Regenerating Health or Health Packs?

[flamingdts]

I've been wondering about this for a long time. What do people here feel about the regenerating health system?

We're all Half Life players, and we all know Half Life is one of few shooters left that make use of health pack systems. I personally feel the major limitation in a health pack system is obviously the save and reload. All FPS games with the health pack system make use of a save and reload, which means at certain difficulties there would be ALOT of save and reloading. We might even save and reload for the sake of having enough health to fight a difficult boss.

On the other hand, shooting games with regenerating health system tend not to not have the immediate save option, which means if you die you usually start from a checkpoint. Games with regenerating health tend to be smoother, since we won't be constantly saving and loading.

 

[Dinnesch]

I tend to like health packs better, because of the way they make games difficult compared to games with regenerating health.
Health pack games need you to play as careful as possible, you can't just take some bullets, hide behind cover for a few seconds, and continue like nothing happened.

 

[Dalamari]

Health packs, but Medal of Honor: Airborne had a combination of both which wasn't that bad

 

[Dynasty]

I prefer health packs. That adrenaline rush (kinda) when you sprint out from cover with 9 health to a building, almost ducking your own head so it makes you feel that the MG that is opening up on you is less likely to hit you.

In some game like Halo, err sorry, thing like Halo, where you just run out, spray, jump behind a rock for a few seconds and run back out like Rambo..pfft, what crap is this. And regen health sucks too...

 

[kineaesth]

In some game like Halo, err sorry, thing like Halo, where you just run out, spray, jump behind a rock for a few seconds and run back out like Rambo..pfft, what crap is this. And regen health sucks too...

I find that regenerating health actually slows down a game - on harder settings, you're spending most of your time just waiting to be at full health again. Health packs add a real imperative need to keep moving and try to survive. In Halo I frequently found myself (somewhat unconsciously) simply backtracking away from battles in order to stay alive.

 

[Gargantou]

Health packs, but Medal of Honor: Airborne had a combination of both which wasn't that bad

As did Far Cry 2, Far Cry 2's system was a good middle-road IMO, not too unpunishing to the new gamers who've grown up with games with regenerating health, yet not TOO forgiving either.

I myself have been partly ruined by regenerating health in FPSes, for example whenever I play HL2 these days in SP I tend to get my ass handed to me on multiple occasions simply because I've grown so accustomed to not having to manage my health (other than taking cover to recharge it.)

But in some games regenerating health fits more, due to story design etc. Like if you're playing a horrible mutant that in the game story actually has regenerative abilities.

But in a game like CoD4 it naturally feels weird.
On the other hand, CoD4 has the need for regenerating health since IMO if you get a limited amount of healthpacks then you should also get a limited amount of enemies, and in multiple places in CoD4 there was no limit to how many times enemies would spawn.

But regenerating health would feel very out of place in an FPS like System Shock 1 where survival and scavenging for resources and being conservative about how you use'em are a core part of what makes up the games mood.

I played System Shock 1 with all settings at the standard, and I don't recall ever once having full health after I lost it the first time, simply because I couldn't afford to waste my resources to get maxed health, I had to make do with 70% if the medkit was designed to restore 50%, I just couldn't afford to waste those 20%.

 

[TheOneFreeMan]

Regenerating health is primarily a product of console FPS games; when you need to make sure the game is as unfrustrating as possible for console gamers who in general are going to spend less time in a single gaming session (generalisation), regenerating health makes getting hit less of a big deal. For that reason, I lump it into the same barrel I do with the rest of the developments brought about through console gaming; it dumbs the game down.

I like that feeling of relief when you reach a health pack.

 

[Ren.182]

I don't like regen health, especially in multiplayer games. Its annoying when you shoot a guy and he'd obviously have no health left, then they jump behind some cover, in real life or in a game with health kits, he'd be lying there half dead. With regen health, he'd just pop back out and shoot you again.

Single player I don't mind so much, but health kits always give more exciting gameplay. Its awesome when you have 5 health and manage to beat a boss or something.

 

[TheOneFreeMan]

But in a game like CoD4 it naturally feels weird.
On the other hand, CoD4 has the need for regenerating health since IMO if you get a limited amount of healthpacks then you should also get a limited amount of enemies, and in multiple places in CoD4 there was no limit to how many times enemies would spawn.

I don't count this as being a legitimate reason to have regenerating health. They could simply design it so these unlimited spawning enemies make you push forward to get to a safe position.

Of course, not to be disparaging towards the casual gamer, but I believe they would have the mentality of "GOT TO KILL EVERYTHING" instead of retreating, making this design a bit difficult.

 

[knut]

ODST did a nice blend of both, having your stamina recharge when it was done, but if you took too much damage you had to seek out health. made legendary very fun to play as it was just the right mix of picking the right fights to tie in with what health may be around, and not becoming a hide and seek retreat for when the shields needed to recharge.

 

[Remus]

I prefer health packs. However FEAR had a pretty good compromise. If you were heavily damaged your health would regenerate to 25.

 

[Gargantou]

I don't count this as being a legitimate reason to have regenerating health. They could simply design it so these unlimited spawning enemies make you push forward to get to a safe position.

Of course, not to be disparaging towards the casual gamer, but I believe they would have the mentality of "GOT TO KILL EVERYTHING" instead of retreating, making this design a bit difficult.

It still creates an unfair game balance if you have infinitely respawning enemies but not infinitely respawning healthpacks IMO.

 

[Remus]

That's one of the things I hate about the CoD series, the infinitely spawning bad guys mechanic.

 

[Gargantou]

That's one of the things I hate about the CoD series, the infinitely spawning bad guys mechanic.

They eliminated it completely in CoDMW2, except for like one or two instances iirc.

 

[Barnz]

Who voted for regen health? Show your face!

 

[stemot]

Who voted for regen health? Show your face!

Me! Just to piss you off .

 

[flamingdts]

I prefer health packs. However FEAR had a pretty good compromise. If you were heavily damaged your health would regenerate to 25.

The only thing that gets me about health pack is whether or not you have enough health to actually advance to the next part of the game or to fight a boss.

I know that in all FPS games with health pack, there will never be a time when an enemy will most certainly hit you (though they could be close). For example, the Vorts in HL1 were a pain in the ass in the highest difficulty. With shield, they deal less damage. Without shield, they literally take at least 50% of your health. This made me reload some areas in the game to ensure I have enough health to advance to the next area, because Vorts come in groups and they attack very quickly.

There should be an element of slight health regeneration when completely out of battle in all shooting games. Otherwise, you'll find yourself having to reload many times to beat a certain area when you're at 5 health.

 

[Gargantou]

Who voted for regen health? Show your face!

I did because as I wrote in one of my posts, it has handicapped me! Though I guess by that logic I really should have voted against it because I hate how it has impaired some of my gaming-skills!

 

[Unfocused]

I prefer health packs, but I like to be able to carry a few with me.

 

[Adabiviak]

Health packs. Like Remus said, regenerating a tiny amount when you're very low (with movement penalties and all that) works if done well. I think S.T.A.L.K.E.R. did that too? If you're under fire, you're still screwed, but if you can get to a safe position, you're not cured but you have enough health to not die from a random piece of shrapnel, so you still need to get to a health pack.

 

[jverne]

To be honest i kinda liked the way it was in Crysis. It felt as if you were human and could die very quickly. There were times where you had to do a tactical retreat, but that really was a good thing as it made you rethink your tactics.
I'd say for fast games such as Crysis the regen health can work better.
For more slower health packs are desired. Carrying health packs with you can be a good alternative.

 

[Remus]

Carrying health packs with you can be a good alternative.

FEAR multiplayer, 10 health packs + body armor. Go right in the middle of a firefight, receive a nade to the face + a few hundred rounds in your ass, yet still manage to kill everyone and escape with 100 health. Good times, good times...

 

[Bob_Marley]

The STALKER/FarCry 2/Left 4 Dead system is my favoriate for SP games as it limits your total health regenerating capability but doesn't tie you down to back tracking to where the healthpacks spawned after every firefight.

 

[Wanted Bob]

The original Halo probably has one of the best health systems out there. You had your shields so you could take a fair amount of damage, and then a health bar beyond that which wouldnt regenerate. It meant you always had a chance in a firefight, but with low health you really had to be careful not to let your shields drop.

F.E.A.R. and the Half Life series also had good health systems, in which it was two-tiered so you had an armour bar and a health bar.

 

[Krynn72]

I like the concept of the game giving you something so that you're not completely ****ed in a gunfight if you're low on health. Whether it be like FEAR where you regen only part of your health, or borderlands where you regen shields and not health.

Fully regenerating health is a bunch of boolshiiit though. I'd much rather have a full on health pack system than a full on regen system.

 

[Dog--]

The original Halo probably has one of the best health systems out there. You had your shields so you could take a fair amount of damage, and then a health bar beyond that which wouldnt regenerate. It meant you always had a chance in a firefight, but with low health you really had to be careful not to let your shields drop.

This + a billion, if Halo did anything right it would be that for sure.


Mercenaries 2 had a cool system too, it would regenerate your health to full but only if you are out of a firefight for like 30 seconds and not get hit at all, and it would regenerate fast until you hit like 50% then it would get really slow only regenerating like +5 for the 50's then +3 for the 60's (every second) and it would just get slower and slower as it rose.

 

[MJ12]

Torn between both, they both have their place depending on the game.

But one of the things I loved and will always remember HL games by is surviving on your last bit of health. Much more intense and fun.

I guess overall I prefer medpacks though.

 

[PvtRyan]

Regenerating health. It improves pacing of the game and helps it flow more naturally. With health packs, you're tied to where the level designer decided to place them, usually in the wrong place. In HL2, you always received them when you were already at full health or you didn't get them when you needed and got stuck in a frustrating try-and-reload phase where you have to get past a difficult section at very low health. They make it either too easy or too hard. Health packs also make it tempting to do a lot of quickloads when you feel you've lost too much health in a fight due to stupid mistakes, because you want to keep as much health as possible. Regenerative health makes pacing a lot more consistent. Crysis did regenerative health very well.

 

[VirusType2]

Restoration Magic

Oh, or health packs. Like others have said though, it's not always done well.

Generally do not like item health that you can carry though. 99x minor health potion! In some games it works, like Zelda or maybe Resident Evil or something, where you have only a few.

 

[Absinthe]

Depends on the game, but I ultimately prefer health packs. It's less forgiving, but it doesn't give me incentive to ****ing facerush groups of enemies, knock half of them out, then hide behind a rock for the inevitable miracle cure.

As others have said, I think a good compromise is something like Far Cry 2's health system where you can regenerate portions of your health, or in Bioshock where you can carry medkits with you.

 

[DEATH eVADER]

Although I'm not a big fan of Halo, but that game seems to hit a happy balance. Health Packs if your shields have not fully regenerated.

I liked Farcry 2 approach, whereby if your below like 10% health, then you use your hands to pick out the bullets. Then you can use subsequent health packs

I like a mix of the two, depending on the sistuation that they should be used.

 

[StarBob]

This depends entirely on the gameplay. Call of Duty made the switch from health packs to regenerating health and it worked out really well for them. The game wasn't really one where going of the linear path was worthwhile or generally even possible so attaining health was more a matter of running toward people you killed. However, a game like Half Life that has a lot of side regions and puzzles you can do to get more ammo and health outside of the linear structure. Regenerating health would never work in a situation like this. Regeneration really hit it big when Halo came out and it still had health as a sort of afterthought.

I can't really say which one I prefer since they're both effective in their own right. I feel like regenerating health takes a bit out of games, but it allows for a really great level of difficulty in that it is constant. When you ramp up from Easy to Hard, it is nicely scalable. Health packs tend to make lower levels extremely easy and hard extremely hard... and it becomes less a matter of being good and more the luck of not taking a single hit because it strips half your health.

Really both have their place in their respective games. Some fit better than others and it's up to the designers to decide what's best. It seems more and more these days that people are going for the ultra linear gameplay so regeneration is much more prevalent. I doubt HL or similar games will ever adopt it.

 

[jverne]

Depends on the game, but I ultimately prefer health packs. It's less forgiving, but it doesn't give me incentive to ****ing facerush groups of enemies, knock half of them out, then hide behind a rock for the inevitable miracle cure.

As others have said, I think a good compromise is something like Far Cry 2's health system where you can regenerate portions of your health, or in Bioshock where you can carry medkits with you.

If you rush head first into a large group of enemies in crysis, you'll end up dead in about a few seconds (on hard or delta).

 

[Darkside55]

Neither. What's the matter, you pussies? Can't play a game without getting hit?

 

[Ravioli]

I prefer Health Packs in singelplayer. It depends in multiplayer, if its fast paced then healthpacks, if its slow paced then regen.

 

[MFL]

Health regen via swimming till I'm out of breath and taking damage, and resurfacing to get the profit health regen. Ala HL1.

 

[AmishSlayer]

I like health packs with a bit of regen if it's an unforgiving game. I'm ok with it regenerating like 20-30% hp just so you don't get f'ed over for a big fight.

Completely regenerating health takes away from the experience for me.

The best health system is coins to heal + swimming with my head above water

 

[ríomhaire]

I prefer health packs. However FEAR had a pretty good compromise. If you were heavily damaged your health would regenerate to 25.

This is probably my favourite health system. MGS does this to. And the C&C games with some of the units.

 

[DEATHMASTER]

I'm fine with either, where they make sense. In Halo you have shields that recharge, makes sense, and there's health underneath that which unfortunately they cropped out in the sequels (at least until ODST and Reach). In COD games, it makes no ****ing sense to heal from bullet wounds in 5 seconds.

 

[Tacoeaterguy]

In fallout I think I had around 1000 stimpaks, so it made the game way too easy after while. Other than that, health packs are better. In storymode games, you should have health packs, in multiplayer, you should have regenerating health.