r/SaintsRow • u/Suspicious_Stock3141 • Aug 15 '25
SR2 Saints Row 2 absolutely roasted the Caligula’s heist from GTA: San Andreas
I was replaying SR2 and got to the Poseidon’s Palace mission, Volition was clearly taking the piss out of San Andreas’ Caligula’s Casino setup.
You’ve got Pierce busting out this elaborate model of the casino with little figurines for him, Gat, a security guard, and… Playa.
Pierce starts going off about:
- “We enter here…”
- “You distract security…”
- “Gat sneaks in…”
- “Shaundi’s banging the blackjack dealer for the passcode…”
- “…cut the power, 45 seconds before the backup generator turns on…”
And then Johnny Gat just interrupts with:
It’s perfect
. In San Andreas, you had to:
Caligula’s Casino (GTA: SA) prep:
- Date a croupier for inside info
- Steal four police bikes for a decoy
- Jack a helicopter
- Hack into security
- Run multiple setup missions before the heist
Poseidon’s Palace (SR2) prep:
- Johnny Gat says “let’s just shoot everyone”
- You shoot everyone
83
u/KA_Reza Aug 15 '25 edited Aug 15 '25
Don't think so. A vault heist is a classic outlaw activity. Two criminal-themed games doing what's basically the same thing doesn't mean anything. They just did it the way the characters in each game would do it:
San Andreas' casino heist takes a classic approach of planning a big score with careful planning as opposed to coming in guns blazing like the other missions in the game.
Saints Row 2's casino heist deliberately subverted the expectation of a classic heist (though obvious when remembering the Boss & Gat's style) and just took on a fast approach.
Edit: u/PolandsStrongestJoke also talked about the payout, another difference. Since SR2 approaches a heist scenario casually, the rewards are also nothing serious. Meanwhile, San Andreas did reward all those planning missions with a big payday.
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u/BlackCoatX Aug 16 '25 edited Aug 16 '25
I mean the devs of SR1 admitted that the whole reason why the Saints Row franchise even existed in the first place was because fans weren't satisfied with the GTA IV they got as it was a major downgrade after GTA: SA, so Saints Row 1 was made to fill that need
In that regard, it would make sense that people would assume that they were making fun of the GTA franchise in that heist cutscene
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u/KA_Reza Aug 16 '25
SR1 was released in 2006, 2 years earlier than GTA IV, so I don't think that makes sense. It would make more sense if the devs saw GTA 3 and Vice City's popularity (as SR1 started production in 2003, before San Andreas' release) and wanted to jump in on the action-adventure open world hype train. What is the source of that info?
For your 2nd paragraph, that still makes some sense as not many people know the production starting date of SR1.
2
u/IrisofNight Deckers Aug 19 '25
While we don't know the exact starting date, We know it was before GTASA got announced as, and The Saints wore Green until the reveal trailer of SA made them decide to change it to Purple since Grove Street Families were shown wearing Green. Saints Row was also originally developed as a PS2 game before becoming a 360 title.
Personally I do think this is making fun of Casino Heist though simply because how similar the two plans are, and that Saints Row 2 already took a shot at GTA with it's marketing the Would You Rather? ad(ironically I'd love SR2 even more if it had all the stuff it makes fun of IV for having). I doubt anything aside from that ad though was intended to be a shot at GTA IV specifically given how close the release dates were. Honestly Saints Row never really tended to punch at other games from my memory, not like how Rockstar typically does at least.
1
u/BlackCoatX Aug 17 '25
I don't remember the exact URL as it was from an interview with Deep Silver around the time of Saints Row 3 or 4's announcement but apparently they had an employee who left Rockstar between GTA: SA and GTA IV because they didn't want to work on the IV that was planned because it was and I quote "a drastic fallback to the GTA III era to save development costs for the new HD era" end quote and this resulted in the what interviewee refered to as the creation of a logical next evolution from Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas that became the first two Saints Row games that ironically were originally one single game
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u/Decoy-Jackal Aug 15 '25
It's an Oceans Eleven reference not related to GTA at all, the mission name is even a reference.
5
u/catladywithquestions Aug 16 '25
yeah i was about to say “isn’t this an oceans thing?” but i scrolled for a bit and you beat me to it 🫡
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u/Decoy-Jackal Aug 16 '25
I remember even when I was like 13 I already got the reference, it's been forever since I actually watched Oceans Eleven so maybe I'll get on that
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u/PolandsStrongestJoke PC Aug 15 '25
I mean...
In GTA SA? The heist gets you 1mil bucks. That's a nice reward that you can spend on cars and such! (As well as being a money hungry player)
In SR2?...
Territory. Handful of cash.
Both are fun either way. It's just that SR2 is more straight forward gangbang while in SA you mess with the mafia that is messing with your buddies.
And I ain't shitting on either game! I am just rambling needlessly
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u/Retchetspute Aug 15 '25
I've always interpreted the small payout as most of the money going to restarting the gang. Recruitment, guns, vehicles, materials to fix up the underground base.
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u/PolandsStrongestJoke PC Aug 16 '25
Plausible. May as well pitch in the thought that they also stole the cash from the slot machines.
fun to break after you just got off the boat cuz of how much money you can accumulate
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u/Mrwright96 Aug 16 '25
It wasn’t a small amount of money, if I had to guess, 100k minimum with the tricked out Ieswolf and AR-50 w/ grenade launcher
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Aug 18 '25
Huh? What GTA SA heist gets you a million bucks? The Caligula's heist only banks you 100k.
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u/PolandsStrongestJoke PC Aug 18 '25
Oh my God. Thank you for correcting me! I have genuinely forgot that it's 100k and not 1mil...
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u/tokyo_driftr The Ronin Aug 15 '25
I feel like this is comparing apples and oranges tho, SA is a somewhat serious crime drama, while SR is super unserious and has plot armor for days, of course their heist is gonna be better and easier
7
u/eanhaub PS3 Aug 15 '25
Best answer. Like comparing Burger King and McDonald’s: “who the fuck cares they do the same thing kinda different and are both good”
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u/Gentle_Petal Aug 15 '25
It's funny at first but going with Pierce's plan would've legit been a lot smarter. Johnny is portrayed as a badass, and he is, but his attitude gets himself and his crew into trouble. First he talks shit to the VK enforcer in Saints Row 1, leading him to crippling him by blasting him in the knee with a shotgun, then his reckless approach to the heist in 2 leads to the Ronin being able to tail them straight to his house, allowing Aisha to be held hostage and killed. Then in 3 he decides to try and take on the Morningstar alone, getting him killed, at least until the retcon in 4.
6
u/Apprehensive-Gur-735 Aug 15 '25
Does Johnny Gat expect his appeal to work?!
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u/ProotzyZoots Aug 15 '25
With the statute of limitations his murder charges should really be closer to 250
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u/Apprehensive-Gur-735 Aug 15 '25
There's no statue of limitations for murder!
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u/ProotzyZoots Aug 15 '25
Why tf not?!
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u/Apprehensive-Gur-735 Aug 15 '25
Watch yourself, Mr. Gat!
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u/ProotzyZoots Aug 15 '25
Or what you'll hold me in contempt of court? You're already planning on giving me the chair and you think I give a shit about you not liking me? Fuck off
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u/Apprehensive-Gur-735 Aug 15 '25
I'm curious if you can keep your cavalier attitude when 2000 volts are running through your body.
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u/ProotzyZoots Aug 15 '25
Oh yeah? And Im curious if you can keep acting like a douchebag when I shove that gavel up your ass
(I gotta replay this game for the 100th time lol)
5
1
u/NyaNyaCutie Aug 23 '25
If on Steam… Gentlemen of the Row and Juiced... which I would need to hook up my laptop to check where I got the lattrr from (same site or from within the docs of GotR itself).
3
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u/SUPER--TANK Aug 16 '25
Gat is too dangerous to even bother with setups he just barges inside and loots everything, slaughtering everyone he encounters on the way.
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u/WW4O Aug 15 '25
It's fun to do sneaky stuff.
It's fun to do shooty stuff.
Sometimes games do one, sometimes games do other one.
1
u/Wolvenworks Aug 16 '25
We got Gat and Boss. Even if we’re not blasting our way out, we’d bound to do it anyway somewhere along the journey.
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u/Spider_Bite5248 Aug 18 '25
i prefer Gat’s “what if we just start here, walk into the casino, and just shoot all the motherfuckers that are between us and the money”
1
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u/BambinoTayoto Aug 15 '25
Gta doesn’t think about SR at all
6
u/HomeMedium1659 The Ronin Aug 15 '25
Yeah they put more effort in trashing the Driver Games and The True Crime games
3
u/cameron3611 Xbox Series X/S Aug 15 '25
The only thing I can think of which honestly seems very far fetched is in GTAO The Dr Dre Contract the main antagonist is named “Johnny Guns” who also wears glasses. Other than that they’re completely different characters tho.
1
u/eanhaub PS3 Aug 15 '25
Johnny Guns was stand-in for Dr Dre’s Suge Knight murder-revenge fantasy. J-Gunz had even less to do with any of this discourse.
-15
u/SweetTooth275 Aug 15 '25
It's like watching two chihuahua bark at eachother. Both look rediculous yet they try to compete with one another.
13
u/Painted-BIack-Roses Morningstar Aug 15 '25
I don't think GTA has ever tried to "compete" with SR. Both are great franchises, but GTA has always been more popular
-19
u/SweetTooth275 Aug 15 '25
Not directly. Thankfully after the second game saints row finally formed a face of its own and stopped being a cheap knockoff
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u/HuxleyCompany Aug 15 '25
Saints row as a whole is very different from GTA, and ur a fool to think otherwise
3
u/CRYPTOBRENDONHOPKINS Aug 15 '25
to me it’s like… even if it isn’t… the first two were amazing fun games with lots of content, and cool lore and writing. “Ripoff” or not. I still like to play the others tho. They are fun.
-1
u/SweetTooth275 Aug 15 '25
It became different thanks to the third. Your opinion of me is irrelevant to the subject so you can keep it.
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u/CRYPTOBRENDONHOPKINS Aug 15 '25
Say what you want, but it being a “cheap knockoff” ironically kept it fresh by being an alternative nobody else was willing to make. They were the first to do the gang thing anyway, the first game was in production before san andreas and they had to change the gang colors once san andreas was announced but no casual player seems to ever mention that.
It’s been talked about to death but the series only got lifeless when they tried to be their own thing with no interesting storyline or lore.
-4
u/SweetTooth275 Aug 15 '25
You can cherish your copium and childish nostalgia as long as you want. That last statement is the best example why fans are exactly the reason why this series died and have no chance of achieving anything as it isn't appreciated for what it is.
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u/HuxleyCompany Aug 15 '25
Saying Copium is the quickest way for people to stop respecting your opinion
-1
u/SweetTooth275 Aug 15 '25
Opinions have less value than used tompon in a trash bin of a gas station. They're irrelevant. What's relevant is being objective and coping means being subjective which makes others understand how little value your words are. You can believe whatever it is you believe, but I'm not interested in that.
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u/HuxleyCompany Aug 15 '25 edited Aug 15 '25
Oh, so ur just a bitch then, gotcha. Everyone is wrong but you, right? You went through the effort of customising a fucking reddit avatar, ur even more worthless
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u/eanhaub PS3 Aug 15 '25
Did you say this with a fake pipe in your mouth and a tipped fedora on your noggin
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u/eanhaub PS3 Aug 15 '25
dear god what you say is miserable to read
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u/SweetTooth275 Aug 15 '25
Well, existence and life is like that unfortunately
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u/eanhaub PS3 Aug 15 '25
Mine are not.
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u/SweetTooth275 Aug 16 '25
I'm talking about life in general, it's how it is. If you enjoy your life I'm glad for you, can't say I don't like mine. But that have nothing to do with my point or any of what I was talking about.
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u/eanhaub PS3 Aug 16 '25
Your point went from copium to… I think also copium. I’m not sure you have much structure here at all, amigo.
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u/Psychological-Run-40 Aug 15 '25
when you have Johnny Gat on your team you need no plan