Extra Punctuation: Why Regenerating Health Sucks

[Scow2]

I like Halo: Combat Evolved's health system for console shooters, devised to help compensate for the lack of pinpoint-accuracy of a Dual-Shock controller. The hybrid of regenerating and non-regenerating health I find to be a great system, because it still gives you the low-health thrill and challenges, but ensures you at least have enough health that you don't get stuck going into a battle where getting hit is guarenteed with only 1 hit left.

Playing Half-Life, I got frustrated by the number of times I really screwed up a battle, and was forced to continue with >15 health throughout an entire mission. Of course, the fact that the Half-life engine somehow gives me motion sickness (I think it's the too-noninvasive HUD) doesn't help.

In short... I'm trying to say regenerating health is good, as long as it's not complete. It serves as a "Heads up" at high health, allowing developers to implement nasty surprises for the player without being a cheap YASD, and as a reprieve at low health, giving you the breathing room to overcome challenges if you're careful enough.

Prince of Persia: Sands of Time had a good health system as well for the game style, where you had to be careful with your health in combat and platforming, but the unlimited-use health stations allowed you to fully heal at the right times, instead of having to force the developers to guess how much health you'd need at that point.

If the few posts above me were trying to agree with Yahtzee, they completely missed his point: The idea isn't to punish the player further for having low health, since that's just frustrating.

And to the guy directly above me... OUCH! IGNORANCE IS PAINFUL! I'll have to straighten you out. The reason DOOM had the most intrictate level layouts compared to modern shooters (And the reason levels in general are getting straighter and smaller) is because of the sheer amount of resources needed to make a level, and make it look good. It comes down to the strain of modern graphics. In the first DOOM, anyone could make a map in a matter of minutes, hours at most. Now, it takes WEEKS to make even a simple level, and developers don't want to waste that time on content very few people are going to see.

I blame the decline of proceedural generation.

 

[vviki]

I can't stand this Health Regenerating thing, so I avoided most of the games (a friend forced me to co-op Gears of War so we can hear the lame puns). But then there is the thing that Extra Credits pointed out: A room could be the most difficult one if you had a single digit of health, or a breeze if you were full on both it and armor. Regenerating health meant that developers could adjust the challenge by knowing how much health you have before the next encounter.

Also I agree, that it makes everything even more boring, since it restores the status quo before each fight. Load on ammo (enemies drop it) wait 5 sec for health to regenerate, go shoot more people/aliens from behind cover.

 

[twm1709]

I don't think there's a problem with HR any more than there is with any system Yathzee mentioned. If anything, it's a system overused in most mainstream games, so that may lead to someone like him to be sick of it.

 

[Lord_Gremlin]

I liked health system in first Killzone on PS2. It was somewhat similar to Chronicles of Riddik. Your health bar basically health several sections, that regenerate if you took just a little damage, but if damage is substantial your health will regenerate only up to 75, 50 or 25% percent, depending on how much damage you took. To fully restore health you had to find a medkit, that would regenerate it to 100% again. And medkits were really scarce. This system forced you to be careful in a firefight and at the same time you wouldn't suddenly die of accumulated small half-painless falling damage huts.
A shame they made 100% health regenerate in Killzone 2 and 3. But that is basically because of Elite difficulty. Which is, essentially, a no-hit run for obsessed. You get shot - you die, so no point in medkits. And if Elite and other difficulties had different health systems... Well, look at Bionic Commando remake on PSN. Yuk.

 

[Triggerhappy938]

I actually preferred Halo 1's health system to the later sequels. You had a shield that regenerated and, separately, you had your health. You shield takes a few bullets before going away [exact amount dependent on the difficulty], your health is chunks of your ass being shot off that have to be healed with med kits. It allows for you to take a little more beating than a traditional health system, encouraging a somewhat more aggressive stance, but gave a real consequence to being shot excessively that wouldn't go away while you were behind a wall.

That being said, I don't think that regenerating health is 100% bad or good. I do think it's overused in modern gaming. But, that's gaming history in a nutshell, isn't it. Something works, then everyone copies it and tries to jam it in their games where it doesn't fit. Cover based shooters, stealth, and 2D scrolling platformers have all birthed this phenomenon.

 

[C.S.Strowbridge]

I pretty much stopped playing the genre when health regeneration became the norm. Being well below half-health and thinking, "Should I run for that big gun, before the enemy gets it? Or should I look for some health?" That adds to the game.

 

[archvile93]

I have to disagree with Yahtzee here, it all depends on the game. As I've said before, games where resource management is an important part of the game shouldn't have it, but games that focus on action should consider it. In some games regenerating health made the game more intense. For example, in a game with set health you tend to have a lot. If I go into a fight with full health, unless it's the final battle or I'm playing on the impossible difficulty I really don't have much to fear, since making a mistake will usually just result in losing more health than I need to, or at worst losing a lot more. With regenerating health, where you usually have much less to compensate for the fact you get it back, even minor fights can be a challenge since one mistake may mean I don't have time to run back to cover.

Also: Kirchhoff? really captcha?

 

[lozfoe444]

I like the idea of having health scattered or hidden in the environment. Then it forces the player to explore the level looking for the health, or they can choose to take the dangerous but faster route and just go without exploring.
Also, you're right. There is something weird about finding something that heals you inside something that was just trying to kill you. There's something philosophical about that I'm sure.

 

[Xanadu84]

Bullshit. Entitled to your opinion sure, but frankly, Yahtzee is just plain wrong here. Regenerating health is a great idea. It resets every challenge, giving a fresh perspective each time. No artificially difficult sections where you have extra low health, no resource management to distract you from the action at hand. There are PLENTY of other ways to add narrative continuity besides a big red bar. Not every game should have regenerating health: Games like Half Life, Dead Space, etc get a good deal of improved pacing and tension from a health system. But honestly, I can't name a game with regenerating health that should have used hit points, or vise versa. For all the design mistakes out there, the health system choice is not one of them. Maybe video games just need more games that have a slower pace, and less focus on manic action. Maybe we need less games that benefit more from regeneration. But that's a completely different aissue. Regenerating health is here to stay. And you know what? Regenerating health may not be realistic, but it FEELS more realistic. Because if you don't die, you can simply assume that whatever happened was an ignorable flesh wound. That feels a lot more reasonable then getting shot in the face, being fine, then dying from a paper cut.

 

[dunnace]

Metal gear solid 3's system has always stuck out to me as the best. it's a semi-permanent/permanent bar that you regenerate by eating animals you have to hunt. It adds a huge depth to an otherwise necessary feature, different animals have different effects and the side quest of hunting becomes something comfortably methodical. I liked how when I was in a down time during the game I'd suddenly go "Right! Let's go get some tasty frogs for later!" and spend some time hunting delicious snacks. Then, after an intense boss fight I'd have a little picnic over his body while pulling out bullets with a knife.

God I loved MGS3...

 

[Assassin Xaero]

The Chronicles of Riddick still has the best health system, in my opinion. It regenerates to a point, but also has you hunt down health stations that have limited health in them. And there was that other game (maybe it was Half Life 2?) where your health would regenerate up to ~30% so you wouldn't be completely screwed, but still not enough to make it easy.

 

[FiendishFu12]

I'm genuinely distressed that Yahtzee has thought of my 'luck' system to replace health. For years I thought I was terribly clever to be the only person to have come up with it. Damn you, you behatted semi-Antipodean.

 

[Tempest13]

I like Halo: Combat Evolved's health system for console shooters, devised to help compensate for the lack of pinpoint-accuracy of a Dual-Shock controller. The hybrid of regenerating and non-regenerating health I find to be a great system, because it still gives you the low-health thrill and challenges, but ensures you at least have enough health that you don't get stuck going into a battle where getting hit is guarenteed with only 1 hit left.

Playing half-life, I got frustrated by the number of times I really screwed up a battle, and was forced to continue with >15 health throughout an entire mission. Of course, the fact that the Half-life engine somehow gives me motion sickness (I think it's the too-noninvasive HUD) doesn't help.

Prince of Persia: Sands of Time had a good health system as well for the game style, where you had to be careful with your health in combat and platforming, but the unlimited-use health stations allowed you to fully heal at the right times, instead of having to force the developers to guess how much health you'd need at that point.

This is exactly how I feel. Halo balanced it well, Half-Life was potentially frustrating if you screwed up but still possible, and PoP used time as a negative to avoid healing in mid battle. (which I would still try all the time.) These methods worked well for health gain.

I think Halo Reach had a nice balance as well, a small amount of health regen on occasion before shields regen, but if you drop alot of health you need to get to the packs. This allows players to keep fighting if they need to while giving uninjured players a decent advantage...until they get stuck. XD

 

[ComicsAreWeird]

I like the Sonic approach. Damn, those games were awesome.I actually think that could work in a 3rd person action game like Devil May Cry.
For FPS´s i like the partial regenerating health bar system that can be seen in Resistence and Killzone.

 

[fix-the-spade]

Oi, Yahtzee?!

Do you remember the Syphone Filter games, the reasonably good PS1 editions? They implemented something very similar to your luck idea. Depending on your position relative to the enemy you had a 'danger' bar that filled or emptied. With the bar empty you were less likely to take hits (bot not totally immune), full bar and the enemy has you ranged, you take hits.

The player character could still take a few hits once the bar was full, but there were modifiers to that. When the enemy had armour piercing rounds, explosives or aimed for your head you suddenly became very squishy. Filling up the bar meant almost instant death.

It worked really well, although it equated to even more hiding round corners than regenerating health, it at least made the hide and seek sessions intense.

 

[Azaraxzealot]

i think we have regenerating health so that it DOES enrich the experience by allowing the player to make more mistakes without punishing them with more "game over" screens.

it just makes it more accessible to more audiences, and who wouldn't prefer some Saints Row 2 to Grand Theft Auto 4 when it comes to fun?

 

[DugMachine]

Halo: Reach sort of has this. You have your main shield which regenerates with time and you're health will regenerate but only if you have taken minimum damage. I think if it's past the 75% mark you have to find a health pack to regain your health. They also quickly restore health and shields if you need a quick heal.

 

[Lono Shrugged]

The old Syphon Filter games had a health system but even better it had a danger bar, which sounds like a fun place to get drunk but was actually a lot like the luck system mentioned. When it filled you started taking hits as your enemies got more of a bead on you. It made great sense as crappy crims and terrorists would have shite aim whereas the professional puppy strangling secret agents on later levels would have crack aim.

I am deeply offended that Yahtzee never played a 14 year old semi-obscure PS1 game and call his credentials into question....

(edit: beaten)

 

[Coldster]

I still think that Halo Reach has the best health system: Shield bar regenerates, health only recharges when you get a health pack. It may not be the best health system but it works really well in the campaign and the multiplayer. Better yet, it lets the player overcome challenges by letting you push your body out of cover for a second to kill enemies while your shields takes the hits and duck behind cover when it gets too low. Of course, some of the AI realise your weak in this state and they run up to you to finish the job.

Also, I can't read the second word in the spot chapcha, it looks like some arabian symbols.