My experiences with Skyrim patch 1.04 (UPDATE!)

After two months of waiting for a fix for the PS3 version of Skyrim, I can now finally play the game the way that it was meant to be played, and so can you!

When I saw patch 1.04 start to install on my PS3 on Friday morning (Thursday night for the majority of you), I was trying to quell my excitement.  I was excited for the new possibilities that awaited my character who had been slumbering silently for about two months.  I had seen this screen before with earlier patches and I learned after the last patch that a game can actually become worse post-patch.  The first 40 hours that I experienced in Skyrim were relatively bug-, lag-, and freeze-free.  I was beginning to think that the PS3 version was actually the smarter choice (with all of the 360 issues surrounding textures and installing).  Then Bethesda released their second and third wave of patches which froze my PS3 multiple times.  I jumped online to find that many people were experiencing multiple issues.  Bethesda promised a fix... after the New Year.  So, on December 12th, I shelved my most-anticipated title of two or three years and I started the long wait for a new patch.

That fix finally came on February 10th (again, I'm still sitting in Korea...).  I can tell you immediately that, while there are some quirky issues still to be found, Skyrim patch 1.04 makes the game playable again.  I say playable because regardless of quest glitches, bookshelves, or other (in comparison) small complaints, I was literally unable to play for longer than 15 minutes before a hard-restart was necessary a few months ago.  It was hard for me to justify "Game of the Year" when 95% of a third (some PS3 owners claimed to experience relatively few game-breaking bugs) of the player-base was left wanting a fix only to see new posts about a Creation Kit for a platform that was working just fine.  It was disheartening.  It was not cool.  Now it is over, on with the new Skyrim!

Now, as I stated previously: patch 1.04 seems to have fixed the lagging and freezing issues.  There are, however, some other issues that I experienced in my 20 hours of play this weekend.  I will list these issues below:

1.) Random NPC deaths- Upon loading my save, I found myself in Riverwood staring down at the body of Alvor the blacksmith.  I didn't kill him and my save file picture clearly showed him standing in front of me before I loaded the save.  I went back to the load screen to check the picture and it had changed....  This, I found really creepy.

2.) Proudspire Manor (weapon racks)- I am still unable to access a few of the weapon rack slots and I am completely unable to take any weapon that was placed there prior to the patch.

3.) Proudspire Manor (bookshelves)- These damn bookshelves....  They work now but all of the books that were placed on them prior to the patch have totally disappeared.  Good thing that I kept all of my "important" documents in the safe next to my bed.  Now that I've told you that, it's a good thing that Skyrim is a single-player only experience and that you don't know my combination....

4.) Proudspire Manor (mannequins)- They work now!  No issues.  In case you were worried.

5.) Quest-related bugs-  I went through and tried to trigger the problematic quests such as "Blood on the Ice", "The White Phial", and "Waking Nightmare" and was able to trigger all of them.  Some gamers had informed me that (post-patch) they were still experiencing issues with these quests.  So, it appears as if we are back to the case-by-case issues....  Fantastic!

6.) Shouts-  I am still having issues where R2 will not trigger a shout (and "yes", I waited for the recharge...).  I believe that this issue is exclusive to the PS3, but I'm not sure.  All I know is that I spent several minutes running around in a fight with two dragons and a giant trying to muster the gusto to shout Unrelenting Force (the shout from the trailer and still my favorite).

7.) Sound-  I keep having massive audio loss occasionally.  I don't have audio loss on any other title I play or video I watch, so I'm pointing my finger of accusation squarely on Skyrim.

8.)  Stones of Barenziah-  These damnable little stones still aren't stacking in my inventory....  Which brings me to number nine (and my final grievance):

9.) Quest-related items-  You still cannot remove quest-related items from your inventory.  So, for those of you who have finished enough quests, you'll understand that, while completely naked, my character still has an inventory weight of about 60 lbs.  It's really unnecessary once the quests are completed.

Alright, well, that's my weekend in a nutshell.  After approximately 20 hours of rigorous play, it seems that patch 1.04 just made Skyrim playable to the masses.  What do you think?  Is there anything that you've experienced differently?  How is the patch treating you?  Make sure to let me know in the comments section below!

(UPDATE!)

Of course it's only appropriate that a few hours after posting that patch 1.04 has fixed the freezing, my game should freeze.  It did so during combat and not too long after loading a save.  While I hope that this is an isolated occurrence, if I experience any more freezing issues I'll be sure to update this post.