Disadvantages of Auto Battle

[robthebob11]

I have a lot more fun in games when I can set up my characters with abilities and equipment and then watch a battle play out rather than actually being the one spamming the buttons. Just my own personal style.

How valid is that of an approach in this game? I've had my characters on full Auto so far and things seem fine but I'm admittedly not very far into the game at all. Are there abilities they'll never use in Auto? Are there other hidden disadvantages I don't know about?

Naturally I switch to manual if a battle gets particularly demanding. I'd just like to know what I'd be missing out on by primarily playing this way.

[chris100185]

The mayonnaise in my fridge is more intelligent than the AI in this one. You can generally make up for it with your controlled character, but unless you really overlevel/overgear yourself, I don't see a full AI approach being viable.

[Fell Arms]

I think it really depends on how much gear farming/grinding you do and the difficulty you're playing on. The character AI is bad, they're not good at positioning or dodging attacks. They also don't always use attacks strong against the enemy they're fighting when they can. Furthermore, another benefit of having a player character is it becomes easier to juggle/chain attacks with power hits, since the AI tends to just spam attacks and not time anything.

That being said, normal difficulty might not be bad with all auto. Just make sure your tactics and gear are set up well, and then you might still consider issuing a combat order on occasion.

As long as you're not playing on hard or higher and making sure you optimize your equipment though you should probably be fine. You may need to manually do the tutorials though, and some bosses if you're having trouble.

[Enlino]

I don't think you'll miss out on anything in particular - maybe the battle actions you unlock by evading things?

The AI will perform worse that you can, of course, which means you'll be getting less grade and probably won't be able to play on the higher dificulties without a ton of grinding, but I don't think there's anything that would stop you from playing the game on auto if that's what you want.

[Adunsavior]

Originally posted by chris100185:

The mayonnaise in my fridge is more intelligent than the AI in this one. You can generally make up for it with your controlled character, but unless you really overlevel/overgear yourself, I don't see a full AI approach being viable.

I must be dumber than the mayonnaise in your firdge then.

I was fighting a medusa boss, and got Sorey turned into stone right at the beginning of the fight. I thought of switching control to other characters, but decided to see if the petrify wears off, plus I was eating lunch, so I took my hands off the keyboard.

The petrify didn't wear off, however the rest of the gang managed to took the boss down to half health from full, until the boss looked in Sorey's direction and killed him.

AI > me confirmed.

[robthebob11]

Originally posted by Enlino:

I don't think you'll miss out on anything in particular - maybe the battle actions you unlock by evading things?

The AI will perform worse that you can, of course, which means you'll be getting less grade and probably won't be able to play on the higher dificulties without a ton of grinding, but I don't think there's anything that would stop you from playing the game on auto if that's what you want.

I have noticed that the AI hasn't performed a single SC recovery with an evasion, preventing me from getting that Battle Act so far. Does the AI simply never do that?

[Ouroboros]

Originally posted by robthebob11:

Originally posted by Enlino:

I don't think you'll miss out on anything in particular - maybe the battle actions you unlock by evading things?

The AI will perform worse that you can, of course, which means you'll be getting less grade and probably won't be able to play on the higher dificulties without a ton of grinding, but I don't think there's anything that would stop you from playing the game on auto if that's what you want.

I have noticed that the AI hasn't performed a single SC recovery with an evasion, preventing me from getting that Battle Act so far. Does the AI simply never do that?

Yes, the ai can "perform" that but it doesn't get credit for it.

[Snow]

Have you played any other Tales games? The AI in this one is pretty lacking since you can't customize it yourself. You'd have fun in other Tales games where you can completely customize the AI strategy like "Use x move when enemy is weak against x" or "Use x when party member's hp is <x%" You can completely play those games in auto if you customize it right.

[robthebob11]

Originally posted by Makoto:

Have you played any other Tales games? The AI in this one is pretty lacking since you can't customize it yourself. You'd have fun in other Tales games where you can completely customize the AI strategy like "Use x move when enemy is weak against x" or "Use x when party member's hp is <x%" You can completely play those games in auto if you customize it right.

To be honest I haven't played a Tales game since the PS2. Just currently getting caught up in the JRPG revival on PC and PS4 at the moment. Disgaea 5 is eating up a lot of my time. No automation there at all but I'm addicted anyway.

[robthebob11]

Originally posted by Ouroboros:

Originally posted by robthebob11:

I have noticed that the AI hasn't performed a single SC recovery with an evasion, preventing me from getting that Battle Act so far. Does the AI simply never do that?

Yes, the ai can "perform" that but it doesn't get credit for it.

So do AI actions not count towards Battle Action progress?

[Ouroboros]

Originally posted by robthebob11:

Originally posted by Ouroboros:

Yes, the ai can "perform" that but it doesn't get credit for it.

So do AI actions not count towards Battle Action progress?

I think they do for some general ones, like if your whole party is auto it will still count battles, but for the most part it doesn't seem to When I try it

[zshadez]

Originally posted by robthebob11:

Originally posted by Ouroboros:

Yes, the ai can "perform" that but it doesn't get credit for it.

So do AI actions not count towards Battle Action progress?

No. The game wants you to actually do something in battle, not the AI. Otherwisse every Battle Action unlock description would just say "wait".

[LuckyToShoot]

As long as you're not fighting things that's much higher level than you and can potentially one shot your character, then the AI shouldn't be too bad with the right equips and levels.

That said, I won't rely on it. They have done nothing except dying so far (But hey i was fighting things 30-40 levels above my characters).

[Ouroboros]

Originally posted by Aria:

wait so they decided to not have an anti-auto hidden monster this game? cause normally they have a monster that will ROFLSTOMP your party if you full auto

Well, there are some fights you're forced to run from... and a fight you can technically win without but you're meant to run to four pillars to break a domain to summon your seraphim ally... etc. So, if you count those.

[Zunnoab #931]

Originally posted by Aria:

wait so they decided to not have an anti-auto hidden monster this game? cause normally they have a monster that will ROFLSTOMP your party if you full auto

From the way someone mentioned it earlier that is if you autogrind by rubber-banding a control stick down or something. Whatever detection they use for that likely takes more than just auto-characters, otherwise they wouldn't offer the full auto option at all.

You also can most definitely tweak the AI, but not as much as in other games? Also, some have said titles significantly affect AI.

[Spawn of Totoro]

I just use the auto fighting for leveling my characters. I don't trust it to fight the bosses for me. Besides, half the fun is playing the character. :-)