AI Breaker: Difference between revisions

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* In ''[[Dragonball Z]]: Burst Limit'', several of the hardest challenges can be overcome by spamming Vegeta's 'Final Flash' super-move... apparently, the AI considers it a '[[Kamehame Hadoken|super beam]]' attack, and duly sidesteps it -- only, the Final Flash is actually an [[Area of Effect]] cone, meaning that they step straight into it (instead of blocking, which would greatly reduce the damage). And because the AI considers dodging to be better than blocking, the higher the level of the AI is, the more likely it is to fall for this...

** In ''[[Dragonball Z]]: Ultimate Tenkaichi'', almost all AI opponents will become completely helpless if you stay directly above them at blast range, allowing you to bombard them with [[Ki Attacks]] at will. Most characters' shots can't hit straight up at all and the the few that can won't get too many hits in compared to you shooting down (although, some characters can't shoot down all that well, either). The AI is too stupid to fly up to you or run farther away to aim.

* In ''[[Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm Generations]]'', Itachi got a new move, Clone Jutsu: Super Explosion. What it does is create a clone of Itachi that walks forward [[Painfully Slow Projectile|veeeeeery sloooooowly]] and [[Exactly What It Says On the Tin|explodes]] when touched or attacked. A human player can easily just sidestep it, but for some reason the AI falls for it every time and walks, or even ''[[Too Dumb to Live|dashes]]'' right into it. This makes getting through Itachi's story [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRQrMovAefQ laughably easy.]

* In ''[[Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm Generations]]'', Itachi got a new move, Clone Jutsu: Super Explosion. What it does is create a clone of Itachi that walks forward [[Painfully-Slow Projectile|veeeeeery sloooooowly]] and [[Exactly What It Says On the Tin|explodes]] when touched or attacked. A human player can easily just sidestep it, but for some reason the AI falls for it every time and walks, or even ''[[Too Dumb to Live|dashes]]'' right into it. This makes getting through Itachi's story [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRQrMovAefQ laughably easy.]

* ''Rome: [[Total War]]'': When defending a city, enemy troops will tend to congregate in the town square, which they're supposed to be defending. They will continue to stand there mindlessly under a hail of missiles from the adjacent streets, so long as none of your troops actually sets foot in the square itself.

** Alternatively, you can run a cavalry unit into the town square, cause the enemy to chase after you, then leave the square. Repeat this until the enemy can barely walk before a full frontal onslaught. This actually works in any offensive battle where you out-power your opponent.

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* In ''[[Bully (Video Game)|Bully]]'', nobody can jump onto cars. You can actually stand on the hood of a car and pick off police officers with your slingshot. They may throw bricks at you, but that's it, they can't do the insta-defeat grab.

* ''[[Descent]] 2'' had enemy AI that worked in beats. So the best way of fighting mine robots was to work in counter-time, to move and fire in the split second before the next AI poll. It gave the game a rhythmic, dance-like quality.

* Given their computational power and knowledge databases, defeating the most computer programs in [[Chess (Tabletop Game)|Chess]] requires you to take advantage of these: defeating the best chess engines requires you to utilize anti-computer tactics ''and'' have a grandmaster level of skill in chess... but even then, a draw is considered impressive. Take a look at [~~http://en.~~wikipedia~~.org/wiki/Brains_in_Bahrain~~ the Brains in Bahrain] for an example of anti-computer play. Simpler chess programs usually have more easily exploitable weaknesses.

* Given their computational power and knowledge databases, defeating the most computer programs in [[Chess (Tabletop Game)|Chess]] requires you to take advantage of these: defeating the best chess engines requires you to utilize anti-computer tactics ''and'' have a grandmaster level of skill in chess... but even then, a draw is considered impressive. Take a look at [[wikipedia:Brains in Bahrain|the Brains in Bahrain]] for an example of anti-computer play. Simpler chess programs usually have more easily exploitable weaknesses.

* Some of the early versions of ''[[Mortal Kombat]]'' had a bug where you could simply continually walk backwards and sweep the opponent whenever he got too close, and win every match this way until you get to Goro. The later arcade versions, as well as the home versions, fixed this.

** Also, Shang Tsung can be easily defeated by crouching and kicking out whenever he approaches.

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** Prior to Generation IV, computer players (unlike human players) never switch their Pokemon, even if the matchup is extremely unfavorable for them (except for Agatha and a very few other trainers, namely cooltrainers, who wastes a lot of moves switching their pokemon every other turn for no apparent reason. Gen 3 Blue will swap if his Pokemon is put to sleep and slowly dying.). If you use Trick to give them a Choice item and lock them into using a single move, then you can switch to a Pokemon that resists that move and setup to your heart's desire. Amazingly, the computer won't switch even if they're forced to Struggle.

*** Even in Gen V AI trainers still switch out so rarely that for one to do so is an event in itself.

** Gen V has a Pokemon, Zoroark, that disguises itself to look like another Pokemon in your party, but it still has the same moveset and Dark typing. This masquerade is revealed if Zoroark is hit with an attack. [[The All Seeing AI|Unlike with many games]], this affects how the AI plays, so when fighting a trainer using Psychic-type Pokemon, a Zoroark can disguise itself as a Poison-type Pokemon, and as Psychic is super-effective against Poison but fails against Dark, this caused the AI to continuously use Psychic-type moves against my Dark-type. The Zoroark's illusion was never broken, and it became impossible to lose.

** Gen V has a Pokemon, Zoroark, that disguises itself to look like another Pokemon in your party, but it still has the same moveset and Dark typing. This masquerade is revealed if Zoroark is hit with an attack. [[The All-Seeing AI|Unlike with many games]], this affects how the AI plays, so when fighting a trainer using Psychic-type Pokemon, a Zoroark can disguise itself as a Poison-type Pokemon, and as Psychic is super-effective against Poison but fails against Dark, this caused the AI to continuously use Psychic-type moves against my Dark-type. The Zoroark's illusion was never broken, and it became impossible to lose.

* Dante in ''[[Devil May Cry (Video Game)|Devil May Cry]] 4'' is [[That One Boss]] for a lot of players and is considered a [[Perfect Play AI]]. One of the reasons for this is if you try to shoot him, he will knock your bullet away [[Shoot the Bullet|with a bullet of his own.]] However, while he's shooting your bullets, he's vulnerable to attack. Get him into a shooting match and you can make him eat your [[Red Right Hand|Devil Bringer]], even on the highest difficulty.

* All the robots in ''[[One Must Fall]]'' have strategies that the computer always seems to fall for. Perhaps the most mind-numbing one is to just keep using the Nova's crouching sweep kick. The computer never blocks it and will just walk into it over and over again. Likewise, the computer doesn't know how to dodge the Shadow Grab. And possibly the first one that every player learns is fierce low kick right off the start of the fight, which pretty much no computer opponent will ever stop.

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** The AI also targets whichever War Factory is set as your primary building (where the units come out). So you can build one away from your base and set it as the primary just before the AI fires the superweapon, drawing the fire.

** On campaign missions, the AI also build along a fixed base layout plan. Block the predefined location with a unit/building and the AI won't rebuild what was originally there. Also, AI units appear to be permanently stuck in Guard mode, meaning that they are very susceptible to luring via shooting them with artillery then retreating behind a wall of tanks. The AI will mindlessly charge the wall and get slaughtered.

* Invaders in ''[[Dwarf Fortress (Video Game)|Dwarf Fortress]]'' automatically [[The All Seeing AI|take the shortest route to get into your fortress]], preferentially heading for unlocked doors and avoiding locked ones, even when they have creatures with them capable of bypassing said locked doors. Because of this, [[Video Game Cruelty Potential|it's quite possible]] to set up the entrance to your fortress with two doors with a long corridor full of weapon traps between them and constantly switch which of the two is locked, leaving the goblins marching back and forth through fields of + enormous steel corkscrews+ and * giant swinging iron axe blades* until [[Ludicrous Gibs|blood drips from the ceiling]].

* Invaders in ''[[Dwarf Fortress (Video Game)|Dwarf Fortress]]'' automatically [[The All-Seeing AI|take the shortest route to get into your fortress]], preferentially heading for unlocked doors and avoiding locked ones, even when they have creatures with them capable of bypassing said locked doors. Because of this, [[Video Game Cruelty Potential|it's quite possible]] to set up the entrance to your fortress with two doors with a long corridor full of weapon traps between them and constantly switch which of the two is locked, leaving the goblins marching back and forth through fields of + enormous steel corkscrews+ and * giant swinging iron axe blades* until [[Ludicrous Gibs|blood drips from the ceiling]].

** This can be exploited even more hilariously (if more complicated to set up) by having two rows of 1x1 retracting bridges that are all linked to the same lever in a way so that you have a checkered pattern of bridges that are retracted when the lever's down and drawbridges that are extended if the lever's down. The invaders need to move diagonally every step to get through there, but even if you switch which of the bridges are retracted and which aren't, there is still always a way. If you order a dwarf to repeatedly pull the lever, the goblins will happily march over the bridges until they suddenly vanish under their feet. Using drawbridges instead of retracting ones is less safe (because big creatures can keep the bridges from operating), but even ''more'' hilarious because it flings the goblins!

** The AI will also dodge attacks without taking into account what it's dodging into and what's it dodging away from. Construct a narrow bridge over a deep pit and cover it with crappy wooden extending/retracting spikes, and even the toughest of (non-flying) enemies will dodge right off the edge and start falling. Nothing in the game is immune to fall damage.

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** Perhaps justified, as Harbinger is specifically trying to kill Shepard.

** Praetorians will shoot at allies, but only if Shepard is an Infiltrator under [[Invisibility Cloak|Tactical Cloak]]. You can take advantage of this by putting your squad on the other end of the battlefield and using them to bait the Praetorian into turning around and giving you some free shots at it.

*** Tactical Cloak is probably the easiest AI Breaker of all, since at maximum ranks (easily achievable by the end of your first one or two post-prologue missions) you get up to six seconds of invisibility (more than enough time to relocate behind the enemy), an extra second or so while shooting (and +75% damage while shooting from under cloak...), and you have a pretty short recharge (enough time to sit behind cover and wait while the enemy whales away at the box you're hiding behind). The AI can't find you while you're under cloak, which translates to Shepard running around the battlefield invisibly, dropping cloak every few seconds to [[Boom Headshot|blast the back of someone's head open]] with a sniper rifle.

*** Tactical Cloak is probably the easiest AI Breaker of all, since at maximum ranks (easily achievable by the end of your first one or two post-prologue missions) you get up to six seconds of invisibility (more than enough time to relocate behind the enemy), an extra second or so while shooting (and +75% damage while shooting from under cloak...), and you have a pretty short recharge (enough time to sit behind cover and wait while the enemy whales away at the box you're hiding behind). The AI can't find you while you're under cloak, which translates to Shepard running around the battlefield invisibly, dropping cloak every few seconds to [[Boom! Headshot!|blast the back of someone's head open]] with a sniper rifle.

* In ''[[Zelda II the Adventure of Link (Video Game)|Zelda II the Adventure of Link]]'', the end boss is among the [[Nintendo Hard|hardest]] bosses in the NES era... unless you stand on the far left, duck, and just sit there stabbing over and over. The boss AI will repeatedly walk right into your sword, leading to an easy victory. Due to the difficulty of the fight otherwise, very few people even try to do it "right".

** In ''[[The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time (Video Game)|The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time]]'', the Water Temple boss [[Murder Water|Morpha]] can be easily beaten by simply standing in a corner between the [[Spikes of Doom|wall spikes]], and waiting for it to [[Combat Tentacles|reach out to attack you.]] Turns out it just barely misses, with enough room to [[Grappling Hook Pistol|shoot your Longshot]] at the nucleus inside it, trap it in the corner, and hack away until the boss is dead.

** In ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (Video Game)|The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time]]'', the Water Temple boss [[Murder Water|Morpha]] can be easily beaten by simply standing in a corner between the [[Spikes of Doom|wall spikes]], and waiting for it to [[Combat Tentacles|reach out to attack you.]] Turns out it just barely misses, with enough room to [[Grappling Hook Pistol|shoot your Longshot]] at the nucleus inside it, trap it in the corner, and hack away until the boss is dead.

* In the [[Microprose]] ''[[Magic the Gathering]]'' game, the AI isn't very smart in itself, but it at least seems to understand the game, until you use [http://www.cardkingdom.com/catalog/item/13018 Black Vise] and then the computer will do whatever it takes to reduce its own hand, even if the move itself is worse than just taking the damage or even if there's an obvious, obviously better move (using a card to kill his own creatures when he can kill yours, for example), and even if it's well below the four-card safe range.

* In the ''Naruto Ultimate Ninja Heroes'' games for PSP, the recommended tactic is to use the backwards doubletap, tricking the AI to rush forward to catch up to you, during which is he vulnerable to a forward doubletap rush leading into a combo he will be unable to counter out of. Rinse and repeat through the insane difficulty story mode.

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** Arino in [[Game Center CX]] also discovered the same thing by accident when he was playing the game, which made the challenge noticeably easier.

* In ''[[Call of Duty]]: [[Call of Duty Black Ops (Video Game)|Black Ops]]'', if you blow up one of the jeeps on the Firing Range map, get in the back and crouch down, AI opponents can no longer see you, while you're perfectly free to riddle them with bullets.

* In the NES [[Licensed Game]] version of ''[[~~Robin Hood Prince of Thieves|~~Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves]]'', the sword fight scenes became laughably easy when you realized that you could stand next to a table and your opponent would swing over your head while repeatedly walking directly into your blade.

* In the NES [[Licensed Game]] version of ''[[Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves]]'', the sword fight scenes became laughably easy when you realized that you could stand next to a table and your opponent would swing over your head while repeatedly walking directly into your blade.

* ''U.N. Squadron'' / ''[[Area 88]]'''s stage 3 boss (the forest fortress) and stage 8 boss (the battleship) have turrets that fire at you...but only at preset angles. If you position yourself far away enough from and slightly above the altitude of a turret, you'll be perfectly safe from it while in place to pound it into pieces. The same applies to their counterparts in the SNES port.

* In some of the ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh (Franchise)|Yu-Gi-Oh]]'' games (those based on the anime rather than an accurate representation of the card game, such as ''Dark Duel Stories'' and ''Reshef of Darkness''), an opponent will always, ''always'' attack a monster you set face down. Even if you have a trap down to catch their attack. Even if your monster has an instant-death type advantage over the opponent's monster. In most cases, they'll even flip their own cards face up in order to do so, regardless of if they are decent attackers or not.

* In some of the ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! (Franchise)|Yu-Gi-Oh]]'' games (those based on the anime rather than an accurate representation of the card game, such as ''Dark Duel Stories'' and ''Reshef of Darkness''), an opponent will always, ''always'' attack a monster you set face down. Even if you have a trap down to catch their attack. Even if your monster has an instant-death type advantage over the opponent's monster. In most cases, they'll even flip their own cards face up in order to do so, regardless of if they are decent attackers or not.

* AI Wrestlers in ''[[WWF No Mercy]]'' can be consistently baited into running at you, if you repeatedly sprint back and forth yourself. As wrestlers cannot counter most moves while running, this allows the player to bypass the impossibly frequent counters the CPU will otherwise pull off on higher difficulties.

* In ''[[Might and Magic]] VII'', the Champions of the Sword could be easy if you had the Dispell Magic spell. Their AI called for them to buff themselves with Hour of Power, and if you dispelled it, they'd just keep on recasting it and never attack.

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[[Category:Videogame Culture]]

[[Category:AI Breaker]]

[[Category:Trope]]