Weekly Poll: Your favourite buggy game?

[DarthHelmet86]

What game do you love but was so bugged that now you wonder how the hell you ever managed to play it at all?

Thanks to Lulu_Jane for this weeks thread.

[DarthHelmet86]

I would have to say Fallout 2, playing it again without any of the patches I wonder how I beat it so many times at school. Doubly so since we had the European version and thus no children...it took me years to work out what the hell was stealing my junk.

Now a days I can't play the game without making sure it is fully patched up. I would have voted for Darksun 2 but I only ever got a few minutes in before it just bugged the hell out so I never really wonder how I played it since I know damn well why I didn't. A pity since I love Shattered Lands.

[Mighty Midget]

A close race once again. I played Buggerfall and Elite 2 for a couple of years, and I was hellbent on getting through Ultima 9, which I finally did after uninstalling in a fit of rage a dozen times only to reinstall it some time later. So for that, I'll have to say U9 is by far the worst game: It was fubar but wouldn't let me go.

[Tomekk]

http://www.mobygames.com/game/windows/big-rigs-over-the-road-racing :ouch:

[DarthHelmet86]

That isn't a buggy game, it is not a completed game at all. :D

[Capo]

I always wait for the patch so none of them. Anyway i voted Ultima 9 because despite all the criticism i really enjoined it :shifty:

[Maxor127]

I haven't played a lot of those, but QFG4 is probably my favorite. I had the CD version. I only remember running into a one or two bugs that I must've worked around. I remember U8 being buggy, but I never finished it, so I can't say it was my fave. But bugs were what killed my desire to play because I just happened to stick all of my rare items into the one storage place that was bugged and made your items disappear. After that, I lost interest in starting over. One day, I'll get around to playing all of the games on the list.

[Scatty]

Master of Magic, I'd say, every once in a while it happened to come to a dead-end in a savegame where the game just crashed, be it through a computer opponent casting Armageddon spell, or me casting Chaos Channels on a unit. That was with it's latest official version, still happens once in while though with an unofficial Insecticide patch.
Ultima 9 might even be called an "unfinished game" actually, as it not only produces numerous bugs with it's latest official patch (and even with the necessary unofficial fan-made patch), but also couple of things in the game show their rather immature state, like the weird, "cartoonish" style of monsters approaching for example.

One more recent game though, which I tried to get into once, is really hell-bent on annoying bugs - Vampires - The Masquerade: Bloodlines. It even has received it's own unofficial patch made by fans, after all the official patches that came out for it. But when it gets rid (read - makes disappear) of your only picklock early in the game, after you reload a game from an unsuccessful attempt to pick a lock, and when it does so again on another occasion after you restarted the game from scratch - you gotta agree, you can't progress in the game with this.

[Eagle of Fire]

I think the fact that those polls always mentioning games I never or barely ever played is beginning to turn into some kind of running gag.

[DarthHelmet86]

You want a poll focused on games you like then go to the thread about suggesting weekly polls and suggest one.

I have heard many bad things about Vampire: Bloodlines but haven't run into them while playing the game. Well I have but they haven't been any of the game killers. Bugs I have run into was stealth being completely broken and trying to attack in a duct lead me to clip through the roof and get stuck. That one was while streaming and led to many laughs. Oh and the bug/glitch of hitting people from stealth with the fireaxe making them fly through walls...but that one is just funny as hell.

[Scatty]

I think the fact that those polls always mentioning games I never or barely ever played is beginning to turn into some kind of running gag.
Are there any games you ever played? :p Just kidding, still, the games mentioned here are more or less those of the most well-known ones.

[Panthro]

Gotta be QFG4.

Great game, even with the host of annoying bugs.

If I could pick a second, I'd probably pick Daggerfall, which is probably one of the buggiest (and yet still completable) games I've ever played.

[Fleabass666]

I am a bit with Eagle of Fire on this one...

A "well-known game" is a subjective concept. Of course, if you have been playing computer games non-stop for the last 20-30 years, you will sure know the most of them. But that may not be the case for everyone. I, for example, played a lot of them while I was at high school, but not that much while I started college. And for the last 10 years, I mostly played console games, with the kids.

However, we are all free to answer a poll or not, right? Maybe the "a poll per week" formula is also not appropriate. How about having a poll per month ?

Just giving my two cents...

[Eagle of Fire]

Are there any games you ever played? Just kidding, still, the games mentioned here are more or less those of the most well-known ones.
Well, I beg to differ. With the exception of Fallout 2 and Master of Magic (which are not really that buggy either), all those games are either niche games or games which had the reputation to be night unplayable because you could not start them.

Ultima, for example... Never could have run that on my computer. And most people I knew simply gave up trying to do the same. Daggerfall is another prime example of this.

I simply could not play games which refused to run on a normal machine of the time the game got out. If you consider that buggy then it is your choice but I was under the impression that the poll was about playable games which are so buggy it gets very annoying...

Other games like QfG or Elite... Well, I think those games are typically European. I never even know those games existed before I joined this site.

[Capo]

Other games like QfG or Elite... Well, I think those games are typically European. I never even know those games existed before I joined this site.

:mhh:

[Tracker]

I thought titles like Quest for Glory were released in the US as well. But anyway, I haven't played any of the listed games, well, at least not much. I spent some time with Elite 2, but never "completed" it.
The game that had a bug so annoying was Port Royale 1 - I couldn't finish the game, there was a vital NPC missing in it (I still wonder if it was a bug). Other than that... I mostly played games which didn't have bugs (or didn't deserve a place in my memory).

[DarthHelmet86]

Quest for Glory...like all Sierra games...was made in America and was just as popular in America as the other Sierra adventure games. Even in rural Australia a place where gamers were few and far between we knew all about the Sierra adventure games. Plenty of people played these games, and even more know them by reputation and then tried them out at a later date. Once again if you want a poll focused on games you liked and played post one in the thread, if it is good enough it will be on the site. If you had a different game in mind that you played and now wonder how you did so due to bugs you can vote for that option in the poll.

[Eagle of Fire]

I just checked on Wikipedia and Sierra does seem to be from the US. Which is very strange because those games always appeared as exotic imports if you were to see them on shelves around here. I'm not in the US but we do have free trading with them since they are our only land trader around here and it is not normal that they appeared as such. I can guarantee you that those games never got much attention around here when they got out and it was right when I was looking the most actively around for new games to play.

Just checked too and Elite is really European.

Darth, you seem to miss my point completely. I don't care about polls with games I like, or games I played. All what I'm saying is that those polls are extremely one-sided and thus slightly worthless.

And no, I'm certainly not interested in doing the same. Why would I want to make a one side poll anyways since that's exactly what I dislike?

[Lulu_Jane]

Please submit your poll ideas so we can help bring you a selection that is not "one sided." :)

http://www.abandonia.com/vbullet/showthread.php?t=28285

[Eagle of Fire]

Do you really need help with that?

I mean, seriously. Look at the poll. Out of the 10 options you have 8 RPGs, one simulation and one turn based strategy.

Is this some kind of hidden message stating that RPGs are very buggy in general?

[Lulu_Jane]

We don't need your help. However, if you feel the polls are one sided or biased, and there is an idea for one you'd like to suggest, please put it forward - the more ideas the merrier.

The games in this poll were chosen from many suggestions, it just so happened that the majority were RPG's.*




*I'm lying it's a conspiracy. RPG's did 9/11.

[Fleabass666]

My vote for the best buggy game is... the weekly poll!!! :lol:

[Japo]

My vote for the best buggy game is... the weekly poll!!! :lol:

:lol:

http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m87/japofran/fun/applause.gif

[DarthHelmet86]

RPGs...are some of the most buggy games there ever are. They are normally bigger worlds and the player can interact with the game in a lot more ways then one normally can. This opens up the possibility for bugs all over the place, even with proper Beta testing players will and do things in such different ways that bugs will be found. Adventure games tend to cop this as well, a lot of the later Sierra games seemed to be rather buggy, but in reality it was problems being caused by higher CPU speeds and the game using the CPU to time things, the CPUs got so fast the game just crashed at those points.

And the poll isn't buggy, it is working as intended. :ouch:

[yoga]

Hmm..
that's why yoga started 6 times this buggy game Ultima 8 and never passed but stopped at Pits of Dead?

No more attempts will be started, Master Scatty.

I spent one years of my life with that game..
Rats!!
:sucks:

PS: I have no any problem with MOM.

[Scatty]

Hmm..
that's why yoga started 6 times this buggy game Ultima 8 and never passed but stopped at Pits of Dead?
I doubt it's because of the bugs in the game :)
Though there are some spooky ones, like with that one acolyte who has a house in Tenebrae also, Beren I think, who sometimes decides to go walking on molten stone at Demon's Crag during his hours there, and begins to throw fireballs at you because the lava turns out too hot for his feet. Happens sometimes with nameless students there too, if they go walking too far from the buildings.
Or was it because you killed Malchir before you were supposed to (like casting spells in wrong sequence at him at the final test, before the ritual of Summoning Pyros happens, at which moment he attacks you)? In any case, you can't kill Beren, but he can be pushed by his own fireball / firebolt explosions (if you're close enough standing to him) into the lava and drown. The game tends to hang dead soon after that though, more often than not.

[Eagle of Fire]

That's no bug though. That's bad scripting.

[Japo]

And the poll isn't buggy, it is working as intended. :ouch:

My, I made a mistake. Turns out I laughed because I thought Fleabass had said that his vote for the best buggy game was for the daily quiz, not the weekly poll.

So my vote is for the daily screenshot quiz :lol:

[TotalAnarchy]

The only conclusive answer this poll has given is that they're all buggy and great games. Play them all folks! :OK:

[Fleabass666]

In fact, Japo read my mind, because I made a typo: I really meant the "daily quiz"... :whops::rolleyes:

[yoga]

The only conclusive answer this poll has given is that they're all buggy and great games. Play them all folks! :OK:

Yes, correct.
I passed
Daggerfall,
FO2,
MOM,
and played Ultima 8 Pagan 6 times.
Great games, indeed, esp. Daggerfall.

:D
What, Master?
Another year of the life of the brave?
Again in lava sector?
Mama mia...
Please, YOU kidding me or You are serious?

OK, but some hostile persons accused me that I am so lazy that not read Manuals and constantly beg for help..
Nonsenses. I prepared to play any game so carefully.
My Q's are for aroma only. For friendly atmosphere, y'now.

hmmm..
bad times for the brave, really bad.

[Lulu_Jane]

Hang in there Yoga, things will be well :)

[hunvagy]

Wake of the Ravager on this one. Such a disappointment after the first game. Unpolished, buggy, nigh unfinishable.. and baaad >.>

Honorary mention goes to *drumroll for all who didn't expect it* : http://www.mobygames.com/game/descent-to-undermountain

[hunvagy]

OK, but some hostile persons accused me that I am so lazy that not read Manuals and constantly beg for help..
Nonsenses. I prepared to play any game so carefully.
My Q's are for aroma only. For friendly atmosphere, y'now.

hmmm..
bad times for the brave, really bad.

First of all, those were mere observations, which you took as a personal assault. Second, those were pretty accurate observations. You are the only person in existence that I know of, who managed to actually die in the Tutorial of Lionheart. Especially since the spirit tells you what to do, in voice overs no less.
Third, I think it wouldn't be too hard to gather enough quotes from the games you played to support said observations.

I really don't care how you play the game, but you are ruining it for yourself at times. And in case of that specific game, the poster was right, telling you the solution to the puzzles makes the game meaningless. It was made in a time where an extensive story was out of question, as the mediums did not support it, so the fun of the game came from exploration and the puzzles. And longevity relied on the hardness of said elements. If you fail to see that, and bash on that one incident without even thinking about it, then it is not the people who are hostile, but you.

But hey, whatever floats your boat, I guess.

[DarthHelmet86]

So Fallout 2 is pulling ahead by a small amount, don't forget guys to let us know why you found the game so buggy or how you felt when you went back and wondered how you ever played it. Only a few days left and the poll is over.

[Wereboar]

Is this some kind of hidden message stating that RPGs are very buggy in general?

First Shannon's law in action. RPGs tend to be pretty complex and the more complex the system, the higher is the level of its entropy. This is why modern games are constantly bugged despite good QA routines :8]

[Scatty]

I agree, however it's also because RPG's tend to become quite big, and as developing them (and their complexity) usually takes a lot of time, publishers etc. tend to narrow the time limit for release date to make more profit out of the game, thus RPG's are often lonly close to finished with many bugs still left in the game. Patches can take care of those bugs, but often still leave some behind.