Warner Bros. Interactive Apologizes For Arkham Origins Bugs

[Legion]

I don't know why people are so surprised, Arkham City was released with some major bugs as well, including the one Origins has that wipes your saves. I got over 50% through Arkham City before it got me.

If you are buying a game at launch you should pretty much expect this now. Developers know people will buy it on launch anyway, so care more about release than they do fixing it first.

 

[Kolyarut]

It's not an issue of resources though. The indie games I have on Steam all have no or far fewer bugs than those coming out of the big names. I'm no hipster and I don't care how big you are or how "indie" you are - a good game is a good game. But something is up. If these little guys with very little backing can make smooth, bug free experiences, anyone can. I'll take less bugs over more bloom, more pixels and more PhysX.

Some to think of it, I can't think of any indie game I've had a bug in that's anything more than a graphical glitch or broken AI. I don't doubt that plenty of people have seen bad bugs in these games, but can anyone argue they aren't smoother than the big names?

Well, for starters, indie games aren't working to the same kind of schedule that mainstream games are working to, they don't have the publishers on their backs - and there are some decent reasons for that, beyond the standard greedy-publishers-want-cash-now. Release dates are planned with considerations as to what else is coming out in that timeframe, when do we need to get the advertising up, when do we need to get review copies done, when do we send it out to print the DVDs, etc.

Indie games, on the other hand, are typically working digital only, and can release when they're done (as long as the money doesn't run out).

And there really is a world of difference in complexity between something like FTL, Minecraft, or Super Meat Boy in the indie camp, and Dead Space, Skyrim or Street Fighter in the published camp. Trying to assemble a working 3d engine out of 1s and 0s is so far into technology-indistinguishable-from-magic that I wonder why they call them developers and not straight-up wizards.

[EDIT: I just realised I was trying to draw vaguely-vaguely similar AAA comparisons for each, and was on pretty ropey ground comparing FTL to Dead Space for survival in space, but I think my brain died when I decided to compare Meat Boy to Street Fighter, wtf?]

 

[DTWolfwood]

Get a QA team you mooks! Just because you can patch games does not mean you sell them broken and have your costumers bug test it for you!

I will just have to stop buying games day one from now on. This is getting retarded.

 

[LazyAza]

They fixed the unclimbable vent in the SE riddler tower. Biggest bug of them all as far as I'm aware as it prevented you from accessing that areas fast travel point. Kind of shocking it was bugged at all. The entire game has this feeling of trying to be Rocksteady and basically failing at the most important thing: polish polish polish. Even the basic combat feels jankier and less fun.

 

[NathLines]

Looks like I'll just have to hold off on this game until next week then, maybe even longer. Unless I decide to try the multiplayer instead.

As for my problem: I decided to restart from a checkpoint and that checkpoint spawned me inside a locked room. The only way out of the room is if I defeat all the enemies... outside of the room. Bleh.

EDIT: Looking around some forums, it seems to be a pretty common problem. A lot of bugs I can understand, but that they didn't test out every checkpoint boggles my mind.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

They fixed the unclimbable vent in the SE riddler tower. Biggest bug of them all as far as I'm aware as it prevented you from accessing that areas fast travel point. Kind of shocking it was bugged at all. The entire game has this feeling of trying to be Rocksteady and basically failing at the most important thing: polish polish polish. Even the basic combat feels jankier and less fun.

On the other hand it runs 3 times faster on the PC than previous titles. I found that extremely odd. I can even run PhysX on normal even though I have an AMD card, and the game still maintains a steady framerate over 60fps at all times.

 

[Simple Bluff]

Some to think of it, I can't think of any indie game I've had a bug in that's anything more than a graphical glitch or broken AI. I don't doubt that plenty of people have seen bad bugs in these games, but can anyone argue they aren't smoother than the big names?

This is really a matter of your perspective. The last few triple As I've played have been incredibly solid - Last of Us, FFXIII-2, Mass Effect 3 (it had that one importing bug, but it fixed itself when I restarted the console). In fact, I really can't remember the last time I played a particularly buggy game since Fallout NV (I've played Skyrim, only encountered minor graphical glitches).

I'm sure indie games have their fair share too... Garry's Incident: Day One, Stardrive (<---- honestly one of the buggiest games I ever remembered playing) and that recent-ish Medieval RTS game whose name escapes me now. To be honest, I'd say it's fairly balanced. It's just that triple As would get a lot more exposure, warts and all, whereas indies slip under the radar.

EDIT:

No amount of apologizing will get me my 10 hours of gameplay back after my save corrupted...

Boohoo? 10 hours isn't that much time.

Yes, it is. Especially for a game that's only been out for a week.

 

[Quiotu]

Oh my, are they sure it wasn't Obsidian who made this game? Lol... sounds like what happens when you let Obsidian play with your engines...

Which game was that? If it was Fallout New Vegas, that was Bethesda's engine, which already had a history of bugs on the PS3 including a game breaking save size bug, which BTW is still an issue even with Skyrim.

So I'm not sure which Obsidian game you're talking about.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

Oh my, are they sure it wasn't Obsidian who made this game? Lol... sounds like what happens when you let Obsidian play with your engines...

Which game was that? If it was Fallout New Vegas, that was Bethesda's engine, which already had a history of bugs on the PS3 including a game breaking save size bug, which BTW is still an issue even with Skyrim.

So I'm not sure which Obsidian game you're talking about.

New Vegas had a lot more bugs out of the box than Fallout 3 did (my personal experience, buying both at launch) as also KOTOR 2 was both buggy and rushed (missing story pieces, odd dialogue that wasn't cut with other cut pieces, save bugs). Alpha Protocol also while being a great game, was buggy as fuck. AP was developed in the Unreal 3 engine.
Basically every game I've played of Obsidian, while being good games were bug-ridden and sometimes unplayable until patches were released (or not at all).
I've heard from friends that Arkham Origins reminded them of Obsidian developed games, that it was fun and pretty good but buggy.

 

[Ticklefist]

Removed. Self moderation.

 

[hazabaza1]

No amount of apologizing will get me my 10 hours of gameplay back after my save corrupted...

Boohoo? 10 hours isn't that much time. I put a good 60 hours into the game so far and I still am only 54% through the game.

You're really alright with the possibility of losing any time in your game when the standard should be... I dunno... not losing any data that you didn't save?

Also just because you have a lot of time to be fine losing it doesn't mean that other people aren't busy or something. 10 hours can add up to a lot of time for the majority of people.

 

[Myndnix]

I've so far had Batman glitch through a building and fall into water below the game world, and had lots of problems with the Dark Knight Challenges you can do during the game to unlock extra upgrades. Essentially, I have to do them multiple times for the game to actually recognise that I've done them.
And in fact, the Worst Nightmare 3 challenge, to unlock the Sonic Batarang, I still haven't done. Technically, I have, many times, it's just that the game won't recognise that I have no matter what I do. So that's fun.
y so glitchy

 

[Ticklefist]

Removed. Self moderation.

-_- Doesn't change the fact that what you said was incredibly childish and rude, kid.

I guess you're fighting fire with fire? Let's not do this.

 

[hazabaza1]

No amount of apologizing will get me my 10 hours of gameplay back after my save corrupted...

Boohoo? 10 hours isn't that much time. I put a good 60 hours into the game so far and I still am only 54% through the game.

You're really alright with the possibility of losing any time in your game when the standard should be... I dunno... not losing any data that you didn't save?

Also just because you have a lot of time to be fine losing it doesn't mean that other people aren't busy or something. 10 hours can add up to a lot of time for the majority of people.

I study for many hours a day (college) as well as having a part time job. I am lucky to get an hour or two to game every 2 to 3 days. I have less time than most people.

It may just be the fact that I had suffered through much worse back when I was PC gaming in the late 90's and such where save file corruption was a lot more common than it is today, so 10 hours just doesn't seem that bad. Especially in a game where that barely scratches the surface.

Gotta get with the times man. Back in the day it was understandable, budgets weren't nearly as big and there weren't as many testers. Nowadays we get million dollar budgets and a constant stream of people testing these games in all different stages of development, releasing one as broken as (I heard Arkham Origins) was is a really shitty thing to do.

 

[JagermanXcell]

No amount of apologizing will get me my 10 hours of gameplay back after my save corrupted...

Boohoo? 10 hours isn't that much time. I put a good 60 hours into the game so far and I still am only 54% through the game.

You're really alright with the possibility of losing any time in your game when the standard should be... I dunno... not losing any data that you didn't save?

Also just because you have a lot of time to be fine losing it doesn't mean that other people aren't busy or something. 10 hours can add up to a lot of time for the majority of people.

I study for many hours a day (college) as well as having a part time job. I am lucky to get an hour or two to game every 2 to 3 days. I have less time than most people.

It may just be the fact that I had suffered through much worse back when I was PC gaming in the late 90's and such where save file corruption was a lot more common than it is today, so 10 hours just doesn't seem that bad. Especially in a game where that barely scratches the surface.

Gotta get with the times man. Back in the day it was understandable, budgets weren't nearly as big and there weren't as many testers. Nowadays we get million dollar budgets and a constant stream of people testing these games in all different stages of development, releasing one as broken as (I heard Arkham Origins) was is a really shitty thing to do.

Oh yeah play testers! I remembered reading about those in my history class.

Jokes aside you have a point, there is no excuse for a modern game to have this many problems, especially considering this is following up Arkham City. Sure City had its glitches, but why the hell does the follow up game have more?!

Meh whatever... at least the poor uploaders who bought the thing get to make me and others laugh (and re-consider the purchase of a product...)

 

[The Lugz]

OT:
For their very first game, I don't see this as a bad thing. At least they are trying to fix it.

I think this is the fairest comment here, it's not a bait and switch like a-lie-ns or simply the same game with a texture pack, it's a legitimate standalone experience with a lot of bells and whistles, this was their first time with such a massive title and they had allot of pressure from the originals as some of the best superhero games.. ever?

I really don't believe this was sloppy work, just a lack of play-testing and development time that said, if your game doesn't work why ship it? you're just asking for trouble!

personally I've encountered:

invisible water
broken glue-rafts
Burnley tower ( obviously )
glitched continuous somersaults
repeating dialogue ( batman v-o solves puzzles, repeatedly.. until you leave the area )
lost dialogue
total sound failure for 3-5 minute bursts
glitched doors that require reloads
broken free-flow take-down that glitches enemies through the floor, resets combat and stops 'crime in progress' from working

that's quite a few bugs for one person to see, and a couple of them kill progress until you find a workaround.