gmlawton | Cheerful Ghost

If you're gonna play Saints Row, don't neglect SR2

I got SR2 with the Humble Deep Silver Bundle, and I'm really enjoying playing it concurrently with Saints Row the Third. While the Third is awesome and whacky, and self-aware and all in all a completely different game than SR2, I actually think that there are some things that 2 does a lot better than The Third.

For example, the setting is way more varied. From trailer-parks to suburbs to the big city to the college district to a beachy area... I don't get the same feeling of driving around a living city in 3. I don't know how the actual areas compare, but Stilwater's variety makes it seem like a much larger place than Steelport.

And really, you're going for a more absurdist take on Saint's Row, and they took out those whacky french fry cars?

Also, if you're playing 3 without playing 2, you're missing out on a lot of great inside humor.

P.S. there is a distinct lack of Michael Dorn in Saints Row the Third.

Really Cool Exercise in Atmospheric Story Telling

First of all, If you haven't played it, don't read about it, because there's not much to it, and the coolest thing about it is really putting together the pieces of the story yourself.
Just play it!

Revisited, it's easy, but still pretty fun.

If you're unfamiliar, it's an arpg where you're collecting the Armor of God, and your main method of self-defence is throwing fruit (of the spirit, which is also literal fruit).

It could be nostalgia, but the character of the game is really unique. I used to play this game more or less daily when I was pretty young, but never beat it due to there being no save function. Say what you want about production values, but it's pretty unique.

jdodson Admin wrote on 12/15/2012 at 03:39am

My parents picked this up for me when I was a lad. Surprised me because I had never heard of it before and the cartridge is shaped funny. That said, I played it and loved every second of it. I memorized all the questions as well.

Since it had a save feature, I did finally beat it but it took some doing. You get the Sword of the Spirit and then you have enough firepower to go to the Hell stage. If memory serves the entrance to hell was in two places? It was always pretty fun to go to Hell and kill the Devil, I think thats why when Doom came out later I was so into it.

gmlawton Post Author wrote on 12/15/2012 at 11:21am

I think the questions section planted a seed that eventually became my obsession with bowties...

After weeks of playing it, I finally found the password system, but the 20 character-alpha-numeric-case-sensitive passwords were impenetrable to me at the time. I only ever got as far as the airport. Not that I died at the airport, but it was just that I had been playing for what seemed like hours at that point, and I simply could not go on.

Playing through this time, there was magic in getting past where I had ever been, and seeing things I had only ever imagined, like Samson's Jawbone and the boots and whatnot.

I love the idea of this being a spiritual predecessor to doom! Thinking back, it was somewhat interesting how you're in this utterly normal world (park, city, houses...) and there are demons, and devil dogs that slowly work their way in...

Timogorgon Member wrote on 12/15/2012 at 05:35pm

I'm kind of surprised how many people know about this game. I thought my cousins and I were the only ones!

The game is actually pretty good for being kind of a Zelda clone. The banana was my weapon of choice if I remember correctly. :)

jdodson Admin wrote on 12/16/2012 at 12:02am

@gmlawton: The password system was ridiculous for sure but somehow I was able to navigate it, but sometimes I wrote it down wrong clearing my progress. Samson's Jawbone is a great item, my other fav was the vial of God's truth. But the most OP item of all was the Sword of the Spirit, after you get that its basically "Game Over" for the Devil.

@whiteboyslim: The Banana was the first weapon(if memory serves) that was fast AND went all the way across the screen. If was a front runner to the Sword of the Spirit but when the Sword hit, it blew up with a radius of two "truth bombs."

Did you both find all the hearts in the game?

Travis Admin wrote on 12/16/2012 at 02:23am

I only know of this game because of the AVGN review of all the different bible games. That said, I did buy Bible Adventures a few years back, and it's just as bad as AVGN says.

gmlawton Post Author wrote on 12/16/2012 at 02:50am

The banana was great to find if I recall, you're in the hotels and you talk to this old guy that says something about patience, and if you stand still like 30 secs, a wall moves and that's where you find it!

jdodson Admin wrote on 12/16/2012 at 05:04am

@gmlawton: I think you might be right about that. How many pears did you find? Or... Well there was a fruit weapon you could get that you could get 4 of, grapes or pears... I don't remember.

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gmlawton323

3 Posts

If you're gonna play Saints Row, don't neglect SR2

Really Cool Exercise in Atmospheric Story Telling

Revisited, it's easy, but still pretty fun.