The Health Bar is more realistic than Regenerating.

[Smooth Operator]

Screw realism, it is not fun.
I have a preference to health bars/packs because when you mess up it creates survival tension, and it doesn't just go away in 5 seconds, you need to get out there and look for health, I like to think it reduces camping.

But I would prefer health packs with a regenerative effect, so even if picked up during battle it doesn't allow an instant advantage.

 

[cgmetallica1981]

Health regeneration is stupid and makes the game very, very easy and takes away much of the challenge and re-playability of current games. How is beating Call of Duty or Gears of War on the hardest difficulties hard at all?

 

[Ironic Pirate]

Regeneration is regarding as a more enjoyable experience however.

No!
It rewards the wrong tactics. Taking as little damage as possible and doing as much damage as possible should be rewarded.
Quickly regenerating health just makes extreme camping and suicidal rushing possible. (remember those idiots who rush at you with the knife in the MW2 series?)

"You've just taken 20 bullets to the face at point blank range and are almost dead? Don't worry! U've stabbed the guy who did it and your face will magically regenerate in 5seconds."

Opinions!

It rewards different tactics. Makes you actually take cover, because in most bar-based games, you can take a fair amount of punishment.

It's the classic attrition vs moment-to-moment thing. I'll use JRPGs to demonstrate, because it's very easy to see with them.

In some games, there's a bunch of random battles. Each fight might not be much of a challenge, but if you blow all your mana fighting one guy, then you're fucked for the next battle.

In other ones, you get all your mana and action points or whatever back at the beginning of each fight, but each fight is more challenging. It's less about logistics, more about beating the current battle.

Neither system is better. Personally, I prefer the regenerating system. Several reasons, it doesn't encourage tedious back-tracking, and it can make the game less cheap. Team-mate shot you in the face because the AI sucks? No problem, just wait a few seconds. In a health pack game, you'd be screwed out of that health.

 

[Serge A. Storms]

You know a game where regeneration makes more sense? Beer Pong.

EDIT: But seriously, as long as you're playing a video game you're not approaching realism, especially in an FPS, as soon as you get to start over from a save point because someone shot you in the head and you wanted another shot at it, you're making the necessary sacrifice of realism and admitted that you're really just playing a game.

 

[Daedalus1942]

I can't remember anyone ever claiming that regenerating was more realistic. Just a lot less frustrating.

And really, health bars are no more realistic. At least regenerating health is just a sped-up version of what occurs in real life. The only truly realistic health system would be a combination: only getting a health pack or equivalent lets you slowly regenerate health.

...yeah, I'll stick with the sped-up regeneration.

I actually found the regeneration in Resistance to be great, and more realistic.
Only being able to heal up to a certain amount of helth and if you'd lost a segment, well, that was that, you needed medical attention.
GREAT mechanic, more games should use it.
-Tabs<3-

 

[Vykrel]

you realize nobody claims that regenerating health is realistic, dont you? the GAMES (cod and the such) are claiming to be realistic, but certain things have to be convenient for the player, because gameplay is more important than realism.

and regenerating health is a hell of a lot more convenient than having a health bar. ive been stuck at 1hp in HL2 ffs

 

[thedeathscythe]

FarCry 2 had one of the best health systems imo, you had to remove bullets from your body and splint your legs and stuff. Fallout 3 was also really good, same with Left4Dead, because you got slower as you had less health. Resistance has a tiered regenerating health system, so if it drops a certain amount, it can only go back up a certain amount after you don't take damage. There is also health packs, so it's like a cool mix of both styles.

I think for multiplayer games though, the point is to be fun, not realistic. Even health packs aren't realistic. So if I have 1 out of 100 health left I can still run at full strength? Then I run over a health pack and I'm instantly healed, but besides being able to take more bullets, I run and move exactly the same? Both systems are equally unrealistic in their own way, this is nothing new, but it's all about preference and how you want the flow of the game to go. I know games that have static health bars that don't have health packs (Socom, for instance) and that makes it a more methodical shooter, because every mistake early on can affect you late game, and you're far from invulnerable.

 

[TheDudeMan14]

I don't know if anyone has said this yet, but not everyone who plays a game is looking for realism.

 

[Busdriver580]

I heath bar may not be realistic in and of itself, but it creates a much more realistic experience gameplay-wise. People with health bars are less likely to be willing to take a few bullets to get around, a well-used health bar will create a situation where even a single bullet can do long lasting damage and should be avoided. If you regenerate, you can afford to take a few bullets to push forward as long a you can duck away.

 

[9Darksoul6]

Despite the fact that realism can improve immersion, a game can be immersive without being realistic.
Regenerative health is not realistic, but that's not what it's meant to be - it's meant to more immersive.
Health bars mean having more HUD, and more HUD is distracting.

However, I kinda see your point, because being fucking "wolverine" in a Warzone - what Gears of War games and recent CoD entries (and their wannabes) are - is not immersive at all, and got to the point of ridiculousness.

So, my opinion is: developpers should try different things; the problem's clearly lack of creativity.

 

[Dfskelleton]

I particularly like the damage system in the game I'm playing right now.
Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth.
There's 4 different types of healing equippment: Bandages, Sutures, Splints, and Antidotes. There is a 3D model of your character, Jack Walters, in the inventory screen, which progressively displays your state of health.
Here's the interesting part:
You only take damage where you've been hit, and must heal it according to how it is.
Let's say you got shot in the arm by a fishman bent on filling you with lead. You can still walk at a normal rate, but your aim with firearms is decreased fairly, heavily if both arms are broken. A broken arm requires a splint, a cut arm requires bandages, a deeply cut arm requires sutures. Heavy bleeding can eventually lower to light bleeding, but you can also bleed to death depending how many areas require sutures.
Broken legs hamper your speed, and also must be treated with splints.
A cut to the face hampers vision.
I don't think I need to explain a lot more. It sounds complicated, but honestly it isn't and adds a fair amount of atmosphere to the horror theme of the game. It's not so realistic that it's frustrating, but enough so it's interesting. The premise is that you're a poorly protected private detective vs. the dream's of H.P. Lovecraft.
It's a good game, and isn't too expensive on steam. I reccomend it to horror fans, Lovecraft fans, and even action fans, because it isn't fill your pants with crap scary, but still creepy and interesting.
Besides this (which is the best damage system I've seen recently), I prefer Health Bars I guess when it comes down to action games, but why do we need realism in damage if the character isn't realistic? I doubt freaking Master Chief who probably wears about 300 pounds of armor is going to take damage the same as some guy in normal clothes.

 

[MAUSZX]

The regeneration system is making games pretty easy

 

[wildpeaks]

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. and Deus Ex had the right ideas, I think. Regeneration was especially painful to watch in Mirror's Edge: "You just caught ten machine-gun bullets to the spine! How'd you run up to the gunner, break his face, and RUN AWAY?!"

Dark magic from R'lyeh.

And +1 for them having the right idea, they have a good balance with the slowly-regenerating aid items that have a weight so you can't pack a ton of instant-fullhealth with you (except in the first S.T.A.L.K.E.R. where magic bread or food cans can save you anything, even a rocket in your face combined with a nuclear storm and a hundred ennemies firing machines guns )

 

[Phoenixmgs_v1legacy]

I hate health regen in games because health regen is basically a super power that a character like Wolverine has. If you are playing as a human character, you shouldn't have the power of health regen unless there's some kind of technological reason. I know medkits aren't exactly realistic either but it's more realistic than giving your main character a super power. And, if a game exists in real world, it should obey the most basic rules, and humans don't regen health. Health regen breaks online play for me and it's much worse than health regen in single player.

 

[DarkRyter]

The most realistic thing is just death.

 

[Jabberwock xeno]

Halo is one of the few games that in regenating health is realistic:

Your shields regenarte, but they are built to do that in canon. Your health does not regerate untill you get medical help via biofoam, which is a biodegradble foam which seals wounds.

You see this in game in health packs.

 

[blankedboy]

I personally love the good old unrealistic health bar + medkit formula. It workedit almost every Quake deviant ever, why not keep using it?

 

[Azure-Supernova]

I prefer health systems similar to Fallout 3's (also I think SWAT 4 had something similar) where you have your overall health bar (or what I imagine as a threshold for damage rather than health) and then you have the condition of your individual limbs.

I know SWAT 4 did this very well, to the point where strategy was a must.

 

[Knusper]

Just Cause 2's system works very well for me. You aren't annoyed by the fact that you have to make every effort not to get hit but at the same time, tactics have to be involved so that no too much damage is taken so that it can't regenerate.