Cruel AI

[Obsyd]

Hi guys!

What do you think about really cruel AIs. We had a long discussion (like 2 years ago?? ) about difficulty with Attila (the other dev) and we are looking into some AI stuff that are in other types of games. Mainly speaking of bosses knowing (a bit of) your play style.
This means the the game will know your favourite moves (spells, abilities), the things that you do not pay attention to, etc.
Not a lot of games use this, but it's an interesting topic!

PS:
Wow! Lots of good stuff on the forums! Hopefully we can get back to you guys soon. Still dealing with a lot of business/kickstarter stuff.

[cromcrom]

Hopefully the discussion is over now ^^
I am not into AI stuff, so I won't be helpfull here.
The delicate balance between "the harder the better" and "frutration".
Overall, I think the harder SOME boss, the better.
Beating really difficult bosses is a part of the enjoyment you can feel in an RPG I think.

[Galaad]

I'm all for it, in fact I prefer when it is the default setting. But its kinda nice if it could be (without being a difficulty slider) maybe a checkbox that can be activated/deactivated. Like "Brutal AI ON Yes/No".

I think a good AI makes a world of difference. Just making the game harder by throwing hordes of mobs would innevitably bring comparison to "action rpg" games.

Rather than do like Bioware did in Dragon Age for example and just do tons and tons of fights, I would suggest to make them "fewer" but make them really count....And thats where a good AI is important, I think it makes you care about the fights a whole lot more.

Its nice having to work up a strategy to defeat a certain foe! But its a fine balance between hard and frustrating .

In fact, this gives me an idea. Maybe this could be tied to certain information gathering skills in game.

Like a good hunter would be able to find out a wild beast's strengths and weakness and be able to counter a harsh AI with the right skills...

A charismatic character might be able to gather good info about the habits and preferences of the rogues in this area and be able to prepare accordingly.

If that isn't too much work then Maybe a bestiary or journal could be kept about the different ennemies in game and what you learn about them like strengths and weaknesses.

[Obsyd]

"bestiary or journal" I love that!

[anarchy]

I think about that the hard games are the good games, it's deamnd more intelligence from the player

An another option what i can be imagine for the game is that, if you finish the game, maybe there's a chance to use the same character(same level, same items) and fight with Nasrus Hordes, but in higher level enemies. This idea came from Diablo 2

"The enemies know your move style" idea is a good point, because if you build this in your game, there's no need for choose game difficulties. I think the enemies maybe take count, how fast the player reaction, how fast he/she take an action, cast a spell, not just what action he/she take in a fight.

[Obsyd]

Hi anarchy!

What do you think about enemies that heal themselves? I know it can be super frustrating when a mob heals itself but we think that if the heal chance is somewhat low it can be an interesting addition! Right now there are skeletons who heal themselves and they are really overpowered.. we will drop the heal chance even further down and add a mechanic that enables the player to interrupt the heal.
Something like this:
The skeletons heal spell will take 2 turns to cast. This way the player has an opportunity to interrupt the cast!

[anarchy]

It's a really hard question.

I prfer the hard gameplay in an rpg, and i think there is no need to switch the difficulties, it more likely if you make it flexible the game.

I think the scorceser(wizzard or witch) player have got this kind of mechanic (a spell is more better for this) what you write.
Of course this spell can be upraged in certain level, but this not just effect for the heal magic, but any kind of magic.
This means that the enemies need a certain time/turn to cast any spell(example: heal magic 2 turns, attack magic 1 turns).

I would really appreciate to fight with a high level necromance/magus This can be really hard, but the feelling when you kill that morherf****r's is really worth it

An another way: what if we doesn't enable this kind of "antimagic", this will be make the game more harder, but to avoid this, the game need to switch the game difficulties(the enemires fighting style) to the player fighting style.

I got an idea just now What if you fight with some enemies, the battle seems like the player will win, then the last(or a few) enemies give up the battle, but they run for their camp or another group, and you follow them and move to their trap

This is just my idea's, if i write some some b****t then i sorry for that

[Galaad]

Absolutely nothing against monsters that can heal themselve, as long as they have a maximum supply of mana or such. So it doesn't drag the battle on for hours on .

I like it when monsters have access to spells and abilities like players do. Adds a lot to the challenge...and its a fairly easy (or I think anyway) way for the creators to balance the game across various difficulty settings. At easy the monsters don't have access to certain(or all) spells/skills....while at normal they have access to some and at hard to a lot of em.

[anarchy]

I think not just the use of spell can be balance the game, but the better AI and tactic also can balance the game.
Like if the enemies is too low(like the enemis 1 level, and the player 20 level), the AI decide that it will doesn't attack the player and start to run, or search some stronger friend.
Or the AI wanted to kill the player, and they sent some low level npc to the player, the player start to chase it, but the npc will led the player to somekind of trap.

I really prefer that the enemies will be use tactic, strategy or trap.

[Galaad]

While it is ideal to have an awesome AI... From what I hear it is pretty difficult to code a very intelligent AI that handles a lot of different tasks.