“Visual and quality issues were the number one complaint in Saints Row 2,” said Design Director Scott Phillips at a Saints Row: The Third postmortem at GDC on Thursday. Despite the retail performance of the second game, he explained that developer Volition couldn’t take success for granted. Producing a goofy breakout hit didn’t automatically give them the resources or insight to improve upon the game. Phillips documented how the team created a better and more cohesive experience by improving upon the last title’s tone, quality, and scope.
“How you’re going to say something can be more important than what you’re saying,” explained Phillips. Nothing could be more important for a game like Saints Row: The Third than setting the proper tone. He felt that the previous two games in the series suffered from incongruous emotional moments falling too close together — SR2 tasked you with committing a brutal murder in cold-blood after an extended “vehicle surfing” moment. He stated that the team on the first Saints Row “wanted to make…an MTV music video,” but that clashed with some of the goofier missions.
