Personally, I like segmented regenerating health best (where the health bar is divided into segments, fully empty segments remain empty, and only the currently partially damaged segment is refilled after a moment).
It's not as overly punishing as old-school 100HP systems (where you could end up facing a boss with hitscan weapons with only 1HP and get stuck) while still ensuring that taking damage has dire consequences (unlike the modern hide-and-heal-all system). It's an ideal middle ground, I think.
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Regenerating health, non-regenerating shield.
Honestly?
I found the first Halo's health system the nicest.
You have a layer of regenerating health and then any damage you take stays until you find a health kit.
[QUOTE=WaRRioRTF;44790493]Honestly?
I found the first Halo's health system the nicest.
You have a layer of regenerating health and then any damage you take stays until you find a health kit.[/QUOTE]
Was actually going to say about Halo 1 as well. That game pops to mind as having the most fair but challenging system.
I like segmented regenerating the most cause it just has the best of both worlds.
I enjoy non-regenerating health the most because of the feeling of panic trying to find health. To balance it out and make it fair, I like systems like UT2K4 or Serious Sam the most, where it's non-regenerating and you still get that panic but the health goes over 100. So if you die, you either got hella swarmed or it's entirely your fault.
Well, I can definitely appreciate the ethos of having limited regen in shooters, since too much automatic regen means you don't have to put much effort into level design (and that's bad, mmmkay), but having none of that stuff would mean you could easily screw yourself into a corner if you aren't good at resource management or finding secrets.
A nice middle ground is good for both parties so that it possesses elements of scavenging for survival for the hardcore among us, but still has limited regen at lower health levels so the more casual shooter fans can still resort to "duck and cover" techniques if they fuck up hardcore and end up really fragile. Shadow Warrior 2013 allows you to regen up to about two-thirds of your maximum health, though you have to pay attention and know when to regenerate via D-D-RMB (the button combo for Chi Healing), but you still have health packs to boost you up to full health, as well as the occasional "souls" that pop up at random when enemies die.
Also my favourite health systems are the ones where the designers actually allow you to see how much health you have beyond the vague and distracting "bloody screen so real" tish.
I prefer doom's system. You have a percentage of health until you find more. What I don't like is games that add an effect to the screen. Black and white/unsaturated/red blood splatters all blocking your view. That's annoying. A number in the corner is sufficient, add a heart beat sound if you want, but stop blocking the screen, damnit
Segmented I guess. But no regeneration is fine too, especially if you can carry health packs (like Dishonored and Deus Ex iirc).
Permanent health drain with abilities to mitigate effects triggered by player (think Americas army, RO2, etc.)
Gaining health back with floor chicken
[QUOTE=TheTalon;44790592]I prefer doom's system. You have a percentage of health until you find more. What I don't like is games that add an effect to the screen. Black and white/unsaturated/red blood splatters all blocking your view. That's annoying. A number in the corner is sufficient, add a heart beat sound if you want, but stop blocking the screen, damnit[/QUOTE]
True that, although it makes me wonder if a shooter benefits from having a secondary indicator around the crosshair a'la Half-Life 2. Reason for this being that most of the time your attention is on the crosshair because that's where the bullets hit home, and because I've seen so many videos where players fail to pay attention to the health bar since it's tucked away in the corner.
So in theory, if the player is looking at the crosshairs most of the time and they don't realise when they're taking damage due to not looking into the health corner, it would make sense to have a health indicator around the crosshair so they can see how close to death they are without having to divert attention from where they're supposed to be shooting.
Does that make sense?
[QUOTE=Jallen;44790484]Regenerating health, non-regenerating shield.[/QUOTE]
I enjoy the exact opposite.
I prefer having a shield that regenerates after X amount of time without damage, but can't sustain much damage. Any further damage sustained while the shield is down permanently takes away health that you can only get back from health packs, basically the first halo. So it's entirely possible, if you want, to play it incredibly safe on higher difficulties and whenever your shield is down just hide and let it regenerate, or you can run the risk and keep going without a shield but be forced to find health packs but get through the levels quicker
I tend to like non-regenerating health that also allows you to store some health in an inventory with the ability to use it at any time, preferably with a hotkey or something. (half life crossed with deux ex style)
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