I heard that health bars in video games were going to be taken out of most games. Is this true? And if so how would that effect you? It would depend on the game for me.
Speaking of which.. I think RE5 did Life pretty good.. you dont run around bunny hopping with 20 hp left.. instead you're just a limping mess until you receive some kind of aid from an ally
granted it might not work for something like a fighting game.. but I think it was a step in the right direction
As for the question at hand.. I much prefer to have to look at my characters body language to determine his condition rather than a lifebar
when lifebars are present you wind up not being afraid and knowing how many more hits you can take before you die.. whereas if its not present , you're far less likely to put yourself in danger..
No life bars breeds experimentation, and aggressiveness. Whenever I have a game like that I always act more aggressive because if do get hit, you just take some cover and heal. I like it much better than life bars where if you have 20 percent health, you just stand far away and pick away at them, or in my case, reload the quicksave.
I can understand why people like them and that's cool, but I always find I enjoy myself alot more when I don't need to worry about conserving my health.
The perfect medium could be having a health bar, but once you get past a certain point, the health only saves up to that level. Ninja Gaiden 2, Riddick and some other games I just recently played had that. It was pretty cool also.
I like it without life bars, not that ime against them but it does seem to me a little more realistic and more immersive, seeing a green bar as others have said may make you change your tactics from a gamers perspective, but not part of the universe so perhaps its easier for competitive games but for the imersion factor, a green bar or numbers is imo a drawback. I think if the bar is in the form of something in-game like in Deadspace for example ,I think its better although ime all for no life bars in games like horrors, survival or perhaps adventure/hack and slash action like GOW becuase in these games it would be better if the character was weakened slightly when taking damaged, or took on a more gory appearance.
Even though the game was dog shit overall, i liked what the latest far cry did. As well as Metal Gear 3. It's a neat concept having to heal yourself in practical ways, making splints, finding herbs or using hypo needles.
Although, i do have to say that i prefer games that don't require you to heal at all. I'm not sure exactly when it started, probably around the emergence of the "next gen" era but i like being able to just stop for a few seconds until my health has been regained. It might be neat to see a combination of this style of healing coupled with the metal gear and Far cry system. Unless you are dealt a critical blow (broken limb) you can simply rest for a second to regain your health but if you do sustain a critical blow you must find a way to heal yourself using environmental resources, rather than a med pack.
__________________ "If you tell the truth, you never have to remember anything" -Twain
(sig by Scythe)
I'm just not sure why they allow alot of dismemberment or bullet stun and such for Non-Player Characters (Like the regenerators in RE4), but when it comes to multiplayer, games takes on an entirely new face, and doesnt apply what happened in the single player experience to the other human players
Like if RE4 had a deathmatch.. I doubt you'd be able to shoot someone in the leg to take them down or even make them stagger.. or just completely blow off their arm and have them bleed to death and the like..
I'd like to see games where the character you're playing as is more realistically vulnerable (getting limbs severed or broken and such, but still able to continue as their life trickles away).. but I guess we have a long way to go before people experiment with that kind of life system
Is that a bad thing though? You don't think it's frustrating, always having to worry about health packs? Health packs, i think, still work for certain types of games but when it comes to a balls to the wall FPS i like not having to worry about my health. There is nothing i hate more than having to repeat a stage over and over again just because i can't find enough health or i didn't conserve enough health. That type of shit really brings a game down and takes me out of the game. Don't you think it's tedious when you have to constantly be on the look out for health packs in high action FPS games?
I think back on FPS games for the PS2 and such. I may have played those games longer than i play current FPS games but it's because i always had to replay an entire god damn stage when i died from missing health pickups
__________________ "If you tell the truth, you never have to remember anything" -Twain
(sig by Scythe)
Yeah, I feel the same way. No health bar promotes better action, and riskier moves.
With health bars, your not always so inclined to rush the enemies defense knowing that if you lose so much health, you pretty much screw yourself and you probably restart.
KMC Community Forums
Cutting of Life Bars
Feb 23rd, 2009 06:18 PM
-thanks scythe, you make some great sigs
