The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

Sometimes, the computer only cheats at higher difficulty levels -- particularly conscientious games may even tell you how. These are often considered [[Justified Trope|exceptions to the trope]]: The computer is still cheating, but it's not being a bastard about it -- the equivalent of differing handicap weights in thoroughbred horse racing.

 

 

Note that this is not a place to complain about enemies that have skills you don't have, or bosses who have stronger skills than you, or about how unlucky you are and how many times you missed (unless the computer has a different chance of missing with the same skill), or about how hard [[That One Boss]] is, or how the computer is actually half decent at some of the game's more advanced maneuvers that you happen to suck at. This is only for scenarios where it would be expected for the player and the AI to be on even footing. For example, in the campaign of a strategy game, it would be natural for the computer to outnumber you and/or have more resources than you -- that's part of the challenge of a campaign. However, in free battle or skirmish mode, a computer starting with more resources than you is usually cheating, since you would expect to be on even footing with the computer (unless you can set what everyone starts with).

Almost every game that can have this trope does, so please post infamous examples only.

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* [[Contractual Boss Immunity]] <br />Any overpowered or instant-death skill will be useless on big bosses.

* [[My Rules Are Not Your Rules]] <br />Where the AI players break the explicitly laid-out rules of the game.

** ... [[Not Playing Fair With Resources|acquires resources faster, starts with more, and/or simply doesn't need them.]]

** ... has [[Computers Are Fast|effectively infinite cursors]], and can command all of its subjects at once.

** ... doesn't suffer from the "one unit at a time" build rule, making it more likely for his newly built units to survive.

** ... isn't restricted to the [[Arbitrary Headcount Limit]] under normal skirmish-mode rules.

** ... has [[Bottomless Magazines|infinite ammo]].

** ... always knows your exact position, and can hunt you down/avoid you at all costs almost effortlessly.

** ... can see in the dark.

** ... can see through obstacles/cover of any kind.

** ... has grenades which roll towards you like heat-seeking missiles, while yours avoid foes as if magnetically deflected.

** ... is [[Friendly Fireproof]], even when you're not.

** ... always knows you are coming, despite no warning or reasonable reason to expect you.

** ... troops who practice shooting less than you do, never miss.

 

== Fighting Games ==

** The computer also knows what effect clocks will have. If you see a clock, and don't see the computer gunning for it, when you pick it up, it will slow you down. The same can be said for Poke Balls and assist trophies.

** This started way back in the ''original'' [[Super Smash Bros]], where CPU players are able to pull things off on humans that won't work on them. Example: if a CPU Ness gets you into his PK Fire, you're stuck there shielding until it goes away. But any CPU can escape it. Fox can spam his laser and practically keep you in place indefinitely.

** In the original ''[[Mortal Kombat]]'', computer characters ''ducked and slowly slid across the floor'' to counter a barrage of player fireballs.

** Here are some gems for ''[[Mortal Kombat 2 (Video Game)|Mortal Kombat 2]]''.

*** Whenever you did Scorpion's screen side shifting teleport, the computer would turn around and send a projectile your way... before you even left your side of the screen. Humans can't do this, but actually have to wait for you to wrap around before they turn around. However, if your screen wrapping teleport failed because you were backed into the corner...it would ''still'' turn around and fire the other way! Unless you were playing against a character with a really fast projectile recovery, this resulted in you getting a free chance to harpoon the computer. [[Hilarity Ensues]].

*** Also, Heaven forbid your feet leave the ground. You want to jump forward? They ''will'' jump kick you out of the air. You want to jump back? Prepare to eat a projectile. (Though those who could warp attack like Smoke and Scorpion could jump back, cancel into the warp and smack the computer silly when they inevitably fireballed).

 

== First Person Shooters ==

* Enemies in ''[[Call of Duty (Video Game)|Call of Duty]]'' love to automatically shoot you ''just'' before you pull the trigger and throw off your aim so you miss your shot, especially when you're using a bolt-action rifle and have to wait a full second before you can fire again.

 

** The same is also true in all other games in the Carmageddon series. ''However'', the computer cars cannot make use of their "no clipping" cheat-ability when the player has the main map-screen up; their location is always shown and they move much more player-like.

* ''Cel Damage'''s AI players can make sharper turns than the human player. This can be seen when the player is killed, and for the brief seconds until the respawn, the computer player (most likely the assassin) can make some incredible curves, even while standing on the same place.

** Try this (At least on the PC version): Play Test Drive 5 and use the "nitro boost" cheat, race on a track with a lot of straight roads so you can boost your top speed way past logical top speed like on the Sydney track, and take a look at the racer stats at the end of the race. If you've logged a top speed of around 400mph, then the AI will log a top speed of around 800mph just to keep up with you. Granted you would be cheating yourself in the first place, this is still an amusing way to prove the audacity of the rubber band AI under magnified proportions. And also shows you can't cheat a cheating opponent since it will just cheat more anyway.

* [[Midnight Club]] 3 seems to be malevolent and benevolent at the exact same time. In races, your opponents are always in better cars unless you have an A tier car(to the point that races can play out with you in a D tier and your opponent in a B tier BEFORE you've completely upgraded it.), you're opponents always have more nitrous shots than you (or in the case of bikes, HAVE nitrous shots.), and, somehow, obey the copenhagen interpretation, because even if you overlapped a car, if you are not watching him on the minimap, he will warp right behind you and be able to put you back into second place. However, you can outrun them on straight-aways, they cannot use slipstream turbo, and cannot use any special abilities.

** From ''Baldur's Gate II'' and onwards, all high-level mages (and there are a lot of these) get something called a 'tattoo of power', which is a spell trigger that can activate any number of defensive spells instantly and without any action from the user and stacks on top of existing spell triggers and contingencies. Oh, wait, did I say 'all mages'? Silly me, I meant 'every mage except you and the ones you can have in your party'.

** Speaking of teleportation, nearly every mage in ''Baldur's Gate II'' can teleport -- except for you. No one in the universe has a ''dimension door'' scroll for you to buy, with no explanation given ''at all.'' (This is a result of the developers removing the spell and citing 'potential abuse' as the reason. Jerks. Fortunately, there is a downloadable mod, the D0Tweaks mod, that'll restore dimension door to the game for player use. Nonetheless, ''dimension door'' only allows you to teleport within a certain short range; how mage after mage uses the spell to teleport seemingly all over the world goes unexplained in-universe. (The game actually has them teleport into nearby shadows using the spell; they then dissapear.)

*** On the other hand, if you've got the one magic item in the game which reflects spells back at their caster, it can make for a hilarious final battle.

* The Krogan in ''[[Mass Effect]]'' can regenerate to full health in two seconds when you destroy their very last HP because of their redundant internal organs. All Krogan ''except the one on your team''.

* In ''[[World of Warcraft (Video Game)|World of Warcraft]]'', at the Argent Tournament, the jousting opponents will run in random directions to set up a charge or a ranged attack, which is fine, except that sometimes they will choose to run right off the tournament grounds. Guess what happens. Hint: it doesn't end in a tie.

** At the same Tournament, the mechanics mean that the player must maintain a small range to use power attacks, wait several seconds between using them, and execute slow, ponderous turn after one of said attacks. The AI can execute pinpoint turns (on HORSES), to execute both attacks at the same time while outside of attack range and immediately stop to attack you again.

** One boss in the Karazhan raid is essentially an NPC Mage. When his mana is low, he will cast a mass Polymorph spell, drink some water to refill his mana, and hit the entire raid with Pyroblast just as the Polymorph ends. How is this cheating? First, a Polymorph spell cast by a player will rapidly restore health and can't affect Druids that are currently shapeshifted; his does NOT restore health (a change that was made sometime after the raid was introduced) and will break through the Druid's immunity to Polymorph effects. Second, players can only use food and water to recover outside of battle; he does so ''as you're wandering around as a sheep, with everyone still counting as being "in combat"''.

** Mobs have a tendency to use moves that a player of their equivalent class can't use at that level. For instance, the naga mages in Blackfathom Deeps can use the spell Blizzard at around level 23 or 24. Player mages don't learn Blizzard until ''level 52''.

* The [[Dragon Quest (Video Game)|Dragon Quest]] series gives you a rare opportunity to put the cheating AI to work on your behalf. Normally, you have to enter battle commands for your party at the beginning of each round of battle. However, in several of the games, including ''[[Dragon Quest VIII (Video Game)|Dragon Quest VIII]]'' and the [[Nintendo DS]] [[Video Game Remake|re-releases]], the AI doesn't have to commit to an action until it's actually time to perform that action. Enemies [[My Rules Are Not Your Rules|that can break the rules that the player has to abide by]] is nothing unusual, but if you set your party members to AI control, then they get the same advantage that the enemies get - and because your party members will almost certainly have a greater range of skills than the monsters that you're fighting against, they'll be a lot better at taking advantage of it.

* [[White Knight Chronicles]] gives players strictly set ranges for melee weapons, bows, and spells. Get outside the range, and you can't use that attack. The computer characters, using the same attacks, have no such limits.

* In ''[[The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time]]'', you have to beat Ingo in a horse race in order to get a horse. Thing is, while the player is limited in the number of times he can whip the horse to increase its speed, Ingo can beat his horse mercilessly and effectively maintain top speed throughout the race.

** This may be justified when you remember Malon saying that Ingo treats the horses very badly, something Link would presumably restrain himself from doing.

* On British pub fruit machines, when a player spins a winning combination he is given the option to go higher/lower for the chance to win the next biggest payout. The machine decides in advance how far the player will be allowed to go, and there will come a point where a player who chooses to go higher/lower is guaranteed to lose regardless of the option taken. This has been proven by the Fairplay campaign, who ran the fruit machine software on a PC emulator, saving the game state before the choice is made. The machine cabinets are now required to display the message "This machine may occasionally offer a choice where the player has no chance of success".

** The British National Lottery online games do exactly the same thing. For instance, there is a game where you can guess whether the next ball from the machine will be higher or lower, giving the illusion that skill is required to win. However, whether you will win or lose the game is decided beforehand. Sometimes it's funny to deliberately choose the least likely answer and then watch as a highly improbable sequence of balls emerge - again and again.

** In case you had any doubt, there's no warning of this (at least in Canada).

* Claw Machines. Good lord. It's amazing how many people don't know this, but almost all claw machines are rigged in various ways. For instance, many machines lower the claw slowly and then pull it up quickly, tending to drop the prize with this sudden motion. The most common method of rigging a machine is to rig the claw so that it only actually closes tight enough to grip a prize every so often. If the machine is set to grip a prize, an experienced player will almost always win...but these instances are rare. On some machines, you get a chance to win every X amount of plays. Someone in-the-know could let other people play until the machine is ready to spit out a prize, then swoop in and take it. However, most modern machines use a Random Number Generator.

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[[Category:The Computer Is A Cheating Bastard]]