Games where characters make dreadful tactical choices.

[Lieju]

Anything anyone does in Resident Evil.
Characters who are supposed to be police officers or other professionals make sure they make every single mistake they can think of, incuding splitting up and wandering into places where the monsters are coming from in the first place.

And villains aren't much better.

 

[Irridium]

Mass Effect 2. Jack's recruitment mission.

The Warden stops you from walking into a cell to tell you he's going to capture you. If he didn't say anything, you would have walked right in there thinking it was an elevator, and he would have gotten you.

He sabotaged his own damn plan.

Freaking moron.

Some more from Mass Effect 2:

TIM not telling you the inactive collector ship is a trap, because he doesn't want you messing up the Collector's trap. He was willing to risk the collectors capturing humanities "last hope" against the Reapers, because... I don't even know. Fucking idiot.

You destroying the Reaper in orbit around the one Brown Dwarf, and not, oh I don't know, USING IT AS EVIDENCE TO PROVE THE EXISTENCE OF THE REAPERS!

That Star System(where the relay is, I think its Hawking Ete or something) is in Citadel space, since you went there in the first game. This means you can bring Citadel ships there. Which means you can bring people there to prove all this reaper stuff to them. Which would give the council reason to help you, and bolster their forces for the Reaper threat.

Cerberus also dropped the ball there. All the researchers going insane could have been stopped buy just doing routine checkups on them. If TIM did that, he would see that they were going crazy, and could rotate them out with other researchers. This could also be a place to study indoctrination. And don't get me started on studying all that reaper tech.

I know sometimes people have to act stupid for the plot and all, but come on Bioware. Your better then this.

EDIT: Also, placing Legion in the AI core. Really? Your really going to put a Geth in the AI core? In what way does this make any sense?

 

[Katana314]

Mafia 2: Go into debt with a loan shark and betray my boss to make some extra dough? Sounds fine!
Fallout 3: Oh no, a highly radioactive chamber! Someone has to wade through the radiation to input the code, and most certainly die! Fawkes, step back, surely a radiation-immune mutant would be no use here. This is DESTINY.
Just Cause: We'd like to free these people from their oppressive leaders. Let's assist with the gang violence, and then blow up anything we see! Oh, the leader's dead now? Whatever, keep going!
Bad Company 2: We've discovered the Russians are up to no good as usual. Should we get some help? NO! Let's keep this threat to America a secret between you, me, Haggard, and this informant guy that's completely trustworthy!
Zeno Clash: I wonder why Father Mother thinks I want to kill him. He won't tell me, so maybe I'll kill all his children and beat it out of him.

Super Meat Boy: Oh no! When I reached Bandage Girl, Dr. Fetus captured her and teleported away. Maybe if I get through this next series of traps, that won't happen again...Oh no! When I reached Bandage Girl, Dr. Fetus captured her and teleported away. Maybe if I get through this next series of traps, that won't happen again...Oh no! When I reached Bandage Girl, Dr. Fetus captured her and teleported away. Maybe if I get through this next series of traps, that won't happen again...

 

[Fr]anc[is]

In the intro of one of the Dawn of War games the commander orders his squad carrying heavy weapons to charge up a hill directly into the Ork horde. Fuckin noob

 

[HT_Black]

Mass Effect 2. Jack's recruitment mission.

The Warden stops you from walking into a cell to tell you he's going to capture you. If he didn't say anything, you would have walked right in there thinking it was an elevator, and he would have gotten you.

He sabotaged his own damn plan.

Freaking moron.

Some more from Mass Effect 2:

TIM not telling you the inactive collector ship is a trap, because he doesn't want you messing up the Collector's trap. He was willing to risk the collectors capturing humanities "last hope" against the Reapers. Fucking idiot.

You destroying the Reaper in orbit around the one Brown Dwarf, and not, oh I don't know, USING IT AS EVIDENCE TO PROVE THE EXISTENCE OF THE REAPERS!

That Star System(where the relay is, I think its Hawking Ete or something) is in Citadel space, since you went there in the first game. This means you can bring Citadel ships there. Which means you can bring people there to prove all this reaper stuff to them. Which would give the council reason to help you, and bolster their forces for the Reaper threat.

Cerberus also dropped the ball there. All the researchers going insane could have been stopped buy just doing routine checkups on them. If TIM did that, he would see that they were going crazy, and could rotate them out with other researchers. This could also be a place to study indoctrination. And don't get me started on studying all that reaper tech.

I know sometimes people have to act stupid for the plot and all, but come on Bioware. Your better then this.

EDIT: Also, placing Legion in the AI core. Really? Your really going to put a Geth in the AI core? In what way does this make any sense?

Somebody has been watching Spoiler Warning.

But the worst decision I've seen in a recent game is adressed within the script itself. In New Vegas, the NCR defense is just a really big line which makes no use of the cover and vantage points afforded by a nearby ridge. Everyone knows that the general is an idiot, but he's too hard-headed to revise his plans.

 

[Irridium]

Mass Effect 2. Jack's recruitment mission.

The Warden stops you from walking into a cell to tell you he's going to capture you. If he didn't say anything, you would have walked right in there thinking it was an elevator, and he would have gotten you.

He sabotaged his own damn plan.

Freaking moron.

Some more from Mass Effect 2:

TIM not telling you the inactive collector ship is a trap, because he doesn't want you messing up the Collector's trap. He was willing to risk the collectors capturing humanities "last hope" against the Reapers. Fucking idiot.

You destroying the Reaper in orbit around the one Brown Dwarf, and not, oh I don't know, USING IT AS EVIDENCE TO PROVE THE EXISTENCE OF THE REAPERS!

That Star System(where the relay is, I think its Hawking Ete or something) is in Citadel space, since you went there in the first game. This means you can bring Citadel ships there. Which means you can bring people there to prove all this reaper stuff to them. Which would give the council reason to help you, and bolster their forces for the Reaper threat.

Cerberus also dropped the ball there. All the researchers going insane could have been stopped buy just doing routine checkups on them. If TIM did that, he would see that they were going crazy, and could rotate them out with other researchers. This could also be a place to study indoctrination. And don't get me started on studying all that reaper tech.

I know sometimes people have to act stupid for the plot and all, but come on Bioware. Your better then this.

EDIT: Also, placing Legion in the AI core. Really? Your really going to put a Geth in the AI core? In what way does this make any sense?

Somebody has been watching Spoiler Warning.

But the worst decision I've seen in a recent game is adressed within the script itself. In New Vegas, the NCR defense is just a really big line which makes no use of the cover and vantage points afforded by a nearby ridge. Everyone knows that the general is an idiot, but he's too hard-headed to revise his plans.

LIES!

Ok not lies, but I've had issues with those for a while. Especially the Warden one on Jacks recruitment mission. He didn't have to say anything. HE WOULD HAVE GOTTEN US! But no, he screws up his own plan.

And the Reaper one. Its the find of the century. Finally proof we could use to shut that fucking Turian councilor up. And we destroy it.

 

[4nthr4x]

Resident Evil 4:
When Leon decides to go through the castle to lose those pesky peasants following him ^^

 

[DeathWyrmNexus]

Just wanted to start this thread to see how many games were npc's have used dreadful tactics.
I'm gonna go with dragon age, the first battle with the Darkspawn with King Cailan in charge.
Man it was awful:
Failing to take use of a higher ground advantage, underestimating your enemy, wasting hounds on a ineffective attack, charging a prepared, more numerous enemy from a strong position. Poorly equipped soldiers and a ridiculously stupid signaling system.
I could have done a shit ton better in the same situation.
So anyone else?

That was pretty bad. Dont forget they only fired one volley of arrows before sending in the hounds and then charging.

That is all entirely irrelevent in comparision to what Logain did. To anybody at all his betrayel would have made absolutely no sense at all. You sacrifice half a bloody army when the kingdom is under attack by a force which already has superior numbers. Killing off the king, outlawing grey wardens, starting a civil war, all of this while they were under attack by the darkspawn. You cant even say that he underestimated the darkspawns power because he saw the size of the army at ostagar.

I notice it in nearly every game though. Both sides always make these rediculous tactical errors or dont even think of the most obvious solution available.

I always scratched my head and asked where the mage volley was. There was such a big stink about the mages saving their spells for the darkspawn and I don't recall a single damn fireball, Inferno, tempest, Blizzard, or Earthquake. I just saw typical catapult barrages.

They could have at least used Grease first and then lobbed some fire in. Hell, there could have been an entire barrage of withering artillery and spells before they ever loosed the hounds. I would have kept the hounds with the soldiers for added foot soldier support.

Loghain could have won the day, despite Cailan's tactical errors, by simply doing what he was told.

All said, that front line should have been a hell on Earth for the darkspawn to march though before they even touched the infantry. I kept wanting to yell at Cailan. "USE THE MAGE NUKES DUDE!!!"

 

[Souplex]

Mass Effect 2: Recruiting Jack. You should have left her to die.
Not using the derelict Reaper as evidence.
Not having an option at the endgame to turn over the Reaper IFF to the council so they could study its technology as opposed to destroying it or turning it over to The Illusive Man.

 

[Nylis]

Mass Effect 2. Jack's recruitment mission.

The Warden stops you from walking into a cell to tell you he's going to capture you. If he didn't say anything, you would have walked right in there thinking it was an elevator, and he would have gotten you.

He sabotaged his own damn plan.

Freaking moron.

Some more from Mass Effect 2:

TIM not telling you the inactive collector ship is a trap, because he doesn't want you messing up the Collector's trap. He was willing to risk the collectors capturing humanities "last hope" against the Reapers. Fucking idiot.

You destroying the Reaper in orbit around the one Brown Dwarf, and not, oh I don't know, USING IT AS EVIDENCE TO PROVE THE EXISTENCE OF THE REAPERS!

That Star System(where the relay is, I think its Hawking Ete or something) is in Citadel space, since you went there in the first game. This means you can bring Citadel ships there. Which means you can bring people there to prove all this reaper stuff to them. Which would give the council reason to help you, and bolster their forces for the Reaper threat.

Cerberus also dropped the ball there. All the researchers going insane could have been stopped buy just doing routine checkups on them. If TIM did that, he would see that they were going crazy, and could rotate them out with other researchers. This could also be a place to study indoctrination. And don't get me started on studying all that reaper tech.

I know sometimes people have to act stupid for the plot and all, but come on Bioware. Your better then this.

EDIT: Also, placing Legion in the AI core. Really? Your really going to put a Geth in the AI core? In what way does this make any sense?

Somebody has been watching Spoiler Warning.

But the worst decision I've seen in a recent game is adressed within the script itself. In New Vegas, the NCR defense is just a really big line which makes no use of the cover and vantage points afforded by a nearby ridge. Everyone knows that the general is an idiot, but he's too hard-headed to revise his plans.

LIES!

Ok not lies, but I've had issues with those for a while. Especially the Warden one on Jacks recruitment mission. He didn't have to say anything. HE WOULD HAVE GOTTEN US! But no, he screws up his own plan.

And the Reaper one. Its the find of the century. Finally proof we could use to shut that fucking Turian councilor up. And we destroy it.

Yeah the turian on the Purgatory messed up, but they had good reason for destroying that reaper. When Shepard got on the reaper, something caused the reaper's kinetic barriers to activate, making it impossible for the Normandy to get Shepard off of the reaper. And remember, the whole reason they were there was to get the reaper IFF so they could get past the Omega 4 Relay. So the only way to shut down the barriers and get back to the ship, was to destroy the main power source.

 

[Teh_Lemon]

Curse* you guys and your Mass Effect 2 Spoilers! (I plan to get the games when they release a special edition trilogy pack or something)

Also, all of the other ones are really interesting, but this one I never got:

Bowser. He never captures Mario, Luigi, and Peach all at once. He's captured the princess a thousand times, Mario at least twice, and those three are the only ones who's ever stopped him (besides maybe in Super Paper Mario or something). (IS THE CONSTRUCTION OF INSANE LABRYNTHS AND AMASSING A GIANT ENDLESS ARMY OF MUTANT TURTLES REALLY THAT MUCH EASIER THAN DRAWING A BLONDE AND 2 PLUMBERS INTO A TRAP...?)

Oh, and every time some Great Evil is sealed away for 'all eternity'. Haven't they ever heard the Legends of Zelda? Sheesh.

 

[Irridium]

Yeah the turian on the Purgatory messed up, but they had good reason for destroying that reaper. When Shepard got on the reaper, something caused the reaper's kinetic barriers to activate, making it impossible for the Normandy to get Shepard off of the reaper. And remember, the whole reason they were there was to get the reaper IFF so they could get past the Omega 4 Relay. So the only way to shut down the barriers and get back to the ship, was to destroy the main power source.

TIM told you the Reaper was there. You could have flown in, saw it, capture video evidence(after all, if some voice files from a random Quarian are enough evidence to get them to discharge their greatest agent, without bringing him into the conversation to defend himself, then I think video evidence from their second greatest would be fine. If anything Anderson will believe the hell out of you and help), fly away, then come back with lots of Council dudes.

 

[Blubberburg]

Soo many of these can be based around the player character appears to be an invinsible god (because game loads cut out you dying and whatnot) and your only vulnerable during cutscenes.
But there was this one part in Dragon age when your breaking someone out of a prison and get attacked by like 20+ archers amungst other things and they just decemated me but then i got arrested instead of killed, but makes me think shouldnt all the bad guys go around in huge partys instead of just small groups that can be easyly picked off one by one by your casual party of four?

Also your dog in fable 2, this is a bit of a spoiler for those who havent heard of this game before. but at the end when your dog dives in front of a bullet to save you, you survived from the same bullet as a little kid while also falling miles. surely your superpowers adult self with armor and everything could have just stopped time or whatever and dealt with him but no the dog kills himself and causes me to have billions of people remain dead so i can revive just my dog with this wish.

 

[Gizmo1990]

Batman Arkham Asylum. Every time you are in a room, hanging from a gargoyal and the fool's with guns are talking to each other saying things like 'when the batman shows him self I am going to kill him cuz nobody has tryed shooting at him with a gun before'. Seriously do these guys never learn. IT'S FUCKING BATMAN!! He has been beating the crap out of nameless goons for years why have the not got the hint. You do not go up against batman and win.

 

[WayOutThere]

I've been playing Killzone 2. At one point the squad is in a large room with windows when an air unit started firing in on them. "Well" I thought, "that isn't so bad. None of you got hit on the first run and now all of you have time to run to a lower floor and get as far from windows as possible." Instead of doing that, one of them yelled "We're sitting ducks! We've got to get to the roof!" To which my response was YOU'RE AN IDIOT.

What followed was a fairly good boss fight though.

 

[Ultress]

Don't know if it counts as a tactical decision but not letting Heat eat Bat in DDS 1,it would have saved everyone a fuckton of trouble down the road.

 

[Chimpzy_v1legacy]

Gears of War. Turning Sera's surface to ash with the exception of Jacinto Plateau.

Great plan. Effectively making your planet uninhabitable and concentrating all your remaining people and resources into a single spot.

 

[Katana314]

I'm pretty sure the lightmass bomb in GoW only affected the underground.