A.I.

[Souplex]

In many games we have allies. In these many games most of the time the allies enjoy running into our line of fire, taking supplies we need and generally being nothing but dead weight.
However, sometimes our allies actually act like our allies and we appreciate it. Good or bad, what games had friendly A.I. that stood out to you? These allies need to be present for large portions of the game so one team section does not count.

 

[Nivag the Owl]

I can't think of any.

 

[Good morning blues]

Half-Life 2. The only thing about the rebels that has ever irritated me is their insistence on reminding me to reload. Running around with Alyx is absolutely perfect - I don't need to babysit her, and she's capable of dealing out some serious punishment. Additionally, she has never once shot me or jumped into my line of fire.

 

[Jandau]

Galactic Civilizations 2 (especially with all the expansions installed) sports some fairly impressive AI that handles the quite complicated game mechanics admirably while not cheating, ie. playing by the same rules as the player.

 

[Xvito]

My vote goes to the FF series.
There you control your allies

 

[Crowghast]

I agree with 66Monkey on those Tom Clancy games, the A.I. is only good because they have the decency to do what you say, good, but not when I don't feel like giving orders.
I'm going to go with one of the followers from Fallout 3, the ghoul; Charon. He's an excellent shot, very helpful at acting as my meat shield, an excellent repository for the junk I can't carry. Plus, he's obedient, and only ever follows or protects me. Although he does steal my kills. I don't begrudge his zealous approach, but i'll kill [i\]him[/i] next time he finishes a behemoth, finishes [i\]without[/i] asking first. I might've let him too, all he had to do was ask.

That's something they need to put in to any RPG, allies that actively question you. That'd be great.

 

[blackriderrom]

Red Alert 3. Allies are not even optional - but they're not stupid, and help you out to a decent extent.
I'd also agree with Half-Life 2.

 

[ChocoCake]

Hmmm, I can only think of Tactical Shooters when thinking of allied A.I.'s. The two series that stick out are probably the GRAW games and the Vegas games. Although that reminds me of Mass Effect, and its ally A.I. For GRAW, the allies in your team seem to do a pretty good job by themselves, but if you are going to be playing on any hard difficulty, you have to keep them in line, or they just keep dying. Vegas 1 and 2 are like GRAW, but worse, in my opinion, if only a little. Mass Effect probably had the best allied A.I. I've ever played with, because they actually killed enemies and completed your orders intelligently, such as not going into a zone sorrounded by enemies when you ask them to (notifying you of their objection of course).

 

[Jandau]

Red Alert 3. Allies are not even optional - but they're not stupid, and help you out to a decent extent.

I thoroughly disagree on this one. The allies are mandatory there, but are far from competent. They tend to spaz out randomly on some missions, be utterly useless on others and only occasionally making a positive contribution to the mission. You learn to endire them since you have no choice (unless you play co-op)

A great example would be EotRS mission in Hollywood where the AI gets spooked by the destroyable houses next to his landing zone. They not only mess up his build order since he percieves them as hostiles, the few units he does make get stuck attacking the houses and ignoring the enemy.

Unless I send troops to back him up as soon as the mission starts, he gets wiped out. Every time. Without fail. Granted, at least getting troops around as EotRS isn't hard, but still...

 

[geldonyetich]

I'd say the difference between a good AI impression and a bad AI impression is going to be based on whether the player happens to play in such a way that the AI is programmed to support. Thus, Red Alert 3 AI might come off as brilliant to some and stupid to others.

Meanwhile, the difference between an actual good or bad AI (and not just the impression one is going to have on it) has to do wit the amount of refinement the developers are willing to spare towards it. It's the reason why AIs like those in Left4Dead and Quake 3/Unreal Tournament come off as outstanding. Some AIs, however, do a fabulous job but are so subtle that many people never notice them: you tend to notice when things go wrong more than when they go right.

 

[Arleer157]

Call of Duty games have always been decent for me.
And Half-Life two definately, friendly A.I. Is incredible.

 

[Vladamir69]

in KH i think the AI is great they know exactly what to do when they need to do it.
example: when they are low on health or you are they will heal you instead of fighting to the death like in Gears when you AI doesn't hide when extremely hurt.

 

[latenightapplepie]

Hmmm, I can only think of Tactical Shooters when thinking of allied A.I.'s. The two series that stick out are probably the GRAW games and the Vegas games. Although that reminds me of Mass Effect, and its ally A.I. For GRAW, the allies in your team seem to do a pretty good job by themselves, but if you are going to be playing on any hard difficulty, you have to keep them in line, or they just keep dying. Vegas 1 and 2 are like GRAW, but worse, in my opinion, if only a little. Mass Effect probably had the best allied A.I. I've ever played with, because they actually killed enemies and completed your orders intelligently, such as not going into a zone sorrounded by enemies when you ask them to (notifying you of their objection of course).

That's interesting because I thought that Mass Effect's AI wasn't superb. It was really difficult trying to get them to manuver properly and avoid your shots.

In a ironic twist, the characters in the game who were AI (or VI) were really fascinating.

 

[kommando367]

gears of war 2 's was the best i've seen, the only problem arose in chapter 5 (in the part where you fight the 2 bloodmounts after the 2 maulers) dom had a tendency to grow an extra nut and either ran into the path of the occupied troika or a mauler

 

[Fruhstuck]

Kingdom Hearts 1/2
Perfect A.I.
Did their jobs excellently

 

[TopHatTim]

HL2 is probably the best. they give you ammo and health when you need it, they never cross your line of site, and they actually hit they're targets...only problem is that when a strider comes they like to get a bit to confident and get skewered on they're legs.

 

[Silver]

Okay, to the people saying the AI in Half-life 2 was good. Were you actually playing the same game as I did? With really tiny spaces, and lots of "allies" blocking your path at every turn, pushing you down stairs, ledges and into fires, and whenever we get into a fight they just scream a lot and die? Seriously. I hated those parts.

 

[Dogeman5]

Half-Life 2. The only thing about the rebels that has ever irritated me is their insistence on reminding me to reload. Running around with Alyx is absolutely perfect - I don't need to babysit her, and she's capable of dealing out some serious punishment. Additionally, she has never once shot me or jumped into my line of fire.

^This
I love the simple fact that they (The rebels at least) don't like to play "Catch the bullet"

 

[ZeroMachine]

A....I.... wwwwwhat does the A stand for?

(A cookie to whoever knows what I'm referencing, I'm hoping at least one person does.)

I would say that I enjoyed the AI from Tales of Symphonia. You did tell it what to do on a basic level, but it always worked out.

 

[51gunner]

Half-Life two earns a gold star for Alyx Vance, the AI partner with the highest scores I've ever seen. Even the rebels didn't irritate; at least they'd move out of my way. (Bonus point: my friend is a physicist, and he often forgets to reload when playing FPS's on my Xbox. Guess how I prompt him.)

GRAW gets a gold star too: the AI's are ordered to and fro, yes, but they obey your orders perfectly. They don't screw up in either possible way: by disregarding them five seconds after they're given, or by rigidly obeying them to the death despite cover lurking ten centimeters from the ordered point.