This is a bad argument.

On a very general level, should one wait to see how something fully turns out before judging it too much. Sure. Is the first impression always the right impression? No. Should we let our personal biases close us off to new experiences? Of course not.

However, the simple fact of the matter is that when you're working within existing, long running IP, that has established a certain audience, and fanbase over the years, you do have to work within certain constraints. Just because you're rebooting something doesn't mean you can expect to take a creative axe to it, and turn it into something barely recognizable to those fans that have been cultivated over the years. Not without incurring totally predictable, and totally valid backlash from those fans at any rate. 

And you don't get to make the excuse of saying the devs are tired of this and that, and maybe just wanna make something new. Nobody is stopping anybody from creating something new. Nobody forced these guys to make a new Saints Row game. They could have come up with whatever they want, and called it whatever they want. Use an established name, hoping to win an instant pocket of sales, get burdened with the expectations that come along with that.

Could this new Saints Row be a fun game to the average consumer? Yea. Would someone who got bored of previous SR games, such as yourself, perhaps find more to like here? Impossible to say right now, but sure, it's possible. Might some of the people complaining right now ultimately be won over when they see more of this game in action? Never say never. That doesn't mean you can dismiss the complaints of SR fans as "belly aching." I reckon you wouldn't be too pleased if somebody took a series you're personally very invested in, and then revealed it in a tone and style that's nigh unrecognizable for that franchise. Even if you were open minded to seeing more before getting too carried away, if you then saw a bunch of interviews with the creators talking about how that old shit don't work no more, doesn't make sense in today's day and age, and just dismissing general early concerns that the fans have as haters and whatnot...tell me you still good with that, and I'll call you a liar.

This current trend among creators, whether it's Hollywood, in gaming, or whatever else where these individuals show such disregard, or hostility even, towards the people that most want to root for their projects is the epitome of stupidity. I mean if people are out there attacking you as an individual, sending you threats, and just being shit human beings...go ahead, tell those clowns to stick it where the sun don't shine...but don't be so damn dismissive, and defiant in the face of the people who are the sole reason you banking on guaranteed money releasing a product with X name on it. 

So a big middle finger for those with mixed feelings towards their disastrous reveal

Game looks cool to me, sure the characters will eventually grow on me. Terrible reveal with the lack of customization, but that's been fixed. Saints Row 2 fans seem pretty upset. Oh well.

SaintsRow has won 2 gamescom Awards.

Best Announcement and Best Trailer

I don't know what ended up being good after such a big backlash and response. And though lets say the game might turn out to be good, and just trailer is just horrible, this is not the way you interact with your customers. Like calling your fans who bought your games haters and nonchalantly shrugging your shoulders when they are passionate about your product/s isn't a good look. Imagine if people got snarky responses like this in a retail store, you'd get absolutely panned for it. Unprofessional, and non caring for your exisiting customers and fan/userbase no matter how bad, this ain't the way to do it.

Fans are a pain in the ass period.  While they can be great in some respect, they also hold creators back.  They lock creators into doing the same stuff which as a creator sometimes you really want to do something different.  You want to explore different concepts and ideals but those fans who believe if you are not doing what they like you are sh*ting on them.  I will always side on the creator to do what they want and how they want with their property.  I will always wait until I have a chance to see more of a game and how it turn out before forming any opinion.  I am never in a hurry to play any game nor do I hold on to how one game played within a series to the next.  There just isn't enough info in that trailer that tells me anything besides the look that the developers are going for.  Execution of everything else is what I am waiting to see before forming any real opinion.

Case in point would be God of War.  I remember how the fans was really bitching about the game since it did not look nor play like the previous entries.  The developers wanted to do something totally different and they executed that vision.  The game end of being one of my favorites out of the series.  Another game would be Devil May Cry done by Ninja Theory.  Fans of the previous games had issues with the look of the character but the main developer wanted to do something different and in my opinion NT executed that very well.  Though I like DMC4 going back to its old school look, I still enjoyed NT concept a lot as well.

My point is that developers really do get tired of doing the same concept over and over again just because of fans.  Sometimes they want to reboot and flip things on its head. I am totally fine with that, my only thing is execution of that move.  I want creators to always feel they can and should do what makes them happy before trying to make certain fans happy because when all is said and done, its what make the creator happy and want to put in the work then what makes fans happy.  No matter what they do, success will always be on how well they execute.

So, although I love the characters from the past Saints Row games, I never really played them for the story so idk xD I'm definitely still getting this day one. Hopefully some OGs can make cameo appearances but if they deliver on Fun over-the-top gameplay then I'm all in. And apparently the character customizations are the best ever in this one. Co-Op sounds great too (343 take note).

Only played the Third. I liked it, but it's one of those games where it felt like I was satisfied but felt like I had enough of what it had to offer. Honestly, couldn't care much less about the characters, so if it offers good silly over the top gameplay I may be interested.

Good on the devs for standing up to that dastardly cancel culture though.

I will say i HATE the character designs. Like wtf were they thinking there. and the characters themselves seem extremely generic and boring. I can't say anything about gameplay yet, But i don't have hopes for it.

They are primarily using a beloved and fun IP for their own personal pursuit for diversity, which is what I would call bastardization, because they aren't here to make something they like, they are here to make something we, the main target audience want. 

This is why I'm looking at the comic book industry from afar and seeing the same tune playing out and it's all what the creators want, not what the readers are after and paying for. Even with WoW, we saw users testing Shadowlands beta for months before the official release and the users gave tons of feedback, but did Blizzard listen to that feedback?, no, they just went ahead with the shit no one liked and only now, after the recent scandals and massive loss of subs, are they looking to fix the damage.

The reason why these companies do this is mainly because they have this ongoing paranoia that us the fans, are one day going to "outgrow" them and move onto other pastures, but the thing is, we haven't had an actual sequel to SR since III, and that was pretty much nearing a decade ago. They think that by aiming for an entirely new audience, they'll somehow gain more profit, while safely distancing and expunging the previous fanbase in the process (Which let's be honest, almost any big corp would love the freedom to just toss us out on w him if we don't meet their sales expectations. They just don't want to be that honest about it). 

They did that to themselves in all honesty, but that reboot could have worked, had they just stayed with the original cast, given us new gangs instead and possibly a new Stillwater, like a new alternate reality, but instead we're stuck with Gen Z cringelords who don't know wtf they are even doing (which makes for shitty writing, even if they try for comedy). 

You know what's really going to suck for their writing though?, if the main boss you play as can only be one gender, because SR for as long as I can remember, has allowed you to play either male or female of your own choice, and if they take that away and give us that shaved head gal, then I'm gonna be honest, the writing will be garbage, because her one liner already gave that away.

I've seen and heard enough from the recent articles, comments section on their official YT channel and the content itself, to know this isn't the game we want, and that the story isn't setting itself up any better than even SR 3-4. This will flop for sure, going by the negative comments from the communities around the net (save for ERa, because those guys love forced diversity crap and you can see for yourself on their official SR thread).