Ok well I feel dirty after typing that topic title

Anyway I was always taught that if you're willing to criticise when somebody does something wrong then, you should be willing to acknowledge when they do something right.

PS: Before you read any further I am NOT in any way defending Bethesda's treatment of PS3 users....But here is my Skyrim/PS3 experience thus far.

I originally purchased Skyrim for my PS3 (Phat 80gb) on release day, And right from the get-go I suffered horrible drops in framerate, Texture pop-in, Hard freezes etc that only got worse with every patch. (PS: Bethesda, Trying to make humour about the failures of your patches did not help your cause......."Amazing backwards flying dragons" was at best, Insulting).

Anyway by the time I installed patch 1.4 my game was totally unplayable, Grinding to a slideshow within mere minutes of loading a save, And then my PS3 suffered the YLOD (I won't blame Bethesda for this as it had been acting up since before I purchased Skyrim).

I eventually purchased a new PS3 (Slim 120gb) and fitted a 320gb HDD and started Skyrim again (Patch 1.5 was out at this time) and i played 60+ hours without any major issues.

NOW patch 1.7... I installed it and within the first hour I had 4 system lockups, I also had severe texture pop-in and entire areas of land mass (mountain ranges, forests etc) just suddenly appearing on my screen as I traversed the map.

I decided (after my initial rage had subsided) to give it another go, and this is what I experienced.

Texture pop-in gradually got less noticable the longer I played (In fact the only time it really happens for me now is if I sprint up to an object, Mostly doors then the texture will be blurred and approx 1/2 a second later it will display the higher resolution texture).

General FPS although much lower than what I would consider an acceptable rate is not to bad, It's playable and fairly smooth with little to no signs of input lag, And although it does suffer from occasional and very nasty drops in FPS it generally recovers pretty quickly.

System lock ups, I haven't had any since the 4 in my initial hour with patch 1.7.

I have now put 30+ hours into patch 1.7 bringing my total playtime to just over 100 hours and (for me) the game is running very well.

The only real gripes I have is the loading times (30 seconds for new areas to load on a machine with a HDD is to long IMO), The amount of time it takes for the save game option to become available (again 30 seconds), And the fact that most all of the NPC's dialogue has been reset back to release day defaults.

I'm no fool and certainly realise based on past experience with Bethesda's games and the PS3 that my joy could very well be short lived and I'll probably be back here in a few days complaining again, But for now..........

Oh as for draw distance, Before installing patch 1.7 I saved my game outside Whiterun in a position where I could use landmarks as a measure of draw distance (not exactly scientific I know) but after installing patch 1.7 I can say with absolute certainty that the draw distance in MY game on MY PS3 has not been reduced. (although i realise that Skyrim contains a scaler that cuts back on graphics when the system is under strain........So I fully expect my grass to dissapear completely within the next few hours).

Glad the game is working for you and good luck with it in the future.

Thanks, But not 3 minutes after starting this thread (paused my game to type it) my PS3 locked up lol

^ Sorry but I may have jinxed it.
Edit: And virus 1.7 strikes agian.

I was going to report a very similar experience but I don't want to jinx it. I was going to report that each of my character saves had massive stutter and then slowly improved. By improved I mean, settled to a consistent framerate. But I don't want to jinx it. And finally, I too was going to report that I had several complete lockups in the days after the patch, but that I haven't had any... Wait, I really don't want to jinx it.

In all seriousness, is it possible that the patch needs to sort of "seat itself" before it can be called a success or failure?

Let my original post serve as a warning to anybody who 'dares to believe'.

Since that post I have had 2 system lock-ups, the second of wich has rendered my save files un-loadable.

I have 3 hard saves and 3 auto-saves and not one of them will load, the HDD light doesn't even flicker, They're not even trying to load!!!! (Wait's for Gstaff to suggest starting a new game and calling it a fix).

Have I just loast a 100+ hour character? Seriously?.

I revoke anything and everything in my original post that could be perceived as praise.

I'll be trading my copy of Skyrim in against a pre-order for Assassins Creed 3 (A game that I know will work fine).

I just hope that I'm still around the day you go out of business.

I'll pay your studio a visit and rub my bare ass on Todd Howards office window (I think that would suitably express how much disdain I have for your company).

I hope all of your future endeavours fail miserably..(Actually endeavour isn't a word that should be used where you are concerned) Unless 'We here at Bethesda endeavour to cripple thy Sony device' is acceptable?.

Skyrim was exciting at release but the landscape is to depressing and 1.7 update seems to have messed up my game to the point where I cant even start a new game because it freezes on the carriage scene

Virus 1.07 strikes again....and takes another stalwart adventurer down

And the prophices fortold there is but one it fears and in its tounge it is know as ソニー - SONY.

I was almost expecting this when I clicked the first post. Sorry dude. Trading up for something that works is a great plan.