MMO A.I. - Which game has the best?

porgie · May 2007

Which MMO have you played where you saw the best mob A.I.?

And then if you can give me an example of a scenario that sticks in your memory. I love good A.I. and would like to know which games A.I. shines above the rest.

musicmann · May 2007

SWG pre-cu, hands down, nothing comes close.

Mozinski · May 2007

LOTRO has some of the best mob A.I. I have seen, through my first 31 levels anyways. Like mobs with like abilities seem to mix up when they use those abilities and I have yet to see any of the pathing issues found in most previous MMO's. That's not to say there are no flaws in the game, just none that I have noticed with mob A.I.

xxthecorexx · May 2007

ryzom, migration & stalking.

it's actually one of the reasons i've returned to the game. there's "intelligence" there and not just mob behavior.

swg-precu had very good ai too, but i still have to say ryzom with migration beats it.

ladyattis · May 2007

I have to chip it in with Ryzom's mob AI. Those wolf-like critters have the meanest behaviors when it comes to their pack-based movements and attacks. They don't waste time waiting for a PC to react, they go at it and will respond differently depending on the player's actions as well (they'll try to mezz a caster if a caster attempts casting, and they'll debuff a fighter if a fighter is using fighter techniques and etc).

-- Brede

Faur · May 2007

Yeah, ryzom's herd and "hunter / hunted" AI was pretty neat.

Honorable mentions to Phantasy Star Universe and Lineage 2 (yeah yeah, sue me) for having monsters with radically different behaviour. They might not have been "smart" or anything, but some mobs act very differently, and you sometimes have to apply different tactics for certain areas. L2 has mobs which will call for help, shapeshift, summon minions, heal/buff eachother, retreat into a mob camp, only aggro when they are a certain number, and so on. It's not technically "intelligence", but more "behaviour". Still better than the basic "attack attacking player always" stuff you see in regular mmo's though.

Torlin · May 2007

From all the games that I have played I would say Guildwars, or Granado espada. I haven't played SWG and have never used Ryzom's hunter / hunted AI.

Phoenixs · May 2007

Mmo's don't really have AI. It's basically just Ryzom that comes close to having some sort of AI. Most other mmo's just have mobs that are scripted with some randomness added to spice it up a little. They do all have pathfinding, but that isn't much to shout home about.

Jarlo · May 2007

DDO has some decent AI mostly with the caster mobs. They like to hide around corners, use fears, use AE stuff.. pretty well done overall. They also go for the squishies alot.

pompey606 · May 2007

yeah the saga of ryzom intelligance was really far from anything else ive seen in a mmo... or game for that matter..

Liddokun · May 2007

If games put in the full power of a smart AI, half the subscribers would complain the game being too hard and would quit. Imagine in a raid boss, if you put in a smart AI that targets all the healers first and kill them no matter what the tank does then it becomes unbeatable. The game is only fun and challenging if it runs on a pre-determined script that does not require any intelligence at all.

Enigma · May 2007

All MMO MOB AI sucks. All of them do. They simply have an aggro distance to the MOBs... thats it. You get too near to them and they have a trigger.

You cant hide from em, they dont think, they dont utilize team work, and you cant sneak up behind them (unless you are invisible or have some other sneak ability)

gnomexxx · May 2007

The thing about MMO AI is that you have to be able to tell when the AI is actually being implemented. What I mean is that sometimes just watching what's going on you don't always catch the moves and stuff.

One game that is different is EQ2. They have gestures that the characters make whenever they are doing something or engaging in a new tactic. Like they'll yell something to their teammates or make a hand gesture or something like that. I noticed that it really adds to the game.

So there could be a game that has excellent AI but if you can't notice when it is changing to suit the situation you may not even notice anything new going on. I know that if you watch DDO really close it has some pretty good AI, but it takes standing there and looking for it. I think with some voice overs or some gestures like in EQ2 it would get a lot more respect for it's programming. It also makes the scenario a lot more engaging.

The most complex AI (from what I can tell) has been in DDO. The monsters look like they use their environment to fight you. Which is pretty cool considering the dynamics of the whole thing. They'll also set you up a lot of times to fall into a trap. That's cool. I just wish it was more noticeable when it was going on.

Chainmail · May 2007

I would agree with all the people in saying Ryzom.

Faur · May 2007

Originally posted by liddokun

If games put in the full power of a smart AI, half the subscribers would complain the game being too hard and would quit. Imagine in a raid boss, if you put in a smart AI that targets all the healers first and kill them no matter what the tank does then it becomes unbeatable. The game is only fun and challenging if it runs on a pre-determined script that does not require any intelligence at all.

Heh, truth. Back when they first started adding the different behaviours in Lineage 2, people were complaining about it more than anything else. They didn't want mobs that healed eachother and called for help, it was too "unpredictable and frustrating".

Phoenixs · May 2007

Originally posted by pompey606

yeah the saga of ryzom intelligance was really far from anything else ive seen in a mmo... or game for that matter..

Well that is taking it abit far...

drizzt1666 · May 2007

Though it wasnt the best, but i would say AO

Humanoid mobs and some more "inteligent" mobs help each other. They heal each other, mezz/root you if you at distance, debuff you, they even flee if they have to. Its not the best and it could be better, but that would be deadly anyway.

CleffyII · May 2007

I am pretty certain Granado Espada has an advanced AI; probably the best. Monsters themselves form up into mobs and go for healer first. Also there is the AI of the players in patrol mode.

gnomexxx · May 2007

Originally posted by Faur

Originally posted by liddokun

If games put in the full power of a smart AI, half the subscribers would complain the game being too hard and would quit. Imagine in a raid boss, if you put in a smart AI that targets all the healers first and kill them no matter what the tank does then it becomes unbeatable. The game is only fun and challenging if it runs on a pre-determined script that does not require any intelligence at all.

Heh, truth. Back when they first started adding the different behaviours in Lineage 2, people were complaining about it more than anything else. They didn't want mobs that healed eachother and called for help, it was too "unpredictable and frustrating". Hold on a sec !!!

Lineage 2, the haven for those big bad PvP fans, had a bunch of whiners about PvE A.I. ????

OMFGROFLMAO!!!!

AutemOx · May 2007

Guildwars has pretty decent AI.

SWG pre-cu had lots of things that were awesome that were sorta AI related, but I'm not sure if you could really call it AI. Like NPCs would often fight each other, but thats mostly because two hostile factions happened to spawn pretty close or patrol into each other. Also some humanoids in swg-pre cu would run away when they were almost dead or clearly out numbered. Also many creatures would have a lair, and when you attack its lair all the creatures who call the lair home would come attack you, and as you attacked the lair sometimes creatures would come out of it and attack you. Also SWG had baby creatures, and the babies are less likely to attack than their parents, ect. Plus SWGs spawning system was very dynamic, so areas never had the same creatures standing in the same spots. Stuff like that I'm not really sure you could attribute to artificial intelligence of the creatures, but definitely game mechanics. Also pets in swg were insanely smart, being able to respond to a ton of different commands from patrolling to doing tricks.

bahamut1 · May 2007

I'll put in a vote for Ryzom.

Although I must say that the AI in Shadowbane was really good, and early EQ1 had some really nasty AI, and there were no "protections" from friendly fire. They changed it all up in EQ1 because people couldn't handle it. As more and more people were getting and playing the game, the dumber and dumber the mobs would get. I remember people fireballing the tank by accident, healing mobs, and even clerics smiting their group instead of healing them ("It was an accident, I swear..."). Heck, I even Laid on Hands (paladin emergency full heal) a mob, he surely thanked me for that. You actually had to worry about your own AE's, because it would hit you too.

At first, LoS agro, running, getting help, casters casting from a mile away, were all standard. It's changed a lot since then.

M1sf1t · May 2007

Originally posted by xxthecorexx
ryzom, migration & stalking.
it's actually one of the reasons i've returned to the game. there's "intelligence" there and not just mob behavior.swg-precu had very good ai too, but i still have to say ryzom with migration beats it.

I have to agree. The beast mob AI is just pretty awesome in that game.

frkhot97 · May 2007

Ryzom's AI is the best I've found so far. Climb up a hill and see "dogs" hunting grass eaters, and how entire herds try to flee when the dogs come running.

As a side note, there was once a NWN server with a really awesome artificial life script. The players had to kill off the mobs before they grew stronger. For example - the rats in the sewers would evolve to dire rats if they weren't killed, and the orcs would become bigger and stronger if they were left to live for too long. There was some issues with this though, the server had permadeath so people hesitated before taking risks and eventually the mobs grew stronger than the players. After that, hunting meant certain death. It was interesting but hard to balance.

KeGA2004 · May 2007

This is not the best AI i have encountered in an MMO but i was damn surprised once in WoW. I was doing a few quests in eastern plague lands and one of them sent me to a undead troll village in the northern parts of epl, now the only behaviour i have seen in wow is an aggro range and they come at you but this time was different. I came close to one of the troll patrols walking around the village and instead of him rushing at me, he ran to a nearby house and aggroed 4 other trolls. That really took me by surprise since not only was that house pretty far away but i had never ever seen a mob in WoW do that outside of his "flee" behaviour.

After further thought i can't really say i have seen any mmo that have an impressive AI not even good AI imho. Though im very interested in the keep/city AI in the upcoming age of conan where bandit camps form around player created cities and send out regular raids to attack them. All of which is probably very reactive with the siege weapons and all.

And a note on behaviours and ai in mmo's, we won't get much more advanced AI in mmo's yet because of limited resources in our computers. With people also craving better looking games and mmo's being more about experiences with other people, AI gets lower priority and cpu resources. Personally i think combat and movement ai should improve alot more and i think clever use of collision detection would be a great tool to some new pve encounters (think what ea mythic is trying to do with pvp and apply that to pve with better ai that is not entirely based on an aggro meter. So now a tank really has to stand in the way so the mobs won't reach the healer).

Zarraa · May 2007

Always an interesting topic...

Honestly advances in AI have been dwarfed by the graphics revolution. While there's no excuse for mediocre graphics in 2007 we must demand devs put brains behind these titles as well. Nonetheless there are a few standouts that deserve kudos.

1) Ryzom: You know it's pretty creepy when you notice seamingly harmless creatures are tracking....YOU.

2) Cox:   Tsoo Sorcs teleporting out then porting back to heal foot soldiers, Malta Sappers, Nemisis snipers.

3) GW    Gotta love AI smart enough to fallback then call for reinforcements.

4) EQ1   The first time I got summoned to a separate room by a raid mob in Akeva Ruins was classic.

ZV.

Huntn · May 2007

Originally posted by xxthecorexx
ryzom, migration & stalking.
it's actually one of the reasons i've returned to the game. there's "intelligence" there and not just mob behavior.
swg-precu had very good ai too, but i still have to say ryzom with migration beats it.

I agree Saga of Ryzom has has the best mob A.I. I have seen. Animals display heard behavior, not just single animals running on tracks.

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