What have gamers got against regenerating health?

[WhyWasThat]

I personally prefer my health to recover rather than scramble about looking for med-packs. Plus, with non-health regen there's always the Halo nightmare scenario of being stuck at a checkpoint, hordes of nasties bearing down on you, no health packs in sight... and 1% health remaining.
Regen health avoids all of that unpleasantness.

 

[The Madman]

There's little to no intensity to it, you just duck behind cover or whatever thing the game has you doing for a bit and then bam, it's all fine again. No intensity, no consequences.

Used to be in my day if you did shitty in a fight you had to pay for it, forcing you to play better in the next few and to, as a result, become better at the game. Oh sure it could be frustrating if you walked into a big unexpected fight with two health and a peashooter, but on the other hand if and when you actually won that fight it just felt amazing as a result. You accomplished something awesome (Insofar as anything you do in a videogame can be considered an accomplishment) and felt great as a result. Classic risk vs. reward.

Just imagine System Shock 2 or Half-Life with regenerating health, it wouldn't work. There would be no worry about those annoying headcrabs hiding in the air ducks, who cares if they nick you a bit when standing still a few seconds mends it all up? And what's the worry about scavenging and conserving?

Which isn't to say that health packs were perfect or that regenerating health is always bad. Depends on the game. But it's also easy to see why many, myself included, prefer one over the other.

 

[RJ 17]

Pretty much a combination of the first two responses: it detracts from the realism when your character can just say "Hold up guys, let me duck down here and magically get rid of these bullet holes scatter across my chest........alright, I'm good, let's fight!" This same scenario also utterly derails the action of the game for the same nonsense. You're in the middle of a fight for your life...that "fight for your life" turns out to be more like "A fight for....some chest-high walls." as that's all you need to win thanks to every modern day FPS character being Wolverine without the adamantium.

 

[WhyWasThat]

Maybe it fits in with arcady shooters like COD and the like, but it absolutely has NO PLACE in any type of semi realistic tactical type shooters for obvious reasons.

As i was discussing with someone in the GR thread, having it in a game like R6 Vegas was a complete joke and UBI should be ashamed of themselves. (for more reasons than just that, might I add)

As it happens, that very comment was what prompted me to begin this thread - congratz!

 

[CrazyBlaze]

It kills any such scary of dying.Need health run around a corner and you're all healed up you enemies aren't. So there is very little threat of failure. Though it works in some games like InFamous. I mean in that game when low on health you have to be careful to dodge attacks and get to electricity. It makes a happy medium.

Capthca: level playing field.

Oh you. How clever.

 

[WhyWasThat]

it detracts from the realism when your character can just say "Hold up guys, let me duck down here and magically get rid of these bullet holes scatter across my chest........alright, I'm good, let's fight!"

Surely no less realistic than being able to repair ten bullets to the brain and a rocket up the ass with a band-aid and aspirin...?

 

[RJ 17]

it detracts from the realism when your character can just say "Hold up guys, let me duck down here and magically get rid of these bullet holes scatter across my chest........alright, I'm good, let's fight!"

Surely no less realistic than being able to repair ten bullets to the brain and a rocket up the ass with a band-aid and aspirin...?

It's not perfect, but having to pick up a 1st Aid Kit is still more realistic/makes more sense than thinking of gum drops and puppy-dog tails to heal yourself.

 

[Don Savik]

I like the combination of non-regen health and regen shields, like halo reach and borderlands. Thats the way I like regenerating.

But yea, it really kills all tension if you can heal to full infinite times during a fight. It doesn't punish you for soaking up a lot of bullets like a brain-dead moron. Also, it makes for very short skirmishes with other players. Like, whoever sees the person first wins the fight. Its not really a matter of skill. Just play a game like Halo Reach or Tribes Ascend and notice how much more you're jumping around and dodging your opponent while trying to predict where they move. Its just more fun.

 

[DoPo]

it detracts from the realism when your character can just say "Hold up guys, let me duck down here and magically get rid of these bullet holes scatter across my chest........alright, I'm good, let's fight!"

Surely no less realistic than being able to repair ten bullets to the brain and a rocket up the ass with a band-aid and aspirin...?

Yes, it's less realistic. At least you can rationalise using health packs or whateever that the character uses some form of medication. But if the entire concept is that you're a normal everyday dude, how in Hastur's name would he recover from being repeatedly shot merely by not being shot for a few seconds?

Also, I don't think RJ 17 actually said anything about medpacks. There are even more realistic mechanics than "I puck up aspirin, I'm OK now".

EDIT: ninja'd. Revised my comment.

 

[Fieldy409_v1legacy]

I think it works rather well in halo and cod. I just wish more developers were willing to use different mechanics in their fps games as opposed to just copying what's popular!

It's not regenerating healthy fault it's an overused mechanic!

 

[XMark]

I like the combination of non-regen health and regen shields, like halo reach and borderlands. Thats the way I like regenerating.

Yeah, I'd say that's the best compromise. Or having a certain threshold, like your health only auto-regenerates up to 20%.

 

[endtherapture]

I like the hybrid system of Mass Effect 3 and Far Cry 2 best.

 

[daveman247]

snip.

Theres arguments for both. Regen health is good because it means after a fight you can carry on, but no consequence for doing badly.

Health kits are good because there is consequence. But running around looking for a pack can equally kill the action as well.


i think the best of both is the way to go. A small shield to take the odd wound. But more serious hits and you damage your permanent health. Like the shield/ health in halo 1 or the bar system in far cry 2.

 

[Kahunaburger]

Re: Borderlands, that game did something else right with health regeneration - it tied it to mechanics other than hiding. Special mention goes to Mordecai, who heals by throwing a flaming bird in people's faces.

 

[SoranMBane]

It's a matter of context. A game that's just about getting from point A to point B as fast as possible, that has almost no emphasis on exploration, has only a few types of enemies, or is a complete sandbox should probably use regenerating health. A slower-paced, linear game with somewhat divergent paths to explore, tons of ambient detail in its environment, and extremely diverse enemy types should probably use a health bar. The problem is that today, a lot of games that are in the latter category are simply slapping on regen health just because that's what Call of Duty did and because it's a lot harder to balance the difficulty in games with health bars (money-grubbing and laziness, basically), and it only serves to make those games less intense and less engaging because it essentially resets you after every encounter and kills any possibility for exploration to be rewarding.

 

[WhyWasThat]

It's a matter of context. A game that's just about getting from point A to point B as fast as possible, that has almost no emphasis on exploration, has only a few types of enemies, or is a complete sandbox should probably use regenerating health. A slower-paced, linear game with somewhat divergent paths to explore, tons of ambient detail in its environment, and extremely diverse enemy types should probably use a health bar. The problem is that today, a lot of games that are in the latter category are simply slapping on regen health just because that's what Call of Duty did and because it's a lot harder to balance the difficulty in games with health bars (money-grubbing and laziness, basically), and it only serves to make those games less intense and less engaging because it essentially resets you after every encounter and kills any possibility for exploration to be rewarding.

The situation isn't as bad as you make it out to be though. Plenty of FPS games still employ the health bar system, with medkits and such.

Examples that spring to mind are Singularity, Metro 2033 and Resistance 3.

 

[krazykidd]

Personally , it makes things too easy . That and it kills the flow . Remember in golden eye 007 , the only thing you got was body armor , there were no health packs . I liked that system , a lot more realistic too . Adds some difficulty . You would take your time rather than hiding behind a wall for 5 seconds the rushing into the enemy , rince repeat.

 

[SoranMBane]

It's a matter of context. A game that's just about getting from point A to point B as fast as possible, that has almost no emphasis on exploration, has only a few types of enemies, or is a complete sandbox should probably use regenerating health. A slower-paced, linear game with somewhat divergent paths to explore, tons of ambient detail in its environment, and extremely diverse enemy types should probably use a health bar. The problem is that today, a lot of games that are in the latter category are simply slapping on regen health just because that's what Call of Duty did and because it's a lot harder to balance the difficulty in games with health bars (money-grubbing and laziness, basically), and it only serves to make those games less intense and less engaging because it essentially resets you after every encounter and kills any possibility for exploration to be rewarding.

The situation isn't as bad as you make it out to be though. Plenty of FPS games still employ the health bar system, with medkits and such.

Examples that spring to mind are Singularity, Metro 2033 and Resistance 3.

I know. I don't really see where I made the problem out to be some sort of epidemic, I was just illustrating why regen health can fail a lot of the time. For every Resistance 3-type game, there are always a few Resistance 2s and Fear 3s that fall flat because the pacing of those games begs for a health system they don't have.