Digital Foundry VS Bethesda: PS3 Skyrim is still shit
- Thread starter AgentOtaku
- Start date
Somebody just found these lying around Bethesda´s HQ.. the ten commandments for the PS3 version.
1. Thou shall disable Auto-Save.
2. Thou must only play 30 min. then thou must turn off PS3.
3. Thou shall worship Bethesda daily, then they might grant you a Patch.
4. Thou shall clear your cache.
5. Thou shall look upon the divine lag as a gift.
6. Thou shall not envy your neighbours version of the game.
7. Thou shall believe the words of John Carmack.
8. Thou shall wait 30 days before you move on.
9. Thou shall not cry when the game crashes.
10. Thou shall wait for our next patch, to be even more disappointed.
Holy fucking shit. LOL
Amazing.
I'm wondering if maybe having too many quests active in your quests log could possibly also lead to slowdowns and crashes? I might try to only do 1 quest at a time when I boot up the game.
corrosivefrost
Member
Less than 6mb save here. Locks up all the fucking time, causing my PS3 to be forced to hard reset which is followed by the lovely "fuck you, you didn't shut down correctly, your data is corrupt, it may take 2-3 hours to fix".
Stuttering is minimal, but I've seen enough of it, especially in whiterun and when dragons show up.
I've had sections that refused to load, like the first time I showed up in... Windhelm and was so deep in snow it was up to my waist because I was clipping through the ground. Or the time I showed up and discovered Falkreath and had the camera stick and the save function disabled.
Man that's awful, it's weird how a lot of people are having major problems and some people are having the game run pretty decently with a few minor issues here and there. I also just fought a dragon that was invisible and I don't think he should have been.
funkystudent
Member
so I had my copy of skyrim just sitting unopened for a week waiting for 1.3
so today I finally said "fuck it" and I returned it and got saints row.
Also over here GAME is already selling skyrim at 50% off on all platforms so ill just pick up the PC version later.
Also if its 50% in a month I expect more of big discounts and price drops for this game.
I would recommend anyone waiting for patches to trade in now while you can still get decent money for it and pick it up later after a few patches and price drops or trade in and get the PC version on the steam xmas sale... it will probably be on there at some kind of discount.
so today I finally said "fuck it" and I returned it and got saints row.
Also over here GAME is already selling skyrim at 50% off on all platforms so ill just pick up the PC version later.
Also if its 50% in a month I expect more of big discounts and price drops for this game.
I would recommend anyone waiting for patches to trade in now while you can still get decent money for it and pick it up later after a few patches and price drops or trade in and get the PC version on the steam xmas sale... it will probably be on there at some kind of discount.
Man this really pisses me off and I don't even have the game. I mean it's one for companies to lie and fuck up out of ignorance and stupidity, but to fucking knowingly ship a broken game and not submit that version for reviews is fucking despicable. Also for the reviewers to not demand a fucking PS3 version is just as disgusting.
SolidSnakex
Member
CG Monthly actually did put in a request for a review copy of the PS3 version. Bethesda told them that their request was accepted. They ended up sending them the 360 version without any explanation.
Good to know that some of them have some integrity left.
Depends on whether they actually refused to review it after this happened.
SolidSnakex
Member
They reviewed it and gave it an 85. But this is what it says at the end of the review
http://www.cgmonthly.com/game-reviews/ps3-games/754-the-elder-scrolls-skyrim.html
yeah, the only way i plan on getting this game is if i ever get a good PC or if someone gifts me the game. i'm not faulting the game itself, i'm sure it's deserving of all the praise it's recieving and all but it's just really embarrassing for the developers to have this kind of track record on the PS3 and especially for such a huge title like this. for PS3-only people like myself it's like well yeah we'd love to play your awesome game but if you guys obviously don't care then why should we? :/
natureboy46
Member
A little more than 60 hours in and have no complaints with the ps3 version. I've only had one freeze up (would have had at least 30 or 40 by the same time on Fallout 3 and NV) and the frame rate only stuttered once.
Interesting, at least to me, is that I played the Fallouts on a Fat MGS4 ps3 and Skyrim has been on a slim.
Interesting, at least to me, is that I played the Fallouts on a Fat MGS4 ps3 and Skyrim has been on a slim.
35 hours in, save file is slightly over 7 MB.
Now I have backwards flying dragons who never attack all the time. I can't fast travel as long as I don't outrun those dragons.
Oh, and the frame rate get's worse all the time.
I have a brand new 320GB-Slim, turned off all the options that enhance Blu-ray playback, I only play with the internet connection disabled, never have more than three save files simultaneously, disabled all autosave functions and clear the cache after every session.
Until now, the performance was fine most of the time. In fact, in the fist 10 hours I was really impressed how well the game ran. Since then, it get's worse constantly. But it's still very playable.
Right now, I'm about to finish the Dark Brotherhood questline, and then I'll rush through the main quest. "Skyrim" is beginning to bore me. I guess if you finish the game in about 50 hours, you have a good chance of avoiding the most annoying bugs. But if you intendo to play for 200+ hours, you're bound to get into serious trouble on the PS3.
Now I have backwards flying dragons who never attack all the time. I can't fast travel as long as I don't outrun those dragons.
Oh, and the frame rate get's worse all the time.
I have a brand new 320GB-Slim, turned off all the options that enhance Blu-ray playback, I only play with the internet connection disabled, never have more than three save files simultaneously, disabled all autosave functions and clear the cache after every session.
Until now, the performance was fine most of the time. In fact, in the fist 10 hours I was really impressed how well the game ran. Since then, it get's worse constantly. But it's still very playable.
Right now, I'm about to finish the Dark Brotherhood questline, and then I'll rush through the main quest. "Skyrim" is beginning to bore me. I guess if you finish the game in about 50 hours, you have a good chance of avoiding the most annoying bugs. But if you intendo to play for 200+ hours, you're bound to get into serious trouble on the PS3.
Evolved1
make sure the pudding isn't too soggy but that just ruins everything
Before Amazon's fees, it sold for 48. Might as well get rid of it now before the price continues to go down - it's not like they're going to fix it any time soon.About to put mine up too...
We gamers have short attention spans.
Game enthusiast writers have an even shorter one.
After all the fuss about the PS3 version, I was generally impressed with the performance after finally being able to play it. However, after 20 or so hours I'm starting to see the framerate get a little less consistent. Until this started to happen, I thought it ran just about as well as Oblivion, without the stuttering (which I absolutely can't stand) that happened in Oblivion when loading a new area.
I'm not that impressed with the actual graphics though, especially the shadows. Holy shit at that low resolution. So what if they're dynamic, they look awful most of the time, especially when there are strong light sources in a dark environment. Plus they're pretty glitchy too; sometimes they just flicker on and off do all other kinds of weird stuff. They might as well remove them entirely, It's an embarrasment. I've seen better shadows on PS1.
Apart from this, it generally looks better than Oblivion though, but is more inconsistent. There are things that are downgraded though in my opinion, such as the water (especially the visuals when underwater), and alot of the textures seem to be lower res. Despite the supposed improvement, I still think the animations are janky as hell. First-person melee combat somehow looks even worse, and because of that I have been sticking to using a bow. There's still no weight or impact to the combat at all, but I guess I should have expected that.
Overall, I'm having fun though, but that will stop if I ever come across any of these horror story framerates.
Edit: To be more on topic, I would be recommending the PS3 version if I didn't know about the issues that I am inevitably going to encounter. This is a terrible practice, and I don't think I'll ever trust Bethesda again when they say things like the PS3 version has received "a ton of attention" and reached "a good level of parity" with the 360 version. You could argue that it's open to interpretation, but it's pretty much lying really...
I'm not that impressed with the actual graphics though, especially the shadows. Holy shit at that low resolution. So what if they're dynamic, they look awful most of the time, especially when there are strong light sources in a dark environment. Plus they're pretty glitchy too; sometimes they just flicker on and off do all other kinds of weird stuff. They might as well remove them entirely, It's an embarrasment. I've seen better shadows on PS1.
Apart from this, it generally looks better than Oblivion though, but is more inconsistent. There are things that are downgraded though in my opinion, such as the water (especially the visuals when underwater), and alot of the textures seem to be lower res. Despite the supposed improvement, I still think the animations are janky as hell. First-person melee combat somehow looks even worse, and because of that I have been sticking to using a bow. There's still no weight or impact to the combat at all, but I guess I should have expected that.
Overall, I'm having fun though, but that will stop if I ever come across any of these horror story framerates.
Edit: To be more on topic, I would be recommending the PS3 version if I didn't know about the issues that I am inevitably going to encounter. This is a terrible practice, and I don't think I'll ever trust Bethesda again when they say things like the PS3 version has received "a ton of attention" and reached "a good level of parity" with the 360 version. You could argue that it's open to interpretation, but it's pretty much lying really...
astroturfing
Member
i played Fallout 3 and its DLC on an old fat PS3 and newer slim, and it was WORSE on my slim.
i don't think the model of the PS3 has anything to do with it.
Sye d'Burns
Member
Sad, but entirely predictable. Gaming media has moved on to the next big story.
2011 Game of the Year Media Picks |OT| said:
tekumseh
a mass of phermones, hormones and adrenaline just waiting to explode
Probably in the wrong place, but I've been playing this on the 360, and after the game was patched, I reinstalled the game to the HD, and I started getting the dragons flying backwards problem, and I also ran into an area where there was enormous stuttering. I didn't think these things were even a problem on the 360, but there they were. As soon as I uninstalled the game, they went away. It's a shame the PS3 version is still not fixed...
What would you have the gaming media do next? Honest question
I think patch 1.04 could be the next major juncture for returning to the issue. The situation just hasn't changed in the last week, and you're hardly going to see headlines like "Skyrim Lag: Yup... It's still a problem" popping up every day.
i wouldn't know. people actually bought that game?
Mike Works
Member
My save just passed 7MB and the framerate has dropped to 0 multiple times while outside :/
Stoffinator
Member
I went to play New Vegas DLC and my save is 11MB and unplayable. I will not be able to finish the DLC I bought. :-\
Get an answer as to why the PS3 versions were never sent out for review with the 360/PC versions.What would you have the gaming media do next? Honest question
I think patch 1.04 could be the next major juncture for returning to the issue. The situation just hasn't changed in the last week, and you're hardly going to see headlines like "Skyrim Lag: Yup... It's still a problem" popping up every day.
Just found an old article someone posted on Beth's forum, whatever happened to the new bug fixing system they promised? :lol
http://www.kotaku.com.au/2011/08/the-skyrim-team-has-a-better-plan-for-squashing-bugs-this-time/
http://www.kotaku.com.au/2011/08/the-skyrim-team-has-a-better-plan-for-squashing-bugs-this-time/
Kotaku said:
mjemirzian
Banned
My PC save file is 12MB and it flat out CTDs on load if I don't use the 4GB address extension app/patch.
It's more or less a miracle that the PS3 can even load a 7MB save.
It's more or less a miracle that the PS3 can even load a 7MB save.
SGRU
Member
Can you explain that? I don't use movies at all with my PS3 and I wonder if I can gain any performance benefit turning off those options?
StoppedInTracks
Member
Still not fixed? Soon there will be a month after the game's release.
I guess Bethesda got all the monies from gullible PS3 owners and does not care about them in the slightest.
smh
I guess Bethesda got all the monies from gullible PS3 owners and does not care about them in the slightest.
smh
The next attempt at a fix is coming after Christmas, as said on their blog.
I still doubt this will be fixable. They would really need to change the fundamentals of the engine/how it processes in game variables. Although I'm merely a game designer (not a programmer) I doubt this is possible.
yeah, right!
well I dumped my 165hour game on ps3 and started again on 360.
90 hours in, and the game performs like the first time it booted.
this was a valuable lesson for me.
Would love to know what Sony thinks of this. This whole ordeal surely leads to lost sales and lowered expectations for the Playstation 3. Well, I guess it's their own fault for letting the game pass cert.
MarshMellow96
Member
Sounds like there's going to be a lot of pissed off kids on Boxing day...
Holy shit at that Kotaku story too. Amazing...
Holy shit at that Kotaku story too. Amazing...
kyo_daikun
Member
My save file crept over 5mb and quickly became annoying to play, laggy when my character turns around, I also ran into a glitch into a tomb where a door I had opened resealed itself and I couldn't reopen it.
What would you have the gaming media do next? Honest question
I think patch 1.04 could be the next major juncture for returning to the issue. The situation just hasn't changed in the last week, and you're hardly going to see headlines like "Skyrim Lag: Yup... It's still a problem" popping up every day.
Push for a legitimate answer. When they don't get that the gaming media should at least do what little they can to stick up for consumers. No publication should consider Skyrim a valid choice for GOTY awards and all mentions of the game should come with the caveat of them shipping a broken game to PS3 gamers and doing nothing to make good on it after the fact.
In short, the gaming media should be sticking up at least to the best of their limited abilities for their customers, the same customers as game publishers FYI. But instead we see a gaming media that is more focused on servicing the publishers, regardless of what that does to frivolous concepts like "journalistic integrity".
This is why there are no gaming journalists. Just outsourced PR firms.
Bethesda must be loving this, in a lot of cases people are buying the game twice!
If I pick this up at any point in the future, I will buy it used. I never buy used games.
What would you have the gaming media do next? Honest question
1. Put Sony on the spot about their certification process.
2. Ask more PS3 exclusive colleagues about their efforts to get a PS3 review copy (if there were any)
3. Discuss if Skyrim should become GOTY - ask your colleagues who gave it top honors.
4. Play around with the word "recall" - would that be possible and/or justified.
5. Get an opinion from Pachter. He sounds off on everything else.
RPGCrazied
Member
Crisis averted! Not getting this for Christmas now, will wait to see if its ever fixed or bargin binned.