Halo 2 Forum
This topic has moved here: Poll [44 votes]: Do we need a health bar in Halo 2
  • Poll [44 votes]: Do we need a health bar in Halo 2
Subject: Do we need a health bar in Halo 2?
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Poll: Do we need a health bar in Halo 2  [closed]
Yes, we should have a health bar.:  68%
(30 Votes)
No, we should not have a health bar.:  18%
(8 Votes)
I dont care, as long as the game comes out.:  14%
(6 Votes)
Total Votes: 44

I really think that bungie will have a health bar, it all goes in with the balance with the game.

  • 06.10.2004 9:37 AM PDT
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That was just a place model in the E3 2004 MP demo. Not everything was finished.

  • 06.10.2004 9:55 AM PDT
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i think we should still have the health bar.

  • 06.10.2004 9:57 AM PDT
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How would the game work without one? Would you just die?

  • 06.10.2004 9:59 AM PDT
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I feel more ready for battle when the I have just picked up a health pack and I can see that I have full health and shields. It feels more intense in battles when i have a full shield and one bar of health. I think it adds to the game rather than takes away.

  • 06.10.2004 10:00 AM PDT
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They all ready said theyrer not making the health bar. When your shields run out it will only be a few more hits till your dead is what i heard.

  • 06.10.2004 10:00 AM PDT

SB-117

the game doesnt need a health bar, when your shields down, your panicking thinking "One more shot could be my last!" it makes it more suspensful. I dont mind either way though I just dont think its that neccessary to have one....

  • 06.10.2004 10:01 AM PDT
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i heard the same thing

  • 06.10.2004 10:02 AM PDT
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Where did you hear that? (no health bar)

EDIT: just saw the topic, nvm...

[Edited on 6/10/2004 10:04:40 AM]

  • 06.10.2004 10:03 AM PDT
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I disagree with the majority here I like the change. It doesn't really change anything in Halo 1 when you ran out of shields you knew you couldn't take many hits anyway. It makes the game more intense and as I have said before it removes the need for the cliched box o instant health. Also I imagine that to balnce it out they will have effects descriping your state of health maybe you breath heavily if your in the yellow and your dizzy when your in the red or maybe your health slowly chares back up, we just dont know much about this system to judge it accordingly

  • 06.10.2004 10:45 AM PDT

I've tried, Jiminy! Oh how I've tried. My hand is a withered claw!

Then you're a -blam!-. And you'll get the -blam!- ending you deserve.

If you're basing this on the HUD in the Zanzibar movie, Bungie's said that was just placeholder.

  • 06.10.2004 10:48 AM PDT
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i wondering, without helath will the overshield take the place of the health packs?

  • 06.10.2004 10:53 AM PDT
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I don't know.. Cause I don't know what bungie has in store for us in Halo 2.

But I say the health bar was worthless in Halo.. But that could change with the addition of new gametypes and features.

  • 06.10.2004 11:18 AM PDT

My thumbsticks will be your Doom.... sorry 'bout that.
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Well if anyone out there who is of the position of "we do NOT need the health indicator- it would be more intense/realistic- it takes up space anyway- and change is ok, dont be afraid" could atleast offer some practical usage of this omission then that would be great.

The best I've heard is that you'd have to listen to your heart rate and breathing to keep your mental note of you health status. But really, who can hear their heart beat over the engines of the warthog, the chain gun blaring away and all the incoming fire?

Will you be able to choose to have the shields on or off? If so, what will the indicator then be for your health?
Will you be able to increase or decrease your health% ? If so will your 'mental note' have to just compensate?

I will still maintain that we have not seen the final HUD. That the e3 players were given a simplified version so that the complete Halo 2 feel will still be a surprise on Nov9th.
Maybe Bungie's got a really cool new way of indicating our health that'll blow everything else outa da wata? I'd like to hear what the Beta testers (i think that's what they're called....anyway, the group of gamers -microsoft employees- that got to play maps over the internet) experienced when they played.

[Edited on 6/10/2004 11:43:12 AM]

  • 06.10.2004 11:40 AM PDT
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They got place holders where the health bar was. Bungie has even said this. And trust me, those of you saying there shouldn't be a health bar will -blam!- and moan when you die when you least expected it after about your tenth time of dying.

  • 06.10.2004 11:45 AM PDT
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Id like to see the health bar stay.
MC is a tough guy and could definatly take quite a few shots. Standard Marines dont have shields like MC so that would mean they would die pretty quick(they do have light non-rechargable armour)

  • 06.10.2004 11:50 AM PDT

My thumbsticks will be your Doom.... sorry 'bout that.
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what do you mean by They got place holders where the health bar was. Bungie has even said this. Hikaru?

  • 06.10.2004 11:52 AM PDT
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I think the health bar was under the shield... when your shields are depleted, you see it?

  • 06.10.2004 12:40 PM PDT
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I think ther should be a helth bar so we can know how many more hits we can take before we die?????????????????

  • 06.10.2004 12:47 PM PDT
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Posted by: Doom Sticks
Well if anyone out there who is of the position of "we do NOT need the health indicator- it would be more intense/realistic- it takes up space anyway- and change is ok, dont be afraid" could atleast offer some practical usage of this omission then that would be great.


Well, we have to remember that as of now it's only a visual change. But, of course, even something as small as a visual change can effect the way gamers play and perceive a game.

ex: If I wanted to place a greater importance on the shield regeneration system, then I could remove the health bars.

Here's the best explanation I got for the lack of health bars.. This was taken from the ign.com message boards - from a gamer that played the game at e3. This is just a piece of his impressions..

One thing that I have yet to see mentioned by anyone, anywhere is the new shield/health system. Instead of the two bars for health and shield, there is now only one bar for shields. I was totally perplexed and dismayed by this, thinking that the shield/health system was probably one of the best innovations in Halo 1. So I had to ask a Bungie guy what it all meant. He told me that there IS health, but it's hidden under the covers for a reason. It (the health) will actually regenerate the same as shields, but FAR slower, and health doesn't hold out well against any weapon (a couple or few shots from any weapon will completely remove all health). He said that, once your shields were gone, they wanted you to know you were close to death (within a shot or two) and play it with that intensity of not knowing. Anyway, technically, it's not as big of a change as I first thought it was, and play still works largely the same, but I can not believe I haven't seen this mentioned more prominantly in people's impressions of the game.

  • 06.10.2004 1:10 PM PDT