Character AI

[Yar]

I have been impressed by it, but I still think that it doesn't always pick the best option available. One example would be the medic. They always seem to heal too little. :(

Thoughts?

[Enjolras]

I find it annoying when occasionally Synergists won't cast haste till right at the end of their buff cycle. But on the whole I think the AI is okay.

[VeloZer0]

It's better that other games I have played, but still falls short imo.

Ravagers are constantly picking sub-optimal attacks for me, as well as mixing physical and magic based attacks when I have one stat over twice as high as the other.
Synergists buff things completely out of order of what I want
Ditto for Sabatours
Commando/Medic/Sentinel I don't have a real problem with.

If only there was a mini gambit system thrown on top so I can customize things how I want it. Or better yet, get rid of the whole AI characters craze completely.

[Loony BoB]

I find it annoying when occasionally Synergists won't cast haste till right at the end of their buff cycle. But on the whole I think the AI is okay.
Odd, I get haste done first every time. Also, in a good order: First the SYN, then the leader, then the other character. Makes sense! He then puts on other things in the right order - if it's an enemy weak against fire, he'll buff magic stuffs first or do Enfire or something so that I can get that extra touch put to my COMs.

The only time I've had trouble with the AI is when they choose who they heal poorly. Everything else has been fine for me.

[Aruu]

The AI is far better than it is with Persona :D

I've seen no problems so far, my medics are pretty apt at healing the leader first in place of them. There's bound to be moments when it does make mistakes, but doesn't that just add to the realism of the game?

[docta fizz]

You've gotta give square credit, they spent alot of time on the AI and they do a pretty good job as a whole. I'm kind of put off about the medic's insistance of continuously using ensuna when my party is weak or my synergist not getting around to bravery/faith till after he's got all the other defenses up, but as a whole they fight really well. This is comming from a person who hate's not controlling his entire team (farewell FF1-10). But if you gotta eat a $@#% sandwich, I'd at least want it to taste like this one.

[Raistlin]

I've been fairly impressed with the AI. Yeah, Syns occasionally cast an odd spell or in a weird order, but overall I have not had a problem with them. Generally the buffs are done in a good order. The only class that makes me question the AI is the Sab, but it's not to the point yet where I have to control that role; it still does well enough.

[Ontibile]

I haven't had many problems with the AI. As long as I cast Libra every time I encounter a new enemy and as long as I cast it right at the beginning, I don't have any trouble. My healers are decent, Cura seems useless right now, but I'm hoping it'll get better.

The only thing I had an issue with were the defenders/sentinel class. Why do they provoke automatically, even if they are the ONLY character in front of the enemy? It seems a little redundant for Snow to provoke when he's by himself; obviously it's going to attack him.

[Mirage]

AI isn't customizable enough. Spell priorities should be possible to set, spells should be possible to disable completely, and AI actions should be possible to override when you need to. Different settings for battle positioning would be cool too.

It should also be possible to set various attack patterns, such as attack weakest, attack enemy with lowest HP, attack other enemies than main character, or attack enemy that is receiving the most damage. Ravagers usually attack whatever you attack, but commandos seem to not really care what you're fighting, and that's bad, and it should be possible to make synergists prioritize offensive buffs over defensive buffs when you fight relatively weak enemies. Why do I need shell and protect against an enemy that hits for less than 5% of my max hp? I want enfire instead so this battle can be ended quickly!

It is however good that my syns always seem to cast haste first without fail.

[Yar]

Commandos go out of their way to not attack the same thing. :(

[VeloZer0]

And they aren't always smart about it.

3 enemies, one is staggered. I switch to COM/RAV/COM to build up chain on a fresh opponent while the second COM finishes off the staggered opponent. But the AI COM attacks the third enemy and leaves the staggered one alone! WTF!

[Crowseye]

This game really cries out for a Gambit-like system for serious players.

Not something that you can turn on and off or change mid-battle, but something that lets the player create the IF-THEN AI script sequence for each paradigm role for each character.

As opposed to XII where many players felt Gambits let you play "on automatic," they make all the sense in the world in a game which relies on an AI script to select individual combat actions and in which only one of the three party members is controllable.

I certainly don't think players should be forced to mess with AI scripts/Gambits if they don't want -- in which case the default AI used now would be fine -- but for players that like playing the FF games partly for their combat, it would have been a nice feature to include IMO.

[Madame Adequate]

NEIN NEIN NEIN NEIN NEIN NEIN NEIN NEIN!!! Gambits were one of the absolute worst parts of FFXII and programming pretty much put the final nail in the coffin. One of the reasons FFXIII is vastly superior is that your teammates do a great job (At least in my experience) without needing any such nonsense.

If I want to play programming I'll go find a copy of Carnage Heart (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnage_Heart). :colbert:

[VeloZer0]

They could just throw a gambit system in, hide it a little bit, and no one would be the wiser. To me the AI seems very simple, and I can't help but think I could make a better one from scratch.

[Ontibile]

I just want to be able to choose who attacks which enemy. After that fact, I'm cool with the AI.

[louby_4eva]

I've found that the medic won't heal me fully. I know Vanille has 4 slots on her ATB gauge and yet she'll only use one cure on me when 3 will fully heal me. I've died so many times thinking that my medic will heal my health at least to the halfway point only to find that one cure simply wasn't enough :(
The easy solution is for me to play as the medic :D :D :D

Smile and Be happy :love:

[Wolf Kanno]

I've seen worse AI programs (Kingdom Hearts anyone?) and I agree that I wouldn't mind either having a mini-Gambit system or at least the Strategy Commands from Persona 3 to give me a little control over my AI. I've been pleasantly surprised by the AI overall, I just wish I had more control.

[Goldenboko]

I was unhappy that they didn't make a gambit system. It would've made a great addition to the game, especially because you would've been able to make gambits for each different role for each character. Okay, I guess I can see how that could be a little overbearing but I think it would be awesome, especially after they showed how well they could make said gambit system in Final Fantasy XII.

[Lightening]

The only thing that's annoyed me is the Medic. most often I prefer 4 cures over 2 curas, especially when fighting very strong monsters.

[VeloZer0]

It would be nice if there was a gambit system, but it came pre-stocked with the games default AI. For the vast majority of gamers programing a behavior pattern that is more advanced than the game default is either beyond them, or not even close to fun. I think making anyone feel that they should be messing with the AI would be a poor choice, but giving 'advanced' players the options would go a long way in making AI based games less sucky.

[Flying Arrow]

I've seen worse AI programs (Kingdom Hearts anyone?) and I agree that I wouldn't mind either having a mini-Gambit system or at least the Strategy Commands from Persona 3 to give me a little control over my AI. I've been pleasantly surprised by the AI overall, I just wish I had more control.

I'd prefer this too, or something similar. I've gotten a bit annoyed with my SYNs and SABs not casting spells in a particularly ideal order. Of course, implementing a control system for team mates would make XIII interesting, which is something it's been designed to be very rarely.

I can't help but figure that FFXII's system worked far better than this. The game is AI-controlled in battle, but only AI that the player has created. The player designs his own battle strategy rather than casting Libra to show the AI what to do. XIII's system is still fun and all, but it strikes me as a much more hands-off and more than a little pointless. All XIII's Libra does is make the first battle a pain to get through in order to allow the rest to be easy. Why not just have the AI know what to do automatically? Why include that one level of busywork? Without it, the game loses nothing strategically, as you still have to set up your paradigms to effectively deal with each encounter.

This all begs the question of why SE made such a hands-off system. Libra is of little use to the player's strategy once the AI suddenly turns on its A-game after its been cast. It's still fun to shift paradigms and all, but it all kind of ends up being rather unsatisfying because the AI just doesn't always do what you want it to do. A lot of the clever strategies I thought of trying just aren't feasible - and when I do pull one off my some miracle of fate (usually by completely overhauling my Paradigms and taking control of the most errant party member) the game tells me I suck by hitting me with a 1-star.

Also, wiping paradigms each time a member is changed is complete bull:bou::bou::bou::bou:. Can't the menu just save the configurations for each combo of characters? SE can go straight to fucking Pulse with this.

[VeloZer0]

Maybe if they made 2-3 times as many paradigm rolls, and let us have like 20 of them active at a time. That way they are much more specific and allows for some personal taste in how to get stuff done. Right now there is only one way to do anything.

What if there were a few classes that could heal, one specialized in AoE, one direct healing, one esuna and jazz. Now when setting up paradigms you would have to think, "what will I need most when I use this". There will actually be some trade offs when setting up the paradigms, requiring some though. And you could tailor the AI much more towards your liking.
Instead of just a SEN you could have one that specializes in locking down bosses, one that specializes in AoE crowd control, and one that specializes in counterattacking.

[Flying Arrow]

Reading comments and ideas about the AI system really makes me disappointed in what we have in XIII. As far as I'm concerned, an AI that can't be as effective or clever as a player isn't an AI worth playing with.

[Loony BoB]

I still haven't had any problems, so I guess that's just people being picky and pedantic. Everyone will want things done a little more to their tastes and strategy but when you're dealing with AI, it can't be to everyone's tastes. It's not really AI anyway, as far as I'm concerned. It's just a gambit system that is already set in stone. I still like how it's done, though.

[Wolf Kanno]

There is one AI script that does slightly bug me: Sentinel. This is one of those wonderful moments where I truly miss XII's ADB system cause I could manually fix my biggest hang-up which is that its difficult for the Sentinel to protect my weaker characters when he refuses to move away from them.

I noticed this in the boss battle at the end of Chapter 9. I would have Fang go into Sentinel mode so I can heal Hope and regretfully Fang and Hope were still standing next to each other; so despite not being the main target, Hope was still killed from the AoE effects. There are a few melee attacks as well that have an AoE effect as well I've noticed. So yeah, being able to actually have my Sentinel role provoke the enemy and then distance themselves from m party would make the class infinitely more useful...

[VeloZer0]

Or just having your characters spread out period. Even if your not using a sentinel it pisses me off when the characters are randomly walking around in battle, sometimes walking in range of AoE, sometimes walking out.


Everyone will want things done a little more to their tastes and strategy but when you're dealing with AI, it can't be to everyone's tastes.
That is why AI in RPGs is one of, if not the, worst thing to ever happen to the genre and should be abolished without exception. I only wish I studied harder in English class so I could use even harsher wording in the preceding sentence.

[Wolf Kanno]

I think AI has actually been a good thing, especially since RPG AI is nowhere near as dead brain as say... an FPS or escort mission action game type.

What I like about it is that it truly places you in the role of a strategist and commander entrusting your own strategies into the hands of people who may not follow your carefully placed plans to the letter. It creates a level of risk that makes even random encounters fun. Sometimes, its nice to give away a little of the control, especially when you've played the genre for a number of years and everything becomes too easy when you take total control.

Even then, I feel most RPG AI has allowed me to actually have an excuse to utilize playstyles I may never have tried. I almost never use Status magic or Buffs in an RPG until XII... and Nocturne (which isn't an AI based game but oh well). But since then I've been replaying the older games and trying to utilize support magic more into my playstyle.

[Jaffer]

Med and Syn aren't really optimal but on the whole I'm happy with the AI. The only problem if that in a Com/Com/--- setup the other Com automatically targets another enemy.

[eestlinc]

I don't mind the AI, but I wish you could control where your party members (or at least your leader) stand and move during battle. I also wish members other than the leader could use techniques and summons. But that would be tricky and in the case of summons, disrupt your control of the battle.

My other complaint is that my members are slower than my leader, Lightning, because I give her the Axis Blade and whatever accessory it is that gives first strike. But related to AI, i like to set my controls two or three actions at a time rather than queuing up the whole four or five bars before executing. The AI members seem to always wait until they fill up the entire bar. this makes my other members seem even slower than they already are.

Oh, and I wish the AI and autobattle would choose the five-bar special moves at least some of the time. Will Vanille ever cast death if she is not the leader?

[finaloblivion]

I just want to be able to choose who attacks which enemy. After that fact, I'm cool with the AI.

agreed. sometime i wish different characters could focus on different enemies, but that kinda subdues the whole stagger system. and once or twice, my medic didn't cure my leader first when they needed it, but i think it was probably because i sustained the damage after the ATB filled and the AI had already assessed another character's problem. and that literally has been, once or twice in about a thousand battles.

[VeloZer0]

What I think is a big oversight is if a character is over 90% HP the AI will just use single casts of cures to top everyone up. Which is ok, but if I have 3 people at 91% hp it has to take 3 turns to top everyone up instead of just casting Cura once.

Also, it isn't very smart about using Esuna. If I have ~85 HP on all my characters and some of them have Fog/Daze/Slow it is WAY more beneficial to cast Esuna than another Cura. The AI will never clear your debuffs if you are not completely toped up, and that rarely happens as enemies tend to keep attacking you. Some prioritizeation on casting Esuna would be very helpful.

[Flying Arrow]

^I've had the same problem with Esuna too. The only way that I've found so far to efficiently clear party members of status ailments is to make the healer the party leader. I know I only said it a few posts ago, but if an AI cannot function as efficiently and strategically as a real live player, then it shouldn't exist at all let alone sit as the cornerstone of the entire game.

[Pete for President]

SAB's rather casting Dispel instead of overruling stuff like Pain or Fog is kinda annoying at times.

Example; they try to remove Bravery first, while Pain would prevent any physical attack. Doesn't make a lot of sense.

[No.78]

I think the AI is almost flawless, just a few instances where I want to smack Vanille upside the head for not pushing triangle and sending me a heal before i get crushed.