Is Quality Control a foreign concept for Bethesda? What were reviewers thinking?

I'l make it short:

1) I WANT TO BUY SKYRIM

2) I have a PS3

3) I want to buy Skyrim for my PS3

4) Bethesda released a PS3 version. Currently 95 on MC, i think.

5) Yayyy!!! Perfect, right?

yeah...

*GAF impressions of the past FOUR console Bethesda/Bethesda published games*

"New Vegas was a nightmare. The stuttering popped up at about 20 hours / 5mb, and just grew worse and worse. At first restarting the game would make it go away. But as I finished the game up, even that didn't work. The ending sequence was a sloughfest."

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"Oblivion had a version of this bug with the Shivering Isles expansion. There was an infinite counter in a script somewhere and it kept growing and growing until the game broke. Either this is something that will affect the 360 as well or it really is specific to ps3 save format."

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"THe rumor with the PS3 version is that the performance degrades over time right? I noticed that when looking around about Fallout: New Vegas as well. If that is indeed the case, I wonder what's going on in that engine of Bethesda's."

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"If I recall correctly, Morrowind on Xbox also had drifting NPCs that could clip through inaccessible geometry and stop your progress in the game if that NPC was required to advance the quest lines."

==========================================

On Skyrim:

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there's STILL that issue of a growing save file on PS3? ****** Bethesda, get your **** together seriously. either your PS3 coders are clowns or you're intentionally trolling PS3 owners.

Fallout 3 and New Vegas became pretty much unplayable for me when my save file reached 12-15mb. framerate often dipped to an incredible 1 frame per several minutes. i literally made myself dinner during a VATS sequence.

there's no excuse for this sort of unforgivable, laughably horrendeous bugginess that still hasn't been fixed after so many years.

FFS, go ask Rockstar how to make a big game stable.

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"I'm like 50 hours in; my save files are around 8MB now. Some messed up pathfinding made a few important NPCs totally disappear from my game. They also took with them the game's quest marking system since that broke, too, for every single quest. I somehow managed to glitch it all back to normal after struggling with the oldest save file I had created before the incident became completely irreparable. =\"

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"My save files are almost 8 megs and the game is chugging along sooo slowly. Walking through Whiterun was like a damn slideshow. And the game wasn't running so bad up until tonight. I noticed it grow progressively more sluggish over the weekend, but tonight was a whole different can of worms. This needs to be fixed ASAP."

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"16 hours in, loving the game, and i just sold it because it seemed to be on its way to imploding. Apart from that problem, i was okay with the ps3 version. My gaming sessions weren't even that bad but it was starting to get worse and i don't want to be 60 hours into it with a chance of doom."

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"Once you hit 7mb, you will start to notice a drop in performance. If you follow some of the steps posted in this thread it will help. One of the best tips is to take a 10-15 min break every two hours or so."

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"apparently when your save file gets to 5.5mb the performance tanks. I'm creeping up to that point and i'm noticing more stutterting/frame rate dips, but if it's only going to get worse i'm really mad that Bethesda put out such a crappy game that i'm 15 hours into, so i either have to buy the 360 version and start all over which i hate doing, or continue and have a progressively worse experience.

Shouldn't have bought this game."

---

What

the

hell?

This is one of the best reviewed games this year. One of the strongest GOTY contenders!

How can reviews overlook these serious game-breaking issues? Did no one play the PS3 version or PS3/M$ version of the older Bethesda games? Are reviewers playing magical copies of Bethesda games that work? REPORT THESE THINGS IN YOUR REVIEWS, FFS!!!

I almost paid 70EUROS for Skyrim the other day if it wasnt for an internet forum full of unfortunate players that went ahead and bought it day one in face of all the high praise from the press. The game looks great, but if it becomes unplayable halfway through it, its useless.

And if Bethesda keeps ignoring these issues like they did with Fallout 3 and New Vegas, we are left with a string of broken titles that could've have been great if someone bothered to give the developer hell for their incredible lack of polish.

Man i'm pissed off right now. Really wanted to buy this

I'l make it short:

1) I WANT TO BUY SKYRIM

2) I have a PS3

3) I want to buy Skyrim for my PS3

4) PS3 has no games

Thunderdrone

No, Thunderdrone....I'll make it short.

lol u bought a bethesda game at launchFirebird-5

[QUOTE="Firebird-5"]lol u bought a bethesda game at launchThunderdrone

Bethesda's games are supposed to have bugs and glitches to have that magical feeling that you know you're playing a bethedsa game.

I've always been annoyed by this from Bethesda. It's like they just don't care about a portion of their audience. I don't find it excusable, the patch system of modern gaming has, if anything, made devs more brash and possibly just more lazy.

sure they have quality control....but no way will the QA testers catch EVERY single bug in a game like this....things are just too random all the time, not every QA tester will play the game the same way we will...just about everyone of us has a different experience with this game

it's utterly impossible to catch every single bug in a bethesda game

lol u bought a bethesda game at launchFirebird-5

yep i awlays wait a week, then most problems are kinda sorted.

Then again Bethesda's track record with the PS3 is horrendous TC so theres no point complaining it always comes off the worst with them by a logn shot most dev's manage to get the knack but bethesda cant Fo3,NV and Skyrim all came out a lot worse than the other versions ;P

sure they have quality control....but no way will the QA testers catch EVERY single bug in a game like this....things are just too random all the time, not every QA tester will play the game the same way we will...just about everyone of us has a different experience with this game

it's utterly impossible to catch every single bug in a bethesda game

CDUB316

For a game as massive as this, you have to delegate hundreds and thousands of hours to QC. I find it hard to believe that no tester noticed this before launch.

It's a bug that seems apparent across the board, it's clearly not an isolated case.

More like, once you save-file reaches 5mb+, the game will break. It's not a matter of "if" but "when".

Can't believe they released a game in this state.

bethesda makes some awesome games but they release it full of bugs, the devs are lazy and they left mostly everything to be fixed by modder, for them to do their job.

On the other hand the game is huge you can't expect to not be bugs with it.

[QUOTE="CDUB316"]

sure they have quality control....but no way will the QA testers catch EVERY single bug in a game like this....things are just too random all the time, not every QA tester will play the game the same way we will...just about everyone of us has a different experience with this game

it's utterly impossible to catch every single bug in a bethesda game

balfe1990

For a game as massive as this, you have to delegate hundreds and thousands of hours to QC. I find it hard to believe that no tester noticed this before launch.

It's a bug that seems apparent across the board, it's clearly not an isolated case.

More like, once you save-file reaches 5mb+, the game will break. It's not a matter of "if" but "when".

Can't believe they released a game in this state.

ahh yes...we are talking about the PS3 version...my bad, just skimmed over the OP

but yes...i will agree that is a huge problem for the PS3 version...thankfully i purchased the 360 version

I haven't had a single, major problem since I've started and I'm 20+ hours in.

I haven't had a single, major problem since I've started and I'm 20+ hours in.

ChubbyGuy40

PC I assume?

PS3 is far worse off. Game-breakingly so.

TC, I hear that! I want to buy a bunch of games the week after thanksgiving(i'm in the US), as there are going to be massive sales. However, buggy games drive me crazy. I also would rather pick it up for ps3 because my 360 is on its last leg.

As for the reviews? Bugs/technical issues are what should affect score most, imo. I think at this point gamesites are tired of the same thing. They actually have the power to change industry direction through consumer perception of what is good and what isn't. And quite frankley, I almost agree with them. It would be nice to have more open ended games like Skyrim. The other side of me just can't condone releasing such a sloppy game.

Is all this s*** caused by Gamebryo? I think they should make a new engine from scratch next gen (and have really good programmers consulting them) ...

The ps3 framerate/save file bug is hard to notice until you have put upwards of maybe 30-40 hours but yeah I learned my lesson to never buy bethsade games at launch, next time will w8 for game of the year addition :P so sad though as its an awesome game.

Whats a bit dishearterning is that it appaears they new about this bug ( as it was an issue in Fallout 3 and FAllout Nv) but they released anyway, also we should have guessed something was up when all the video demos were xbox 360 and all the copies sent to the majority of reviewers were xbox 360.

sure they have quality control....but no way will the QA testers catch EVERY single bug in a game like this....things are just too random all the time, not every QA tester will play the game the same way we will...just about everyone of us has a different experience with this game

it's utterly impossible to catch every single bug in a bethesda game

CDUB316

Going to go ahead and guess Bethesda didn't send out PS3 review copies.McStrongfast

Yup all Xbox 360

Going to go ahead and guess Bethesda didn't send out PS3 review copies.McStrongfast

i don't think so either....the review on Giantbomb.com specifically says "this review is for the 360 and PC release of Skyrim"

Bethesda's games are supposed to have bugs and glitches to have that magical feeling that you know you're playing a bethedsa game.

supdotcom

[QUOTE="supdotcom"]

Bethesda's games are supposed to have bugs and glitches to have that magical feeling that you know you're playing a bethedsa game.

wraigth

I see what u did there :lol:

Its called a 'free pass' its a special priviledge given to big name devs, look at RDR, bugged up the arse, GOTY!!!

To be honest it is bad the PC version is a mess as well i have pausing while outside for up to 20 seconds on the game otherwise so far its ok. PS3 version is a mess. Reviewers need to start being honest with scores and games the level of bugs coming out on the PS3 version is not acceptable. GS, IGN, and other sites and Mags are fooling us all into buying half finished badly made products and they are as much to blame as Bestheda especially regarding a console version of a game. PC yeah different hardware etc. Consoles no its not on we need a return to honesty regarding games its all very well Skyrim being a good game WHEN and IF it works but if its performance is bad overtime on the PS3 then its not worthy of purchase and its Score on any site should represent that. I dont like this 1 outta 10 system its rubbish and inaccurate.

Skyrim is a great game when working easily 9 + but on the PS3 or a PC thats having issues its easily a drop in score and reviews should represent this.

Do horses defy laws of physics - check

Save games getting corrupted - check

Can you go anywhere inside the game - check

9.5

Personally i think our Goverments need to look into some laws regarding reviews and games in general. Bestheda have pulled a fast one not giving the PS3 version to sites like GS. I may well contact someone regarding this. Its as bad as the ISP companies and its getting worse.

I think Bethesda should make games where everything is super scripted with cutscenes ever 5 minutes. The hero, if you will should be a little kid with some weird hair color and all of the adults should look like teenagers. Random encounters should also be implemented that way you don't have to worry about ambient life. The world should be broken up into...zones that way worrying about an open world isn't a problem.

Open world games are usually buggy because they are open. There is no way to account for every single issue that will crop up. These already games take years to make.Bethesda is kind of horrible about the NORMAL bugs they should be dealing with though.Although annoying I still like the fact that almost anything can happen while you are playing one of their titles.They make some of the largest open world games.

I dont blame Bethesda for not fixing problems on PS3. Why? Because Bethesda knows that PS3 gamers are their smallest audience and they will sell the least on that platform. If you see the Skyrim day 1 numbers you will see the 360 version sold triple what the PS3 version sold, and that if you add the ~300k PC download buys, then the PC version sold about double. Why should Bethesda spend time and effort (and more $$$) to make the game run better on a system that no one buys the game on? This has been a problem all gen. Sony was so proud at the beginning of this gen, they made a system that is quirky as hell to dev for, and now people wonder why games run bad on it when it sells the least software? Not surprising to me.Plagueless

I have only played two of their games in Oblivion and Fallout 3. Both were ridiculous. Fallout 3 was especially bad, I had a story trophy not unlock, constant, and I mean constant crashing, freezing, slowdown, got stuck in walls, in floors, had heads disapear in conversations had my body disapear leaving a floating weapon and head etc.

Do they even hire game testers?

If Tripwire, Bohemia Interactive or some other PC-exclusive developer releases a buggy game it's knocked 1 or 2 full points because of that. But if it's a console game apparently it's ok.

There were probably bigger bugs for them to fix prior to launch, and this one slipped through the cracks. Just because it isn't fixed less than a week from the game's launch doesn't mean Bethesda is ignoring it. I imagine Skyrim is an absolutely huge amount of code and shifting through to find the bug isn't always easy and the solutions aren't always obvious.

The bugs are too obvious not to notice... they clearly didn't fix everything to just throw the game on launch as long as it was playable and knew people will be too geekly to care enough. I honestly feel skyrim doesn't deserve to get nominated as GOTY because it's so buggy this is the presentation that a game in 2011 can bring.

There were probably bigger bugs for them to fix prior to launch, and this one slipped through the cracks. Just because it isn't fixed less than a week from the game's launch doesn't mean Bethesda is ignoring it. I imagine Skyrim is an absolutely huge amount of code and shifting through to find the bug isn't always easy and the solutions aren't always obvious.

YearoftheSnake5

Yet games like Arma 2 or Red Orchestra 2, among others, were knocked points in the GS review because of that, even though everybody knew they would be fixed in a later patch.

I'm afraid to break the seal on my copy of Skyrim.

Bethesda should only launch a big map so the comunity have the chance to make a decent game for a change, i don't even know why Bethesda bother trying to make a full game, let alone a playable one.