Bethesda Sometimes Doesn't Fix Entertaining Bugs

[Ghengis John]

Ah, so that bug in fallout 3 and new Vegas where piles of goo and ash would persist on the map forever until areas crashed on loading while inducing life-shortening amounts of frustration from me, was obviously amusing to the developers. Nice to know...

 

[Ruairi iliffe]

As someone who has and does work on QA Testing, i'd have to admit this sometimes happens...

Also as someone else has pointed out.

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.

Its not all Land Whales, disappearing Mountains and flying mailboxes people.

 

[ThePeaceFrog]

Still lovingly remember the glitch in Oblivion that could make Mannimarco, the final magician's guild boss invincible to player dealt damage. In the end I had to trap him in an underwater cave and wait till he drowned. Though it was a bad glitch I found it made for a really great boss fight, forcing me to think on my feet in trying to kill an opponent who now actually lived up to the name of the greatest necromancer of all time.

 

[Fasckira]

So whats the most amusing bug in Skyrim that this article references? :S

Fair point to say it may be unreasonable to expect a game to be entirely bug free but come on Bethesda, over companies at least try. Morrowind and Oblivion were fairly bug free experiences for me but Fallout was a nightmare to the point that I genuinely believed there had been no beta testing at all in some areas.

Still lovingly remember the glitch in Oblivion that could make Mannimarco, the final magician's guild boss invincible to player dealt damage. In the end I had to trap him in an underwater cave and wait till he drowned. Though it was a bad glitch I found it made for a really great boss fight, forcing me to think on my feet in trying to kill an opponent who now actually lived up to the name of the greatest necromancer of all time.

Wow, that is pretty ingenious, grats! I remember that battle well; first time I played through I got wiped out repeatedly. Second time I played through, by the time I fought Mannimarco I was the Duke of Madness, Arena Champion, Leader of the Fighters Guild, the Black Hand and the thieves guild and I was generally capable of punching my way through anything barehanded. Mannimarco went down like a sack of spuds.

 

[yayforgiveaway]

I guess that Obsidian (F:NV) are VERY entertained by their bugs ;P

 

[Denamic]

Reminds me of the temperamental swing in GTA 4.

 

[Woodsey]

I'd imagine these only count as bugs that are entertaining and way too much trouble to try and fix.

 

[Mr.Squishy]

Does that count visual promo bugs? I want goddamn tentacle bears!

 

[RobfromtheGulag]

I really hope the gymnastic scorpions were not considered 'entertaining'.
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/comics/critical-miss/8268-Critical-Miss-Fear-and-Loathing-in-New-Vegas
Few things ruin immersion faster than that.

 

[Sizzle Montyjing]

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

But not MOTHERFUCKING CAZADORS!

This seems a bit weird, hopefully these bugs aren't TOO immersion breaking, either that or bethesda has come up with a handy excuse for not fixing every bug in the game.
Quite childish if that's the case.
I MEANT FOR IT TO HAPPEN!

 

[Riddle78]

Sounds like Valve's policy of "Throw it in/Keep it in". Remember Episode One,just before Dog throws you and Alyx into the Citadel?

"You DID do the math,right?"
[Dog shakes head]

That was a glitch. Devs left it in. Same with the zombie in the dumpster chucking your grenade back at you in Episode Two.

 

[Ranorak]

I always enjoyed playing around with the paintbrush bug.

You know, the one where you drop a paintbrush it floats in mid-air and you can stand on it.
I think they are referring to those sort of bugs.

 

[ultimateownage]

I wish Rockstar took this approach with Red Dead Redemption. Those bugs were fucking hilarious.

 

[ProfessorLayton]

It seems like this is more of a "We couldn't fix all of the bugs, so let's just say we did it on purpose."

But I dunno if it's the best idea for a company with a buggy history to admit, before their next huge games out, that their next huge game will be buggy as well.

 

[TimeLord]

Bugs can be cool. The Missingno. glitch anyone?

 

[No_Remainders]

I always enjoyed playing around with the paintbrush bug.

You know, the one where you drop a paintbrush it floats in mid-air and you can stand on it.
I think they are referring to those sort of bugs.

I did love paintbrush staircases...

Shrug. If it's entertaining and not too immersion-breaking, I'm ok with it.

 

[Zer_]

WOW some of you guys are overreacting. Let me break it down for you. In Quake, the whole shabang of strafe jumping / bunny hopping is in fact a bug. And today, Quake just wouldn't be Quake without it.

What they say is actually true to all developers in one way or another, it's called priorities people.

 

[Abedeus]

Hah, I remember Riot Games doing same thing.

One patch:

"Shaco's clone no longer displays items." Explanation - to make it easier for players to target the real one before they hit him/he gets to cast a spell (clone can only auto-attack, no spells no nothing). LeBlanc and Wukong added to game after that also had this "feature".

Just few patches ago:

"Fixed bug with clones not showing the owner's items". So basically a reverse - something they once deemed a feature "turned out" to be a bug.

Bugs can be cool. The Missingno. glitch anyone?

"Cool" as in "if you catch him and save game, you start a new game."

 

[tharglet]

Yer... I think there's a bit of contention where funny and too gamebreaking collide.
Some people like the dancin' ragdolls, others don't. Would be nice to have an optional patch that takes "funny" bugs out, if they have time to produce it.

If it's a bug that's not very noticeable, then I'm cool with it. Stuff like stacking the paintbrushes - you probably aren't going to notice unless you try, or glitching off the map in a hard to get to/useless area.

Stuff like the Quake jumping bugs imo also aren't that bad, it changes the game, but not in a way that wrecks it. Multiplayer games like that aren't really about the immersion in the environment and more about knocking people's blocks off