So I though undoubtedly that Saints Row: the third was better but I saw these Youtube comments - (Yes, yes, youtube comments)

IMO SR2 was better, I remember it was a lot more interactive, you could pick up pretty much anything and throw it at people & there were a lot of hidden areas like the secret islands and the underground mall, and you could go inside a lot more buildings & shops than you can in SR3, also little things like getting high or drunk were cool. Stilwater was more open & real compared to Steelport. It feels like they made a lifeless city with a bunch of closed buildings/shops. Anyone else feel this way?

Downs of Saints Row 3: They changed the map system, (in my opinion, the old one is better), took out variety of stores, (like the liquor store, the music store, ect), You don't see your gang members walking around as much as SR2, Less weapons, (but they added some badass new ones), Theres no more Crib Customization, Very less variety of serious apparel, GPS system sorta changed it now shows arrows to your destination, which I dislike, and lots more stuff.

Both the top rated comments, does anyone else feel this way or do you guys all think The Third is better?

I can see where they are coming from as I had just completed SR2 then jumped right into SR: The Third and there is HUGE differences, but, I personally think that if a game series wants to stay fresh then there has to be certain changes (look at GTA), some good others bad but overall SR: The Third is better because it has put a fresh face on the series that they perhaps could use to further the series. Also games companies are pushing these generation of consoles graphics to the max which I guess makes them have to lose some of the extra content e.g. shops/secret areas for graphic, what they need to realise with this genre of game we don't need all the fancy pants graphics if we get more stuff to do and explore like base jumping while high or Quad biking in the mall.

The shops and buildings in Saints Row 2 were hardly interesting, so losing them isn't a big deal. And the cities in both games are as lifeless as each other.

The changes they made to Saints Row 3 were all for the better. The map and GPS system are easier to use, the weapons feel better even if there are less of them and the clothing doesn't look like crap this time. Oh, and the fast food restaurants and music stores? They were unnecessary.

Saints Row The Third is a lot better. I made the gigantic mistake of reading GameFAQ's forum on The Third and the complaints I saw just threw me into a blind rage. People bitching that the day/night cycle isn't perfect, they can't pick up trash on the street, the game is too over the top, they can't choose if they want to tuck in their shirts or not.

Like look at the youtube comments. Dude wants to pick up trash and throw it at people? The underground mall was hardly a secret, and it was full of absolutely nothing. Pretty sure there's a secret island in 3 as well. Do we really need liquor stores? Who finds getting drunk or high in a video game fun? I mean if you do, cool. Go play Saints Row 2, get your fix, and come back. And to not like the GPS system? Fuck off.

I think SR2 had the better music selection (if only because SR2 had Crystal Castles) but I think SR3 is the better game.

@Barrock said:

they can't choose if they want to tuck in their shirts or not.

Wait, I can't tuck my shirt?! RAAAAAARGH THIS GAME IS TERRIBLE SR2 WAS WAY BETTER.

Could other stores be added as DLC?

I preferred SR3 but the way they handled Gat was pretty terrible.

I've not played any Saint's Row game since The Third. My biggest problem is that the game world feels a little small and empty. Hopefully this game will be a big success and they will get more money to make the fourth one a little more polished. 
 
If you took GTA4's world and some it's design choices and inserted Saint's Row's insanity and humor it would be the greatest thing ever.

threeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

While some of the complaints are horrendously silly--like the one concerned about not being able to tuck in shirts or whatever--I do agree with a lot of the mourning. Steelport is a much less intriguing city than Stillwater just for starters, with a lot less environmental variety; Stillwater had everything, like a huge graveyard, the University campus, the Post-Modern Saints Row district, and just dozens of secret areas.

I also miss not being able to pick up stuff and beat people down with it. The melee is still pretty fun on its own, but I always found it so addicting to pick up a parking meter and beat down a group of pimps with it. Plus where the hell is my gang?! I literally never see any of them patrolling the streets, and they only ever crop up when I'm doing one of the wave based survival side missions. It's freakin' weird considering I'll own like half the city and yet still my gang has no presence. Getting drunk/high wasn't exactly incremental, either, but it's always a shame to lose stuff between sequels for no obvious reason. The lack of any new activities is what really stands out for me; in fact all the new activities--minus Professor Genki--are just derivatives of previous activities. I mean they even removed some from SR2, like the FUZZ show which was easily my favourite. =( The story, as has been discussed all around the forums, isn't nearly as good as SR2--even if it does apparentlystart to pick up when STAG show up (I'm only at act 2 myself), though that's far too deep within the story.

SR3 is still a great game, and in some specific aspects it's a vast improvement over SR2--like the shooting and driving--but there is still plenty missing in the grand scheme that could of made SR3 completely best SR2 and make me forget it even existed.

I can't believe this is even a debate. SR:TT really is a large improvement, despite what nostalgia might lead others to believe.

@Subjugation said:

I can't believe this is even a debate. SR:TT really is a large improvement, despite what nostalgia might lead others to believe.

I finished Saints Row 2 in August of this year, I don't think that's far enough in the past to be affected by nostalgia.

SR3 is a much more polished game, and takes just about every aspect of the game up to 11, but the story is really meh (so far, 5 hours in) and Steelport is a very bland city compared to Stillwater with it's nuclear plant island, university campus, graveyard, etc.

Maybe I should finish Saints row 2 before Ssints Row 3?

@NekuSakuraba said:

Maybe I should finish Saints row 2 before Ssints Row 3?

I take it you didn't get SR3 on the PS3? When you redeem your online pass you're gifted with a free copy of SR2 along with it. Though I think it's only accessible in American and Mexico, or something. SR2 is worth playing through anywhoo. Regardless of people's preferences, SR2 is still a whole lot like SR3 so enjoying one means you're bound to enjoy the other.

@Subjugation said:

I can't believe this is even a debate. SR:TT really is a large improvement, despite what nostalgia might lead others to believe.

Really now? People are already pulling the ''duuuuh, it's all juss nostalgia'' card? It was only 3 years ago, y'know. Though I myself was sticking on SR2 again occasionally till around 2010. And besides, SR2 still does some things better than SR3, with the story in particular, and its city is much more enjoyable to peruse in than SR3. I mean besides the improved polish, what is it that draws so many people to believe SR3 is infinitely better? SR2 has more gameplay variety speaking for the side stuff and its story doesn't take till whenever the big bad shows up to finally start getting good.

I've finished the story of SR3 and I have got to say that I personally found #2 to be better, one of my huge problems with the third is the lack of activities. Yea they are all in there but there are only 4 or 5 activities of insurance fraud to do, where #2 had 3 or 4 areas which had 6 levels each.

SR3 was also painfully annoying in the later levels, sure it stuck to its craziness throughout but the repetitive "destroy the tanks" objectives and "omg another VTOL is attacking me" scenarios got annoying very quickly.

They also ruined Johnny Gat, the character with the annoying voice box was unbearable to do missions for (Zeke I think his name was) and I feel the story was extremely bland with little to no surprises and all in all ended very very quickly. Upon finishing the story I have done around 80%, so there is very little actually left to do due to the lack of content

@Subjugation said:

I can't believe this is even a debate. SR:TT really is a large improvement, despite what nostalgia might lead others to believe.

Really now? People are already pulling the ''duuuuh, it's all juss nostalgia'' card? It was only 3 years ago, y'know. Though I myself was sticking on SR2 again occasionally till around 2010. And besides, SR2 still does some things better than SR3, with the story in particular, and its city is much more enjoyable to peruse in than SR3. I mean besides the improved polish, what is it that draws so many people to believe SR3 is infinitely better? SR2 has more gameplay variety speaking for the side stuff and its story doesn't take till whenever the big bad shows up to finally start getting good.

In short, i feel like the new/improved additions are far better than the stuff that was lost between SR2 and this game. 
 
Just the fact that this game has a great economy that actually takes time to max out and never makes you feel like you have tons of money with nothing to spend it on, i would say that alone counts for a whole lot

One thing I can see being worse is the nature of being over the top. Granted I haven't played the previous Saints games but I have a friend thay played through them all - and he loves the whole gang warfare aspect of Saints. I mean specifically the gang-banger thing of taking over hoods (which was incidentally why he loved San Andreas) SR3 is cool because you keep doing new things and they keep mixing it up but the whole gang part of the game seems to have fallen to the side.

You are KIND OF fighting other gangs, but not really. Since you get this huge crib very early on there doesn't seem to be any progression for the gang. One moment you're in a shitty apartment while a handful of insignificant missions later you have a gigantic skyscraper in the middle of the city and you haven't even defeated any gang yet. The fact that when you defeat the Morningstar or the Deckers and their doods just keep patrolling those areas is also kinda lame.

I liked the game, I thought it was awesome mindless fun but it seems like they jumped around a little too much when going from A to B.

One of my biggest disappointments is the way the handle the assassination missions. I had an absolute blast doing them in SR2, deciphering the cryptic messages and figuring out what I needed to do to get them to show up. Completing them actually felt rewarding, whereas in SR3 it straight-up tells you - in bright-purple font, no less - exactly what to do. I feel like this exemplifies their philosophy with Saints Row 3 - less difficulty and progression, more ridiculous scenarios.

Saints Row 3 has better driving, shooting, melee, and animations. It has at least one good side activity(genki). It doesnt force you to play shitty side activities for respect so you can advance in the story. The leveling and abilities are a great addition. It has a weapon upgrade system. It has some actual variety in the missions. Saints row 3 has you falling out of planes in tanks, battles in freefall, a wrestling match, a virtual world. While the missions in Saints row 2

Saints Row 3 has better driving, shooting, melee, and animations. It has at least one good side activity(genki). It doesnt force you to play shitty side activities for respect so you can advance in the story. The leveling and abilities are a great addition. It has a weapon upgrade system. It has some actual variety in the missions. Saints row 3 has you falling out of planes in tanks, battles in freefall, a wrestling match, a virtual world. While the missions in Saints row 2

I have played SR3 for longer than I ever played SR2. The only thing I miss is the different combat styles thing.

Saints Row 3 has better driving, shooting, melee, and animations. 

@Resident4t said:

Saints Row 3 has better driving, shooting, melee, and animations. 

The shooting was fine in Saints Row 2. What they did was refine the targeting system and beef up the animations and gun sounds.  The melee and the fighting system in Saints Row 2 was serviceable, but they took that system to the next logical step. 

SR2 is fun & recommended but SR3 is highly more entertaining & off the wall.

SR3 > SR2 but SR2 still had some things better and that's pretty much the characters and the story and even the gangs. SR2 had this really tight group of core characters but in SR3 there are so many you kind of lose track and even the game does as once you've completed Zimos's missions, you don't see him again. He's never seen in the background or anything and it's not like he's an optional character. I enjoyed the story for what it was but at the same time it felt like HOLY SHIT BALLS THIS IS AWESOME! type stuff that was shoehorned into a story. I've spent about 20 hours with the game and completed the game and I have level 49 respect and I probably couldn't even explain the story. A large majority of the story seems to come from STAG as that's where it feels like it really starts to get going but STAG is also the MAN. Stuff between the gangs feels very low key after that point as none of the gangs feel anywhere near as fleshed out as they were in SR2 because that story was all about the gangs and then Ultor became a thing towards the end of the game whereas SR3 kind of jumps around a bit. I also felt about from the KillBane stuff, the gang mission arcs were very short. The Mourning Star are over with very quickly and the Deckers is probably slightly longer and the final mission is pretty amazing but I didn't really like how Matt kind of just left and he wasn't really all that interesting a character. He just seemed like some little nerd who coward away.

SR3 does maps better and GPS, the cars feel so much better this time as I always felt like the driving in SR games was a little weak, the graphics are finally on par with other games, the soundtrack is awesome as always(although SR2 did have Aquabats), shooting feels as tight as ever maybe even tighter and the whole experience just feels a lot more streamlined. While being able to customise your pad in SR2 was cool, it didn't actually have any gameplay effects so it makes sense for them to just go spend $20,000 to get this, this and this. It gives you the same effects and your pad still looks different and the second upgrade makes your base taller which is excellent to jump from.

I'm very interested to see where the series goes from here though. I know it's early days to say and I've still got so much stuff to do in SR3 even though I'm impervious to bullets, explosions etc. In SR1 you were a nobody doing errands for someone else and through your actions you get caught up in something big. In SR2, the Saints have gone to shit and now you're in charge and it's up to you to fix things and take the city back. In SR3, you're at the top due to your actions in SR2 but thanks to the Syndicate, you've lost your empire and you have to rebuild what they took from you and when the game ends you're back where you started pretty much.

Saints Row 2 did a better job of telling a story, but Saints Row 3 had way more "holy shit this is awesome" moments.

@Abyssfull said:

@NekuSakuraba said:

Maybe I should finish Saints row 2 before Ssints Row 3?

I take it you didn't get SR3 on the PS3? When you redeem your online pass you're gifted with a free copy of SR2 along with it. Though I think it's only accessible in American and Mexico, or something. SR2 is worth playing through anywhoo. Regardless of people's preferences, SR2 is still a whole lot like SR3 so enjoying one means you're bound to enjoy the other.

So I should play SR2 first?

@Napalm said:

@Abyssfull said:

@Subjugation said:

I can't believe this is even a debate. SR:TT really is a large improvement, despite what nostalgia might lead others to believe.

Really now? People are already pulling the ''duuuuh, it's all juss nostalgia'' card? It was only 3 years ago, y'know. Though I myself was sticking on SR2 again occasionally till around 2010. And besides, SR2 still does some things better than SR3, with the story in particular, and its city is much more enjoyable to peruse in than SR3. I mean besides the improved polish, what is it that draws so many people to believe SR3 is infinitely better? SR2 has more gameplay variety speaking for the side stuff and its story doesn't take till whenever the big bad shows up to finally start getting good.

There isn't any more variety in Saints Row 2 than in Saints Row: The Third. The activity variety is literally the same thing. I will argue that Volition made Steelport far more compelling, and the addition of the leveling system, upgradable weapons and the 'awesome' button warrant that being above Saints Row 2. However, it still isn't perfect, though really damn close, in my book.

There are activities missing from SR2, with little to replace them. FUZZ, bodyguard and the septic shit-truck were all removed. Plus you can't even manually dial up random phone numbers anymore, either, which I especially enjoyed. As for Steelport... man, there's nothing that could make me admit to that being more compelling than Stillwater. Like I've said earlier, Stillwater has significantly more environmental variety all over with plenty of secret areas and such. Steelport mostly looks the exact same across the city, though that Island with the large statue is pretty neat.

Anywhoo by this time SR3 has definitely grown on me a lot more after playing through that Decker mission. I mean holy shit... I knew it was going to be mind-blowing, but my entire household probably all simultaneously blew their mind after me playing through that mission. I'm now more inclined to agree that SR3 is overall the better game after a lot more playtime invested, too--and especially after unlocking that tank--but there's no doubting in my mind that SR2 still simply has a more versatile selection of side stuff and that Stillwater shits all over Steelport--whilst a mime incessantly curses <3--when it comes to which city was more fun to explore and travel within.

there are some things i liked in Saints 2 more like some of the activities and some customization options but apart from that SR3 is a much better game in just about every way. the shooting and driving feels much better, there are much better clothing options and the soundtrack is as good as ever. i haven't finished the story, but it's a lot of fun apart from how Gat was handled. as much as i liked the more 'ghetto' gang stuff that Saints Row 1 (and a bit of 2?) had, this one is a great change although not one i can say i expected the Saints series to go in.
  
i kind of wish that Steelport had a bit more life than Stillwater did and it was a bit larger, but it still has some cool buildings to see during the night time. 

Saints Row 2 had to balance the increasing level of crazy with the relative levity of the original game. One minute, you were spraying shit across the landscape, and the next, you were confronting your old gang leader for putting you in a coma for five years. Saints Row: The Third doesn't suffer from that tonal dissonance. Though Gat's death was underwhelming and disappointing, the story is by and large madcap insanity, and to me, it's all the better for electing to go this route.

Saints Row 3 is a smaller game, but its more focused and tighter because of it. 
 
The inclusion of the "Awesome button" basically ruins all other GTA style open world games forever unless they include it, Especially for getting into vehicles.
 
Saints Row 2 looks like GTA Vice City in terms of graphics. It looks terrible.
 
The story in Saints Row 3 kind of blows, and the Johnny Gat stuff is a fucking disgrace, but the game is still a ton of fun to play and has some truly amazing moments.
 
Also, the GPS having arrows overlay on the world is the best change, all games need to start doing this now. Glancing away from the road to see if the turn is coming up leads to a lot of crashes, especially in a game where you travel very fast, the AI is crazy, and the car controls are squirrely. Having Racing game style turn arrows really cuts down on the missed turns and lets you focus on the game, not trying to look at a tiny map in the corner of the screen every few seconds.
 
Saints Row 3 is a far superior game, though they sacrificed a lot of the stuff in Saints Row 2 to get there. I think a lot of people are letting nostalgia blur their memories of Saints Row 2. It doesn't really hold up anymore, and the controls are pretty whack. I'm replaying it right now and struggling to continue.

Almost every complain I read is basically saying SR2 had more stuff in it. Not necessarily better I would say though that is going to be a lot of people's argument, it just sounds like yeah, there's more in the world and more shit to do when running around. For someone like me, where I just want to hear these awesome characters go at eachother, see cutscenes, do crazy shit, and occasionally mess with the world for a few hours here and there, I much rather a focused game that seems fun and awesome with a bit of open world to go around. Maybe the story goes to shit in the end, or sr2 was shawshank redemption, but I'm having more fun watching the stuff go on in SR3 than I do in many, many games.

It's actually extremely simple. Aside from a welcome toning down of the sincere GANSTAH stuff and going above and beyond with the ridiculousness, Saint's Row: The Third - purely in terms of *content* - is a worse game than Saints Row 2 was. The story is disjointed and sometimes outright leaves stuff to happen off cam, with major events only vaguely alluded to eventually. The number of stores, items and customization options are fewer (although making a nice looking character is definitely easier because for one thing SR2's haircuts all looked like garbage) and while memorable things will happen, there's no real coherency or meat to the story and narrative - which is fine for what it is, but well below the relatively epic standards set by 2.

With that out of the way, Saints Row: The Third is the infinitely better video game. It plays genuinely great, rendering SR2 almost unplayable in retrospect. Viewed purely from a gameplay perspective there is absolutely no contest.

There's no inherent problem with SR3's story being ludicrous - unless you have a specific problem with silly things happening - but it has what can only be described as gigantic gaps in it. The characters - especially the rival gangs - are never established or fleshed out like they were in SR2, and that is a much more damning thing to it than the tonal shift, which frankly is a welcome change from what was ostensibly obligated to be a druggy, hoe-y, pimpy ganstah thing rather than convincingly excited to be.

With 4 I wish the same amount of care is shown to the characters and the weaving together the story - no matter how outlandish it may be - and perhaps with the money and resources saved on canning the Red Faction franchise they can approach the over abundance of content and diversity that SR2 had. Meanwhile, if you want content and - if somewhat more grounded - a meaty and deliciously busy storyline, 2's your game. If you want to play the better video game, The Third is honest, gameplay-centric fun to a degree the franchise's rather embarassingly GTA derived roots could never, ever have prepared you for.

I like them both. I really liked that you can access your clothes in shops. I was complaining in SR2 how I had to go back and forth between my crib and the shop. It might seem like a small thing but things like that means a lot to me.

I really missed the afro-american female voice from SR2 since nothing says gangsta to me as an afro-american, but the russian voice that replaced it seemed alright from what little I've heard it. And the Latina voice was a lot better than in SR2 so I rolled a latina gangsta and I think it was some of the best voice acting in a video game of all time, but it might just have been the writing or that it really fit my character.

In most aspects SR3 is a better game, but as someone who enjoys the SR series mostly for the gangsta roleplaying I had mixed feelings about the craziness in SR3. I would be really stoked if they added Mass Effect style dialogue choices in SR4. You choose the personality up front and that changes certain dialogue which is really awesome, but it would be even more awesome to have more choices. Also influence on your party members and romance options would be nice. In fact I think Saints Row/Mass Effect (or any Bioware game really) combined would make the best game ever.

My only complaint about Saints Row The Third is no working train.

Well, I played a buttload of Saints Row:The Third after not getting into Saints Row 2 so much. But I gotta tell ya, the PS3 version lets you download Saints Row 2 for free, which I did. And I keep coming back to it. I think what I like about it is that the framerate is a little smoother, and you can turn V-sync on and off, which you can't do in Saints Row 3. Both are pretty decent games, but I have to give the slight edge to Saints Row 3, because even if the framerate is a little more rough, the shooting mechanics are greatly improved.

@PrivateIronTFU said:

Well, I played a buttload of Saints Row:The Third after not getting into Saints Row 2 so much. But I gotta tell ya, the PS3 version lets you download Saints Row 2 for free, which I did. And I keep coming back to it. I think what I like about it is that the framerate is a little smoother, and you can turn V-sync on and off, which you can't do in Saints Row 3. Both are pretty decent games, but I have to give the slight edge to Saints Row 3, because even if the framerate is a little more rough, the shooting mechanics are greatly improved.

You can turn V-sync on or off in SR3.

@EpicBenjamin said:

@PrivateIronTFU said:

Well, I played a buttload of Saints Row:The Third after not getting into Saints Row 2 so much. But I gotta tell ya, the PS3 version lets you download Saints Row 2 for free, which I did. And I keep coming back to it. I think what I like about it is that the framerate is a little smoother, and you can turn V-sync on and off, which you can't do in Saints Row 3. Both are pretty decent games, but I have to give the slight edge to Saints Row 3, because even if the framerate is a little more rough, the shooting mechanics are greatly improved.

You can turn V-sync on or off in SR3.

If you'd like to tell me where I can do this, be my guest. Because I don't know where else to look for it. It's not in the options menu.

@EpicBenjamin said:

@PrivateIronTFU said:

Well, I played a buttload of Saints Row:The Third after not getting into Saints Row 2 so much. But I gotta tell ya, the PS3 version lets you download Saints Row 2 for free, which I did. And I keep coming back to it. I think what I like about it is that the framerate is a little smoother, and you can turn V-sync on and off, which you can't do in Saints Row 3. Both are pretty decent games, but I have to give the slight edge to Saints Row 3, because even if the framerate is a little more rough, the shooting mechanics are greatly improved.

You can turn V-sync on or off in SR3.

If you'd like to tell me where I can do this, be my guest. Because I don't know where else to look for it. It's not in the options menu.

@Resident4t said:

@PrivateIronTFU said:

@EpicBenjamin said:

@PrivateIronTFU said:

Well, I played a buttload of Saints Row:The Third after not getting into Saints Row 2 so much. But I gotta tell ya, the PS3 version lets you download Saints Row 2 for free, which I did. And I keep coming back to it. I think what I like about it is that the framerate is a little smoother, and you can turn V-sync on and off, which you can't do in Saints Row 3. Both are pretty decent games, but I have to give the slight edge to Saints Row 3, because even if the framerate is a little more rough, the shooting mechanics are greatly improved.

You can turn V-sync on or off in SR3.

If you'd like to tell me where I can do this, be my guest. Because I don't know where else to look for it. It's not in the options menu.

In Saints Row 3? Press Start (Pause)-> Options -> Display . From there you can turn it off/on for gameplay and cutscenes

Nope. Not there. The PS3 version doesn't have V-Sync options.

Still not sure about playing Saints Row 2 first, I just want to play The Third but I feel like I'm missing out.

I didn't like 2 at all, but I think 3 is a great game, so yeah.

I played them backwards, 3 and then 2.
  
3 was alot better. The plot was alot more fun, and the core gameplay elements were also more satisfying. Shooting just feels right in 3.
You know what really breaks the flow of the game? When I've just plowed through 9 story missions, finished off the last opposing gang, I'm right at the climax of the game about to take down ultor, and I have to stop and go do a street race to get my respect up enough for one more mission. yeah. In saints row 3 you can just plow through the main story never having to stop for anything else if you don't want too. The only exception to this is very early on when a few of the story missions are just glorified introductions to activities. 
 
2 did do some things right though, the things I give saints row 2 credit for are 1) The open order you could tackle the gangs was neat, and 2) the gangs were a lot better realized as seperate entities with there own character and feel to them, with their own missions against them. The fact that there are 3 gangs in saints row 3 feels like a side point, I don't really associate any mission being against one specific gang other than deckers.die. Sure when you rescue Angel he's being attacked by luchadores, but it doesn't feel like a luchadore mission or anything.