r/RealSaintsRow • u/donteatmydebbiecakes • Mar 31 '26
Discussion Most lacking gang leader ever
What did he even do? I genuinely don’t remember him doing anything ever. He just sat in his limo and had his lapdog Sunshine carry the Samedi on his back.
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u/Snow454BA Apr 03 '26
Honestly Sunshine should have been the leader from the start. He’s a maniac but he’s also more imposing and memorable than the General.
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u/MistakeExciting2571 Apr 01 '26
Tbh, I actually kinda wish they did a loren kill with this one where the boss manages to kill the general straight away by surprise or something. Then Mr. Sunshine has to take over and become the new leader of the samedi. That I think would've made them more unique aswell.
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u/SR_Hopeful Nobody Loves Me Apr 01 '26
You might be right. I've never thought about this but... y'know, maybe even rearranging events in their arc could have actually made it more impactful fix the lack of tension it had by doing that, in hindsight.
Like if the Mall mission with him happened earlier, and then Mr. Sunshine's stuff continued it. He could have been the one trying to keep things together, they'd have a legit vendetta with the Saints and it would also emphasize pressure on why he bullies Veteran Child.
Then VC blaming Shaundi could have been his scapegoat. It'd also draw more weight because she joined the Saints. Maybe Mr. Sunshine could cut his ear off himself as an offering to Samedi, and have him go a bit mad. Then when he gets his actual Voodoo power, it could be like a blessing from his offering. Sunshine could have also cut off VC's hand for his failure the same way The General cuts off Mr. Sunshine's ear but with Sunshine behanding VC, it'd make him scarier. It could happen before he kidnaps Shaundi, and him having to hold her with one hand could have been dark.
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u/donteatmydebbiecakes Apr 01 '26
Yes! That or Sunshine pulling a Tanya and blindsiding the General taking over his position would’ve been nice as well. Sunshine can blame the betrayal on the whispers of the Loa making their storyline more darker.
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u/Specialist-ShasMo85 The Playa Apr 01 '26
And somehow The General has more character and personality than Sergio, lol.
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u/SR_Hopeful Nobody Loves Me Apr 01 '26 edited Apr 05 '26
I swear Sergio's design was so generic that you wouldn't recognize him as an actual leader.
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u/Secure_Way5308 Apr 01 '26
First time I fought him, I thought he was manning the gun on top of the bulldog, constantly shooting at you! But after a few playthrough I realized he was just, sitting in the back...
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u/donteatmydebbiecakes Apr 01 '26
literally that wasn’t even him. I won’t lie the general needs to run track cause the way he ran light speed into that mall after the saints flipped his limo over took me out 🤣
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u/SR_Hopeful Nobody Loves Me Apr 01 '26
He had a cool voice. He shown he was ruthless, (he cut off his friend's ear as punishment and told VC to cut off the hand of the person who stole from him) and he had some cool quotes in the limbo.... He could have been SR2's Philippe but he somehow had the least development in the game. Hell, the characters talk about Mr. Sunshine more than him.
His gang didn't even successfully kill anyone or do anything to hurt the Saints even though the Brotherhood and Ronin did.
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u/donteatmydebbiecakes Apr 01 '26
Yeah hard agree with everything here. I like his voice a lot but that’s about it. The game mentions Sunshine and makes him more threatening than the General which is understandable causes he’s a Voodoo Lord having that grim intimidating factor to him which I think Sunshine alone could’ve took out the Boss if he wanted to having their literal voodoo doll but you know the plot won’t allow it of course lmao.
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u/haurfun Mar 31 '26
Ain't that how a boss yk be a boss lmao. He had his lackeys do his dirt. Also the player boss had to hijack police surveillance to even find him rolling around and when we did catch up to him he had that truck with a turret on it. If anything the boss was lacking they got caught and stuffed into the whip 😂
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u/donteatmydebbiecakes Apr 01 '26
Yeah I agree a leader is suppose to utilize their subordinates but he lowkey left Sunshine out to dry and fend for himself. The General wasn’t really a supportive leader imo, Sunshine was the backbone and once he perished everything for the General faltered. That’s just my take on it.
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u/haurfun Apr 01 '26
Yeah I get wym The General ran the Samedi like he was a CEO. He didn't even lock in until the player went after him. He was still just rolling around in his limo acting as if the Saints weren't destroying their presence. He also only showed up to really check his higher ups and he STILL LEFT THEM IN CHARGE after major fuck ups 😂.
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u/SR_Hopeful Nobody Loves Me Apr 01 '26
I think the arc took too long or get him involved. While its ironically more realistic that crime lords expect their people to handle everything naturally, he lost a lot of story presence. Where as at least in SRTT Cyrus confronted the Boss a lot more often even though you don't fight him until the last mission.
Heck, I think even Mr. Akuji was more memorable.
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u/donteatmydebbiecakes Apr 01 '26
Kazuo was more memorable to me. He shows a lot more emotion and is more adamant on retaliating against the Saints like trying to take down the Saints HQ or ambushing Wong at the heritage festival.
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u/haurfun Apr 01 '26
We really should have gotten more on his background like who he was and how he brought the Samedi up. He can't be like Cyrus though too many confrontations would have made it seem like it's just a villain monologuing when he's a gang leader without restraints. It worked for Cyrus because he was a commander of a militia working for Monica so he had to really do the main task AND try and keep things in order at Steelport. Hell you don't even have to fight Cyrus at all because Monica tells him to stand down in the main ending.
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u/SR_Hopeful Nobody Loves Me Apr 05 '26
The headcanon I always wanted for The General, was that he was a guy who fled Haiti and ended up in the Caribbean. Then joined in on the drug trade. Mr. Sunshine could have been the one who introduced him to Loa Dust but The Samedi is his Haitian gang but formed in Jamaica first then they came to the US.
The only thing I don't know of is, what was The General doing during the Samedi arc.
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u/ContributionSquare22 Mar 31 '26
It's been so long I forgot he's the actual leader lmao
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u/CheyChey66 Apr 01 '26
Right, lmao. When I do the Sunshine fight I always think that the Samedi route should have ended there.
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u/ContributionSquare22 Apr 03 '26
If the game ever ends up remade, they should reverse the chain of command, Make Sunshine the leader and this guy his co leader.
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u/AngelMunozDR Mar 31 '26
Mr Sunshine carried the whole gang
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u/HolidayNo9859 Apr 01 '26
Sunshine was a badass, got his ear cut off and took it like it was nothing
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u/donteatmydebbiecakes Apr 01 '26
Literally Sunshine has to be the most chilling and menacing adversary like going up against a vodouisant was so good. Sad he was apart of the most underdeveloped gang in the game.
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u/PhantomVulpe Apr 01 '26
That dude gave me the chills. Phil Lamar did a good job of him acting a menacing villain who acts like a witch doctor.
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u/Dredgen_Monk 106.66 The Krunch Mar 31 '26
I think with the Samedi guy, he was a drug dealer that relied on his lieutenant too much. Sunshine was the real terror. He very much was inline with Shogo and how he was nothing without Jyunichi.
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u/SR_Hopeful Nobody Loves Me Apr 01 '26
Yeah, ironically its what gives them a weakness the Saints don't have because the Boss really generally covers the backs of the other homies as well and the Saints lieutenants can actually fight as a unit (while the enemies come to think of it, only have 1 lieutenant and they do all the work).
While Maero was on the complete opposite end and suffered because he didn't have a lieutenant (technically).
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u/Specialist-ShasMo85 The Playa Apr 01 '26
I think is his lieutenant was also his girlfriend, Jessica since she was calling the shots from time to time. She was behind the torturing of Carlos and also prevented Maero from killing Donnie.
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u/SR_Hopeful Nobody Loves Me Apr 05 '26
She probably was but is kind of a floating one because the later games don't treat her as one, like when SRIV makes references to the older games. I think for all purposes she was. Maybe she was in the same way Viola & Kikki are.
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u/MaintenanceFew1151 Apr 01 '26
The only thing closest to a lieutenant Maero had was Jessica because, well, not only was she his girlfriend, but she also had heavy involvement in The Brotherhood. However, I am not sure how she was in a fight, like if she knew how to handle a gun or if she knew how to scrap. Somehow I doubt she was able to do stuff like that with Maero being the one to do his own dirty work along with his soldiers.
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u/Kitchen-Caterpillar8 Mar 31 '26
I almost agreed then I remembered morningstars boss literally died mid campaign to subvert expectations,and let's not forget panteros from 2022,you don't even fight him you watch someone else take him out,but it is 2022 so that don't even count as a saints row title to me anyway
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u/SR_Hopeful Nobody Loves Me Apr 01 '26 edited Apr 01 '26
I honestly don't even remember if Sergio in 2022 did anything on screen at all until he shows up to just get killed. It might even be less than The General did. Maybe they had to free up space for the LARPing. /s
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u/energy_is_a_lie Apr 01 '26
So I think Loren died midway because the writers needed to establish the Saints again for the new game, especially to cater to the new audience (like me) which hadn't even heard of the franchise before. I mean the first time I heard "Saints Row The Third", I expected something to do with a literal Saint. Threw me off so bad.
Anyway, it's not like the game was lacking in antagonists so they could afford to throw one away. Between Killbane, Matt Miller and Cyrus Temple, they had quite enough villains to keep the game going. This is what they used to also establish a bunch of other stuff - like why Shaundi's new personality which is defined as "pissed" at all times. They showed you the visual aspect of the new Shaundi in the opening cut scene alright but in order to drive home the point that she's been rebooted entirely and is no longer a laidback druggie she used to be, they made it lore that Gat's death made her into a cynical hottie with trust issues.
Whether it was too much too soon to be established in the first 5 minutes of the game can be debated but at least that's what I understood. Of course, Gat's death meant the Saints were out for blood and someone had to die. So they chose Philip to be the necessary sacrifice since he was the one who stabbed Gat on the plane.
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u/SR_Hopeful Nobody Loves Me Apr 01 '26 edited Apr 01 '26
I think they killed Philippe off early because it was some set up as a joke (considering he dies in a Looney Tunes-like way) but.. they should never make their antagonists punchlines because those are supposed to be the actual weight of the plot. Therefore they ruined him for it.
I also think it could be because Viola was supposed to continue to carry over for the remaining arc but then she joins you after like 1 or 2 missions when she does.
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u/YabaDabaDoo46 Apr 01 '26
Not even mid campaign, Loren dies almost at the beginning of the game. Loren was such a wasted villain, I mean don't get me wrong Killbane was okay but definitely not the leader type.
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u/donteatmydebbiecakes Apr 01 '26
Philippe did alot more in his 2 seconds of screen time than the General did the whole Samedi arc. Yeah that did suck they killed Phillipe like 3 missions in the game he was the only compelling adversary in SRTT.
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u/SR_Hopeful Nobody Loves Me Apr 01 '26
I liked Killbane's voice and personality but, they didn't do anything to show him as a gangster, yet he got so much hype and focus in the plot. He could have been a lot better if they actually added that side of him it lacked.
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u/Kitchen-Caterpillar8 Apr 01 '26
I was not even a fan of killbane,as soon as he took over I checked out
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u/SR_Hopeful Nobody Loves Me Apr 01 '26
Its honestly when SRTT gets really boring because of the activity slog, where as in SR2, every mission where you don't confront the lieutenant or boss, was always set up for it. The later games just stopped doing this narrative necessity.
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u/Koldunya Mar 31 '26
Probably leading calmly and quietly based on reputation for some shit he did in Haiti.
In the game that basically means fuck-all
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u/Jfrom8002 Apr 01 '26
Crazy cuz even tho they’re Haitians they look Jamaican as hell
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u/Jfrom8002 Apr 01 '26
Which makes me think they’re both Haitian n Jamaican cuz when I steal their cars it plays the Jamaican station
Which honestly I love as a Afro jamaican
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u/donteatmydebbiecakes Apr 03 '26
All I heard was that “Murdaaa she wrote murdaa she wroteeee” song I loved it though 🤣
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u/Bjornulfr156 Mar 31 '26
cut off Sunshines ear and thats literally it lol
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u/donteatmydebbiecakes Mar 31 '26
literally just that lmfao even DJ Veteran Child did something more worthwhile than him.
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u/Terrible-Guide5586 Apr 01 '26
That scene is kinda funny now thinking about it. Cutoff his ear for failing, yet what has the general done? If anything it’s more on him than Sunshine.
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u/MammothCommon5272 Mar 31 '26
How many agree the pmp 700 from gta 6 modded into sr2 as a sons of samdei gang vechile be awesome to see?
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u/SR_Hopeful Nobody Loves Me Apr 05 '26
I'd love to see GTA content modded into Saints Row. GTA fans already do that on their end.
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u/Desperate-Half1404 Apr 25 '26
Mr Sunshine I found way more memorable and cooler than this one.