In this myTake I'm going to tell you about how game developers make difficulty levels of their video games unnecessarily high through lame tricks.
Before I begin, I would like to tell you that playing games at higher difficulties is fun, no doubt. But, what if you're outshining their AIs in a video game by for example, driving brilliantly and still not being able to find out about how the hell did you just win the race by a mere inch?
Or
Like in some RPG games, why is the character acting so dumb?
Here are some few things I've noticed that answers some questions like this:
1. Rubberbanding:
Rubber Band AI is an infamous hidden feature in racing games that allows computer-controlled opponents to catch up no matter how far behind they are. It is intended to keep challenging the player, but can also give AI opponents an unfair advantage.
This means that no matter how good you drive, there is no getting 'too far' from the opponent. Some stupid AI is gonna make the opponent(s) teleport to where the game wants it/them to.
Disclaimer: It is not me who is driving that car in the video. It is just to give you the idea of the last race.
For example, while playing Need For Speed Most Wanted 2012, I was once reluctant not to crash or bump into a wall/vehicle and was able to pull it off. I tried my best by filling up my nitrous oxide tank frequently and letting it all out, took short corners, drove aggressively and really very fast. I wanted to see how far ahead was I of the opponent after some time and... guess what, he was right on my tail. It was the final race where the opponent was driving a Koenigsegg Agera R. The race starts with him being in front of you, I took him down several times in the race and he rapidly moved to my tail again and again. One can easily observe on the minimap on how quickly was his blip was moving as compared to mine. The main observation was that I was driving the same car on it's maximum speed on the straight road but he seemed to be driving way too faster than me. That's an example of rubberbanding.
Another example was that in Need For Speed Undercover (PS2), if you know, in a highway battles, the huge, heavyweight trucks which are positioned on certain locations and drive very slowly are known to annoy you (as they stop you dead on the contact). However, if they come in the way of furious AI coming like a bullet towards you, they literally don't stand a chance against the opponent and fly away on collision. Really. That's another example of rubberbanding.
2. Controls:
Now this is the problem faced by the players who play video games on PCs. In some video games like Devil May Cry 3, Devil May Cry 4 Sleeping Dogs, Metal Gear Ground Zeroes, etc. you can't bind the keys according to your will. The game decides the key which will be pressed for specified action, not you. This creates hassle for many PC gamers as the key binding preference isn't the same for all.
Now, there are some solutions to it and you can always google them up, I'm not mentioning them here as they can be very long.
3. Animations:
Animations of characters in certain video games sometimes annoys me very much. No matter how well revised and quick you are with the actions and the pressing the required key, the last thing will depend upon the game i.e when it wants the command to be executed. Finding no other, reason to delay the response, let's delay the animations. The lag in the animations results in a lag in the command execution and hence hinders you in your gaming. It includes lame running/sprinting, lazy animations in opening doors etc. This is really annoying when you're amidst your enemies.
Disclaimer: Again, this isn't me playing the game.
For example, Resident Evil/ Biohazard 5. The delayed animations in picking up things and slashing the enemies with knife seem very unrealistic in the situation and it appears like they must've been kidding doing that part.
4. Unwanted partners and their AI:
An example of stupid partner AI in Resident Evil 5
Again, in games like Resident Evil/ Biohazard 5, you're forced to play along with a partner. Their AI in the game creates a lot of trouble at times when like when they get shot and you've gotta run upto them to save their arses. It gets really tideous especially when you play the game at higher difficulties. It looks like they're 'designated' to get shot at some particulars.
Not saying AI partners are bad in all games. There are helpful partners in games like some Ghost Recons.
That's all people.
Thank you for reading it.
-Eryxx
Most Helpful Opinions