Poll: Health Bar or Regenerating Health, what is your stance on this new trend?

[evilmoyer]

they should do it this way..

have one health bar the entire game... but a bodily health bar, like mech warrior, so its 100% of each "limb"

and then no power ups or health packs, so if u lose ur arm or leg, u have to finish the game without it

hows that for realistic?

xD

 

[kommando367]

its simple most FPSs and TPSs should have regenerating health, on the other hand certain shooters,RPGs,action RPGs should not, platformers should allow regen health from non-lethal falls but thats it, or a grappling hook that could deployed mid-air for once, however i think games without health regen should have semi-high to very high health and refills

 

[MsDevin92]

Isn't Earthbound/Mother one of those games where your health steadily decreases from a critical hit? I think they call it mortal damage.
...NO, I WAS NOT WATCHING PLAYTHROUGHS OF THE ENGLISH VERSION ON YOUTUBE, SHUT UP. >_>

But yeah, I prefer life bars most of the time, although you can throw in a bit of regenerating health and I won't complain. Like, in Guild Wars (forgive me for my small library of games to reference), you have a health bar which decreases when you take damage, but if you go a long enough time without being hit, then your health bar slowly begins to climb back up, increasing in speed the longer you stay safe.
...Except for every boss after they made Factions, now they have +3 health generation or something at all times. D<

 

[DirkGently]

I don't mind regenerating health if it's

A) fitting the setting. Like Halo: CE, which I find to be the best mix of health bar and regenerating health. You have shields that regenerate and a health bar that you need to use med kits to heal with. Resistance was also pretty spiffy where you could only regenerate to the nearest quarter of your health bar at a time, and need healing pickups otherwise.

B) If it's really, really useless in combat. Like Mass Effect, or Saints Row. Sure, it recovers, but it's slow that if you try to rely on it in combat you'll be twiddling your thumbs a lot, so using healing items is really the best way to go.

C) If it's a game that's not really meant to be a challenge, just really, really fun. See Saints Row, again. it's not a particularly challenging game, and is meant for you to enjoy driving around in a stolen police car, knocking pedestrians into the sun while shooting an uzi out the side window at the cops. Or, if you're playing co-op, while your friend takes care of the ensuing cops with his choice of big sniper rifle, rocket launcher, laser-guided rocket launcher, SAW, grenades, variety of machine guns, and grenades launched out of machine guns. Oh, and the minigun. Can't forget the minigun.

In say, COD4 it doesn't make sense for you to have regenerating health. But I suppose that could be chalked up to the side effects of having a camera inserted into your head. Lost Planet did something nifty, where you have a health bar and a counter for your thermal energy. Every time you take damage, it is quickly healed using thermal energy, which is constantly decreasing anyway. Should your run out of thermal energy, you promptly start to lose health.

 

[Joeshie]

Depends on the game. Regenerating health is completely and utterly stupid in multiplayer, but I think it's fine in singleplayer.

I'm more of a health bar guy myself.

 

[SirSchmoopy]

If your going to give me health bars but put health packs EVERYWHERE then screw it and give me regenerating health.

 

[Lucifer_Airlines]

I would say it depends on what kind of experience you want for the player. With a normal health gauge, it's harder to take on massive waves of baddies, thus you get a more... intimate killing experience; each kill feels like it's worth something. I also think that the Deus Ex/ Fallout way of doing things helps with the whole "hit points are unrealistic" problem by making it possible to actually cripple people. Especially in Deus Ex, where if your legs get shot out from under you, you get to crawl around til you find a medkit. Fun times!

 

[haveyouseen_mywallet]

i hate regenerating health. but i do enjoy waffles.

 

[Varchld]

(SNIPPED for size)

Let's say you have your health bar which is green. You can take three types of damage:

Stun damage, which is represented by a section of your health bar turning blue.
Wound damage, which is represented by a section of your health bar turning red.
Life damage, which shortens your life bar.

(/SNIP)

you could even apply the system per body part, Deus Ex style.

Nice, I don't know if i'd like to play with a health bar like that but it's good to hear alternatives.

I want to see a game where there is no health regen. Where healing items don't just replenish health, they instead stop injuties or at least lessen the effects such as excessive bleeding or a broken leg doesn't slow you down as much.
But more then that I want to see a game where that system wouldn't break it.

Also, Operation Flashpoint and ArmA: Armed Assault. The WGL and ACE total conversion mods for Flashpoint and ArmA respectively take it a step further, with white-outs, bleeding and black-outs. ACE is even rumoured to be including medical evacuations, where you can lift your buddy out of the battlefield to be taken away for medical treatment.

This, although it's a rock-hard and unforgiving system to work with, unless you're a tactical gaming expert (I die all the time due to being knocked out by bullets in Flashpoint with WGL), is my favourite health system. I think it will be amazing when you can drag your buddy out of the line of fire, a helicopter sweeping over your head.

That's kinda what I was meaning, but add depth rather then keeping it so simple.

 

[JMeganSnow]

Personally, I'd like to see something *more original* done in this area with the goal of getting rid of health as a single number altogether.

Fallout 3 really brought this home to me because there's no "take cover!" or "run!" element to combat--your character moves at the same slow, methodical jog regardless of whether people are shooting at you, which just feels utterly unreal.

The system I'd like to see done is where you have an "exhaustion meter" that runs off a number of things--getting nicked by bullets, bleeding, sprinting around like a maniac, basically anything that'd make you tired. It would make sense for that to regenerate quickly (esp in combat when you've got the added boost of adrenaline!) if you just sit still and catch your breath for a moment or two.

Alive or dead should be a static on/off thing based on whether you took a hit in a lethal spot or bled out, not a graduated thing represented by a number that increases during the course of the game.

I'd also like to see games where fully automatic weapons are as inaccurate as they are in real life because the enemy is mostly just shooting to make you keep your head down and killing them is more a matter of outflanking and other tactics, not simply shooting them 4000 times.

 

[pha kin su pah]

it depends on the games well... gameplay really, something like Half Life more campaign story orientated the standard health bar + packs works great, as the pace of the game works better towards it, its alittle slower compared to some. when i played fallout 3, i found myself just being frustrated and wasting time back tracking to beds, or stocking up on stimpaks too much.

however for something more multiplayer orientated such as Halo, Cod, Gow etc, the regen bar is better, their pace is more fast, adrenaline orientated, quick decisions what not. the regen health bar also allows designers to up the difficulty curve in a different way, and reward evasive actions. also keeps multiplayer games at a higher pace instead of getting shot up and then wondering around with minor health unable to do anything about it until some idiot pops you, but with regen you just sit out the fray for a moment then jump back in.

the general trade off tho has always been a health bar has realism, and generally some form of armour, where as regen, cut your health back and offers a more fast paced game.

 

[SirSchmoopy]

The worse thing you can do for an FPS game is making the life system feel "realistic".

It's not fun.

 

[Aust1n720]

I'm going for the health bar, I just prefer them.

 

[DBlackny]

In my opinion, both systems have flaws, but both work for me to. The whole health bar deal sucks in the way that you are often left searching the level for health packs, but with regenerating health, as long as you have some cover, you can't die! So in the end I would say that if it works, use regenerating health, if it doesn't, then use something different.

 

[Kelbear]

Regen all the way. It's a design invention used to remove the need for manual healthpack placement in single and multiplayer. They don't want the player to be screwed because the maps were designed with too many healthpacks in a row or too few, and where is the player going? It makes the game pivot around the item instead of the player. It takes focus off hunting for healthpacks and puts the attention back on the combat and the story. You have a goal in the game, and backtracking to find leftover health breaks flow.

 

[DirkGently]

The worse thing you can do for an FPS game is making the life system feel "realistic".

It's not fun.

QFT.

snip


I'd also like to see games where fully automatic weapons are as inaccurate as they are in real life because the enemy is mostly just shooting to make you keep your head down and killing them is more a matter of outflanking and other tactics, not simply shooting them 4000 times.

Real guns are only hideously inaccurate when they're in the hands of somebody who thinks they're in a John Woo film. And since you typically play a solider or space marine, you're somebody trained to shoot a gun, to shoot accurately and kill as many hostiles as possible with as a few bullets as possible.

Also, to the people talking about regenerating health in multiplayer: In COD4, it takes about four bullets to kill you. Less if they use stopping power or hit you in the head, more if you're using juggernaut. If you didn't have regenerating health, you'd have people unable to get a kill streak going unless they're god, or you'd have increased health and added health pack, which result in a lot of people camping the fucking health packs.

 

[Erana]

If its a matter of making the game more fluid, who cares about tradition?
Likewize, what would Resident Evil do without one more way to frustrate?