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When Can You Stop Ignoring The Bugs?
Like a lot of players, my gaming time has been monopolized by the latest installment of The Elder Scrolls series. The parts that are great about Skyrim are so great that it's almost too easy to overlook the terrible parts. And there are plenty of terrible parts. After encountering yet another big ol' bug (and no, it wasn't a frost spider), I shut down my 360 and wondered why I've been willing to accept so much from this game. Am I alone?
I've dumped an embarrassing amount of time in the world of Skyrim, and I have yet to enjoy a gaming session that didn't end without seeing a hilarious (?) graphics glitch or worse, a game-crippling bug. This morning, for example, I killed a random bandit. He ragdolled all over the snowy slope, but his ax decided that it was going to hang in the middle of the air. After circling it a few times, I went on my merry way. That's happened before, with various daggers, maces, and swords. It's pretty dumb, but not ultimately a big deal. Right? The same goes for enemies slumping through their chairs after being one-shotted with my bow, or multiple copies of the character Louis Letrush spawning next to each other. Bugged missions that are impossible to complete are a lot less cute.
The funny thing is that I didn't run into anywhere near the same number of issues in games like Two Worlds II, Divinity II: Ego Draconis, or Risen. Sure, those examples aren't as massive or open as Skyrim, but I don't think Skyrim's ambition and scale earns it a pass for sloppy QA. At the very least, it's certainly not my problem as a consumer.
The closest analogy I can come up with is that I can handle a few typos when I'm reading a lengthy novel. When entire paragraphs are missing or are just gibberish, that's when I have a real issue.
Are you guys able to see past these kinds of bugs when you're playing games? What's the buggiest game you've played lately? At what point do bugs become a deal breaker for you?
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