How Did kasio The Slim Unproudly Kill Party in the Sewers Under Temple District

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I guess thats what you call a game exploit but still.
I was disappointed seeing that good old game exploiting Warcraft/C&C etc strategy works fine in BG2 also. So...
People say that different intelligence of monsters result also in difference of their attack tactics.
i dont know exactly but i assume that goblins, umberhulks, trolls and other unintelligent looking monsters actualy are
with low intelligence level. And they act like that. they always attack whom i want them to attack - the party member with lowest AC (Jaheira). Jaheira spots them, they run to her and unsuccessfully try to slash her. Thats OK - they are stupid animals.
But now i came across party in the sewers and was tingling in prescience of delight of interesting battle.
I manually made an appropriate tactiacal formation in tunnel not far from they were standing and (by habit) approached slowly party by Jaheira. I was not expecting a massive attack or pursuit on Jaheira (as the ai of this game is declared to be good, smart, uniquie etc), i was expecting that they will cast protective magic on themselves and keep their position awaiting for attack, or maybe even try to split jaheira of the group by Hold Person, Imprisonment, Slow or such spell... That was what I was expecting... BUT HOW DID THIS TURNED OUT!!!
As i approached gently and slowly i spotted not whole 6 group members together, but 1 of them only! You think he yelled as hell so that whole party lashed out on poor Jaheira? NO! What you call a party isnt actually a party, unconnected warriors put in one place, which almost dont work in a group! This spotted warrior ALONE (while rest party - mages, priests, other warriors were standing 2.5 ft away from him - as nothing would happen)attacked Jaheira, followed her when she ran to my rest party just 20 ft away, moreover he (MORE OR LESS INTELLIGENT I ASSUME) continued to attack my best armor classed warrior jaheira (while she didnt even had a weapon) while Minsc and Valygar dealt with him quickly and painfully.
The rest party members died the same way - one by one.
Conclusion.
When i played warcraft1,2 7 or so years ago this ai level was acceptable, but even newest strategy games (with hundreds of units where single unit ai is not so important as here BG2) keep enemy units from pursuing and following player ledger-bait units. NOT TO MENTION THAT EVEN WARCRAFT1 units were tought to act in teams!!!
Well excuse me but if you call this strategy GAME EXPLOIT then what isnt game exploit? Just need to work more on ai then 8 strategies out of 10 shouldnt be called game exploit... I am disappointed...

[This message has been edited by kasio (edited May 04, 2001).]

[This message has been edited by kasio (edited May 04, 2001).]

 

If you don't like the way that it played out, then don't play that way.

 

Kasio makes a valid complaint I think. Would it be better if we never pointed out the weaknesses in this otherwise great game? I think not.

The AI should make a party of adventurers act as a team. It'd be ok if a pack of golems or maybe trolls acted like this but not a party of adventurers.

 

I agree with you. No one said that stuff like this should not be pointed out.
This is a well known problem and has been discussed in this forum as well as in many FAQ's and walk throughs (where it is usually described as a strategy).
As a software engineer, I am used to our user community taking issue with many small problems or issues. It is common to have stuff like this remain in the final code, because there is an easy work around:

If you don't like it, then don't do it. If you do like it, then do it.

One of our marketing guys referred to this kind of thing as "empowering the user".

Makes my job easier.

[This message has been edited by Jack Funk (edited May 04, 2001).]

 

Very interesting post, Jack Funk! Empowering the user, eh?

My reply to your first post shows how hard it is to read between the lines. I couldn't tell if you were saying "You don't like it, then go f*ck yourself!" or if it was an honest - albeit tongue-in-cheek - advice.

 

You forget that stupid AI is an invaluable aid to certain players.

 

The sewer party doesn't always respond that way. Especially if you are foolish enough to attack the one you can see while he is still in view of his comrades.

Think of it this way: Guy in view (can't remember their names offhand) thinks -- hmm; who's that? I think I'll go check. Walks away from the party and gets himself whacked. Eventually someone else decides to check out his disappearance and gets whacked as well. By the time the party realizes there is something deadly out there, half of them are post mortem.

Incidentally, I defeated them by the time-honored tactic of running away and hiding around a corner. The fighters were naturally rushing into battle; first one got creamed by the ambush. By the time the mages showed up I was ready to deal with them without too much distraction.