Fable II and LittleBigPlanet: broken games or broken dreams?
Two highly anticipated games have launched within the past week and both games face serious issues. Fable II (Xbox 360) shipped with game-breaking glitches and LittleBigPlanet (PS3) faces server woes. Are developers getting lazy by releasing now and patching later? Unfortunately, the ones that suffer are the consumers who, instead of playing the games are spending time on the forums, desperately looking for answers.
Fans rejoiced when Fable II launched recently, however those cries of joy turned to shouts of anger once they discovered a multitude of glitches in the game. There is even an ongoing bugs list in the official Lionhead forum. The most common problems are freezing, graphical issues, quests that cannot be completed and game economy issues (purchasing etc…).
However, these bugs pale in comparison to two of the game-breaking glitches. It has been discovered that while talking to a monk during the Abbot quest, if you skip any part of the conversation you cannot progress any further in the game. This is a huge glitch as it means you are stuck at that part of the game.
The other major glitch has something to do with the co-op. There is a glitch that will eradicate your level, gold and spells. Basically, this glitch puts you back to zero. I experienced freezing in Fable II, which caused me to lose two hours of gameplay. Should fans be angry about these glitches or should fanboys give the developers a little worship pat and praise them on how well they kept the game breaking glitches down to only two?
On the PS3 front, LittleBigPlanet faced some serious issues with the servers. The servers practically imploded upon release of the game. Media Molecule handed out what seemed like a gazillion beta codes before launch. The thing that still mystifies me is how the online beta remained flawless with what seemed like an incredible amount of people, yet LittleBigPlanet’s servers cracked under the pressure of the real deal. This begs me to ask what was the beta for then?
It is a bit disappointing that despite holding a beta for a few weeks, it did not help prevent the servers from going nuclear. For many, the online is where most of the attraction to LittleBigPlanet is. Without the online, there is no online co-op and no custom levels, rendering half the game useless.
This raises an interesting question. Are developers doing everything in their power to ensure that the consumers get the best game possible, or are we getting sloppy development so that the games can come out on time. What would you prefer – a delayed bug free game, or a glitchy game that was released on time?
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23 Responses to “Fable II and LittleBigPlanet: broken games or broken dreams?”
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October 29th, 2008
I would rather a delayed game with no bugs. I remember the days of gaming when they came on 3.5 inch discs, and once installed they just worked. No patching required. Sigh I miss those days. No with the internet it’s easier to release a buggy game and try and patch it later. I’m all for patching that enhances or evens up a multiplayer game, but not because the developer was lazy or rush due to an overpower publisher.
October 29th, 2008
I love LittleBigPlanet no problem for me. Fable II is not finish just rush.
October 29th, 2008
“online beta remained flawless with what seemed like an incredible amount of people”
!!!!
im not sure if we’re on the same planet here but the beta, for me, was so laggy it was pretty much unplayable!!!
Do N.A and EU have different servers or something?
That was a major let down for me in the beta, when i tried to co-op on the beta it was so laggy that it just wasn’t worth playing co-op.
October 29th, 2008
Yeah. I’m experiencing problems with LBP. What I don’t like, is even if you aren’t playing the game online the servers drag down the game within the world map and loading screens. I played this morning and stayed signed off and it was perfect. Kind of strange that they did not anticipate this game to be huge. As far as I’m concerned it like SOCOM’s issues. Its all on their end and shouldn’t really rely on a patch, Unlike Fable 2…..
October 29th, 2008
Also i’m pissed that media molecule decided to launch N.A version before EU version…. even though it was made here!!
October 29th, 2008
Sony’s networks may be crap.
I plan to wait to see if Home works. The crapy network may be what’s holding up home.
I hope not because I was looking forward to getting a PS3 and playing online.
October 29th, 2008
@Rhino
I agree. Especially when it come to game that can be played as SP games.
SOCOM and Warhawk aside, if a game has a SP element they need to have that fixed as to not make you need online to retrieve the patch.
October 29th, 2008
Getting LBP today hopefully. And honestly, there are so many fun things in the game offline so I’ll enjoy that while they fix the servers. It gives us time to prep ourselves and while others are still working on their levels. There will always be problems, nothing is perfect. Fable II has its own issues as well.
October 29th, 2008
It is a little disappointing that the game didn’t launch 100% ready to go. You are right there is a ton to do in the story and create modes. I was able to play with friends online last night. There were a few lags, but it wasn’t all that bad.
If you were not in the beta, you will be amazed once the community launches. Some of the user generated levels are every bit as good as the story. I’m going to try to start working on a level this week.
October 29th, 2008
I’m also in agreeance. Developers are getting lazy. What if there was no online to fix the issue then what would they do. Online has developed this attitude with developers that things can be fixed later. It’s a good thing I’m not one of those who rushed to buy it because I was so getting fable and I still will but I’m going to wait. Gears of war 2 better no have issues but I will know early as I’m getting the game before release date. It’s the one game I cannot wait for.
October 29th, 2008
Were going to have a huge system link party I can’t wait.
October 29th, 2008
The 360 probably suffers the worst from this since they sell a version of the console without an HDD. Although it could be looked at that people who bought the arcade did it because they had no plans to go online. This again doesn’t help people who buy SP games that require a download patch to fix.
October 29th, 2008
This may be true but I believe you can go online with a 512 mb memory card for the 360 Arcade.
October 29th, 2008
You’re right it can (most of meant the core), but if the patch is 50MB….how many times can developers be doing things like this to the customer?
All things said… they need to better test and make sure there are no issues, and then release the game. For once I think we’re all in agreement.
October 29th, 2008
True
October 29th, 2008
Well it’s a good thing Fable 2 is a Microsoft game because you could probably call them and they will replace it when the bugs get fixed but if it was a 3rd party game it might not be so easy.
October 29th, 2008
The sad thing is, I think both of these games were probably rushed to make it out this year, both manage to be good games anyway, and both are games people who own the respective consoles should experience.
But when people buy games like this, it sends the message to the developers that its just fine to rush a game and fix it later.
Thank goodness Nintendo didn’t do this with Brawl, which could have just as easily been rushed to make it for the holiday season last year.
Quality is too important. Developers should take their time. Even with the internet, a bad game is bad forever. Some people can’t get the update to fix the problems, and even those that can bough a bad game.
Games have always had problems, but the Xbox, 360, and PS3 seem to have a higher number of games with problems than any console before (or now, with the Wii). This certainly has something to do with the mentality that with a console that can get on the internet and has a hard drive, its ok to rush a game and fix it later.
Certainly, it is NOT ok, and some games its easy to avoid buying and telling the developer it is. In this case, its much harder.
October 30th, 2008
LBP worked perfectly fine last night. Online and Offline.
The shadow of the colossus level was pretty cool.
October 30th, 2008
Actually I forgot that MS will actually send you the update on disk if you don’t have internet or you can burn the update to disk and install it yourself.
October 30th, 2008
All you have to do is contact them via email…
In all seriousness. That at least is pretty helpful. It beats having to lug your console to someone else’s house to get an update.
October 30th, 2008
Seems rather unfair to compare LBP to Fable II in this regard. LBP is having server issues. That doesn’t make it a “broken game.” Last winter, XBL went down for a full week, but that didn’t suddenly make Halo 3 or Gears or COD4 “broken” did it?
-Arvis
October 31st, 2008
Yeah but Chris, one of LBP’s major strengths is the online component. If the servers are down, that’s a major part of the game that’s down.
October 31st, 2008
Creep,
Yes, but it’s still not broken. You can say the same thing about Halo 3 and Call of Duty. Take away the online, and nobody is playing.
At least with LBP you not only have the offline story, but can still create your own levels offline and wait for the servers to be up to publish them.
-Arvis, you bastard