Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Experience 1111 - Favorite Screenshots

Here are some of my favorite screens captured during my playthrough of Saints Row IV. Beware that if you expand this post the images are HUGE. (though I would have liked to upload the 1920x1200 versions, google decided to scale all my images... so you get 1600x1000)


Monday, October 14, 2013

Experience 1110 - 10011100

Spoiler Alert! (ie. this is the end of the game)

Whoops apparently everything was not well. Kinzie was taken prisoner so I could play through her nightmare. Strangely her nightmare looked a lot like my own character's with the exception of involving an old nemesis from SR3 named Cyrus. For some reason Kinzie has a lot of hate for Cyrus... a LOT of hate.

I know this! It's Linux.
The mission to save Kinzie in 50s land was very nonsensical. I have no clue what in the world the implication was. Kinzie might as well have been a walking corpse. I was confused. I also had the displeasure of using the dubstep gun which didn't really make sense to me. Finally I had to battle these crazy propaganda cars that just continuously ran me over. Overall this was not fun.

Kinzie dances a bit in the 50s world because... I DO NOT KNOW WHAT IS GOING ON.
After the mission Kinzie's secondary mission was to go after Cyrus. Again I have no clue why she became hell bent on taking him out. I guess everyone needs something to go after in this game...

'merica weapon blasting fire at the enemy.
With Kinzie back to safety and Cyrus out of the picture it was time to take on THE FINAL MISSION(s).

The first step was to build a key. This key required numerous components in the virtual world to create a key for CID to use to shut down the simulation. So I went around battling in the simulation collecting parts.

The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.

This is how people used to install expansion cards into their computers: by punching them in.
Up next we had to take the key to the old Saints tower in the middle of the city. This began with an RPG blasting sequence that was fairly easy and fun (surprised there weren't more in the game!). Up next I had to play defense for CID while he used is 80286 CPU to calculate 1 + 2.

Nearly final "protect the thing from being exploded" task.

Up next I had to protect a number of portals so they could open and release all sorts of allies to annoy the Zin in the simulation. This was one of the rare instances where I failed a mission. I failed to protect the last portal on the first try... it didn't help that the portal was already damaged when I arrived.

UFO goes boom.
The final portal released Paul. He's fairly tough based on my prior experience so he'll probably do the job of bothering the Zin nicely. Unfortunately I never did get to watch and appreciate Paul in action laying waste to the Zin.

Paul should have been a playable character.

In the final sequence, where you have the direct assistance of your companions, you have to play defense for them. Unfortunately I had failed to upgrade ANY of the alien weapons (assuming that the upgrades apply outside of the simulation... knowing this game they do). This meant I was actually down to about 0 health and surrounded by the enemies when the defense sequence decided to end (I'm guessing it was based on a timer of some sort). Note to self: Be sure to upgrade ALL the weapons.

The last run and gun sequence of the game involves a lot of explosions and is a pain due to the onslaught of enemies.

Finally I put on some Power Armor and jumped into a huge shaft to dodge flaming wreckage on my way to meet my fate against Zinyak.

Dead Space screenshot?
"... and finally we meet again Zinyak."

Sup.

Fighting Zinyak directly would be too easy so instead he got into his own huge stompy robot and proceeded to call in reinforcements to make taking him out difficult. They also forced a little bit of telekinesis in the battle to make sure you put those skills to use!

While in this huge stompy robot I don't recall once being physically hit by Zinyak...
In the end the Saints showed up and helped out... I think they helped at least.



Taking my place on the throne... not really sure I'm the best leader for the galaxy.

The title of this entry is in reference to a binary number seen in variious UI screens in the background. It's nothing of real significance that I know of... (in base 10 it's 156)

... and then there's the dance sequence ...

... and now I am done with Saints Row IV. I'll add one final post with the raw images of my favorite screenshots as png files unless blogger indicates I'm eating up too much space. Quite the journey and certainly a fun game to play through!

Experience 1101 - The enemy of my enemy was my friend but now he is my enemy's friend -a bit later- but after feeling guilty he's just back to being the enemy of my enemy and not so much my friend.

Up first I went audio log hunting. This is mostly useless information and just the "completionist" in me taking over my experience. Unfortunately not all of the actual collectables are available until late in the game. This was the case as I scoured for things that had not yet even been placed into the world. I had to actually progress further in the game a few missions to collect the last few collectables.

After way too much time gathering audio logs I decided it was time to put on the "ending the game soon" outfit from SR3 -- The Cardinal. The save game "complete" percentage made it clear the game was coming to a close.

The left half is a bit pixelated due to the in-game filtering to remind the player that this is a virtual world inside a virtual word.
The first mission I took one would have been the last if things went according to plan...

Other than Gat is in this game?

The Saints gathered to start the final assault only to be attacked themselves. The Zin poured into the "secret" Saints warehouse with a new weapon that could disable the super powers used throughout the game. The assault was particularly annoying because a number of tanks could only be affected by missiles... something that never really seemed to apply in the rest of the game (although I didn't battle too many tanks in my experience...).

After escaping the assault I had to protect the Saints driving in a car by using a very well armed helicopter.

Missiles that curve a lot certainly look cool visually.
The saints escaped and then we ended up in a shooting gallery... well the Genki activity but this time the contestants were hordes of Zin soldiers that we had to mow down. We escaped and stole a Genki-mobile and everything was progressing well (I guess...). Then just when things were working out we hit a snag...

Zinyak certainly did more than just hold Kinzie up in the air...

Then the Zin attacked the ship in the "real" world. They were already in the process of hurdling it into the sun when we woke up and fought back. We returned a couple of explosive gifts attached to the ship to the enemy ship attached/guiding ours into the sun. We broke off and I am assuming veered away from the sun... though that never really was made completely clear... I would have expected a cutscene of the ship flying to safety.

Even this image is hard to look at.

In various media outlets and even the game itself they reference "Benjamin !$%^-ing King" ... but really it should be "Keith !$%^-ing David" ... and on another note the super version of Benjamin King doesn't look like Benjamin King. He looks like Morpheus from the Matrix and apparently lost quite a bit of weight.

Apparently the whole reason things went awry in the virtual world was that "Keith !$%^-ing David" turned on us for the promise of leading the virtual world (which is totally confusing among other things).

Oh make your enemy your friend... seems easy enough.
I trusted "Keith !$%^-ing David" to be my VP!

I knew there was something wrong with "Keith !$%^-ing David" ... he was the only one to NOT take part in the Romance activity.
Anyway... "Keith !$%^-ing David" ends up turning on Zinyak for some reason. So then you end up in his "nightmare" scenario which for some reason involves Rowdy Roddy Piper brawling with "Keith !$%^-ing David."

Piper apparently shows up where he is needed... like in the middle of Saints Row games.
After watching Piper and "Keith !$%^-ing David" brawl for a while it was time to head to the roof and shoot stuff for a bit.

Very stylish mid-battle almost silhouette.

"Keith !$%^-ing David" is back on our side and the game continues! That was a weird turn in the story that added very little to the overall experience. I would figure the Saints would have tossed "Keith !$%^-ing David" into space.

Sunday, October 13, 2013

Experience 1100 - Albino man is back!

... so through some miracle the character Johnny Gat is found to be alive and trapped by Zinyak just like the other Saints. If there was only a way I could have skipped this completely to not have him returned. Johnny Gat is basically the main character's doppelganger but arguably/possibly dumber. Also for some reason in SR2 and SR3 he was an albino.

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH I NEED GAAAATTT WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA.

When the main character learns the news they are willing to go to any length and take any risk to get Gat back. Instead of a regular mission of the game with some weird overly violent dream sequence... I was treated to a Streets of Rage parody to play through depicting the torment of Gat.

The muscles seem a little small for a 80s/90s brawler.

The 2d recreation is entertaining and even implements the some of the little things from older brawlers that made them stand out from one another (example: minor destructible environment items). The sequence was a nice throwback and entertaining enough. The various combos/grabs/and moves were very much appreciated as many brawlers are a bit more limited in their animations.

Uppercut!
There were three stages of brawling (nothing too hard) and then the final boss based on the actual in-game sequence from SR2 in which Aisha is killed.

The big conclusive battle.

Apparently Gat had been forced to repeat the death of Aisha and the entire 2d game sequence over and over. The final boss battle ended with the first serious glitch of my experience. We defeated the regular Jyunichi but the super version simply never appeared so the game was stuck. I had to restart from a checkpoint to finish the mission.

Up next was the actual freeing of Gat by hunting down his physical body on the Zin ship. This required a lot of Big Stompy Robot. Nothing new, but certainly fun...

I think I've seen this progress bar on an ATM next to the text that says "feed me a stray cat."

Below is a spoiler image. Well... not exactly. You have to understand the context and prepare for a huge leap...

Zinyak would do well as a pro wrestler.

I figured another costume change would make the secondary Gat mission more tolerable so I went with the LaForge Assassin look.

Sleek / stylish / and now not exactly great vision.

A little bit of creative license on this homage.
The secondary mission for Gat was to take him through an SR3 Genki Bowl sequence. He loved it due to the excess violence of course... why did they have to bring him back!?

The look on the mascot's face is priceless.

WHY?

Saturday, October 12, 2013

Experience 1011 - Paul

After returning to the simulation everyone was in "attack me" mode. Kinzie had a special mission to calm things down by running around tossing CID into the air the destroying things. All was well after some wonton destruction.

AKA - Do this now.
Afterward I figured it was time to return to the presidential outfit for a bit.

Purple suit... hmm how would it look in reality?


No songs about how this president doesn't fight in wars...

I took on Asha's secondary mission involving the protection of a VIP. This was a piece of cake compared with the protect the vip missions of the previous Saints Row games.


Ominous
Near the end of the mission you are ambushed by tons of enemies (thanks to Zinyak hacking of course). Even without the super powers my weapons are so far upgraded there is little challenge other than avoiding being dumb enough to stand in the middle of too much gunfire.

This wasn't the plan but it was funny to see the VIP flung from the car (not even sure why the car flipped honestly -- this happened just after we got into it)

At the end of the mission you have to battle super Genki. Genki super powered is not really different from any of the other super powered enemies... you have to knock down a shield and then blast him. Super Asha and Super Shaundi were there to help out (not that they did too much...).

The shot below is of my character tossing an enemy droid that is the key to removing all notoriety so the Zin will leave you in peace. It's an interesting design alternative to just hiding and waiting for the notoriety meter to drop down.

Action Shot!
Up next I finally went to save Pierce, the verbal insult punching bag of the gang. He's a goofball and the main character consistently antagonizes him but also generally relies on him. CID interprets the history of the boss and Pierce fairly well.

A bit judgmental aren't we Wheatley?
Pierce's mission centers around a battle with a gigantic can of Saints Flow. It's an entertaining sequence involving the penthouse from SR3 and lots and lots of rockets. The can is also given an actual name: Paul. Paul is quite angry and slams the ground and throws stuff at you.

His name is Paul. Seriously... Paul.

After a number of attempts to take down Paul with weapons you take over a gigantic steelworker statue (the large one from SR3) and take on Paul in melee combat. This melee battle was... clunky and not very interesting.

Bad(?) news - no more Saints Flow.
Who needs [redacted] anyway?

Pierce's side quest is pretty bland and involves a callback to Michael Dorn's character (Maero) from SR2. But (as a positive) as with previous titles there's a sing-a-long to a popular song... and not just one but two! Unfortunately Paula Abdul's Opposites Attract did not result in a very entertaining recording... BUT the second was much funnier: Just a Friend by Biz Markie. Everyone was into that recording: the main character, Pierce, and to top it off with awesome... Zinyak himself interrupts and sings along like he's an opera singer. The Biz Markie song is cut off a bit early but it's definitely a great addition to the history of Saints Row sing-a-longs. Bravo!

Experience 1010 - Light bulbs can illuminate in so many ways...

Up first I had some activities to clear up... Another mayhem activity with weak weapons resulted in me using some creativity: dashing through the sidewalks of virtual Steelport. This racked up combo and points super fast making all the on-foot mayhem activities a breeze.

The room won't stop spinning!
I figured it was time for an outfit change and found some suitable brawling attire. I've given up on the custom outfits because the components are generally just reused from SR3. There are some decent outfits I just need to remember to go to the various stores...

How could I pass up this outfit...
With new gear to lay the smack down on some Zin and free my homies I went and helped Matt play through his fan fiction of NyteBlayde... Zinyak of course became involved but everything worked out...

I would have done this even if he weren't Zin-NyteBlayde
After defeating Zin-NyteBlayde Matt was bestowed with the rights to NyteBlayde because of course the real actor is assumed dead and only a true fan can continue to cultivate the fiction... blah blah blah. Up next it was time to free Shaundi. Her primary mission revolved around her feeling guilty for the death of Johnny Gat in SR3 as well as her former self being an utter loser in SR2.

Looks more like a horror movie than a Saints Row sequence.
The first sequence involved a "trippy" journey through the plane that Johnny Gat died in during a mission in SR3. It was nothing too exciting but involved a zombie Johnny Gat so that's okay (I don't like his character much so I was glad he wasn't back in the game).

Motivation. Dedication. Passion.
After freeing previous (SR2) Shaundi from her boyfriend "Veteran Child," the Shaundis argued over who is better and eventually led to an altercation between the two that was yet another homage to Mass Effect (2).

Games are in now way influential... but the pharmaceutical lobby must be happy with this mission task.

The secondary mission for Shaundi is terribly stupid and involves scoring some drugs so the Shaundis gain super powers.

The president feels the need to do some drugs out of a broken light bulb. Classy.
With the Shaundi missions out of the way I moved onto freeing Benjamin King. He is a character from Saints Row I am not familiar with at all. I also felt the need to change my outfit because the Roddy Piper outfit has a problem in the form of a massively large butt. I'm not sure why that is... but it's goofy looking.

Revisiting an area in Saints Row (some church where bad things likely happened).
The filtering for the color makes it feel old-timey and/or old west (or some overly hot gross day outside).

Ben and I mopped things up of course (even without super powers).
Then there's some discussion/argument/boasting about how important Benjamin King is... again without context of Saints Row this is mostly lost on me.

The finer points of running for president... discussed after a street shootout.
...and fraps captured this fairly stylish screenshot:

Smirk.
I don't have screenshots from Ben King's side mission or Asha's main mission. Ben King's mission was fairly bland... I went after the same woman as in his primary mission... some character I don't even know of (I've never played Saints Row so the back story is not familiar). Asha's mission was a parody of stealth games that was fairly humorous and fun. The sneaky card board box attacks on guards certainly was entertaining... definitely worth playing through for a laugh.