Simply put: the game is botched.
 
I've had somewhere in the vicinity of 10-15 crashes where the game completely locks the system up and has to be forcefully shut off and restarted. Today I tried to play a little and within the first two minutes I went to a traveling merchant to buy some goods and sell some stuff. Like clockwork, any time I would try to purchase a "10 of Hearts - Lucky 38", the game would freeze. I tried the same thing a few times and every single time it would lock up as I did this. Then I checked my inventory and saw I was holding that same item already, so I thought "maybe the game is freaking when I already have one of these", so I drop mine on the ground and try to buy it again - success! So now I head to my personal hotel room in Novac to store some more of my items; as I click the door to enter and the game "loads" - the game hangs... AGAIN. I restart the system yet again, do t he same process of throwing my card on the ground before buying another from the merchant, only this time instead of the card falling to the ground, it falls through the ground. *sigh* I want the card so I reboot the game... again. I do the same process with the card, this time it falls on the ground and I am able to buy it again without it freezing again, so I go to enter the hotel room again - and it freezes... again.
 
Now maybe this is just me, but this is not how such a huge title given scores in excess of 8/10 should behave. I want so badly to love this game like I did Fallout 3, but it is in such a state of disaster it's very hard. Yeah, Fallout 3 was kinda buggy as well, but ... I can't believe I am saying this... I'm not sure I've played a game this buggy since Two Worlds. >_<
 
I've been stuck in the geometry of the environment a half dozen times, I've had in excess of a dozen crashes, I've seen enemies under the ground dozens of times, I've seen NPCs floating in the air, I've seen bodies fall to rest in the air.... I'm starting to give up on this damn thing, and that pains me since when it is behaving it can be a fun game. :(
 
I was just doing some googling to find out if Bethesda/Obsidian had any additional patches planned for the coming days and I read a statement with the same 'ol excuse; e.g. "a game of this scope is bound to have lots of issues"... and the whole "our team of 300 testers never encountered the things people are encountering now".
 
I just don't buy it. There is no way that 300 testers could not have spotted even a fraction of these issues. I really think in the end the upper management either at Obsidian or Bethesday demanded that the game be shipped regardless of the current state it was in. I don't know if this was to be released before Fable or what, but it's clearly obvious to me that this game was in no shape for release just yet.
 
If I get stuck in any more situations like this where I basically can't do a thing without playing before it freezes, I'm thinking of just putting it off until it is majorly patched and starting up Fable (which is released over here tomorrow).
 
Anyhow, what are some of the weirdest and/or most frustrating issues any of you guys have been having with Fallout New Vegas - and what platform?
 
I've been playing on the Xbox 360 - quite frankly I'm surprised how it could pass Microsoft's review process. My team lead is playing on PC and he is having frequent crashes as well... *sigh*

Simply put: the game is botched.
 
I've had somewhere in the vicinity of 10-15 crashes where the game completely locks the system up and has to be forcefully shut off and restarted. Today I tried to play a little and within the first two minutes I went to a traveling merchant to buy some goods and sell some stuff. Like clockwork, any time I would try to purchase a "10 of Hearts - Lucky 38", the game would freeze. I tried the same thing a few times and every single time it would lock up as I did this. Then I checked my inventory and saw I was holding that same item already, so I thought "maybe the game is freaking when I already have one of these", so I drop mine on the ground and try to buy it again - success! So now I head to my personal hotel room in Novac to store some more of my items; as I click the door to enter and the game "loads" - the game hangs... AGAIN. I restart the system yet again, do t he same process of throwing my card on the ground before buying another from the merchant, only this time instead of the card falling to the ground, it falls through the ground. *sigh* I want the card so I reboot the game... again. I do the same process with the card, this time it falls on the ground and I am able to buy it again without it freezing again, so I go to enter the hotel room again - and it freezes... again.
 
Now maybe this is just me, but this is not how such a huge title given scores in excess of 8/10 should behave. I want so badly to love this game like I did Fallout 3, but it is in such a state of disaster it's very hard. Yeah, Fallout 3 was kinda buggy as well, but ... I can't believe I am saying this... I'm not sure I've played a game this buggy since Two Worlds. >_<
 
I've been stuck in the geometry of the environment a half dozen times, I've had in excess of a dozen crashes, I've seen enemies under the ground dozens of times, I've seen NPCs floating in the air, I've seen bodies fall to rest in the air.... I'm starting to give up on this damn thing, and that pains me since when it is behaving it can be a fun game. :(
 
I was just doing some googling to find out if Bethesda/Obsidian had any additional patches planned for the coming days and I read a statement with the same 'ol excuse; e.g. "a game of this scope is bound to have lots of issues"... and the whole "our team of 300 testers never encountered the things people are encountering now".
 
I just don't buy it. There is no way that 300 testers could not have spotted even a fraction of these issues. I really think in the end the upper management either at Obsidian or Bethesday demanded that the game be shipped regardless of the current state it was in. I don't know if this was to be released before Fable or what, but it's clearly obvious to me that this game was in no shape for release just yet.
 
If I get stuck in any more situations like this where I basically can't do a thing without playing before it freezes, I'm thinking of just putting it off until it is majorly patched and starting up Fable (which is released over here tomorrow).
 
Anyhow, what are some of the weirdest and/or most frustrating issues any of you guys have been having with Fallout New Vegas - and what platform?
 
I've been playing on the Xbox 360 - quite frankly I'm surprised how it could pass Microsoft's review process. My team lead is playing on PC and he is having frequent crashes as well... *sigh*

I'm sure it's a fantastic game, i'm just not willing to take the risk right now. 
 
Instead, i'm playing through 3 with unofficial patches, graphical enhancement mods, new areas, new radio stations, just waiting for either Obsidian or the community at large to fix New Vegas.

I feel you man. The game would randomly lock up on me every time when I tried to turn my weapons over to a certain casino and it pissed me off and then I would have into a huge battle lol.

I've been playing it on 360 as while and it hasn't locked up on me at all in 30+ hours. I have it installed, but I'm not sure how big of difference that would make if it is apparently botched.

I think it's complete horseshit that this game got so many high scores even though it's so horribly broken. Yeah sure people should "do their own research" but when all of that research, nearly every critical review, is flawed, then what is a consumer to do? Either way I'm happy I didn't buy this flaming piece of shit. People aren't so easy to forgive minor design flaws or bugs in other games yet this game is nearly unplayable (well, actually it is for many) yet people are willing to ignore this and say, "Oh I'm sure it's a good game though..."

I doubt that 300 testers didn't find any bugs, but that they got a time limit on their product so they couldn't fix many of the problems they found before their mass-pressing, so they went directly to patch-supporting. 200 fixes in a week or so with the first patch is pretty good i think, but yes, this is unacceptable for a release. If they were smart they would delay it, but the damage is already out. We will hopefully get another patch later this week or next week, to fix some of the crash and quest bugs etc, but only time will tell.

" I think it's complete horseshit that this game got so many high scores even though it's so horribly broken. Yeah sure people should "do their own research" but when all of that research, nearly every critical review, is flawed, then what is a consumer to do? Either way I'm happy I didn't buy this flaming piece of shit. People aren't so easy to forgive minor design flaws or bugs in other games yet this game is nearly unplayable (well, actually it is for many) yet people are willing to ignore this and say, "Oh I'm sure it's a good game though..." "

" I think it's complete horseshit that this game got so many high scores even though it's so horribly broken. Yeah sure people should "do their own research" but when all of that research, nearly every critical review, is flawed, then what is a consumer to do? Either way I'm happy I didn't buy this flaming piece of shit. People aren't so easy to forgive minor design flaws or bugs in other games yet this game is nearly unplayable (well, actually it is for many) yet people are willing to ignore this and say, "Oh I'm sure it's a good game though..." "

Just forget about the game until the issues have been resolved, it's just not worth the frustration.

I played through over a four day stretch on PC, a total of 40-odd hours in marathon sessions. I had 2 crashes, one of which was likely due to repeated alt-tabbing in and out. Apart from that, there were a couple glitched quests but as a whole I had a hell of a good time and a (relatively) bug free experience.
 
tl;dr: Play it on a good PC if it is an option.

Mine hasn't crashed once. I must not be doing it right.

What system? On 360 it's only crashed once for me in about 20 hours worth of playtime

" Simply put: the game is botched.  I've had somewhere in the vicinity of 10-15 crashes where the game completely locks the system up and has to be forcefully shut off and restarted. Today I tried to play a little and within the first two minutes I went to a traveling merchant to buy some goods and sell some stuff. Like clockwork, any time I would try to purchase a "10 of Hearts - Lucky 38", the game would freeze. I tried the same thing a few times and every single time it would lock up as I did this. Then I checked my inventory and saw I was holding that same item already, so I thought "maybe the game is freaking when I already have one of these", so I drop mine on the ground and try to buy it again - success! So now I head to my personal hotel room in Novac to store some more of my items; as I click the door to enter and the game "loads" - the game hangs... AGAIN. I restart the system yet again, do t he same process of throwing my card on the ground before buying another from the merchant, only this time instead of the card falling to the ground, it falls through the ground. *sigh* I want the card so I reboot the game... again. I do the same process with the card, this time it falls on the ground and I am able to buy it again without it freezing again, so I go to enter the hotel room again - and it freezes... again.  Now maybe this is just me, but this is not how such a huge title given scores in excess of 8/10 should behave. I want so badly to love this game like I did Fallout 3, but it is in such a state of disaster it's very hard. Yeah, Fallout 3 was kinda buggy as well, but ... I can't believe I am saying this... I'm not sure I've played a game this buggy since Two Worlds. >_<  I've been stuck in the geometry of the environment a half dozen times, I've had in excess of a dozen crashes, I've seen enemies under the ground dozens of times, I've seen NPCs floating in the air, I've seen bodies fall to rest in the air.... I'm starting to give up on this damn thing, and that pains me since when it is behaving it can be a fun game. :( I was just doing some googling to find out if Bethesda/Obsidian had any additional patches planned for the coming days and I read a statement with the same 'ol excuse; e.g. "a game of this scope is bound to have lots of issues"... and the whole "our team of 300 testers never encountered the things people are encountering now".  I just don't buy it. There is no way that 300 testers could not have spotted even a fraction of these issues. I really think in the end the upper management either at Obsidian or Bethesday demanded that the game be shipped regardless of the current state it was in. I don't know if this was to be released before Fable or what, but it's clearly obvious to me that this game was in no shape for release just yet.  If I get stuck in any more situations like this where I basically can't do a thing without playing before it freezes, I'm thinking of just putting it off until it is majorly patched and starting up Fable (which is released over here tomorrow).  Anyhow, what are some of the weirdest and/or most frustrating issues any of you guys have been having with Fallout New Vegas - and what platform?  I've been playing on the Xbox 360 - quite frankly I'm surprised how it could pass Microsoft's review process. My team lead is playing on PC and he is having frequent crashes as well... *sigh* "

" I think it's complete horseshit that this game got so many high scores even though it's so horribly broken. Yeah sure people should "do their own research" but when all of that research, nearly every critical review, is flawed, then what is a consumer to do? Either way I'm happy I didn't buy this flaming piece of shit. People aren't so easy to forgive minor design flaws or bugs in other games yet this game is nearly unplayable (well, actually it is for many) yet people are willing to ignore this and say, "Oh I'm sure it's a good game though..." "

I have about 40 hours put in on the PC version (steam purchase) and the only bug I've encountered is the annoying auto and quick save bug. Other than not being able to reload those saves I've had no game breaking bugs or crashing issues.

Oh man, I'm sorry to hear about your overly-bugged copy. I'm running it on PC and I'm having the same experience as I did with Fallout 3. A little bug here and there and I get the occasional but not frequent game freeze. I've played for more than 20 hours now and it's doing just fine. : /

ps3 player reporting in, completed one thirty hour runthrough with two crashes and no other bugs. Second character is twenty hours in, no crashes or bugs so far.
 
People saying the game is unplayable clearly just have no patience or are jumping on a bandwagon, unless they're really unlucky and experience the worst of the worst.

" ps3 player reporting in, completed one thirty hour runthrough with two crashes and no other bugs. Second character is twenty hours in, no crashes or bugs so far.  People saying the game is unplayable clearly just have no patience or are jumping on a bandwagon, unless they're really unlucky and experience the worst of the worst. "

"@GunslingerPanda: So let me get this straight: I used sound judgement to not buy a product because it's buggy/glitchy/defective and that makes my opinion worthless? Wow, fucking GENIUS. i guess I should pull a sheep stunt and buy the game just because all the fallout fanboys tell me to next time. I swear, there needs to be a barrier of entry before you're granted a a subscription to an IP. "

Having to use console commands to get your companions back is a serious bummer.

" @RsistncE said:

"@GunslingerPanda: So let me get this straight: I used sound judgement to not buy a product because it's buggy/glitchy/defective and that makes my opinion worthless? Wow, fucking GENIUS. i guess I should pull a sheep stunt and buy the game just because all the fallout fanboys tell me to next time. I swear, there needs to be a barrier of entry before you're granted a a subscription to an IP. "

You didn't use sound judgment, you used the fact that you heard some whiners saying "wahhhh it so buggy" to try and form an opinion that you have no right to form on account of having not played the game and thus having no idea what you're talking about. That is what makes your opinion worthless, and what makes you a fucking idiot.
 
I agree on the barrier of entry though: People should know how to think for themselves before spouting their uninformed bullshit. I'm betting all the sheeple whining about the bugs haven't even played the game but just read a review that mentioned the bugs and instantly became experts on the game. And Fallout fanboy? Hardly, I thought 1 and 2 were shit, and 3 was wayyyy over-rated.
 
Yes, the game is buggy. No, the bugs aren't game breaking. At all. "

Yes, the game is buggy. No, the bugs aren't game breaking. At all. "

What I'm really seeing are for about half the people, the game is buggy to the point it's broken. And for the other half, there are still bugs but they aren't that bad at all, and they have no idea what the other side is talking about.

Idunno. He's clearly an industry insider fully qualified to constitute what is and isn't game breaking. On account of him being super passionate and not very educated. So he's probably right when he speaks for everyone else's experience.

I played the game for about forty hours and had it crash on me thirty time. I wish that were an exaggerated number but it isn't. The ending crashed on me six times at the beginning and once right before it finished. With all of that said I still love this game and want to put many more hours into it.

I got through the game by restarting my Xbox every time the game even began to hint that it was on its way to a freeze (by hinting I mean the framerate would plummet). Not the best solution, but it did get me through the storyline.

" Idunno. He's clearly an industry insider fully qualified to constitute what is and isn't game breaking. On account of him being super passionate and not very educated. So he's probably right when he speaks for everyone else's experience. "

" @RsistncE said:

"@GunslingerPanda: So let me get this straight: I used sound judgement to not buy a product because it's buggy/glitchy/defective and that makes my opinion worthless? Wow, fucking GENIUS. i guess I should pull a sheep stunt and buy the game just because all the fallout fanboys tell me to next time. I swear, there needs to be a barrier of entry before you're granted a a subscription to an IP. "

You didn't use sound judgment, you used the fact that you heard some whiners saying "wahhhh it so buggy" to try and form an opinion that you have no right to form on account of having not played the game and thus having no idea what you're talking about. That is what makes your opinion worthless, and what makes you a fucking idiot.
 
I agree on the barrier of entry though: People should know how to think for themselves before spouting their uninformed bullshit. I'm betting all the sheeple whining about the bugs haven't even played the game but just read a review that mentioned the bugs and instantly became experts on the game. And Fallout fanboy? Hardly, I thought 1 and 2 were shit, and 3 was wayyyy over-rated.
 
Yes, the game is buggy. No, the bugs aren't game breaking. At all. "

This video really nicely sums up the problems in New Vegas:
 
  

 @tskunk: That's weak dude - I feel for you. If it works it works, but it's sad if you have to resort to that. I'm glad I haven't been quite in that state just yet. Though, I also should point out that there was a time when the game creeped to maybe 3-5 frames a second because of a spazzing enemy under ground, and I basically had no choice at that point but to reload since anytime I'd go in the area it would happen again (is it that hard to program objects in such a frenzied state to come to rest after a certain time if you aren't interacting with them?!).

@GunslingerPanda: As some other people have said - I too would disagree with the assertion that none of the bugs are game breaking. That may very well have been for you, but for many people main story quests do become broken and will prevent you from making progress. I also have had a couple of saves where I cannot return to a few areas without a certain crash - If that isn't game-breaking I'm not sure what is. I do agree that for many people the game may feel perfectly playable and maybe they don't encounter any serious bugs, but I don't think it's fair to say that it isn't game breaking at all for everyone - but it may very well not be game-breaking for you. On the subject of being angry over people whining over all the bugs in a game they have never played - I have mixed feelings on the subject. Firstly, I completely disagree with you that sometimes these people may be nothing but sheeple and just join in on bashing what's popular to bash at the time. I also think that it's unfair to judge something without experiencing it first hand. However, I can also understand why some of these people may have this sentiment; I think for a lot of them it all comes down to feeling aggravated with an industry that is more concerned with dishing products out to us than polishing the product they deliver to us. I think when huge AAA games like this fumble in terms of performance as they do, many gamers angrily (over)react because of the way critics (who in many ways determine what people will buy and play) mislead us. I'm not saying that train of thought is correct, or necessarily that I even totally agree with it, but I think that's why some of these people hastily jump on the bandwagon of ridiculing a game they haven't played.

Wowza, that rant on youtube is quite harsh, yet very much right on target in so many ways. I didn't even begin to dissect all of the basic design issues with the game, but he nailed a whole bunch of them.

But back to the whole stability and polish issue: a lot of people seem to have this misconception that some "discs" are damaged - that isn't how DVDs work. The discs are not damaged; I can assure anyone who thinks that. What is the issue is that the issues in the game are triggered by specific actions and scenarios - that is the nature of how programming works. If this happens, do this, if that happens do that. And when you're talking about a modern game, there are thousands of "ifs" going on all the time. The reason some of you might seem so "blessed" with a functional "copy" is merely that you haven't been triggering the conditions that cause these issues. This is also why Obsidian or Bethesda may claim their 300 testers didn't spot these issues, since they may have been unable to reproduce them (but I don't buy that in large because of the number I've spotted myself; I think it all came down to time and pressure).

Also, while the PC version may very well be more stable, I know it also has its fair share of issues. My team lead has a PC copy and I hear him shouting quite often when it crashes on him. Actually, he's had crashes within minutes of it starting. :( Both of us really love Fallout, but can't help but feel aggravated with how this one handles. (oh and on a side note: holy shit does the frame rate look superb on the PC - compared to the 360)

On a side note: what is with all of you calling each other names and using derogatory remarks to describe people who don't see eye-to-eye with you. It is possible to have differences of opinion and still remain civil and impersonal. *shrugs*

I'm sure in a thread this long someone has suggested it already, but do the cache deletion thing. It was an old fix for Oblivion issues and it KIND of works here. I've noticed faster load times and fewer freezes in the hours immediately after doing so. It doesn't take that long for it to start happening again, so the issues are still very much real, but it does mitigate some of the frustration.
 
My personal woes, maybe 30 hours of gameplay resulting in one freeze and one loading hang. Also one weird clipping incident. I feel pretty good about that, seems a lot of people have been having far more significant issues.
 
EDIT: Also, in no way am I giving up on this game. Yes, janky, but I'm already finding it far more rewarding than anything I did in my time with Fallout 3 (maybe 60 hours). Better writing, better gameplay, better all around. And yes, buggy, but that only can improve with time.