Saints and Sinners | A Saints Row 1 Retrospective
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- čas přidán 2. 06. 2024
- The grimy streets of Stilwater has fallen victim to rampant gang violence.
It'll take one gang to step up and erradicate gang violence in Stilwater and reclaim the city: The Third Street Saints.
CHAPTERS:
Development and Behind the Scenes - 00:00
Prologue: The Third Street Saints - 08:29
Chapter 1: West Side Rollerz - 30:43
Chapter 2: Los Carnales - 48:18
Chapter 3: Vice Kings - 1:13:12
Finale: Hail to the Chief - 1:40:16
#saintsrow #saintsrow1 #saintsrowreboot #volition
Flippy's Channel: / flippy
Michael Rappaport's Podcast Playlist: • I AM RAPAPORT: STEREO ...
Gang violence exhibit in Saint's Row 2: • Saints Row 2 Julius ...
LINKS:
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Music used (in order of appearance):
“Spotlite” - Mathematics (feat. Method Man, Cappadonna, U-God, and Inspectah Deck)
“Flavor of the Month” - Black Sheep
“Rock Co. Kane Flow” - De La Soul (feat. MF DOOM)
“Soda and Soap” - Masta Ace (feat. Jean Grae)
“Danger” - Black Milk (feat. T3 and Phat Kat)
“Grindin’” - Clipse
“Take a Walk” - Masta Ace (feat. Apocalypse)
“Kinschincho - Tinsel Park” - Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse
“Ashura-Kai Authorized Shop” - Shin Megami Tensei IV
“Distrust” - SMT IV
“Meet the Reapers” - Infamous
“Providence - 144 Providence Ver.” SMT: Devil Survivor 2: Record Breaker
“Large Map” - SMT IV: Apocalypse
“After the Fire” - Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3
“Ginza” - SMT III: Nocturne
“Criminal Delights” - Yakuza 4
“Whiskey and Rhapsody” - Yakuza 4
“Aboveground Urban Area C” - SMT IV
“Dynamic Magnificent” - Yakuza 5
“Heat Capacity” - DBZ: BT3
“Sweet Vibration” - DBZ: BT3
"Wild Rush" - DBZ: BT3
“Camp Ichigaya” - SMT IV
“Keep Doin’ It” - Likwit Junkies
“Aboveground Urban Area A” - SMT IV
“Hunter Association” - SMT IV: Apocalypse
“The Pursuit of Speed” - Yakuza 5
"Conflict Resolution" - Infamous: Second Son
“Castle” - Persona 4
“Hailstorm” - Yakuza 5
“Exploration” - Devil Survivor 2
“Mood of Disquiet” - Yakuza 4
“Forbode (Final Remix version)” - The World Ends With You: Final Remix
“A Vow of Unity” - Tales of Vesperia
“Coldheartedness” - Devil Survivor
“Shudder” - Devil Survivor
“Survive” - DBZ BT3
“Deep Night” - Devil Survivor
“Over the Brink of Death” - Devil Survivor 2
“Reasoning” - Persona 4
“Attack” - Devil Survivor 2
“Action” - Devil Survivor
“Battle of the Brave” - Devil Survivor 2
“Confrontation” - Devil Survivor 2
“Black Market” - SMT IV
“One-Eyed Assassin” - Yakuza 0
“Geist Obscuration” - Yakuza 4
"This Mysterious Feeling" - Persona 3
“Restlessness” - Persona 5
“Fatal Conflict” - Yakuza 0
“Suspicion” - Persona 5
“Material Delights” - Yakuza 4
“Challenge to the Fate” - Devil Survivor 2
“The Operation Starts” - Devil Survivor 2
“Nuisances” - Yakuza 5
“Shine” - DBZ BT3
"Stick and Move" - Planet Asia
“Digi Warfare” - Masta Killa (feat. RZA and U-God)
“An Unpleasant Premonition” - Persona 3
“Speed Star” - Yakuza 4
“Renewed Unrest” - Yakuza: Kiwami
“Time Castle” - Persona 3 FES
“JIPS - Japan Meteorological Agency, Geomagnetism Research Department” - Devil Survivor 2
“Bad Fortune Flower” - Yakuza: Kiwami 2
“Desperate Situation” - Devil Survivor 2
“Disquiet” - Devil Survivor
“Ikebukuro” - Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne
“Survive” - DBZ BT3
“Power Scale” - DBZ BT3
“Fearful Experience” - Persona 3
"Edge of Spirit" - DBZ BT3
“High and Scream” - DBZ BT3
“Connected Hearts” - Devil Survivor 2
“Pinch Battle” - Devil Survivor
“Tag of the Man” - Yakuza 5
“Independence For Violence” - Yakuza 3
“Sunset” - Devil Survivor
“Good With Them Numbers” - Al Gator
“Last Decision” - Devil Survivor
“Rival Battle” - Devil Survivor
“Garuda” - Devil Survivor
“Credit of KIWAMI” - Yakuza Kiwami 2 - Hry
Some behind the scenes trivia regarding this video (be warned, wall of text incoming):
If you wanna ask me anything about what went into making the retrospective, feel free to leave a question in the replies.
>When doing research on real-life street gangs for the Development segment, I had fears about my family getting mad or worried about me researching so deeply into such a thing. It got to the point to where I questioned whether or not to leave that in the script or to scrap the video altogether. I decided to press on and only one person expressed concern about where my research was taking me. It should also be noted that I blurred out each gang member's face for their safety and for mine.
>This project has the most recording locations out of all retrospectives. I started recording voiceover in my room at my parent's house, then I was recording out of my dorm at trade school, and eventually transferred to a second dorm- where the project was completed and released. If you listen to the narration closely after the Development segment, you can hear a slight echo thanks to the acoustics.
>I'm DEAD serious when I said I almost used cheat codes to get past the final Carnales mission.
I'd gone through nearly 20 takes, but before turning on cheats, I decided to backpedal and record the mission without them. I felt like using cheats in a video essay like this would kind of take away from the viewer's experience.
Despite that, I still don't blame ANYONE for using cheat codes on that mission.
>I almost fucked up the entire project because I nearly formatted the USB stick that contained all my save data.
>Work on the project had to be postponed for 4 days because I accidentally broke the disc by getting up from my desk too fast and slamming my knee underneath it, which caused the 360 to shake and leave rings on the disc from the laser. Thankfully the Ebay order was one of those "Fast N' Free" ones.
Having just beat the game before watching the review. I had to reload multiple saves for every final gang mission but spent the most time in the airport. Everything in 2 seems to be a better implementation of 1. Chopshop was super unintuitive in 1 as vehicles rarely spawned and never with modifications so you have to tune the vehicle before turning it in. The Hitman and chopshop levels seem to lie about where to find the target. I just found a way to cheese it where if you have a bounty or vehicle on your HUD entering a story mission they will spawn by you once it's done. Need to hijack a vehicle immediately to get to them but it worked. You can complete missions for hitman or chopshop without having them on your HUD as I realized when blowing up one of those mini police cars with an RPG or threw hand grenades at a guy in a hotdog outfit. But 2 makes it way easier as it tells you if the vehicle you entered is wanted by the chopshop and automatically sets a map marker for it. Saints row 1 is so rough around the edges but makes you really appreciate the polishing down of those edges in 2
@bobbinsthethird
I remember seeing a video from Flippy back in 2021 regarding the fucked-uo spawns for Hitman and Chopshop, and im still left confused about why the devs made the spawns so erratic.
Also, trust me, recording the final mission for the Carnales storyline took years off my life.
I had never played 1 or 2 before this year. I was one of those kids who started with 3, and swore by it. God damn I was so wrong.
13 years later, I’m finally trying these earlier ones. Holy shit Saints Row 1 is fantastic. It’s not just a gang themed game like 3. It’s a full blown gang sim. Nothing beats grabbing 3 homies, riding around Stilwater in a dope car, hitting up a gun store, only to stumble into a turf war, and taking out a hundred guys with your homies by your side. The later ones, after 2, just don’t capture that. And the story is kickass on top of all of that. The characters are all so cool and memorable. No other game captures the feeling 1 has. 2 is perfect for its own reasons, but I was honestly so pleasantly surprised that 1 has held up as well as it has.
Dude, you did yourself a huge favor going back and replaying these old gems. They feel so genuine!
You're right in that this is a full-blown gang simulator.
You can bring along a crew, start beef with rival gang members in the streets, and just be an all-around menace to society.
I really love how this took GTA San Andreas' gang system and greatly expanded upon it.
The direction the publishers (and devs to an extent) took the series feels so wrong. No loose ends were tied up, a lot of customization was removed, and the open world as a whole feels bland and empty compared to Stilwater.
This series deserved better.
If you play saints row 1 again, you should maybe play the vice king first before los carnales because tanya mentions that luz is wearing last season heels.
Thankfully that line is said in a way that leaves the timeline of events throughout the first game somewhat ambiguous.
Although, I think we can all agree that the Rollerz arc always happened first because, well... They're the weakest gang in the series lol.
It still is a nice reference to the other gangs in the city though.
I always enjoy listening to these long-form retrospectives, especially from games that I enjoy. This is no exception.
Couple small points. First off, winning the canonization fight actually gets you a higher payout. Not that it matters ultimately, but there's your incentive for actually surviving. Second, the targets for "Hitman" spawn based off percentage rolls. But somewhere along the line communication was porked and, sometimes, your target will actually have a 0% chance of spawning at all in the area you're told to look. Unless you want to spend an epoch looking for your mark, this is a mission best played with a wiki close by.
Oh dang I legit forgot that surviving the beatdown nets you a reward.
As for the Hitman spawns... oh my god.
I don't envy anyone shooting to 100% this game. I do know that completing Hitman for one of the mission-givers rewards you with the best gun in the game.
Lol I'll just stick to my little pea shooter Vice 9.
Thanks for the feedback, man! I really appreciate it.
that soundtrack is giving me so many underground hip hop. sr1 is underrated
That's why I prefer the music lineup for the rap stations in SR1 over 2's. There were a lot of talented underground artists and your options didn't feel limited.
@@lunarnocturne facts doe ,2 had a max of 10 songs if that
And only half of them were good lmao. The R&B songs (as much as I love them) should've been given their own station, and all the old school hits should've been put on a station for classic hip-hop.
That's why SR3 redeemed itself when it came to radio by mixing together underground and mainstream artists.
The Rollers buyers are actually the Ronin William and Kazou both look similar and both Rollers and Ronin members are voiced by Andrew Kishino and Yuri Lowenthal
I actually raise that point at the end of the Rollerz arc lmao.
Was in a tweet from one of the game's creators.
How's about when during the airport brotherhood stronghold in SR2, they mention Eurotrash gangsters, which I think was a foreshadowing to The Morningstar in SR3. Even though that game isn't great, it's still a cool touch.
I really LOVED this retrospective. I’ve never played the first Saints Row game and always love learning about games from my favorite franchises that I’ve never played so I really appreciate the in depth review and history lesson. You’ve earned a subscriber (:
Yooo thanks man!
Yeah I put a lot of love into this review because the first game is the least talked about when conversations come up about which game in the series is the best.
Thanks for the wonderful comment, Paul!
Play the game yourself. Why just settle for someone else experience of something you yourself never experienced when you yourself can experience it yourself?
Genuinely shocked at how good this video is and how small your channel is. Keep at it and you will break through I promise
Yo thanks, dude.
I feel like I got a talent for these retrospective vids. I appreciate the comment.
I remember playing this game as a kid I'm 25 now and this game is a true feeling gangster feel and it's raw and gritty and it's the best in my opinion in the series. Now we kill people for student loans and rent😢 great video
Volition stuck the landing with the rawness. From the environment to the dialogue, it felt like I was THERE
NGL, the Devil Survivor soundtrack got me extra hype while watching this review!!
Thank you! The Shin Megami Tensei games are always my go-to for BGM in these videos because a lot of them fit the mood of what's being talked about! Also helping is that I'm super in-love with that series as well!
Finally got to watching this. I feel like you upped the humor a lot on this one, and I'm all for it.
This game passed me by as a kid. I didn't hear about it until the 3rd one came out. What amazes me more than anything else is the fact that the series went from being this grounded experience with gangs to becoming president and fighting aliens.
Anyway, great video man. You put a lot of work into this.
Yep, I decided to approach this one from a more fun, lighthearted, and humorous angle. Even fell apart laughing while recording those lines, and rewatching the whole thing before fully rendering.
As a kid, I heard about this game in passing and knew it was an open-world game, but I didn't get to actually experience it until playing it at a friend's place one day.
And yeah, the series going in this whole new otherworldly direction is something nobody expected. Imagine waking up one day and seeing a Mafia IV trailer with Lincoln Clay shooting a laser gun and wielding a lightsaber.
I'm still doubtful about this new SR reboot but I'll keep an open mind.
Thanks for watching, J!
I don't know if someone has mentioned it, but you can save money on ammo by visiting a crib and going to the weapon locker. Based on story progression, more weapons become available, and each weapon that appears can have the ammo refilled for free. Ammo refills also get more plentiful as the story goes on. For example, during the first 1-3 story missions after the tutorial, you can always get a vice9 that will fill to 48 and by the end of the game you can fill ammo to max on all 4 handguns, both submachine guns, the tombstone shotgun and, the AR-40 Xtnd.
Oh my god... the more I read these comments, the more I'm still learning about this game more than a decade later. Makes me wish I'd known about the ammo stuff lol. Lmao all those hours spent grinding for ammo money all those years ago were for nothing 😂
1:30:28 quite simply the greatest cutscene in the franchise for that speech alone. The dialogue in this game is unmatched 🙌
That's what makes the dialogue in SR1 so perfect- it felt so natural.
I know I'm late, and idk if someone said this already but in regards to Victor's truck in the Meeting Orejuela mission, I recently played it and destroyed his truck and he DOES survive. He initially runs around burning until the fire goes away and then will attempt to CHASE YOU ON FOOT in game. He is invincible, I tried everything and he is absolutely unkillable.
Yeah what canonically happens is that Playa and Dex don't blow up the SUV and they instead escape with their lives.
I just thought it'd be funny to paint Victor as someone like Cell lmao.
@@lunarnocturne I know, I just wasn't aware if you knew that he would still chase after you even in gameplay after or not.
If that's the case, I wish we got a boss fight with Victor lol
Helluva job you did here! Sat through all of it and learned quite a bit! I didn't know the gangs had IRL counterparts. Same with the counterpart to Kingdom Come records.
Great work!
When I first played this and saw the Vice Kings, I knew that they hella familiar and then I looked online and remembered that they were based off the Vice Lord's.
As for the Kingdom Come part, it's stuff that we've seen with rappers in the music industry that are also involved with gang activity. Suge Knight was a fucking menace lmao.
Thanks, man!
Wow! This was an amazing review! So many things I never knew about this game (especially how the gangs were based off of real gangs). The way you review this game, I kind of want to see if you'd do similar reviews for the True Crime games (Streets of LA and New York City). It'd be cool to see you talk about those games the way you did with Saints Row.
Yeah I went and did some serious research on prominent gangs in the Midwest and the West Coast trying to make connections between them and their fictional counterparts.
As for reviewing titles like True Crime NY. I'll have to look into it since I haven't played that game in years and never even got to finish it. Wouldn't be a bad idea for a review though!
Thanks for the suggestion!
Hey that's me at 18:50 :D
That's back when i used my old name Razor Vermillion but later i've changed it to be closer to the OG Saints Row 1 and 2 vibe.
I'm also impressed by how good this video was made! I'll be dropping a like!
Haha! Small world amirite?
Yeah I went and searched for footage of the loan sharks attacking the player because I didn't wanna waste time that could've been spent gathering more footage and editing.
Crazy that you came across this!
Glad you enjoyed the retrospective too, and thank you for the support!
Wow, this was great! Loved all the facts in the beginning about the potential real life gangs that inspired the in-game gangs. Can't wait to watch the rest of your Saints Row retrospectives you have on the channel!
Yeah I enjoy the research part the most.
I had a suspicion that these guys had to be based off some real-world gangs.
One banger of a video man, great job!
Thanks so much, Adam!
Instantly subscribed. Top tier production and analysis.
Thanks man! Got more like this on the way!
You earned your colors 💜⚜️💜
Blood in, blood out.
Great video man. I just started playing them again because of you.
Haha nice! I'm glad I was able to get you back into these games again
Great vid dude glad I was able to find your channel
Thanks man! Hope you enjoy what's to come!
I love the use of so many tracks from the Yakuza games in this video. Amazing video 👌
Thanks! Had a blast adding them. Yakuza 5 is my favorite OST
Oh damn I have been on a Saints Row Analysis scrub since SR22 was a bust and I don't know how I never heard of this channel, you were one of the only ones who went over the BTS of the game, discssed the before and things none of us have never heard of, hoping you are doing 2 all the to GoH, idk if you played SR22 but definitely subbing to check out your other content
Thank you, man!
When covering games from top to bottom in this style, I always make sure to do research on the behind-the-scenes info of the game and include stuff like that in the script, because the video would feel incomplete if I didn't.
I wanna give the devs their time to shine- give credit where it's due. Thank you so much!
And yes I'll be covering the entire franchise, all the way up to Saint's Row Reboot.
It's gonna be a wild ride. Stay tuned!
This retrospective is not only informative about the first Saints Row, but also engaging whilst doing so. You've earned a sub, my guy. Although, I am disappointed that when you brought up Keith David's voice acting rolls in video games that you didn't mention his roll as the Arbiter from the Halo series xD
Edit: mistyped "acting" wrong lmao
Thanks so much! I love walking that line between informative, engaging, and humorous. Thank you!
@@lunarnocturne You're welcome, man!
So glad to see this!
Thanks man! Took a lot of work!
Great video I enjoyed it
Thanks man!
Excellent video Playa
Thanks, Playa. Earned my colors with this one.
Nothing gives me more satisfaction than knowing I'm not the only one who had to sprint to that Forgive & Forget during the funeral mission.
Solid video, and criticisms. You made me laugh pretty hard at points, so thank you for that.
Mind you, while I was gathering footage for that segment, i went through 4 other cars lmao. The FBI don't play
And I'm glad you enjoyed and had a laugh!
As someone from Baltimore Maryland first time playing 2006 Saints Row was like attending a party with your favorite celebrities with you being the guest of honor, playing Saints Row 2 well unfortunately not having a Corporate Warfare DLC was like going on that first good date that expanded into many good dates. Everything after that was garbage, as Volition clowns became what they are today clown ass video game developers that use to be that person you use to hang out with daily & respected. Who help fight the person that got beef with which ironically happens to be Rockstar Games back when everyone kept glorifying Rockstar Games to the point where it got annoying & you couldn't enjoy better alternatives far as open world sandbox games when you're tired of the same old gimmicks with Grand Theft Auto games.
To this day I still keep old photos of my 2006 Saints Row gameplay, because I like to remember the good times I had with that game years ago.
Now it's just that old costume you used to wear at Comic-Con, or just simply casual cosplay.
First off, shoutout from DC.
And yeah Saint's Row 1 felt genuine. You can very well tell that the devs did a lot of research in and around places like Chicago (given that their HQ is 3 hrs away) and spoke with locals and possibly gang members about criminal life in major cities like that.
Saints Row 2 felt a bit more like a Tarantino flick, but it was still grounded enough to be fun.
As for beyond... I don't even know why they went with that over-the-top direction.
In the third game they could've explored more of what it was like balancing life as a gangster and a celebrity and we got... something else.
And your point about wanting to explore open-world titles beyond Rockstar's is spot-on.
Throughout the PS2 era, I loved seeing what other open-world games could get away with and seeing if they could match the quality of Grand Theft Auto and Saint's Row delivered. Too bad it's gone in this weird-ass direction.
@@lunarnocturne When you see the potential & beauty of 2006 Saints Row & Saints Row 2+Corporate Warfare DLC, it feels like nice a house or car that you actually own & not some mystery Bank.
Volition had something good, but they had to be the clowns that they are today, behaving like Dexter "Dex" Jackson in 2006 Saints Row & Saints Row 2+Corporate Warfare DLC a asshole on Twitter far as customer service etcetera.
Man... it's sad to see what it's become.
I understand Volition wanting to carve a unique identity for the franchise, especially during the era when GTA clones were more abundant, but this was not it.
SR3's story could've been written in a way that tells a story about the struggles, pressures, and consequences of being a celebrity on top of living life as a gangster.
And imagine how dope it'd be to see the natural progression from gangster to some politician (as was seen in the bad ending of SR3)
Despite that, it's still got enjoyable gameplay but it feels hollow knowing what direction the series went.
Ayo hold up, you meaning to tell me Johnny's roasting session fucked up Tony so much that he changed shit with how Tanya is allowed out lmaoooo
The brother was simping so bad that he got in his feelings after some dude that he maimed destroyed them both 😂
@@lunarnocturne fr lmao
Here to give a thumbs up, keep up the good work Noct👍
Thanks, Neo! Can't wait to get started with Saint's Row 2!
And here I was looking at writing a piece on Saints Row 1, when you smashed it already!
Great video, mate. Subbed and looking forward to going back in your log!
Lol sorry I stole your thunder 😅
@@lunarnocturne cant be mad when the thunder is stolen by quality! 😅
Great work, lad!
@@GHAMVs Thanks for that, man! I promise to deliver more!
Heya, Nocturne. Loved the retrospective, I listen to this and the one for 2 every now and then in the background while doing other stuff.
Also, you mentioned being confused with Julius’s gang being in it for themselves while he’s spouting morality? Not sure if you played the DLC in 2 where Julius returns but The Professional made a video going into him and why he’s actually a bit of a hypocrite.
Yeah, I kinda got caught up in my own little speech about morality during the Vice Kings segment. Wish I could've re-worked that. As for the SR2 DLC, yeah he was a huge hypocrite lol.
19:00 Never played the first game because Playstation, but I've seen many walk through videos throughout the years.
And yet I've never heard anyone, not even Flippy, bring up this Loan Shark thing. Didn't know it was a thing until now.
And I don't blame you for missing that. I think there's a reason it never showed up again in sequels lol. It wasn't a good system and I don't think anybody used it.
Watched this after the sr2 retrospective. Never had the chance to play the first game and I've only had an idea of it based on references later in the series. I'm excited for your sr3 video if you do one
Yeah Saint's Row 1 was quite an ambitious game for its time, managing to beat GTA IV to the 360.
Despite all of its jank, it still holds a special place in my heart.
And yes, the Saint's Row 3 video is currently in production. I'm still laying out the script and doing voicework. Can't wait for you to see that one.
Excellent job on this retrospective. Very professional. The hard work shows throughout. Loved Saints Row 1 since its release. I usually do all the Respect missions first so Playa can be dressed to the ( Vice ) 9s and iced out in cutscenes. Vice Kings first,Los Carnales then Rollerz.Question, is the guy who gives Lin the lighter in the cutscene then Playa bumps into him,the same guy who is at the reception desk at the record building who talks to Aisha? Again most excellent work here.
This is arguably my favorite video that I worked on. At the time I made it, I hardly saw any deep-dives/retrospectives covering Saints Row 1 the way I did.
When it comes to my character, I like to dress in more "ordinary" street clothes, but I appreciate Volition for leaving the door open by leaving players tons of customization options.
The guy who gave Lin that lighter was probably a clone model. I could see a team of animators and coders not wanting to create a new model for certain scenes, especially with the shoestring budget Volition had at the time.
Saints Row 1 (at least to me anyway) is alright. Kinda wished it was on ps3 & pc.
(And before anyone says anything, I'm aware of a version that was supposed to be on a playstation console at one point)
Yeah I do too. Really sucks that Volition had to scrap the PS3 port so that they could focus on SR2.
@@lunarnocturne it would make more sense just to remaster saints row 1 & 2 at this point. And I say this as someone with Saints row 3 remastered.
Yeah I'd like to see Saints Row 1 and 2 remastered on all platforms. A Saint's Row 2 remaster seems more likely since Volition managed to recover the source code. Saint's Row 1, if memory serves me, is on Xbox One and Series X. I've heard good things about that port.
@@lunarnocturne yea, it's on Xbox one & the series consoles (as far as saints row 1 is concerned. Same with saints row 2.)
Nice to know. Yeah I recorded this off my 360 slim from 2012. Felt a bittersweet sense of nostalgia looking at the 360 UI.
cant wait to see your channel grow brother. love this video style and if you let more of your personality bleed in like w those lil side comments you be making i think you can be a top tier retrospective guy
Thank you man! I decided to approach Saint's Row in a more humorous and fun manner than I did with Infamous due to the atmosphere.
I also came up with half of those quips on the spot too lol.
Thank you so much man!
@@lunarnocturne idk if you're planning on running all the games retrospective style but if you do the quips are very appreciated
Yeah I'm gonna be covering this whole series and I plan on tackling the games in a more relaxed and laid-back and humorous tone.
With Infamous I couldn't really do it like that (only in certain areas) given the stakes and plot.
Now that I'm dealing with a series that's more over-the-top and wild, I can finally be loosen up a bit in the script.
@@lunarnocturne is this the general plan you have for the channel? long for retrospective content i mean, i saw you have plenty of lets play style videos on your channel im just wondering if this is gonna be a full change or if you plan on alternating
@@lunarnocturne sorry if im talking way too much too lol i just love watching and getting involved in new creator come ups lol
yes bro what a great video goat game
It always will be a goated game. Thank you.
Ur choice of music from the game 🔥 🔥 well done
I had a lot of fun picking and choosing which track went where. My favorite part was syncing the songs to their respective chapter intro too.
Thank you!
I really enjoyed the 90s and 00s cops and robbers theme of this game as many of the cars and clothing look very 90s and the gangster talk was realistic and grounded in reality
That's how you know Volition put in the work into researching for this game. The crew interviewed police and actual gang members for pointers and it shows. You can see they did a lot of research with the way Stilwater is built, the slang, and other stuff.
@LunarNocturne they did I saw the making of video from flippy
@@ChrisSealy1997 My biggest regret with making this video was not citing that making-of video created by Volition.
I mostly cited that Game Informer documentary and several archives from old gaming websites.
I watched every second of this this
Glad you enjoyed, man! Be on the lookout for my SR2 retrospective in the near future.
I had no idea these were the guys from Parallax! Holy smokes. I've got Descent on my all time franchise list!
I'm always blown back seeing studios behind classics evolve into something bigger.
I'm glad they had enough cash to grow and evolve into Volition
Philip Anthony Rodriguez voices victor who also voices maurice chavez in vice city and for most games hes asked to speak English
He plays the host of VCPR? Gotta give him credit for making me bust out laughing lmao
The “Spanish” in LC cutscenes isn’t actual Spanish, it’s just gibberish with a few actual words in a few actual maybe phrases hence the reason it’s captioned as “Spanish.” Great video!
Thanks for the heads up!
And lmao I can't knock em for cutting corners, but that is especially bad.
Ayy, Lunar back with the fire, and it's SR1 too. I swear, this game, alongside GTA San Andreas and Midnight Club 3 are my first port of call when I think about 6th/7th gen games
Yeah this was one of the 7th gen essentials. It managed to stand out in a world beginning to become oversaturated with GTA clones
@@lunarnocturne Yup. And it had a sense of authenticity, as well. Like the other two examples, Volition did their homework, and as you explained, it shows.
I can tell someone from Volition took the 3 hour trip from Champaign to Chicago and interviewed the locals and police officers.
It felt genuine. The slang, culture, everything.
@@lunarnocturne you mean towards the last term of GTA clones?
"Last terms of GTA clones"?
What do you mean?
Commenting as I watch so prepare for like a paragraphs. But first... How could you not mention Keith David as SPAWN. Every other role is good to bring up but SPAWN. Other than that the all star cast is really a huge selling point. The gameplay really was a bit ahead for it's time really too with how it looks, especially compared to PS2 GTA or even the GTA 4 stuff. One thing I did like with the game is how one ear and out the other Julius' words seemed to be. It's pretty realistic when you think about all kinds of noble people who gather people but misconstrue the message or misuse your own message.
Also the dialogue in this game is as good as I remember, and I always love the bit of flavor you have with your commentary. Overall a damn solid retrospective.
Man I wish I mentioned his role as Spawn.
The all-star cast was also pretty surprising, given the budget they had and how Volition was a small-medium studio.
And I also made sure to highlight that point about the Saints straying off their noble path of wanting to save Stilwater. This is especially apparent when the game orders you to kill retail clerks in a later Vice Kings mission in order to progress.
Julius wasn't lying when he described the Saints as "Vice Kings that wore purple" but I'm getting ahead of myself.
bro how the fuck am I only finding this channel now? subbed
Enjoy the stay, man! Got plenty in my repertoire!
The only Saints Row game where I would always have companions with me was 4, and that was mainly because they had unique conversations and the novelty of being followed around by people like Roddy Piper, Keith David, and the Burch family. Oh, and I'd use Burt Reynolds a lot in Saints Row 3 because he's Burt fucking Reynolds.
Roddy Piper and Keith David alone make the Homies feature all the more worth it.
Plus, the unique conversations really kept open-world roaming interesting
Ngl I always come to this video to be on the background when I'm grinding in a game lol
I love listening to long-form vids when grinding SMT, especially when my dumb ass gets sent back to the last save point thanks to a bullshit one-hit KO move.
Keith David also voices the Arbiter and Spawn
My biggest regret was not namedropping the Spawn credit.
@@lunarnocturne it’s fine besides when I played the Original MW2 I didn’t know Keith David played a role as a Sgt Soldier
Personally, my order would be
Rollerz -> Vice Kings -> Los Carnales
Since there are references to Luz's shoes and the way Warren talks about the Carnales like they are still around during the time the Playa is taking the VK on
Yeah the mission structure tends to create silly moments like that. Same thing happens to Carlos where he's absent in all other storylines except for the Brotherhood, pretty much spoiling the story if you weren't focusing on one gang lol.
@lunarnocturne Yeah, it do be like that
Which is why I just do them all at once in one playthrough lmao
I still like to stick to my script but I can see why others choose to handle it that way.
My favourite part in the first game was the opening cutscene where Kenn Michael says wrong time wrong place dog and how he voices the Vice Kings also Kenn Michael voices a pedestrian in GTA San Andreas but im not sure which one he voices just imagine if Kenn Michael voiced CJ and he was also in the parent hood
That was Kenn in the intro? Damn I didn't notice.
It's also fitting that he went from doing pedestrian voices in a GTA game to playing Boss in the Saint's Row games. I dunno if I could see/hear him as CJ given his heavy NYC accent though.
As a lifelong Playstation owner i never got to experience The original Saints Row but i remember watching the Story mode on youtube a few years after Saints Row 1 came out.
I truly think this game hit a niche that it was afraid to take advantage of and its if they took the GANG warfare side activity of GTA san Andreas and made it the entire focus of the game. with Saints row 2 being the perfect blend of the formula of an almost Satirized take on the open world Crime genre while still having powerful moments played seriously.
im so glad Benjamin King ended up in SR4 and my favorite scene is when he schools Warren.
"IM BENJAMIN MOTHERFUCKING KING.
IM THE MAN WHO TOOK HIS CREW FROM BEING A BUNCH OF BABY GANGSTAS IN SUNNYVALE INTO ONE OF THE MOST FEARED AND INFLUENTIAL FORCES IN THE GODDAMN CITY.
I DID IT BY KNOWING WHEN IT WAS TIME TO BUILD
WHEN IT WAS TIME TO WATCH
AND WHEN IT WAS TIME TO ACT."
It's so disappointing that Volition never got the chance to complete the PS3 port (especially since assets from that port were recovered. Stuff like button icons, etc.). A lot of PS3-only players were pretty much forced to watch scenes from the first game on CZcams since SR2 was the first game from the series to hit that platform.
And like I said in the vid, this game really feels like someone on the team was inspired by the gang warfare activity from San Andreas. From recruiting other dudes to walk around with you, all the way to fighting for territory. These guys expanded on that one feature of Sand Andreas and did a damn good job at it.
I love that SR2 knew how to find that happy balance between its satirical humor and serious moments in the story. At the end of the day, it still remembered that it was supposed to be fun first. That was my gripe with GTA IV back when I first played it: It wanted to be a little too realistic (and this is coming from someone who absolutely adores that game too!).
AND THAT DAMN BENJAMIN KING SPEECH.
I KNEW that I had to leave it in the video to play before resuming my own narration. Such a great performance, and the things that follow are awesome.
Wuuuuuu tangggg we always in the spotlittteeee
Just livin our liiiivesssss
I've put 100+ hours into Saints Row it's my comfort game play it twice a year for a few years now glad it's getting love.
I played it a lot back in middle school and when it came to writing this video, I knew I had to give it a lot of love since it was the kind of game I played over and over again due to not having many games at the time.
Thanks so much, man!
@@lunarnocturne me too I remember in sixth grade me an my friend at the time was laughing about "bounce like my cheeks did" and "Leave the Hoe" I had put so many people on Saints Row I hate they don't love the OG fans anymore. I've played all of them except "Gat out of Hell" and Saints Row(2022)
Lmao I admire the effort they put into commissioning RnB songs to make the world feel alive and to give Aisha's role in the world.
As for Volition, that's nasty work- what they did to this series. I understand that they didn't wanna be a clone of GTA, but shying away from the gangster bits and being afraid of what made them famous killed my faith in them.
Also, I'm definitely reviewing SR4 and Gat out of Hell. That's gonna be very interesting lmao.
@@lunarnocturne I'm so surprised they didn't let Sy Smith do another Aisha song in saints row 2 (unless I missed it). Would of been a perfect joke about how dead musicians always have new music
@@lunarnocturne also I hate that GTA Clone line that the gaming community use. I've never felt Saints Row was a clone of GTA. I think Bling Bling was in development before GTA San Andreas I've heard people say why play saints row if I can play GTA and I be like it's so different the customization the activities like man I Snatched, Fuzz, Insurance Fraud, the body guard one, the one when u drive the sex worker around with her jon in the back, fight club like shit was so damn fun. Even the city seeing stillwater evolve form 1 to 2.
How we go from that to weak ass Stillport and why they kill Johnny and Philippe so early. I rank them SR2, SR, SR4, SRTT I'll definitely watch your videos on all them games I love when the early series get love
Los Carnales is mostly based on norteos gangs fr Northern California and the counts u can tell by there clothes is more California north and Southsiders inspired and Vice kings are based on the Latin kings too
Yeah when it came to that section, I had trouble pinning down which gangs were based on whom based off of ethnicity, location, and colors.
And yeah Los Carnales absolutely SCREAMS SoCal gang too. Thanks for helping me clear that up.
Saints Row 1 has some of the best gangster talk Ive ever heard especially with Kings because they are voiced by Afrif Kichin Kenn Michael Nolan North and Grant Albrect it was absolutely hilarious compared to the Rollers and the Carnales although the police SWAT and FBI voice actors were great as well the pedestrians being raunchy sex addicts there is even unused dialogue for pedestrian reactions with many of them being absolutely brilliant I love how sexual the pedestrians of Saints Row 1 and 2 were
Yeah the slang in Saint's Row 1 felt genuine and more natural. Didn't like how they dialed it back a bit in SR2.
@LunarNocturne I think its because the street gangs were more professional in Saints Row 2 also someone uploaded the Samedi gang quotes and most of their dialogue is pretty accurate to Haitian gangs and were my favourite because they were closet to the Kings in addition to the Ronin speaking Japanese and speaking like a professional Yakuza organisation and I love how the Ronin members were former Rollers from the first game they were spoiled rich kids turned into spoiled rich adults which was pretty funny
Lol I live 45 minutes away from Champaign thats crazy
Friend of mine was about to attend college in Champaign and he was surprised to see the town make its way into my video.
Me watching this pauses video because watching made me wanna play again goes to microsoft store sees the game is on sale for $1.64 cents buys it! Score! 😂
Juicy
Thanks lmao
cant fuckin wait for the next part
I aim to deliver! Doing the research right now!
I can see why the mp3 player was removed from the sequel from a technical perspective the mp3 player was very glitchy with playlists and wound somehow create copies of the songs resulting in the game crashing especially on the original 360 console
Yeah anything in-game interacting with the UI of the console is bound to cause problems. Lucky for me I was never hit with any of these glitches, although I'd imagine myself going mad at hearing All Time Low 15 times in even after hitting Shuffle lmao
@lunarnocturne Saints Row 1 had a lot of technical problems but if you installed the game to the hard drive it stabilises the game I've always appreciated that install game to the built in hard drive feature as PlayStation never had this feature even the original xbox had the ability to install games to the hard drive unlike the PlayStation 2 which caused many ps2 games to have unstable gameplay unless you turned on 60hz mode on some games
Yeah I was in a hurry and didn't feel like installing the game to my 360.
Not helping is that this 360 is the 4GB model lol.
Always wondered why they feared retaliation from gangs in the city for making a video game Lmaoo
Funny enough, it was THQ that was scared of gang retaliation more than Volition themselves.
THQ was based in L.A County, which was infested with gang violence.
Volition, on the other hand, had nothing to worry about since their studio was in a college town 3 hours away from Chicago.
They still interviewed police officers and gang members when making the game though.
@@lunarnocturne yeah and being from LA, I know that gangs weren’t offended by being in video games. If anything, they loved the representation. The gang members I knew growing up, loved playing San Andreas and the first 2 Saints games because it spoke more to their lives than any other video game ever had. Saints Row even got the kudos over GTA for having the gang initiation
I do think that it's strange that THQ was scared about backlash from potential gang retaliation, when in reality it'd make more sense for someone to go after Volition
(Not that anyone would. Lol what gang member is gonna do that 3-hour drive to some preppy college town?).
Despite that, Volition did a really good job with shaping the world of Saint's Row 1 and adding in small details like jumping in new members (which I even commented on) and the slang of the time.
And yeah San Andreas perfectly captured the atmosphere of LA (and LA County) at the end of the Crack Epidemic.
@@lunarnocturne right lol either way. Great video. Keep up the great content🖤💯🙏🏽
Thanks so much man! I'm currently working on the Saint's Row 3 retrospective, so stay tuned for that!
I live in the capital of Illinois and I didn't even know they were in Champaign holy fuck
Yeah a close friend of mine who lived in Champaign had no idea Volition was even in town. Crazy what you find in your backyard.
Small nitpicky thing about the video. In the section going over the activities you didn't mention the rewards you get from them. Especially hitman you'll never have to buy guns again just finishing them early. Another thing is you claim making money is hard in the game when it really really isn't. Just do the activities and visit the crib every so often to change and you'll have way more money than you know what to do with.
Yeah it's one of my biggest regrets with this video- not expanding on the rewards you get from doing Hitman.
As for cash, yeah I could've handled my money better
What’s the song at the beginning
Song is called "Spotlite" by Mathematics. Has Wu Tang affiliates on it too.
I've beaten what goes up in one try before because I spammed the rocket launcher on the explosive barrels and plane in the mission
You're a better man than me, being able to survive all that while under pressure.
@lunarnocturne it's actually a very easy exploit not many players use because they always use the regular guns I've played Saints Row 1 and 2 every since I was a teenager so I'm pretty good at finding exploits to complete both missions and activities the only activities I never bothered with were hit man and chop shop as they were not levels but originally they would have been
@ChrisSealy1997 Man oh man, I remember doing that in a lot of games I owned when I was younger. That's the beauty of replaying games; getting to see how you can try out certain tricks on certain levels for future replays.
So if Playa "dies" in the final cutscene can you not get to walk around and do activities and get CD's?
Even after the final mission, you can still engage with the post-game, it's just that it'll take place before the bombing.
@@lunarnocturne That makes sense! But imagine how cool it would be to play as Zombie Playa!!
Lmao technically you can with the Zombie voice in SR3
Keith David is the best voice actor sgt foly da best
Sgt Foley was mad funny too lol
I know this is an old video but the reason that you didn't have a girl option I think it's because back then girls joining games with a whole different story you can look it up if you want but it wasn't like this
Wait there was an option to be a woman before the final game came out?
FBI ass Van 😂😂😂
Dude rented that whole-ass van just to stalk one woman lmao
WHAT A FUCKING KING.
DAMN STRAIGHT
I’d say SR2 is a masterpiece, SR1 isn’t. SR1 has some issues that make replaying it a pain, poor driving and shooting controls, only 1 crib plus the 3 enemy cribs you gain. No flying vehicles, some quality issues, terrible mission fail that makes you start all over. But the world and epic story make up for this as it’s still a great game. SR2 is a masterpiece as it fixes most of these issues but still keeps the closest to the gangster roots of the series.
I'd say that Saint's Row 1 did a great job at laying the groundwork for the excellent gameplay and features we'd come to see in Saint's Row 2. SR2 fixed a helluva lot of issues, chief among them being the lack of checkpoints.
@@lunarnocturne Agreed, I play SR 1 with mods anyway so I don't deal with too many of the major issues. But for it's issues it's still a great game I love replaying. For SR 1 and 2 since I play with cheats active I actually do something whenever I replay them, I keep a couple main saves for certain points of the game, after the prologues I basically did all the activities enough unlocking the things I wanted, getting enough respect so I could blitz straight through all the story missions, and got myself all the car anc character cosmetics I'd stick with, so no more activity grinding. I just load up from this state, replay the prologue missions with the mission replay function, then go through the story, Man these games are so awesome when you binge them, in fact I'm actually goign to do that right now over the weekend. I hate teh reboot but I have at least found some fun with the general gameplay thanks to using cheats, a few things I'd liek them to update the game with before shelving future development (Seems very likely with no new updates for months and Volition gone.) I'd love them to fix the "Valet Parking" cheat so it spawns your ca with the customizations active. The vehicle epair cheat to also fix your cosmetic damage or just add a vehicle no damage cheat like SR 3 has. And either add mission replay, or a New Game Plus kind of thing where you can keep most of your unlocks as best as they can make it. And also add some kind of Larping activity liek things to do at the Dustfaire or enemy House fort assaults, or random enemy House attacks, maybe add a Larp mode switch, all this for those who do like the Larping. Also modding tools like being able to edit enemy spawn chances or swaping NPC models. Just make it so that people can see what they can do to customize the game on PC how they want, maybe it will make it more popular on PC at least.
And the Saints are inspired by gangs like the GDs and Almighty Saints and just Disciple gangs frm Chicago too
That's one of my biggest regrets with this video, not speculating on whom the Saints could be based off of.
@@lunarnocturne it just make since there in Illinois and the Chicago gang wars spread outside Chicago in the 80s and 90s in places like Joliet Illinois it just makes since
Why does nobody remember the online gangs
Are you talking about the online mode? I remember playing a little bit of SR2's online, but never got to play the online of SR1.
considering how good the story of the first two saints row games are when put together, it makes me even more sad that i cant play the first half of it with a female character :/
is there a mod maybe?
Sadly SR1 is unmoddable.
It would've been nice for them to have had the option to play as a female character.
I remember one commentator joking that the reason why Boss in SR2 is a woman is because the boat explosion was so bad that it changed their gender lmao.
@@lunarnocturne tragiiic. It would’ve been nice but oh well at least you can in 2, it’s one of my favorite childhood games loool
And lmao that would make characters’ nonchalance about it so funny like “you look different you do something with your hair?” 💀
@@Echooooo333
They must've realized by the second game how dope playing as a chick would be; plus having that as an option wouldn't make it less alienating.
The nonchalance will always get a laugh from me when you decide to take on SR2 as a chick lol.
@@lunarnocturne I’m just glad to have an open world crime game with a playable female main character tbh
Her being a customizable relentless borderline unlikable sociopath with some depth and background is also super refreshing. Like, how is SR2 from 2008 loool
I am interested in seeing how GTA VI will handle a pre-made female protagonist in the open-world crime genre, as opposed to one that's character created.
Where is my pokemon game
Doomed to eternal development hell.
One thing your video did, maybe inadvertently, is showcase how banging the hip hop in this game is. Ppl think later Saints Row games have better soundtracks, and maybe they do, but the hip hop in this game is top notch. Plenty of WuTang+affiliates and underground icons like R.A. the Rugged Man. Aisha was hella overplayed though, "Bounce Like My Checks" played on all three hiphop stations.
Anyway, great video man. I made sure to subscribe and I'm looking forward to future entries (checking out your video for Saints Row 2 tomorrow).
Oh trust me, I made sure to showcase a lot of the hip-hop and rap songs from this game stand out. The sound team did a great job picking a lot of underground artists instead of just haphazardly choosing artists that were popular at the time (save for Twista and Three Six Mafia lol).
And yeah I can tell some members of Volition are huge Wu Tang fans too.
Good lord, I've lost count of the number of times where I'll tune into Kronic, KRhyme, and Sizzurp, only for all 3 stations to be playing Aisha. Thankfully stations like Faction and GenX exist, so I wouldn't be screwed out of a listening experience.
Aisha should've stayed on KRhyme, so annoying.
Also thank you so much for the love. Glad that you enjoyed the music in this video and I'm glad there was someone I could discuss it with!
Thank you so much for the comment and I hope you enjoy the Saint's Row 2 vid!
Lemme know whatchu think on that one!