Skyrim 1.2 Patch is broken

This week's patch for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim was supposed to fix existing bugs, not introduce new ones. Yet that appears to be what's happened for a number of gamers who have upgraded to version 1.2, which was first released for PlayStation 3 on Monday. The patch was set to hit Xbox 360 last night and Steam yesterday afternoon.

Among the issues for some users, as the video above demonstrates, is the fact that dragons now fly backwards, which looks even more ridiculous than it sounds.

Funny as it may be to watch, it's the latest in a series of issues Skyrim players have been faced with, particularly those on PlayStation 3. Many PS3 players were, pre-patch, experiencing significant lag as the size of their save games increased. 1.2 was intended to fix this issue (along with several others), but it is reportedly still a problem.

The Bethesda forums have been flooded with complaints about bugs stemming from the 1.2 patch. Besides the PS3 lag continuing for some and others running into the evasive, backwards-flying dragons, some users are stating the patch causes in-game resistances (which should reduce the amount of damage you take from, say, fire or ice attacks depending on your character's stats) to be ignored. That makes the game much harder to play, although at least players don't have to worry about facing off against aggressive, fire-breathing dragons at the moment.

If you haven't already gotten the patch, you can choose to decline it when prompted to download it on 360 or PS3. You'll be able to continue playing the game as it was before, bugs and all (like the texture issue on 360 that 1.2 was set to fix), but you'll be forced to stay off of PSN or Xbox Live as you need to be playing the most recent version of the game to be connected. Should you have already downloaded 1.2, it can be deleted, but you'll then be forced to play the game as it shipped on the disc; you can't opt to download the 1.1 patch.

We've requested a comment on the latest series of problems from Bethesda, which has yet to officially address them. If you're at the point where the game is simply unplayable for you, maybe we can point you in the direction of a similar type of experience you'll enjoy.

This is all very frustrating to gamers who simply want to play what is, bugs aside, a very good game. The lone bit of positive, Skyrim-related news from the last day is that YouTube channel NormalDifficulty has posted the video below featuring unnecessary censorship of the game's dialogue. As has been proven to be the case on Jimmy Kimmel Live and elsewhere, censoring the occasional word -- no matter the source material -- can make it sound very dirty. Skyrim is no exception.

Hardly surprising I always wait for a few months before playing any of Bethesda's games. Usually they have more bugs than a roach motel.