Poll: Regenerating health
- Thread starter ToysforGuns
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Regenerating health works well in games that are about the action. Games that resource management is a core part of (such as L4D) should avoid it. I also must say I sick of the complaint that it is just ridiculous and therefore bad, as though realism sould get in the way of fun (unless that's what the game's going for of course), or that taping a med-kit to your massive chest wound and having it instantly close up is any less ridiculous.
Also, regenerating health does not make a game inherently easier than one with a health bar since regeneration usually always mean you have less health overall and therefore a mistake in combat could get you killed, where as a health bar just means you lost a bit more health than you should have. It also avoid the pproblem of ending up in the room of the giant boss of murder and death with only two health, not a fun situation to ever be in.
Also, regenerating health does not make a game inherently easier than one with a health bar since regeneration usually always mean you have less health overall and therefore a mistake in combat could get you killed, where as a health bar just means you lost a bit more health than you should have. It also avoid the pproblem of ending up in the room of the giant boss of murder and death with only two health, not a fun situation to ever be in.
...the biggest problem I have with regenerating health is that it's a crappy solution to the problem of giving the player a fresh start for each encounter. If the player healed after an encounter and there was no such thing as health packs, I'd be fine with it. Unfortunately as it stands, a player can theoretically be shot an infinite number of times in a single encounter to no ill effect... as long as they take cover every so often. That, to me, is completely immersion-breaking. I don't want to play as a perpetual-motion cellular regeneration machine. Input is required for recovery from damage.
It depends on the game.
In general though, I find myself mostly seeking for a place to hide in the games where health regenerates, and doing reckless things(Suicide attack! Run away runaway! hide! Do it again!), as opposed to games where I'll need to conserve my health.
I guess since I got used to non-regerating health when I was first playing games, I like that system more, especially if the game has an element of survival to it.
But it depends on the game, and I suppose a combination of both is for the best. I do recall having to start over few games because I had saved it in a place where I had little health.
In general though, I find myself mostly seeking for a place to hide in the games where health regenerates, and doing reckless things(Suicide attack! Run away runaway! hide! Do it again!), as opposed to games where I'll need to conserve my health.
I guess since I got used to non-regerating health when I was first playing games, I like that system more, especially if the game has an element of survival to it.
But it depends on the game, and I suppose a combination of both is for the best. I do recall having to start over few games because I had saved it in a place where I had little health.
Regenerating health isn't inherently bad, it's just overpowered as hell the vast the majority of the time. It's perfectly reasonable that between encounters your health would regenerate so that you go into every fight prepared. It's ridiculous when just sitting there for 10 seconds will get you out of almost any jam.
It wasn't particularly fun to be forced to scour a map for health so you could be prepared for a boss fight, but I'd much rather have that than sucking your thumb in a corner as a viable boss fight strategy.
It wasn't particularly fun to be forced to scour a map for health so you could be prepared for a boss fight, but I'd much rather have that than sucking your thumb in a corner as a viable boss fight strategy.
Well for starters I doubt they would do the same damage considering they determined it with the assumption of health regen, but anywho...believer258 said:
Probably lob some grenades in there, and if smoke actually affected their aiming, I would use one of those to hopefully get to some cover. If I had a stun grenades instead, I would throw one behind them so they still get stunned, then dive to cover and hopefully kill them while abusing my stun grenades.
However, you're missing the point.
Some games are made for Health Regen and some for Health Items. I prefer the ones with Health Items. Call of Duty wasn't really made for Health Items, and I don't really care for Call of Duty. The FPS's that I prefer are ones that were made for Health Items, cause I don't care for regenerating health.
Oh hey, it's this thread... again.
Regnerating health leads to better flow and easier-to-predict difficulty in setpiece battles, as well as helping prevent unwinnable scenarios. If I have a health bar, I better be able to actually carry healing items on me.
Ideally a mix of the two (like in the first Halo game) is the best solution of combining care and forethought with pacing and flow.
Regnerating health leads to better flow and easier-to-predict difficulty in setpiece battles, as well as helping prevent unwinnable scenarios. If I have a health bar, I better be able to actually carry healing items on me.
Ideally a mix of the two (like in the first Halo game) is the best solution of combining care and forethought with pacing and flow.
ToysforGuns said:
I'm just going to say this and walk away
MEGAMAN 2 LIFE SYSTEM!!!!
*Drops the Mic Dramatically and walks off like a badass*
Regenerating health sucks. I just hate getting shot 2 times, then having to hide behind a rock while my health regenerates.
I also hate starting at a point with a sliver of health.
The solution? Segmented health. As seen in Resistance Fall of Man, Far Cry 2, and Chronicles of Riddick games. Your health is divided up into bars, and each bar regenerates but ONLY if that bar has some health in it.
For example, if you lost, say, two and a half bars, the one with the half would regenerate to full, while the other two wouldn't.
This would make players think before they recklessly charge into battle. But the player will always have a set amount of health. Which would allow you to plan accordingly(maybe have the game look at the players health, and spawn encounters with different amounts of enemies depending on his/her health).
EDIT: Or, alternatively, you could do what Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30 did. If you spawn at a checkpoint with low health and/or ammo, and are getting killed a lot(say after 5 times of dieing over and over), it pops up a message that says the following:
I also hate starting at a point with a sliver of health.
The solution? Segmented health. As seen in Resistance Fall of Man, Far Cry 2, and Chronicles of Riddick games. Your health is divided up into bars, and each bar regenerates but ONLY if that bar has some health in it.
For example, if you lost, say, two and a half bars, the one with the half would regenerate to full, while the other two wouldn't.
This would make players think before they recklessly charge into battle. But the player will always have a set amount of health. Which would allow you to plan accordingly(maybe have the game look at the players health, and spawn encounters with different amounts of enemies depending on his/her health).
EDIT: Or, alternatively, you could do what Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30 did. If you spawn at a checkpoint with low health and/or ammo, and are getting killed a lot(say after 5 times of dieing over and over), it pops up a message that says the following:
That would also be sweet.
It's an excuse for developers to make a game with terrible pacing. Only rarely is it executed properly.
I think it keeps up the pacing of some games, but not all. Instead of limping around trying to find a health pack it's nice to be able to sit back, relax a few seconds and be ready to get back in the game.
It makes sense is Starcraft because it is well explained how it works: Terran's don't regen unless they employ the abilities of a medic of medivac. Protoss' health doesn't regenerate but the shields they have do regen out of combat. Zerg's Regenerate over time and regenerate faster on creep, this is apparently because they have a super fast metabolism and have the ability to convert dead cells into living ones, Zerg can never die of old age as a result.
Edit: also it kinda works in the Jedi Knight series because of the force healing power.
Edit: also it kinda works in the Jedi Knight series because of the force healing power.
