Co-Optimus

[justabaldguy]

You can upgrade strongholds, but not the basic cribs. And they are static upgrades. You can customize your gang, and vehicles, but cribs can't be changed and the strongholds basically have three levels. The upgrades are rather impressive though.

Hmm, I may not be at that point yet. I've taken over a few things where the rival gangs are, but I don't think I've unlocked any strongholds aside from (just in case)

Spoiler: show

the one you get from the Makos or whatever the pink guys are, where you drop the giant globe on their leader at the end... is that a stronghold?

Looking forward to unlocking more, this game is addicting.

[Mrxknown_JG]

You can upgrade strongholds, but not the basic cribs. And they are static upgrades. You can customize your gang, and vehicles, but cribs can't be changed and the strongholds basically have three levels. The upgrades are rather impressive though.

Hmm, I may not be at that point yet. I've taken over a few things where the rival gangs are, but I don't think I've unlocked any strongholds aside from (just in case)

Spoiler: show

the one you get from the Makos or whatever the pink guys are, where you drop the giant globe on their leader at the end... is that a stronghold?

Looking forward to unlocking more, this game is addicting.

Any chance of co-op this week?

Sometimes even when a friend has SR3 set as his beacon (and playing it) I don't get a response. From the Main menu, the co-op Campaign seems to give me the ability to just drop in, but I don't know how far thye are and I don't want to just drop in.

Anyone on here, feel free to just drop in if you see me playing it.

[justabaldguy]

I've actually been playing during the day lately, something much different for me than usual. I'll be on and ready to go, though I don't want to advance my main character much in the story. I'm running through the story missions with SWAT Wombat. I'd be up for helping you do things I've already done, or taking over strongholds, collecting things, etc. I hate that both players now need to grab the collectibles, that's still annoying to me.

[hedgehogaj]

Hmm, I may not be at that point yet. I've taken over a few things where the rival gangs are, but I don't think I've unlocked any strongholds aside from (just in case)

Spoiler: show

the one you get from the Makos or whatever the pink guys are, where you drop the giant globe on their leader at the end... is that a stronghold?

Looking forward to unlocking more, this game is addicting.

The first stronghold you unlock is a few missions past that. It's the next crib you unlock from where you are.

Spoiler: show

As far as I know, you don't ever use that tower again. It just gives you a big purple beacon at night and a money bonus.

As a side note, I recommend doing all the vehicle thefts and assassination mission's early. Minor

Spoiler: show

The cops get an upgrade about 40% of the way through the plot. You do not want to steal a slow moving vehicle with that stuff chasing you.

[justabaldguy]

The first stronghold you unlock is a few missions past that. It's the next crib you unlock from where you are.

Spoiler: show

As far as I know, you don't ever use that tower again. It just gives you a big purple beacon at night and a money bonus.

As a side note, I recommend doing all the vehicle thefts and assassination mission's early. Minor

Spoiler: show

The cops get an upgrade about 40% of the way through the plot. You do not want to steal a slow moving vehicle with that stuff chasing you.

Thanks AJ. Last night we knocked out the first four missions, which were basically "Hey do a distraction/activity from SR2 under the thin premise of it being related to a mission!" missions. I do not like that, but at least we're done with the first few. I have a few others in the wings, so hopefully we'll get to an upgradable stronghold soon. I've got several cribs now, but the don't have much use and for whatever reason the game ALWAYS starts me at the dinky initial apartment.

While I'm enjoying myself and the game so far, there are constantly things that make me scratch my head...

[Mrxknown_JG]

The first stronghold you unlock is a few missions past that. It's the next crib you unlock from where you are.

Spoiler: show

As far as I know, you don't ever use that tower again. It just gives you a big purple beacon at night and a money bonus.

As a side note, I recommend doing all the vehicle thefts and assassination mission's early. Minor

Spoiler: show

The cops get an upgrade about 40% of the way through the plot. You do not want to steal a slow moving vehicle with that stuff chasing you.

Thanks AJ. Last night we knocked out the first four missions, which were basically "Hey do a distraction/activity from SR2 under the thin premise of it being related to a mission!" missions. I do not like that, but at least we're done with the first few. I have a few others in the wings, so hopefully we'll get to an upgradable stronghold soon. I've got several cribs now, but the don't have much use and for whatever reason the game ALWAYS starts me at the dinky initial apartment.

While I'm enjoying myself and the game so far, there are constantly things that make me scratch my head...

Yeah I thought so, I'm passed you James. trying not to go too fast, but I already knocked out one entire activity tree and the missions are the only things that are interesting.

[justabaldguy]

trying not to go too fast, but I already knocked out one entire activity tree and the missions are the only things that are interesting.

Me too. I like to level up first. I noticed this way back in GTA Vice City and again in subsequent sandbox games: the special weapons/bonuses are useless if you get them after the missions. I'd unlock unlimited rockets or no fall damage or something like that but have no one left to use them against. In SR2 I was able to level up my character quite a bit by earning and unlocking unlimited sprint, no fall damage, unlimited bullets in pistols, and a few more nice perks. Here though they've handcuffed you by respect level requirements. I'm going to get everything I can before getting too far in, but so far I'm pretty disappointed they limited the player in this manner.

[Raines]

Yeah, I'm level 50 with everything unlocked, but I've finished the main story, and there's no New Game+....so other than mindlessly blowing $#!@ up....not much to do. They should've done what Crackdown did and let you keep your character's upgrades and restart whenever you like.

[justabaldguy]

Wow Raines, you plow through games! I've only done a few missions, respect level is about 18 or so. I'm trying not to do anything out of co-op. I have abandoned stealing cars, the AI in this mode is mind-blowingly frustrating and annoying. I don't know why they wanted to change after SR2's setup but whatever they've changed in this aspect is certainly for the worse.

[Mrxknown_JG]

The game has some neat easter eggs. I present one for your enjoyment

[Raines]

Wow Raines, you plow through games!

Not really. SR3's a lot shorter than most sandbox games. I haven't done a lot of the side missions either.

[Mrxknown_JG]

Wow Raines, you plow through games!

Not really. SR3's a lot shorter than most sandbox games. I haven't done a lot of the side missions either.

Yeah, apparently I'm 63% through the missions, which sucks. There were so many in SR2.

[justabaldguy]

Wow Raines, you plow through games!

Not really. SR3's a lot shorter than most sandbox games. I haven't done a lot of the side missions either.

Yeah, apparently I'm 63% through the missions, which sucks. There were so many in SR2.

Huh, well that's not good. I'm just poking along but kept thinking everything would open up soon. Guess it's not as deep. Kinda a bummer, this game seems to be good in places and horrible in others.

[Mrxknown_JG]

Yeah, apparently I'm 63% through the missions, which sucks. There were so many in SR2.

Huh, well that's not good. I'm just poking along but kept thinking everything would open up soon. Guess it's not as deep. Kinda a bummer, this game seems to be good in places and horrible in others.

Yeah, that's just the missions, not the activities or collectibles. I could tell it was different, as it seems to be more linear than SR2. Where SR2 had three gangs and three separate stories, that turn into one at the end. SR3 has the three gangs as one sorta group.

SR2 also had the additional Stronghold missions where the closest in SR3 is the Gang Operations which is just a group of people outside and not actually at a base. A lot in SR3 seems to follow the Horde approach. Gang Ops have you try to take out specific targets while additional waves of that gang come at you and then there's the phone calls.

And I'll say it again, SR2 allowed you to pick and choose missions to replay from your Stronghold.

I really think they didn't spend a lot of time on this game. Just got the basics and stayed there. Maybe too much wacky stuff (Gat Mobile, Genki, etc) took away resources from other stuff.

I still enjoy it, but I was expecting a similar amount of replayability. I dislike replaying a game I have to level-up a character.

[fignutz32]

Just finished this one the other day. Not as big as the second, but still a great game.

[hedgehogaj]

Wow Raines, you plow through games!

Not really. SR3's a lot shorter than most sandbox games. I haven't done a lot of the side missions either.

Yeah, apparently I'm 63% through the missions, which sucks. There were so many in SR2.

The percentage is based on both mission completion and area control, so you're probably closer to the end then you think. I finished the game about 72% I think. I'm not sure it's really much shorter than 2 though. As much as it's more linear, there really weren't that many missions in SR2. There was just a lot more mission-like activity. I didn't really feel a need to do any of the side quests/activities in this one.

[justabaldguy]

I didn't really feel a need to do any of the side quests/activities in this one.

Without the rewards, I don't think I'll bother. The only reason I did those driving missions before were to unlock things. The AI is usually too cheap in these games, and while it was tolerable in SR2, here I've stopped playing solo as it's just so annoying.

[hedgehogaj]

I didn't really feel a need to do any of the side quests/activities in this one.

Without the rewards, I don't think I'll bother. The only reason I did those driving missions before were to unlock things. The AI is usually too cheap in these games, and while it was tolerable in SR2, here I've stopped playing solo as it's just so annoying.

The AI gets less annoying once you get the vehicle remote. It's basically a gun that turns any vehicle you hit into a remote controlled car...that you can detonate (once you upgrade it). Even at level one it largely removes the annoyance that helicopters cause.

Some of the vehicle theft missions are just absurd though. I'm fairly certain it's impossible to steal the police patrol boat in single player. As soon as you grab it you're being shot at by an attack chopper and two other patrol boats. And for some reason, your rockets have FoF recognition, so you can't shoot down the helicopter (you can indirectly hit the boats if you aim at the water). They can hit you no problem though.

[justabaldguy]

The AI gets less annoying once you get the vehicle remote. It's basically a gun that turns any vehicle you hit into a remote controlled car...that you can detonate (once you upgrade it). Even at level one it largely removes the annoyance that helicopters cause.

Right now I'm not tempted to get the cars turned in. It'd be nice to be higher in level, but honestly it's too frustrating. If I unlock that instant notoriety removal I might do that to get 'em done easy. It's stupid though that you cannot ditch notoriety on your own (can't run in a house to clear your level) nor can you turn them in to any shop. I'm telling you, this came handcuffs you more than it helps you on these missions. I'm going to need to see a lot of these issues resolved before I preorder SR4.

[Silentstriderm]

I didn't have too much trouble with the chop-shop missions, except for the really slow cars. Getting a dump truck all the way across town with 3 stars from the police? Ridiculous.

Noodlebus and I had a pretty good system going. He flew a helicopter while I controlled the car using the RC gun. Drive to the drop off, hop in and turn it in!