I like the tone. With GTA and others filling the "serious crime drama" niche, I want something to just be wacky insane fun once in a while. Saints Row 2 and 3 are some of the most fun I've ever had in co op. It's good to embrace your childish side every once in a while.
Obviously, not every game can or should be like this, but I think Saints Row pulls it off well.
I'm surprised that Guerilla underperformed. While it wasn't perfect (I could never push myself to finish it, like Darksiders 2 come to think of it), it was some good fun and seemed to be pretty popular. For that matter, they seemed to put a lot of resources into publicizing the franchise after Guerilla, that doesn't make much sense if it did so badly. I guess that's part of the reason THQ went out of business.
I don't think Microsoft is this stupid. I have a reliable internet connection now, but my friend uses a somewhat unreliable pocket wifi device that definitely would screw up games. My connection was even worse than that back when I lived in Miami. His house is where we meet up to play games, and my PS3 works just fine there. Hint hint.
I love this franchise, although strangely I have trouble finishing playthroughts (it took me 2 tries for the Witcher and 3 for the Witcher 2 to beat them once, and Witcher 2 is one of those "you must beat this twice" kind of games). I don't know why exactly. Still, the combat and alchemy and snarky dialogue and everything about it is just awesome. Maybe a little immature about how it handles women, but I don't mind hearkening back to my teenaged mindset every once in a while.
I respect their decision, and I just really hope my PC can actually run this game when it comes out!
I don't sympathize with a lot of the complaints I hear about this game. I've been playing since the first one, and I for one am happy that I'm not getting TK'd every 5 minutes by hackers, having my loot stolen, or breaking my mouse. I actually really like the core gameplay for being flexible, fast paced and sensible to control.
However, one thing that is definitely a problem, and perhaps singlehandedly ruined what the game is, is the AH, especially the RMAH. I used to like random loot systems, but maybe as I've gotten older I realize what a stupid treadmill system it is. Combine this with basically forcing you to farm or pay real money to get something that's actually useful and I find the game loses a lot of its point.
Japanese games are stuck in a rut right now, that's for sure. I didn't even know about the immense volume of crap that still doesn't see the light of day in the west until I moved here.
Still, while they can certainly stand to learn some things from more successful western games, they should not necessarily try to copy them. Take the good stuff, but keep the soul Japanese--the problem, as Inafune rightly points out, is determining what the good stuff is without letting your own biases affect it.
I've had generally positive experiences with GS, but it wasn't as good as it used to be when I left the states. You still get better deals there than you get at the (hilariously named) Hard Off or Treasure Island stores here in Japan, though.
I really enjoyed Darksiders 1. Darksiders 2 was...strangely dissatisfying and I couldn't push myself to finish it with a growing backlog of other games demanding my time. I guess it was a combination of the loot system (I like random loot systems less and less as I grow older), the lack of enemies to use the great combat system on, and the really slow pacing.
Still, I think it's a decent franchise and deserves a third game, maybe to find a middle ground between 1 and 2.
@inaka_rob I would really love if that were true, but it's not. I don't agree that they need to make multiplayer games, but this guy is spot on in saying that big budget AAA games need to sell that much just to turn a profit. Remember, the publisher and developer only see part of the actual money from the sale.
I hope this game continues to sell. It's a great game and deserves to be successful, What I DON'T want is people taking away from this that every game has to be EA style with artificial multiplayer elements to sell.
OJ_the_LION's comments