Yeah I guess. My first Saint’s Row game was SR3. I got around to playing SR2 about a couple of years ago. It was whole another level. It did almost everything right. In fact, I would argue that it was better than most GTA games. So, I have to agree with you.
I know it's not the most popular opinion but, I've really been enjoying the reboot from last year.
Despite a lot of the derision against it there really is a ton of saints row 2 at its core. I think it being wrapped in an updated world built around characters that are more representative of the time the game was made lead to a lot of people not understanding that at its core, it was still a pretty faithful reboot.
I'm not advocating that you jump out and purchase it right away. But, if you're ever in the mood I highly recommend giving it a shot. I picked it up as soon as it landed on steam and found it pretty damn enjoyable.
Yeah, SR1 was kind of a prototype. Not really much to differentiate it from GTA.
SR2 was a breath of fresh air after GTA IV though. Good story and that, but it took you about an hour to get a gun. SR2 was like, "here's your shotgun, go nuts" about 2 minutes into the tutorial. It really felt like a spiritual sequel to Vice City after the po-faced seriousness of San Andreas and GTA IV. Just the right mix of grounded and madness.
And then SR3 came out and kind of lost me. Seemed like the game was 90% minigames at that point, like they ran out of budget for the actual game. There was a balance somewhere in SR2 that was perfect, but it felt like Volition took the wrong lesson from it and just went "crazy it is".
Although I did like the They Live bit in SR4. Far too few moments like that though to keep it alive.