Not sure if this is a "bug" or not, but several times when I'm using Arcade, he would stop in random places and I would not notice that until I'm out of the area. When I go back, he just runs up to me, and I didn't order him to wait. He was not stuck on or in an object either, he was right in the open.

Why is this happening? It's pissing me off because he keeps stopping in random places and leaves me alone in a fight sometimes with me not noticing he's gone. He doesn't move an inch when I'm out of the area. He just stays there until I go up to him and he runs to me. Happened when I fast traveled to McCarran, and when I entered the Terminal. Also happened at the Lucky 38 (ED-E followed me in, so it's not a matter of companions are not allowed in the Lucky 38) and outside several other random buildings.

If you're on pc and using any mods, one or more of them could be affecting/confusing his follow script. If you're on xbox/ps3, it's likely a glitch. Companions occasionally refuse to go through certain "doors" for some reason, for some people, for example.

Nope, on 360.

This only happens to Arcade though. He doesn't follow me into random areas. He follows me when I go back to him, and I have no problem with him following me into the area he stayed out of, until I come to another area where he does the same thing...

Someone on a different forum I saw had the exact same thing happen at McCarran and several other areas, and he was on 360 also. Possible bug/glitch? I checked Arcade's wiki page and it's not listed under the bugs section.

I know since the last patch, in my game at least, Arcade doesn't like to enter McCarran on the first trip or two, and there's a door in Freeside (that leads to another outdoor area) that all companions refuse to go through even when they're literally right behind me (in my face).

But this mostly sounds like you're just outpacing Arcade for some reason. If it takes you a long time to notice he's not following you, you can't be sure if he was stuck but managed to free himself before you noticed...and yet, because you were still moving away while he was briefly stuck, you became outside his 'range' and thus he stands still. Companions have a certain "Follow" range and if, for whatever reasons, they fall behind/outside of that, it can confuse them. Or, alternatively, if they're in the middle of an action and you do something like Fast Travel, it can confuse them upon materializing.

The companion page of the wiki mentions this sort of problem:

I have noticed that since the patch, Arcade seems to lose his mind and wants to stare at plants.

What you are seeing is OK as he does wake up and realize that you are no longer there and comes and finds you. He is the only follower that seems to do this.

Maybe Arcade needs a couple semi-colons in his script, too. <_<

I've been noticing more and more little things that seem different about companions since the patch, at least for me. Small things, but over time they become noticeable. I'm not sure I like it, either.

I don't like the Forest Gump pose they go into when just standing there. Looking slightly down with their heads tilted. Also, I have noticed that combat does not seem to be as good with them. They do say things less often, but I would almost prefer them to be the way they were pre-patch.

I don't understand though how he gets stuck in the middle of the road, with nothing to get caught on. I merely fast traveled to McCarran, and went straight inside. If he were to get caught on something it had to be some sort of invisible barrier between me and the gate, since it seems impossible to get stuck if there's no physical wall between me and the gate. I think he just went into wait for no apparent reason when I was right there and didn't follow me into the building. I was already halfway across the airfield before I noticed he wasn't following. I waited for 5 minutes and he didn't move an inch on the world map. Just stayed there until I went to him. Usually companions follow me into buildings, and I wasn't that far away before he stopped following me.

I don't think it's the AI range, since as soon as I fast traveled, he apparently went into wait while he was a few feet away from me, unless the range is truly that short in which that it would be impossible to get companions to follow you at all...

I believe when I went into the terminal after he followed me, I was going to get a "like" point from talking to Dr. Hildern, but he just stopped at the door of the Terminal and only came running after I started walking towards him and he then initiated the direct conversation. I don't understand though how he heard everything that happened when he was at the door on the far side of the Terminal, but that doesn't matter.

Well, that (might) fall under the concept that for some reason, Arcade is being glitchy when it comes to fast traveling if he's still in 'running' mode the instant you fast travel. That is, is he still doing it if you stop and wait for him to catch up and stand still before fast traveling?

But I don't really know...from the sound of it, he's become weird for some people. I haven't had any problems with him in this regard, so don't have any 1st hand experience with it. I occasionally get the companions dashing away from you like crazy marathon runners & coming back again, & the aforementioned few door spots, but that's about it.

I don't know. I don't pay attention when I fast Travel, but I almost never just stop in the middle of a run/dash/sprint/whatever. Does that happen with all companions?

Although, this happened before at the Lucky 38... He was standing in the middle of the street (?) when I came back outside. He didn't get caught on anything but came running when I went out. ED-E followed me in fine so it's not a matter of companions aren't allowed to go into the Lucky 38.

This happened a few times in other places like Primm even, and once at the 188 Trading Post when I was passing through on the way to Repconn HQ for the like point.

It's possibly a Navmesh issue. Navmesh is what tells companions (or any NPCs really) where they can walk and where they can't (ex. a road vs a large rock pile) on the terrain of the gameworld and I've noticed over the course of long play sessions and/or long games with many hours logged playing that they can glitch in seemingly open ground. There's no real fix for it, they usually get passed the glitched section of Navmesh in jerky fashion and back onto "solid" Navmesh ground and return to following you normally.

Navmesh? Never heard of it. But if that's really the case, why does it only happen with Arcade...?

http://geck.gamesas.com/index.php/Category:NavMesh

You've never noticed this happen with any other companion? Not sure then, I've seen all of them at one point or another exhibit this behavior including ED-E.

Which is funny from a story PoV, since he FLIES. lol

Same thing happened to me when j first got him from recruited him. After awhile he stopped doing it. I'm on 360 btw.

Yeah, he flies, but I can hit him with the Ranger Takedown, which if viewed from third person is a low (spin?) kick that knocks someone off their feet, yet it somehow hit ED-E 10 feet above where it would hit and he fell to the ground. REALLY?