I remember the good old days, back when a person really had to apply himself just a little bit...

There was no "auto-aim" or "aim-assist"...

There were no free rides with "no-fail" mode

But the thing I miss the most, is the Health Bar. Back then, a person had to be ready for whatever. Keep an eye open for First Aid kits. Stay sharp in case someones in the shadows.

But now, its been toned down to such a level of simplicity, its sad. Just to appeal to maybe more "casual" ("Huh, two joysticks: one for moving, the other for looking?? thats confusing ") demographic as well as people who were probably turned off by the difficulty from before.

Before, I had to keep my eye on health, and had to be vigilant whenever I encountered enemies.

Now, I just put on my floaties and glide through with the rest of the kids.

Single player has been lost. Multiplayer allows a challenge of course... but there's still the same health-refill crap you see in GoW, CoD, Halo (TECHNICALLY, a "shield-regenerating")

Sure, it was frustrating when you had only 12/100 health left, and a huge fight occurred before you could save. But that was the point!! It was challenging, not annoying.... Not as annoying as it is now... Angry

To think, a guy can hid from your gunfire for 3 seconds or run-away and brush off all the damage you've done... GODS OF GAMING WHAT HAVE WE BECOME

Gaming has changed. That's all there is to it.

I do think it's kinda weird that developers think that waiting is a good idea for fun.

Not the health bar... the big + symbol with numbers

I like CoD's health system.
Though I do disagree with having auto aim in a FPS, that's making it a bit too easy!
Health bars are good but in some games they're a lot better without. Project Reality(BF2 mod) has a lack of health bar and no regen, getting shot can cause you to bleed to death.
It's a nice feature for this time you don't have a chance to fuck up.

At 1/31/09 09:13 PM, KeithHybrid wrote: Gaming has changed. That's all there is to it.

Gaming has changed. It's no longer about princesses, koopas, or goombas. It's an endless series of online battles fought by nerds and 12 year olds. Gaming - and its consumption of social life - has become a well-oiled machine. Gamertagged soldiers carry Gamertagged weapons, use Gamertagged gear. Coffee and instant noodles inside their bodies enhance and regulate their abilities. Health control. Ammo control. Armor control. Battlefield control. Everything is monitored and kept under control. The age of mushrooms has become the age of HUD...All in the name of unlocking achievements and topping the leaderboards. And he who controls the server...controls history. When the rules are under total control...Gaming becomes routine.

It doesn't matter too much, all of those games you have mentioned are very popular, even though I do like the pick up health games.

i personally don't care for regenerating health, even regenerating health BARS. But, even that is better than the"realistic" health, which often resorts in you getting rushed by some enemy KAMIKAZE style and dying before you get a chance to react. A healthy middle way is a regenerating shield, but a health bar that doesn't regenerate. that way you can it only blocks enough shots so that you can react without getting your ass blown off. p.s. please don't totally disregard my opinion because I'm a newbie to the forum, we all gotta start somewhere

Resistance 1 and 2 and the PSP game all use them. that's why I love them.

At 1/31/09 10:28 PM, ismellarat wrote:

At 1/31/09 09:13 PM, KeithHybrid wrote: Gaming has changed. That's all there is to it.

*snake monologue*

Dammit, I was gonna make a joke like that.

At 1/31/09 09:13 PM, KeithHybrid wrote: Gaming has changed. That's all there is to it.

I don't mind a little variation in games. Innovations can bring some new and interesting things to different genres.

But this wasn't just one or two FPS that use this feature, it's all of them now! No more health bar, no more challenge really (least not in singleplayer)

And games like Resistance 1 have made their attempts at creating a fair balance when it came to First aid and regeneration. But look where we were taken at the sequal. Resistance 2 is complete health regeneration, just like all the rest...

At 1/31/09 10:54 PM, Aci6 wrote: Both have their pros and cons, I like the new system better; it just makes things more fun if you can zoom into a battle, take some out, take cover and wait for the next moment to strike.

You mean like a sniper? Cause thats pretty much the only class I can think of that still holds the same weight it use to.

One shot, One Kill... no worries for the sniper when it comes to the enemy "healing"

At 1/31/09 10:54 PM, Aci6 wrote: Sure some may think its cheap but it keeps you on your feet like a real fight as you have to find a position away from fire to actually get your health back.

Not exactly. There isn't much need to move from your position of cover, so long as the enemy doesn't have any grenades to coax you out, your fine so long as you fire and duck periodically...

Plus health regeneration makes it feel less like a "real fight" to me. I think in a real firefight, a soldier struck with a bullet is left with the damage for the duration of the battlefield

At 1/31/09 10:54 PM, Aci6 wrote: Health made it difficult, you constantly had to be good in your battles.

Thats kinda the point i'm trying to make.

This whole health regeneration thing has really lowered the bar. And not in a way that makes it fairer. The system before may not have been entirely fair, but it was much more so than what we have at present...

Zero Punctuation made a rant similar to this.

At 1/31/09 09:20 PM, BlueFlameSkulls wrote: The best health bar system I've seen in this gen of games would be Resistance. Combined the regen health and medi-kits to keep a balance.

So, essentially Halo: CE's health system?

Far Cry 2
Saints Row
Saints Row 2
GTA IV
Mass Effect
Dead of Alive 4
Street Fighter 4
Left 4 Dead

You can fuck off

At 1/31/09 09:20 PM, BlueFlameSkulls wrote: The best health bar system I've seen in this gen of games would be Resistance. Combined the regen health and medi-kits to keep a balance.

I have to agree. Well I actually love R1's health system more than R2's, and I thought I'd never say that!

ismellarat has now won the internets

And I do think health bars should come back, it just makes more sense than hiding for a few seconds to regenerate. It forces the player to be more skilled, and avoid damage altogether, rather than sucking it up and then waiting a while before going at it again.

At 2/1/09 01:12 AM, Blaze-Heatnix wrote:

At 1/31/09 09:13 PM, KeithHybrid wrote: lolwat

Games have changed. It's no longer about fun, originality, or challenge. It's an endless series of faggotry multiplayer played by fanboys and brats. Games - and their consumption of life - has become a well-milked cashcow.

I see the point you are trying to make, that gaming has become nothing more than a shell of its former self, but the consumer market changes constantly and the industry must keep up with those changes, or risk going out of business. I do believe that most games (and their developers) have strayed from the "interesting concept" path and hopped on over to the "how many guns do I have and how many enemies can I kill at once" bandwagon. However, I don't think all games are no longer "about fun, originality, or challenge." Psychonauts is a good example of a fun and original game, and that was only a few years ago. Spore is also a good example of an original game (haven't played it so I can't say if it is fun or not). And yes, while multiplayer does have its faults, it adds challenge to the game (and there are decent people who play it).

At 2/1/09 01:12 AM, Blaze-Heatnix wrote:

At 1/31/09 09:13 PM, KeithHybrid wrote: lolwat

Games have changed. It's no longer about fun, originality, or challenge. It's an endless series of faggotry multiplayer played by fanboys and brats. Games - and their consumption of life - has become a well-milked cashcow.

This might be a little exageration but I still feel that we are going towards the second dark ages of video games.

First one was around the time the original SMB went out, because companies felt like there was money to be made with it.

"They tought: Huh childrens will have fun no matter what happens, so here is this game with this characters, he shoot bullets and he jumps.
-Okay so what is the goal of the game ?
-What do you mean ? He shoot, jumps and kill enemies."

I mean look at EA and Madden and NHL and all this same rehashed shit.

Big companies rarely take any risk, it's the same for the movies, big movie companies always rehash the same recipes, only independant movie makers try to make the medium advance. Same for videogames, it is starting.

At 1/31/09 10:28 PM, ismellarat wrote: MGS4 intro sequence monologue

If you had a pic of Old Snake, that'b be plain perfect, kudos man.

At 1/31/09 09:13 PM, KeithHybrid wrote: Gaming has changed. That's all there is to it.

He has a point. It has changed, but for better or for worse? Nobody knows.

At 1/31/09 11:00 PM, elementell wrote:

At 1/31/09 10:28 PM, ismellarat wrote:

At 1/31/09 09:13 PM, KeithHybrid wrote: Gaming has changed. That's all there is to it.

*snake monologue*

Dammit, I was gonna make a joke like that.

Dammit, me too! :D

At 2/1/09 11:01 AM, VenomKing666 wrote: This might be a little exageration but I still feel that we are going towards the second dark ages of video games.

First one was around the time the original SMB went out, because companies felt like there was money to be made with it.

With the top three console producing companies being owned by multi-billion dollar corporations and game software developers worldwide flourishing in the limelight of each new generation of console, we're no where near another "dark age" of video games. The near downfall of the industry came back when video games were limited to arcades and the few console games available were high-priced and crap quality. The main reason video games faced a major crisis in the first place was due to no one being willing to put stock into mass marketing them from fear of poor sales and high production costs. Since Nintendo took the gamble and proved it could be done 25 years, there's no chance of another collapse of the industry as a whole.

Galaxy
SSBB
The WiiPlay/WiiSports series..

IDEA:
You have a blood meter. When you get shot, you lose a set amount of 'blood' per second. Depending on where you are hit, you lose more/less blood. Medkits do not replenish your blood meter, only halt it. To replenish your blood meter you need to rest (as far as i'm aware, sleeping can help regenerate lost blood right?) or have a transfusion (think field hospital in a war game).

At 2/1/09 12:45 PM, Blaze-Heatnix wrote: Fuck! I didn't know someone else made a snake monologue.

Anyway, yes, we still have health bars, but we don't have lives and nowadays you aren't punished for dying.

Yeah, games have gotten really forgiving. But waht exactly do you mean by "punished for dying?" In my opinion, having to start over from the last save point is sufficient punishment. Oh wait, there are now checkpoints every five minutes of a game. I think I follow what you're saying here...

At 2/1/09 12:59 PM, Blaze-Heatnix wrote: "Punished for dying" meaning that you could've restarted as if you were brought back to life, with no ammo at all because you were stupid enough to waste it and not think of a strategy.

Right, just like Tenchu then? Yeah, then you really don't want to die. Which gets kinda tough since all of the bosses use cheap moves that can own you i a few hits. That is another factor I think should be considered: Difficulty. The harder a game is, the less punishment you should receive for dying. Or more, if that's your kind of thing, lol.

At 2/1/09 05:42 AM, H-A-X-O-R-Z wrote: Far Cry 2
Saints Row
Saints Row 2
GTA IV
Mass Effect
Dead of Alive 4
Street Fighter 4
Left 4 Dead

You can fuck off

Dont forget Fallout 3 and MK vs DCU

Play on the computer and forget the faggotry that is called console gaming.

At 2/1/09 11:44 AM, SCUD14 wrote: IDEA:
You have a blood meter. When you get shot, you lose a set amount of 'blood' per second. Depending on where you are hit, you lose more/less blood. Medkits do not replenish your blood meter, only halt it. To replenish your blood meter you need to rest (as far as i'm aware, sleeping can help regenerate lost blood right?) or have a transfusion (think field hospital in a war game).

I've always imagined a game like that. And, anything physically exerting you do can lower something like an endurance meter. Sort of like Elder Scroll's fatigue bar, only lower endurance will take a huge toll on everything you do, like a lower endurance will result in much harder aiming, and your blood loss will increase.