The catch mechanic was phenomenal, and made the combat able to show how Booker and Liz were a team. I have several stories, the best involving a small army and several iron patriots all bearing down on me, when Liz tore open a barricade for cover, then threw me health and ao so I could step from behind said cover and take down the patriots like a badass. I found so many moments where it felt like we were really a team, though that could be chocked up to my nigh suicidal playstyle. Liz was still amazing.
Liz was definitely the most impressive aspect of Infinite. I liked this rundown of her AI. There were some videos made years ago where people discussed her AI, but I don't think I've seen one that goes this in-depth in the team's naming conventions and methods. Pretty neat video, man.
When I first saw Elizabeth I was ready to turn the game off "Oh no, an escort mission as a game?!" I was mortified!I'm so glad I was proven wrong! a marvel of AI programming and voice actingBravo Liz Squad! Bra-vo
Elizabeth deeply affected me on such an emotional level that I never thought it could be possible. Her optimism, the way she moves and her facial reactions made me hang out with her more.
Fantastic stuff as ever. I particularly loved the parts about blocking and getting Elizabeth to stay goalside, it makes a lot of sense, but I'd never have noticed while just playing it.
Elizabeth's AI structure was so well thought-out and implemented... I knew at the time I first played Infinite that her companion AI was technically pretty damn impressive, but getting this kind of insight into WHY it was such an accomplishment really put it all into perspective for me. Seeing all the detail and nuance that went into her behavioral design is kinda mind-blowing and drives home just how advanced she really is for a videogame NPC. Even by today's standards this is pretty damn intricate. Hell, the only other videogame AI that I can think of that really matches Elizabeth in complexity is the Xenomorph from Alien Isolation (VERY different design focus, of course, but still extremely complex for videogame NPC bahavior). 'Cuz when I first played Infinite, I only BARELY noticed any "noticeably AI-like" behaviors out of her, and even then only when I was actually looking for it. But in watching this video, I'm amazed at just how MUCH AI behavior went completely over my head. Like how she always manages to both stay within the player's general "field of awareness" so you never lose track of her, and always somehow winds up right in your line-of-sight for when she's just doing something visually interesting, like playing with an arcade or whatever. Still though, that sort of behavior is clearly and noticeably her AI at work. But where the quality in her design really shines is, ironically, in all the stuff that most people DON'T notice, because she's so well-optimized and runs so smoothly that she has virtually NONE of the telltale problems that so often plague complex AI companions in other games, especially way back when Infinite came out. Unlike them, Elizabeth is NEVER a nuisance or a burden to have around, doesn't cause any problematic glitches to occur, and her AI pathfinding is so good that she never gets lost, stuck on random architecture, or thrown off and confused by anything the player does! On the contrary, she's indispensable as combat support! She inevitably saves my ass just in time AT LEAST 3 or 4 times during each playthrough.
I remember the first time I've started playing this game, I was new to the series and I've got through xbox games with gold, so I didn't have any obligation to play since it was "free". At first I thought it was a generic fps with those cartoon graphics, but it all changed when I found Elizabeth. Her animations and acting were so fun and natural to watch, your video explained why I've thought about this years ago. Watching her reacting to everything in the world, her different feelings throughout the game, man, I got so addicted to the game. Combat was really fun too, bosses and the railroad made the map so dynamic. Gotta buy the collection on ps store, since they don't like giving these type of games (miss u xbox)
I've never played the game, but just watching this video endeared me to the character for Elizabeth, which is a serious testament to the quality of the character design and animation!!
Lovely work, Tommy. I never really thought of Elizabeth as an example of AI, though she is clearly one of the most engaging characters in video games, due to the performance and art. I don't think I saw the majority of the golden moments (other than the ones you're forced to see) as I ran around, but when you do it definitely brings the place to life, and briefly gives the illusion that she's doing more than following a script. This video must have taken a while to make. Congrats.
The extent of her AI seems to be just a situational animation trigger based on smart preset hot spots that is short-leashed to the player character and his/her camera angle. And then as an ammo/buff vendor during combat. And while her response may vary depending on her "mood" so as to not create glaringly improper responses, her mood is purely scripted. She doesn't evaluate situations and respond to them so much as use rather standard gaming AI cheats. She's invulnerable to harm and never requires the player to do anything to actually assist her outside of purely scripted moments. She's very well performed and animated. But outside that I never got the praise heaped upon her as a technical achievement. After the first few "moments" of Elizabeth doing her situational responses and ammo dispensing, the patterns became clear and she never seemed much more than a standard gaming companion. That's not necessarily a knock against the BI devs. Game AI is difficult and expensive, and game companions are notoriously suicidal in combat situations. But it certainly doesn't seem like a big achievement in gaming AI either. Elizabeth seems a rather standard AI with a few extra situational wrinkles thrown in that mimic complex reaction, but are really just a couple extra layers of smoke and mirrors to mask her pre-scripted responses.
You could maybe summerise all that by saying, Elizabeth isn't really an example of AI at all .. she doesn't really have ANY artificial intelligence, she's simply scripted very effectively to respond to certain situations appropriately and to behave in a way which _seems_ at least to some extent natural. If Elizabeth had any genuine, independent AI, BioShock Infinite have to be a completely different game, with very different mechanics (one which wasn't so centred on the player or in any way so linear).
I have to say this is one of the most well made and well researched arches I've ever seen with the Bioshock universe and Liz in general. I'm a huge Bioshock fan and to learn about the commitment and time that was really put into Liz continues to make her one of my favorite video game females. A huge hats off to you AI and Games for making all of this and would you kindly mind keeping up the good work? *grins* PS - Amazing work connecting with the official Bioshock/Liz Team for some of these details. That itself is pretty damn sensational no matter how you one-two punch it, bravo! o0o
Can you give some examples of these "golden moments"? I think I saw a couple that involved stopping on a balcony and commenting on the distant scene. I saw the dev talk so I know there were a lot on the beach (which, infuriatingly, I ran straight past just because she seemed so excited to get to Paris and seemed to be running away from me)
Master_Writer the part when you are in the rocket to Columbia, and it's intense musi , and as soon as you break the cloud line and see. Columbia, always gives me chills.
It's a great game. The first one had that similar opening scene of getting a tour of the underwater city, but I think Infinite had the better soundtrack to really knock it out of the park
Coming into this and having played Columbia repeatedly I would like to say: I fucking LOVE Elizabeth and I'm so happy they put so much effort into her character.
I've seen people complaining about how enemies ignore her, but for a good portion of the story, Comstock's soldiers are told not to hurt her, it says so in a video diary. But after a certain point, it does seem really wierd/:
Wyatt Camp It's just a cover-up for the fact that they didn't have enough time to flesh out more mechanics for the game. Lots of things like the Boys of Silence or Zepplins, or even free roaming all the different air balloons wouldn't be realized weren't realized because of time constraints and hardware restraints from 7th generation consoles
That's a great AI build for it's time, and it still seems to hold up. Another reason to play the game for myself! Once I can actually get a hold of it. Or more specifically a Windows system to play the games on. XD
I would really like to hear your take on the Dead Space series and the evolution of its' AI, design and gameplay. There is certainly quite a bit to talk about!
I really wish they'd port the Bioshock collection to the Switch. It could be ported well with the right dev! I also would die for a The Warriors and Skate 3 to be ported. I would literally pay full price for these ports. Alien Isolation releases for the Switch tonight and I never got the chance to play it. Preloaded and hyped for midnight! The devs also flawlessly ported Grid Autosport to the Switch. There is so much money to be made by porting games from last gen to the handheld. Not sure why more haven't! Makes zero sense! Panic Button and Feral Interactive are legit kings of Switch ports.
I played through the entirety of Bioshock Infinite and never got the impression that Elizabeth was anything more complex than Fable 2's dog AI... and that makes me a bit sad, after seeing all this work put into it.
Can you do something on Titanfall 2 again? You talked about the players relationship with BT, but can you do one with the two factions, the IMC and the SRS? I know "Oh hate the IMC, and love the SRS." but can you show how the game and characters show and tell us to love the SRS and hate the IMC. Just a suggestion, not demanding. PS. Nice vid, I loved this game, and found it odd of how I liked Liz so much.
Ashley from RE4 - Always sticks to your back whenever you move - Ducks when you shoot - Enemies go for her for gameplay and story reasons - You can order Ashley to stop, hide, follow you, or do actions. - Armored Ashley makes the game significantly easier Elizabeth - You can't order her to do anything in or out of combat. - Enemies ignore her despite the story making it clear they SHOULD be trying to capture her - You can't order her to do anything but make walls and resources appear, maybe a turret Ashley is the superior AI companion, to be honest. Infinite "fixed" a problem by removing a layer of combat. If you want to see a truly realized game where you have an AI companion that isn't a superficial addition, look up Ico or The Last Guardian
I didn't find her interactions with the world terribly compelling. One reviewer summarized it well by saying someone who was locked and isolated in a tower wouldn't be a chipper Disney princess, but actually writing someone who was distant, socially awkward, and mistrustful of strangers would be too much work and run the risk of making her not seem endearing.
G Lestrade While I agree with the criticisms Matosis said about Elizabeth, the tech behind how she acts out of combat is pretty cool and I'd love to see it expanded on for a good character.
Couldn't agree more. I get why Ashley is a mostly reviled AI companion, and I think a lot of that has to do with her shrill voice. I personally enjoy the challenge of having to keep her and myself alive because you're right, she's not a stupid AI. She sticks to you, never gets in the way. Some people just don't like the challenge of having to be responsible for anyone other than themselves. That's why most random Call of Duty multiplayer games are 2 teams of Rambos endlessly getting fragged with little to no team work.
Nice to see how this works. But while playing the game I didn't really notice her behavior as compelling. Might as well been scripted for me, solely because she is used as a tool to progress the story. And that she did. What you show here is just how the developers were 'kinda' reinventing the wheel IMHO.
who needs the goal side thing when there is a dedicated button to show you where to go? it seems kind of pointless they should have taken one of those out
I think an interesting video would be on the Ai of halo reach specifically your fellow spartans as at times cats Ai will often drive the player off a cliff if she is driving the vehicle your in, would be interesting to learn if these are mistakes in a way or if it's deliberate as such.
Victory Rose - For fuck's sake, it's OBVIOUSLY not deliberate. Why the hell would they specifically program an ally to intentionally kill themselves and the player for no discernable reason? I imagine it's incredibly difficult to program an AI to drive a vehicle PERIOD, especially in a shooter (as Halo is the only FPS game I can think of where an AI can drive you) and since Tip of the Spear is like 90% cliffs the AI is bound to go off of one. A smart person would not let the AI drive on such a level, they're far more useful on the gun, where they are more accurate than the player could be. It has nothing to do with Kat and I'm so tired of Kat's "driving skill" popping up even 7 fucking years after the fact.
Lord Cinder - I was fine with this back when it was an occasional joke, but it's gotten to a point where people like this guy believe it's true that Kat is actually worse than other AI and intentionally drives off of cliffs. That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard.
SkyOut It made sense in the most bare bones way. It's sad and the defenses of the story just being an extension of the past games without any sort of consequence or world building is pathetic. Looking at what BioShock Infinite could've been makes me happier than realizing what a hollow piece of shit, bullet sponge shooting gallery with over glorified characters, the game really is.
+SkyOut The entire interdimensional travel element was completely nonsensical. Elizabeth's powers run on pure bullshittium. _Nothing_ related to her powers makes any sense whatsoever. I don't understand how they managed to fuck this up so badly. Interdimensional travel is not that hard a concept.
Full disclosure. I lean to the FPS bit of FPSRPGs. I am one of the few who preferred Bioshock 2 to the original because the combat was superior. I have no argument with the skill with which Elizabeth Comstock was integrated into the game. My problem with her (amongst many other aspects of the game) was that once she appears, she becomes the protagonist rather than the player. She controls the story, not you. Contrast this with another groundbreaking NPC, Half-Life 2's Alyx Vance. She helped drive the story and, indeed, helped in combat (though she could die) but never became the dominant figure EC becomes. You still felt that you/Gordon Freeman were in control. Just like graphics in a game, the AI of a "companion" NPC should enhance gameplay and not dominate or supersede it.
I disagree with this complaint only because the story focus in this bioshock is Elizabeth. She is the focus from start to finish and framed as the main character the whole playthru. You are treated as just a hired gunmen trying to save her till the game does its twist. It is just another form of telling a story. My biggest complaint was actually Booker. Elizabeth never really questions him and we get so little characterization on the him besides his twist.
Not a complaint but my personal view of the game :-) I completely agree that EC is the main character. For me that's the problem. I felt I was watching her story rather than playing a FPS. I prefer to leave that sort of thing to Telltale :-) Actually, if you look back at the early days of development for Infinite, there was talk of making EC a playable character, possibly in co-op with DeWitt. Now, that would have been a good game!
Greybeard101 I agree that she does really become the main character, but I liked her character enough for this to be kind of cool. I liked watching her story play out, but I wouldn't mind seeing a version where Booker was more prominent.
You make a good point about "story" here. As someone who primarily plays campaign FPSs, I look for involvement through gameplay rather than being passively told a story, no matter how good the story is. That's just my personal preference, however. There's nothing wrong with story-lead games. I found it a little jarring in Infinite because the original Bioshock prided itself on the options it gave the player to tackle "combat" situations (shoot, sneak, hack, avoid etc.). This approach was singularly absent from Infinite.
+Ronin Callahan Scotland (specifically west of Glasgow). Though I clean my accent up for RU-vid and work (I've lived in England and the US in the last 10-15 years so learned how difficult it is to understand my regular accent).
Cool! Thanks! I'm trying to find a way to learn the accent (for dwarves in DnD) know any videos or guides that are even remotely accurate? All the videos I've seen in the comments have pretty much identical comments: "I'm from Scotland, nobody talks like that"
+Ronin Callahan The funny thing is I get flack from friends back home because - in real life - I don't talk like that. 😀 You'd be better suited trying to figure out the type of accent you want and then find Scottish TV or films to hear it in practice. Scottish dialects are highly regional, despite how small the country is (Glaswegian, west-coast, borders, Edinburgh, Perthshire, Dundonian, Highlands etc.). So there's not really a typical Scottish accent. My fiancée grew up less than 100 miles from my hometown and our accents are dicdedly different. I'd imagine a Glasgow accent like mine (IRL) is best suited for a dwarf. Try watching Chewin the Fat and Burnistoun (Scottish comedy sketch shows) to get a feel for it. Or just watch 300. Gerard Butler (who was born in the same town as me) is so bloody Scottish in that movie it's hilarious.
Elizabeth was the best companion i ever had. It's a shame that they made Burial under the Sea, just to stick Bioshock Infinite to the ass of Bioshock 1, like some shitty human centipede. To me the good Bioshock Infinite ending is canon. I'm sick of forced drama and emo-crap left and right. That everything has to end shitty and sad and miserable. Fuck that. Booker & Elizabeth deserved better.
This character is a cheat. Perfect, social, yet making no sense in contex. Instead of making a escort mission compelling, they simple removed it and have it in name only. So when people say she's the best i have no idea what there talking about
The man criticism I have of your video is that you took too long to get to the AI component. The first half of the video was about story, characters and animation. I was getting annoyed and almost stopped watching. I would have been happier if it started at 9:20 instead. In regards to Elizabeth, I personally found her really annoying and I think this was in part due to her AI. It felt like she was an attention seeker, which seems like an obvious consequence of making her constantly move in front of you. Despite this, even the "blocking" would break down at key points. She would regularly point out something in the environment, which would start a conversation with Booker, while I was facing the other way. When I looked at her, she wouldn't be pointing at whatever she saw, so I had to scan my surroundings to figure it out. This would get particularly annoying when she saw a lockpick. Imagine if your girlfriend pointed out coins on the street and expected you to pick them up. That might be a "meaningful interaction" but not in a good way. This is made worse by the fact that you're only picking them up so you can give them to her later! I was even more annoyed by her combat behaviour. The way she teleported made her more difficult to keep track of and mistake for an enemy. I've wasted many bullets on her. I really didn't like the "Booker catch" mechanic. Even when it works, it's disorienting having the screen spin around, which can be deadly if you don't get your bearings back quickly. I originally assumed that Elisabeth actually searched the area for things, like she claims she does. This illusion was shattered when she was screaming "I can't find anything!" while cowering behind a box full of medkits. I could go further into why this invisble timer is a bad mechanic, but I'm deviating from the AI topic and I think I've said enough.
Man i'm so sorry i don't know if it is because youre not a native speaker (me neither) but i can't stand your accent or dialect... quite sad because i like that theme....
