Tuesday, August 29, 2017

It's Not Just You™ - The Elder Scrolls: Legends A.I. Seems Pretty Hard To Beat Now [Noticed]

Just a little notification that, if you are playing TES:Legends recently and find it's quite a bit harder to beat the computer opponent (AI/NPC)... It's Not Just You™



I was in the Beta for The Elder Scrolls: Legends; but never got around to finishing my "First Impressions" article on it [as is how it usually goes for me and posting, heh]. Legends has been out of Beta for a few months now, and if I could summarize the game in one paragraph, I would say that Legends is a Virtual Collectible Card style game, that is 'both Single-Player and Multiplayer' (you can play against other human opponents, in matches and "Arena" rounds - but you don't have to, you can entirely play against the computer AI both in single matches and in 'Arena playoffs', if you desire). It is actually more of a "Card Collecting" game than a "Trading Card" game - as I have not seen a way to trade with human players yet - but that is similar to other 'virtual card games' of this genre, like Hearthstone and Gwent ("World Of Warcraft" Lore and "Witcher" Lore -based virtual card games, respectively). The game cannot be played Offline and you don't actually get any 'Real Life' Cards of any form; but that again, is the same for the other virtual card games mentioned.

After playing a little bit when it was first Released, I didn't play Legends for a few months, only recently picking it up again to play a bit - and boy was I in for a surprise!

The computer AI as it is now, offensive and ticked off
(Cropped Screenshot of art by Bethesda Game Studios)

Perusing the Updates for the game (which there seems to be one of every few weeks, a nice thing to see for a game!) - there was an Expansion for the game released at the end of June 2017 (Heroes of Skyrim) - but nothing that says, "We felt the AI was a little too easy to beat, so we beefed it up a bunch and it also will pull cards out of it's butt hat, getting exactly what it needs at times, to win!" - so I'm not sure when this AI change occurred... [I didn't play for a good few months or more, so sometime around mid-2017, I reckon].

Judging by the recent changes to the Computer Opponent A.I., get used to seeing this screen more often...

Legends is a fun game still, with it's flashy effects and nice sounds, not to mention the wonderful Elder Scrolls-style 'realistic' art on everything; I personally don't mind if I am going to be losing to the Computer a lot more; but it would have been nice to see a more obvious notification of it somewhere - or a way to perhaps adjust it (via a Slider or Dial or anything..).

I do think the AI was 'just a little too easy' at first, making simple moves and not many combos, losing a lot more than it won against me - but now it seems pretty darn hard - almost too hard, pulling multi-combos everywhere and buffing cards a lot more and getting 'the perfect card' or 'just what it needs' at times, to pull off a win (as though, instead of the AI having a prepared set of cards, cards seem now 'generated as the game goes', to "keep it competitive"). I can still win once in a while against the AI in Solo Play and Solo Arenas - and I understand that Bethesda might want to make things 'a bit difficult' to encourage selling Card Packs; but... Dearest Beth: It's "Just A Little Too Much" Now... [in my opinion]

The 'new' Computer Opponent A.I. at work, busy buffing its' cards to no end

I won't stop playing, of course - and I won't stop getting Card Packs once in a while (for all three of the Collectible Card Games mentioned above, when I can) - but I just wanted to mention this, for others too; that if you noticed the Computer seemed 'tweaked' lately and is now pretty darn hard to beat as an Opponent in Legends - It's Not Just You™...

If I play some Versus matches, which I do from time to time - See You In The Game!


Addendum
Changes Seen:
- Increased Combination plays (Buffs, Debuffs, then Attacking)
- Increased Healing cards (Health added to Opponent)
- Highly Increased 'instant-kill' or 'unsummon' type "Destroy A Creature" cards (Piercing Javelin, Lighting Strike, Execute, Cast Out, etc)
etc.

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