old style gameplay should return

[BallPtPenTheif]

and bionic command: Rearmed is not that forgiving gameplay wise. Having unlimited continues doesn't make you have easier timing or breeze trough levels.

actually it does. replaying from the beginning of a level drastically lessens the learning curve when compared to having to replay the entire game from the beginning if you use all your continues.

 

[Mr. Purple]

generally this doesnt affect my gameply, so it doesnt bother me.

 

[KittywifaMohawk]

It doesn't affect mine either

I just go full at it really, I want to see how fast I can beat it really, I don't care about the checkpoints, I just pretend they aren't there and act like I'll restart at the game if I die...so I make sure of it that I won't

 

[some random guy]

Another "games aren't frustrating enough" thread? Haven't we had enough of these already?

 

[stompy]

Another "games aren't frustrating enough" thread? Haven't we had enough of these already?

Evidently not.

Anyways, I'd say that I'm alright with gameplay today. I think that recharging health has its place in the world, what with it helping keep the tempo fast in action games and fast-paced FPSs.

As for frustrating games, I don't think so. If I may quote Yahtzee for a sec: "If disliking this sort of shit makes me stupid, then call me Retard McSpackyPants, but I'd rather be stupid and having fun than bored out of my huge genius mind."

 

[khululy]

lol sorry I don't want to be frustrated I want to be challenged and I'm new to this board...sorry...
I just want the feeling I beat the game. Not that I just walked through the path given to me. Sometimes in games I just get myself killed because I can start the section over not because I screwed up no because i'm low on health.Regenerating health how does that keep the action fast paced... "let's wait in a corner and NOT shoot. it keeps up the pace" I like the method used in devil may cry and the likes, just plain old pick ups. No one has generating health... Wolverine aside... but there aren't any cool Wolverine games yet.

 

[insectoid]

There's a fine line between challenging and down-right frustrating.

I think old games are just that little bit too hard for them to be the main-stream media they are today (and therefore have enough money to create amazing titles).

I know I'm in the minority of my age group when I enjoy harder games. The challenge makes me want to continue, I want to beat the game, just to prove I can. However, I know many people who would just take it back for a refund after dying/losing three times.

 

[Anton P. Nym]

Regenerating health how does that keep the action fast paced... "let's wait in a corner and NOT shoot. it keeps up the pace" I like the method used in devil may cry and the likes, just plain old pick ups.

Regenerating health gets rid of hunting for health pick-ups, and too it allows designers to balance levels based on players having full health; there's many a time I ran into a bad save point because I got impatient and skipped looking for food/medkits/whatever after an encounter only to run into a boss while at half health. That means getting killed and going back to an earlier save to find that @#$%ing health, or playing ultracautiously and taking twice (or more) as long to get through the fight.

I don't know about you, but regen health does make games faster-paced for my style of play.

-- Steve

 

[AzraelUK]

We want to restore our health by COLLECTING ROAST CHICKEN, not by syringing drugs into the only vein we can still find! Games have gone SHIT and DARK and RUBBISH and WE WANT THEM BACK! We want music that goes PLINKY-PLINK AND DOOPY-DOO not "motherfucking west coast mother fucker, y'all"! [http://www.ukresistance.co.uk/2005/11/blue-sky-in-games-campaign-launched.html]

 

[squirrelman42]

It completely depends on the game. FPS games always have had checkpoints of some sort whether it was a save slot or an elevator shaft at the end of each Wolfenstein level. Have checkpoints gone too far? They probably have, but introducing lives to an FPS? Come on. Part of the reason you had lives was because the game was only an hour and a half long from start to finish. If you had infinite respawns there would be no reason to play it past the first two hours. Lives in Half-Life or Halo where when you lost all of them you had to start the game over again, that's just obscene.

I could see having to start the level/chapter again if you lost all your lives, and the first Halo did have health with regenerating shields, which was ideal IMO. You still were weakened when your health was red, but you weren't completely at the mercy of the game if there were no health packets around.

I wouldn't mind seeing a good arcade-style game with lives and no save data. Something with a secret level-warp that made Mario almost infinitely replayable.

 

[mackem]

My personal opinion is that the older style of gameplay where you have a health bar and no savepoints at all during the level is fine but the correct style completely depends on the game.
For example, half life 2 in my opinion is one of those games that could not work without the checkpoint system it has as the way the game is designed encourages you to experiment with things like the gravity gun and makeshift weaponry.
Something like cod4 on the other hand is well suited to its health regen thing as its meant to be a fast paced game and this enables you to play a lot more aggressively than you would with a health bar.
However, in my opinion there is only one game in recent years where the system used is absolutely perfect. Swat 4. They got the health and save system perfect in that game. No saves at all in the level, no health bar but different parts of your body that can be injured, for example, get shot in the leg and you are slower and have a noticable limp, take one to the arm and your aim is worse and it takes longer to move your gun and aim.

Anyway, the point of this ramble is that there is no perfect gameplay style, it depends 100% on what sort of game is being made and how the game is meant to be played.

 

[jacodemon]

The beauty is that advent of new ideas (recharging health bars, checkpoints, etc ad infinitum) doesn't make old ones disappear.

There are plenty of old school games out there to just go and play, and even now new ones are being developed and released. I despaired for modern games some years ago but then Ikaruga came out and proved me wrong. It's just that the big-budget high-cost crazy AAA game houses have to alienate as few people as possible to ensure their games sell sell sell. Games in general are a bigger deal now than ever before because they are accessible to more people than ever before, and people lap them up in spades.

Doesn't mean the Contras of this world have gone, they've just ceased to be the mainstream big sellers that they used to be. It's left to the minority of gamers that enjoy a hardcore challenge to seek these games out.

Forward to the past!

 

[implodingMan]

I think the whole regenerating health thing is overplayed on these forums. From a quick glance around my desk at my 360 games:

Regenerating Health: Halo 3, COD 4, COD 2, Gears of War

Health does not regenerate: GTA4, Bioshock, Orange Box, Devil May Cry 4, Dead Rising, The Godfather, GRAW

Tricky to classifydepends on in game choices) Mass Effect, Oblivion

So many people on these forums act like every game created since 2001 has the regenerating system, when it is actually fairly nicely balanced.

 

[squid5580]

FEAR 1 & 2 also use health instead of regeneration (except if you go down really low then it will regenerate a bit).

I really miss points. Whatever happened to trying to beat a high score?

 

[SilentHunter7]

FEAR 1 & 2 also use health instead of regeneration (except if you go down really low then it will regenerate a bit).

I really miss points. Whatever happened to trying to beat a high score?

A lot of games have them, just not in the core gameplay. CoD 4 has an arcade mode with lives, a timer, and points. I think there's even a 1up points threshold. I know you can turn points on in Halo 3.

 

[Iron Mal]

Health bars suck. They've always sucked. I've always thought regenerating health, particularly in games that are focused on balls to the wall action, to be a major improvement. You cant argue realism either, because last I checked, being all fine and good after taking 9 bullets, and falling over dead after the 10th is hardly realistic.

Instead I'd prefer location-based damage. If you take a sniper round to the knee, you cant walk, and you'd have to prop yourself against a wall to reliably use a rifle. Getting shot in the shoulder and arms messes up your accuracy, and ability to handle heavy weapons.

Regenerating health can't argue realism either since, who the hell do you know who can get up again and be absolutely fine after being hit by a shotgun or burst of fire from an assault rifle (without medical treatment)?

Also, if you are trying to say that regen allows you to press onwards in the game rather than having to costantly look for medkits, it also means that you will often have to flee from every fight around the mid-point to have a sit down while your health comes back (hardly balls-to-the-walls action).

Let's not forget that video games are not reality, so why do they have to adhere to the way things work in the world?

Finally, location based damage would make the game near impossible since the first hit you take would invariably cripple or kill you outright (if you wonder why this would be a bad thing, look at Ninja Gaiden II on Master Ninja difficulty, I rest my case).

 

[Woe Is You]

Finally, location based damage would make the game near impossible since the first hit you take would invariably cripple or kill you outright.

Worked well enough with Deus Ex, though.