7. Hey Could You Carry My Armour For M--Hey Where'd You Go?.
There have been momentous changes and improvements in gaming over the past few decades, graphics and game-play have improved drastically but it seems the AI has stayed just as stupid as it was right at the start. Ok, perhaps that's an over-statement but when it comes to the computer helping you, it's more of a hindrance. My main issue is when you get offered an "escort quest", I use the term offer lightly as it's more of "Oh you wanted to skip this mission and carry on with the mains story-line?" followed by some very computerised laughter. I know it's my job to ensure that little Sandy gets the cupcakes to her grandmothers house, but how am I supposed to protect little Sandy from the big bad wolves when she's walking into a tree and and throwing the cupcakes all over the place. My most frustrating moment was whilst I was playing Final Fantasy Tactics on the PSP, (I never knew it was originally on the PSX ok! It's a memory that still haunts me to this day, though I did finally manage to play in on my tablet a few months ago and it was just as amazing as I thought it would be)specifically the mission where you have to protect Rafa when she runs screaming after her brother. The first time I played this mission I had to re-try it close to twenty times before I ended up loading an earlier save and grinding my characters. For some reason Rafa decided that it would be a great idea to run directly towards the three powerful characters, and get this, attack them. We're not talking Nature's Wrath attacks, which is at best useful for mopping up characters with bugger all health, no no no dear child she decides to attack them head on with a pole. This of course ends with her death and Game Over for me. The first few times I thought it was perhaps something I was doing wrong but no, she kept doing it over and over. Sometimes the AI will mix it up a little and allow her to survive one turn before the second enemy took her down, but it made game-play close to impossible. After grinding for a few days I had a party that would make Bahamut decide to stay indoors, we're talking Ninjas dual-wielding and Ramza as a Dark Knight. I had three characters that started their turns before Rafa and managed to defeat the first enemy within seconds and win the battle, almost had me thinking why on earth was it so difficult beforehand. It's not just Square Enix that had me screaming (read: manly grunting) in rage, close to every RPG I have played has had some sort of AI that's not allowed outside without protective padding. Companions in Bethesda games that either get stuck in doors, charge straight in front of you as you unleash your attack or disappear for a few days before you find them walking into a small stone in a dungeon you'd left twenty quests ago. For instance in Fallout: New Vegas I opted to spend hours collecting all the companions purely so that I could have them hang around in my suite in the Lucky 38.