Good game, but....the AI is very bad.

Leif_- · #1 May 8th, 2004, 08:37 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by proteus:
I dont agree. Huge amount of players are only playing singleplayer games. They should get the best what is possible for their money.
This game costs a lot of money, like the top seller high-end games. This is why the devs should focus on this, since this is the weak part of the game right now.

P.

I think you severely underestimate the effort and work that goes into making a good AI - particularly for something as complex as Dominions. Besides, the AI in Dominion isn't really any worse than the average for strategic games (in my opinion it's surprisingly good, considering Illwinter's position). Let's face it - even for games that are created by the big hitters, the AIs are generally weak.

proteus · #2 May 8th, 2004, 08:48 PM

Yes you are right in some points, there are a few games with a decent AI, most of them are weak.
However I dont think that it is wise to bring up things like that. Just because the majority of the strategy games have a mediocre/weak AI, why should Doms II. have a weak AI as well?
The game costs 50, which is hella lot in the gaming market, so the devs must work for their money. Lot of months have passed now since the game release, and the AI is still bad.
We had patches they were good and nice, but this problem is not solved still. I almost see no changes in the AI. Not good.....not good.

I guess you all understand my point.
As I said I play multi as well, but I like the singleplayer too, however the quality of this AI rendering the SP part...er..not so fun.
I really hope that the devs will do something about this, because time is passing, and nothing happened yet.

[ May 08, 2004, 19:52: Message edited by: proteus ]

MStavros · #3 May 8th, 2004, 08:56 PM

Well..wow.wow.wow...
This was being discussed months ago, it was my topic!!

Look at here! ->
http://www.shrapnelgames.com/cgi-bin...;t=000191;p=20

Anyways I totally agree with proteus.

Leif_- · #4 May 8th, 2004, 09:01 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by proteus:
Yes you are right in some points, there are a few games with a decent AI, most of them are weak.
However I dont think that it is wise to bring up things like that. Just because the majority of the strategy games have a mediocre/weak AI, why should Doms II. have a weak AI as well?

Because good AIs are very, very difficult to make. As an educated guess, I'd say that to make a good AI for Dominions 2, would require at least 80% of the effort that's already gone into making the whole game.

Quote:

The game costs 50, which is hella lot in the gaming market, so the devs must work for their money.

The game is also a niche product from a tiny, half hobby-driven development team. There are limits to how much you can expect from them.

Quote:

Lot of months have passed now since the game release, and the AI still bad.
We had patches they were good and nice, but this problem is not solved still. I almost see no changes in the AI. Not good.....not good.

As I said earlier, it's difficult to make a good AI, so you can't expect to see any huge changes to the AI done in patches. We're talking about several man-months worth of work here (at the very least), and remember that Illwinter is a part-time buisness.

[ May 08, 2004, 20:03: Message edited by: Leif_- ]

Gandalf Parker · #5 May 8th, 2004, 09:08 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by proteus:

quote:
Originally posted by Leif_-:
Of course they can be fixed, it's just going cost more than it's worth.

I dont agree. Huge amount of players are only playing singleplayer games. They should get the best what is possible for their money.
This game costs a lot of money, like the top seller high-end games. This is why the devs should focus on this, since this is the weak part of the game right now.

Im real sorry if anyone feels they arent getting their money worth. I used to hear the same thing about Master of Magic because it wasnt multiplayer. Or GalCiv (the #1 AI game by the way) because it wasnt multi-platform. Now we have Illwinter's PBEM multiplayer game because the AI isnt good enough for decent solo play. Maybe the game description needs touched up.

Kristoffer O · #6 May 8th, 2004, 09:41 PM

Hello MStavros.

I find it rather amusing that you try to influence us with split personalities

Hopefully there will be improvements in the AI, but as before I can't give you any guarantees.

proteus · #7 May 8th, 2004, 09:55 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Gandalf Parker:
Now we have Illwinter's PBEM multiplayer game because the AI isnt good enough for decent solo play. Maybe the game description needs touched up.

Correct me if I am wrong, but isnt this supposed to be a singleplayer - multiplayer game, just like many others?
If your argument would be valid, why is there singleplayer at all? I mean if the developers dont care about the singleplayer part, they should totally drop it for dominions 3, OR try to fix the singleplayer bugs/weaknesses.

Than they wont see Posts like this..yes the
game wont sell that good, but at least I wont spend my money than. What do you think?

Yes I feel cheated for my money sorta. The game is great, but its like a half game for me.
Good mp, crap sp.
For 25$ I wouldnt say a word, but for 50, I think the devs should try to do their best!

[ May 08, 2004, 21:00: Message edited by: proteus ]