Poll: GTA5 Vs. SR3

[KB13]

My question to all you lovely people out there is which one and why if you feel up to telling me? This will be for PS3 btw. These two are in my opinion similar enough to compare and I would like your opinions on which one I should purchase. This will be my first foray into this type of game as I usually play games like Fallout, Doom (yes the original), Dragon Age and Mario Party with my younger sisters.

Now what I know about these games:

1. Saints Row is known to be a little more light-hearted than Grand Theft Auto (Minus the swing glitch)

2. In Saints Row I get to create my own heavily designed character (Which usually leads to less than stellar graphics) and in GTA5 I choose from 3 male characters.

And that's it, that's all I know without heading to ign for a description. I'd like to keep this discussion as friendly as possible, please!

 

[nomotog_v1legacy]

Try saints row 2. The graphics are a really dated now, but it's the best of the saints row games. (SR2>SR4>SR3) Saints rows big selling point is the character customization. It's bonkers to see all you can customize, but then it gets better. You would expect a game with that much customization to have like a silent say nothing protagonist, but that is so not how it dose it. You talk. You talk a lot.

GTA 5 Looks really pretty. Like really pretty. The world feels really really real. The downside to it is that it doesn't really stick with you. My experience was, I enjoyed playing it, but after I stopped playing I didn't miss it.

 

[Racecarlock]

Saints Row The Third has great characters, a hilariously over the top story, and awesome missions. None of which you can replay. It has a couple of fun weapons and some activities that are nice to replay after the main story, and that's it. I'd go for Saints Row IV honestly, since it's an improvement on 3 in every single way except the location.

GTA V first off has mission replay, so there's one aspect in which it's already better. The other thing it has going for it is map variety. Beach, desert, mountain areas, city areas, it has it all. In my case, though, I don't get much pedestrian or traffic density so it's hard to appreciate the differences in areas when you rarely see people. Saints Row The Third has a way blander city, but it always keeps the population nice and dense to improve murder sprees. And even then, the city itself is lent a bunch of life and character through professor genki, clothing shops, activities, and advertising.

GTA V also suffers from explosively mean spirited satire. It's social commentary couldn't be less subtle if stephen colbert was hitting you in the face with a hammer that has "I hate taxes" spelled out on it. Yet it also hates everything. I get it, facebook is terrible. Not the people who misuse it, no, it's always the fault of the service itself. Hence lifeinvader, a parody of facebook that has the subtlety of a nuke in a small japanese town.

Side note, if facebook is to blame for all of the idiots on it, does that mean we can blame cars for drunk driving instead of people?

The talk radio stations are either straight up depressing to listen to, or too reliant on stereotypes to be fucking funny. The liberal is a school teacher who talks down to people and the republican is a movie star who wants to invade france because "If there's anyone we can beat in a god damn arm wrestle, it's them limp wristed, patronizing cheese monkeys.". That's an actual quote from Blaine County Radio. And another program on it has a country star sing a song called "I like things just the way they are". Again about as subtle as a monster truck at a funeral. With more hatred than darth vader.

Saints Row The Third and IV, conversely, love everything about everything cheesy. Pop songs, wrestling, superheros, sci fi B movies (If you get DLC for the third), in IV it parodies it's own damn self, it just loves and laughs at everything, making the game itself feel like a relatable character. You want to have fun, it wants to have fun, your custom character wants to have fun, it's all about fun.

So there you have it.

 

[Ten Foot Bunny]

In my opinion, GTA V takes itself far too damn seriously. The GTA series used to have a wicked sense of humor laced with biting satire (especially in Vice City). At that time, the writers masterfully lampooned entire segments of American life with clever analogs of cultural institutions. Back then, GTA was genuinely funny.

GTA V? Ugh. It's vapid by comparison. iFruit fans stand in line for days waiting (and literally dying) to get the next over-hyped piece of junk. Gee, I wonder what that refers to? The iFruit's competitor is the Drone. Hmmm... I can't figure out the Drone's real-world version (duh). OH! Then there's the social media site, Lifeinvader, which collects and sells your personal data.

I could add more examples of these obvious references, but there's no point. You get the picture.

There's absolutely no subtlety in GTA's "humor" anymore. And I put "humor" in quotes because none of it is very funny, it's all just mean-spirited.

So I vote for Saints Row all the way. Though I'm kind of biased because SR is one of my favorite franchises in all of gaming. I'm also considered weird among SR fans because I liked SR4 best of all. Most people pick SR2.

Check out this great video analysis of Saints Row. I agree with his points but he states them far better than I can.

Spoiler: Errant Signal - Saints Row IV and Kitsch

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GTA V also suffers from explosively mean spirited satire. It's social commentary couldn't be less subtle if stephen colbert was hitting you in the face with a hammer that has "I hate taxes" spelled out on it. Yet it also hates everything. I get it, facebook is terrible. Not the people who misuse it, no, it's always the fault of the service itself. Hence lifeinvader, a parody of facebook that has the subtlety of a nuke in a small japanese town.

Holy shit! I was typing my response when you posted this (we posted only two minutes apart). You made my post look super redundant, you clever fiend!

 

[Ten Foot Bunny]

Heck, the very fact SR lets you play as a female protagonist puts that game miles away from GTA.

Yes, yes, yes, and yes!!!

I admit the whole alien invasion thing is as cliched as hell. But once you get over that, the game is awesome.

Well, Zinyak was one of the best alien overlords I've ever seen!

True, that! When else has there been an alien conqueror who sees himself as the epitome of refinement and cultural superiority, and so takes every opportunity to thumb his nose at we human philistines? There hasn't been an alien as great as Zinyak since Crypto in the first Destroy All Humans!. Totally different personalities, but both are funny as hell.

 

[Evonisia]

Saints Row: The Third was a massive let down after Saints Row 2, whilst GTA V is a slight increase from GTA IV.

Amazingly I think they stand at similar levels. SR: TT is fun and wacky and fun and replayable and fun, but it's so schizophrenic in tone that it's not really worth getting invested in it. It has this horrible issue with having characters talk about how serious everything is when in the gameplay (or hell even in the next cutscene) your character will pull out a dildo bat or sonic boom device which just wrecks shit up in a comical fashion. It's jarring and honestly I've found myself not longing to go back to it.

GTA V was better than GTA IV, but it's still a disappointment. It looked a lot more fun that it actually was in the trailers. The characters are badly written and the game relies on you getting invested in their story (not necessarily liking them), and I just didn't. I don't care when there's no real plot, it's just a bunch of mini plots taped together with spit. In fact when you get introduced to Trevor it's almost like a whole different game because you aren't even in Los Santos for the duration, and the plot is completely unrelated to what's been established thus far. Also the shooting is absolute garbage because the default option is to have aim assist on and it's one of the most awful aim assist systems I've ever seen. It is incredibly inconsistent making all the shoot outs a complete bore.

Lesson of the story: Saints Row IV shits on both of them, at least that game knew what it wanted to be, was well written, consistent in tone and was a lot of fun.

 

[DoPo]

I'm also considered weird among SR fans because I liked SR4 best of all.

Really? Because I liked 4 the best too.

Superhuman powers? Able to run superhumanly fast and blast everything out of your way? Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound? Yes please, yes please, yes please.

Haven't played SR4 yet, but I loved The Third. From the few gameplay footages that were made available, it looked like they took that mission from one of the DLCs (I think it was The Trouble with Clones) where you get high on Saints Flow and then went nuts with that segment.

Any you know what? That is just ridiculously awesome. SR3 was crazy fun as it is, being able to punch tanks and outrun cars was a big bonus. I think we just need more of that, more of the SR methodology. We have GTA and...well, we have it. I am not that big of a fan - I still really like GTA2 but I feel something lacking ever since it went 3D. And I think I found it again in Saints Row - it was just the fun. GTA seems to want to go grittier which is fine, but it's not for me. I've played GTA3 and then I stopped - watched my friend play some GTA5 and...yeah, it didn't grab me.

I admit the whole alien invasion thing is as cliched as hell. But once you get over that, the game is awesome.

Dunno, again from the gameplay footage I've seen, you play Space Invaders in the beginning. The invasion may be cliche but I'd say it's done right if that's the case.

Can't wait to play SR4 - the only reason I haven't yet is because I got caught up with Divinity: Original Sin and I can't seem to let it go. HELP ME, IT'S SO GOOD!

 

[StriderShinryu]

SR3 easy. SR3 knows how to have fun with it's world and premise. It also features characters that don't make me feel like I need a long hot shower after playing.

 

[Racecarlock]

I'm also considered weird among SR fans because I liked SR4 best of all.

Really? Because I liked 4 the best too.

Superhuman powers? Able to run superhumanly fast and blast everything out of your way? Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound? Yes please, yes please, yes please.

Haven't played SR4 yet, but I loved The Third. From the few gameplay footages that were made available, it looked like they took that mission from one of the DLCs (I think it was The Trouble with Clones) where you get high on Saints Flow and then went nuts with that segment.

Any you know what? That is just ridiculously awesome. SR3 was crazy fun as it is, being able to punch tanks and outrun cars was a big bonus. I think we just need more of that, more of the SR methodology. We have GTA and...well, we have it. I am not that big of a fan - I still really like GTA2 but I feel something lacking ever since it went 3D. And I think I found it again in Saints Row - it was just the fun. GTA seems to want to go grittier which is fine, but it's not for me. I've played GTA3 and then I stopped - watched my friend play some GTA5 and...yeah, it didn't grab me.

I admit the whole alien invasion thing is as cliched as hell. But once you get over that, the game is awesome.

Dunno, again from the gameplay footage I've seen, you play Space Invaders in the beginning. The invasion may be cliche but I'd say it's done right if that's the case.

Can't wait to play SR4 - the only reason I haven't yet is because I got caught up with Divinity: Original Sin and I can't seem to let it go. HELP ME, IT'S SO GOOD!

It is kind of like that saints flow section.

Except you can run even faster, you have 4 different powers with 3 variations on each, such as fire blast, freeze blast, mind control blast, force telekinesis, lightning telekinesis, some other kind of telekinesis, earth stomp, shrink stomp, gravity stomp, fire buff, lightning buff, and some other buff that I don't use as much as the other 2.

Also if you blow up enough shit it summons a mini boss to fight you. It's always fun to fight them. Also, you have your powers all the time in this game.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

I strongly prefer Saint's Row as a series compared to Grand Theft Auto. Saint's Row is more light hearted and lets you make your own character which are both fine and dandy...but the side missions like racing, assassinations, etc are optional in Saint's Row. I feel like GTA likes to lock you out of plot missions if you don't want to go on a mandatory race mission or, training session. Saint's Row will have those elements in missions but there are clearly marked side missions versus the clearly marked plot missions. I liked Saint's Row 2 more than 1 or 3 but 3 is still a really, REALLY solid game.

 

[XSTALKERX]

Nah Grand Theft Auto is way better than saints row. I'm reading through all these posts and I'm the exact opposite. I find saints row boring as hell for some reason I guess because the entire gimmick of those games is just wacky over the top fun and honestly I find that really boring not to mention all the side stuff gets really boring as well.

I like Grand Theft Auto way more just because the story is more compelling. Say what you will, about the characters, they're dicks but at least they're interesting dicks. And I also find that Grand Theft Auto's missions are way more fun than anything in saints row.

 

[Belaam]

GTA V. SR2 was amazing, and probably better than GTA V, but SR3 is trying so hard to be zany, it comes off as pathetic.

GTA IV is the worst of the series because it went too serious and gritty; SR3 is the worst of the series (disclaimer, SR3 sucked so bad, I haven't bothered getting 4 yet, but I hear it's better) because it went too goofy with forced humor.

 

[SerBrittanicus]

Saints Row 3 for me. Much better customisation and a lot more fun - I found GTA 5 to be very dull and only finished it to see if anything interesting happened in the story.

 

[Frezzato]

Try saints row 2. The graphics are a really dated now, but it's the best of the saints row games. (SR2>SR4>SR3) Saints rows big selling point is the character customization. It's bonkers to see all you can customize, but then it gets better. You would expect a game with that much customization to have like a silent say nothing protagonist, but that is so not how it dose it. You talk. You talk a lot.

GTA 5 Looks really pretty. Like really pretty. The world feels really really real. The downside to it is that it doesn't really stick with you. My experience was, I enjoyed playing it, but after I stopped playing I didn't miss it.

Hell yeah, Saints 2 is pretty awesome.

.

But OP, if you've already played 2, I would go for #3. I gave up on GTA after 4.

If you know someone with a PS3, Saints 2-4 is a riot on LAN if you play co-op campaign. You can do it over PSN as well, but the Saints Row series, on PSN anyway, is a crash-tastic affair. Saints Row over PSN means you should save often, and you shouldn't play it with a stranger; it has to be a friend. Everyone playing Saints Row online is cheating nowadays, or they're just out to harass you.

Oh right, and if you like driving, stick with Saints Row the Third. Cars actually mean something in that game. And if you find you like the game, I would buy the DLC missions early on if they're not included in your copy.

 

[Something Amyss]

SRTT is a short, fun, ultimately empty experience. It's good if you want to killed a gang of BDSM lovers or pro wrestlers with a dildo bat. Sadly, it's mostly tutorial and kind of hollow once you get past the LOLZANY exterior. You can also be voiced by Laura Bailey, which is an option all games should have.

I hear you asking: even games where the main character is male?

To which I say: yes.

GTAV is a longer, fun, somewhat less empty experience. And unlike SRTT, which trimmed out most of the activities people enjoyed, there's still a bunch of stuff to do around LS. Hell, there's even a ton of stuff to find if you explore (which SR2 had, but Volition forgot about. Except they didn't, as the Easter Bunny is still there, but they needed shinier grafx for the clothes they were going to cut off and sell unlock keys for).

I want GTA in the streets and SR in the sheets.

Which is an innuendoed way of saying that I'd buy GTA for the content or SR for the gameplay. Which do you get? Depends on which you'd prefer.

None of which you can replay.

You can replay through your phone, can't you?

GTA V? Ugh. It's vapid by comparison. iFruit fans stand in line for days waiting (and literally dying) to get the next over-hyped piece of junk. Gee, I wonder what that refers to? The iFruit's competitor is the Drone. Hmmm... I can't figure out the Drone's real-world version (duh). OH! Then there's the social media site, Lifeinvader, which collects and sells your personal data.

But lol ifruits logo looks liek genitals n pl liek LiveInvader!

It's a good thing satire doesn't have to be funny, or Rockstar would be screeeeeeewed.

I'm not sure Saints Row is any more subtle with their spoofs, though. It's sort of like arguing over whether Coke or Pepsi has more carbonation.

[quote="Frezzato" post="9.857598.21253680"Everyone playing Saints Row online is cheating nowadays, or they're just out to harass you.[/quote]

Wait, how is that different from playing with my friends?

>.>

 

[Racecarlock]

None of which you can replay.

You can replay through your phone, can't you?

Hneh? I was talking about Saints Row The Third. GTA V has great replay options.