Resident Evil AI programming

I would like to evaluate the aspects of the AI in Resident Evil for the purposes of writing my own stories inspired by Resident Evil. They won't have anything to do with the franchise, but they will certainly nod at it from time to time.

First, I'd like us to discuss the first knockdown of Nemesis in Type A and B in Resident Evil 3.

In the first two versions of Nemesis, he falls down for a few seconds after taking enough of a pounding and then gets up again. Does he do this because ballistic shock stuns him temporarily, or is it to trick Jill into a false sense of security? I seem to remember running around fallen Nemesis in his first form after dropping him the first time and he seemed to stay down as long as Jill was moving around his body. The second time, he spends ten to fifteen seconds clutching his side on one knee before rising. I can't measure time too well.

Also, I was wondering, did the developers make Nemesis drop after loosing half his health to give the players a window to run away? I don't know enough about physics or game psychology to make up my mind. Please let me know what you think.

PS

Sorry I've been away so long. I've been through a lot, but I'd very much like to catch up with you guys. I liked this forum very much and would like to make a comeback.

First of all, welcome back. It's been a while.

Pau Diaz wrote:

In the first two versions of Nemesis, he falls down for a few seconds after taking enough of a pounding and then gets up again. Does he do this because ballistic shock stuns him temporarily, or is it to trick Jill into a false sense of security? I seem to remember running around fallen Nemesis in his first form after dropping him the first time and he seemed to stay down as long as Jill was moving around his body. The second time, he spends ten to fifteen seconds clutching his side on one knee before rising. I can't measure time too well.

Also, I was wondering, did the developers make Nemesis drop after loosing half his health to give the players a window to run away? I don't know enough about physics or game psychology to make up my mind. Please let me know what you think.

You mean when he drops down for a moment without "dying" (with the pool of purple goo), right? I actually went to check a video of all Nemesis battles since I usually tend to just stay away from him myself. Since his second (arguably more powerful) form has him kneeling down and breathing heavily instead of falling flat, I do think it's him going down for the count and not a ruse. At least in some instances it seems that even in his first form he occasionally gets up without getting fired at after going down.

As for the health thing, I also think it is a way for the player to get a breather from him for a while. The guy is pretty relentless and is even a faster runner than Jill, so this gives you a chance to get a bit of a head start on him. And I think he actually goes prone after getting 3/4 of his health go down, instead of half. It seemingly takes longer to have him fall down than to eventually beat him afterwards.

Also it could be a bit of a troll by the devs, as the first time you do decide to battle him you might first think you finally got him down, only for him to get back up again shortly after. Kinda works as both, since that shouldn't be a surprise after the first time anymore.

Oh, and here's the video I watched, in case you wanna study it yourself.

Thank you for the video. It helped remind me of the AI behaviour of Nemesis and your feedback is insightful.

According to a hacker on another forum, Nemesis, in both his first and second forms, has 900 health and he falls down temporarily when it is reduced to 400 or below. So, he goes down when 2.25 of his health is lost.

I forget how long Nemesis stayed down in his first form on the first knockdown, but it was no more than three to five seconds. In the second, I seem to remember now that he stayed on one knee for up to eight frames before rising.

What you say about getting a head start on him in his second form certainly rings true, but the first form, unless you knock him down in a small room, doesn't offer a large window to escape through.

I'd like to know why the design team thought that over half of his health was better than half. You can modify the number in the exe file, but they decided that 2.25 was the right number. Why? My maths and knowledge of gameplay balance is not great. Please explain.

Pau Diaz wrote:

I'd like to know why the design team thought that over half of his health was better than half. You can modify the number in the exe file, but they decided that 2.25 was the right number. Why? My maths and knowledge of gameplay balance is not great. Please explain.

I guess 400 was just a simpler number to code in.

I would guess so, too.

Changing the subject, I'd like to look at the behaviour of Nosferatu from Code Veronica X. According to the feedback I got on another forum I was once on, he reacted to sound and would end up on completely the other side of the helipad if you didn't make any noise.

Why at no point during the fight does Nosferatu not remove the blindfold he's got? Surely if he can break down his cell door and walk up steps he could get rid of the thing around his head. I imagine using that large tentacle on his back, he could reach down and rip it off.