It is a truth universally acknowledged that every now and again a situation arises that
defies explanation and so it was with the ascension of The Third Street Saints
when the Saints made their presence known to the world in 2006 they were decried for being
pretenders to the throne the people were confused were the same sociopathic killing
machines hell bent on destruction or puckish rogues living a life of mirth and whimsy
the Saints needed clarity of purpose and so the course was set more fun less mercy killing
it's been two weeks the smoke has cleared and the dust has settled Saints Row one of
my favorite video game franchises of all time is getting rebooted, we've gone from gangsters,
to celebrities, to the president, to aliens, and even to hell but what kept us fans invested for 15
years was well a variety of things but most importantly the characters and now they're all
gone we're leaving behind what was once a grounded and gritty crime story about gangsters rising to
the top in favor of relatable millennials that form a gang to pay off their student loans among
other reasons sounds kind of familiar, huh? What's funny is technically this isn't the
first time saints row has struggled with its identity beneath all the over-the-top action
and wacky set pieces in Saints Row The Third is a story about the Saints having an identity crisis
what happened we got arrested no to us seriously movie deals, commercials, Saints name used to
mean something more than body spraying somebody [] tasting energy drink our brand's worth a [] load
of money is that what it's all about and here we are again struggling to understand what Saints
Row is all about the developers seem to want to distance themselves from some of the more juvenile
elements the series had to offer but I feel like they're missing the point of why it worked so
well to begin with whether it was salaciously sultry or satirically scandalous Saints Row was
always shameless so let's take a look back and remind Volition what made the series work so well
in the first place there's not enough people with originality so here I am to save the thing Jayniac
I sound like someone who's not a sociopath you want to be the killer with a conscience
fine drop your flags and write a book like King but you never should have came after me
you telling me if I would asked you to walk away you would have said yes? [] no! This
is my city! You owe me Playa if it wasn't for me you would have died on that street corner
if it weren't for you I wouldn't have been in a [] coma! I guess that makes us even. Not really...
A prevailing claim is that the change in appearance is an attempt to make the characters
more diverse but that really wouldn't make any sense The Third Street Saints have always been
culturally diverse and they never felt the need to bring it up, you know why? Because there's more
important things going on! We really don't have time to talk about race relations and the struggle
between upper and lower economic classes when we've got guns pointed at us, but seriously Saints
Row is nothing without its characters the main one being you. Yeah, the protagonist of Saints Row is
a fully customizable character that you the player have complete control of. In the first game they
really don't speak much but the few times they do talk are hilarious. What are you doing here
I I was supposed to leave with Angelo so what's in here guns, money, some uncut []? Shoes? Actually
they're this season's new eh bull[] that's last year's fall collection. That's not true. Gamerworf
was kind enough to let me use their playthrough footage for this video so the protagonist you'll
see in clips is their own creation in case you're wondering my protagonist is Latina, here's an
artist's rendition of her it's not until Saints Row 2 that the main character is given their own
personality and dialogue to go with it and it's here we'll find what makes them so fascinating
you see in the first game they're just some nobody that's only ever referenced to as Playa,
get it? But after being betrayed by the former leader of the Saints they wake up from a coma
and take over as the new leader with the only goal in their mind being take over Stilwater
by any means necessary you really want to know what made this game stand out among its peers
there are no heroes in Saints Row 2 no inner conflict of grey morality, no motivations led by
a broken political structure, no good versus evil backstory, make no mistake in this game you are
the villain you just so happen to be fighting other villains. Now you'd think playing a game
with such a relentless murderer would create a sort of dissonance with the audience. How can we,
the players, relate to such a horrible monster. The simplest answer being, we're not supposed
to. An advantage to having a chaotic sociopath as our protagonist is that it helps make a lot
of the side activities and sometimes even player choices much more believable. In any other video
game when we're given the freedom to do whatever we want to. If we randomly decide to blow up
the nearest gas station, it really wouldn't make sense in the context of the story or characters.
But in Saints Row 2 I have no trouble believing that this character would do just that what
alleviates this game from becoming nothing more than mindless killing though is the supporting
cast we have Pierce Washington the brains of the organization that never gets taken very seriously
every attempt he makes at impressing the boss is usually overshadowed by the promiscuous stoner
Shaundi who's voiced by my favorite actress Eliza Dushku by the way. Through her various connections
Shaundi provides insight into who's who and what's going on in Stilwater who are these
connections you ask? Her ex-boyfriends, all of them, everywhere. Somehow, every guy that
Shaundi has dated is still on good terms with her. So good in fact that they're willing to let
a whole gang stay at their house reminder these are her ex-boyfriends. Though it's never outright
stated I have a funny feeling that Shaundi's the one that ended the relationships she's been in
and if that isn't the case, she seems pretty chill about the breakups. A huge complaint about the
characters in the Saints Row Reboot is that none of them really seem like they belong in a gang,
to which Reboot defenders usually say well neither does Shaundi. And yeah, I can kind of see it. What
makes up for her lack of intimidation though is, technically her romantic history Shaundi knows
everyone in town because she's been with everyone in town and instead of being shamed or made fun
of for her sexcapades she basically weaponizes it using any bit of inside knowledge gained against
the rival gangs but because of the current media climate I don't think we will ever get another
character like Shaundi even though she was much more than just the girl that gets around.
Returning from the first game is memetic badbum Johnny Gat #badbum who's pretty much become the
face of the series at this point which makes sense he's the only character besides the boss
that appears in every game in the series but one thing I find strange about Johnny Gat is well how
over-hyped he is, don't get me wrong Johnny Gat is an amazing character especially in Saints Row 2.
May perpetual light shine may her soul and the souls of all the faithful departed rest in peace.
you two have humiliated my family for the last time. Leave little boy.
Look at me when I'm talking to you. I'm not killing anyone at Aisha's funeral. Tonight,
tomorrow, you name a time and I will gladly [] you up. But not now. How noble. But how many times do
we have to save him, huh? If he's so awesome why does he always need our help? I feel like
fans of the series make the mistake of thinking Johnny Gat is this indestructible killing machine
which yeah he basically is in the fourth game but like Johnny Gat was at his best in Saints Row 2
mainly because he wasn't hyped up as the ultimate force of destruction
he had a high body count sure but he wasn't this legendary gangster or anything like that
so most enemies would see him and think nothing of him which made his actions all the more gratifying
get up
please stop. Not so fun when you're fighting someone who isn't tied to a chair
is it? I didn't kill her you ordered it.
I'm sorry. Well, that brings her back doesn't it? No
Kill me. But don't do this! Just kill me [] it, don't do this!
and then there's Carlos
let's move on
get the [] away from my friends
Now on to the Saints Row Reboot trailer, What can I say that hasn't already been said
to be fair we haven't actually seen much of the game yet here's hoping that by the
time this video gets published they've released additional footage but what I find so baffling
about the reveal trailer is the fact that Saints Row The Third did it so much better
10 years ago. With absolutely zero dialogue, we know exactly what's going on. The Saints
are throwing a big budget party that's being invaded by a rival gang which is then followed
by some over-the-top action, all to the tune of Kanye West's Power. Unfortunately, I can't play
the song without getting a claim so be sure to check out the ah what the heck, let's play it
in this new trailer you'd be forgiven if you didn't realize that these were the Saints. Legit,
when I first saw the trailer I thought it was one big bait and switch like at the end we'd
see the real Saints, you know? But uh yeah the trailer just ended and so did my excitement.
But hey maybe, maybe, maybe we'll like these new characters I mean they look...they sound...well
the gameplay looks good that counts for something, right? Now, I was going to talk about Saints Row
2's map, different fighting styles, environmental weapons, and other things but I'll wait till I've
actually played the new game then maybe I could make a thorough analysis on, well, everything.
Blood in, blood out. As I said before, Saints Row is one of my favorite video game franchises
of all time so you can imagine my disappointment when I saw the reboot trailer two weeks ago to be
fair based on where the series was headed I knew they had to reboot it but I don't know about this
direction guys at least the map the customization and the gameplay looks promising let's hope the
new story is willing to get as dark and grim as the original two games were and let's hope we get
another Latina boss she was my favorite Rebecca Sanabria did a really good job, speaking of job
be sure to follow me on my social medias but especially Twitch if you want to see me live
stream, like maybe the new Saints Row game while you're at it be sure to follow the Jr. & Marcus
Talk podcast where we talk about movies, TV shows, and whatever you want us to talk about. If
you're already subscribed to this channel, please subscribe to my backup channel Jayniac 2r. in case
anything bad happens, to this one, and finally please check out the merchandise every purchase
supports this channel, and discord. So, how are you feeling about this new Saints Row game? Were
you a fan of the series before and if you're new to hearing about the series, maybe give it a
chance you might be surprised to find that Saints Row 2 is one of the greatest sandbox games ever
made. Let me know what you think in the comments down below, until then I'll leave you with this.