I haven't played Skryim since December, but I re-installed it because of Dawnguard, and also just because I'd like to start playing again. Seems there's a new bug since I last played: NPC voices "cutting out" in the middle of their dialogue. I noticed it right from the new game intro. It's something like this: "I used to be ... like you, but then ... to the knee." It seems to happen mostly when NPCs are behind the character rather than directly in front.

I ran some Google/forum searches, and it seems many people are experiencing this issue. The only official response I've seen (from Gstaff) was to update audio drivers, but it's not audio drivers, because many complainants' drivers are fully up to date. Also, this bug apparently appeared in version 1.4, and wasn't present before then.

I've tried several things including installing the Unofficial Skyrim Patch and tweaking the sound/mixer settings and enhancements, but nothing has worked. I haven't found any solutions elsewhere on the Internet, either; no one seems to know.

As an aside, I'm pretty angry that major bugs in Skyrim go unfixed for months at a time on PC. This NPC voice problem has been unsolved since February, from what I've been reading. Bugfix patches from Bethesda are also very few and far between, if Steam's Skyrim update news is any indication.

That's not the only audio issue that has been ignored.

I know. There's also the "low volume" problem that requires some people to turn on volume equalization in the Win 7 control panel. Skyrim is the only program with sound on my entire computer that requires me to do that in order to hear properly.

These are basic, fundamental, sometimes game-ruining issues that aren't being addressed. The only issues Bethesda made a priority were when they broke dragons so that they flew backwards, and when they broke elemental resistances so that they didn't function at all. Other than that, these major bugs often persist for months at a time.

I was willing to be patient with the bug-fixing, knowing that Bethesda games are complex and often buggy, but it's been nine months now; there have only been a couple of bugfix patches, and there are still major issues. This causes me to suspect that Bethesda only cares about the console versions of the game (further reinforced by the awkward console-centric UI that they've never tried to enhance), and not to be dramatic, but I may not buy another Bethesda game after this. Their negligence of the PC version has been shamefully unprofessional, and their tech support (except when players can help each other with issues) is nonexistent.

I'm of the opinion that if they can't do a port right, they should not do it at all or at least delay it until it works well.