Spring RTS Engine

Exactly - a competent developer knows when to call a feature freeze and just finish what they've got rather than keep developing alpha code right up to a week before release.

I'd say that the STALKER (+sequels) team hates us all too, but the difference between them and Obsidian is, as some of you have pointed out, Obsidian should bloody well know how to develop a game by now.

We're talking about a line of work where 5 years of experience practically makes you one of the elite, and these guys have been at it since the original Fallout!

Every developer screws up from time to time in one way or another, but only Obsidian has managed to go 3 for 3 completely botching AAA titles.

The STALKER games were also very original and their developer is small-time, they get "indie forgiveness".

They're also getting better.

More of a case of 'not learning from their mistakes' than anything else imo.

And their games generally sell pretty well, so the publishers couldn't be arsed to give a shit about bugfixing and polishing, since their sales aren't very adversely affected by releases that are bugged to hell.