Noriym

I for one am EXTREMELY impressed with the implementation of Party AI customization based on what I've seen so far. I almost cried when I first opened up the Behavior Editor. It is more detailed than any AI customization I have ever seen with a GUI, better than FF12 and Dragon Age: Tactics. The possibilities are endless, and so far it seems very powerful and, more importantly, responsive to the conditionals! This system is a dramatic improvement on POE1, which didn't seem to follow the vague AI descriptions. I believe many of the core mechanic changes were made to suit this new AI driven combat (almost all abilities and health refreshing after combat), and I am glad they did so. Sure there are things to iron out, and it is still buggy, but I love where this is going. As far as it being "too powerful" so far there are no commands for movement and positioning, which is key for surviving many encounters. A "perfect" AI script with current capabilities will only get you so far, at least on hard+ difficulties. For some like myself, modifying the AI IS the game, finding a great set of conditionals to handle most situations. Creating scripting that reflects your personal playstyle and removes all the mundane repetitive micro. I have been having a blast since patch release setting up AI scripts for each class, then testing them on PotD difficulty. Running an encounter, noting failures, making tweaks to the script, and seeing improvement is what I love about this metagame. Hell, I loved doing this back in the day even with Infinity Engine games writing / compiling class scripts. I applaud Obsidian for going with a top-tier AI Customization GUI. Hopefully it becomes standard for all future Obsidian CRPGs, and that other party-based RPG developers take note.

Was gonna start a thread on this but the OP here is spot on. Main points: All Original Infinity Engine games had party AI, including default scripts and means to build your own. Trash mobs are tedious and a chore, and we're sick of seeing our characters stop actions mid battle when a target is close by. We're sick of the hand holding. There are some of us who actualy ....*gasp* ....enjoy making complex scripts and watching them play out. I used to spend hours making IE .bs scripts back in the day. If you don't want this feature, don't use it, nothing is being forced on you "purest". We can understand that they had to ommit party AI in the initial release to get this game out on a limited budget. But now that they are swimming in cash due to this games success I'd like to hear them announce plans for adding this. Hell I'd pay good money for a party AI DLC. Noriym

Yes, yes, yes! If I can add any one feature to this game, this would be it! I truly enjoy setting up complex AI behaviour for all of my companions then watch them fight it out. If I ever come upon a hard encounter, I will pause, disable it, and give orders myself. This is an added feature and should no way make the enemy AI any dumber or make the game based around these AI tactics as one person suggested. Keep in mind folks all the Infinity Engine games HAD this feature, though it was quite limited and required some scripting experience. Dragon Age: Origins and Final Finatasy 12 did this right by adding an easy to use interface. Also make sure we can do ORs and ANDs easy enough. This feature gets my vote!