Hostages/VIPs/Escortees

[nepheleim]

I understand it's hard to code AI. My old roommate used to do that, and he'd be up till odd hours of the night continually typing lines of what I can only describe as gibberish all so a ball can roll in the proper direction.

That being said, I still can't excuse hostages (people you're supposed to be rescuing or something) in a game seemingly going out of their way to kill you at every step. I'm playing Rainbow Six Vegas, and I come across some VIP I need to escort to the parking garage. I tell him to wait in a hallway, while I check out whatever is up ahead. Naturally, it's 50 tangos all waiting to blow his head off. I backpedal, fire off a few rounds, and stop. Why am I stopped? I didn't hit a wall. The idiot hostage walked up, and I backed into him. Naturally I died. Tried again. Told the idiot to wait even further down the hall. I take out a couple tangos, the rest scatter, and then he walks up, uninvited, and gets shot seven different ways. Game over.

A pox on idiot hostages!

So, what hostages do you find infuriating? And even better, what game's been made where the person you're escorting doesn't have the IQ of Tapioca? Cause I'd want to play that.

 

[Souplex]

In defense of AI, some people are that stupid.

 

[walls of cetepedes]

The worst hostage was the one on 'Mile High club'. I finally got to him on veteran, and shoot the terrorist in the leg, to be greeted with the message: "True veterans go for headshots, not flesh wounds."

And Alyx from HL2 is pretty smart.

 

[BoxCutter]

And Alyx from HL2 is pretty smart.

This.

Also the Companion Cube is the best thing to have to escort, ever.

 

[nepheleim]

And Alyx from HL2 is pretty smart.

This.

Also the Companion Cube is the best thing to have to escort, ever.

Ah yes, the weighted companion cube. I forgot about that one. Quiet, obedient. A joy to have around.

 

[eatenbyagrue]

I have to say that for all the flak she gets from Yahtzee, Ashley is pretty good as far as escort missions go: she knows enough to duck when you are in a firefight, she's smart enough to stay behind you and (as far as I can tell) doesn't like to block your way or anything.

That said, I always hated Lemmings. It felt like one big escort mission to me.

 

[Srcruls]

In defense of AI, some people are that stupid.

LOL that made me chuckle

The weighted companion cube was the best escort in a game ever. you even got to carry it.
Lemmings kinda defys the point of AI.
And alex was the most annoying of them all. "Reload dr freeman"


kidnapping a man on the original splinter cell was good. you got to "drop" his body down a ladder

 

[teisjm]

I have to say that for all the flak she gets from Yahtzee, Ashley is pretty good as far as escort missions go: she knows enough to duck when you are in a firefight, she's smart enough to stay behind you and (as far as I can tell) doesn't like to block your way or anything.

Seconded

I never had problems with Ashley during my playthroughs of RE4

 

[olee12343]

"Escorting" your teammates in COD2 was a ***** because they seemed to love to stand in front of you while you're firing your weapon, aka "You are a traitor to the motherland!" message, aka restart.

 

[The Shade]

I'm pretty sure the worst (and at the same time, best) escort mission goes as follows:

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/the-escapist-presents/828-Nerf-Wars-The-Battle-for-Themis

 

[keptsimple]

Worst: Escortees in Oblivion. If you rescue someone in that game and are escorting her to safety, it doesn't matter if she's a 12 year old girl armed with a wooden spoon, she will charge at the nearest enemy.

Companion AI in GTA IV is pretty appalling as well (and I liked that game). You'd think people in Liberty City would have learned by now that, when a car catches on fire, it is going to blow up. But no. Your fellow bikers (or whoever) will hang out by a flaming minivan until the inevitable happens.

 

[j0z]

And Alyx from HL2 is pretty smart.

This.

Also the Companion Cube is the best thing to have to escort, ever.

Ah yes, the weighted companion cube. I forgot about that one. Quiet, obedient. A joy to have around.

I second both of these. The Companion cube has the best AI of any companion ever.

 

[Syndef]

I never understood the attachment to that damn Companion Cube.

 

[quack35]

I never understood the attachment to that damn Companion Cube.

Me neither. It wasn't really that funny.

 

[Worgen]

I never understood the attachment to that damn Companion Cube.

Me neither. It wasn't really that funny.

its because the game told you not too have an attachment too it

 

[SimuLord]

Any escort mission where the AI is programmed to do anything other than BE a Companion Cube is a mission that the game can do without. I think it was Einstein (or maybe Napoleon) who said "the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result."

Developers keep programming escort missions. Gamers keep banging their heads on walls and throwing controllers/mice after failing them thanks to idiot AI. Lather, rinse, repeat.

 

[quiet_samurai]

In defense of AI, some people are that stupid.

Heh, that's always the reason I give myself for games with bad AI. So many times I told myself that Sheva as a person was just obsessed with health and wellness.

 

[you rolled a one]

The dumbest AI is from Mercs 2, the HVTs. You can kill them or capture them, but they'll usally kill themselves by walking off a rock, or throwing a grenade at themselves. They're just retarded.

or the one i found who got run over by a team mate in a tank after he shot 5 of his freinds.....

 

[ElephantGuts]

Well in their defence, civilians tend to get very panicky when under fire and exposed to combat. You've just got to yell at them a lot and push them around wherever you want them to go.
Try knocking them in the back of the skull with your gun butt and just dragging the half-conscious body around behind you.

 

[nepheleim]

Well in their defence, civilians tend to get very panicky when under fire and exposed to combat. You've just got to yell at them a lot and push them around wherever you want them to go.
Try knocking them in the back of the skull with your gun butt and just dragging the half-conscious body around behind you.

Oh, the hostage says he's so scared right now (honest, it's an actual line of voice acting) but when a dozen men who want nothing more than to perforate the dude come swarming around the corner, what does he do? Stands stock still in front of me between my gun and their bodies. And the game faults me when he dies. He deserves to die. Nobody that dumb could possibly live for much longer anyway.