Goodbye Volition

Admixon said:
People keep asking me about it so let's clarify it. This website isn't owned by Volition or Deep Silver. It's not an official forum and it was created by SR fans however some of the members and modders here were SR developers. Volition being shut down doesn't mean the site will be closed soon as well. That's all.
Click to expand...
Here I was thinking the German overlords ran this place :D
 
3rdStreetSaint 212 said:
When I first saw the news that Volition is gone, I felt bad for them... But at the same time, since the initial Gang Tag Wall Art teaser, fans were excited, it looked like Saints Row was back to it's SR1/2 days. But then that CGI trailer left all the fans in confusion. They started giving us more and more (but bit by bit) and we kept directly commenting that this was a bad move. We voiced our opinions and said that this is NOT Saints Row.

I will give them respect that they didn't give in to peer pressure and stuck to their guns, because this was the game they wanted to make... But the fan base they built up with SR1 & 2 almost completely dissolved, and the fan base for 3 and 4 were even a little hesitant. This game could have been perfect... For the right audience.

The problem was, this was their fist attempt at something completely new (yet still using the Saints Row IP for some reason), so they didn't have a fan base ready to accept this game, like the initial SR1 release, they basically went for a less serious, fun based version of GTA, so fans of GTA would see the game and give it a try.

The only fan base that might have seen the new Saints Row and thought "this is the game for me" would be Fortnite fans, simply because of how cartoonish the game is. But they should have known from the amount of backlash they were receiving that this was not a game their current fan base was going to accept as a Saints Row game.

They were lucky that so many of us did stick around to actually give the game a try and hope it wasn't as bad as they were advertising it. But, while some of the gameplay was enjoyable, the game was riddled with game breaking bugs, online co-op was a nightmare (at least for me and my friends), and the story was just so far from any previous Saints Row game that it felt like a poorly written parody by someone who's never played a Saints Row game in their life.

And the one thing that will always stick with me is how they handled the "It's our time now" cutscene in this game... It was so bad (but under the context of the story, it did fit well), it felt like they were mocking the very roots of how serious that cutscene was in previous games. SR1 - End the conflict between the gangs of Stilwater and make the streets safe for the citizens, SR2 - Reclaim the empire we worked so hard for and get revenge on the gangs that killed the original Saints, SRTT - Avenge Johnny Gat and show the Syndicate that they can't just move in on our territory, SRIV - Literally to avenge Earth... SRR - We can't pay our rent or student loans, and the other gangs don't take us seriously... I wonder why they don't take you seriously.

I'm neutral on the whole LARP stuff, but it did feel like they put most of their effort into that part of the game. Giving it a full lore, providing weapons that make it seem like the whole city is involved in the Dustmoot, and giving them a reason to bring Gwen back now that the Boss is no longer in Marshall. But because the LARP stuff seemed the most polished, I found myself enjoying that part of the game more, because there was an actual story to follow.

So am I disappointed that Volition is gone? Yes... Especially since one of my goals in life was to work for them. But at the end of the day, this is the hill they chose to die on... Quite literally. It doesn't make it right or fair that they're gone, and I was hoping to at least get one more SR game from them (but with fan feedback taken into consideration this time), and it sucks to see them gone after all the great games they have released over the years.

But... Actions have consequences, and in the business industry, numbers speak louder than words.

Edit:
Just for context I do believe they did say numerous times that this WAS the direction they wanted to take the series in... So to anyone who was thinking I should have been talking about Deep Silver for this, I'm just saying that Volition themselves said that this was the direction they wanted to go for Saints Row. So I know all the marketing side was handled by Deep Silver, but that doesn't change the fact that Saints Row is what it is.
Click to expand...
With the potential like they could make The sims competition 😑😑 rather forced to make another spin off SR..
 
Part of me figured the bleakest scenario would be like SR4's days again and it might be just a few people keeping the lights on at Volition until things are good and they can try again. Volition got done dirty, and now they're gone. They've never shut down completely before, it's heart breaking to say the least.
 
3rdStreetSaint 212 said:
It's like when a comedian is on stage and someone in the audience boos him or tells him "that's inappropriate"... He's a comedian, his entire act is based on a comedic interpretation of the f*cked up reality in which we live. In short, if you easily get offended at edgy stuff, don't go to a god damn comedy club, just because you can't take a joke, doesn't mean you have to ruin everyone's experience.

Translate that to video games, if you get easily offended at edgy stuff, don't play that video game. They shouldn't have to compromise their humor and edgy experience just because a few people might get offended by it.

If the game looks like something you'd only complain about, then don't play it. It's not mandatory to play it.

I for one am quite on the dark humor side of things, so most people who make dark humor jokes about transgender people (Clarification: I am TG) get surprised when I bust a gut laughing at it. But that's the key, if it's intended as a joke, not malice or an attempt to insult someone, then why can't we have a laugh about it. But obviously I, just like everyone else, have a line that shouldn't be crossed.
Click to expand...
Exactly.

Look, I get it, we don't want to be overtly cruel to marginalized folks. I'm not gonna go to a blind person and kick their cane out from them, or go to a person with Downs and call them the 'r' word. Because that's cruel.

But in a videogame? It's a game, it's allowed to be whatever the heck it wants to be. If you don't like it, don't play it. There are games I don't even touch because I find it offensive, but I'm not about to ruin it for everyone else. If the devs were worried people were gonna think they secretly support all the shit they put in their games, then they needn't not have done so. For God's sake, my avatar depicts a fully grown man about to punch a kid -- his kid -- and I picked that 'cause I thought it was hilarious. Does that mean I secretly support child abuse? HELL NO.

People are allowed to have fun. So long as you're not being overtly cruel to real human beings, or enacting policies to hurt them, you do whatever the hell you want.
 
TheBlueGuys said:
Exactly.

Look, I get it, we don't want to be overtly cruel to marginalized folks. I'm not gonna go to a blind person and kick their cane out from them, or go to a person with Downs and call them the 'r' word. Because that's cruel.

But in a videogame? It's a game, it's allowed to be whatever the heck it wants to be. If you don't like it, don't play it. There are games I don't even touch because I find it offensive, but I'm not about to ruin it for everyone else. If the devs were worried people were gonna think they secretly support all the shit they put in their games, then they needn't not have done so. For God's sake, my avatar depicts a fully grown man about to punch a kid -- his kid -- and I picked that 'cause I thought it was hilarious. Does that mean I secretly support child abuse? HELL NO.

People are allowed to have fun. So long as you're not being overtly cruel to real human beings, or enacting policies to hurt them, you do whatever the hell you want.
Click to expand...
While it's in a different genre (mostly an immersive sim rather than a sandbox game) I think that Postal 2 and 4 capture the original SR's attitude and edginess quite well. Both are janky games and Postal 4 is still very much unfinished with quite a few updates ahead of it but they have a lot of the soul that the new SR is missing. There's also Postal: Brain Damaged, an excellent FPS.
 
ItsIggy said:
I dunno about you but is sure feels like there are now spotlights pointed directly at us.
Click to expand...
I want to do something, but I don't quite know what.
Admixon said:
I personally don't know what to do. I feel empty as well and very sad
Click to expand...
This here is probably the best way to describe how I feel. It was a complete rug pull, from somewhat hopeful to nothing.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top