[SakSquash]

For me, it would have to be Pirates of the Caribbean for xbox. The game would freeze up, corrupt saved game files, and would make it impossible to get through the main mission. Thankfully I was able to get it for PC.

Mafia is a close second.

[pinkgothic]

Wow, looks like I've been lucky then.

The buggiest game I've ever played: The Labyrinth of Time. Okay, so I've played it about a hundred times so I've found every possible glitch, but there's a pretty major one

Spoiler:

in the 1950's diner, where you're supposed to get the silver key from the jukebox after inserting a coin... you don't have to do anything, you can just pick up the silver key regardless of what you do, as often as you want to!

... and then there's a couple of pixel annoyances, like missing ones around keyholes in zoomed in views... that sort of thing. It's weird to read "That's not a lock!" when you're staring right at one...

Second up is Stranger's Wrath, where the cartoon shadows glitch at almost every oppurtunity. Sometimes, bosses will get stuck in a certain position, making it ridiculously easy to slay them, of course; but that's rather rare and, I think, typical for any 3D game.

And that's it. Can't think of anything else right now.

Mortal Kombat Triligy for the PS

[SakSquash]

Originally Posted by SamNMax

Mortal Kombat Triligy for the PS

Why was it buggy?

[Crunchy in milk]

The original release of elder scrolls morrowind (also by Bethesda along with POTC... notice a theme here?) on the Xbox was god awful. If you could forgive the extremely long loading times the game frequently 'dirty disc error'ed you to hell again and again, or the map would go black losing all track of your progress...

I'd have to rate KOTOR 2 as equally bad though, I never got any show stoppers that other people have experienced (such as key NPC's not showing up, imagine no T3-M3. Or getting stuck in cut scenes etc). But its clear from playing it that the game is full of loose ends and buggy features. Half the jedi powers don't work as advertised, some are over handicapped and many are over powered. Levels are filled with placeholder art, often incomplete (dead passages with doors and map notes but no exit). Quests and cutscenes that just stop and/or are not able to be finished. Its a real shame.

[squarejawhero]

Vampire: Bloodlines. Truly terrible on release. Oh, and Hidden and Dangerous 2.

edit - Mafia was buggy?

[Fairygdmther]

Journey to the Center of the Earth was the buggiest I've ever played. I got it when it first came out and had no idea just how many bugs I would find. One the beach, there were some funny things. I was still in the looking around stage when the phone rang - I happened to look back at the screen and Ariane was spinning all by herself! I didn't even have my hand on the mouse! She often spun when you tried to get her to go in a different direction, and sometimes head off on her own in another direction (like back where she had just come from). Also on the beach, a couple of things appeared in my inventory without my clicking on them, just by walking near them.

The game used little feet to tell you where to click for an exit from the area, except sometimes there weren't any little feet, and sometimes there were little feet where she couldn't walk (like across a lab counter). There was a place on the platform where she walked a foot above the platform surface. Also she did this on the bridges.

Spoiler:

There is a place where you use a cart to get back from the city to the jungle. When you first used it, you had to feed a baby dinosaur to get it to pedal this cart for you, but the next time - all you did was click it. It seemed like you didn't move, but actually they omitted the cut scene to show the movement, and only the background changed. It gave the impression that nothing happened, but you HAD moved.

But the worst bug was in the lab. There was a place where Ariane could step that she couldn't step out of, in front of the cabinet. The game didn't freeze up, but since you could do nothing, it might as well have frozen up. You had to exit and go back to a saved game.

All this was really too bad - the game was beautiful in graphics, and a decent story, but they couldn't have done any beta testing, or they didn't take the time/money to fix these errors. There were some other issues as well, but those could have been in any adv game: There was a tile puzzle to open a door, but the clues for the tiles, though vague, weren't given till after you got through the door. There was a terrible sound puzzle that had you traipsing back and forth, but bad puzzle design is a frequent problem in adv games.

Spoiler:

And there was one place where you needed to use an empty shell, a "living" shell, and mastodon hairs to make a vegetable lens. Now how's that for logic!

FGM-Lyn

Originally Posted by temporaryscars

Why was it buggy?

Well, if a round tied, the game would freeze up. If you actually beat Shoa-Kahn, the screen would go black. If you did a fatality, the game would freeze up sometimes. And sometimes the game would just crap out.

[Jazhara7]

The german version of "Betrayal in Antara". At one point, you can't reach the temple of Henna at Ligano (the mountain pass is non existant. You can still see pass and temple on the map, but you can't go through there). In the english version, it is possible to reach it. This temple is needed to complete a quest.

Spoiler:

The quest of Farmer Brunia. You need to get a blessing at the temple of Henna in Ligano, in order to remove the Staff of Nightmare from Farmer Brunias field in Imazi.

Also, you often end up stuck on mountains/houses/lakes/rivers/etc., 'inside' the paper walls that serve as forest/enclosures/etc., reach the end of the screen (this looks pretty weird - there suddenly is no ground there. Luckily this one can be counteracted by retracing your steps, and then trying to move to the next screen), or down a freshly dug grave (especially in Ticoro)and so on. There even is a cheat ['ask a glass of water'], which will teleport the party to the point where they were at the beginning of the chapter, in case any of those things happen.

Also, on your way to Ticoro, there is one point along the river where the game always crashes for me. It is when some Montari (I am not sure if it was Montari. It might be some kind of monster) attack. I always have to make a wide berth around that point.

My game also tends to hang up if I enter the house of the money lender Antonio Octomont in Midova. But I have to enter, in order to complete a quest, which is vital in order to continue in the game. Luckily I can avoid it getting stuck by clicking away the dialogues.

And then there is a programming error near the end of the game. You need something in order to progress, and you need lots of it. Once you get near the town where you need it, you can't go back to the rest of the map. However, the shop in that town does not carry the thing you need. So you are stuck, because you can't finish the game now.

Spoiler:

You need rope to cross crevices under the castle of Lord Sheffileld. Buy it before you enter the town that he lives in!

And the the invisible wall in the wasteland north of Durst. Sometimes I manage to get through it. It is just very annoying, because you can _see_ that there is no wall (on the map, there is mountain at that point), but you can't walk there without effort.

And then there is that guy in Darvi. At some points his text is translated, but he speaks english. At other times he speaks german, but his text is english. (this one was pretty funny).

And there is also the problem with the Wraiths. You need specially treated weapons to fight wraiths, which is fine. But if you try to look at those treated weapons, the game crashes (so it is not a good idea to give your best sword this treatment, unless you are someone who never looks up the status of your weapons.) I always sell the treated swords as soon as I am finished with the chapter where I needed them.

And what would I give to know what a Dervish Disc does...

Still, I love to play this game. It has a great story, and it is the first RPG game (well, the closest thing to RPG, at least) that I ever played.

I don't know, maybe I am just masochistic...


-

[RLacey]

Originally Posted by squarejawhero

Vampire: Bloodlines.

Same here. I do own a copy of Sin, mind you, but I bought it a long time after it got patched. Come to think of it, I also own Ultima Ascension, and that requires unofficial patches to actually get it running properly .

[SakSquash]

Originally Posted by Crunchy in milk

The original release of elder scrolls morrowind (also by Bethesda along with POTC... notice a theme here?) on the Xbox was god awful. If you could forgive the extremely long loading times the game frequently 'dirty disc error'ed you to hell again and again, or the map would go black losing all track of your progress...

I'd have to rate KOTOR 2 as equally bad though, I never got any show stoppers that other people have experienced (such as key NPC's not showing up, imagine no T3-M3. Or getting stuck in cut scenes etc). But its clear from playing it that the game is full of loose ends and buggy features. Half the jedi powers don't work as advertised, some are over handicapped and many are over powered. Levels are filled with placeholder art, often incomplete (dead passages with doors and map notes but no exit). Quests and cutscenes that just stop and/or are not able to be finished. Its a real shame.

Oh man, i'm with ya on Morrowind there buddy. I gave up after putting in 023439348 hours and just got the PC version. Anyway, I hear the GOTY edition isn't as bad.

Originally Posted by squarejawhero

edit - Mafia was buggy?

Very. Do a search of any mafia messageboard and you'll see why. Sometimes it shuts down my computer.

[Fop]

Battlecruiser 3000 AD
Bloodlines wasn't that bad...

[squarejawhero]

Very. Do a search of any mafia messageboard and you'll see why. Sometimes it shuts down my computer.

Do a search of ANY message board of any game and find millions of legitimate complaints! It's part and parcel of PC gaming...

... the only problem I remember, and it was huge, was the racing level. I got past it eventually without the patch though!

edit - case in point above. For me Bloodlines was virtually unplayable, for others it was fine.

Yargh@component manufacturers.

[Watcher of the skies]

Nobody here has played Forever Worlds?

Mike

[Intrepid Homoludens]

Originally Posted by Crunchy in milk

I'd have to rate KOTOR 2 as equally bad though, I never got any show stoppers that other people have experienced (such as key NPC's not showing up, imagine no T3-M3. Or getting stuck in cut scenes etc). But its clear from playing it that the game is full of loose ends and buggy features. Half the jedi powers don't work as advertised, some are over handicapped and many are over powered. Levels are filled with placeholder art, often incomplete (dead passages with doors and map notes but no exit). Quests and cutscenes that just stop and/or are not able to be finished. Its a real shame.

Egads, tell me about!! As is, it's an awesome game, imo......but imagine how it would have been if they had taken the time to work on it some more!!

Here's my second from Duncan's KoTOR II review over at Idle Thumbs:

Beiddie Rafól says:
(Writ0r, Idle Thumbs)

Knights Of The Old Republic II was a rather disjointed experience for me compared to its prequel predecessor, yet was ripe with many powerful moments. I got the sense that Obsidian, at every turn, felt the deadline date breathing down their collective necks, which does very little in allowing them to produce a more thoughtfully and creatively calibrated game experience. What was there, though, was an intricate play of new and fun options for combat and exploration, interconnected narrative threads, dimensional characterizations (and I'm not talking about 3D), and memorable instances I would love to play again and again (and I will). To me the game's strongest feature was its constant challenging of me not in terms of combat or skill, but in questioning my every decision ethically.

This game must be seen as a plea to publishers to please stop fvcking with the devs about having games done in time for the stupid holiday season, and let them instead do what they must do for the best results. A better way of managing needs to be found, because it really does affect the end quality of the games.

Knights Of The Old Republic II proves, at least to me, that games are capable of exploring complex ideas and philosophies while retaining their abilities to give pleasure as games to the player.

[SoccerDude28]

Prince of persia warrior within. At one point in the game, you skip half the game and are thrown at the very end. How's that for a spoiler. Also in a boss fight, the boss falls off a cliff, and she doesn't die, so you can't reach her, and you can progress in the game.

[SakSquash]

Originally Posted by SoccerDude28

Prince of persia warrior within. At one point in the game, you skip half the game and are thrown at the very end. How's that for a spoiler. Also in a boss fight, the boss falls off a cliff, and she doesn't die, so you can't reach her, and you can progress in the game.

What platform is that?

[Crunchy in milk]

Originally Posted by RLacey

I also own Ultima Ascension, and that requires unofficial patches to actually get it running properly .

Oh yeah, I totally avoided this gem at release due to the horror stories. Even though I was really keen to get it. I had a lot less trouble than I expected with it when I finally took the plunge. It seemed to run ok on a more modern system than it was designed for so long as you reboot often. Scads of ram kept it from stalling at certain points too.

It would have been nice to play it flawlessly though as a fond farewell to the Avatar.

[Aj_]

Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines

Crash at the end of the Leopold quest, have to get a patch to fix it. Couldn't finish the game on release without loading a map from the console, and giving yourself back your items.
Lock up at the optional zombie quest.
Lock up in the middle of the hotel sabbat quest.

Graphical errors:
Clipping through walls.
Coat getting caught up and stuck in a strange position.
Picking up a phone, without uh picking up the phone.

Lots of typos, too many to remember, no comical ones, things like not putting a space inbetween words.

Gameplay bugs:
Bosses getting trapped on things.
The bar across the door that wont move unless you load the game a few times.

Isaac seems to get stuck in a loop in chat, or they just didn't bother finishing him.

This game has two official patches, an unofficial patch, and is still buggy. The patches say they make it more likely you can pass through a bug, not resolve them.

I think this would be one of the best games ever if they had another year to spend polishing, and making the combat better. It is painful to play, bouncing from joy to fustration constantly.

[Phantom]

Originally Posted by temporaryscars

Oh man, i'm with ya on Morrowind there buddy. I gave up after putting in 023439348 hours and just got the PC version. Anyway, I hear the GOTY edition isn't as bad.

Then you guys sure as hell never played the prequel, Daggerfall. That game was completely shut down by bugs. It was so bad that a lot of people considered it to be an excellent, yet completely unplayable game.

As for the buggiest/most unfinished game I ever played: Outpost by Sierra. It was hard to make out what exactly was a bug and what was simply not implemented at release. Some features were in the manual, but not in the game. Some features were in the game, but didn't work (menu buttons that just didn't do anything at all, for example). Some features were in the game, but didn't work correctly. It was horrible.