The game is not only filled hilarious and awesome moments, but plenty of moments where this game steals your heart.
General
- Once you strip away the criminal elements and more Denser and Wackier content, the story of the game is about four friends and roommates who decide to start their own business together. The core group of characters prove to be Benevolent Bosses to their recruits which include encouragement on a job well done, making sure they're properly trained, and a comment by Eli implies they get 401Ks.
- In contrast to their predecessor, the Boss of this game is a genuinely friendly person that its easy to forget they're a One Person Army Villain Protagonist with an amoral attitude to committing any number of crimes everyday. They go out of their way to make friends and inroads with others whether its their fellow Saints or the people in running the crew's ventures. They'll go easy on murder if needed and restrict themselves to as little collateral damage as possible compared to the previous literation whose solution was killing everyone and blowing everything to kingdom come.
Specifics
- The Establishing Character Moment for the future Boss' circle of friends who all leave messages congratulating them on their first day working for Marshal. This is after the Player Character was screwed out of a bonus due to disobeying orders despite bringing in the target single handedly, which acts as nice pick-me-up both In and Out of Universe.
- Neenah mentions not getting a job at a museum meaning she, like the PC has no problem committing crimes to pay the bills but was looking to go legit. This doesn't seem too surprising. It’s the fact the Boss who has no problem (and quite enjoys the fun of) committing crimes is willing to become a corporate sell-out just to help pay the rent isn't something you'd expect the Sociopathic Jerk with a Heart of Gold from the original series.
- Neenah refusing to use her car for the loaning agency as she won't risk her car for rent. When the Boss is cornered by the police, Neenah takes out her car and does crazy maneuvers to rescue them, stating she won't risk her car for rent but will do everything for her "dummies".
- The scene in Taking Me To Church when the Saints are officially formed. Unlike in 1 or 2 where Julius/the Boss gave a speech and gave orders, the scene plays out with soft music as the crew explore the church. Neenah finds the fleur-de-lis that becomes the gang's symbol while the Boss is inspired by the group's name from a faded mural of an angel with machine gun graffiti on it.
- The crew are appalled the real estate tycoon who brought the church was going to bulldoze it for condos, especially since they fall in love with the church due to its craftsmanship. While the renovations throughout the game are still indicative of the Saint's rise in power and prestige, there's an extra layer of it being done out of respect for the building's history.
- "The Dustmont" storyline has Eli asking the Boss for help to "level grind" his LARPing character and the latter agreeing to do so despite being confused and having no idea what LARPing even is. The Boss not only agrees to take the rules seriously (namely "no actual killing of people" one) for Eli, but they quickly get into it themselves. This includes forming their own house and dedicating resources to building a massive fort. It's actually a little reminiscent of the Boss and Matt Miller bonding over NyteBlade in IV.
- The Boss's absolute devotion to saving Kev, tearing through the city (and Idols) demanding their friend back while making it clear there's going to be hell to pay if something happens to him. They also show absolute disgust for the Idols' plan to blow up the Santo Ileso sign (and not just because they were going to blow Kev up along with it.)The Boss: Blowing up a tourist sign? What is wrong with you people?
- In the previous mission, Kev asks if you can come along for a fast food toy that has been relaunched, since he was in a foster home when they first launched and so couldn't get one. The Boss becomes hellbent on getting Kev that toy and is ready to kill the Idols that stole the shipment.
The Boss: Fuck the kids, they made you sad!- When they later get the shipment back, Kev notes he’s only keeping the one toy and donating the rest to the orphanage.
- The Boss always having a genuine interest in the facts they learn from the Hidden History Discoveries.
- The story of the Red Faction microbrewery is that it was built on the site of the 2001 massacre by the Ultor Corporation on unarmed workers. After years of horrific working conditions and unethical human experiments, the Red Faction was formed to fight back. Ultor actually lost and had to concede much of the land holdings including the land where the brewery and a memorial park were erected in honor of those lost.
- The Boss Helping Neenah taking revenge on Los Panteros for stealing and throwing her prized car into the Quarry. Not once is it mentioned that they're dealing damage to the competition. Sergio and his crew hurt the Boss's friend and they're gonna pay for that tenfold.
- Corporate Retreat has the crew meeting the freshly broken out Nahualli under the pretense of preparing for the upcoming train heist...which is what the Boss planned to do in a way through a Team Building bonding day. The Nahualli's reaction of confusion is hilarious and makes him immediately regret his choices, but nonetheless goes along with it.
- The first activity is Neenah and the Saints paint over a mural she had done as a Los Panteros with a new mural dedicated to the Saints as a middle finger to her old crew and to build her crew's "brand". The Nahualli, who initially dismisses this as "common vandalism", immediately changes his tone upon having the reason explained to him. He even compliments her on the new Saints mural, stating that it's impressive once you understand the context.
- Eli's activity is drinking and karaoke to the delight of his friends; when the Nahualli states he doesn't sing among strangers, the Boss points out that it's a good thing he's with friends then. After a couple Beats, the Nahualli states he'll sing anything but Love Shack.
- He approves of the bar that Eli picks as "his kind of place". While the Dustmont missions means it's entirely possible Eli picked it because he liked the aesthetics himself, knowing Eli gives you the idea he might've chosen the bar with the Nahualli in mind.
- While a little thrown by his choice to walk around shirtless, the Nahualli quickly warms to Kev the same as everyone else does and even tells the Boss they should be more like him who approaches everything "with gusto." (Granted they were talking about the Boss's desire to not do any killing while doing the Team Building to the Nahualli's confusion but still.)
- Just the fact the Boss worked very hard to have a "murder-free day" of bonding with their friends and the Nahualli, becoming repeatedly exasperated when fate continually conspires to make them fight enemies. Their conversation with the Nahualli makes it clear that yes, they're very good at the whole "killing everyone thing" and have zero problems with murder. That doesn't mean that's their first reaction to any given problem or do it out of enjoyment.
- The mission ends with the crew back at the Church, laughing after having dinner at a story the Nahualli was telling about a job he had done for the Cartel. After he bids them all a fond farewell as he leaves, the Boss offers him to consider joining the Saints permanently after the train job which the Nahualli says he'll think about. Afterwards he can be seen hanging around the Church the same as the rest of crew.
- While frustrated to leave a party they were invited to, the Boss is really gentle to a cleanup crewmember named MJ in the middle of panicking. When the MJ explains the clients started a shoot out that got one of the cleaners wounded, the Boss simply tells her to hold tight and asks Winston to go comfort her when he is done with his cleanup.
