On Saints Row 3 and it's pared down character creator

[everythingbeeps]

I saw it stated somewhere (think there was even a link provided, but I didn't go to it) that Volition stated that the outfits in the Initiation Station constitute about 80% of what's available in the full game.

Are they available in piecemeal setups? If so, then I'll be happy.

The outfits? Most of them, I think. As has been stated, there's fewer "layers", but top, bottom, and shoes are all still different pieces, and you can mix and match from at least most outfits.

 

[SageRuffin]

The outfits? Most of them, I think. As has been stated, there's fewer "layers", but top, bottom, and shoes are all still different pieces, and you can mix and match from at least most outfits.

You know what? I'm cool with this.

 

[distortedreality]

I've just been watching some vids, and while there may be less layers, it actually seems like you can possibly do more with the character creator this time around. I think for most people, it will be more than enough.

It may not be up to the APB level, but it still looks fairly impressive from what i've seen.

 

[SweetLiquidSnake]

Oh lord people... they're not going to release absolutely every feature before the games even released... remember in SR2 the fighting styles and some taunts were only unlocked after a certain level? Remember when you started in nothing but a convict outfit and had to, you know, BUY clothes later on??

Calm down, and if Nov. 15th comes along and I'm wrong then come back here and then complain...

 

[Post Tenebrae Morte]

I have a piece of information for the doubters:
Burt Reynolds is the police chief/sheriff of Steelport, in this game, voiced by Burt Reynolds.

That is all.

 

[WolfThomas]

Although the British voice doesn't sound right to me, it's to gravely or something.

They've got a new actor I believe, he actually seems to flip between a British and an Australian accent at times.

 

[MrGalactus]

everyone is worried that as the new iteration doesnt allow for the same degree of customisation that it won't foster the same level emotional attachment, one of things to me at least that made the last game.

I disagree. It's only the clothes that have changed, you can still go all-out with the face. I am already thinging of ways to link up my Saints Row 2 RP to a Saints Row 3 RP consistently within my own Narrative. I think it works fine still.

 

[Therumancer]

I like meticulously editing my character so that he/she comes out exactly how I like, but I'd debate that the little Imagination Station is just a taste of the customizing options. I'm assuming you'll still be able to visit and buy new stores and whatnot throughout the game, so I'm not worried about it.

And if can't... well, shit.

Well, from some of the things I'm hearing it's a pretty comprehensive version of the character creation/customization. Apparently it has everything in it, but you only start with the one outfit. The other stuff you can buy as the game goes on if you want to have more than one costume for your character or whatever.

That said, I find this entire thing very annoying, as character customization was a big part of the game for me as well, and one of the things that caused me to lionize it over Grand Theft Auto, and use it as a "go to" example for other games to learn from when it came to options in creating a player avatar. To see them simply abandoning this aspect of the game this way has seriously irked me.

Right now I'm in an odd place, when you see companies removing character customization options from characters it's usually not something that comes back, games generally have this trend of moving to "less stuff" and then not coming back, when the options stop increasing it's a bad time.

I've been toying with cancelling my pre-order and not getting this game on initial release as I find more out about this aspect of the game. My concern is that if I support what they have done here, it will encourage them to take the easy path in the future and cut out customization options rather than finding a way to work with them. After all their reason seems to be about having trouble making the game perform to the level they want with the same level of customization of the previous title, instead of finding a way, they decided to gimp one of the most major aspects of the game. With the storyline started with SR1 kind of running out of places to go, what should we expect from SR4? A pre-made GTA-type character with half a dozen predetermined costume options?

The reason why I haven't is because I figure if I cancel, and others do as well, then that could kill the series entirely, which would be counter productive. If the game doesn't sell, or has it's sales hurt, that tends to lead to cancellation rather than improvement.

Tattoos, underwear, shirts, coats, jewelery, all of those things should be in the game.

By some accounts 16-20 hour playtime, combined with limited customization, I don't know... WTF happened with this series. I'm wondering if maybe their failings with the Red Faction titles (which underperformed apparently) lead to this game getting cut down, or rushed out due to them needing to make some money fast to prove themselves to their publishers.

Right now my big concern is that this game is basically going to be SR2 with better graphics, but less actual content.

I guess we'll see what happens when I actually have it, but I'll say it right now, if this game is what I fear it's going to be, the odds of me continueing to support this franchise will be going down. Even if the release is in a little over a week, my advice is that if what I'm saying is even close to what this product is like they might want to hold off on the release for a few months and get a worthy sequel out then, than a half-hearted cash grab now, because I tend not to forgive companies easily, a series usually only gets me to waste $60 once.

 

[WolfThomas]

everyone is worried that as the new iteration doesnt allow for the same degree of customisation that it won't foster the same level emotional attachment, one of things to me at least that made the last game.

I disagree. It's only the clothes that have changed, you can still go all-out with the face. I am already thinging of ways to link up my Saints Row 2 RP to a Saints Row 3 RP consistently within my own Narrative. I think it works fine still.

I agree with this faces are even better, with all the added stuff you can do like with scars and eyes. As for the clothes, yes there is less choice with layering removed but there is still a lot of variation and most clothing looks superior to the previous games in terms of details.

 

[Kuroji]

Being someone who loves customisation in games (that alone has sold me a fair chunk of my game library after all- including the first 2 SR games), I was slightly dissapointed by the options from the Initiation Station. Loosing both layers and wear options cuts out one of my favourite parts from the previous games - ie, obsessing over making my character look exactly how I want (though I do realise I like above and beyond what most people do when it comes down to this).

My biggest issue is my guy can't still use his voice from the last game. A strong accent, and occasional outbursts in spanish suddenly swapping to generic American.. Bleh. Maybe I'll just go for zombie.

If it were any other series, I'd be thrilled with it; the only reason I'm a little let down is because the previous games were more extensive. That said, there are still plenty of options, so ultimately I'll still be happy.

 

[BehattedWanderer]

Well, it's not as in depth, and even playing with the creator for three hours, I was hardly satisfied with the result. Hair was a problem, between lack of colors, styles, and, in the case of facial hair, substance (it's a texture! The hell is that?). I loved the second game, in part because this was a protagonist that was molded by me, completely. I picked his taste in taunts, in beverage, in clothes, in sporting events, in women, in footwear...There were things about him that were more than any other character has been for me. His choice in shirts and jackets always left me thinking he enjoys wearing two layers, regardless of temperature. his choice in hair, of being purple and blue, was a bizarre twist of fun that worked well with his sense of the theatrical, which is why he would occasionally dress up in ridiculous outfits--be it gladiator, hazmat, pirate, or cheerleader. Outfits themselves are fine, but lacking the ability to spend five minutes customizing any piece of clothing will definitely be missed.

Beyond that, I miss the idea of balance, or careful imbalance. Some of the piercings/tattoo effects were limited to specific places, whereas before each location had it's own variant of most of the products. This isn't even mentioning that before I could customize patterns in ways that mimic things that are real. I actually own one of the hats he wore in SR2, in all of it's Red white and green plaid glory. And the two hats, in game and in life, looked identical.

I appreciate what Volition has done to improve the game, but I'm waiting to see if it's worth the loss of lovingly tweaking the style of my own little psychopath.

Hopefully, I'll be able to give him that same happy-go-fuck-yourself grin that he had last time...

 

[Rack]

As a trade-off I'm happy with it, but then I'm not the kind of perso who'd download the character creator ahead of release. I imagine that's the cause, people are downloading the demo and seeing the only thing in it is a step backwards.

 

[Vault101]

I'm someone who spent a LOT of my time in SR2 customizing my character. Driving around to stores to buy clothes, dashing off to the plastic surgeon every half hour to tweak one little thing, and just generally spending an idiotic amount of time with my character's appearance.

So yeah, I was pretty disappointed that SR3 took a step back.

However, SR3 still has a lot of customization options. It's got less than SR2, but more than most other games. So that counts for something, I think.

There's one thing I don't yet know about the game (I've been mostly avoiding previews); is the player-character in SR3 the same as the character in the previous two? Or is it a new character?

Because if it's the same, I'm gonna be pretty disappointed that we can't import our characters from SR2, at least their faces.

as far as I know its the same person..."the boss" hasnt died or gone anywhere

the idea is that the PC can be anyone or anything...they just set a different "promotion" look..who happens to look alot like gat

 

[The Wykydtron]

All I know is that there was a hairstyle called "Anime" I had to take it upon myself to base my first character around that hairstyle...

It was glorious

More on topic i noticed that there were less options, but to be honest i stopped caring once i was creating my masterful headphones and trenchcoat wearing anime guy

Bottom line less options but there's still enough to go on

 

[Rednog]

My biggest problem with the character creator is that I can't recreate my character from the 2nd game, it just feels weird that I'm going to be playing a different looking boss. The thing that sold me on saints row was dressing up my guy in a large purple trench coat with a giant purple and black sombrero. Seriously the cut-scenes made me laugh so hard that I almost crapped myself. And now there is no sombrero and no real trench coat, the one with those bullet holders just looks stupid.

 

[Smooth Operator]

The issue is quite simple, they are taking a step back technically... you already figured this shit out so why would you do that?

Customization is not something I care about but when working systems are skipped over for the sake of a quick production it irks me and it uber irks me when they then call it progress.

 

[Togs]

The issue is quite simple, they are taking a step back technically... you already figured this shit out so why would you do that?

Customization is not something I care about but when working systems are skipped over for the sake of a quick production it irks me and it uber irks me when they then call it progress.

Did you actually read my post or are you just here for a rant?- progress has made as a new engine was developed that enabled greater graphical fidelity and enhanced performance (e.g. more dudes on screen at once) but it has happened at the cost of some of the customisation, my point was that it may not be the end of the world like a lot people are crying that is.

 

[distortedreality]

After playing around with the Initiation Station for the past few hours, and checking out what other people have done in the community gallery, i'm putting my hat on the "i'm happy with it" pile.

Is a crap load of fun, with a ton of options, and a lot of room for creativity. So far i've seen replicas of Geralt, 47, the Hulk, Gordon Freeman, the Joker, and Abraham Lincoln. Great stuff.

 

[Smertnik]

I'm very content with the character creation. There're less clothing options, true, but the clothes looks far better than anything in SR2. The only thing that I don't like is the lack of normal glasses.

 

[SoopaSte123]

Even though Saints Row 2 had such in-depth character creation and customization, I never made a character I was happy with. I ended up making a fat brit with a goofy face and dressed him up in the goofiest gear I could find.

So, I pretty much just suck at character customization. I can understand why people would be upset about SR3's reduced customization, but it doesn't affect me much.