Poll: Regenerating health

[Hamster at Dawn]

I prefer the regeneration. That's not to say that health packs don't have their place, it's a design choice that will depend on the game. In Half-Life, for example, the health packs encourage exploration and in Fallout, healing yourself is part of the whole "survival" process that makes the game compelling. However, in most shooters I find that the regeneration system works well to keep the action going whilst constantly giving you a sense of peril. I remember playing health-pack paradigm games where you would get down to really low health and have to wander around really slowly because one shot would kill you. Whilst that's kind of exciting, it's also very frustrating and more often than not you lose a lot of progress as a result of actually playing rather well. Like I said though, it depends on the focus of the game. I think regen is best for action-heavy games whilst survival games should favour the health pack. I don't think we should get stuck in one way or the other.

 

[Souplex]

Works for most shooters. Examples where a health bar would be better:
Shooters with a cover system.
Stealth games.
FPSRPGs.
Survival horror.

 

[Grouchy Imp_v1legacy]

I would be very interested in playing say, COD Black Ops without regenerating health. Imagine people actually using cover during gameplay? Laying down accurate fire, operating as a section/squad, afraid to run around regardless of their lives? Thad would be intriguing.

You've got to remember though the problem with medkit based health regen is that (in online MP at least) it encourages cheaper players to health-camp, either to quickly heal their own wounds or to pick up easy kills against wounded stragglers. If played with good intent medkits can greatly increase the tactical value of a game, true. But if everyone played with good intent snipers wouldn't overlook spawn points and heavies wouldn't sit on the rocketlaunchers all match long.

Personally I prefer medkits, but it causes problems and regenerating health is currently the best (but still imperfect) solution to those problems.

 

[Vault101]

you know there are more importnat htings to worry about in the world of video games than regenerating health

 

[Rack]

The only company I trust with health bars is Valve. If you end a fight with 3% health there's an immediate question "Do I reload?". With any other developer you pretty much have to, there's a definite chance you're already dead and there's nothing that can be done to get to the next available health pack. Valve do enough testing that there's always a way out of any situation. But that's pretty rare in gaming. If it's an actual question then that kind of metagame decision is more atmosphere breaking than your grizzled WW2 veteran regenerating in a burst of light and DBZ style powering up.

Ultimately it's a lot of work for little gain, though there really does need to be a bit more variety in how it's approached. Some games should have no in-combat regeneration, some games should have more subtle regeneration and health packs and some games should use the present damage shield system. As it stands every shooter is the same which is kind of a pity.

As far as the logic goes more work does need to be done to present it as luck/nerve. In CoD while you have "health" bullets on target should veer subtly away with the animation representing panic more than bleeding. Would be tricky to get right so you could still tell if you were "hitting" but would do a lot more for the atmosphere than specular flip-flopping.

 

[Okysho]

The best application I've seen of Regenerating vs pickup health is the Conduit. Yeah, that piece of junk actually did something right.

Your health recovers VERY slowly (via healthbar) AND you also have to run around and pick up first aid kits when you can't afford it.

Of course you can be stupid and sit yourself in a corner and cry for a few hours, but it keeps the combat more intense with the ability to go for an extended period then you normally would if you were using a regular health system.

Play both sides!

EDIT: Read some above posts. I'd forgotten Halo did this also. BEST application of regen vs bar I've ever seen, not conduit, but they're the most recent.

 

[Dragonborne88]

What's the alternative? Stuff like potions and health packs aren't exactly realistic either. It depends on the game what works best.

Personally, I think a system where you have multiple health bars works the best. You can regenerate all of the health in one bar over time, but when a bar is completely depleted, you need some sort of health item to get it back.

This is an interesting idea. A regenerating bar, and when that depletes you take damage from the solid bar, which must be refilled with health items.

I really like that idea. You should publicize this, maybe mail it in to some devs.

A game already did this...check out Alpha Protocol. Had an "Endurance" meter that would deplete first and regen over time, and when that hit zero, you lost permanent health, that could only be recovered through pretty rare health pickups.

 

[LawlessSquirrel]

I prefer a mix of the two. For example, you have 100 life total that does not regenerate. However, the bottom 25 will heal SLOWLY when not getting hurt. This way you have an incentive to play cautiously, but are less likely to get stuck backtracking for health kits before you can move on.

Overall though, life regeneration is a good system. It can make things too easy, but it solves a lot of problems games faced before it came along.

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Also Snipped

A game already did this...check out Alpha Protocol. Had an "Endurance" meter that would deplete first and regen over time, and when that hit zero, you lost permanent health, that could only be recovered through pretty rare health pickups.

The Otogi games did this too. Worked very well for them, as small damage did very little if you were careful but became a huge pain if you weren't, and made heavy attacks all the more devastating. But the point remained that with care you can get out of a fight technically unharmed (or relatively, at least), even if you slipped up a little at non-critical moments.

Oh, but still I would advise against sending the idea to developers. They're opening themselves up legally if you do and they implement the system.

 

[Pigeon_Grenade]

ive always liked the Health bars that regenerate Too a point, but as you take More damage, the health bar Shortens, thus Needing you to get medical Aid

 

[octafish]

Ahh, my favourite shooters (Aside from NOLF 1+2) are Ghost Recon and Rainbow Six (The proper ones) they had the best health system, if one of your team gets hit, they're dead, or if you're lucky maybe just crippled for the rest of the mission and then out of action for a couple of months of plot time. Multiplayer was some intense stuff with those games.

 

[rockyoumonkeys]

Fine with me. But then, the challenge of managing health packs never really appealed to me.

 

[Gottesstrafe]

I would be very interested in playing say, COD Black Ops without regenerating health. Imagine people actually using cover during gameplay? Laying down accurate fire, operating as a section/squad, afraid to run around regardless of their lives? Thad would be intriguing.

Just play Battlefield 2.

Actually, the whole class based multiplayer (a la Team Fortress 2, Halo Reach, Killzone 3, etc) should be more encouraged as a whole. Not only does it add more depth and strategy to combat, but it solves some issues associated with static health games like having a medic class to dissuade camping the health spawn points. You could probably even have a class with some health regeneration as a bone to the pansies who desperately require it.

 

[Twuk]

I believe it really depends on the game. As stated earlier, games like FEAR and Half Life had a wonderfully balanced health bar/pack system. Although I don't really mind regenerating health, I just sometimes feel like it kills the whole shooter experience when I don't really have to worry so much about healing.

At the same time, I can see how this works well in a developers standpoint. It gives way to adding more action to replace scavenger hunting for medpacks. I guess we can all agree to disagree that it's based on preference but it never really ultimately cripples the experience too much.

 

[Crazycat690]

I agree with those that say Far Cry 2, and more games should do it.

 

[Firehound]

Halo 1 and Reach did regeneration well in my opinion. You regenerated your shield, but your health needed medkits, which is probably some sort of localized pain killer and the 'bio-foam' used in ODST, whereas the Elites have a predator style medical system, that heals on it's own.

I don't really like the idea of health bars myself, but I prefer it to BL-BL-BL-BLOOODY SCREEEEENS! So Realistic!

Regeneration done incorrectly makes it seem a bit odd as you suddenly have half-you head blown off, only to have it re-appear after a moment of hiding behind a large rock.



Honestly, I would prefer a DF style health system. "The .50 calliber round pierces the eye, piercing the skull and pierces the brain. You are dead.[Finish]"

 

[LitleWaffle]

What's the alternative? Stuff like potions and health packs aren't exactly realistic either.

To me, it isn't whether it is realistic or not, since most FPS's are nowhere near realistic.

However, I feel as if regenerating health takes out a large chunk of strategy and common sense to a game.

If you are low on health, you snoop around trying to get some more health without being noticed by the enemy to stay alive, that's a lot of fun and a challenge.

A sniper can than become more effective with non-regenerating health(These examples are not including head shots).
A sniper can support their other teammates by weakening the health of enemies before another teammate gets to him, making an easier kill.
A sniper can also pick off enemies easily that have been injured.

Without regenerating health, you can't just charge in guns blazing and hope you succeed. You need to have more strategy than that.

Yes, it does add a bit of tension to some games. You've got that right.

But look at CoD, where two or three bullets can kill you. And then think about single-player - the sort of stuff you described doesn't work in single player. Not until you get a buddy to join, and as fun as it is co-op is still shrugged off in most games. Especially any one that uses a health bar. I don't see how CoD lacks common sense and strategy, it's just a whole lot faster paced and tense than static health games. If you think you can charge into a room and blast everyone away on CoD, you need to play it again. On a harder difficulty.

I totally agree that health items and stuff like that are good for some games while regenerating health is good for others.

However, I prefer FPS's that have health items, as compared to the majority of health regeneration games that i have played, these require more strategy to them.

Have you ever seen somebody in CoD that just goes around spraying with a gun doing better than someone who actually uses tactics and skill? Personally I have seen it happen too many times and have just lost interest in the multiplayer.

As for the singleplayer, all I did was enter an area, find cover, pop out, shoot somebody, hide in cover than keep doing that till they all die. I never found the singleplayer that difficult because even if i get shot, i now know where they are and i'll still have full health. No way would I have done something similar without health regeneration.

I'm not saying games with health regeneration are bad (or at least not trying to), but I just prefer my FPS's with health items.

 

[Proverbial Jon]

Personally I like the system used in Halo: Combat Evolved.

You have a shield bar which recharges to full when not being fired at. If it drops right down and you get shot again, it starts taking away the units of health underneath. Use all them up and you're dead. You need health packs to replenish the units of health. At least you'll always have your shield.

But my favourite method for health is MGS3 Snake Eater style. A stamina bar and a health bar. You need to eat to keep your stamina up and you have to physically treat your wounds to be able to heal the health bar to full capacity. You can eat all the snakes you like but if you have a broken leg your health bar will never be full until you treat it properly.