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My Rules Are Not Your Rules: Difference between revisions

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** Blanka also does this by launching his rolling attack while walking forward. Oddly, after Turbo, while he still does that, he'll pretend to charge for his rising rolling attack.
** In the max difficulty, some CPU characters will have the starting frames of some attacks cut to zero in order to use the infamous magic priority trick. Especially noticeable in a Ryu vs. Ryu match: if you try to sweep him, he can crouch and swipe you before you complete your sweep.
* Ah, ''[[Mario Kart (Video Game)|Mario Kart]]'', let me count the ways... All of the ''[[Mario Kart (Video Game)|Mario Kart]]'' games have some level of this, but the following examples are all from ''[[Mario Kart 64 (Video Game)|Mario Kart 64]]'':
** The computer's top speed is not the same as a player using the same character. This is most evident when Toad gets passed by Bowser on a straightaway. For the uninitiated, Mario Kart 64 gives light weights like Toad higher top speeds than heavy weights like Bowser, at least in theory.
** The computer does not need to go over an item block to get an item. This is most evident on Toad's Turnpike, where the item blocks are all in the pit area that the computer never enters, but that doesn't stop them from leaving bananas all over the place.
** The computer does not get certain items: Especially in ''64'', they never seem to get banana chains or any of the shells, including [[Game Breaker|blue ones]]. Note that [[Tropes Are Not Bad|this is a good thing]].
* ''[[Super Mario Kart (Video Game)|Super Mario Kart]]'' deserves special mention because of how different you are from the other racers. Your car's max speed is determined by how many coins you have. You lose coins when you hit someone or fall off the track. The other cars? They don't even ''have'' coins. They can't even pick them up. So while you hitting them means you slow down, it means nothing for them besides being hit.
** It's stranger for powerups. ''You'' have to drive over a power-up block to get a random power-up. They don't get random power-ups. Each AI character has a single kind of powerup that they use at regular intervals. Donkey Kong throws banana peels, Princess Toadstool drops mushrooms, Mario and Luigi can spontaneously ''turn invincible'', etc. And they only use these powerups against ''you''; they will only activate them if they are exactly one place in front of or one place behind the player.
*** [[Tropes Are Not Bad|This system has advantages compared to some of the later games in the series.]] Rivals don't deplete power-up boxes, they don't use unexpected or unexpectedly powerful attacks, and anyone more than one place ahead of or behind you can be ignored (especially important for the ones behind you, since racers closer to the back get better items). It also provides an incentive for maintaining first place: only one rival will actually attack you.
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** 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.
** One WMG theory that may cancel all the angst about evolution levels: the game you play is only your experience, and the evolution levels you discover are not universal. So yes, ''your'' Pidgey always evolves at a certain level, but nothing says that ''all'' Pidgey do.
* In ''[[Final Fantasy Tactics a 2 (Video Game)|Final Fantasy Tactics a 2]]'', abilities are all learned by specific jobs. Blood Price, for instance, can only be learned by Spellblades, a Viera-only class. Now, there exists a job changing system, so you can use abilities from one class to another, so this means finding Red Mages and Summoners (both Viera jobs) with Blood Price isn't terribly out of the ordinary. However, AI units tend to ignore the exclusivity of support abilities like these, and you'll find plenty of enemy units with abilities they just simply shouldn't have. Illusionist (Humes and Nu Mou only) with Blood Price, despite lacking the Spellblade job necessary to get it? Sure, why not? And, whenever you compete in the "Cup" missions to get scions, some enemy units will have support skills that raise Magick/Resistance, or raise Attack/Defense (which can also be learned by monsters, but they could simply just be abilities only learned ''by'' those monster), or support skills that allows the unit to evade all ranged attacks (not Evade Magick, that's a reaction skill). Your clan will never learn such skills, oh no. What really rankles is when you fight with a certain unit using one of these unobtainable support skills ("Impervious", which makes them immune to ''all'' [[Standard Status Ailments]]), and then later on you get to recruit this character, and he's suddenly ''forgotten'' this amazing ability.
** Let's talk about ''[[Final Fantasy Tactics a 2 (Video Game)|Final Fantasy Tactics a 2]]'' some more. A very literal example of [[My Rules Are Not Your Rules]] is the law system itself. In the prequel, laws were universal: everyone in the conflict was bound by the judge's ruling. In this game, your clan has its own personal judge, who deals you one law per battle, which ''only applies to you''. Best of all, the laws are not random, so if the judge thinks that your battle against the nigh-[[Demonic Spiders|Demonic Spider]] Flans would be improved by disallowing all magic, then prepare for a long, painful battle. Presumably other clans have their own judges imposing similarly arbitrary laws, but you never see them or their effects. Thankfully, breaking the laws in ''A2'' is far less severely punished than it was in ''Advance'': instead of having the violators sent to prison for several in-game days, you simply lose the benefit you'd chosen (annoying, especially if you'd chosen a benefit that occurs ''after'' the battle, like an EXP bonus), and the ability to revive your fallen comrades (though this doesn't apply to the Auto-Life spell). It's still quite annoying to watch the enemies gleefully do what you can't.
*** This could possibly be justified, however, in the sense that the law is applied to you because you are in an adjudged clan. The enemies, especially if they are monsters, are not adjudged, and therefore are not subject to the laws that the player has to follow. The downside to not being a part of an adjudged clan, [[Final Death|however...]]
** Speaking of Laws, let's speak of ''[[Final Fantasy Tactics Advance (Video Game)|Final Fantasy Tactics Advance]]''. The law system in that game was, if anything, even ''more'' restrictive. There were anything between one and ''three'' laws up for any given mission, which were randomized depending on the day. The enemies actually had to obey the laws (Enemies that disobeyed would be red-carded and jailed just like your party members, and sometimes waiting for the right law would cripple an enemy), except when they didn't. Many enemies of any real importance would have a special medal on them (just a mark on their profile, not an actual item that you could steal or break) that made them immune to getting red-carded. So they could get yellow-card warnings all day for flagrant disobedience of the laws that would get ''your'' clanmates jailed on the spot. And you could ''never'' get this kind of law-protection.
*** Technically, the laws weren't random. They just cycled every day. So if on one day outlaws Swords, Knockback, Knives, and you move once, the new laws would be Knockback, Knives, Other, move another day and it'll be Knives, Other, Other2. The only time the laws truly randomised is when they appear Blue.
* In the PSP remake of ''[[Final Fantasy Tactics (Video Game)|Final Fantasy Tactics]]'', the Onion Knight job is marked by being able to use any piece of equipment, being unable to use abilities, yet having extremely high stats when mastered. However, in one link mission, you and your partner must defeat a team of master Onion Knights who have a full range of powerful abilities equipped.
* In ''[[Final Fantasy XII (Video Game)|Final Fantasy XII]]'' the only elemental spell that doesn't have a higher-level version is Water. Unless you're one of the many enemies with Watera or Waterga. Do the PCs get it? No. And there are many opponents who are weak against water. Those enemies tend to attack en mass, where a multi-target water-based spell would be great. Oh, and one of your Summons gets Watera, but won't use it very often. Real fair.
* In ''[[Mortal Kombat]] II'', the AI jumps ''while its sprite is still in the "laid on the floor" animation'' to counter any hope of continuing a combo after a knockdown.
* Goenitz in ''[[The King of Fighters]] '96'' could do desperation moves without restrictions while giving more and receiving less damage to/from the player.
* The nigh-forgotten ''[[Eternal Champions]]'' games on the [[Sega Genesis]] and Sega CD were 2D fighters that took the unusual approach of requiring "inner energy" for all special moves. Theoretically, this forced the player to learn the characters and apply specific strategies in every possible matchup... Except against the AI, which could always execute specials with sheer and utter disregard of its own energy levels.
** Even more, well, insulting, characters have an ability called Insult which allows them to sacrifice one piece of their special gauge to destroy a little more of their opponents. The computer, especially the final boss (bosses in the Sega CD version), is quite fond of repeatedly Insulting you from a distance to render you impotent, usually shortly before, with a blatantly flashing EMPTY gauge, they execute their ultimate full-gauge-requiring attacks, some of which do things like rendering the character completely invincible (the final boss(es) have these, naturally). If you lose in the final battle, you can't continue?
* In ''[[Final Fantasy Tactics (Video Game)|Final Fantasy Tactics]]'', not all enemies have the required job levels to use their current job. (This is really a minor issue, however, having those levels doesn't affect their performance and won't make a difference unless the player invites them to the party.)
** A more egregious example is that the AI has unlimited item stock. That rare Infinity Plus One sword you've been crawling around Deep Dungeon for, while fighting through the hardest enemies in the game? Yeah, they toss those babies around like it was nothing; preferable, straight into your face. And that's not mentioning the Elixir Spam and the Draw Out Spam. Fortunately, this is hardly a problem in game where you can wipe out the whole enemy force in one turn in most battles, and sometimes, before they can even move! You can also turn the enemy's tendency to throw [[Infinity+1 Sword|Infinity Plus One Swords]] at you into an advantage with a reaction ability that allows you to catch and keep any weapons thrown at you.
* Justified in ''[[Digimon]]: Digital Card Battle''. Most enemies avoid this, but one of the bosses fights with a deck containing all the top cards and which doesn't have to be shuffled, while simultaneously moving the player's partner cards to the bottom of their deck. The game explicitly states he's a cheater. However, this trope is used to your advantage in ''[[Digimon World 3]]'': the player has access to a set of Digimon other humans don't; others have a separate pool to choose from where their forces can only have three moves.
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* In ''[[wikipedia:Warlords (game series)|Warlords]]'' (that is, ''any'' of the seven-plus ''Warlords'' games) the percentages are so lopsided in favor of the AI you can only accomplish a fair fight if you sacrifice ludicrous amounts of cannon-fodder at an equally powerful enemy group before launching a main assault. Interestingly, the difficulty settings do not modify the artificial intelligence, only the degree to which it cheats.
** Especially conspicuous since the warlords franchise was promised by developers and marketing alike to feature strong AI ''in lieu of'' common cheating methods. It seems [[I Lied|they lied]].
* In ''[[Dissidia Final Fantasy (Video Game)|Dissidia Final Fantasy]]'', all equipment has a minimum required level before it can be equipped. Accessories don't have a level restriction, and instead fall into several classes, depending on how many of the same accessory you can equip at once. Abilities are earned based on your level, and cost "CP" to equip, so even if you know an ability you might not be able to use it without removing an existing ability. Needless to say, none of this applies to the computer. Strictly speaking, these limits still apply to the AI, but only outside Story Mode. In Story Mode though, the AI can screw these rules as it pleases.
* In ''[[Chrono Cross (Video Game)|Chrono Cross]]'', the player has to attack multiple times in order to build up enough energy to cast high-level magic and skills, and can only cast one spell (max) per turn. The computer is ''completely unbounded'' by this rule. It can and will cast magic and skills from the first turn of battle, on consecutive turns, or in some cases, more than once in a single turn, without ever having to build up energy with standard attacks.
** However, enemies have predictable patterns instead. So if you know what's coming next, you have the advantage.
*** This is actually VITALLY NECESSARY to get the best ending.
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** 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 (Video Game)|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 (Video Game)|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).
* Both ''[[Left 4 Dead]]'' games have the special infected AI cheat by spawning inside the safe room at the end of a level, whereas players controlling the infected are told by the game they are not allowed to to do the same thing because it's a restricted area.
** However. a player infected can still spawn in the ending saferoom if they are auto-spawned.
** The survivor AI will sometimes teleport to save other survivors form a "point of no return" this being that. once you get past it. there is no way to go back. survivors that are hanging behind will sometimes get pinned by infected. a human survivor could not help the pinned survivor. tho a AI survivor will teleport back to save the pinned survivor. thus "cheating"
* In ''[[Madden NFL (Video Game)|Madden NFL]]'', the AI is allowed to audible from the Wildcat formation while the human players cannot.
** Rather surprising, as well, in that the series has long been founded not on any "arcadish" feel, but on the philosophy of trying to provide the purest [[American Football]] video game experience possible, where every option available to any real coach/player of the game is in play.
* 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.
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* In [[Fire Emblem Jugdral|Fire Emblem 4]] opponents have infinite uses of their weapons and staves. The former is rarely an issue as all weapons except the Earth Sword have 50 uses. (Though it is annoying when it comes to long-range spells like Bolting and Meteor, which only had 5 uses in later games.)
** Fire Emblem 5 contains an example that you'll only realize in retrospect: throughout the game you face Dark Mages, who use a spell that does heavy damage ''and'' inflicts [[Standard Status Effects|Poison.]] When you later get a Dark Mage of your own, the same spell used by you ''doesn't poison.''
* ''[[Final Fantasy VII (Video Game)|Final Fantasy VII]]'' has Joe, a chocobo racer, and Teioh, his black chocobo, in the Golden Saucer. Their stats will always be higher than yours, even if your chocobo's stats are all maxed out. After a point it doesn't matter, as you can train your Gold Chocobo enough (get it running in a straight line) that it has enough stamina to sprint from start to finish on the long course. Joe doesn't start sprinting until the final stretch and so is easily beatable.
* In a literature example, XB-223, the navigational computer in ''[[The Red Tape War]]'' moves chess pieces when Pierce isn't looking, and deals whatever cards it wants in card games rather than using a random-number generator. [[Genre Savvy|Pierce]] caught on a long time ago. Nobody else has.
* In the 2 car races in ''[[Gran Turismo]] 4'', there is a penalty (your engine gets shut off for a few se) for colliding with the other car, but this is never accessed against the AI. Even if they ram you, if anyone gets the penalty, it will be you.
* In ''[[Ogre Battle]]'' the computer is not restrained by the same level restrictions for class change as you are, and its characters can have advanced classes that they do not qualify for. The player starts the game with a number of characters who follow the same principle (because the tier 1 classes cannot lead units), but for the computer such characters are the rule rather than the exception.
** ''[[Ogre Battle 64 (Video Game)|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(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 (Video Game)|Tales of the Abyss]]'' and ''[[Tales of Vesperia (Video Game)|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 (Video Game)|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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* Early ''[[Command and Conquer]]'' games allowed the AI to rebuild destroyed buildings without regard for building adjacency rules (which forbade placing a building too far away from others). On the bright side, the AI always built on the exact same spots, so a single infantry unit can stall the AI by being where the building used to be.
* 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 Withwith 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 [[PSPlay Station 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.
* In [[World of Warcraft]], Whirlwind is a Warrior ability that strikes all targets around the user for damage that is lower than a typical weapon attack. When bosses and some enemies use Whirlwind, however, they will often spin for a few seconds, hitting anyone standing next to them multiple times for damage comparable to their typical weapon attacks, more akin to the Blade Storm talent (only accessible to Arms warriors at the very end of the talent tree, and having a cooldown of about a minute and a half). This is one of many examples of player abilities being different in bosses' hands.
* In later ''[[Disgaea]]'' games, you can merge your monster-type units into giant monsters with higher stats and increased range on their attacks, and you can turn monsters into weapons for your humanoid units to use (called "Magichange"). However, Fusion and Magichange normally only work for a few turns without a special ability. Unless you're the computer, for whom it will never wear off. (On the other hand, given the computer's tendency to fuse/Magichange on the first turn of battle, and [[Artificial Stupidity|its tendency to sit still doing nothing until player units are in range]], this can be seen as a practical way to keep the player from just waiting the fusion/Magichange out from the other side of the battlefield... but then, once the enemy unit is close and trying to murder your units, it STILL doesn't wear off.)
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** 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]].
* In ''[[Makai Kingdom]]'', building bonuses and special weapon abilities tend to vary depending on whether you're the player or not. For instance, units deployed from an Academy gain +50% EXP for players... but enemy units instead gain a sweet level-up each turn. If an enemy hits one of your troops with a mallet, you go down a level, but the same thing doesn't happen when your troop holds the mallet.
* The execrable ''[[MegamanMega Man Battle Network]]'' spinoff game ''Battlechip Grand Prix'' loves this trope. The game rules restrict the Program Deck size and slot-in capacity for the player, but these restrictions ''never'' apply to the computer--which leads to ugly surprises like Ring having Jealousy as her slot-in chip in the ''E-rank tournaments'', when you don't actually have the memory capacity for Jealousy until after you've beaten the game.
* In the ''[[Chaos Rings (Franchise)|Chaos Rings]]'' series, the harder bosses in the game all have the ability to take ''two'' consecutive turns while the player only has one.
 
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