Get a bunch of Saints Row and Red Faction in this Humble Bundle

Quoting: GuestIt doesn't include Saints Row (2022). Good!

I've always found it a bit weird that people feel the need to publicly dunk on a game they don't like. Is it just for social media clout? There are tons of games I don't like, but I don't go around saying, "No Dark Souls. Good!" or "No GTA V. Good!" It just seems a bit odd.

Quoting: melkemind

Quoting: GuestIt doesn't include Saints Row (2022). Good!

I've always found it a bit weird that people feel the need to publicly dunk on a game they don't like. Is it just for social media clout? There are tons of games I don't like, but I don't go around saying, "No Dark Souls. Good!" or "No GTA V. Good!" It just seems a bit odd.

Reasoning could be the same for publicly saying you like a game.
Why is it bad to say you don't like a game but it's good to say you like another one?
At the end of the day, both are unsolicited opinions for the rest of us reading them.

In this game's case, there might be the occasional asshole claiming the reboot is "too woke", but honestly, it's probably just because it's a reboot. Reboots are very rarely loved. Doesn't help this game ended up being a bit of a car crash, with poor writing, hit and miss humour, a host of bugs and a comic/hero art style which was a big shift away from the originals.

I'm not very invested in SR. Played SR4 the most and it was... okay.

I beat Saints Row 1 & 2 on the 360 back in 2017. I liked the first game the most. The second was fine, but I didn't like the personality of the characters so much.

Next I then started playing SR3 on PC, but I was feeling kind of burnt out on these types of games at that point and stopped playing after sinking a few hours into it.

It didn't help matters that SR3 seemed to be the point where everything went a bit too goofy. It was like a different game series in many respects. For example, I vaguely recall that you would get points in SR3 for running over pedestrians, which wasn't a thing in the prior games. Perhaps it was taking inspiration from Postal or something.

Then a while back I purchased a 6900 XT and got the Saints Row remake included as a freebie pre-order. Very disappointing that it only came out on Epic Store at first, when I already had all of the other games on Steam by that point through various bundles and sales.

Mechanically, the driving and all of the jank in the remake felt just like the first two SR games, just with a much higher resolution and frame rate (which is not great given the huge time span between them). Unlike a lot of people, I could kind of look past that (particularly since I didn't drop any extra money to get it), but it really highlighted the importance of having good characters and story writing in modern titles. Once again, I stopped playing the remake and left it unfinished. Perhaps I'll get back to it one day since I'm probably 75% of the way through it, but it's not a game that I feel excited for.

Side-rant: I have a theory that every 3rd party game with a relatively big budget that is released on the Epic Store as a timed exclusive, is going to be a game that the developers don't think will sell. Alan Wake 2, Dead Island 2, Skull and Bones, Goat Simulator 3, a bunch of games I've never heard of (presumably not AAA), and Saints Row remastered... why bother putting a game on Steam and giving it the most eyes and promotion if it's not going to sell anyway?

I'm not saying that these games are all bad, just that the developers or publishers seem to have no faith in them. In the case of the Saints Row remake, the reasons are especially obvious.

I especially find it disrespectful to fans that purchased other games in the franchise on Steam — or in the case of games like Dead Island and Dead Island Riptide, physical boxes that included codes for Steam activation. I also think that being EGS exclusive angers enough people that it can become a self-fulfilling prophecy that game sales won't be great.

Copped this bundle

Good thing that I only have one of the games listed already in my library but don't mind padding it some more. Thanks, Liam


Last edited by ToddL on 14 March 2024 at 5:19 am UTC

Quoting: boltronicswhy bother putting a game on Steam and giving it the most eyes and promotion if it's not going to sell anyway?

Because it's going sell anyways once you get to Steam. Being Epic exclusive, assuming your game is good, is just free money while you sort out bugs and prepare for a second release cycle on Steam. Let's not forget that Hades was an Epic exclusive, after all.

The only issue is that Epic is a marketing blackhole, as they say, so if your game isn't good then it's just going to get forgotten. If it's good though? Might as well get the free money because people are hyped for when you release on Steam anyways.

Quoting: fenglengshunBecause it's going sell anyways once you get to Steam.

I don't think that's true. A lot of people in the forums state that they will not purchase a title that went the Epic exclusive route. Additionally, games are always *much* cheaper by that point.

For instance:
* Dead Island 2 has already dropped from AU$99 to AU$15 in some places for the physical Xbox day one edition, and it's not even on Steam yet.
* The Saints Row remake is currently AU$14.83 (and it was even given away on the Epic Games Store late last year).
* Goat Simulator 3 made it to Steam just last month and already dropped to $28.57 during a sale and has a Steam player count of 98 people as I write this.

Quoting: fenglengshunLet's not forget that Hades was an Epic exclusive, after all.

Hades doesn't disprove my point. It was not a AAA title. There might have been the hope that it would sell well, but I doubt its success was expected. I think that most sales (and the focus) for the game was on Switch. The game did not launch with PlayStation or Xbox support either, so they might have also been lacking in manpower.

Quoting: fenglengshunThe only issue is that Epic is a marketing blackhole, as they say, so if your game isn't good then it's just going to get forgotten.

Even if it is good it might well be forgotten there. When it comes to consoles, I buy games physically. Alan Wake 2 wasn't on store shelves. When it comes to PC, I buy games on Steam. It wasn't there either. I genuinely forgot that the game was even out for a few months until it was mentioned at the Game Awards — and we can tell it's coming to GamePass anyway because that's the pattern with such games.

Quoting: boltronicsI don't think that's true. A lot of people in the forums state

Don't trust this. Never trust this. People may say something, and even mean it, but online sentiment in a handful of bubbles rarely make up the majority.

Quoting: boltronicsWhen it comes to consoles, I buy games physically. Alan Wake 2 wasn't on store shelves.

It's really hard to track these kind of thing. Epic is definitely a marketing blackhole, pretty much no one disputes this. As to an Epic exit strategy? That has really gone all kind of ways - as far as from my tracking in GamesDiscoveryCo (whose job is to track these kind of matters) it does depend on the hype the game gets and their marketing. It's a free money regardless, and isn't a clear indication of how it'll launch on Steam. In that case, why not take the guarantee, and then use some of that money to do marketing campaign when it's closer to Steam release?

Quoting: Belaptir

Quoting: melkemind

Quoting: GuestIt doesn't include Saints Row (2022). Good!

I've always found it a bit weird that people feel the need to publicly dunk on a game they don't like. Is it just for social media clout? There are tons of games I don't like, but I don't go around saying, "No Dark Souls. Good!" or "No GTA V. Good!" It just seems a bit odd.

Reasoning could be the same for publicly saying you like a game.
Why is it bad to say you don't like a game but it's good to say you like another one?
At the end of the day, both are unsolicited opinions for the rest of us reading them.

No, it's really not. Saying you don't like something and stating it as an opinion is fine. Stating you're glad people won't be able to buy a game in a bundle seems a bit more hostile. If someone could get a discount on a game I don't like, I'd still be happy for them.

When that latest Saints Row game came out, there were people actively trying to cut it down and trying to convince people not to play it like they were on some kind of righteous crusade. it's a bit much.


Last edited by melkemind on 28 March 2024 at 9:39 pm UTC

Quoting: fenglengshunIn that case, why not take the guarantee, and then use some of that money to do marketing campaign when it's closer to Steam release?

It would be interesting to know then what the typical price of such games is when it finally makes it to Steam. Games drop price so quickly these days. I'd wager that whatever marketing they could do with the Epic cash wouldn't be enough to offset the loss.

Even if hypothetically (because the publisher was crazy) a game did come out on Steam 6 months late, and was still full price, and I still really wanted it (a lot of ifs) there's no way in hell I wouldn't be waiting for a sale if I'd already been forced to wait that long.