squid830: FYI the most complete patch-only mod for F:NV is YUP, available on Nexus. It only fixes things which are either bugs or unintended oversights and doesn't add any new content.
+ 1 for that, wasn't aware. I'm likely to take a new dive into NV sooner or later, so much appreciated.
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Ok, I thought I'd skip the bug debate for various reasons, but now that I answered anyway, here's how I see it.
- No, I don't know the actual number of bugs in any bethesda game, or any game of any other maker for that matter. I don't have hard facts, I just have the feel of the thing. The amount of noticed bugs on popular games is always larger than the amount in obscure games anyway, and the amount of complaints for the popular games is likewise greater.
- The raw number of bugs is unimportant. What's important is how critical the bugs are and what's the content/bug ratio, ie, a game with one short quest that can't be passed because of one bug is buggier than a game with 10 quests of which 3 can't be passed, despite the latter game having 3 times a many bugs. Because the first game is 100% bugged and the latter only 30%. Skyrim has a crapload of stuff in it, also a load of bugs, but for the most players the main questline is relatively smooth sailing, some sidequests can go belly up, but it's no game over, unimportant.
- A few games (I love and have played a lot of) and feel were (or still are) far buggier on release than Skyrim or Fallout 3:
Fallout 2, Temple of Elemental Evil, Neverwinter nights 1 and 2, Knights of the Old Republic 2, Medieval 2: Total War.
Of these, Neverwinter Nights 1 received patches for about 10 yrs. but is still very unstable on modern computers, my hat's off for Bioware for the effort anyway. The rest were rather much saved by the fans.
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Oh, another thing. Letting modders sell their mods would have been an excellent thing.
There's a load of NWN and NWN2 mods/new adventures I'd have happily payed for (assuming a free first episode to get the feel of the thing and a low enough price). Say a campaign in 5 parts, $1 per part.
I also played quite a few damn fine campaigns the author then didn't finish because life and other interests got into the way. I bet a potential for 20K in cash would have made finishing the campaign a more of a priority.