Bethesda Sometimes Doesn't Fix Entertaining Bugs

[Logan Westbrook]

Bethesda Sometimes Doesn't Fix Entertaining Bugs

That bizarre but amusing bug in Skyrim might not be there entirely by accident.

Don't expect Skyrim [http://www.amazon.com/Elder-Scrolls-V-Skyrim-Xbox-360/dp/B004HYK956/ref=sr_1_1?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1314890145&sr=1-1] to be an entirely bug free experience; Bethesda's Todd Howard says that the studio doesn't fix every bug that it finds. If a bug is entertaining and fixing it would make the game less fun, Bethesda will sometimes leave it in.

Undoubtedly, some people will raise a quizzical eyebrow at this practice: Bethesda games have something of a reputation for bizarre technical problems and this really doesn't help shake that. But Howard made it clear that Bethesda didn't take game-breaking bugs as lightly, and most of the entertaining ones didn't make it either. "We try to solve most of it; we're sensitive to a lot of it," he said. "If [a bug is] gonna break the game, or unbalance the game in some way, we do try to solve it."

Anyone who expects a videogame to be completely free from bugs is probably being a little unreasonable. Mistakes happen, and there's no way that testers are going to be able to predict or replicate everything that a player might do. But actively leaving bugs in a game doesn't seem like such a great idea, especially in immersive RPGs like Oblivion or Skyrim. Personally, I'm hoping not to run into too many of them, entertaining or otherwise.

Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim comes out for PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 on November 11th.


Source: Joystiq [http://www.joystiq.com/2011/08/31/todd-howard-on-skyrims-worthwhile-glitches-mmos-and-when-big-i/]




Permalink

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

I'd be happy if they fixed the goddamn random crashing to the desktop bug that appears to have been present since Morrowind, Oblivion, Fallout 3 and presumably Fallout New Vegas. Never played it, the reported issues solved that dilemma for me.

 

[werty10089]

I'm okay with bugs as long as they're pretty. Maybe a ladybug. I like those.

 

[Dalek Caan]

This seems to okay. I always did use that glitch in Oblivion to duplicate items and that was fun. As long as there are no quest stopping glitches.

 

[Heart of Darkness]

If you find a bug but leave it in,then it's not a bug, but a feature.

 

[Odbarc]

I recall a deathclaw floating through the sky having a massive seizure.

 

[Olrod]

Are there any of these "amusing" bugs that have already been discovered?

 

[Laser Priest]

As far as I'm aware, they know of the duplication glitch in Oblivion and the Operation Anchorage equipment glitch in Fallout 3 and they have fixed neither.

And I must say that I am pleased by this.

 

[Logan Westbrook]

If a bug is entertaining and fixing it would make the game less fun, Bethesda will sometimes leave it in.

Was that a joke, with the mucked up code in that post?

Heh, no. It's a peculiarity of BB Code that I wasn't aware of. It's fixed now.

 

[Blaster395]

I think it means things like this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kaOh66DSsWk

Not exactly a bug. More an oversight.

 

[MercurySteam]

I wonder if Epic Games did this with the Unreal Engine? It would explain all those times that enemy corpses spaz out in games like Bioshock and Gears 2.

 

[Dukenstein]

The only good bug is a dead bug!

 

[Ultrajoe]

I see what you did there, Logan. In Addition; Accept my Facebook friend request already.

 

[Ulquiorra4sama]

"Bugs? In our games? No no no, we left that in on purpose since we got a good laugh from it"

If that's their way of saying "we're not gonna bother fixing every little thing for you" then it's really just pathetic, because like he said "Anyone who expects a videogame to be completely free from bugs is probably being a little unreasonable".

I say, fix all the things you find that're not supposed to be there, and as reports come in of bugs that're discovered you should fix those too and maybe you'd end up with a bug-free game someday.

 

[Jordi]

If you find a bug but leave it in,then it's not a bug, but a feature.

I was going to say something a lot like this. A bug can basically be anything that wasn't originally planned. If all enemies have 50% more health than they're meant to, that is a bug. But if it turns out that this is actually better for the game, it becomes part of the design and they leave it in.

It would have been nice if they gave an example of what they meant though. I'm totally cool with things like I just mentioned where they basically stumble upon good ideas. However, if they mean "it's funny when you fall through the ground if you stand in this particular spot" or there is some other real kind of glitch, I'd prefer if they'd fix it.

 

[octafish]

Always, always buy Bethesda games on PC, I don't know how I would have been able to play Fallout 3 without the console to resurrect NPCs who randomly died. I'm looking at you specifically Walter...