Great AI in games

[EccentricDuck]

A curious thought popped into my mind today. What sort of approaches has Nintendo used for AI in their Zelda games? Do they make use of state machines? Do they make much use of fuzzy logic (certainly not much in the N64 and earlier games, but enemies in more recent games certainly seem less predictable and more adaptive/fluid).

I love the feel of the Zelda games and the intimate attention to detail in nearly all their titles. In Majora's Mask in particular, I love the scripted behavior patterns of the NPCs over the course of the 3 days... interacting with them, following them around, and doing quests for them all based upon a changing dynamic world. It gave them real character in a way that few other games are able to. Makes me wonder how the team developed the NPCs and associate quests. Did people take responsibility for particular NPCs and their associated quests? How did those quests go from design to implementation and what sort of process was involved that allowed the kind of attention to detail that is evident in them?

Share your thoughts. Feel free to bring up other games with great AI. I haven't had a good discussion on game AI for awhile.

[101MUDman101]

I have to say I like the Skyrim AI, how they go about their own lives and do jobs like farming and woodcutting. I think it adds a great atmosphere to the game knowing they don't just stand their and do nothing. Also the battle AI is quite good as they hide and run, then come back to attack.

The Final Fantasy 1,2,3 Battle AI is great aswell :D

[eatcomics]

I have to say I like the Skyrim AI, how they go about their own lives and do jobs like farming and woodcutting. I think it adds a great atmosphere to the game knowing they don't just stand their and do nothing. Also the battle AI is quite good as they hide and run, then come back to attack.

The Final Fantasy 1,2,3 Battle AI is great aswell :D

Oh most definitely. Most of the appeal of skyrim for me is that its such a big, open world, with AI that make it seem like its an actual world and not just a big scripted story. More of an alternate world rather than a book. Granted books can feel like that too. Its all on the realisticness of the characters. I've always loved the zelda games because you can really be drawn into them. The characters and world are just very believable.

This is a great topic, surprised there's so few posts in here.

[bbguimaraes]

Not directly related to AI, but I just love how random conversations from people you meet in Skyrim will trigger quests. You walk on the streets and a guard you see every time you pass that way says "If you head north, keep away from cave X. There are some strange things happening there.". And suddenly you have a new quest.

[MarauderIIC]

Not directly related to AI, but I just love how random conversations from people you meet in Skyrim will trigger quests. You walk on the streets and a guard you see every time you pass that way says "If you head north, keep away from cave X. There are some strange things happening there.". And suddenly you have a new quest.

Yeah that's pretty cool, I like that too. Also gives you incentive to listen to people's conversations, and draws attention to their occasionally well-written "people go about their own lives" stuff. If the "own lives" conversations were a little less stilted, this mechanic would be better suited to Skyrim - because, well, you don't want to give the player incentive to listen to stupid, because then you're showing off stupid and making yourself look bad :)