The Belgian Problem

Template:Infobox mission "The Belgian Problem" is the ninth mission and the last mission of Act 1^[1] in Saints Row: The Third.

Pierce: "The bomb's set and the clock's ticking..."
Shaundi: "Why didn't we wait to do that until after we kill Loren?"
Pierce: "That's... a really good question. We should move."

— Pierce and Shaundi, after setting the bomb's sixteen-minute timer before going after Loren.

Description

With the information they got from the computer at Powder,^[2] The Protagonist, along with Shaundi, Pierce, and a few members of the 3rd Street Saints, travel to Syndicate Tower in order to avenge Johnny Gat's death by finally killing Phillipe Loren.

After facing waves of enemies in the loading dock's lobby at the base of the building, they arm the bomb they stole from the Guard Armory^[3] with a sixteen-minute timer in order to destroy the tower. Pierce, Shaundi, and The Protagonist then fight their way up the tower, defeating an Incinerator-wielding Brute, and meet a naked and captive Oleg Kirrlov. He explains that The Syndicate have been cloning him but have failed to replicate his intelligence, resulting in the Brutes that the Saints have been encountering. Oleg does little to elaborate on his past but requests his freedom. The gang oblige and free him and, united by a common goal, they continue upwards towards Loren.

At the top, the gang finds that they are too late and Loren has taken the only express elevator downward to the loading dock's lobby. The Protagonist leaps onto the counterweight and has the group knock it loose, sending it plummeting downwards into the lobby. Outside of the express elevator, Loren stops to take a drag from his cigarette and savor his escape; as he looks up, the counterweight slams down and instantly crushes Loren, killing him. The Protagonist then has the choice to either disable the bomb (as suggested by Oleg, who believes that Loren's research data should not be lost) or leave it and escape the tower (as advocated by Shaundi, who believes the destruction would send a message). Regardless of the choice The Protagonist makes and whether Syndicate Tower is destroyed or not (it is currently unknown which choice is canon), the Saints ultimately decide to head back to Stilwater to give Gat his due funeral.

Gameplay

File:The Belgian Problem.png

Gameplay from the mission.

After reaching the loading dock lobby of Syndicate Tower, kill the waves of Morningstar inside. They should not present a significant challenge, but they do include both a Sniper Specialist and an unarmed Brute. After starting the bomb's timer, players have sixteen minutes to complete the rest of the mission; this is a vast amount of time and players should absolutely not feel rushed to complete it. Head up the elevator with Pierce and Shaundi.

When the elevator is cut off, continue onwards and kill any more Morningstar that put up resistance. As always, be aware of the Sniper Specialists as they cause a fair amount of damage. After going up some stairs, an Incinerator-wielding Brute appears – these enemies hit hard and, despite their size, move fast. Players are advised to keep their distance and keep shooting at the Brute with their strongest weapons. If given the opportunity, one can pummel the exposed tanks on their back with enough ammunition to detonate it, instantly killing the Brute. Ideally, he concentrates on attacking Pierce and Shaundi over The Protagonist. Once he's dead, a few more Morningstar provide the last defense between the player and Oleg.

Now with Oleg as a new Homie, follow him up the undefended stairs towards Phillipe Loren, who promptly flees in an express elevator. Gun down as many Morningstar as possible with the K-8 Krukov until the counterweight gives way and falls down until another unarmed Brute shows up. Simply pepper the Brute with as much ammunition as possible and he'll fall off well before his health empties. After the counterweight crashes down on Loren, players are given a choice to either disarm the bomb or leave the tower.

Choice

See also: Choices

Choice	Reward
Blow Up The Building	Permanent Respect Bonus: 10% bonus to all Respect earned for destroying the Morningstar HQ Template:Br "Kuh, Boom." (Achievement/Trophy)
Disarm The Bomb	Permanent Cash Bonus: 10% bonus to all cash earned for taking over the Morningstar HQ Template:Br "Tower Defense" (Achievement/Trophy)

Destroy building

If the building is destroyed, The Protagonist and the other Saints drive away in the truck taken from the lobby. The Protagonist talks about going back to Stilwater for Johnny Gat's funeral, beginning the events of "Return to Steelport".

During gameplay, the Syndicate Tower is forever removed from Steelport's skyline.

Disarm bomb

If the bomb is disarmed, the gang discuss how to decorate and color the building. After The Protagonist insists they get rid of the pink, Oleg sarcastically remarks on whether they'd prefer "a more manly shade, like purple", playfully criticizing the Saints' signature color.

Afterwards, there are Saints decorations around the base of the tower. During the day, the Syndicate Tower remains red, while at night the lights are Saints purple, with purple spotlights pointing to the sky.

Rewards

RC Possessor unlocked
Oleg Homie
Cash bonus unlocked (disarm bomb)
Respect bonus unlocked (destroy building)

	Please add exact respect value

Cash: $6,000
Respect: Unknown
Achievement: Template:Br Kuh, Boom. (20 / ) (destroy building) Template:Br Tower Defense (20 / ) (disarm bomb)
Mission: Return to Steelport
Homie: Oleg Kirrlov
Weapon: RC Possessor
Respect: Permanent 10% Respect bonus (destroy building)
City Income: Permanent 10% cash bonus (disarm bomb)
Diversions: 5 Challenges

Newscasts

Main article: Newscasts

Destroy the building

Disarm the bomb

Trivia

This mission is the first mission in Saints Row: The Third to give the player a choice of two outcomes. Similar choices are given in "The Ho Boat", "STAG Party", "http://deckers.die", "Murderbrawl XXXI", "Zombie Attack", and "Three Way".
When chasing Phillipe Loren with the giant counterweight, the music playing is "Dogstar" by Hybrid.
After diving onto the counterweight, The Protagonist pulls out a 45 Shepherd in the cutscene, but has a K-8 Krukov during gameplay.
If non-console players are having trouble with the Brute on the falling counterweight, a good fix to try is setting the resolution of the game as low as possible; this should stop the slowdown that is preventing players from knocking the Brute off the counterweight.
If Male Voice 3 is selected for The Protagonist, then when the ornament is dislodged The Protagonist yells, "Familiar with Agincourt, you prick?". Then, after Loren is killed, The Protagonist remarks, "I'm sure there's a St. Crispin's Day joke in here somewhere...". Both are references to the Hundred Years' War between England and France, specifically the Battle of Agincourt (which took place on St. Crispin's Day), where the English routed a numerically superior French army; Male Voice 3 is English, while Phillipe Loren is often thought to be French (despite him being Belgian).
If the player chooses to save Syndicate Tower by disarming the bomb, the newscast that follows mentions, "though an elevator was crushed during the fall, rescue workers were unable to pry apart the metal to determine if anyone was inside"; Loren was not crushed inside an elevator - he was crushed outside the elevator in the lobby of the loading dock.
This mission was first revealed in the pre-release Destructoid livestream.^[4]
In a pre-release interview, Volition producer Greg Donovan explicitly stated that the Syndicate Tower would be unlocked as a Crib if kept.^[5]

Transcript

Prologue

The Protagonist: "Pierce, we've waited long enough. Now we go for Loren."
Pierce: "Won't be easy. That whole tower's gotta be crawling with Morningstar."
The Protagonist: "Since when have we done things the easy way?"
Pierce: "True. So what's the plan?"
The Protagonist: "Kill everyone we see and find Loren?"
Pierce: "Makes sense."
The Protagonist: "Meet me at the penthouse. I'll call Shaundi."

The Protagonist: "Shaundi, it's time."
Shaundi: "Just tell me where to be."
The Protagonist: "We're meeting at the penthouse."
Shaundi: "I'm gonna kill that son of a bitch..."
The Protagonist: "Don't worry, he won't get away this time."
Shaundi: "You bet your ass he won't."