I wish the gaming industry would get rid of regenerating health but..........

[geldonyetich]

Regenerating health is just an alternative to leaving health packs around.

If it bothers you that your health regenerates, it should also probably bother you that your character is able to instantly reverse the effects of bullets by finding gauze and antiseptics laying around.

If you want to get really realistic - along the realm of sci-fi - lets talk about invasive surgical nanites. It's be interesting to play a game and see a bloody bullet pop out of your forearm and land the ground, as your skin reseals itself.

 

[Syphonz]

An FPS developer could take the L4D Healing Idea to the next level. Just imagine you get shot up, and then you need to pick up Medkits in order to start regenerating health. And then when you find one you have the 'sling strap wrapping' going on but in first person. And while you're wrapping your wounds you can really see where you're shot and bleeding coming out of the bullet holes.

I'd LOVE to see something like that.

I fully agree with your sentiment and would like to subscribe to your newsletter

Erm.. Newsletter? I'm afraid I don't quite follow.

 

[rdaleric]

An FPS developer could take the L4D Healing Idea to the next level. Just imagine you get shot up, and then you need to pick up Medkits in order to start regenerating health. And then when you find one you have the 'sling strap wrapping' going on but in first person. And while you're wrapping your wounds you can really see where you're shot and bleeding coming out of the bullet holes.

I'd LOVE to see something like that.

I fully agree with your sentiment and would like to subscribe to your newsletter

Erm.. Newsletter? I'm afraid I don't quite follow.

Sorry lol i meant very good point

 

[Iampringles]

I think the system works fine as it is.

 

[stinkypitz]

I think Mass Effect had a great health system. You have health, which doesn't (normally) regenerate, and then you have shields that do. A combination of both is fair. Although, there are cases where this system doesn't fit with a game.

 

[Panayjon]

The Ninja Gaiden health system was pretty nice, although it just kicks reality in the nuts and runs away laughing. I like not having to fish around for health packs, but you shouldn't be able to get back to full in a matter of seconds, even if its out of combat.

 

[z121231211]

I like how they did it in MGS3. Your health regenerates very slowly.

I believe it depends on the game. If it's slow paced, then a health bar. If it's gun-fights all the time then a regenerating health bar is good.

 

[51gunner]

Resistance: Fall of Man had the greatest health system ever.

Firstly, you get a Health Bar so you know how much health you have.
Secondly, your Health Bar regenerates, but only to the nearest quarter.
So, if you take 24% damage, you will heal back to 100% if you get out of fire. If, however, you take 26% damage, you will only heal back to 75%.

Something a lot like that cropped up in Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter, except for the fact it was only two thresholds: 25% and 65%. I think it was really good for that kind of game, where you want to keep the player thinking carefully. In GRAW, a single nasty bullet could take you below that 25% line. I did play Resistance a couple times too, the system was nice.

Anyways, for my own two cents on the matter, I think it's a lot easier on game designers to use regenerative health. They don't have to consider every location where they need to place medkits, and it means they can always rely on the player having 'full' health. To keep the difficulty, you can make 'full' a lot lower though. Not needing medkits in-game also lets the player not have to stop to scrounge, and the designers can drop more surprises on the player: you're never tipped off by a pile of medkits sitting around.

EDIT:
Anyone mentioning "realism" as an argument for one side or the other can bite it. No, getting a pat on the back and walking away isn't realistic, but neither is a first aid kit instantly reversing wounds when stepped on. The only realistic one I've heard of is America's Army, where all a medic can do is prevent you from bleeding out once you've taken a hit.

 

[Haddi]

I still miss the health packs from Halo CE. I enjoyed having both the shield system, and an indicator of how f**ked I am if I lose it, even temporarily.

 

[defcon 1]

I liked the interface in Dead Space. Just thought I had to say it.

Pardon me if this has been said before, I'm tired and didn't read all the post. My two cents is thrown at a motley audio and rumble interface. I think that a first person shooter should rely on the sound of the protagonist's breathing pattern. When he's considerably wounded, he'll start a light breathing pattern, when hit, he'll breath harder. A Baldur's Gate game had the controller vibrate in the rhythm of a heartbeat when health is low. Add that on to the idea I have. This way there is nothing taking up precious screen space and I would imagine it would be immersive. Mabey if you're too hurt, everything will become slightly more red or something like that. For the love of God don't recharge! Master Chief could do this because he had a high tech suite, but something like CoD4 just makes your character look like that green villain from Dragonball Z.

 

[Inverse Skies]

I'm all for the traditional medpacks. Half-life still goes with them and they work perfectly fine. After all, there's nothing like coming out of a fight with the barest of health left and then commencing a tense search for health in the next section before something shoots you.

I'm still yet to be convinced by a game with regenerating health in which the system works really well. It all seems strange. It worked alright in MGS3 (alright does not mean well).

Resistance: Fall of Man had the greatest health system ever.

Firstly, you get a Health Bar so you know how much health you have.
Secondly, your Health Bar regenerates, but only to the nearest quarter.
So, if you take 24% damage, you will heal back to 100% if you get out of fire. If, however, you take 26% damage, you will only heal back to 75%.

Resistance's health system was way better BEFORE they bought in the regenerating part. It made the start of the game hard because you would get shot to pieces fairly nastily. (Mainly because there was no way to heal at all then, the little yellow canisters weren't around)