The short version is that this game is not fit for purpose.

The long version is that this game is not fit for purpose because, for many, it is unplayable. I don't even feel I need to explain why it is. Obsidian senior designer, Chris Avellone, recently spoke to http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=271206 and said that New Vegas has bugs in it because it's big. Which I don't buy; I think New Vegas is mired in bugs because a.) it wasn't finished before the release deadline, b.) they're incompetent or c.) a little from column a, a little from column b. But I digress.

Anyway, I have New Vegas on PC and recently came across my first game breaking glitch (you go back into the Gomorrah after declining to hand over your weapons and your HUD disappears and you can't move) which has left a very sour taste in the mouth. I've also been knee deep in performance issues. When ever I went on the Strip or into a place like the Atomic Wrangler, the frame rate was brought down to it's knees which I rectified by acquiring a custom .dll fix which LIES to the game about what graphics card I run (IMAGINE THAT!), the gist is that I run a nVidia 9800GTX and this .dll file fools the game into thinking I run a 7900. I can apparently get around the Gomorrah issue with a console command which doesn't fix it properly, just does a bodge job to patch over the crack but invalidates any Steam achievements I may get in the future (yes, it's petty to get annoyed about missing out on achievements but if it's all the same, I shouldn't have to).

As a business model it's nothing short of shoddy. Releasing a game which is clearly still in it's larval state for full retail price and expecting the paying customer to do the beta testing for them just isn't cricket. If this was any other franchise, this game would fail miserable but because it's Fallout, it'll sell by the lorry load regardless.

I've got off pretty lightly, all things considered, but I'm positive there are people out there who have had a much more torrid time than I have and well, since Bethesda have yet to reply to an email I sent in a similar vein, I'd like to know how other people feel.

Perhaps I'm over reacting but I think I've got every right to be cheesed off by handing over ￡30 on Steam for a supposedly AAA title with all the polish of a dry turd. As a result, I won't be buying any possible, future DLC for New Vegas or any other Bethesda/Obsidian game.

So er, thoughts?

No Petition Threads

If you have a complaint about the game, join one of the existing threads that we already have for that.