the AI controlled 'helper'

[PureChaos]

for my 3000th post *party whistle noise*...but it's just a number.

anwyay, for my 3000th post i'm doing a topic on something i'm sure we have all had issues with: the person in games controlled by thre AI that is SUPPOSED to help you. i usually find that the person to help just gets in the way, annoys me and i end up yelling at them to die.
the only games i've known it work are the X-Men Legends games. granted it isn't perfect but at least the people in your team do help out and you can customize certain aspect of how they battle with you. i've tried doing it with 1 person but it's SO much better having a 4 person team.
generally, though, i'd rather battle solo than in a team controlled by the AI. the AI will just get in the way. after all, a team off 5 is fine but when the AI get involved it's just a number, like say, 3000 *party whistle*

what are your thoughts on AI 'helpers'?

 

[SnootyEnglishman]

They are annoying and whiny little pissants who tend to get in the way of my line of fire and then start yelling at me. Or they do the other thing the AI helpers do to piss me off and that is take all of the ammo and other essentials.

 

[Trivun]

The AI in Halo 3 are pretty great, unless you're playing on Legendary difficulty (in which case if you expect the AI to survive past the first enemy encounter each level, you're a fool...). To be honest, the only game where I've had difficulty with the AI not being helpful is Gears of War, which got to the point I only ever bothered to heal Dom or the others in the team when it was absolutely necessary for some reason or another...

 

[Kapol]

The AI teammate in RE5. I played solo (as I do all games), and playing on the hardest difficulty was annoying as it was almost always where one-hit would take you down. Your teammate can revive you if they do it really quick, but mine never did, even when she was RIGHT F***ING NEXT TO ME!

 

[TheTaco007]

My first thought is 'SHEEEEEVAAAAAAA!'

Then, 'CHRRIIIIIISSSSS!', followed by 'WEEEEEESSSSSKEEEER!'

Sorry, was having acid flashbacks to Resident Evil 5.

ROFL

Yeah, honestly, if you need a helper, you're doing it wrong. (Unless it's a puzzle that requires 2 people to do.) There's a REASON everyone hates escort missions...

 

[GundamSentinel]

Sometimes they work fine (Fallout 3, Republic Commando), but sometimes they're just in the way, are completely useless and/or get you killed (GTA IV, Oblivion, Armored Core: 4A). Even worse when you have to keep them alive.

I particularly liked Republic Commando for having AI teammates you had some control over. You could tell them what they should do, where they should go, which target to prioritise. I loved that and it worked really well.

And congrats on 3000.

 

[Jedamethis]

I hate most 'helpers' out of principle. I can't remember any bad helpers, but they never seem to survive long enough for me to notice them, so they go ignored.
The biggrst example of this was in Operation: Achorage, when I kept forgetting and leaving my strike team at camp and just did everything myself.

 

[L4hlborg]

They almost never work. I think I haven't played a single game where they haven't somehow fucked everything up and died at some point of the game. I understand that a game might need friendly AIs because the story or atmosphere demands it, but not having their deaths causing a mission failed is a good solution. I like the CoD4 solution of having essential characters be immortal. It's a bit silly, but not as silly as walking walking in the middle of enemy shotgun fire.

My personal favorite AI character was the president in GRAW. He wasn't technically there to help me, but the fact that he managed to walk himself into a doorway, which was being aimed at by an enemy sniper and 2-4 enemy infantry and me was quite remarkable. He even managed to get his head into my line of fire, so he took around 20 rounds, out of which about 5 where to the head. The game claimed that I am a horrible shooter for the friendly fire.

 

[Brandon237]

Congratzualaziownz on getting 3 times as many posts as myself.

Friendly AI is nothing better than a damage sponge, and often one that puts itself in the way of my bullets... that is why I liked Crysis, no bloody squad to harass you!

The only time it has been semi-competent is when playing SWBF 2, and even then I found it still to be thick at best.

 

[enzilewulf]

Eh I experienced that AI in strategy games is only good when their against you. For instance I was playing Age of Empires and my guys decided that they should blow out their economy on Castles. A lot of castles. Now they got obliterated and my whole left was open to attack so I had to go and make my own colony over there and then deal with the non-stop attacks.

 

[Mukil]

if the AI helper is in 'in killable' mode, I usually take this to my advantage and use them as cover.
Sometimes I let them do the clearing of enemies for me...like Resistance 2. Some of my teamies couldn't die so i just ran around them and let them kill people.

 

[willer357]

On project Ancorage on Fallout, I had two bars of health left at the first part, and was slowly inching forward to get the enemies to spawn and have my teammate kill them. suddenly they all jump out and I kill them after three tries. I look for my helper, and he is no where to be found. After about a minute of searching, I see a dot on the horizon and watch as he slowly walks towards me.

Before the enemies even came out he apperently became a pussy and ran off shout that he will kill everything that moves.

That just about sums up my feelings about helpers.

 

[MikailCaboose]

I particularly liked Republic Commando for having AI teammates you had some control over. You could tell them what they should do, where they should go, which target to prioritise. I loved that and it worked really well.

And congrats on 3000.

Yup, and I kind of get tired when people say that you don't have enough control over them. This is still an FPS, not a FPRTS!

Then in Tales of Symphonia. usually good, but sometimes they just get in pants-on-head-retarded moments and have no regard for how much health they have. Get's annoying in major boss battles.

 

[Thedayrecker]

All I can say is "Army of Two".... followed by:

ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[danintexas]

I recently picked up Sacred 2 on PS3 again.

Escort missions - OMFG! Why even have them in that game - it also seems half the quests are escorts! First sign of trouble they run off into more mobs and die. The only way to complete these missions is to spam health pots - The only time I use them BTW - because for some reason my health pots not only heal me but the stupid woman that thought it was a good idea to run into the 25 undead warriors to run away from the small sewer rat!

RAWR!!! I fly into an emo rage just thinking about it!

 

[danintexas]

I recently picked up Sacred 2 on PS3 again.

Escort missions - OMFG! Why even have them in that game - it also seems half the quests are escorts! First sign of trouble they run off into more mobs and die. The only way to complete these missions is to spam health pots - The only time I use them BTW - because for some reason my health pots not only heal me but the stupid woman that thought it was a good idea to run into the 25 undead warriors to run away from the small sewer rat!

RAWR!!! I fly into an emo rage just thinking about it!

 

[PatrickXD]

I dont mind the AI in, says, Battlefield 2, because they stick together in seperate groups using the whole squad system (unlike actual people online, you solo loving pissants) But then you get the AI in games like GoW or pretty much any escort mission, witch are just bullet magnets that fail the mission. Yeah I don't like them one bit.

 

[PureChaos]

SO many people have mentioned RE 5. i've sent he ZP review of it and he also batters the woman (i especailly liked the bit about wanting to use a healing item she has). is it reallt THAT bad?

 

[Undercover]

Five letters: S.O.C.O.M.

Probably the worst AI I've ever had run into my line of fire, bounce a flashbang off a door frame & blind me, throw a frag into a wall and kill our entire team, run around in circles during a firefight, take cover behind nothing, use only full auto & run out of ammunition & just generally suck at pretty much everything they do.

So why the hell do I still love this game?

 

[Kajt]

Dog Meat, stop running in front of my bullets! What the hell, Ian!? I told you to stop shooting me in the back already!

Good times. I usually don't get any companions if I can avoid it though. As said, they're mostly just in the way.