Do fleeing enemies frustrate you?

[StaceyPowers]

When an enemy flees in a video game, do you find that frustrating or beneficial? Like, I find it odd when some weapons in games make enemies flee as some kind of “bonus.” Chasing after them is a pain.

 

[killamch89]

It annoys me especially if it's a kill every enemy objective and you have this one gremlin just running away forever and you have to move from the current area to some other area you don't need to be.

[Heatman]

Survival is very important even to the enemies as well. Hell, I'd take on my heels too if it's what's going to save ass from certain death ☠. 

[Withywarlock]

I'm of two minds on the subject. Firstly, I think it's a good show of perspective from both the AI and their developer. Why are most creatures fighting to the death? Because they've no choice in the matter, or because they exist solely to give the player XP? I like that wild animals or bandits that are hungry might realise they're in a losing fight, run to lick their wounds and then fight again. In Ultima, to become the Avatar of the Eight Virtues, you cannot chase after and slay enemies that flee because it goes against the Virtue of Justice, quote, "Kill not a non-evil beast for they deserve not death, even if in hunger they attack thee!"

On the other hand it's very annoying, and a lot of video games simply aren't made to have long-term consequences of letting an enemy flee. In the Elder Scrolls a fleeing enemy will only move about 20 metres away, huff and plead, and then proceed to attack. It's the exact sort of thing I'd expect from a LaFave Bros. sketch. Meanwhile in CRPGs, a defeated foe tends to either regroup and fight again later in the story, or thanks you for sparing their life and has changed their ways, et cetera, et cetera.

In my current Dungeons & Dragons campaign I have the feeling that my singled-out character is going to be ambushed whilst performing his clerical duties in the graveyard alone (this isn't a euphemism, honest), and if it comes to a fight I imagine one of the foes shall run to report back to their organisation, given their recent scouting behaviour. Ironically my character won't be one to flee, unless a place of worship or funerary rites is threatened. If he dies at the oh-so-legendary status of a 2nd Level adventurer, he'll die defending a garden of Kelemvor.

Edited September 5, 2021 by Withywarlock

[Heatman]

On 8/12/2021 at 9:59 PM, killamch89 said:

It annoys me especially if it's a kill every enemy objective and you have this one gremlin just running away forever and you have to move from the current area to some other area you don't need to be.

Yeah - it's actually something that is very frustrating and time consuming because you would end up with wasting time you wouldn't under normal circumstances. 

[killamch89]

49 minutes ago, Heatman said:

Yeah - it's actually something that is very frustrating and time consuming because you would end up with wasting time you wouldn't under normal circumstances. 

It's very annoying to say the least. On top of that, most of the enemies have all this trash talk but suddenly when they realized they're outmatched, they running away and begging for mercy.

[Heatman]

8 hours ago, killamch89 said:

It's very annoying to say the least. On top of that, most of the enemies have all this trash talk but suddenly when they realized they're outmatched, they running away and begging for mercy.

Seriously - it gets on my nerves but what I do when I eventually get my hands on them is taking them out with extreme prejudice. 

[Razor1911]

Yeah obviously. Specially in the Battle royale games like PUBG. When I had been aiming for the headshot for quite some time, and then Suddenly the enemy hides behind something. I run after him, but couldn't find. Lol😆 that's so frustrating. I just lost 1 kill. 😆

[Heatman]

18 minutes ago, Razor1911 said:

Yeah obviously. Specially in the Battle royale games like PUBG. When I had been aiming for the headshot for quite some time, and then Suddenly the enemy hides behind something. I run after him, but couldn't find. Lol😆 that's so frustrating. I just lost 1 kill. 😆

The good thing about headshot kills is that I don't really need to chase the enemy but lay in wait till I have a clean shot. 

[Empire]

As player i never chase a fleeing enemy unless they can be a problem in the future. As GM, my players are usually the one to run off, so if an enemy run from them, they take the occasion to walk away in the opposite direction.

[Heatman]

39 minutes ago, Empire said:

As player i never chase a fleeing enemy unless they can be a problem in the future. As GM, my players are usually the one to run off, so if an enemy run from them, they take the occasion to walk away in the opposite direction.

If they stop me from progressing to the next stage, it's definitely going to be very frustrating. If they end up coming back to haunt me, it's even going to be more annoying. 

[Shagger]

In short, yes, it's really annoying, but it gets worse if the AI does not react in a natural way. Bethesda, for instance have been deeply bad at this. AI that flees or "yields" in Bethesda games have been a thing for quite some time, but what they really do is run so far, hide for a moment then come at you again, so there's no point to it, you have to finish them off even if they are "surrendering". This issue is in Skyrim as well, but for some reason there are spells and a destruction magic perk that will actually make enemies flee. Why would anyone want to use them?

[Heatman]

On 8/12/2021 at 7:18 PM, StaceyPowers said:

When an enemy flees in a video game, do you find that frustrating or beneficial? Like, I find it odd when some weapons in games make enemies flee as some kind of “bonus.” Chasing after them is a pain.

 

I would only find enemies fleeing benefiting when they don't later turn around to attack me once again or interfere with my progress in one way or another. 

[Razor1911]

13 hours ago, Heatman said:

I would only find enemies fleeing benefiting when they don't later turn around to attack me once again or interfere with my progress in one way or another. 

Yup, but in most cases when they come back again, they will surely try to kill you, literally. 😆

It's better to finish them for once and for all. No need to take tension about that afterwards. 😊

[Heatman]

2 hours ago, Razor1911 said:

Yup, but in most cases when they come back again, they will surely try to kill you, literally. 😆

It's better to finish them for once and for all. No need to take tension about that afterwards. 😊

Yeah - if it's possible to kill them all with the use of one strike, it's going to be very good because it saves you the stress of chasing after them and wasting your time.