Excessive false positives on STF's automatic ban program

[Rainehx]

The rewarding feeling afterwards was palpable.

This is why I play this game, That feeling.
Kudos for doing it the old school way and persevering =D

[Urat]

Correct me if I'm wrong (I've only played FFXII a tiny bit) but it's not possible to automate combat for the main character you're playing in XII, is it? I imagine that's what Rain is getting at and I have to agree -- if you're going to automate the game to the point where a program is literally playing for you, what's the point of "playing" it at all? I guess I can see some argument in using it to get past difficult content that you wouldn't otherwise be able to complete on your own, but I'd still question why someone would even bother playing the game if they're just going to try their best to forgo any challenge that they face and can't instantly conquer. I did my first LB5 on my BLU awhile back, and even though I could have gotten the rhapsodies KI that would allow me to use my Trusts, I wanted to do it alone, as everyone else had before me. I'm a little ashamed to admit this, but it took me 12 tries to kill Raubahn. I've never had to strategize so much for any fight in any game I've played, but once I finally got it down and managed to beat him, the rewarding feeling afterwards was palpable.

To each their own of course, but I just really don't see how anyone enjoys steam rolling through a game whilst avoiding the challenging parts -- even more so if they do it by using 3rd party automation.

Main character had gambits too and was just as automated. The game literally could play itself with good gambits.

[Stompa]

Some of these games are more "strategy" based gaming, strategy-gaming typically involves turn-based or automated play, where you set up your response-scenario before the actual battle commences, and then the game plays itself. These type of strategy-games can be fun or awful, depending on the amount of linear progression in the surrounding game world.

I don't mind turn-based / strategy-games if they are open-world RPG with a lot of user-input decisions outside the strategy battles. But I hate linear progression games, those are the games that you feel "why am I here?" and I find myself shouting at the PC "you don't even really need me to be here do you?!?!!!" I will not name names, you know what I'm talking about, lol.

FFXI is an RPG-themed arcade-strategy game, and that is why it has been such a success, and adored by fans. FFXI has hit the Goldilocks sweet-spot in many ways, one of those ways is the balance of *strategy* gaming, and *user-input / response-gaming* AKA arcade-gaming.

In FFXI your strategy is very important, certain battlefields require extra-WHM setups, extra COR/BRD/GEO setups. Some NMs spam doom/charm/catastrophic damage, and those NMs are often best with the "pet-job party" strategy. So choosing the correct party setup is strategy-gaming, and also your pre-selected macros and gear-selections are strategy-gaming too.

FFXI is awesome because it combines this pre-battle strategy element, with user-input response-gaming during battles, where your hand-speed and reflexes and native gaming-skills can often turn an almost-lost battle into a surprise-win. If FFXI had been strategy-gaming only, or response-gaming only, it would be a lot less fun. FFXI is a legendary masterpiece computergame, because it combines the strategy and response-gaming so beautifully. Also FFXI is a vast open-world RPG, and is therefor a far greater achievement than linear-progression games with the automated "now do this" stuff.

But On-Topic, my computergame philosophy has always been "love the game, play the game, don't hack the game."

I always said that if a person feels they're smart enough to write third-party tools to interfere with an existing game, they should just go and write a whole new game instead, and make it the way they want a game to be. If the original game's creator says that modding-community work is acceptable, then it is OK for you to write tools and add-on scenarios etc. But a person should never interfere with somebody else's game when they don't want you to interfere. It is their creation, their legacy, and it should be treated with respect.