Editorials Reviews Previews Essays Worth Playing

Essays

Essays 03 April 2020, 16:17

95% Chances of Success and I Missed?! Game Mechanics We Hate

Yes, we love games. But there are times when the only sensible reaction seems... throwing the keyboard out the window. Some of the mechanics have been under the players' skin, and today, we're exposing them all.

Table of Contents

Your computer is a fraud

Cheating in game design is one of the widely accepted (although lousy) means of boosting artificial intelligence. Have you noticed that in Assassin's Creed Odyssey, the darn mercenary always seems to patrol the street exactly around the place where you happen to be hiding? Seemingly randomly, he stays in the area, surveying alleyways, walking in the surrounding squares. Are you launching a silent assault on another Athenian camp? You bet your ass he'll show up in a minute. Maybe he just was in the neighborhood and decided to take a look. No, he just knows where you are.

The fifth Civilization was the most cheating game ever. - 95% Chances of Success and I Missed?! Game Mechanics We Hate - dokument - 2020-04-03
The fifth Civilization was the most cheating game ever.

The greatest agony is caused by cheating RTS games. The Civilization series is famous for such moves. In the first Civilization, the computer always had the upper hand with research and building world wonders, and it could even build a spaceship without the right technology. In Civilization 3, the enemy saw through the fog of war and always attacked those cities that were the least protected. To make it even worse, some raw materials couldn't be spotted on the map until you discovered a special technology. This did not apply to computers, which could set up cities alongside the "invisible" deposits of raw materials. In Civilization 5, you couldn't build cities too close together. Which doesn't apply to the AI.

. This isn't the malevolence of the developers, but an attempt to create a competitive AI. That's not a huge problem until it turns out that the computer is obviously cheating. But let us wonder if we, brothers, are without a sin. Do we not cheat, even by just reducing the difficulty level (thus getting bonuses to many mechanics)? By using strategies we wouldn't use in case of humans? Now I'm not defending unfair AI, but the thing is... we often are equally unfair.

Matthias Pawlikowski

Matthias Pawlikowski

The editor-in-chief of GRYOnline.pl, associated with the site since the end of 2016. Initially, he worked in the guides department, and later he managed it, eventually becoming the editor-in-chief of Gamepressure, an English-language project aimed at the West, before finally taking on his current role. In the past, a reviewer and literary critic, he published works on literature, culture, and even theater in many humanities journals and portals, including the monthly Znak or Popmoderna. He studied literary criticism and literature at the Jagiellonian University. Likes old games, city-builders and RPGs, including Japanese ones. Spends a huge amount of money on computer parts. Apart from work and games, he trains tennis and occasionally volunteers for the Peace Patrol of the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity.

more

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

Kingdom Come: Deliverance

Kingdom Come: Deliverance

Resident Evil 2

Resident Evil 2

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare

Call of Duty: Warzone

Call of Duty: Warzone

XCOM: Enemy Unknown

XCOM: Enemy Unknown

See/Add Comments