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My Rules Are Not Your Rules: Difference between revisions
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This is one of the most [[Egregious]] forms of [[The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard]], in which the AI players break the explicitly laid-out rules of the game. This throws any idea of equality out the window. However, since many games would be rather dull if the AI played fair, [[Tropes Are Not Bad|some believe this to be a necessary evil]]. Others, meanwhile, will take great, detailed pains to elaborate to their associates [[Catharsis Factor|what horrors]] they would adore visiting upon the game programmers.
Sometimes this is done to provide a challenge to the players - The AI has to naturally be handicapped so that the player has a fighting chance. The computer can mash buttons faster than a player can ever hope for and knows ''every'' move.
Note that this applies only to games and situations where the human and the AI are supposed to be on an equal footing. If the rules say the AI is in a different situation to the human, treating them differently isn't cheating.
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** Back to Lance's Dragonite. In ''HeartGold/SoulSilver'', he has one at Level 40, two at Level 49, and one at Level 50. Dragonite can once again only be obtained at Level 55 or higher, except through an event at Level 50, which is STILL higher than three of Lance's.
** Goes back to the first boss in the game: Brock has an Onix that is much lower-level than any Onix you will encounter in the game. However, Brock could have bred Onix which hatch at Level 5 or Level 1 (depending on the game), then trained them to around Level 9. While breeding was not a game mechanic in ''R/B/Y'', their remakes imply that breeding is possible, just not in the region the originals cover.
** In ''Black/White'' you have the pleasure to face a Level 54 Hydreigon. Normally, it's pre-evolution wouldn't evolve until Level ''64''. It also has perfect IVs and uses all its EVs. It will destroy your team. Earlier, Grimsley uses a Level 50 Bisharp - there is no way to legitimately get a Bisharp until 52.
** Now for an [[Inverted Trope|Inversion]] - the default "Shift" battle style allows players to change their active Mon after knocking out the opponent's, and they're even told what the opponent will be sending out next.
** One particularly annoying example is witnessed in the Battle Tower. Should the player and the opponent be down to their last Pokémon, the Self-KO (Kamikaze) Clause comes into play, where the player loses if he or she happens to command a Pokémon to use Explosion or Selfdestruct. But say the ''computer'' decides to finish the match with an all-out Explosion? The player '''STILL''' loses without the opponent being penalized, despite the sacrificial KO being ''solely'' the fault of the computer. Similar unfairness occurs when both Pokémon faint simultaneously due to the effects of Destiny Bond or Perish Song. So if you lose, the computer wins. If you "tie" with the computer, the computer ''still'' wins. To "win" (and thus preserve streaks), you have to '''WIN''', no questions asked.
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** The Wii version adjusts this: Little Mac now has three knockdowns he can recover from (barring a TKO), and can [[Determinator|occasionally force himself up]] on the fourth. (A fifth will end you.) The opponents all have secret knockdown values - once exceeded, they collapse in a KO on the next knockdown.
** In all versions Little Mac has to get to a full standing position before the KO count will stop, but the opponent only needs to twitch to stop or pause it.
* The Struggle in ''[[Kingdom Hearts|Kingdom Hearts II]]''. When you get your opponent down to 0 HP, they are knocked out for a few seconds so you can collect more orbs, then they revive with full health. When YOU get knocked down to 0 HP? You lose instantly.
** It helps that the only remotely dangerous Struggle opponent is Vivi, whom you cannot fight again after Roxas' part of the game is over.
* ''[[Kingdom Hearts|Chain of Memories]]'' on the Game Boy Advance. Enemies have an unlimited deck size and never have to recharge. (Riku never does either, however, but he still needs to shuffle his deck) And enemies that ''do'' have to reshuffle appear to have infinite CP and can float out of the way so you can't hit them while they're recharging. You however, cannot do this. (You actually ''can'' attack them once or twice while they're charging, however. They only float out of the way when you ''do'' hit them once or twice.) Larxene is a prime example of this.
* Enemies in the RPG ''[[Evil Islands]]'' never run out of fatigue needed to run (no pun intended) and cast spells. Thus even a frigging troll (an ugly, pimply, lumbering bulk, you know the [[Troll|kind]]) can always outrun the player.
* Most enemies in ''[[Castle Crashers]]'' follow the same rules as the player, but a few, like Fire Demons, can cast magic without their magic field active.
* ''[[Sid Meier's Pirates!]]'' is really foul about this. [http://www.hookedonpirates.com/forums/portal.php?subaction=showcomments&id=1119017449&archive=&start_from==12& Not only is your ship ridiculously slow, even by 1660 standards], but the damn [[Big Bad|Marquis]], [[The Dragon|Baron Raymondo]], and everyone else on the board does not age while your player character does (with their skills going down the pan as they do).
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* In ''[[Heroes of Might and Magic]] II'', resting in a city will restore your hero's magic points at the beginning of your next turn; if the computer attacks while you are resting no points will have been restored. The computer, on the other hand, has its points restored as soon as their turn is over; attack a city housing a hero who had no spell points left, and voila! they have them all back, even though in the same situation you'd have none.
** This is because you get the magic points restored (and other end-of-turn effects) after ''all players'' have had their turn. If you're player 1, everyone else gets a chance at you before you've recovered, but if you're the last player, nobody does. It has nothing to do with the AI.
* An odd couple of AI rules...er...modifications appear in the ''[[Command
* In ''[[Puzzle Quest|Puzzle Kingdoms]]'', your hero has four slots in which he can equip stat boosting items. You are limited in both type (one item each from Helm, Armor, Weapon, and Accessory) and by the point cost of each item. Computer opponents, OTOH, are given items completly at random, not only ignoring the points cap, but frequently stacking item types (which occasionally results in completely unfair combos like enemies with three shields, soaking up 90% of your attacks).
* In the majority of ''[[Shin Megami Tensei]]'' games and spinoffs, you have Physical attacks, which [[Cast From Hit Points|consume a precentage of the user's HP]] (Prior to ''[[Strange Journey]]'', where they use MP) and Magic attacks that use up magnetite, spirit points, or traditional MP. Naturally, Physical attacks, while powerful, will deplete your health in a hurry and are thus relatively risky to use. Enemy characters can use as many Physicals as they want and stay perfectly healthy.
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** ''[[Ogre Battle 64]]'' does the same thing. Also, unlike the previous game where the computer followed the cap on how many units it could deploy at once, in this game the enemy can field as many squads as it wants, despite you being limited.
* Zig-zagged with mystic artes in [[Tales (series)]] games. In some games, you have to be in overlimit to use Mystic Artes. Bosses have to follow this rule too, although for some reason, they're able to just pull them out of nowhere as well as through overlimit. This is especially prevalent in ''[[Tales of the Abyss]]'' and ''[[Tales of Vesperia]]'', where bosses that have Mystic Artes more often surprise the player when they suddenly pull it out of nowhere. This is also part of why that makes a certain boss in ''Vesperia'' [[That One Boss]]; because he'll use his mystic arte ''numerous'' times, and chances are, you ''will'' be caught by surprise when he pulls it out of thin-air.
** Doesn't apply in some games though - in others, enemies can use mystic artes out of nowhere or if they're programmed to as a response. (For example, in ''[[Tales of Destiny]] 2'' and subsequent appearances, Barbatos only uses a mystic arte, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efJlhwRmRfw No Items Ever!] if the player uses an item.)
* In [[Freelancer]], you can only mount a level-3 or lower gun on a level-3 hardpoint like you get on the Defender. The corrupted Liberty forces flying the same Defender can mount level-''7'' Nomad Energy Cannons. AI-controlled ships also have unlimited weapon capacitance and [[Sprint Meter|thruster burn-time]].
* [[Wizard 101]] has this late in the game for an optional tower. Depending on the enemy, the cheat varies from casting spells that they don't have the pips (spell points), to super powered spell that do more damage than normal, to casting a defense spell on themselves during your turn. Justified though as the enemies that do cheat are in the most difficult parts of the games and are meant to be fought with a full team of level 50 (the [[Cap|LevelCap]] until Celestia was released)
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* In ''[[Resonance of Fate]]'', your characters must take turns moving one at a time, but the enemies can all move at the same time. So, for every turn ''one'' of your characters take, ''every'' enemy gets a turn. The enemies are also aware of which character you're currently controlling and prefer targeting that one so you can't aim. This makes the limited run-while-shooting Hero Actions practically the only way to fight, since if you try to shoot while standing still the enemies will almost always interrupt your aim.
* In ''[[Stunt Car Racer]]'' the computer opponent cannot crash - any collision between you and the computer will most likely result in you flying off the track while they drive on unaffected.
* Early ''[[Command
* For a non-video game example, the agents in ''[[The Matrix]]'', though some people can cheat back.
* ''[[Aerobiz]]'': The game does this and [[Not Playing Fair with Resources|plays unfair with money]] at once. If your airline runs in the red for a year, it goes bankrupt and [[Nonstandard Game Over|you lose]]. If an AI airline runs in the red for a year, it goes bankrupt, changes its name and gets a huge influx of cash to start over and bounce back.
* The game [[MS Saga]] for the [[PlayStation 2]] has a system where you can upgrade and equip suits to fight other suits. The enemy ms's are not at all confined by your system having vastly more powerful suits and loadouts you can't duplicate.
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* There are plenty of [[Roguelike]] games (like ''[[Pokémon Mystery Dungeon]]'', and the first, but not the second, ''[[Izuna Legend of the Unemployed Ninja|Izuna]]'' game) where enemies aren't affected by traps. Most likely because their AI is so bad they tend to walk recklessly even into visible traps all the time, but it still can get annoying.
* Eye of Judgment: Legends for the PSP
** AI ''explicitly'' cheats throughout the entire story mode, sometimes to [[Nintendo Hard|nigh-insurmountable extents]]. This is all the more egregious considering that Eye of Judgment is essentially a trading card game, where even a slight mana or attack advantages compound over time to give the abusing side an [[Game Breaker|enormous advantage]].
** The final boss is particularly nasty about this in that the game actually ''lies'' about the extent to which he cheats. While the boss description states that he gets one mana off the summoning cost of any of his ultra rare creatures, he actually gets the summoning cost reduced ''to'' one. Prepare to see him pull out insanely powerful cards like Ouroboros Dragon out of nowhere while you're stuck summoning [[Cannon Fodder|bottom tier monsters]]. Oh, and he uses a [[Fixing the Game|stacked deck]]. Prepare to see his trademark card Scion Triumphant summoned around turn 5 every time you battle him even though he only has one copy of the card in his entire deck.
** The second to last boss has the ability to use any spell cards at no mana cost, and his deck seems designed to abuse this power to the fullest extent. This is particularly evident when he casts [[That One Attack|Elven Dismissal]], a card which [[One-Hit Kill|returns an opponent's monster to their hand]] by paying an amount of mana slightly higher than the monster's summoning cost. Since the boss essentially has an infinite amount of free spell mana at his disposal, the game interprets this as allowing him to sweep away ANY of your monsters for free. If he decides to take out your most powerful defensive monster and already has board control, you can [[Game Over|kiss the match goodbye]].
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