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Are Bethesda games too buggy?
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Fallout 3: Broken Steel Expansion
There is no doubt that when it comes to an entertaining, engrossing, even all consuming gaming experience, Bethesda Softworks is the king of hill. They previously made their mark with the Elder Scrolls series on the PC, and then took that massive success and translated it to the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 with Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, and more recently, Fallout 3. But these immersive, sprawling worlds seem to come with a price; Bethesda among all the developers producing games for consoles also holds the reputation for consistently releasing the buggiest, glitchiest games. No one will argue that Bethesda games aren't top class entertainment experiences... when they work. But the question then becomes, should gamers forgive the increasing malfunction of Bethesda games because of the fun they offer, or will there come a day when Bethesda has leaned on the good will of forgiving gamers for too long and have crossed a line?
Before the era of high definition gaming, when consoles lacked hard drives and Internet connections, bugs and glitches were a much rarer, smaller occurrence. Console game developers worked on smaller, less complex games and rigorously subjected them to Quality Assurance testing because they only had one shot at releasing the game, and if it was defective, there were no second chances. This was a mindset that became less important to PC game development as Internet connections became commonplace; developers not only realized they could improve the game after release with additional expansions, they could fix a game's defects after the fact with a post-release patch. This meant that games working under a tight deadline could still meet that deadline despite bugs or glitches because developers now had the luxury of knowing they could fix it "in the next patch." Now, with the advent of the same on-line infrastructure to console games, this same mentality has spilled over to the PS3 and Xbox 360. Bethesda, unfortunately, is at the head of this brigade.
The Bug Plague
Fallout 3 is Bethesda's most recent--and best selling--title. Released on the Playstation 3, Xbox 360 and PC, the game has received universal acclaim from critics and rightfully so. This may be the third in the Fallout franchise, but it is the first time Bethesda has taken over the reigns of this fan favorite PC series and brought it to console gamers to boot. The post-apocalyptic role playing game has been widely enjoyed in Europe, North America and recently, has stunned aficionados of the RPG genre by actually cracking a recent Japanese poll of best RPGs of all time, an unheard of feat for a western RPG. It is also, sadly, a game that is riddled with glitches, bugs and other defects across all platforms. The fan/knowledge-base site wikia has a Fallout 3 section with numerous documented bugs and glitches for every version of the game. Everything from the game slowing down, freezing, crashing and missions not correctly playing out despite required objectives being completed have been noted by gamers since the game went on sale. In some cases, these errors and bugs have been fixed by the numerous patches that have gone on-line subsequent to the game's release. In other cases, these errors remain within the game to this very day.
Recently a new bug has put Canadian PS3 owners in particular in a very difficult place. On October 13th, Bethesda released Fallout 3: Game of the Year Edition to all major retailers. This is a reissue of the original Fallout 3 with the addition of the expansions that are now available for purchase on-line to add more playable content to the game. With five expansions selling at $10 each on-line, it's actually cheaper for most Canadians with the original Fallout 3 title to simply sell their existing copy and purchase the newer GOTY edition, rather than pay $50 to buy each expansion on-line. The manual for the new version also states that old Fallout 3 saves will work with the GOTY edition, in anticipation of such a purchase, since this precedent was well established for earlier games such as the Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion GOTY edition released previously.
However, for Canadian PS3 fans, the "GOTY" edition of the Fallout 3 is not compatible with older Fallout 3 game saves.
The reason for this is apparently a difference in regional game versions. The original Fallout 3 version that was sold in Canada in 2008 was actually the American version, with bi-lingual packaging and documentation. The new GOTY edition that went on sale in Canada however, is a unique regional version with full bilingual functionality built into the game itself. As a result, the GOTY edition recognizes older Fallout 3 saves as a "foreign region" and refuses to load it. This is an issue that Bethesda itself has recognized on their forums, but they have yet to release any further information about a possible solution. Meanwhile, the issue has already been widely circulated amongst local Canadian retailers such as EB Games and Best Buy, with a new policy to NOT refund gamers and alleged EB Games employees making anonymous posts on the Bethesda forums stating that EB Games will not even accept these "defective" versions for trade, as the problem is so widespread. In essence, Canadian gamers who bought the GOTY edition believing Bethesda's claims that their old saves would work on the new version found out very quickly that Bethesda failed to mention the disclaimer "provided you have taken the precaution of securing an American copy of the GOTY edition and not the one we are shipping to your stores."
At this point it has been over two weeks since Canadian PS3 gamers have found themselves locked out of their old Fallout 3 game saves and no solution is in sight. Some have simply written off the loss, tried to sell their game off, or, in the case of a few far sighted individuals, simply returned their games immediately before the problem became widely known to retailers and exchanged it for another title. For the rest, some continue ask for updates on the official Bethesda forums, others have given up, and still others patiently wait, hoping that a patch or some other solution will be forthcoming that will allow them to finally access the added content the way other gamers around the world can.
A Wake Up Call For Gamers
While it is unfortunate that this has happened to Canadian PS3 owning fans, realistically, this is not a large demographic, and Bethesda itself may simply decide the issue is too costly to warrant a fix and ultimately ignore it. The GOTY PS3 edition still works fine for other countries and regions, and within Canada itself, Xbox 360 owners who purchased their version of the GOTY edition have had no problems. Financially, it actually makes sense for Bethesda to simply do nothing and hope the problem goes away by outwaiting the few PS3 owners wanting a fix out of sheer principle. While it may not earn any goodwill from Canadian fans, the undesirable expense of working out a fix may justify ruffling the feathers of a small number of customers.
But in all fairness, a lot of what has occurred with Bethesda games are understandable to a degree. Expansive games such as Fallout 3 are some of the most technically complex games available on the market with numerous variables to consider. Between free roaming NPCs, conflicts between multiple objectives and numerous conditions and factors built into environments, missions and even equipment, it's a daunting task to go over such a massive work with a fine toothed comb and take every consideration into account. Other games such as Bioware's Mass Effect have had the occasional hiccup that was eventually addressed. Recently the multi-platform Gearbox title Borderlands had a bug that affected the multi-player component on the PS3, though the error was rapidly corrected in less than 24 hours. It is unrealistic to expect that with games as large and complex as those we enjoy today, they will be perfect, bug free experiences. What gamers should be concerned about is whether this is a trend that will worsen in the future, particularly in terms of response from the creators of these games. Right now Bethesda is in a comfortable position; they make brilliant games that are enormously fun to play and gamers have few, if any alternatives for similar experiences. However if they continue to release games riddled with bugs that either take weeks to address or remain ignored entirely when developers such as Gearbox issue fixes within a day, it does not reflect well on the company and may possibly affect how willing gamers are to forgive their gaffs in the games to come.
If the future of gaming is one where gamers must accept the reality of fixes to games after release, then it will be the developers and publishers that get their fixes out in a timely manner who will win the favor of consumers. The good will Bethesda has among fans who love the games they provide may not last if a competitor arrives that offers a similar experience with fewer issues, or more timely fixes.
UPDATE:
On the official Bethesda forums, this statement from the Community Manager has now been released:
We have come up with a fix for the issue relating to saves with the Canadian PS3 version of Fallout 3 Game of the Year. We're currently completing and testing the fix.
I don't have an exact date of when it will be available, but I'll let you know as soon as I do. Thanks for your patience.
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