Regenerating Health: Friend or Foe?

[Zinmasterb]

I just saw the preview for the next iteration in the F.E.A.R. series, Project Origin. One thing mentioned was that health packs are going to be ditched in favor of regenerating health, similar to Call of Duty 4, Crysis and many other popular FPS games.
Now that inspired me to ask LoS this question:
Is regenerating health (as opposed to healthpacks), a good direction to be taking the majority of the FPS genre?
Now with the recent mainstreaming of the videogame culture a lot of us grizzled vets have noticed a general lack of difficulty in the majority of games. Frequently, features that are implemented that reduce difficulty also reduce frustration, like no longer having to restart a game completely when dieing a set amount of times.
I think this is leading the genre in a bad direction, personally. It seems, personally to take a lot of the challenge out of many FPS scenarios.
For instance, here's a quote I took out of the Project Origin article:

Originally Posted by Gamestop

Project Origin has shed its points-based health system in favor of regenerating health. Monolith tells us this is a choice made to keep your focus on the action rather than a slowly-draining number in the corner of your screen.

I mean it seems a lot of the FPS games are really becoming kind of brainless point click fests. Not saying they weren't always, but at least with a point-based health system risk assessment became a huge part of gameplay. You want to run out like Rambo and shoot all the bad guys? Do you have the health for it? Now don't get me wrong, there are some games it works perfectly for. But what about more traditional FPS games that are having this forced on them?
It just seems like another step in the pussification of gaming as a whole.
So, what is the LoS mentality on this pretty trivial but potentially interesting to discuss topic?

[RobinHood525]

Well what i think it should be kinda both. i don't want health packs, but if u get hit, u can still regenerate some health but not all of it, so it wasn't a wasted shot. kinda like halo 1, with the shield and health system i guess, but with no med packs lol.

I think it should be a little bit of both, not a huge fan that if u get hit, u can just sit and regenerate your health and act like nothing happened.

[Einar]

I wouldn't say that a regenerating-health system would advocate easier gameplay. On the contrary, a great deal of games utilize this system well to promote a healthy new tactic that is sweeping shooters: cover.

Gone are the days of loading up our favorite rocket launcher and hurling ourselves into the fray with nary a backward glance. Rather, more and more developers are advocating the use of cover and precise, methodical shots. While I occasionally pine for the nostalgic FPS, in which hordes of enemies are felled by my gun, I can't help but notice that single-player games are evolving to an increasingly tactical form of gameplay.

That being said, if we want to truly find the culprit on reduced difficulty levels, look no further than multi-platform releases. Every single FPS that has been released as a PC and a console title has been dumbed down through one way or another. More often than not, it falls to the overall difficulty of the game as being the victim. Take the Rainbow Six series, for example: Initially, a great deal of planning and preparation went into each mission. Now, it's all a bunch of flashy, character-driven--albeit fun--console-ized fluff.

I can never tell for sure what the future will bring, but I am assuredly positive that a very vocal group of hardcore FPS players remain within the computer domain. It's left up to the developers now to take advantage of that group and release some good titles.

[Maniacus]

Honestly I reckon what the game is about should decide what sort of system should be used. Its kinda silly that soldiers would regenerate to full health despite getting shot up while it would make sense for a super soldier or some sort of other non normal dude to regenerate. Though then again the whole bandages will fix everything thing aint that realistic either.

Gameplay wise though, i dont really mind which way it goes.

[Aratus]

Well I like the games that make it so if you get hit, just keep cover and try it again. It prevents things like bum rushing 5 guys and coming out the other end just hitting up a few med pacs and bum rushing the next 5. It also keeps the difficulty level fair so you dont get 1 shotted every time you go around the one corner in the map.

[ununseptium]

One word, Halo (2 and 3).

[Zinmasterb]

Yeesh did you guys ever play games on the hard setting?
I can't account for every early FPS ever released, but when a game was well done you really felt the heat in between healthpacks. It wasn't like Halo where you go through one fight and then enter the next one fresh. You had to think, not only of how to win a fight, but how to win a fight so that you had enough health left to shoot your way through several more encounters to the next healthpack.
And I have to go down on the record thinking that Halo is quite possibly the most overhyped game ever.

[ununseptium]

Originally Posted by Zinmasterb

Yeesh did you guys ever play games on the hard setting?
I can't account for every early FPS ever released, but when a game was well done you really felt the heat in between healthpacks. It wasn't like Halo where you go through one fight and then enter the next one fresh. You had to think, not only of how to win a fight, but how to win a fight so that you had enough health left to shoot your way through several more encounters to the next healthpack.
And I have to go down on the record thinking that Halo is quite possibly the most overhyped game ever.

halo had a health system gears has a health system

in halo there was your shield then you had a few points of health so every time your shield went down it took away from you health

in gears every time you got injured the next time you got injured your health went faster.

[Einar]

Originally Posted by Zinmasterb

Yeesh did you guys ever play games on the hard setting?
I can't account for every early FPS ever released, but when a game was well done you really felt the heat in between healthpacks. It wasn't like Halo where you go through one fight and then enter the next one fresh. You had to think, not only of how to win a fight, but how to win a fight so that you had enough health left to shoot your way through several more encounters to the next healthpack.
And I have to go down on the record thinking that Halo is quite possibly the most overhyped game ever.

That's quite true. What I'm saying is that those games are rapidly becoming few and far between. We can all clamor for a game that caters toward people who desire a higher difficulty level, but that is simply not as popular as it was a decade ago. As unfortunate as it is, more and more developers are implementing various ways of "falling back" on a system that ensures your health will not drop to dangerous levels. I guess not a lot of people feel that thrill anymore.

[Skill]

Regenerating health is good for some games, bad for others. In a multi player, objective based game like CS, it would suck. Imagine you get some guy to 5% and he just runs away to heal to full.

Halo, in single player, is a good example of how regenerating health can be good. The shield acts as a nice buffer giving flexibility to tactics.

I have to agree that FPS difficulty has taken a hit from the console merger. I imagine in the future the games will only become easier as the line between consoles and pcs blurs until it disappears. Big Money has decided there is big money in games and the most money is made by appealing to the biggest crowd.