top of that the increasing amount of walled garden ecosystems and the fight to charge more for half the game that was promised. I wouldn't be surprised if we ended up with another games crash. Costs are going to go up - development time will constrict to tighter and tighter deadlines - final products will release less and less finished - the swell in number of games will also cause an increase of games being sunsetted to make space for the new batch. It's going to snowball, and it will be FAST.
You can see it happening right now, if you were around long enough to remember the Atari crash. Sure it's all way more advanced, but the industry is still making the same plays.
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With the frequency at which games are being shoveled out in unfinished states from major developers and on top of that the increasing amount of walled garden ecosystems and the fight to charge more for half the game that was promised. I wouldn't be surprised if we ended up with another games crash. Costs are going to go up - development time will constrict to tighter and tighter deadlines - final products will release less and less finished - the swell in number of games will also cause an increase of games being sunsetted to make space for the new batch. It's going to snowball, and it will be FAST.
You can see it happening right now, if you were around long enough to remember the Atari crash. Sure it's all way more advanced, but the industry is still making the same plays.
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damntek
i love saints row. ive played every single one. but this right here i couldn t really say anything but since you get plenty views. i will. this saints row has all the bad mechanics a downfall video game can have. boring story line. wack gameplay. not alot to do once you beat it. most ppl spent 60 dollars on this game thinking itll be the best one. no. dont waste your money. i try to play this saints row every day after i beat it trying to complete all criminal ventures. but there s no reason to at all. very pointless game. the lack of energy put into it was absolute trash. ( and SPOILER: the fact that the protagonists get killt so fast is just so bad) honest feedback/rate: 2 out of 10.
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i love saints row. ive played every single one. but this right here i couldn t really say anything but since you get plenty views. i will. this saints row has all the bad mechanics a downfall video game can have. boring story line. wack gameplay. not alot to do once you beat it. most ppl spent 60 dollars on this game thinking itll be the best one. no. dont waste your money. i try to play this saints row every day after i beat it trying to complete all criminal ventures. but there s no reason to at all. very pointless game. the lack of energy put into it was absolute trash. ( and SPOILER: the fact that the protagonists get killt so fast is just so bad) honest feedback/rate: 2 out of 10.
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Noneya
Bethesda games are way bigger than saints row, with far more systems integrated into the experience. If Bethesda is a bit buggy, okay. a shit ton of work went into making it not as buggy as it could have been. But something likes saints row. no, it's too simple of a game to glitch tf out every few minutes. Like the dragon age games. far too glitchy to he an enjoyable immersive experience (and that's not even getting into the lackluster scripting and voice acting, not to mention textures from the second gen era. Perhaps if they focus more on good story telling, it wouldn't be such an unbearable mess, despite it being a strictly worse knock-off of Elder Scrolls.
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Bethesda games are way bigger than saints row, with far more systems integrated into the experience. If Bethesda is a bit buggy, okay. a shit ton of work went into making it not as buggy as it could have been. But something likes saints row. no, it's too simple of a game to glitch tf out every few minutes. Like the dragon age games. far too glitchy to he an enjoyable immersive experience (and that's not even getting into the lackluster scripting and voice acting, not to mention textures from the second gen era. Perhaps if they focus more on good story telling, it wouldn't be such an unbearable mess, despite it being a strictly worse knock-off of Elder Scrolls.
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Lydell
There are fewer and fewer games nowadays that - upon release, are 100% fully polished titles. I don t understand how these companies are able to charge as much as they do for a product that clearly isn t ready to be experienced in the way that its expected to. Its like going to a Mcdonalds drive thru only to discover when you get home that the value meal you paid for was missing some pretty critical components. Which is pretty wild considering they (mcdonalds in this example) have everything they need to ensure I would receive exactly what I paid for. That was probably not the best example but Im pretty sure YGWIM.
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There are fewer and fewer games nowadays that - upon release, are 100% fully polished titles. I don t understand how these companies are able to charge as much as they do for a product that clearly isn t ready to be experienced in the way that its expected to. Its like going to a Mcdonalds drive thru only to discover when you get home that the value meal you paid for was missing some pretty critical components. Which is pretty wild considering they (mcdonalds in this example) have everything they need to ensure I would receive exactly what I paid for. That was probably not the best example but Im pretty sure YGWIM.
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Thedmljd
This goes for all games. People are way too focused on story and graphics over actual gameplay. Games these days either don't change or change everything about what made their game fun to begin with. Literally the most important thing about games is immersion which includes animation, ai, feedback, control, speed and power. Things like story, graphics and game modes are all secondary. You could have a racing game with the best graphics all the modes and the best story but if the cars don't feel fast or obey physics the game is trash. It's just how it goes.
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This goes for all games. People are way too focused on story and graphics over actual gameplay. Games these days either don't change or change everything about what made their game fun to begin with. Literally the most important thing about games is immersion which includes animation, ai, feedback, control, speed and power. Things like story, graphics and game modes are all secondary. You could have a racing game with the best graphics all the modes and the best story but if the cars don't feel fast or obey physics the game is trash. It's just how it goes.
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The
I think high expectations and a pre-bias hate toward the game is a lot of it. People were hating the game before it even released. It kind of makes me wonder how the game would have been received if the previous games never existed. While the world map is beautiful I can see where it may be lacking. Honestly the hate toward the game before release may have put off the devs from even wanting to put more into the game. The fans are probably what killed it.
You won't put a lot of effort into something if the support is lacking essentially.
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I think high expectations and a pre-bias hate toward the game is a lot of it. People were hating the game before it even released. It kind of makes me wonder how the game would have been received if the previous games never existed. While the world map is beautiful I can see where it may be lacking. Honestly the hate toward the game before release may have put off the devs from even wanting to put more into the game. The fans are probably what killed it.
You won't put a lot of effort into something if the support is lacking essentially.
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Colby
I think there is also a genuine problem that SomeOrdenaryGamer recently spoke about as well. More now than ever before do we seem to have a focused lense on HATE for things. Things can't be yeah ok it wasn't outstanding but it was still fun it's purely HATE IT or LOVE IT no middle ground. We are all guilty of it and content creators especially have been guilty of it. You get more clicks by being mad and aggressive about X thing then you do being positive or simply acknowledging the good and the bad.
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I think there is also a genuine problem that SomeOrdenaryGamer recently spoke about as well. More now than ever before do we seem to have a focused lense on HATE for things. Things can't be yeah ok it wasn't outstanding but it was still fun it's purely HATE IT or LOVE IT no middle ground. We are all guilty of it and content creators especially have been guilty of it. You get more clicks by being mad and aggressive about X thing then you do being positive or simply acknowledging the good and the bad.
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lee
for the most part you are correct. the most annoying thing for me is the glitches. but blaming Bethesda is a step too far. they weren't the only studio to release bugged out games. let's not forget that when The Witcher 3 came out it was practically unplayable. only after a series of hotfixes and updates did it become the game that it is today. there are other examples as well. just because you have a hate-on for Bethesda in general doesn't make you right in this instance.
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for the most part you are correct. the most annoying thing for me is the glitches. but blaming Bethesda is a step too far. they weren't the only studio to release bugged out games. let's not forget that when The Witcher 3 came out it was practically unplayable. only after a series of hotfixes and updates did it become the game that it is today. there are other examples as well. just because you have a hate-on for Bethesda in general doesn't make you right in this instance.
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Salle1900
BOTS, this is the short answer, if anyone missed that China is teaching their country to hate Japan right now, and all new tripple A from Japan get ALOT of 0 reviews, negative and even hate. And a fun fact. China has the worlds biggest bot farms in the world. Just take this into account when seeing a ot of bad reviews regarding US or Japan releases, especially big projects, and just ignore it. Good games are good games, just go with your own gut feeling, or brain; )
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BOTS, this is the short answer, if anyone missed that China is teaching their country to hate Japan right now, and all new tripple A from Japan get ALOT of 0 reviews, negative and even hate. And a fun fact. China has the worlds biggest bot farms in the world. Just take this into account when seeing a ot of bad reviews regarding US or Japan releases, especially big projects, and just ignore it. Good games are good games, just go with your own gut feeling, or brain; )
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