Why do I do fine against players but not the AI!?

Clive Howlitzer

New member
Jan 27, 2011
2,783
0
0
This isn't the case in EVERY video game and at the moment I am raging because of SSF4:AE. Why is it that I can face players easily but when it comes to hard level AIs, I get my ass kicked constantly. I just had to rage quit Juri's arcade mode(my friggin' MAIN) because I couldn't beat Seth, even by cheesing.
I am not a slouch at video games either, before you ask. Yet somehow, those pesky AIs!
 

Slaanesh

New member
Aug 1, 2011
466
0
0
They're meant to be cheap at hard levels. Look at the arcade version of MK2. The second you input an attack/movement, the AI reads it and counters it. This may be the case for the AI in SSF4.
 

gigastrike

New member
Jul 13, 2008
3,112
0
0
This happened to me all the time in Smash Bros. They just respond to quickly. Sometimes I'll be fighting a lvl 9 cpu, and my friends (who I can beat pretty easily, but somehow they don't have troubles with the cpu) will be saying "stop playing around and finish him already", and I'll be doing my best, but the stupid computer will be matching me the whole way.
 

Kopikatsu

New member
May 27, 2010
4,924
0
0
Deathleaper said:
They're meant to be cheap at hard levels. Look at the arcade version of MK2. The second you input an attack/movement, the AI reads it and counters it. This may be the case for the AI in SSF4.
This is basically it. It's extremely easy to create an AI that can never be defeated by a human without exploiting some flaw in it's programming (Like spamming the one attack the AI won't bother blocking for one reason or another).

Humans have to actually react and put in button combinations. The AI reads your inputs and says 'Super Shoryuken x 3' whenever it damn well pleases.
 

krazykidd

New member
Mar 22, 2008
6,099
0
0
Clive Howlitzer said:
This isn't the case in EVERY video game and at the moment I am raging because of SSF4:AE. Why is it that I can face players easily but when it comes to hard level AIs, I get my ass kicked constantly. I just had to rage quit Juri's arcade mode(my friggin' MAIN) because I couldn't beat Seth, even by cheesing.
I am not a slouch at video games either, before you ask. Yet somehow, those pesky AIs!
Dude the SSF4 computer is crazy , i couldn't do it on normal , never have that happened before . But yeah players can't read you mind , and are prone to mistakes . Also the strategy is different . Like playing chess against a computer on top difficulty and playing against a world champion are two different things.
 

Ordinaryundone

New member
Oct 23, 2010
1,568
0
0
Computers can read your inputs and have perfect reaction times. Plus they are slowed down by things like having to press buttons or do stick inputs. Hell, sometimes they can outright break the rules of the game (like doing charge moves while moving forward).

I always felt like it was a bit of a waste of time to fight AI in fighting games. It is either far too easy, or stupidly difficult. And the way you are forced to play against them doesn't teach you anything about fighting people. Its like two different games.
 

StriderShinryu

New member
Dec 8, 2009
4,987
0
0
Yeah, as has been said it's not really you, it's generally how game AI is programmed. In fighters, because it's just you and your opponent with a fairly strict set of system/engine defined rules that you're both supposed to be following, it's just more pronounced.

Fighting game AI can't really think, it can only perform certain programmed patterns and react to your inputs. The problem there is that where a human will note patterns in your playstyle and, if the player is really good, occasionally react to the visual cues of certain moves they can;t just read your controller inputs and react accordingly. For a quick example, if you throw a fireball a human opponent that wants to counter it will either have had to predict you are going to throw that fireball or they'll have to see your character start to do it. An AI, on the other hand, "knows" that you're doing a fireball the millisecond you complete the input and will be punishing it before your character even does it.

Basically, fighting the AI in a fighter can be fun at times but it's nothing like fighting a human. More importantly, putting too much stock in learning how to beat the AI can actually make your play worse by creating tendencies that don't work against a human (or that might work once but never again, since game AI can't really learn in the way a human can).

Anywho, I feel your pain when it comes to Juri. I tend to play more mindgame oriented, poke and set up heavy characters in pretty much every fighting game (Hwoarang/Ling in Tekken, Lion in VF, Juri/Guile in SF4, etc.) so while I can often find ways to beat the AI there's really no way to learn how to play the characters properly that way.