Does a broken launch take a game's momentum away?

[GeehWiz]

Does a broken launch take a game's momentum away?

What say you?... I would say it definitely did with me as i'm no longer even excited about this game
as new announcements are pouring in about another great WRPG.
I'm not saying that couldn't end up being the same way though,but still......

 

[cloolvl]

what game

 

[rikj1984]

I don't think the launch was "broken" in any way. Every release has bugs, but the vast majority of people are able to play this game with no big issues. The opinions/problems that you see on message boards are a small minority. Yes, I had problems - couldn't even install the game for 2 days due to a problem with the discs I received but again, I was in the minority. Everyone else I know was playing the game just fine.

CDPR has responded to those bug/issues with 4 patches in 2 weeks and a 5th on the way. I think they'd call the initial 2 weeks of this release a smashing success, and rightfully so.

 

[Rawls]

No.

 

[QATesterIRL]

For MMOs that requires a sustained player base yes, but for games like this where all they care about is the initial sale, no.

Don't underestimate how many white knight apologists there are out there that are perfectly content to bend over and take it from developers. Apparently they have no issues paying to be beta testers for unfinished products.

 

[kalel78]

the xp bug which manifested AFTER release is taking some momentum out of the game IMO..

that being said, i thought the initial release was fine. i havent had many issues beyond that.

 

[jon7882]

For MMOs that requires a sustained player base yes, but for games like this where all they care about is the initial sale, no.

Don't underestimate how many white knight apologists there are out there that are perfectly content to bend over and take it from developers. Apparently they have no issues paying to be beta testers for unfinished products.

No we don't like playing a game where we are essentially Beta testing a finished game. However the only game that I'd classify that was the inital release of the PC gta IV. Or Superman 64. This game is about as far from Broken as you can get.

 

[Tuco]

I've been playing games for roughly 30 years now (I'm 37) and I've never been particularly alarmed/bothered by occasional bugs.

Most of my favorite games of all time had a reputation of being quite buggy, because that's typically the (minor) price of striving for the stars and making ambitious stuff.
Ultima, Ultima Underworld, System Shock, Thief, Gothic, Baldur's Gate, Might and Magic, Fallout 2, Vampire Bloodlines, Jagged Alliance 2, UFO Enemy Unknown, etc, etc, etc.
The thing is: bugs usually get fixed at some point, but the awesome vision behind amazing games will keep them relevant way beyond that.
And even when something minor never gets a proper fix, that's usually something irrelevant in the grand scheme of things like a small mole over an awesome body.

If you think The Witcher 3 in its current state qualifies as "broken", by the way, I have the feeling your experience in this hobby may not be that extensive.

 

[TemperSix]

Since the bug came out I stopped playing since I already lost some XP for few quests in Novigrad.
On (almost) highest difficulty it's quite annoying I must say. I understand that the game might have bugs but lack of precise information about fix arrival is very confusing to me. Besides that I had no problems and the game is superb. However immersion is lost due to unplanned break

 

[wit3comat2]

I don't think the launch was "broken" in any way. Every release has bugs, but the vast majority of people are able to play this game with no big issues. The opinions/problems that you see on message boards are a small minority. Yes, I had problems - couldn't even install the game for 2 days due to a problem with the discs I received but again, I was in the minority. Everyone else I know was playing the game just fine.

Well I am one with big issues as some quests can't be completed, one beeing a main quest and can't finish the game. It's quite frustrating.

Still on the initial question i would say no. I hope they get fixed with 1.05 which hopefully arrives next week and I am looking forward to even the Enhanced Edition.

 

[Tuco]

Since the bug came out I stopped playing since I already lost some XP for few quests in Novigrad.
On (almost) highest difficulty it's quite annoying I must say. I understand that the game might have bugs but lack of precise information about fix arrival is very confusing to me. Besides that I had no problems and the game is superb. However immersion is lost due to unplanned break

I think a lot of people are being a bit mislead by the uproar about this bug.
It's not as prevalent as some are trying to paint it; probably even borderline irrelvant in the gran scheme.

Since the bug was noticed and highlighted I finished my first playthrough at Death March at level 35, feeling most of the times considerably more powerful than I'd have liked, and I started a new campaign (origianlly intended as a way to kill time waiting for a fix) which currently sees me at level 14 once again. And that felt even easier to achieve than in the previous one, because of my increased familiarity with the game.

At no point during the second playthrough (which, I'll stress it, I'm playing from start to finish cohabiting with the bug) I felt starving for exp.
Of course, it annoyed me when the occasional quest didn't pay the expected exp reward (once every... what? twelve-to fifteen quests?), but I'd lie if I claimed I feel crippled by it.

 

[QATesterIRL]

If you think The Witcher 3 in its current state qualifies as "broken", by the way, I have the feeling your experience in this hobby may not be that extensive.

LOL! If you don't think having a main quests blocked due to an infinite loading screens qualifies as "broken" then you're an idiot. Not to mention others having issues with the game corrupting their saved game files and being unable to play at all, or the people dealing with the XP bug... yeah clearly the game is perfectly fine and not broken at all..

 

[thelostdunmer]

XP bug, pyres of novigrad issue, quirky game controls -- for some.

This is another huge bug itself when not everybody can reproduce them.

 

[Tuco]

LOL! If you don't think having a main quests blocked due to an infinite loading screens qualifies as "broken" then you're an idiot. Not to mention others having issues with the game corrupting their saved game files and being unable to play at all, or the people dealing with the XP bug... yeah clearly the game is perfectly fine and not broken at all..

Try to spare namecalling for your own parents, kid, because sure as hell I never conceded you this degree of confidence.

And I didn't mention "infinite loading" or "corrupted saves" because I never ever crossed anything even remotely similar.

 

[TemperSix]

At no point during the second playthrough (which, I'll stress it, I'm playing from start to finish cohabiting with the bug) I felt starving for exp.
Of course, it annoyed me when the occasional quest didn't pay the expected exp reward (once every... what? twelve-to fifteen quests?), but I'd lie if I claimed I feel crippled by it.

I wouldn't stop playing if that was the case. But if I did not get any XP for few consecutive quests (not over-leveled of course) then hey! I'm worried!
Get Junior, Treasure for Dikstra, Triss related and/or few more. That's a bit too much for me taste. Most disturbing is lack of information and release date. Still this is a fully paid product therefore clear information would help a lot and be fair for the customer.

 

[soot00]

as new announcements are pouring in about another great WRPG.
......

Fallout 4? One is medieval times setting and another post apocalyptic. I am definitely going to get Fallout 4 but that's another 6 months away...so in the meantime still enjoying my 1st playthru of W3

What's your definition of broken launch? I been running trouble free since the 1st day...

 

[GeehWiz]

Fallout 4? One is medieval times setting and another post apocalyptic. I am definitely going to get Fallout 4 but that's another 6 months away...so in the meantime still enjoying my 1st playthru of W3

What's your definition of broken launch? I been running trouble free since the 1st day...

What's your definition of trouble free?,judging by the sheer volume of bug reports i find that hard to believe.

 

[kiadaw]

I got hard freeze 5 times so far (60+hours) at ever random events, from just riding Roch in Norvigard, to picking up loot. Hard freeze as in the computer completely freeze, alt.tab, crtl alt del not work & I have to hard reset (hold down power button for 6 sec) the PC. I do not remember the last time this happen to a game or any program on PC.

Thankfully I have SSD, & boot fast. Otherwise I be more pissed off. WHile there is not that much bugs, some of the bugs are pretty bad.

I used to defense CDPR for its technical issues , but after 5 freezes, I find it hard to defense.

I haven't experience XP bugs, but this is definely a major bug, & the recently resolved Xbox unplayable bug.

I like the game, I really do, but quite a bit of stuff need fixing, & you cannot denied that.

If I am not a big Witcher fan, & after hearing all the issues, I will most certainly hold off buying the game until a few months down the road, when most issues are fixed.

 

[GeehWiz]

LOL! If you don't think having a main quests blocked due to an infinite loading screens qualifies as "broken" then you're an idiot. Not to mention others having issues with the game corrupting their saved game files and being unable to play at all, or the people dealing with the XP bug... yeah clearly the game is perfectly fine and not broken at all..

" If you don't think having a main quests blocked due to an infinite loading screens qualifies as "broken"

That part i agree with.

 

[Khronikos]

Not if you honestly play ANY of these huge RPG's. I am so sorry but they are all basically broken on release in some way. Many of them almost unplayable like Skyrim. Be thankful this is not Skyrim levels of failure where they just expect the community to develop the rest of the game lol.

That being said it is very disappointing that their game balance is so poor again. Whoever is doing that job needs to step it up or leave IMO. They are making a mockery of proper game balance.