History Main / AIBreaker

*** The end boss, Link's Shadow, is among the [[NintendoHard hardest]] bosses in the NES era... unless you stand on the far left, duck, and just sit there stabbing over and over. The boss's A.I. will make it repeatedly walk right into your sword, leading to an easy victory. Most ROM hacks add lava or some other deadly hazard on the leftmost tile to disallow this. [[DifficultyByRegion Incidentally, the original FDS version did not have this]]; it was caused by an RNG bug common in FDS to NES ports.

* The Changeling faction of ''VideoGame/TotalWarWarhammerIII''' functions [[MechanicallyUnusualClass completely differently from how others play]], by not having conventional settlements on the campaign map and instead having hidden cults under other factions' cities, as well as having his armies hidden if they're in a region with a cult. Not having conventional cities to capture or raze means that the AI ''has absolutely no idea'' how to destroy these cults, requiring a special building to even rhave a chance of detecting them (and the Changeling has several buildings that ''reduce'' said chance, so even these buildings aren't a surefire way to detect cults). All in all, his campaign mechanics seem to have been made with the idea that the player would have to try quite hard if they wanted to lose.

** The Singularity Engine Time Accelerator speeds up the [[TimeDilation flow of time (up to 10x)]] in the game to make travel bearable when [[SciFiWritersHave/NoSenseOfVelocity most ships get outran by modern-day cars]]. However, SETA also hogs more CPU time. On a weaker computer, this causes the game to divert CPU processing power from other tasks to keeping the game running at an acceptable speed, and the A.I. routines are one of the things to go. Engage SETA 10x in an AsteroidThicket and watch in amazement as [[ArtificialStupidity freighters plow head-on into asteroids and then keep ramming themselves to death]]. Engage SETA in a huge fight and watch as every ship comes to a complete stop in order to prevent your computer from melting.

** ''VideoGame/Disgaea5'' can repeat the above strategy with Item Symbols, which are normally destroyed by the player to charge the Bonus Gauge. Through careful lifting and throwing, you can trap pirates and even ''Proto Darkdeath'' away from the party. (Proto Darkdeath is smart enough to use his ranged attacks and can destroy some of the symbols if you're close enough; ironically this makes his Giant variant somewhat easier to deal with, as despite its stats and Evilities it's in a permanent Giant status, locking off his usual moves in favor of Giant Press, an AoE skill that hits for only two squares around him.)

** Perhaps best example for Melee mobs in the classic version of the game has to be fences. Caster Players like mage, hunter or warlocks can jump over a fence, and the mob will just try to run around it. You can jump again when they are about to reach you and they'll run around it all over again. Rinse and repeat, and you can even defeat a group of mobs at once this way without ever getting hit. Melee mobs in areas with farms or graveyards like Westfall and Duskwood are suceptible to this tactic.

** Jousting can be frustrating because the A.I. is always faster than you and has a shorter cooldown than you on all the moves. However, after a set period of time they will always, ''always'' turn and ride away, giving you ample opportunities to hit them in the back and charge them down.
** Also, you can spam the thrust attack to get a melee hit while charging. Best tactic is to hold on strong with thrust spamming, wait until he turns and runs, charge and thrust. While your charge takes you past him and winds down, turn around and spam the spear throw to get in that attack as well and get in close to repeat the cycle. The idea to charging first instead of throwing and then charging is that the latter often gives the A.I. time to charge before you, while the former denies this. Every cycle, your opponent can lose up to two shield charges, costing you a single one at most you can recover immediately.
** Even easier, you can beat every A.I. jouster while taking nothing but thrust attacks by abusing their minimum range. Run past them and jump while mouse turning so you're going backwards while facing them, and you can use shield breaker or charge instantly as soon as the abilities light up. The A.I. will attempt to close to melee and will never use their ranged abilities unless you run too far.

** Jousting quests in ''Wrath of the Lich King'' can be frustrating because the A.I. is always faster than you and has a shorter cooldown than you on all the moves. However, after a set period of time they will always, ''always'' turn and ride away, giving you ample opportunities to hit them in the back and charge them down.

* When taking over an area in ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas'', the defending gangsters will stick to the sidewalks as much as possible, walking entirely in single file at their default jogging speed. For a player with an assault rifle or sniper rifle, simply having a significant lead on the gangsters and going for headshots can turn the situation on its head.
** On a related note, most [=NPCs=] in the series will only aim and attempt to fire at the player after they are well within the player's lock-on distance, making a player with good aim almost impossible to stop.