Comments 1,244

Re: Huge 11GB Mass Effect Legendary Edition Patch 1.02 Available to Download Now

ThroughTheIris56

@The_New_Butler There are many other examples of modern games being released in appalling states. AC Unity and Control come to mind for games that had major technical issues at launch. And the issue is, once games no longer have access to these patches, that is how they will remain. I had the one Days Gone creator in mind when writing, but I would be willing to bet there are other game devs who share their sentiments. And I honestly think the industry would be better if more people were tempted to pay full price at launch. However, that's not as likely to happen if people are given reason to wait for games to be fully patched.

Re: Huge 11GB Mass Effect Legendary Edition Patch 1.02 Available to Download Now

ThroughTheIris56

@WallyWest Those bugs are a massive pain. And just think, lots of games released nowadays probably have those bugs only mitigated by a day one patch. Once we can't download the patches, all those games will be broken.

This is the thing, you say "welcome to modern gaming where you best enjoy the games while they last" as if we should just accept it just because it's the normal, and game preservation doesn't matter. It's important that these things don't become normalised, because this is what allows publishers to get away with this stuff.

Re: Huge 11GB Mass Effect Legendary Edition Patch 1.02 Available to Download Now

ThroughTheIris56

@The_New_Butler You're not wrong that a large playerbase is more likely to find bugs than a small dev team. However, it is not the job of a paying customer to find these bugs. If devs need extra manpower, they have the option of betas, or hiring extra testers.

There are business decisions behind releasing broken games, but it's not always going to be the most profitable. Like I said earlier, fixing bugs before or after launch takes resources either way, so companies aren't saving anything by using patches as means. Then the reputation of a company can be massively at stake. The best recent example is CDProjekt Red. Even a company as popular as them, has shattered prestige that they spent years of releasing quality games building. Sure Cyberpunk may get patched and become an excellent game. However, the damage is done and people are less likely to trust said company. The hype and enthusiasm for the game will have gone down, and people on the fence about getting the game will probably just forget about it. And mainly, publishers like to complain about how gamers aren't supporting the industry by buying games for full price at launch, but why would gamers buy a game at launch if it's going to be riddled with bugs? Why would they pay more for a less functional product, instead of paying less for a fully working product? Publishers demands don't make any sense.

Re: Huge 11GB Mass Effect Legendary Edition Patch 1.02 Available to Download Now

ThroughTheIris56

@The_New_Butler I didn't say it was the norm to release games completely bug free. I said it was the norm to release games in a decent state, so that they could be played without too many bugs ruining the enjoyment. For example, a PS2 game (say Shadow of the Colossus), wouldn't get any patches after going gold and being shipped. It would not be bug free, but it would be playable and 15 years after it can be played as normal without needed to download anything. You did occasionally get games that nowadays could be saved with patches, but back then they flopped hard.

Sure games are more complicated nowadays, and I get that more time is being used for bug finding. But there's no real reason to do so by patches. These patches still eat away into the developer's time and resources post launch, so surely that same work might as well just be done before launch. The only real reason they are needed is because publishers want the money and to release games ASAP, with a "release now, fix later" mentality. If a game can become fully functional through patches, there's no reason it can't be made fully functional before going gold.

Re: Huge 11GB Mass Effect Legendary Edition Patch 1.02 Available to Download Now

ThroughTheIris56

@AdamNovice Granted there will be bugs during any development process, but there should be considerably less in a game that is being remade, since the main changes are just graphical. I don't mind so much that the patches exist, but it's a massive problem for the future if the game cannot function without these patches. It's not impossible to ship games in a working state, it was the industry norm back in the day.