Saints Row The Third - Official Discussion Thread

[childofgilead]

Has some zombie shenanigans..and Burt Reynolds!

[MinionZombie]

I was going to start a thread up about this game, but if you don't mind childofgilead, I'd like to make this the official discussion thread for the game. :)

I haven't gotten to the zombie activity yet ... indeed I only just got the game today (November 15th in USA, November 18th here in the UK) ... anyway - so far so good.

Naturally I'm running around as a busty femme in just her pants - what about everyone else? :sneaky::evil::elol:

I've had just over two hours on it so far and I'm having a lot of fun ... there's a few things to get used to. There's so much to do and so many new things to play around with, and so many general tweaks, that it can all be a bit overwhelming at first, but I'll get into it gradually. The first mission is bloody good fun - a bank heist - and then the second is, of course, that one on the plane that we saw gameplay videos of a while back.

Anyone else enjoying themselves some SR3 - and childofgilead - what's the zombie activity like?

[Andy]

I Loved Saints Row and Saints Row 2 and i love the look of this but its gonna have to wait until payday for me im afraid. Got my new game of the month when i bought arkham city lol

[Danny]

so you are the two guys who bought this instead of skyrim :lol:

[Andy]

Skyrim looks shit :p

[MinionZombie]

Hmmm ... Skyrim and SR3 are two very different types of games, I'd say ... there'll be some cross-over in the sorts of people who play it, sure, but a large amount? I'm not entirely sure. I have noticed a LOT of advertising going into Skyrim though - I've seen that advert on TV so many times now ... meanwhile SR3 haven't done any as far as I can tell. It seems they've more gone the online route ... but then if you're dedicated to the brand/franchise, you'll no doubt get it anyway. I'm sure Skyrim is very good - although it's just not my kind of game personally.

The main problem around this time is there are just so many games coming out within a short space of time - meanwhile the rest of the year is often barren of new releases.

Anyway - was up until 2am last night playing this, hehe - clocked up 4.5 hours so far - there's just so much to see and do; here's some observations:

1) The world might be overall smaller than SR2, but I'd wager (if that is the case, and not just my imagination running wild) that's down to the sheer volume of stuff you can do within the game. There's only so much space on a disc after all.

2) Graphics wise it's a welcome step-up for the franchise. SR2 looked a bit underwhelming when it came out (I had been expecting a better sheen to it back then after GTA IV).

3) Driving - the mechanics have been improved. SR2 had pretty sloppy and very arcadey controls - here they've put some actual effort into the vehicles controls. The handbreak is replaced with a drift button (that acts as a handbreak until you hold it down for longer, then it sends your car into a slithery slippy slalom of sliding - which does make it a bit tricky/impossible to do consecutive donuts on-the-spot ... but you can slide about like a silly bugger). The helicopters - only used one, and it was briefly as part of a mission - feel a bit stiff perhaps. Maybe I'll get used to it. There's a number of really good cars - and thankfully the Boot Legger is back! :)

4) The in-game phone - excellent - so much control within one device (including the ability - at long last - to have your money wired into your account on-the-hoof, so you don't have to keep going back to safe houses to get money from your safes). You control missions, side quests, your map, your money, your upgrades and more with the phone. It's an excellent improvement.

5) Customisation - if you like that kind of thing, you're in for a treat. Your own character, your gang, vehicles, weapons, cribs, there's a lot to customise. Particularly for you personally - as you earn money you can buy upgrades to your character (e.g. health boosts, faster drops in notoriety, special moves, etc etc etc).

6) The radio - the little I've heard of it anyway - is definitely an improvement over SR1 and SR2. They'll never be able to get to that level of 'pull over and just listen' that GTA has routinely exhibited, but it's definitely better than the previous games in the SR franchise.

7) UAV - it's awesome.

8) Assassination missions - vastly improved over SR2. You get clear instructions, you're guided to the particular area automatically, your target is highlighted with a target icon, etc - it makes it far better than SR2 which was like finding a needle in a hay stack and un-user-friendly.

9) Counters appear now-and-then to show your progress in certain things (e.g. how many "Bo-Duke-En" moves you've done - i.e. using the "awesome button" (LB) and "Y" to enter vehicles in a fancy manner - do that particular move 50 times and you get an achievement, and helpfully it informs you of how far along that task you are as you go). Speaking of the Bo-Duke-En move, it's very handy when surrounded by lots of cops - if you want to get out of the line of fire quickly and make a sharp exit, use that move to leap into a car very fast ... it's a slight nuisance though that you don't have the reverse option when a vehicle is on fire though.

10) So far the cops seem more robust (SWAT, Humvees with Mini-Guns on board - which I frequently steal and unleash upon them - tanks etc) - however I've sure this will balance out with character upgrades (better health recovery, receive less damage, deal out more damage with better weapons, less notoriety, back-up etc).

I've barely scratched the surface of the game so far - I've not even started on any activities - but yeah, it's good.

[Danny]

I have noticed a LOT of advertising going into Skyrim though - I've seen that advert on TV so many times now ... meanwhile SR3 haven't done any as far as I can tell.

Not down with tim and eric? officially old man tier.

U5O9x7aL7QE

Great job.

[MinionZombie]

Danny - I mean TV adverts. Like I said, they've been doing lots of online stuff - more of a viral approach.

However I'm not down with Tim & Eric ... not my cup of tea, personally.

...

Another thing in the game - collectibles - for instance, photo opportunities with adoring fans (you even sign an autograph during the opening bank heist :D), and crate loads of sex dolls (really). I found the first one of those at the airport near the water at one end of the runway. :lol:

-- -------- Post added at 06:30 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:53 PM ----------

Another couple of hours, and my character now owns the massive purple-dildo-on-a-stick that you can twat people with. :elol:

Nipple pasties over the gigantic gazongas really does add a touch of class to my character, I must say. :sneaky::p

Finally gotten into some activities - Insurance Fraud is back (and so far it plays a little better than before), and I did a Tank Mayhem (blow EVERYTHING up :evil:), oh and one of Professor Ghenki's "Super Ethical Reality Climax" shows (like a series of rooms filled with flamethrowers, electricity, gun-toting Furries, and bonus boards, with sportscaster commentary to boot).

I'm trying to boost my income at the moment on the game. There's so many abilities and upgrades I wanna buy and never enough money to do so ... it'd be nice if the cash flowed a little more generously to begin with; not too much, but a little bit more.

A nice addition though - to perhaps balance the tougher cops - is the ability to lose ALL notoriety as soon as you step inside any building you own (be it a crib or a business). That's certainly come in handy a few times, hehe. Oh and I've been going mental with the nutshots and stylised takedowns you can do to pedestrians. So stylish. So fun. :elol:

[childofgilead]

Hahaha, yeah, when I read you were running around as a busty woman, I wondered if you were being sensible like me and using the pasties too..the zombie mode is actually a cheat, you just enter in brains on your phone..I'd create a separate save though, as it disables achievements, if those are important to you..

As for Skyrim, yeah, it looks fun, but honestly I'm going to wait until the GOTY version or whatever they're going to call it is released..Bethesda is the WORST for nickel and diming you for DLC and they release ALOT..I just don't feel like dropping more than a hundred bucks into another game..

[MinionZombie]

hehe, yep, pasties a-hoy-hoy. :sneaky: It's funny though - you can wear skin coloured pasties which basically looks like full on boobs, but if you actually go nude it pixelates the entire rack ... which is curious. :p

Yeah I was reading about the cheats and I'd do just that - a new save file specifically for them - but I don't think I'll bother until I've completed the game and done about everything I want to do in-game.

I'm slowly starting to bring more money in - which means better upgrades and weapons. I've been busy taking over gang territory - but I have noticed a bug on occasion - I've used the UAV to take out a gang, but sometimes the area won't actually be cleared as it doesn't register them as a gang to be taken over (as I've not gotten close enough to them to gain their interest and get the red icons above their heads), merely just members of the overall gang - so the icon remains and you just get into a big fire fight. So instead I've taken to cruising around with Shaundi and taking the fight straight to the gangs - lob in some grenades and pick the rest off with my heavy machine gun. :elol:

[childofgilead]

Hahaha, yeah, I do think that the pixelling is arbitrary, and it's more than a little annoying..*shrug*

Duder..since there is free roam after completion..all's I'm going to say is..get a chopper, fly towards the green cloud..and take plenty of pics!

Edit: Also, final mission..soooo epic and cheesy at the same time.

[MinionZombie]

Green cloud, eh? I'm intrigued - is that part of zombie cheat mode?

I've just taken down the first 'boss' - the French guy - and his end came surprisingly quick (in the game overall, I mean). He didn't seem much of a menace, however the mission itself was spiffing (I opted to keep the tower for myself :D).

So far the game is very stable (SR2 was glitchy as hell, and during that game I had several instances of losing progress because of post-mission freezes before the autosave could kick in) - so that's a very good thing in SR3. Also, the framerate is excellent (but I'm trying out V-Sync Mode - which has dropped the framerate somewhat, but I'm seeing if it makes a difference at all). So yeah, SR3 is definitely the best version of Saints Row there is - all the positives and negatives of the first two games have been realised.

Mind you, it's still a pain when playing Insurance Fraud at night - there's nowhere near enough traffic to do it, so always make sure to play that activity in the day time ... and they still insist on putting bonus zones at crossroads - where all the damn cars slow down for traffic lights - what's the point in that?! Still though - it's a spiffing game.

[childofgilead]

I agree, by and large, this game is a step up from SR2..*but*..

There aren't any fast food, booze stores, no gas stations to randomly walk in and hold up..there doesn't seem to be as many regular people walking around.

And the worst thing are the cars. Have you noticed how when you get up to top speed they constantly just recycle the gear changing sound effects? Ugh..

I dunno..some of those things just scream "rushed product" to me..don't get me wrong, the customization is still fun, though a little more limited than last time, which is honestly the only thing that outshines GTA to me. As far as gunplay and car chases, Rockstar has that shit on lockdown.

[MinionZombie]

Yes I did just recently notice the constant gear changing sound effect as a matter of fact (I hadn't noticed due to the radio), but I recently was enjoying the decent car sound effects ... aside from the fact the gears constantly change up (unless each car has like 100 gears :lol:) ... it's not a huge problem for me, but a silly little thing they should have noticed though.

Personally I don't mind not having fast food or booze - it was fairly pointless in SR2, but you can hold up all the other stores. Never noticed there not being enough people walking around though - at night, sure, but during the day there's plenty (which is ideal for the streaking activity).

SR2 on the other hand - now that felt like a rushed product. There were some very sloppy things in that game, but perhaps part of it was down to not having the skillsets they really needed on the production team. It seems (so far at least) like a much more well constructed product.

[erisi236]

I really outta get this game, it's on my list but I keep putting it off.

[MinionZombie]

I really outta get this game, it's on my list but I keep putting it off.

If you had fun with the previous games in the series, then you should have a blast with this one.

I'm currently at 70% completion after 22 hours, and it's the best game of the series. So far it's much more solid, there isn't the ludicrously piss poor balancing of SR2, it looks good, it feels good, it's enjoyable to play, there's plenty to do (although Crib Customisation is essentially non-existant to make way for other things on the disc - such as extensive character customisation and ability upgrading), and so yeah - it's definitely worth getting for a hella good time.

I've found the Professor Ghenki's Super Ethical Reality Climax activities to be very good fun - arena games where you earn money by shooting the correct billboards that pop up, people dressed in costumes (including Furries), dodge flame and electricity traps, and all to earn money and get to the end before the time runs out. Also - Tank Mayhem is just so much fun.

-- -------- Post added 01-Dec-2011 at 06:38 PM ---------- Previous post was 27-Nov-2011 at 06:35 PM ----------

Seems to be they've removed the mission replay ability though - which is thoroughly dunderheaded of them ... so that's a rare step-down compared to SR2.

Still, spiffing game, and I just completed the main story mode - don't worry though, I won't spoil it.

However - to anyone who has completed it, did you make the 'Green Choice' or the 'Red Choice' first in the final mission? Answers wrapped in spoiler tags please.

I did the Green Choice first - saving Shaundi and the Statue etc, i.e. the GOOD ENDING ... then you get the option to replay it a different way, so I did that and killed Killbane and lost Shaundi, and then took out the Dadelus and declared Steelport a City State ... however after that it seemed that the BAD ENDING had superseded the GOOD ENDING I'd originally done - i.e. the statue is blown up and Shaundi can't be contacted.

Yet I got all the rewards and money for doing the final mission both ways.

So I might re-do the final three missions all over again (a good 60-80 minutes of gameplay, grrr) but doing the Red Choice first, and then replaying to do the Green Choice to see if that makes the GOOD ENDING be the ending when I'm then off free-roaming afterwards.

What did anyone else do - Red or Green Choice first? - Don't forget to wrap your response in spoiler tags!

*EDIT* I've read online that even if you do it Red then Green Choice, when you get around to free roaming afterwards Shaundi will still be dead and the statue will still be blown up ... if that's the case, then what's the point in having the option if you can't have one to be the definitive ending of your game? :confused:

[Andy]

Absolutly loving this game at the moment, has just eaten up so much of my week lol! I mentioned in the shoutbox, my character and my gang are mafia types and im no where near finished yet as i enjoy taking my time and pissing around between missions, i aint in a rush to complete this game!

[MinionZombie]

Absolutly loving this game at the moment, has just eaten up so much of my week lol! I mentioned in the shoutbox, my character and my gang are mafia types and im no where near finished yet as i enjoy taking my time and pissing around between missions, i aint in a rush to complete this game!

Glad you're enjoying it, Andy.

While there are a couple of downpoints compared to SR2 (e.g. hardly any crib customisation at all, no individual mission replay ability), the vast majority of it is a huge step up from SR2 and I've loved practically every minute of my gameplay so far - I'm now officially over the 30 hour mark (earning me an Achievement in the process :p) and right now I'm doing the Vehicle Theft missions ... however I do worry that the very last one won't be do-able because...

It requires going to Sunset Park to a 'STAG Camp' to half-inch a Condor ... but seeing as I've gotten rid of STAG in the final mission "STAG Film", I don't think it'll be there - and it seems you have to get the vehicle from that location if it tells you to look somewhere specific. I do have Condors in my vehicle garage, but I wonder if that'll work at all - if I can't complete the vehicle theft missions (and get the achievement for it) simply because of that, then that's an idiotic bug to have ... but hopefully not.

There was an instance where I might have stalled - getting one of the STAG Humvees - you have to get into trouble anywhere on the map until they arrive, however having got rid of STAG they obviously don't turn up - but I had one in the garage, so I just used that one and that worked - but again, there was no specific location required for the vehicle so it was allowed. Hmmm ... if I can't complete the vehicle theft challenge by one sodding vehicle I'll be pissed.

Anyway - the character upgrades are awesome. I'm invincible to bullets and explosions, so I'm as good as invincible to everything - so very importantly, I can go on huge, long-winded, massively destructive rampages! Glad to see Volition got that need for sandbox gamers in this sort of game type. Unlimited ammo in certain slots also helps (my chain-fed machine gun with grenade launcher never runs out. :elol:

[Andy]

Im really enjoying all the activities an such, ive only just got to the point where STAG enter steelport so no spoilers please :P

I really love the SMG's too, i upgraded them so they set people on fire and im dual weilding them too, i also take 75% less damage from bullets but im a long way off being able to get the upgrade for no damage at all..

I Gotta say, of all the activities, im really disappointed to see the cops activity from saints row 2 didnt make it into the third, that was my favourite activity in SR2, its actually making me want to dig it out and give it another shot.

[MinionZombie]

It's interesting which things they've left on the sidelines (I'd totally forgot about the cop missions), however despite the odd missing thing, what is there is awesome.

The SMGs being able to set people on fire thing - I must have missed that, which upgrade is that?!

I'm up to 90% completion at the moment ... not sure if I'll bother going for 100% considering the odd challenge will be a bit of a chore to faff about with, but I'm going to do as much as I can be arsed to do. One thing that's strange is I can't seem to pull off a "Nut Shot" at the moment (with a bullet, I mean) - that's one challenge and I'm on 24 out of 25 nut shots, but I keep hitting the bastards in the legs and they don't hold still for long enough. :evil:

You know those phones calls that come in - I've occasionally accidentally gone into one of those (now that I've done all 26 of those things) when I'm just about to enter a car, say, when the call comes in. Perhaps they could have used another less-used button for that? However, the one of those that I really, really, really enjoyed was taking on a shitload of Furris and Mascots outside "Let's Pretend" - it's on onslaught of utter barminess (and really helps towards the Mascot Kills and Emu Destruction challenges). :D

[Andy]

Absolutely, i always enjoy a saints row game to be honest, the first one was one of the first games i got when i bought my xbox and they've always made more of a impression on me everytime. While grand theft auto has a brilliant story and i did rack up serious gameplay time on it, i always seem to have more fun on a SR game.

And MZ, Upgrade your TEK Z-10 SMG's to level 4 and they set people on fire, really good weapon especially when dual weilding too.

One thing that is bugging me is the glitches, ive noticed quite a few in SR3 so far.. just minor things like cars getting stuck half way through walls, people walking in midair.. but the biggest and most annoying one thats happened to me was when i did the murderbrawl 31 mission..

After i beat killbane in the ring and got him in a headlock, some writing flashed up for literally a second then i was outside and it gave me achievement for making a choice on killbanes life.. i didnt make any choice, i wasnt touching the controller and the writing flashed up so fast i didnt get to read what it said :|

Bugs aside, absolutely brilliant game.. i must be close to clocking up 30 hours on it myself as i was on it near enough all day yesterday and every evening since i got it.

Last thing..

Mayor Burt Reynolds!! :lol:

MZ you need to get yourself on xbox live so we can do some co-op gaming.

[MinionZombie]

Regarding the police thing - did you mean "Fuzz" where you had to go around and cause mayhem as a cop while arresting crooks to get "footage" for a TV show? If so yeah that was a good activity - they should have kept that and got rid of Trail Blazing, which I always thought was a bit dull and a bit of a faff in SR2, and isn't an awful lot better here in SR3 (one particular instance of it is, for me, impossible to beat - meanwhile all other activities I've partaken in I've been fine with ... there's still a number of them left to do, though).

XBL - I don't have it. Have no interest in XBL, don't have a 360 HDD, don't have a good enough broadband connection for online gaming, and don't fancy spending £50 a year on it anyway ... although I do imagine it must be an even more fun game in Co-Op mode. Does it do Co-Op on one machine and two controllers, or is it purely on XBL? I can't stand it when games have Co-Op but it's only through XBL, which is just stupid - I like sitting side-by-side with a mate in the same room on the same machine battling against/with each other on a game personally (reminds me of the marathon death match sessions at uni on Halo 2 :D)...

Glitches wise - I certainly didn't have that one you speak of for Muderbrawl XXXI - indeed I did the mission twice (in order to make a different choice - I wanted the Apoco-Fists instead of the mask). The only ones I've had are people getting stuck in the road/ground after they've been blown up when in a car (so you have them buried up to their waist in the road, hehe), or car wheels popping up and down rapidly when stopped at just the right (or rather wrong) point on the edge of a pavement.

I once had one where an enemy chopper was supposed to fly in to attack The Ho-Boat, but it was just a red triangle in the distance that never came (so I restarted the mission from the most recent checkpoint and that dislodged that little mistake and allowed me to proceed). Also, fortunately, I was able to finish the Car Theft Challenge (that STAG humvee I needed was at Sunset Park after all - so fortunately someone at Volition had thought about that possibility I mentioned ... now, back in the days of SR2 I doubt that sort of attention would have been paid - indeed I was trepidacious about getting SR3 simply because of how utterly buggy and poorly balanced and half-arsed SR2 was, but SR3 has clearly seen them step up to AAA territory (good for them).

Ah flaming bullets on the TEK Z-10, eh? I haven't actually upgraded those weapons - must see about trying out some other weapons there. I kind of got settled into a set I quite liked and was focussed on upgrading those in order to get the achievement for having fully upgraded weapons in all slots (which requires you to have purchased all weapons in the second slot, which includes upgrading the baseball bat to have nails in it).

Oh and I happened upon that one remaining nut shot this afternoon - so I've only got 10 challenges left to complete on that list of 41.

How long have you had this game? I'm up to something like 34 hours and 92% completion since the day it was released, but you got it at least a week after that, right? Damn Andy, you must be barging it! That said, I can totally understand why - it's very addictive.

SR2 did have fun stuff in it, but it had an equal amount of anger-inducing bullshit in it, but SR3 is damn near perfect (the only negatives are, relatively speaking, nitpicky things) - so GTA IV had no problem being far better in my mind (I've had well over 200 hours out of GTA IV and the two Episodes From Liberty City), however you can't have anywhere near as much balls out fun and customisation as you can with SR3. I'll be there on launch day for GTA V, but I do hope they redress the balance a bit - while GTA IV was an awesome game, it wasn't perfect, and your fun was limited in numerous ways to secure the double-edged sword of a more serious story and characters. I wouldn't want them to just try and be Saints Row (as that would be daft, very daft) ... but likewise, when you go to have fun in GTA IV you're often working against the grain.

Volition have really embraced the sandbox environment with SR3, and apparently the sequel is going to be even more over-the-top (so that's pretty bloody OTT then, I'd imagine!)

[Mr. Clean]

This game was sadly too short. I still have a few activities to finish up but that's mainly just achievement hunting. I knocked out ALOT of the activities in the very beginning thinking I would need the respect but didn't reek any rewards from it other than cash. Probably not going to get the DLC just because they don't appear to add much more gameplay for the money.

[MikePizzoff]

I went through and did all of the activities, and probably a third of the storyline, in around 30 hours time - all with a friend, too. A lot of that time was wasted goofing around and doing stunt jumps and basejumping and whatnot. Still have yet to go back and finish the story, but I've been finishing up GTA IV/TLatD/BoGT (for my sandbox fix).

I think that this game is a must-buy for pretty much anyone. Not only is it fun as hell, but the world is pretty massive, the comedy is actually funny, and its super easy (and fun as hell) teaming up with a friend online.

And, yeah, most reviews I've read about the first expansion pack have been "STAY AWAY" because it hardly has a few hours worth of content. Not too sure about the second pack, though - the one that makes your character become a movie star.

[MinionZombie]

I don't have XBL, so I wouldn't be getting the DLC anyway, but regardless from what I've seen it seems to strike me more as content that should have been on the disc in the first place, and I don't play by those rules.

As for SR3 - I loved it. Massive improvement over SR2, except for a couple of omissions that I've mentioned elsewhere in this thread, but I had a blast with it and want to play more of it again sometime soon. Which reminds me - does anyone know if you can start a new game (to replay all the missions), but keep all of your stats and abilities that you've already gained from your original play through? I'd be a pain in the arse to get all those abilities back again, and would put me off replaying you see - anyone know? I can find naff all about that online.

[Neil]

I went through and did all of the activities, and probably a third of the storyline, in around 30 hours time - all with a friend, too. A lot of that time was wasted goofing around and doing stunt jumps and basejumping and whatnot. Still have yet to go back and finish the story, but I've been finishing up GTA IV/TLatD/BoGT (for my sandbox fix).

I think that this game is a must-buy for pretty much anyone. Not only is it fun as hell, but the world is pretty massive, the comedy is actually funny, and its super easy (and fun as hell) teaming up with a friend online.

And, yeah, most reviews I've read about the first expansion pack have been "STAY AWAY" because it hardly has a few hours worth of content. Not too sure about the second pack, though - the one that makes your character become a movie star.

You mentioned multiplayer? Can 4-5 of you play togethor in someway?

[MikePizzoff]

Nick - no idea about your stats carrying over. I haven't finished the storyline (as I said) so I dunno whether or not there's a way to access missions.

Neil - Nah, only you and 1 other person can team up online, but you can do ANYTHING together (storyline, side quests, find hidden packages, etc) and the stats will carry over to both games. However, only the host's storyline progression will save.

[Neil]

This game is on my wish list... So when it drops in price I'll grab it :)

-- -------- Post added at 01:40 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:39 PM ----------


Neil - Nah, only you and 1 other person can team up online, but you can do ANYTHING together (storyline, side quests, find hidden packages, etc) and the stats will carry over to both games. However, only the host's storyline progression will save.

That's a shame. There's 4-5 of us who play online regularly and we have a hard time finding things we can all play!

[Andy]

As for SR3 - I loved it. Massive improvement over SR2, except for a couple of omissions that I've mentioned elsewhere in this thread, but I had a blast with it and want to play more of it again sometime soon. Which reminds me - does anyone know if you can start a new game (to replay all the missions), but keep all of your stats and abilities that you've already gained from your original play through? I'd be a pain in the arse to get all those abilities back again, and would put me off replaying you see - anyone know? I can find naff all about that online.

Yeah in your original game, just make sure you manually save it at some point and you can start a new game with a new character.

Has to be a manual save becuase obviously the autosave will overwrite itself.

[MinionZombie]

Yeah in your original game, just make sure you manually save it at some point and you can start a new game with a new character.

Has to be a manual save becuase obviously the autosave will overwrite itself.

Not quite following your there, chief ... I've got a few saves at different stages (but obviously one where I'm at 100%) ... so if I copy that one to another memory unit (yeah I work on memory units, big deal, wanna fight about it? :lol: /familyguy), and then in that one select "new game" or whatever the option would be, I would retain all my progression (invincibility, unlimited ammo, unlimited stamina, etc etc etc) and also keep my current figure/player configuration (i.e. what my character looks like), but play through the game from the beginning (and possibly save to another separate slot too)?