Was AI better in old games?

[Biggles]

Originally Posted by Lagger123987

Old games suck except for silent hunter and aces of the deep.

oh please...don't give me any of that!

Total Annihilation!
Empire Earth!
Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator (1 and 2)
Medieval: Total War

Some ol' games.....TA is the best RTS this far, since it's so fast paced, brain dead and totaly enjoyable!

[fatty]

Really AI has stayed about the same. I have yet to play a game where my computer opponent will analyze and predict my moves. and effectively counter them. The only exception is the Chessmaster series.

[GlobalExplorer]

I dont think so, but I think developers used to invest much more time into balancing and fine tuning the AI / gameplay which gave the player the feeling that the AI was just right because the level of difficulty was just right. Technically, the huge advances in CPU speed and AI algorithms should rule out any possibility that the AI nowadays could be worse than 10 years ago.

Generally my impression is that most new games nowadays come with pretty amazing engines (including AI) but completely lacking the last stage - balancing - which takes a surpisingly large amout of time - but is just absolutely crucial to the general experience.

[FAdmiral]

Another thing I have not seen discussed here is the text-file variation
in most new games now. This influences the AI to a great degree.
Older games did not have this feature. You got the AI that came with the
game, period. Now the modders can make text changes and give the AI
different parameters. Like in SH4, you can adjust how the AI ships &
planes view the players sub and how they react to it....

JIM

[bradclark1]

Originally Posted by GlobalExplorer

Generally my impression is that most new games nowadays come with pretty amazing engines (including AI) but completely lacking the last stage - balancing - which takes a surpisingly large amout of time - but is just absolutely crucial to the general experience.

There you go! That hit the nail on the head.

[PeriscopeDepth]

I think when graphics were more primitive, developers put much more effort into AI than they do now.

PD

[nikimcbee]

Originally Posted by PeriscopeDepth

I think when graphics were more primitive, developers put much more effort into AI than they do now.

PD

My thoughts excatly. It seems like today's AI is either too smart or too dumb. But back when I was playin Silent Service, SHI, I wasn't as sensitive to AI. The first bad AI I noticed was SH2.

[PeriscopeDepth]

AI wasn't really better then. It just wasn't flat out broken. It was convincing and well tested.

PD