It's just different, I don't know as I've gotten older the "edginess" of the older titles doesn't really hit with me anyways so I didn't miss it at all and I felt it was replaced with a more modern take on the idea. They did some really fun stuff with it, for example there's a set of missions where you go LARPing all over the map with dart guns in a kind of weird mix of mad max and high fantasy. I didn't like the characters in the crew at first either but they grow on you I don't think the gang in the other games was any less corny or goofy these ones are just more modern takes.

I think edginess had it's time, but it's old hat now. It still feels every bit a madcap gang adventure a Saints game should be. I wouldn't spend $60 on it, but for $20 it's a winner all day if you just want a dumb fun game. There's plenty to do and plenty of actually new gameplay changing things to discover and unlock. Clearing out gangs feels a bit repetitive, but not much different from something like Far Cry 3/4/5/6

Maybe it's not your thing, and I think it's probably fair to level the critique that it's not what the hardcore fans really wanted, but I don't think the game fails to deliver a good experience overall especially now that it's all bugfixed etc. (which it was shortly after launch but still that launch sucked a little)