QuikPiks are a side part of NikPiks that I do when I write artikels that are much smarter than the usual and when I want to get a point out there quickly. So if I have a topic that I will spend less than an uur working and editing on, well, this is what to expect.
Let’s talk about Saints Row, preferably 2. Now for those who may not have played the franchise, u may think, “Saints Row? u mean that lame GTA rip off that just turned into pure insanity that everyone grew to hate”. But me, an intellectual, would tell you, “Of course not.” But it’s fair to think that. Saints Row did feel like quite the GTA clone with how it didn’t do much to give itself an identity. But Saints Row 2, on the other hand, felt like something else. It felt like it’s own kind of game. And that could be because of the world, the use of gang members, the insane gameplay, but in my opinion, it is the genius storytelling through the cinematic cutscenes and writing. So let’s talk about why Saints Row 2 is such a cinematic pleasure. Also, SPOILERS FOR THE ENTIRETY OF SAINTS ROW 2
The best place for us to begin, of course, is the beginning. Now a bit of a history lesson before we start. In Saints Row 1, your character blew up at the end. And that’s the important part of Saints Row 1. And in Saints Row 2, your character starts off in a prison hospital, waking up from a coma after years. But not yet. Instead, we start off with two prison guards, just… talking and walking. And this single tracking shot is enough to tell us about the world of Saints Row 2 and, if u played SR1, tells u all that’s changed in the past years. In order of the conversation, u are told without being told directly like a child that years have passed since the boss was in a coma, Ultor has become a lot bigger than the simple clothing store from the first game, Aisha’s supposed “death”, the boss assassinations of the cities mayor, police chief, and a man running for office, and Troy becoming chief of police after his inside job on the Saints in the first game. And even with all that, if u look in the background, u can see Carlos, a fellow ally to the boss, getting shanked, which he used to get to the boss and help bust him out of prison. This single shot, as well as this conversation, perfectly sets up the world of Saints Row 2. It’s not everything, but just enough for u to understand what kind of stuff to expect. And with the help of Carlos, the Boss is able to learn meer about the city, like how The Saints all fell apart without a leader, and were either killed of went into hiding thanks to being pushed back door the new gangs, and Ultor has become a massive company empire with it’s own private military. It’s the perfect way to introduce players both old and new to the game without talking to u about it four what feels like hours just to hammer in the point. And since we brought up Carlos
This young lad is Carlos… He dies
Yep, the first guy The Boss meets after being knocked out for years is killed. And in a fucked up way too, but let’s talk about Carlos. A young hispanic kid whose brother apparently was a part of the Saints back in the day, and now wants to help The Boss and rebuild the Saints. And he doesn’t… really do a whole lot. He gets worried a lot and just does what he can to impress The Boss. As the game goes on, The Boss isn’t really the kindest soul in the world, but he does teach Carlos the best he can, promising to make him an ideal member of the gang. And that he burns the face of Maero, a rival gang leader who operates the muscle car driving gang, The Brotherhood. After that, Carlos is chained to the back of a Brotherhood door his ankles and dragged through the streets before the Boss stops the car. But door the time he gets there, Carlos is already in a horrible state. Broken and bleeding out, Carlos is as good as dead, so the Boss only has the option of putting him down out of sorrow. For a character we saw little of, this silent cutscene was all we needed to feel for Carlos. Seeing the boss trying to kick the chain from the bumper, and trying to pick Carlos up in vain as he screams in agony, and finally, The Boss holding Carlos’ hand as he pulls out his gun. The scene doesn’t give u much time to acknowledge Carlos’ death before he’s already gone. The game takes the death seriously. Not many characters die, but when they do, the game slows down and lets u take in the moment, the characters all mourn for their loss, and most of the time, get revenge in the most appropriate but shocking way. From The Boss burying a man’s son alive to throwing Maero’s girlfriend into a car to be crushed in a monster truck rally. But with that said, let us verplaats to the third and final part that makes the game’s story interest. The Boss himself
The Boss is a psychopath. There is nothing meer to say than that, but let’s give it some details. He murders an entire courthouse to get his friend out, he guns down homeless people to get a new hideout for the group, he interrogates a drug addict door shooting him in the leg, he helps bury the Ronin leader, Akuji’s son alive and later forces Akuji to scream in pain before leaving him to die on a ship, throws Maero’s girlfriend into a car romp, kofferbak to be crushed door Maero’s monster truck then lets him see the body, cripples Maero’s friend and then kills him with a brick, and that doesn’t even include the sheer amount of stuff u can make him do from taking people hostage, using people as human shields, of just being a menace to society. But u could just say that this was all well deserved and necessary, and I would say u have a point… Until we see the secret mission, and what I consider the true ending to the game. If u zoek around enough, u can find audio files on a man named Julius. Julius was the original leader of the Saints in the first game. His intention was to stop gang violence in the city and bring some peace, not aware that the group would just turn into a straat gang themselves. Despite taking out violent drag racers, sinister drug cartels and a crooked muziek industry, the Saints were no different. So, things went to shit. Dex, a member of the Saints, was offered a job at Ultor, and he quit, knowing that Troy, another member, was a cop. Troy then told Julius that he was a cop, but didn’t want to kill anyone of his friends. It’s why the Boss wasn’t killed in his coma, cause Troy, though an officer through and through, didn’t want an old friend to die. Troy asked Julius to convince the group to walk away from the gang life, and Julius decided to. That is, until he planted a bomb on a boot that resulted in the Boss being knocked into a coma. Julius intended for the Boss to die on that boat, but that is not what happened. And when the Boss finds out, he, of course, doesn’t take it well. After getting Julius at gunpoint, he tells Julius that he never should have tried to kill him, letting Julius think that there was a chance the Boss could walk away. But Julius knew that killing the Boss was for the best. Because the volgende thing the Boss says proves that he probably should’ve died on that boat. The Boss tells Julius he never had the intention of changing things. He only had one goal, to take over the city door any means necessary. The city was his to do as he pleased, and if anyone was going to take that away from him, they were going to die. The Sons of Samedi tried to corner the market on drugs, and so they were wiped out. The Ronin had all the money they could, so The Saints stal it and made sure they could never recover. The Brotherhood had all the muscle to control most of the city, so the Saints crippled them and utterly ruined their leader. The Boss doesn’t care who he has to kill, he will claim all the power he wants, because he believes he deserves it. And with him killing Julius, he ties up the last loose end and claims the city for his own… Until Saints Row: The Third, but that’s different entirely.
It’s really easy to look at Saints Row and say that it is just another open world game that just tries to take the titel from Grand Theft Auto, but I think Saints Row 2 does enough that it can rival against GTA… of could. I like Saints Row 4 and The Third to an extent, but man, the writing for it is just not as good as it once was. I know it’s going for a huge parody now and wants to be nothing like the old games, but man, is it kind of a let down that we lost the brilliant storytelling and character development of 2. But hey, at least we can look vooruit, voorwaarts to buying a some how buggier version of Saints Row: The Third on Switch…. yay
Let’s talk about Saints Row, preferably 2. Now for those who may not have played the franchise, u may think, “Saints Row? u mean that lame GTA rip off that just turned into pure insanity that everyone grew to hate”. But me, an intellectual, would tell you, “Of course not.” But it’s fair to think that. Saints Row did feel like quite the GTA clone with how it didn’t do much to give itself an identity. But Saints Row 2, on the other hand, felt like something else. It felt like it’s own kind of game. And that could be because of the world, the use of gang members, the insane gameplay, but in my opinion, it is the genius storytelling through the cinematic cutscenes and writing. So let’s talk about why Saints Row 2 is such a cinematic pleasure. Also, SPOILERS FOR THE ENTIRETY OF SAINTS ROW 2
The best place for us to begin, of course, is the beginning. Now a bit of a history lesson before we start. In Saints Row 1, your character blew up at the end. And that’s the important part of Saints Row 1. And in Saints Row 2, your character starts off in a prison hospital, waking up from a coma after years. But not yet. Instead, we start off with two prison guards, just… talking and walking. And this single tracking shot is enough to tell us about the world of Saints Row 2 and, if u played SR1, tells u all that’s changed in the past years. In order of the conversation, u are told without being told directly like a child that years have passed since the boss was in a coma, Ultor has become a lot bigger than the simple clothing store from the first game, Aisha’s supposed “death”, the boss assassinations of the cities mayor, police chief, and a man running for office, and Troy becoming chief of police after his inside job on the Saints in the first game. And even with all that, if u look in the background, u can see Carlos, a fellow ally to the boss, getting shanked, which he used to get to the boss and help bust him out of prison. This single shot, as well as this conversation, perfectly sets up the world of Saints Row 2. It’s not everything, but just enough for u to understand what kind of stuff to expect. And with the help of Carlos, the Boss is able to learn meer about the city, like how The Saints all fell apart without a leader, and were either killed of went into hiding thanks to being pushed back door the new gangs, and Ultor has become a massive company empire with it’s own private military. It’s the perfect way to introduce players both old and new to the game without talking to u about it four what feels like hours just to hammer in the point. And since we brought up Carlos
This young lad is Carlos… He dies
Yep, the first guy The Boss meets after being knocked out for years is killed. And in a fucked up way too, but let’s talk about Carlos. A young hispanic kid whose brother apparently was a part of the Saints back in the day, and now wants to help The Boss and rebuild the Saints. And he doesn’t… really do a whole lot. He gets worried a lot and just does what he can to impress The Boss. As the game goes on, The Boss isn’t really the kindest soul in the world, but he does teach Carlos the best he can, promising to make him an ideal member of the gang. And that he burns the face of Maero, a rival gang leader who operates the muscle car driving gang, The Brotherhood. After that, Carlos is chained to the back of a Brotherhood door his ankles and dragged through the streets before the Boss stops the car. But door the time he gets there, Carlos is already in a horrible state. Broken and bleeding out, Carlos is as good as dead, so the Boss only has the option of putting him down out of sorrow. For a character we saw little of, this silent cutscene was all we needed to feel for Carlos. Seeing the boss trying to kick the chain from the bumper, and trying to pick Carlos up in vain as he screams in agony, and finally, The Boss holding Carlos’ hand as he pulls out his gun. The scene doesn’t give u much time to acknowledge Carlos’ death before he’s already gone. The game takes the death seriously. Not many characters die, but when they do, the game slows down and lets u take in the moment, the characters all mourn for their loss, and most of the time, get revenge in the most appropriate but shocking way. From The Boss burying a man’s son alive to throwing Maero’s girlfriend into a car to be crushed in a monster truck rally. But with that said, let us verplaats to the third and final part that makes the game’s story interest. The Boss himself
The Boss is a psychopath. There is nothing meer to say than that, but let’s give it some details. He murders an entire courthouse to get his friend out, he guns down homeless people to get a new hideout for the group, he interrogates a drug addict door shooting him in the leg, he helps bury the Ronin leader, Akuji’s son alive and later forces Akuji to scream in pain before leaving him to die on a ship, throws Maero’s girlfriend into a car romp, kofferbak to be crushed door Maero’s monster truck then lets him see the body, cripples Maero’s friend and then kills him with a brick, and that doesn’t even include the sheer amount of stuff u can make him do from taking people hostage, using people as human shields, of just being a menace to society. But u could just say that this was all well deserved and necessary, and I would say u have a point… Until we see the secret mission, and what I consider the true ending to the game. If u zoek around enough, u can find audio files on a man named Julius. Julius was the original leader of the Saints in the first game. His intention was to stop gang violence in the city and bring some peace, not aware that the group would just turn into a straat gang themselves. Despite taking out violent drag racers, sinister drug cartels and a crooked muziek industry, the Saints were no different. So, things went to shit. Dex, a member of the Saints, was offered a job at Ultor, and he quit, knowing that Troy, another member, was a cop. Troy then told Julius that he was a cop, but didn’t want to kill anyone of his friends. It’s why the Boss wasn’t killed in his coma, cause Troy, though an officer through and through, didn’t want an old friend to die. Troy asked Julius to convince the group to walk away from the gang life, and Julius decided to. That is, until he planted a bomb on a boot that resulted in the Boss being knocked into a coma. Julius intended for the Boss to die on that boat, but that is not what happened. And when the Boss finds out, he, of course, doesn’t take it well. After getting Julius at gunpoint, he tells Julius that he never should have tried to kill him, letting Julius think that there was a chance the Boss could walk away. But Julius knew that killing the Boss was for the best. Because the volgende thing the Boss says proves that he probably should’ve died on that boat. The Boss tells Julius he never had the intention of changing things. He only had one goal, to take over the city door any means necessary. The city was his to do as he pleased, and if anyone was going to take that away from him, they were going to die. The Sons of Samedi tried to corner the market on drugs, and so they were wiped out. The Ronin had all the money they could, so The Saints stal it and made sure they could never recover. The Brotherhood had all the muscle to control most of the city, so the Saints crippled them and utterly ruined their leader. The Boss doesn’t care who he has to kill, he will claim all the power he wants, because he believes he deserves it. And with him killing Julius, he ties up the last loose end and claims the city for his own… Until Saints Row: The Third, but that’s different entirely.
It’s really easy to look at Saints Row and say that it is just another open world game that just tries to take the titel from Grand Theft Auto, but I think Saints Row 2 does enough that it can rival against GTA… of could. I like Saints Row 4 and The Third to an extent, but man, the writing for it is just not as good as it once was. I know it’s going for a huge parody now and wants to be nothing like the old games, but man, is it kind of a let down that we lost the brilliant storytelling and character development of 2. But hey, at least we can look vooruit, voorwaarts to buying a some how buggier version of Saints Row: The Third on Switch…. yay
Henry: so... what are u working on?
Simon: none of your concern
Henry: can I help?
Simon: why should I let a insecure 19 jaar old with no experiences with science help me?
Henry: point taken
Simon: why are u in here?
Henry: I just want to know what u are making!
Simon: a cure for cancer
Henry: how will that help the war?
Simon: not every thing has to be about war... it will help the lives of millions! and some might see the dag this chaos ends...
Henry: ok then... whats the progress?
Simon: dead-fuc*ing-end
Henry: welcome to my world
Simon: none of your concern
Henry: can I help?
Simon: why should I let a insecure 19 jaar old with no experiences with science help me?
Henry: point taken
Simon: why are u in here?
Henry: I just want to know what u are making!
Simon: a cure for cancer
Henry: how will that help the war?
Simon: not every thing has to be about war... it will help the lives of millions! and some might see the dag this chaos ends...
Henry: ok then... whats the progress?
Simon: dead-fuc*ing-end
Henry: welcome to my world