- last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT
I had to vote no because (no offense to the remarkable work Bungie is accomplishing with AI) BOTS ARE DUMB. Period. Granted, the AI enemies for the Halo 2 campaign mode are going to be remarkably intelligent for pieces of code, they will still just be pieces of code. I know that there are plenty of people who don't mind shooting at and getting shot at by mindless bots, and others also make very good points about bots making multiplayer more enjoyable in ther absence of other human players or Xbox Live. However, I've played Halo, both in multiplayer and campaign, for hundreds of hours by this point and I have never, ever, ever ever ever wanted there to be bots in the multiplayer for any reason. Bots at best are slightly annoying targets and at worst are the king programs of cheap. I have been pretty fortunate in being able to find people to play with and against for Halo, but I can say for certain that even if my multiplayer forays in Halo 2 were to be minimal (which is a laughable idea, but hey, I'm trying to illustrate my opinion here), I would rather play against a miniscule number of human players than have the same number of human players bolstered by any number of mute, irritating, wandering bots. Even with this opinion, the only reason I am adamantly against bots in multiplayer is because chances are that those bots would end up on Xbox Live games, and I do NOT want to pay good money to have what is likely to be the most enjoyable game I have yet played be tarnished by having to forage through Live games in search of purely human opponents. If it could be guaranteed that bots would NOT be allowed on Live, then I'd completely agree with bots for multiplayer. Unfortunately, I doubt that this is what would happen if bots were included in the multiplayer. And although several members of this board have stated that the majority of Halo players want bots, I have to disagree and say that it's a vocal minority of players who want bots, since I have (seriously, I'm not kidding here) yet to encounter any opinions outside this forum calling for bots in Halo 2. I know this post is just asking for some serious flame-age, but since the gaming world rarely proves to be ideal (although everything I've seen and read for Halo 2 is the most ideal stuff I've seen yet), I think that bots could be nice, but would almost certainly be a really horrible, bad, poopy idea.
That was hoprrible. Just to be thorough I actually read that entire post, and it didn't get better. One word completely kills your idiotic logic, OPTIONAL. The fact is, even if you could come up with good reasons not to have bots, their inclusion is something you would be able to ignore, so it shouldn't affect you. But for those who do want bots, not including them is a loss. An acceptable loss, and one we can understand, but a loss nonetheless.
And although several members of this board have stated that the majority of Halo players want bots, I have to disagree and say that it's a vocal minority of players who want bots, since I have (seriously, I'm not kidding here) yet to encounter any opinions outside this forum calling for bots in Halo 2
A forum doesn't represent the masses true, but it also doesn't prove otherwise. Just because those in favour of the bots are a majority of a minority (those who visit forums), doesn't mean their argument isn't valid. Look at it this way, people who have Live ARE the minority, and offline players are the ones who would value bots the most.
While there is no way of gauging every fans opinion, it stands to reason that offline players would value the inclusion of bots, and offline players are the majority.
However, I've played Halo, both in multiplayer and campaign, for hundreds of hours by this point and I have never, ever, ever ever ever wanted there to be bots in the multiplayer for any reason
When playing Halo I never felt like I needed dual weilding, or vehicle boarding, doesn't mean that I didn't want them in Halo 2. And for that matter, me and my mates actually did want bots in halo 1 mutliplayer.
I know that there are plenty of people who don't mind shooting at and getting shot at by mindless bots, and others also make very good points about bots making multiplayer more enjoyable in ther absence of other human players or Xbox Live
You spend the entire single player shooting at 'mindless' enemies, true, bots are no replacement for human players, but since when does including bots exclude human players? If I have a friend over, rather than just kill each other in a big empty level, we could have two teams to add to the feeling of action and carnage.
Im not demanding bots, as bungie may well not have enough time to incorporate them, but to actively be opposed to them, when they would undoubtedly be optional, is nonsensical.
Basically, your saying bots shouldn't be included because it would absorb to much development time, and negatively affect the rest of the game. Everyone else is saying, IF Bungie have the time, bots are something they would like to see in the game.
I dont understand why you suppose that bots would unbalance or change multipayer. They wouldn't unbalance it, in that the multiplayer is built to cater for 16 player LIVE play, and since bots just fill in for absent human players, there'd be no problem. Of course, AI would have to be customised and slightly different from campaign AI, but nothing Bungie couldn't handle. I suspect that there wont be bots in Halo 2, as I can understand Bungie making a decision based on fesibility and time constraints, but if they did include them, it wouldn't be in a half-assed way that would completely ruin mutliplayer. If they ruin your personal experience, dont play bot matches.
[Edited on 6/6/2004 12:18:44 AM]