Obnoxious enemy "difficulty" settings

[StaceyPowers]

As a subset to our discussion about difficulty settings, @Executor Akamia got me thinking about qualities which irritate me in enemy NPCs from a "difficulty" standpoint. 

Here are two things which drive me crazy when I select a "harder" difficulty setting:

1- It’s annoying when the only thing and makes an enemy more difficult is the fact that it has simply turned into a bullet sponge. This doesn't actually add any nuance to the game. It makes it harder, but it doesn't make it more interesting.

2-I like an increase in enemy intelligence, but I get equally irritated when the intelligence seems outright unnatural. A good example is the bots in UT 2004. On a harder difficulty setting (and in general), they are unnaturally bright. You can climb to an incredibly remote and unexpected sniper nest, and they will instantly pinpoint your position and shoot you down, even though most real players would never think to look for you in such a spot in the first place. I think the bots in Quake III behave much more naturally. Their intelligence increases at higher difficulties, but they do not become seemingly godlike in their perception.

What are your pet peeves when it comes to the impact of difficulty settings (and programming in general) on enemy NPCs?

@UleTheVee @DylanC @killamch89 @kingpotato @jonbones @The Blackangel @LadyDay

[kingpotato]

Thats one thing that disappointed me in Skyrim, the first time I set the difficulty to master I was expecting draugrs that could block attacks and respond to my actions but the only difference is that my attacks made less damage and theirs more.

[killamch89]

I agree with both your points but I would also like to add the AI gaining some kind of instinctive ability to dodge attacks they can't see or perceive and then they spot you from 10 million miles away *cough*Skyrim*cough*

[Bravosi]

I hate when games increase difficulty by increasing their hp & dmg, instead of smart AI.

[The Blackangel]

Games that do that drive me nuts. I haven't played Soul Caliber in probably more than 10 years for that very reason. If you play the quest part of the game, and don't set it as easy, then after a few victories, you start fights where you begin the fight with half life or less and an invisible enemy where all you can see is a small part of their weapon.

Then you have games that give you no heads up that it's even happening. Like Ghouls 'N Ghosts. It's already hard enough with a one hit kill and no continues, but the further you get in the game, the weaker you get, while the stronger your enemies get. A little fucking notice please, guys?

If you want to make a game like that, awesome. Go for it. I like a challenge too. But if you make a game that you have no intention of anyone ever beating, then you're an asshole.

[UleTheVee]

1 hour ago, The Blackangel said:

Games that do that drive me nuts. I haven't played Soul Caliber in probably more than 10 years for that very reason. If you play the quest part of the game, and don't set it as easy, then after a few victories, you start fights where you begin the fight with half life or less and an invisible enemy where all you can see is a small part of their weapon.

Then you have games that give you no heads up that it's even happening. Like Ghouls 'N Ghosts. It's already hard enough with a one hit kill and no continues, but the further you get in the game, the weaker you get, while the stronger your enemies get. A little fucking notice please, guys?

If you want to make a game like that, awesome. Go for it. I like a challenge too. But if you make a game that you have no intention of anyone ever beating, then you're an asshole.

1. I played Soul Calibur 2 in Very Hard and didn't have this issue... But since we want to talk about fighting games, I'll tell you a very good example within Dragon Ball FighterZ. That game's Arcade mode gets progressively harder and harder depending on your ranking. However, at one point, the CPU starts to get some unfair assistance. For example, the damage output is 3X what you do. Not only that, but the CPU also tends to gain meter faster and also cancel moves in a way that is simply not possible with human players (AKA they do combos characters are not meant to even do at this point).
2. Ghosts N' Goblins... MAN, that game has evoked so much rage in me when I got to it. The game is lenient in the whole "you only get 2 hits (Losing your armor and then dying like a wimp). Not only that, but you do stay the same while enemies get stronger. Not only that, but the final level in this piece of trash DEMANDS you have the shield weapon in order to get to the final boss of the game. Otherwise, it tells you to "FUCK OFF GET THE SHIELD"

 

I honestly think that games can be made difficult but peoplesometimes just think that difficulty is added by stacking everything against the player. That's not really how it's done.

[Executor Akamia]

For me, it depends on the genre to a degree.

I don't mind stat boosts with no increase to intelligence in FPS games that have specific structure to their campaigns – which would be most of them, like Halo for example. For more free-form games like various RTS or 4X games such as Stellaris and Civilization, that actually gets me really annoyed. Even StarCraft II has this problem to an extent; the AI players aren't particularly smarter, they're just faster. The stat boosts don't come into play, thankfully, unless the AI is specifically set to have one of like 3 or 4 cheats.

Then again, video game AI still has a long way to go, and even third-party AI such as AlphaStar in StarCraft II can be exploited. Watch that thing micro Stalkers like a fucking god one game – to the point that it can even kill a unit comp that normally hard-counters Blink Stalkers – then completely crumble when the human player does something it's not used to fighting the next game.

Edited April 15, 2019 by Executor Akamia

[Bravosi]

1 hour ago, Executor Akamia said:

For me, it depends on the genre to a degree.

I don't mind stat boosts with no increase to intelligence in FPS games that have specific structure to their campaigns – which would be most of them, like Halo for example. For more free-form games like various RTS or 4X games such as Stellaris and Civilization, that actually gets me really annoyed. Even StarCraft II has this problem to an extent; the AI players aren't particularly smarter, they're just faster. The stat boosts don't come into play, thankfully, unless the AI is specifically set to have one of like 3 or 4 cheats.

Then again, video game AI still has a long way to go, and even third-party AI such as AlphaStar in StarCraft II can be exploited. Watch that thing micro Stalkers like a fucking god one game – to the point that it can even kill a unit comp that normally hard-counters Blink Stalkers – then completely crumble when the human player does something it's not used to fighting the next game.

It's the best fun part when AI is smart. When it does tricks not based on STR.