History ArtificialStupidity / RPG

* The enemy AI in ''VideoGame/OctopathTraveler'' doesn't register when a party member has Reflective Veil cast on them. As a result, enemies will [[TooDumbToLive continue to cast magic on a buffed character even]] ''[[TooDumbToLive after]]'' [[TooDumbToLive their own magic blows up in their face]]. This can be exploited with hilarious results in battles against magic-reliant foes, such as [[spoiler:Mattias]] and [[spoiler:[[BonusBoss Dreisang]]]].

* The AI in ''VideoGame/OctopathTraveler'' doesn't register when a party member has Reflective Veil cast on them. As a result, enemies will [[TooDumbToLive continue to cast magic on a buffed character even]] ''[[TooDumbToLive after]]'' [[TooDumbToLive their own magic blows up in their face]]. This can be exploited with hilarious results in battles against magic-reliant foes, such as [[spoiler:Mattias]] and [[spoiler:[[BonusBoss Dreisang]]]].

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*** It gets worse than that. The Charm status will drive the AI absolutely crazy: if the team's healers are Charmed, healers will give the enemy and other Charmed characters absolute priority, even if they are at near-perfect health while non-charmed ones are dying. This is especially irritating as it might sometimes be better to let the Charmed characters fall unconscious instead of having them healing enemies/attacking allies. [[WhatAnIdiot Oh, and only rarely will a Heal/Support AI randomly realize that it is much more efficient to just dispel Charm instead of continuously replenishing health.]] And if the AI chooses to use a healing item, it's a crapshoot as to whether they will use Medicine or Medicinal Powder, no matter how much HP they need to heal or how many of each you have.

* The partner AI in the [[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsI first]] and [[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII second]] games is simply abysmal. They have a tendency to waste all of their magic and skills the moment a fight starts with anything. Donald is the worst in this department; he'll spend all of his MP in five seconds flat if he's allowed to use his attack spells. They also like to just stand there doing nothing for 2/3rds of any given fight. Their pattern is basically "attack, step back, wait two seconds, repeat", meaning they take a boatload of hits from enemies since they basically never guard, even if you tell them to. Elemental attackers just fire off random spells, often resulting in them casting spells that do no damage on enemies strong against whatever they randomly chose.

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTacticsAdvance'' and ''[[VideoGame/FinalFantasyTacticsA2 A2]]'' feature some examples of this. Yes, in A2 the people you're escorting almost never just rush into combat (except when you're escorting overconfident pricks, which makes sense), which is nice... but enemies and friendly combatants alike make some of the stupidest decisions. Examples? Physically attacking a unit with Strike Back (which allows it to parry and counter any normal attack), or trying to cause a status effect to a unit which is openly immune to it, or go after the little supporting character while your Dragoons are ripping the enemy a new one... are some of the most usual ones.
** Status immunities aren't the only things that the AI disregards... like inflicting silence on non-magic users. Why. Why do you do something like this?
*** A2 also has some pretty desperate, yet dumb monsters. Chocobos, for example, will sometimes use Choco Cure or Choco Barrier on their allies if they are next to them, but are willing to use these skills even if you are in its range, thus you get the free buffs or heals. Some monsters like Antlions have attacks that are elemental based and can cause a debuff. They will use these abilities on their allies if they can absorb the element, but don't care if they are hit with the debuff.
*** The chocobo thing is sometimes used in the original FFT to farm EXP: two allied characters drive a regular chocobo into a corner, and attack it enough to lower its HP without ever killing it. The chocobo keeps using Choco Cure to heal itself, thus healing the allied characters from any damage it may have caused them, allowing this system to potentially go on forever, upping the EXP of the characters with every attack.
* The original ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics'' has this in places as well...
** The absolute worst example is Argath, a guest character you get early on and must keep alive. Because you get him quite early in the game, he, like the rest of the party, would benefit from some level grinding. Problem is, if you have a strategy, you may as well toss it out the window and go make sure he stays alive because he rushes into danger head first, often leading to a quick game over.
** A close second is one battle with a particularly suicidal guest character. If she is KO'd, you lose. Your opponents are a high level swordsman (who ''always'' gets first turn, with which he ''always'' takes half the guest's HP), and two assassin type characters who can both kill any character instantly with 100% accuracy. So, naturally, the guest character will often be found rushing right into the middle of them instead of running the hell away. Unless your characters are particularly speedy, you can, and probably will, lose the battle [[LuckBasedMission before you even get a turn.]]
*** That's actually a fairly justified example of the trope-- Rafa behaves like she's suicidal because she ''is''. The events of the pre-battle scene have pushed her well past the DespairEventHorizon and she believes she has [[DeathSeeker nothing left worth living for]]. Doesn't make the aforementioned first-turn losses any less frustrating, but there ''is'' a reason for it.
** A less damaging but still valid example comes from a battle where the character you have to protect is statistically average, but has a single special ability that's [[GameBreaker so powerful there'd be no reason to ever use anything else]]. Naturally, he ''doesn't'' do the smart thing and use it every turn.
** One solution for stupid allies: willingly immobilize them so that they don't rush blindly towards the enemy and do something stupid.
** Another example in Final Fantasy Tactics is when one of your party member gets KO'd, the rest of your allies would rush to revive and cure said member, only for that newly-revived ally to get KO'd by enemy again. They'll basically waste more turns and items on reviving the ally instead of dealing with the enemy, especially when the enemy can be easily defeated.
** Of course, there are some 'positive' examples. A good example is the Loss Strategy used by people attempting [[ChallengeRun solo challenges]]. You see, many of the later (and thus harder) bosses have the ability to confuse a single party member with 100% success rate, barring equipment that grants them immunity. Hitting that character will break the confusion, so the computer is programmed to not to attack the character unless they can kill them quickly enough. As such, if you only have one character in a battle, letting them get confused will prevent the boss from attacking them, whereas your character will act randomly, which will result in your character slowly killing the boss, as hitting the boss is the only productive thing they can do.
** In general, the AI in Tactics isn't very good at handling status. Even if the enemy has some form of "you die now" status like instant death and can apply it 100% of the time, it will rather hit enemies into critical than to use those, sometimes even willing to waste time charging to do so(this is the basis of the "naked strategy" for Riovanes rooftops battle). Also, they like to use physicals to kill enemies even if said physicals can't hit at 100%, even if they have spells that would assuredly do the job (and even when they can get the spell off before anyone can interrupt them). Many solo single class strategies against Lucavis involve lowering the player's HP low enough to physical 1HKO range, get a mantle (or shield), and sooner or later they will get in a run where the boss tries to physical repeatedly and whiff repeatedly as the player whittles the boss's HP down.
*** One could argue a point of logic in their favor, however, as the Lucavi require bloodshed in order to resurrect Altima/Ultima. While this point is clearly a case of trouble on the AI's programming, it inadvertently becomes a reference to this plot point as physically slashing or smashing an enemy to death with claws would produce the necessary blood while burning them to ashes with Flare or ripping out souls with Death would not. Hashmal in particular references needing more blood to resurrect Ultima. Accidental mix of Artificial Stupidity and [[GameplayAndStoryIntegration Gameplay and Story Integration]] perhaps?
** In Tactics Advance, AI-controlled archers will frequently waste their turns shooting at enemy units who have the Block Arrows ability. This isn't limited to enemy archers either. Ally archers, such as Ritz's Viera partner, Shara, will do the same thing.

** The blitzball AI can be ''hilariously'' dumb. For example, they will flat-out ignore the one with the ball until he or she passes within a certain radius, and then follow them to the ends of the earth, allowing you to pull the entire team halfway across the field to leave the goal open. Occasionally, you also get daft role allocations, like the Ronso Fangs putting a guy with a Catching score of 6 in goal at a time when an ''underleveled'' striker is still rocking a Shooting score of 15-20, or tactical decisions, like having a guy with an appalling shooting score try to go for the goal from midcourt.
** It gets worse. If you want one of your players to learn an ability, you need to get an opposing player to use it. Try deliberately losing the ball to a forward you want to learn a shot technique from and leaving him a clear path to the goal. He'll have the perfect opportunity to score, and use it to pass.

** The AI can never tell whether or not an enemy is immune to a certain Technick, leading them to be wastefully casted on enemies immune to them.

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyV'' has a boss whose most damaging move is Quake. It realizes that it misses floating characters, and will spam another move that removes Float from all of your characters whenever it detects a floating character around. Unfortunately, it ''doesn't'' realize that the move can, in fact, be reflected, thus Mighty Guard/Float before battle + Reflect Ring = the boss spamming its float removal move, doing nothing to hurt you until it dies.

* While post-game Battle Frontier/Tower/Maison/etc. trainers have a reputation for [[ArtificialBrilliance being a great deal smarter than their story-mode counterparts]], even they are not immune to bouts of stupidity. This is especially the case with [[GradualGrinder stall teams]], where a simple Taunt can decimate an opponent because they'd rather use Struggle and kill themselves through recoil than simply switch out.

** Melia controlled by the AI is an exercise in frustration. Since her abilities rely on summoning wisps that give the party buffs and then discharging them for damage and status ailments, the AI may sometimes just have her not do anything to keep the buffs on the party even though a player would discharge them to get on the [[GradualGrinder damage over time]] and start the cooldown. What also doesn't help is that she has a melee weapon, which is not good for someone with the lowest physical defence and health in the game, so her AI will go in and melee. It makes one wonder why the developers gave Sharla (who uses a ''ranged weapon'') such high defence.

** The AI spamming Recover could be this. Spamming Recover is unlikely to change the outcome of the battle and [[HealingLoop will instead just prolong it until the AI runs out of PP or you critical hit/vary your strategy]]. However, by spamming Recover as a stall tactic, the AI could be trying to force you into Struggle, which could be seen as ArtificialBrilliance.

* In ''VideoGame/XMenLegends'', the AI is fairly competent. But they won't dodge, use any shields, and sometimes will just beat down the enemy (even if it's in their best interest to stand back and use their mutant powers). AI controlled teammates are also so prone to hurling themselves off cliffs to their deaths that the game acquired the FanNickname "X-Men Lemmings".

*** That's actually a fairly justified example of the trope-- Rafa behaves like she's suicidal because she ''is''. The events of the pre-battle scene have pushed her well past the DespairEventHorizon and she believes she has [[DeathSeeker nothing left worth living for]].

* The above's predecessor, ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles'', features this. While some characters fall into ArtificialBrilliance with their abilities (Reyn is particularly good at managing Aggro and knockdown, Sharla is great at healing and her AI doesn't waste Headshot most of the time), a few in particular really fall into this:

** Though greatly improved from previous games, NPC AI still has its issues. Friendly [=NPCs=] still like to charge into melee combat against superior opponents, occasionally getting in the way of your own attacks. It's terribly disheartening to accidentally murder your own party member while aiming for a bandit.

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'' hits your party members with this if they're sent into the Coliseum. In theory, each battle is a DuelBoss between a member of your party and a monster, with each of you betting an item. Trouble is, the AI assigned to your own party members is almost abysmally stupid, like it was practically on an AIRoulette. Characters would frequently cast spells like Antidote and Remedy despite not being under a bad status effect. Mog would try to Dance even though it would never work. Terra, if she was able, would morph into her Esper form, and then proceed to stand completely still until she died or the effect wore off. Sabin would use the Soul Spiral/Spiraler Blitz technique if he had it, which would instantly kill him and lose the match. And if you want all the best equipment, you can't ignore going to the Coliseum, since some of the things you can bet will net you things like the InfinityPlusOneSword Illumina and the best accessory, the Marvel Shoes. The result is a lot of SaveScumming and even more headaches.

* Some demons in ''[[VideoGame/{{Ys}} Ys Origin]]'' use ramming attacks against the player character, sometimes charging and then falling into a hole to the floor below.

** This can be done for hilarity as well. Feel like entering the Mages Guild Well (when you unlock it via progression on the Mages Guild questline) with some quest-related NPCs following you into it? You can simply equip an item that has the "Breate in Water" effect or an alteration spell that allows one to breathe in water, and reapply it every now and then to keep it from expiring. You can watch your following NPCs get KO'ed/killed, and it'll be completely indirectly, as [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAXqGOnHxVQ hilariously shown here.]]

*** Generation 2 continues this logic, but without infinite PP, allowing [[https://www.youtube.com/embed/1AYyYzzS98w?autoplay=0 this player]] to defeat [[BonusBoss the mysterious trainer]] in Pokemon Crystal using a team of ''level 5'' mons. Note that the mysterious trainer's mons have an average level of 77, a balanced selection of types, and he has several Full Restores to use on them, too. The completely predictability of the AI's moves allowed the player to use a combination of type immunities, Protect, and Substitute to exhaust several enemy mons, eg by constantly swapping between Cubone (immune to Pikachu's Thunder and Thunderbolt attacks) and Gastly (immune to Pikachu's Quick Attack), then strike back using moves like Curse or a triple-Swords-Dance-boosted Rollout.

** A hilarious instance during the Dark Brotherhood questline: When confronting Commander Maro's son Gaius, you have the option of threatening him, which will turn him hostile. This registers him as the instigator of the fight and the guards will rush to defend you from their own superior. The same applies to Commander Maro himself in the final quest.

** A hilarious instance during the Dark Brotherhood questline: You have the option to seek revenge on an Imperial officer who tried to have you killed, and when you face him alive and threaten to kill him, he'll turn hostile (which means you can kill him with impunity). After he's killed, a guard walking by (who probably ''saw the whole fight'' and possibly even ''helped you'' with it) can remark, (paraphrased) "Who did this atrocity? I will not rest until I've brought them to justice!" and then he sits down to eat some bread. (Though this can happen pretty much any time, including having a guard kill a bandit, then crouch over the bandit saying the "Who did this" line from above.)

* In the ''VideoGame/PokemonMysteryDungeon'' series, Gummis increase your Pokémon’s IQ, which allows you to enable skills that reduce their ArtificialStupidity. For example, Trap Avoider prevents them from stepping onto already-revealed traps. Granted, you might ''need'' to step on a trap, but you can turn off the IQ skill in that case. In addition, you can also disallow the use of certain moves, such as Harden (which they'd otherwise do ''every single step'', and then continue trying to do it once they run out of PP).

** An example of ArtificialStupidity in ''Skyrim'' (though not limited to it) is using stealth and archery - if there are two enemies, kill one, run away, then come back. The second will have abandoned his search and continuing as though nothing has happened, usually with a comment along the lines of [[ItsProbablyNothing "I'm sure I heard something"]].

* ''VideoGame/DeusExHumanRevolution'' has a similar bug to the Skyrim "basket-head" glitch: you can hack almost anything in an area with non-hostiles (like the Detroit Police Station) or even hostiles (like the [[spoiler: Highland Park FEMA facility]]) if you simply surround yourself with boxes, crates, vending machines, etc. so no guards or cameras can see you.

** Even when they know enemy weaknesses, the AI characters are completely oblivious to the nuances of strategy (most obviously that making enemies lose turns is a good thing, causing them to attack enemies who were already knocked down and causing them to stand up again). They may also choose to cast a mass effect spell to damage one enemy... but also heals another. Mastery of the combat system in ''Persona 3'' was determined by how well you could use the strategy system to railroad their ArtificialStupidity into achieving the desired goals without screwing up too badly. Fortunately ''VideoGame/{{Persona 4}}'' (and later ''[[UpdatedRerelease Persona 3 Portable]]'') gave you the option of controlling your entire party manually. The AI will opt to knock down enemies, but only if you give the order.

* ''VideoGame/MassEffect1'' has a couple of examples of minor ArtificialStupidity. Garrus Vakarian had a strange habit of using Adrenaline Burst to re-set the cooldown on all his skills right at the beginning of battle, before he'd done anything. Squad members would try to stay near the player unless told to go elsewhere (even if they were Snipers and the player was a close-quarters fighter, or vice-versa), and sometimes, trying to tell them to go elsewhere resulted in them telling you they couldn't get there- because there was a corner (or a box, or similar) between them and there. They would also switch to weapons they were untrained (and therefore did much less damage) with after cutscenes (though Shepard did this also) and repeatedly fire into walls and other obstacles in an attempt to hit enemies that had ducked behind them.

** A possibly worse example of ArtificialStupidity was that any allied NPC, whether a summoned monster or someone you'd recruited to help you in a fight, would instantly turn hostile to you if they were caught in the radius of a damage dealing spell that either one of your characters or another allied NPC had used. Even if they were completely unaffected by it. Given that there was one fight where a recruitable NPC used a cursed sword that had a chance of triggering a fireball on his location every time he attacked, it was almost impossible to make it through the entire fight without all the rest of the recruitable allies there turning hostile (casting Resilient Sphere on him, which wasn't considered an offensive spell, was usually the easiest way).

** Another fine example of ArtificialStupidity is the tendency for your own party members to attack Elanee the druid while she's transformed into her animal form, and they've run out of other enemies to attack. Resting won't stop this, since your party members are still in combat, which prevents Rest from working.