Still haven't finished Saints Row The Third despite having it for at least 1/2 a year now. Then again, I sometimes buy games and not even start them until a few years later, so this is already progress. Like, insane progress. That, and I've really only been playing it as a co-op title, with the occasional pop in for random mayhem. Not story missions, just some minor levelling since I kinda want that infinite ammo upgrade.
Picked up Sleeping Dogs and Watch_Dogs, so I've been playing the 3 games alongside each other. I'm really not sure which one I like the best. In terms of control scheme, I like Watch_Dogs the most. About the only thing that's lacking is a jump button, but it's not like Aiden would be jumping around like a lunatic. And neither would Wei. The Boss from SR though? Would be fine. Sleeping Dogs is next, and I would probably place it above Watch_Dogs if there were a much higher emphasis on weapon/tool variety. It can also be customized, both the on-foot and driving controls, which is great. Haven't had to do so because the controls are easy enough to grasp without having to curse muscle memory. Mostly. Still a little awkward that they mapped both the sprint and vault/freerun actions to the same button (A/X), rather than having them separate (R2 for sprint, O for freerun). L1 does something different for all 3, which is pretty funny to watch when I'm switching between them (WD - weapon/tool wheel, SD - cover, SR3 - sprint). I hate that the weapon wheel is bound to O/B for SR3. It just feels so awkward... Would re-map to L1 if I could. Aim Assist is always off. Can't stand it. Before switching over to a controller for SR3, playing with KB+M was a little bit awkward. Combat and movement were fine. But then came the driving. I could not drive worth a damn. Change over to a controller, and it was a definite improvement. Still a terrible driver though, although somewhat better than in WD, but for other reasons.
The licensed soundtrack for WD is by far the worst in terms of variety. I just turned it off (and because you had to find 23 songs...), whereas I had no problem with flipping through stations at random for SD and SR3. The few instances where it used licensed music on purpose in WD though? Awesome. Overall soundtrack for the 3... Can't really comment much on it since they're open world. Unless you're in a mission, BGM just doesn't seem to matter all that much. I don't feel very immersed unless I randomly pick fights. Oh well. But when the soundtrack does kick in, it's generally pretty good. Besides, all 3 have their styles. I like the electronic and synth-y bits from WD, the silliness from SR, and the more regional sounds from SD. The soundtrack works.
For story... Don't really care about SR3. I'm just there to tear the place apart. SD is pretty interesting if you take the time to read the files. Fairly straightforward as well, so I don't really think there's much of a point in talking about it. Just play it. The psych implications on Wei are definitely interesting though. WD is a complete mess and a lot of info is hidden away in the audio logs. Seriously. But at least the logs play when you pick them up, except for the first 4 from Aiden himself, which explains why he knows how to fight/use a gun. I feel that if WD's story was more focused and not at odds with game mechanics (already have the city knowing my name + appearance halfway through Act 1 by being a homicidal lunatic), it would've been amazing, kinda like how AC1 was leading into the rest of the AC series. Maybe I'll post something on this later since I'm replaying as a homicidal lunatic, which is incidentally at complete and total odds with his actual character.
Of course, can't really talk about games without talking about their performance. Playing all 3 games at their lowest settings because my little laptop can't handle any of them that well (GT540M woo!). Hell, based on its specs, I shouldn't even be able to play WD in the first place! WD is DX11 only, which is a bit of a shame. Means that older GPUs won't be able to launch it. But your GPU would have to be pretty damn old for that to happen since the DX11 SDK came out in 2010 and GPUs from around that time should support DX11. WD has the worst fps fluctuations, ranging from just above 40 and dropping to practically nothing while driving. Lots of stuttering there. It's still relatively playable if you can cope with the fluctuations, although the driving sections will suck. Noticed that the audio is severely desynced from what happens on-screen, which is annoying since I sometimes rely on audio cues to do things. Still looks kinda pretty under these conditions. Definitely suffers from the cross-generation issue. SD runs pretty well. Again, with everything low. I actually turned off the shadows at one point and it just looked so weird. So back on they went, didn't notice too bad of a performance hit since I chose the lowest possible option. Just having the shadows is an improvement. Haven't encountered anything that would seriously tank my fps yet, so that's good. Hopefully it'll stay that way for the rest of the playthrough. SR3 is kinda special. Launcher that allows for either DX9 or DX10/11. DX9 is a bit more stable and consistent with being around 12fps or higher, but never hitting above 45fps (extremely rare). So there are fluctuations, but never as bad as WD's. DX11 performance is definitely better, although I've crashed out of the game more times using that. Ended up sticking with DX9 for stability's sake as I was doing co-op with a friend. Based on what I've been reading on the forums, SR3's stability is terrible in general. There was a special launcher mod-thing from a while ago, but it seems like the download is now "lost forever". At least I can edit a few values directly in the file. Helps it run a little better. Hopefully when I pick up SR4 (whenever that will be), I can find mods and the like to help with stability. There's a package coming out soon with the base game and all the DLC bundled.
As a side note, it seems that my cleaning of the original PS3 controller may have resulted in some sensor damage. While playing SR3, my character would randomly use melee attacks. No such problem with the new controller, which is good. At least now it means that I can shoot things when I want to shoot them, rather than going "stop kicking, start shooting!". Something funny I noticed when comparing the controllers: the original seems to have darkened to something of a very light beige, and that the plastic for the new one is either thinner or not as opaque. The indicator lights can be seen past the plastic, whereas it's blocked on the original.
Also, congrats to GDQ and SDA for raising $710K for Doctors Without Borders. Staying up until 0500 for that Trials Fusion run was completely worth it. "Owl hype" indeed.
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