Speculation on a new FPS health system.

[Silver Patriot]

well fallout 3 (not sure about the other fallouts) did this and you could choose to heal certain limbs and it worked fairly well, but to me it didn't seem like it made that big of a difference

judging by your avatar, im assuming you've played MGS3 and there was also a system like this where you had to heal your wounds according to what damaged you and it was kinda neat for a bit... until you discovered that you had to pause the game and go through two menus and apply the bandages and disinfectant and remove the bullet or whatever almost every time you were damaged. especially annoying during boss fights. it really just ended up breaking the flow

I have to agree with one of the above posts that mentioned segmented health. it mixes health bars and regeneration in a way that works really well. i'd like to see that in more games, personally

To be fair the system did not really come into play that much. It had maybe 2 or 3 times the storyline forced you to be injured. Other then that unless you getting into firefights (Which you shouldn't be) it was fine.

 

[ultrachicken]

Forcing teamwork into online shooters will fail, because people don't work in teams.

I don't know many people who would want to keep track of all that stuff. Half the game would be playing doctor.

I do, however, like the idea of different limbs taking different amounts of damage.

 

[Woe Is You]

I consider shooters as games that are made for quick, mindless meat-grinder action, not a surgery simulator.

See, that's just it. Not every shooter has to be "quick, mindless meat-grinder action" just like not every one of them has to be an realistic potrayal of war.

 

[FieryTrainwreck]

I still say segmented health is the way to go.

To see it in action play Resistance Fall of Man and/or Far Cry 2.

Basically you get a health bar split into segments, and it regenerates only up whatever segment still has health in it, but isn't full.

That way we have the best of both worlds.

There are still health packs, but you don't have to put them anywhere and everywhere, and your heath does regenerate to an extent, so you won't be completely fucked during any enemy encounters.

Could not agree more with all of this. Segmented, regenerating health gives you a reason to play with care and intelligence, but it doesn't irreversibly screw you if something goes wrong or you decide on a more frontal approach every now and then. It is by far the most enjoyable system I've experienced in any shooter.

I really enjoyed the cover system when playing through the first Gears. I've since grown pretty tired of it. Spending the majority of every game hiding and taking pot shots at enemies who are dumb enough to stick their heads out every ten seconds isn't my idea of a great time anymore. Sometimes I just want to fight out in the open again.

 

[WINDOWCLEAN2]

I like the Reach and Halo 1 system. You have the regen as a second bar, and the main bar is your life. If that goes to zip, you die.

Also Halo can get away with regenerating Health by using the effective excuse of:

"Its the future, You wouldn't understand with your puny present-day minds."

 

[Miles Tormani]

I'm seeing Halo brought up a lot, and to be fair, while Halo 2 and 3 do have regenerating health, it regenerates a lot slower than your shields. I heard it was something like 15 seconds to regenerate from true near death (not depleted shields) to full health. I think I also heard something about how your health doesn't regenerate until your shields are full as well.

Of course, the only part I know that's fact is that the health system under your shields was a much slower regen.

Oh, and Reach will have both shields, and segmented health a la Resistance 1.

 

[Oktanas]

I for one am sick of all these realistic shooters. What is there to be sick of? The regenerating health system that plagues them. Over the years, gaming's really only taken one big leap in the area of health systems, and it's generally moved towards this regenerating health that we see in basically every new FPS that's released.
There is nothing realistic about regenerating health. I do not understand how ducking behind a big rock and waiting 5 seconds for the 15 bullet wounds you just received to magically heal themselves. Heck, it's worse than health bars in terms of realisim, yet people love it for basically any FPS. So here, we discuss how to improve or totally revamp the current way of tallying up damage in an FPS, for those that dislike the feeling of your legs regrowing a couple seconds after being hit by a mortar.


I personally would want a totally new system that would keep track of almost every part of the body and then adapt towards that. It'd not only look at individual damage (i.e. get shot in the leg and start hobbling around,) but also total blood loss and pain your character receives. You might get shot in the arm 15 times and still live, but a shot to the femoral artery will kill you. But if you get to it quickly enough and bandage it up or put on a tourniquet, you might be able to buy yourself half the battle. But if you sustain enough damage and don't succumb to your wounds, your character might be freaking out just a bit over this, shaking, looking around everywhere and generally being a ***** to control.
I can only begin to imagine how much memory and processing power that'd require, but computers are making amazing leaps, right? But I know that regenerating health is in FPSs for a reason. I assume that that's to allow players to Rambo into a room, get shot 5 times but survive and kill all the baddies, and get to the next round of enemies good as new. If the system was to keep track of previous damage like this, it'd probably mess with that mindset a lot. But, it could improve teamwork by making people work together to take out enemies and care for eachother's health like that very first Bad Company 2 trailer, instead of going solo a la MW2.

So, what's your dream way of health being counted in a FPS? I'd like to hear ideas! I know I'm not the only one sick of regenerating health.

deus ex have done this.

 

[IsraelRocks]

Speaking as a field medic... you get shot once, you are no longer effective as a soldier.

 

[Faulty Turmoil]

While your idea is interesting I don't think it will catch on, mainly due to people not liking it because it is to hard.
The reason I think that most people love the regenerating health is because:
1) It makes the game easier.
2) It is very simple.

I think that segmented health is probably the best choice because it combines the regenerating health with the classic health bar, and it is probably my favorite health system so far.

 

[spartan231490]

I for one am sick of all these realistic shooters. What is there to be sick of? The regenerating health system that plagues them. Over the years, gaming's really only taken one big leap in the area of health systems, and it's generally moved towards this regenerating health that we see in basically every new FPS that's released.
There is nothing realistic about regenerating health. I do not understand how ducking behind a big rock and waiting 5 seconds for the 15 bullet wounds you just received to magically heal themselves. Heck, it's worse than health bars in terms of realisim, yet people love it for basically any FPS. So here, we discuss how to improve or totally revamp the current way of tallying up damage in an FPS, for those that dislike the feeling of your legs regrowing a couple seconds after being hit by a mortar.


I personally would want a totally new system that would keep track of almost every part of the body and then adapt towards that. It'd not only look at individual damage (i.e. get shot in the leg and start hobbling around,) but also total blood loss and pain your character receives. You might get shot in the arm 15 times and still live, but a shot to the femoral artery will kill you. But if you get to it quickly enough and bandage it up or put on a tourniquet, you might be able to buy yourself half the battle. But if you sustain enough damage and don't succumb to your wounds, your character might be freaking out just a bit over this, shaking, looking around everywhere and generally being a ***** to control.
I can only begin to imagine how much memory and processing power that'd require, but computers are making amazing leaps, right? But I know that regenerating health is in FPSs for a reason. I assume that that's to allow players to Rambo into a room, get shot 5 times but survive and kill all the baddies, and get to the next round of enemies good as new. If the system was to keep track of previous damage like this, it'd probably mess with that mindset a lot. But, it could improve teamwork by making people work together to take out enemies and care for eachother's health like that very first Bad Company 2 trailer, instead of going solo a la MW2.

So, what's your dream way of health being counted in a FPS? I'd like to hear ideas! I know I'm not the only one sick of regenerating health.

I think that is a terrible idea. I play video games to get away from real life. If i wanted a realistic fps, i would join the marines. That said, i am really looking forward to the day when gaming companies take that "red screen" bs, like from odst, and shove it up thier asses. It is not only incredibly annoying, but in many games, teh sudden brightness of going from brown to bright vivid red, hurts my fucking eyes. Stop it already, it's not cool!

 

[Loud Hawk]

I for one am sick of all these realistic shooters. What is there to be sick of? The regenerating health system that plagues them. Over the years, gaming's really only taken one big leap in the area of health systems, and it's generally moved towards this regenerating health that we see in basically every new FPS that's released.
There is nothing realistic about regenerating health. I do not understand how ducking behind a big rock and waiting 5 seconds for the 15 bullet wounds you just received to magically heal themselves. Heck, it's worse than health bars in terms of realisim, yet people love it for basically any FPS. So here, we discuss how to improve or totally revamp the current way of tallying up damage in an FPS, for those that dislike the feeling of your legs regrowing a couple seconds after being hit by a mortar.


I personally would want a totally new system that would keep track of almost every part of the body and then adapt towards that. It'd not only look at individual damage (i.e. get shot in the leg and start hobbling around,) but also total blood loss and pain your character receives. You might get shot in the arm 15 times and still live, but a shot to the femoral artery will kill you. But if you get to it quickly enough and bandage it up or put on a tourniquet, you might be able to buy yourself half the battle. But if you sustain enough damage and don't succumb to your wounds, your character might be freaking out just a bit over this, shaking, looking around everywhere and generally being a ***** to control.
I can only begin to imagine how much memory and processing power that'd require, but computers are making amazing leaps, right? But I know that regenerating health is in FPSs for a reason. I assume that that's to allow players to Rambo into a room, get shot 5 times but survive and kill all the baddies, and get to the next round of enemies good as new. If the system was to keep track of previous damage like this, it'd probably mess with that mindset a lot. But, it could improve teamwork by making people work together to take out enemies and care for eachother's health like that very first Bad Company 2 trailer, instead of going solo a la MW2.

So, what's your dream way of health being counted in a FPS? I'd like to hear ideas! I know I'm not the only one sick of regenerating health.

Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising? (Atleast it was like that when it worked, without glithing)

 

[Delusibeta]

Bring back non-regenerating health and only shield pick-ups, like GoldenEye did back in the good old days before Halo.

 

[Kukakkau]

Didn't Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising have a health system where you had blood as health and each hit lost health until you bandaged it. Also where you get hit affects your character (arm - aim, leg - speed)

 

[Singularly Datarific]

If you get wounded early on, that'll be a really depressing battle...
BTW, most RPGS have something like that, just individual health for each limb, ala Fallout 3 or Deus Ex.

 

[RottingAwesome]

well fallout 3 (not sure about the other fallouts) did this and you could choose to heal certain limbs and it worked fairly well, but to me it didn't seem like it made that big of a difference

judging by your avatar, im assuming you've played MGS3 and there was also a system like this where you had to heal your wounds according to what damaged you and it was kinda neat for a bit... until you discovered that you had to pause the game and go through two menus and apply the bandages and disinfectant and remove the bullet or whatever almost every time you were damaged. especially annoying during boss fights. it really just ended up breaking the flow

I have to agree with one of the above posts that mentioned segmented health. it mixes health bars and regeneration in a way that works really well. i'd like to see that in more games, personally

To be fair the system did not really come into play that much. It had maybe 2 or 3 times the storyline forced you to be injured. Other then that unless you getting into firefights (Which you shouldn't be) it was fine.

to be honest, I had a lot more trouble with getting caught and trying to lose my alert status in MGS3 than in any of the others. one of the only places to hide was usually in tall grass but wild Pokemon kept attacking me enemies would randomly walk over me.
I was not a fan of 3 xP

OT: I think a lot of fans of the series found it annoying as it was removed in 4. It didn't really add immersion, but rather just ended up breaking flow
hmm, actually is it in peacewalker? i just wonder because it's the same setting so i wouldn't be surprised

 

[run_forrest_run]

So basically a LESS realistic Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising.

 

[Zaik]

I for one am sick of all these realistic shooters. What is there to be sick of? The regenerating health system that plagues them. Over the years, gaming's really only taken one big leap in the area of health systems, and it's generally moved towards this regenerating health that we see in basically every new FPS that's released.
There is nothing realistic about regenerating health. I do not understand how ducking behind a big rock and waiting 5 seconds for the 15 bullet wounds you just received to magically heal themselves. Heck, it's worse than health bars in terms of realisim, yet people love it for basically any FPS. So here, we discuss how to improve or totally revamp the current way of tallying up damage in an FPS, for those that dislike the feeling of your legs regrowing a couple seconds after being hit by a mortar.


I personally would want a totally new system that would keep track of almost every part of the body and then adapt towards that. It'd not only look at individual damage (i.e. get shot in the leg and start hobbling around,) but also total blood loss and pain your character receives. You might get shot in the arm 15 times and still live, but a shot to the femoral artery will kill you. But if you get to it quickly enough and bandage it up or put on a tourniquet, you might be able to buy yourself half the battle. But if you sustain enough damage and don't succumb to your wounds, your character might be freaking out just a bit over this, shaking, looking around everywhere and generally being a ***** to control.
I can only begin to imagine how much memory and processing power that'd require, but computers are making amazing leaps, right? But I know that regenerating health is in FPSs for a reason. I assume that that's to allow players to Rambo into a room, get shot 5 times but survive and kill all the baddies, and get to the next round of enemies good as new. If the system was to keep track of previous damage like this, it'd probably mess with that mindset a lot. But, it could improve teamwork by making people work together to take out enemies and care for eachother's health like that very first Bad Company 2 trailer, instead of going solo a la MW2.

So, what's your dream way of health being counted in a FPS? I'd like to hear ideas! I know I'm not the only one sick of regenerating health.

so you want Deus Ex's health system plus a variable that semi-randomly depletes(blood) when taking damage based on the location, with "critical hits" causing said variable to rapidly deplete without immediate treatment(treatment could work like MGS 3) and control changing at various low levels of said variable, ending in death at some cutoff line.

That's not really that complex when you break it down like that. Deus Ex is a bagillionty years old and it had the sectional(body part specific) health system, MGS3 has a treatment system, and control change with certain variables exists in pretty much any game you can get drunk in, the only difference there is a variable goes up instead of down.

It'd need to have a game designed specifically around it, but it's not like it's an impossible concept.

 

[Valkyrie101]

The OP's system would work in a truly realistic tactical shooter. In fact, I believe some have already adopted similar things. However, for a standard mainstream FPS, health regen is the best solution, because it forces the player to behave reasonably realistically, taking cover because they can't take much punishment, but it doesn't drastically slow the game down, making them crawl through everything at a snail's pace, and getting the player into situations from which they can't feasibly finish the level.

 

[PissOffRoth]

who plays FPS for realism?????

People who see a problem with teaching people that running into a room by yourself, holding down the trigger and tossing every grenade at your disposal will always result in the desired 'room-clear' effect. Would it fucking kill people to have to work together to accomplish this shit? You know, kinda like real armed forces do? If you get shot, big fucking deal. Just off yourself like you've been doing in CoD, you damned Last Stand whore, you.

I'd play a game that has the balls to tell me "You just got shot in the leg. Sit there and bleed to death for an hour or get friendly with your M9."