The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is easily one of the most impressive games of the year, from its stunning visuals down to its incredible gameplay. The questing system will keep players engaged for hours upon hours with nary a step into the "main" story line. The world feels alive, fresh, and invigorating.
That all being said, it is a shame that Skyrim was released with so many technical glitches and bugs. Our own Rob Keyes loved the game, but still was highly disappointed with the developers for not squashing all these seemingly obvious bugs before the game was launched a few weeks ago. From the supposed memory leak in the PS3 version of the game (which rendered it impossible to play once the save file grew too large), to the various Xbox 360 issues which included the opening carriage glitch, texture mapping issues (with Bethesda warning players to not install the game) and various gameplay expoits/cheats, Skyrim definitely has had a mixed bag since it was released to much fanfare on November 11.
Bethesda forums were abuzz with PS3 players wondering why the game's frame rate had dropped so low while their save files were growing larger and larger with every save. Bethesda was quick to respond, a testament to their customer-focused approach, and promised a patch November 28. Bethesda PR boss Pete Hines promised the patch will improve performance for “long-term play on PS3,” and true to form, version 2.01 was released today, fixing the annoying stuttering issue as well as the save file issue, making the game much more playable after saves reached the 6 MB threshold.
Take a look at the notes for Skyrim's 1.2 Update below.
UPDATE 1.2 NOTES (all platforms unless specified)
- Improved occasional performance issues resulting from long term play (PlayStation 3)
- Fixed issue where textures would not properly upgrade when installed to drive (Xbox 360)
- Fixed crash on startup when audio is set to sample rate other than 44100Hz (PC)
- Fixed issue where projectiles did not properly fade away
- Fixed occasional issue where a guest would arrive to the player’s wedding dead
- Dragon corpses now clean up properly
- Fixed rare issue where dragons would not attack
- Fixed rare NPC sleeping animation bug
- Fixed rare issue with dead corpses being cleared up prematurely
- Skeleton Key will now work properly if player has no lockpicks in their inventory
- Fixed rare issue with renaming enchanted weapons and armor
- Fixed rare issue with dragons not properly giving souls after death
- ESC button can now be used to exit menus (PC)
- Fixed occasional mouse sensitivity issues (PC)
- General functionality fixes related to remapping buttons and controls (PC)
After browsing the Skyrim forums today, it would appear that just about everyone is satisfied with the results of the patch. I had to shelve the game until the patch was released, considering my own personal Dovahkiin was unable to do simple tasks such as open doors and steal spoons off the Jarl's dinner table. I'm pleased to report that Dovahkiin is back to his dragon-slaying self, though I am trying to avoid stealing the flatware.
Bethesda expects the PC and Xbox 360 Skyrim patches to be ready by November 30th.
Skyrim PS3 users, is your Dovahkiin back to his/her old self? Any further technical issues that have been unreported thus far?
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is now available for the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.
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Source: VG 24/7, Bethesda Blog