Better Business Bureau complaint filed regarding game save corruption bugs
Some background: a couple months ago I experienced the all-too-common game save corruption bug on my PC version of TWD game about 20 hours into it. My save files are still there, but the game does not recognize them, and no amount of fiddling with timestamps / prefs.prop files / restore points has restored them. I have reached out to TTG support in hopes of a bug fix, including this post (http://www.telltalegames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=41801) requesting some sort of game save generation tool for those of us that have been affected by this bug, assuming it couldn't actually be fixed. I received a copy-pasted response on the thread (verified it was copy pasted by searching the forums with the text from his response) that gave no insight into the bug and offered no solution or timeframe for a fix.
Since TTG seems to take no interest in responding seriously to these bugs or fixing them in any way, I too have filed a complaint with the BBB. I suggest anyone who has had these issues, or others that have gone unanswered, file a complaint as well. It took a few minutes, just give some personal information and a couple paragraphs detailing what's up.
https://goldengate.app.bbb.org/complaint/new/277990
Since TTG seems to take no interest in responding seriously to these bugs or fixing them in any way, I too have filed a complaint with the BBB. I suggest anyone who has had these issues, or others that have gone unanswered, file a complaint as well. It took a few minutes, just give some personal information and a couple paragraphs detailing what's up.
https://goldengate.app.bbb.org/complaint/new/277990
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Comments
Kudos to you. I have done the same. I suggest everybody should take a few minutes to file a complaint if they are unsatisfied with TTG's customer support. (I have received one message in about 2 months of trying to contact their support. I don't think my unhappiness is unreasonable.)
I was able to get a Steam refund after two months of haggling!
I also filed BBB reports with Valve (now closed) and TTG. Tell Valve that TTG has literally not returned a single email or a single phone call.
So I'm happy. I get my $25 back and I will never buy a TTG game ever again! And I will talk shit about them to anybody who will listen!
So it IS possible to get a refund for The Walking Dead via Steam?
That makes buying the game from Steam a lot more attractive.
This is some information which a lot of users will find very interesting. Steam can expect a LOT of refund requests.
I'm glad I didn't go for the refund, because when the game finally worked, after 6 months, I enjoyed it very much.
Does anyone know if this (BBB) applies to Canada as well ?
I know Canada has our own version but I'm just wondering.
The game itself is really good - it's annoying you cannot skip cutscenes, but I can see why they would take this away in a game that autosaves choices.
However, it took me trawling on the internet to get it to run (not unusual on PC). I have a really standard setup though - Windows 8, i2500k etc. Apparently I had to download a new file and put it in the TWD directory - which I did and it worked.
Then, I found that at the end of the (really good) episode 1, my choices on the episode did not carry over to 2. Again, more trawling and I had to copy a file from one directory to another. Simple enough and it worked.
I played through episode 2 for an hour. Then went to re-load after auto-saving and no progress had been saved. V. Frustrating - more trawling and now I realise I need to disable Steam cloud syncing. I have done this and it seems to be saving again - I have played through the hour again and am back to where I got to an hour and a half ago.
The thing that baffles me is that usually you just google a problem and see it's been patched. However, here it just seems that no-one cares!
It's a great game, but once I'm through I don't think I'll ever be buying a "telltale game" again - I haven't come across a buggy piece of shit like this since the nineties!
I don't think so but TTG is an American company so I'm sure you can still file a complaint.
http://kotaku.com/5975321/sick-of-game+crashing-walking-dead-bugs-some-fans-want-their-money-back
Their testing systems obviously could run the game smoothly, otherwise it wouldn't be released yet. Then there are people with the exact same system where the first person is able to run the game perfectly and without bugs, and the other person isn't even able to start the game.
I'm sure TTG is working on the problem, but I think they just can't locate the bugs causing the problems. What may be a gamebreaking bug on one computer, may not even be visible on the other. Seems like a impossible job of fixing.
I would be happy if they replied saying "yeah we know about this bug. It sucks and is really hard to reproduce, but we're looking into fixing it somehow." But instead, they reply with copy-paste responses.
Like I said before, if you really want to change something, try to find a media outlet which is interested enough to do a piece about TTG.
You are constantly defending Telltale Games in everyone's comments. If you had any of the same issues we are all having I don't know that you'd be so defensive.
Telltale resolved these issues, created patches, worked on their servers and FOR THE MOST part these problems seem to be gone.
Then the savegame shit started. I was just a pissed off as any person with problems, tried every possible fix mentioned on the support forum. I sucked it up and had to restart the game three times. Now I'm a big fan of the game, so I didn't care so much for replaying episode 1 so many times. Sure, it was annoying, but it's entertaining enough to play through. Maybe with the exception of talking to Katja for the first time; sjees, that took forever...
Anyway, I started to mess around on my own. Reinstalling, making sure I deleted ANY trace of TWD on my computer, even making sure any trace of Telltale was gone, and just started over. It seemed to work for a while, but then the game didn't recognize the downloaded episode anymore... Ah well, back to that shit again...
Finally my entire HD crashed, I formatted the whole thing and after installing and downloading the game and episodes (for the 5th time), everything magically worked. My girlfriend recently started playing a new game and it looks like it's (still...) working.
So yeah, I did have my issues and I was pissed off and I do agree that Telltale has made some huge mistakes, but mostly on the being quiet front. I think there are a couple of moderators on this message board, like MattP, DjNDB and more who are trying to help anyone with problems.
If there are people who aren't a fan of Telltale anymore and will never buy another Telltale game again, I can understand that and good luck to you. But thinking that Telltale is not aware of the problem and isn't doing anything to fix it, is just naive.
The things I still don't understand though are:
- Why hasn't there been a public reaction to the bugs and complaints?;
- Why can't the inhouse developers at Telltale Games find any bugs in the code?;
- How come that the exact same systems (eg. macbooks) have a difference in how the game works or runs, or at all?
I appreciate your detailed reply and apologize for my comment. My brother purchased this game for me because he felt that it would be easy enough for me to play, I have VERY limited use of my right hand after an accident at work and this was one of the few games that I can thoroughly enjoy playing. After playing Episode 1 for the 4th time after reinstalling, disabling the Steam Cloud saves, and deleting all traces, I am sick of it. I want a functioning game. Even if the issue is fixed I will never purchase another game made by this company and I'm sure I'm not the only one.
Please, Telltale Games, fix this issue. I may not purchase another game from you, however, word of mouth is quite powerful, so it is in your best interest to support your consumer.
I completely understand your frustration. Trust me, if I would be in your situation and still hadn't been able to play the game, I'd be trying everything to get a refund.
I tried contacting local consumer protection agencies, but they all said the same thing, that I have to contact Telltale Games and figure it out with them. People living outside the US probably have even less of a chance to do something about this.
You're not a dickhead at all, man! We're all very frustrated with this. After I wrote my last comment to you I decided to send "MattP" a PM just so that I felt like I did everything I could. Well, I came on to see if he replied, no answer, however, he DID reply to a new post that was written regarding the saved game issue asking for specific details! I think we're making progress toward a possible fix!! Cross your fingers!
Could you link to the post you're talking about?
http://www.telltalegames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=43928
He did reply to my PM as well asking me to elaborate, which I did. I'm feeling confident that they are at least aware of the issue. Hopefully they are working on it.