It’s always great to know you suck at a video game, but it’s even better when the game takes the controller away from you and hands you its virtual beer. Such was the case in Dragon Quest XI recently, when I encountered probably the most difficult boss in the game yet. Up to this point, I hadn’t had much trouble with any of the monsters in the game, and had my fighting style set to control only the main character. Everyone else was automated.
Well, along came Tentacular. Admittedly, I wasn’t really prepared for Tentacular. I probably could’ve withdrawn some of my gold from the bank and stocked everyone up with the latest weapons and armor, but hey, when you’re that close to a save point, a guy can get a little cocky. I ran off to fight the beastie with my current (under-powered) gear.
Shortly after Tentacular emerged like the fuckin’ Kraken and planted his big ass on my boat, I quickly realized I was over-matched. My gear just wasn’t good enough, and I wasn’t a high enough level. I was doomed.
I fought the good fight, but eventually my four heroes fell in battle. I set the controller down to await the “You Suck, Game Over” screen and re-load my save. Except it didn’t happen. My B-team stepped in. My fully-automated B-team.
I didn’t know this was a thing. I had yet to have my entire team wiped out, until now. But here were my remaining three team members, doing their own thing, completely without my input. Now to be fair, I could’ve stepped in and changed the tactics and taken over, but I was resigned to my fate. I’d just wait until Tentacular wiped the deck with my sorry butt and then I would reload, go grind out a few levels, get some gear and be back for my revenge.
My automated B-team had other ideas. As I sat and spectated, my team went to work, reviving, healing, buffing, and attacking. And holy shit, it was working. I was watching some epic teamwork between four characters, and I had absolutely nothing to do with it.
And you know what? They kicked Tentacular’s slimy purple ass. They straight-up murdered that fuck. While I was sitting drinking a Coke and watching in complete shock. Afterwards, I was given back control, in which case I imagined the game yanking its virtual beer back and calling me a pansy. I was able to continue on, having been robbed of the satisfaction of killing that piece of shit myself.
Sure, I could reload that previous save, but nah.
