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[MCV] QA testers warn: Broken games fiasco of last year may repeat this Christmas

AAA Bugfest 2015™ - choose your candidate!


Results are only viewable after voting.

_machine

Member
I was already laughing at the people desperate to pre order Fallout 4. As ive said several times, zero sympathy for Gafers that do this, they should know better.
What about those that know that it's going to have plenty of bugs just because of the scope, but have no problem buying the game at launch or pre-ordering? I have no disillusions that I'm not going to encounter bugs, but that's the reality when you buy an amazingly complex game that ships for a relentless deadline. Not that I don't expect the experience to be better than Morrowind, Oblivion, Fallout 3 and Skyrim at launch; Bethesda at least for me seems to have improved their processess with each release even though the complexity is on another level. They will continue to have troubled launches and the whole PS3 fiasco was disappointing, but ultimately I feel that you should set the expectations to reflect the situation.

As for Battlefront, I don't know. I've heard things about tightening their processes and overall it feels like a series of less complex systems than BF4, shipping to less platforms, and even though it was conference demo, the version I played felt really, really polished. Then again, it's still a potential one for critical launch issues, especially on the multiplayer side.
 

gblues

Banned
I don't know if it's fair to put Fallout 4 in the list, because frankly every major Bethesda release has bugs of varying severity, and most of the issues last gen were on PS3 where it was a small miracle the games worked at all. Since F4 isn't cross-platform, I'm expecting F4 to be "No buggier than F3 or the last 3 TES games were on launch."

I predict that SW: Battlefront is going to be every bit the epic fail that Battlefield 4 was.
 

TheSeks

Blinded by the luminous glory that is David Bowie's physical manifestation.
[remember the Battlefield 4 server fiasco?].

Er... no? Because Servers were mostly fine. It was Crash to Desktop on PC and other numerous bug/issues on console/PC.

Besides, Servers aren't a QA problem. They're a network infrastructure problem. And those aren't ever going to be solved on "launch day."
 
Good thing I'm not buying anything this holiday except for Bloodborne DLC. It's this kind of shit that drove me to buying a Wii U. Say what you want about that platform but at least the games work on day 1.

100% with you on that sentiment. I bought Skyrim on PS3 within a week of release and I've between soured on most AAA purchase because of it. I also had a Mass Effect 2 bug corrupt my HDD and had to send it in for repairs, which I was fortunately still under the 1 year warranty otherwise I would have just thrown the thing of my roof and gotten a 360. I appreciate that most of Nintendo's games work at launch so I'lI buy their games day one. Otherwise it's usually wait 6-12 months and buy dirt cheap after the patches launch. Hype isn't worth save deleting bugs, progress breaking quests, numerous graphical flaws and slowdown/server issues.
 

Jawmuncher

Member
Fallout 4 is a given, but it's a Bethesda open world RPG so that's easy mode.

Pretty convinced Battlefront will be a mess. I'm still baffled at the state Battlefield 4 launched in, and I imagine this is under greater pressure to be out on time.

I dunno both Ubi and EA should have learned how much of a issue it is to release a game in such a state. Hardlined was apparently delayed just for that. Granted they can't really delay battlefront, but I can't see them messing up their flagship holiday title.....again.
 

Alo0oy

Banned
Surprised to see Fallout 4 with most of the votes. I know the PS3 version was utter shite, but I thought the Xbox 360 was a decently good port? (due to the PS3 having a lesser CPU or something?). My vote goes to AC Syndicate.

Skyrim was broken even on PC, it was just especially broken on consoles & even more broken on PS3.
 

AHA-Lambda

Member
Just listening to the latest episode of Videogamer Podcast and 24 mins in, they're talking about pressures on Devs.
At this point an off hand comment from Miller is that there is a game coming out soon that is "completely broken".
 

Illucio

Banned
...aren't you breaching your NDA by telling us this?

Actually I specifically read the NDA before posting my comment, I'm not allowed to share photos/screenshots/videos and talk about or communicate over information regarding the games visual content or text. Saying the game is broken, ridden with bugs, or having connection problem is fair game with the testing company I'm with. (I assume it's because it's to be expected from a Alpha test of a game.)

But I'm not supposed to say what game I'm working on, the loophole with that one though is that I'm not allowed to call it by the project name given to me, not the actual working title. (I get asked to test games being called Project Banana or something silly like that, I don't know what it is until they send me instructions/game file.)

So no, I'm not breaching my NDA. But I was contacted and removed from working on the project any longer, not fired or removed from the testing company, I was just requested to be removed from working on it specifically. (EA perhaps? No idea.) Which doesn't really matter considering Alpha is wrapping up and moving to Beta, and almost everything now is stressing the servers and filling out why you could or couldn't connect to the game.

But yes, expect the game's Beta that's coming up to be ridden with bugs and problems, and that's most likely going to be the full game unless they somehow patch every problem day 1 in a mandatory update. But hypothetically considering how many problems the game had when I played it they would had implemented these fixes during Alpha.
 

Sanctuary

Member
No doubt Fallout 4 will come with the most bugs at launch. Not sure that will prevent many from purchasing it though even before the patches. Even knowing this though, that also won't stop just as many from complaining on forums about what a buggy piece of shit the game turned out to be.

Skyrim was broken even on PC, it was just especially broken on consoles & even more broken on PS3.

I must have gotten extremely lucky, or just missed the quests that had the most bugs at launch. Other than the dragons flying in reverse, or it raining mammoths, I didn't really experience many bugs. None of the CTD issues many were experiencing either.
 
Actually I specifically read the NDA before posting my comment, I'm not allowed to share photos/screenshots/videos and talk about or communicate over information regarding the games visual content or text. Saying the game is broken, ridden with bugs, or having connection problem is fair game with the testing company I'm with. (I assume it's because it's to be expected from a Alpha test of a game.)

But I'm not supposed to say what game I'm working on, the loophole with that one though is that I'm not allowed to call it by the project name given to me, not the actual working title. (I get asked to test games being called Project Banana or something silly like that, I don't know what it is until they send me instructions/game file.)

So no, I'm not breaching my NDA. But I was contacted and removed from working on the project any longer, not fired or removed from the testing company, I was just requested to be removed from working on it specifically. (EA perhaps? No idea.) Which doesn't really matter considering Alpha is wrapping up and moving to Beta, and almost everything now is stressing the servers and filling out why you could or couldn't connect to the game.

But yes, expect the game's Beta that's coming up to be ridden with bugs and problems, and that's most likely going to be the full game unless they somehow patch every problem day 1 in a mandatory update. But hypothetically considering how many problems the game had when I played it they would had implemented these fixes during Alpha.

I'm sure you read over it very carefully, it's just I've never been sent an NDA that allowed me to talk about it in general and what you posted would have had me taken off the product too, possibly off the mailing list all together. The fact you were removed kind of seems like something that only happens when you breach NDA.

Sorry if it sound like I'm being a dick, really not intended. It's just typically, the rules I'm given are much stricter.
 

Green Yoshi

Member
I've been Alpha testing a few games and I can say Battlefront is a complete mess and is broken. Considering that their deadline for the game is in a few weeks and they still haven't fixed the majority of the in game problems let alone the connection problem me and other testers were having, yes it's going to be a mess. And even a day 1 patch won't fix all of them, I don't know too much outside what I played, but the game is indeed rushed and it's all because of Episode 7 releasing this December.

And in retrospect I also tested black ops 3 which even though it had many problems, it was no where as bad as Battlefront.

Compared to Battlefield 4 there is no singleplayer campaign. And no last gen version. So it should be possible to release the game in a decent state.
 

Walpurgis

Banned
I've been Alpha testing a few games and I can say Battlefront is a complete mess and is broken. Considering that their deadline for the game is in a few weeks and they still haven't fixed the majority of the in game problems let alone the connection problem me and other testers were having, yes it's going to be a mess. And even a day 1 patch won't fix all of them, I don't know too much outside what I played, but the game is indeed rushed and it's all because of Episode 7 releasing this December.

And in retrospect I also tested black ops 3 which even though it had many problems, it was no where as bad as Battlefront.
6ADLV4r.gif
 

Yoshi

Headmaster of Console Warrior Jugendstrafanstalt
I'm sure you read over it very carefully, it's just I've never been sent an NDA that allowed me to talk about it in general and what you posted would have had me taken off the product too, possibly off the mailing list all together. The fact you were removed kind of seems like something that only happens when you breach NDA.

Sorry if it sound like I'm being a dick, really not intended. It's just typically, the rules I'm given are much stricter.

I guess if it was a breach of contract, the consequences would be more severe than just changing projects. If your client is unhappy with a comment from a worker, even though it is not breaching any contacts, you just swap the person around and tell the person to be more sensitive with such information,if the person breaches NDA that will most likely have job consequences.
 
I've been Alpha testing a few games and I can say Battlefront is a complete mess and is broken. Considering that their deadline for the game is in a few weeks and they still haven't fixed the majority of the in game problems let alone the connection problem me and other testers were having, yes it's going to be a mess. And even a day 1 patch won't fix all of them, I don't know too much outside what I played, but the game is indeed rushed and it's all because of Episode 7 releasing this December.

And in retrospect I also tested black ops 3 which even though it had many problems, it was no where as bad as Battlefront.
Has a mod asked of your legitimacy yet?

Not trying to be rude. But you need evidence before saying stuff like that on this forums.
 

Walpurgis

Banned
Fallout 4 is a given, but it's a Bethesda open world RPG so that's easy mode.

Pretty convinced Battlefront will be a mess. I'm still baffled at the state Battlefield 4 launched in, and I imagine this is under greater pressure to be out on time.

Compared to Battlefield 4 there is no singleplayer campaign. And no last gen version. So it should be possible to release the game in a decent state.

It had a short development cycle for what is supposed to be a completely brand new game with original assets.

EA ACQUIRES EXCLUSIVE STAR WARS GAME LICENSE (6 May 2013)
According to EA Labels president Frank Gibeau, three studios are already working on Star Wars games: Battlefield developer DICE, Dead Space developer Visceral and Mass Effect developer BioWare.
Earlier this year, internal Star Wars development studio LucasArts laid off its staff, shifting to a licensing model and suspending announced projects including star Wars 1313.
It sounds like they started development one month before that announcement when Star Wars 1313 was cancelled. So from April 2013 to November 2015, that is 2.5 years. I am 100% sure that this is the reason why there is no single player. I don't think lack of a single player will save them though. The hard deadline because of the movie also throws the delay option out the window. The insane marketing and sales + the disasterous launch will be a joy to watch for me.

This is what happens when you remove server browsers DICE.
 
It had a short development cycle for what is supposed to be a completely brand new game with original assets.

EA ACQUIRES EXCLUSIVE STAR WARS GAME LICENSE (6 May 2013)


It sounds like they started development one month before that announcement when Star Wars 1313 was cancelled. So from April 2013 to November 2015, that is 2.5 years. I am 100% sure that this is the reason why there is no single player. I don't think lack of a single player will save them though. The hard deadline because of the movie also throws the delay option out the window. The insane marketing and sales + the disasterous launch will be a joy to watch for me.

This is what happens when you remove server browsers DICE.
If it comes out broken, I feel it would be more because the studio working on it, DICE, is fractured to begin with. You got a small part of the studio working on BF4 updates, a large part of it working on Battlefront, and another part of it of unknown size that is working on BF5.
 
It had a short development cycle for what is supposed to be a completely brand new game with original assets.

EA ACQUIRES EXCLUSIVE STAR WARS GAME LICENSE (6 May 2013)


It sounds like they started development one month before that announcement when Star Wars 1313 was cancelled. So from April 2013 to November 2015, that is 2.5 years. I am 100% sure that this is the reason why there is no single player. I don't think lack of a single player will save them though. The hard deadline because of the movie also throws the delay option out the window. The insane marketing and sales + the disasterous launch will be a joy to watch for me.

This is what happens when you remove server browsers DICE.

i think it's quite obvious that it's having a truncated dev time. because if you look at it:

  • no single player
  • like three (four?) planets total, with three(?) maps per planet
  • no galactic conquest
  • no space to land stuff like cancelled bf3 had
  • no real space battles
  • no clone wars

at least a few of those are compromises that theere's no good real argument in favor of other than "we didn't have time" (like, i can maybe buy dice sp sux normally so let's not waste money on it, and maybe disney said no clone wars because it reminds people of the prequels and might hurt hype for the movie, but no real space battles and no space to land stuff?)
 

Walpurgis

Banned
i think it's quite obvious that it's having a truncated dev time. because if you look at it:

  • no single player
  • like three (four?) planets total, with three(?) maps per planet
  • no galactic conquest
  • no space to land stuff like cancelled bf3 had
  • no real space battles
  • no clone wars

at least a few of those are compromises that theere's no good real argument in favor of other than "we didn't have time" (like, i can maybe buy dice sp sux normally so let's not waste money on it, and maybe disney said no clone wars because it reminds people of the prequels and might hurt hype for the movie, but no real space battles and no space to land stuff?)
Yeah, I was surprised at the lack of space battles, especially after seeing the leaked Battlefront 3 gameplay from years ago. There is so much potential there and it's such a common sense thing (the franchise is called Star Wars, ffs). We all know that the hardware wasn't the issue and "doing it right" (as they claim) hasn't been much of a concern at DICE for years.
If it comes out broken, I feel it would be more because the studio working on it, DICE, is fractured to begin with. You got a small part of the studio working on BF4 updates, a large part of it working on Battlefront, and another part of it of unknown size that is working on BF5.
BF4 updates are done by DICE L.A. (formed from former Danger Close grunts and lead by a bunch of OGs sent from Stockholm). DICE L.A. assisted in the development of Battlefield 4 alongside DICE Stockholm up until the third DLC (Naval Strike). After that, they handled all post-launch support (the remaining two expansions, Dragon's Teeth & Final Stand, as well as the new free map and night operations, and patches). They are said to be working on unannounced Frostbite titles.

DICE in Sweden is working on Star Wars: Battlefront, Mirror's Edge: Catalyst and Battlefield 5. They have 560 employees.
 

abundant

Member
Why are people voting for Fallout? Isn't it based on the exact same engine as FO3? FO3 was buggy but it somewhat worked.

Like with all Bethesda games, and open world RPGs in general, YMMV. Some people get lucky and experience some bugs, but nothing game breaking, while others are unlucky and experience those game breaking bugs.
 
Fallout 4 seems like the safe bet just because you know there will be some manner of bugs. But I can't really count on them being serious, systemic or plentiful enough for it to be considered a bugfest.

Videogamer's said things about Assassin's Creed. So that's definitely a nominee.

But I think I will go with Need for Speed as it will be literally unplayable for large chunks of time on account of server buggery.
 
When I was at EGX and waiting for The Division, I watched people play the new AC. Assassins Creed Syndicate was broken as fuck.

Ubisoft have fucked up again. I saw people getting stuck in walls, people floating away and there is this new technique where you can pretend you are being escorted by a guard who is secretly a friend in disguise, the guard got stuck to the player. The player was climbing, running and jumping with this guard attached to the assassins body.

By all means, this could be an old build. But holy fuck even if it is there is a lot to fix.


It's fucking criminal what I saw if that is whats being shipped.
 
I wonder if we will see a high profile last minute delay this holiday.


I think Watch Dogs was maybe the last time something like that happened for a AAA game super close to a holiday release and it cost Ubisoft like 30% of its stock price though.


If fallout 4 performs as well as skyrim on PC, I'm good.

Skyrim was a bit of a mess on PC for months.

I do remember there was some real basic CPU bottleneck that modders quickly fixed that took bethesda like 5 months to patch.
 

Vex_

Banned
I wonder if we will see a high profile last minute delay this holiday.


I think Watch Dogs was maybe the last time something like that happened for a AAA game super close to a holiday release and it cost Ubisoft like 30% of its stock price though.




Skyrim was a bit of a mess on PC for months.

I do remember there was some real basic CPU bottleneck that modders quickly fixed that took bethesda like 5 months to patch.

I say I'm fine with it because most issues I can fix myself, or someone else will quickly patch.

I have a feeling fallout will be fine though. Don't know why, just a feeling.
 
Actually I specifically read the NDA before posting my comment, I'm not allowed to share photos/screenshots/videos and talk about or communicate over information regarding the games visual content or text. Saying the game is broken, ridden with bugs, or having connection problem is fair game with the testing company I'm with. (I assume it's because it's to be expected from a Alpha test of a game.)

But I'm not supposed to say what game I'm working on, the loophole with that one though is that I'm not allowed to call it by the project name given to me, not the actual working title. (I get asked to test games being called Project Banana or something silly like that, I don't know what it is until they send me instructions/game file.)

So no, I'm not breaching my NDA. But I was contacted and removed from working on the project any longer, not fired or removed from the testing company, I was just requested to be removed from working on it specifically. (EA perhaps? No idea.) Which doesn't really matter considering Alpha is wrapping up and moving to Beta, and almost everything now is stressing the servers and filling out why you could or couldn't connect to the game.

But yes, expect the game's Beta that's coming up to be ridden with bugs and problems, and that's most likely going to be the full game unless they somehow patch every problem day 1 in a mandatory update. But hypothetically considering how many problems the game had when I played it they would had implemented these fixes during Alpha.
What testing company is this?
 
This is like that one thread where a security firm said that piracy was rising and their DRM was needed, or something like it.

Nothing against QA testers, mind you, but I'm trying to be neutral.
 
I mean I think Fallout 4 having bugs is almost a garuntee, but if I have to pick one for being broken out the game it'll be Ass Creed again. No faith they won't both this one like they did the last one and the fact they continue to show very little gameplay is concerning.
 

zychi

Banned
Only read the op, wait for after release date, dont preorder, and dont give these publishers your money so early/quickly. Its not going to kill you to wait a day to see what messes they have released.
 

Aaron

Member
Skyrim was a bit of a mess on PC for months.

I do remember there was some real basic CPU bottleneck that modders quickly fixed that took bethesda like 5 months to patch.
This wasn't even an issue if you weren't running mods. Base Skyrim could run on one core or whatever it was.
 
Er... no? Because Servers were mostly fine. It was Crash to Desktop on PC and other numerous bug/issues on console/PC.

Besides, Servers aren't a QA problem. They're a network infrastructure problem. And those aren't ever going to be solved on "launch day."

What are you taking about?

http://www.pcgamer.com/battlefield-...ues-connection-errors-glitches-dodgy-netcode/

http://www.polygon.com/2013/12/4/5175710/battlefield-4-troubleshooting-problems

It was no were near fine, it was a complete and utter disaster on all levels.
 
My bets on the following

NBA Live 16: The demo alone has players shooting free throws backwards, teleporting.

Assasins Creed Syndicate: Even though Ubi claims to learned from there mistakes I still have a feeling it will be bugs galore.

Fallout 4: I understand it's been in development for a while but buggy games and Bethdesda go hand in hand.

Star Wars Battlefront: Look back to Battlefield 4.
 

OmegaDL50

Member
If fallout 4 performs as well as skyrim on PC, I'm good.

Same engine, prettier graphics. You do the math.

My biggest concern is if the Fallout 4 executable is 64bit ready or the game is large address aware to so it doesn't reach some out of memory issue.

Skyrim's biggest problem early on at launch was that it was a 32 Bit application, and when the game hit the cap of 3.5GB of memory used, it CTD.

Even after Bestheda made a Large Address Aware fix, core mechanics of the game were still designed to load 512mb chunks at a time up to a threshold of 3.5GB.

I hope Fallout 4 is 64bit ready. A large open world game with heavy mod support can use all of the memory it can get. This is even especially true for a Bethesda open world game.
 
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