http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/22/volition-explains-relationship-between-saints-row-4-and-enter-t/

Volition explained to joystiq at pax east that Saints row 4 isnt just saints row 3.5, and that work on saints row 4 started two months before saints row 3 finished, and a splinter team went and worked on the Enter the dominatrix expansion.

"We had to go in and totally gut the [Dominatrix] story for Saints Row 4. Everything that was the missions or the story we did for Dominatrix was totally thrown out," Steve Jaros, creative director at Volition told us. "All the voice recording that we did all thrown out. We redid the entire story. The game is mission wise the same length as Saints Row 3, plus other open worlds on top of it."

and then the story goes on to say that when jason rubin joined on the agreement was to combine the saints row 4 team and the enter the dominatrix expansion into one project,

"Everyone on the team had the same concern, we didn't want to make a 3.5, we aren't making an expansion pack. What we put out to the world has to be worthy of the name Saints Row 4. I really think everyone on the team will stand behind it," added Jaros. "So much stuff has been changed and thrown out. Even the best of the [Dominatrix] stuff that we liked and pulled into the game we still changed. Nothing was drag and dropped in."

and i mean, According to Jeff and Ryans twitter, the game looks awesome, and at the end of the day thats all that i think should matter.

https://twitter.com/jeffgerstmann/status/315165926544773120

https://twitter.com/taswell/status/315160818884964352

I don't know for certain if it is, but the trailer sure as hell looked like it was.

@believer258: It's still a current gen game, so there's only so much that can be improved visually. The content, mission structures, progression and such are harder to get across in a teaser, I'd expect.

yeah but i will need to see more to judge because it seems there is even less story to tie any of this together while seeming more of the same.

The graphics looked hells of similar, sure, but remember saints row 1 and 2 looked pretty similar. 3 was where they took a leap up into the shiny, even more exaggerated style that whatever the updated engine was could provide.

That's nice. I'll continue to call it Saint's Row 3.5 though.

And of course Jeff and Ryan said that. They love Saint's Row.

Saints Row 3.5 sounds pretty cool to me, honestly.

I'll wait until I see something more substantive than a sizzle reel.

I don't believe them, but if its still an entertaining game, then that isn't a problem.

personally i think having fans say that is very important, cause if its anyone thats gonna be super critical of a beloved game franchise it would be the fans (see the mass effect 3 blowout that happened from fans)

and jeff and ryan are arguably THE biggest fans of saints row.

Could have fooled me, but even if it is I don't really care.

I want to be the fucking president.

i have literally no cynicism for this project, just hype

It's a DLC pack fleshed out into a full game, I'll save my money for GTAV

I dunno I mean they both thought Johnny V was crazy for being all hot on Saints Row coming out of E3 that year. Also, Ryan backstabbed Saints Row on the GOTY podcast.

Now I'm a little excited again.

Can't wait

the johnny v thing was due to they didn't know what they were getting into with saints row 3, as those guys didn't really like saints row 2 that much (especially jeff,), after 3, those guys are believers :P.

cant really speak to the GOTY podcast though, especially when i did thought that skyrim was goty as well. (loved saints row 3 also!)

That's cute.

Too bad that that is exactly what it looked like in the trailer. Same engine, reused art and models, it was shot for shot indistinguishable from SR3 with just a few bells and whistles added (like an expansion would) like guns, abilities, new clothes etc. And I call utter and complete bullshit that all work done for Dominatrix was scrapped, there are straight up assets in that gameplay trailer that are from the Dominatrix screenshots of yore.

I really wish they just came out and said: "Yes we are doing SR3.5 essentially". Because I would be completely fine with playing more SR3.

@mrfluke: Goddamn skyrim apologists. *glares*

I'd happily take a Saint's Row 3.5 if that means it's almost 17% more badass than Saint's Row 3.

@demoskinos: Haha, i make no apologies for the jank in skyrim as that game is janky as all hell :P,

but i did still enjoy it over saints row 3 :P

@mrfluke: See that's the problem right there but we can still be friends only because you've got a Metal Gear Solid Avatar and sometimes show up in the wrestling thread if I remember right. =P

If it's as fun as "3", I don't care what the hell they call it.

@demoskinos: you probably mean the dead or alive 5 thread, not the wrestling thread :P

and yes the MGS3 avatar is never changing as it tells one of my favorite stories in a game,

@mrfluke: Really? I thought I saw you in the wrestling thread before. Hmm...

@demoskinos: nope, it was doa5, and then i believeeee it was during the 24 hour halo stream where we talked about rapelay XD

They are releasing the Enter the Dominatrix stuff as DLC.

Woah, when did you get your early copy?

Doesn't look to be making any graphical breakthroughs, but when they say no one on their team wanted to make Saints 3.5 I believe 'em.

Everything looks the same to me. They could have advertised it as an expansion and I wouldn't have blinked. I was thinking that Saints Row 4 would be getting a big graphics boost so that it could be released on both the current consoles and still have more potential in terms of graphics unleashed on the newer consoles.

Same visuals, same city (or so it seems). That still sounds like 3.5 to me. I'll take 3.5 because 3 was awesome but they'll have to show more to convince me that it's more than that.

Actually, Saints Row 1 & 2 were in the same city. If Saints Row IV is in a somewhat modified Steelport, I have no problem with that.

On the general subject, I'm really looking forward to this game. SR3 is my favorite game in the genre, so if the next game is more of that, I'll be a happy camper.

Hard to get excited about a open world game when it's the same world as the previous game. Maybe they will throw in some more joke guns or something. Just not my cup of tea the Saints Row games.

@bourbon_warrior said:

Someone doesn't read.

Someone trusts PR too much.

If it's more of the best of Saints Row: The Third, then it's good enough for me.

This is encouraging to hear, but if there's one thing we should have learned by now it's that public demos and developer speeches don't necessarily reflect the state of the final product. I'm fairly optimistic, but I'm reserving my judgement until I get a good sense of what this game actually looks like.

I don't really mind if it is Saints Row 3.5 or Saints Row 4. Obviously the latter would be better, but I'll play the game either way.