Should health bars be added to the game

[Truffle]

Just want an opinion on a future QOL update that could be added in the future. Would be nice especially for us console players I'd say

[GRlMHlLD]

I think for bosses : yes! It helps a lot and both PC and console users can get good use out of it! Hoping it might be implimented one day. As for "what if all mobs have it?" I think that would hog up an uneeded ammount of HUD space.

[Valase]

I don't mind the health bar, but when you know how much health an enemy has, you start to take more "risks" when fighting it, like attacking a tentacle two times instead of one.

People may say that you can count your hits and I agree, but I think that it may break the fabled "Umcromprominsigin game" quote, but like, try to keep you hit count in a boss fight.

[benfroyobro9381]

Yep! I think there should be settings though to apply it for all enemies, just bosses, or none of the above. I think it would really help with clarity and strategy. 

[GRlMHlLD]

50 minutes ago, benfroyobro9381 said:

Yep! I think there should be settings though to apply it for all enemies, just bosses, or none of the above. I think it would really help with clarity and strategy. 

^ This exactly! So those who want it can get it and those who don't can opt out! A real win/win situation that can work for both parties in hand. Can also help keep track of multiple phase bosses and how to shift the course of the battle to suit that better.

[Guille6785]

I think if a proper creative mode gets added health bars should be a part of it, but IMO health bars don't belong in vanilla gameplay

[GenomeSquirrel]

since some bosses can heal, then I give a hard yes if only to those particular ones

I voted only for bosses because I worry multiple bars might look too distracting 

[Mike23Ua]

Bosses and high health point mobs, bosses that can heal DEFIANTLY need them though.

I play a ton of RogueLites/Likes, and a core staple of that franchise is always enemies or bosses with huge health bars, but it’s having a health bar at all… that helps the player to know if they should take the risk and move in for the kill if it’s close to dying, or continue to dodge and kite away from its attacks (and in the process dragging the fight out longer)

This is a staple of one of the hardest gaming genres anyone can dare sit down to play, so its complete absence from DST is highly questionable.

Now with that said the “Dead Island” franchise has always had enemy health bars and RPG like damage numbers which for me completely ruined the realism of playing a game where I’m in a zombie Apocalypse, but luckily through the games hud settings you can disable the damage numbers and health bars.

For a game like Dead Island, you would do this so you wouldn’t be able to tell if that zombie that’s laying on the ground is actually dead dead or if it’s laying there pretending to be dead.

Obviously toggling OFF the damage numbers and health bars improves this type of game…

But when it comes to DST? Why does it’s high health pool self healing RogueLite inspired bosses not have the highly important health bars all those other RogueLites/likes do?

My answer is a definitive yes, the game should have health bars as long as much like me with Dead Island- they can be toggled off through settings.

I also vote that DSTs bosses become more dynamic with structured phases to the fight.

An example is crab king, phase one of this fight should be all about killing his arms, literally chopping them off so they’re no longer part of later stages in the fight, you will focus only the arms, not the crab himself, once all it’s arms are destroyed you move in for the kill etc..

[Cassielu]

I don't like the direct numerical display or health bar , it would ruin the clean clean screen we've always had.

But a device that shows the percentage of enemy health left (By WARBIS style hud or color overlay or something) would be nice.

[arubaro]

Fx for healings (looking at you nightmere werepig), screams and other changes to indicate how damaged is the boss fits way better than a health bar. CK has the best health indications in the game

Also this

5 hours ago, Valase said:

I don't mind the health bar, but when you know how much health an enemy has, you start to take more "risks" when fighting it, like attacking a tentacle two times instead of one.

People may say that you can count your hits and I agree, but I think that it may break the fabled "Umcromprominsigin game" quote, but like, try to keep you hit count in a boss fight.

The ammount of times i though about leaving from a fight against a boss 1 or 2 hits away of being defeated...

[Gashzer]

For bosses only. Regular mobs no. 

Followers (merms/bunnymen/spiders/pigs) should have a sad face if hurt below 50% health so we know to heal them. Going abit off topic but followers should get healed double by healing food or items.

[MikoFanboy]

they could do it somewhat like skill tree and scrapbook?

if someone fight something for some amount of time, you unlock the ability to see it's HP bar

for example if you kill normal type spider 3 time, you will unlock the ability to see that type of spider HP

 

smart character like Wilson, WX should requite less time to unlock that ability, while insane or carefree character (Willow, Wortox, Wendy,...) requite more time to unlock

this ability one unlock per save will remain unlock permanently 

 

There could be a feature that allow people to share the "HP bar knowledge", this will temporaryallow other to unlock this abilty but will be "forget" after that player die or new save (only by unlock it yourself that you can unlock it permanently )

[PunkShark]

It wouldn't fit with the principle and vision that DS/DST goes for.

The reason why the game doesn't have a tutorial is also part of that. Ever noticed that the game doesn't give you much of anything at all? except for your character's specifics stats
Crockpot recipes, farming entries, scrapbook are all based on your own knowledge and experience. This is also why the game doesn't have any achievements as well. (Except Sony forcing them)
This goes the same for beefalo domestication. it isn't built on showing stats but visual cues to figure out how your beefalo is doing and feeling

When it comes to the world you play klei wants you to be thrown in. With no path to take and nothing to help you but yourself and your experience. They want you to feel helpless.
hp bars would kind of disrupt the flow of being helpless nor would the survivors know the hp of creatures as there is also part of it being immersive. The survivors cannot see hp or stats outside on how farms are doing, how the beefalo is doing, when the ruins are about to change, when the moon cycle is outside of night time, when hound waves or bosses appears, how far they're into a season, or what allies stats are, etc. etc. We can only see what they see or feel.

I'm not saying they shouldn't add in hp bars. But i'm saying there's a reason why there is none. If they add it that's alright as long as its toggleable. But if klei has a vision they want to maintain they should be allowed to do so. Mods are also there if needed to enhance how you want to play the game. But i do realise console does not get this kind of luxury.
 

[BezKa]

Me drinking green juice in a health bar

[AliceShiki]

I personally play with health bar mods, so... Well, I'd like it to be implemented as a core game feature. I feel like it's just a convenient QoL feature.

I get why it isn't there, but I just feel like it feels better to play with it.

But well... I do have access to mods since I play on PC, so I don't mind it if Klei never adds it.

[grm9]

15 minutes ago, AliceShiki said:

I feel like it's just a convenient QoL feature

it'd remove the need to predict bosses' phase transitions e.g. getting FW into a corner right before p2, putting CK just slightly above heal threshold before killing claws and then continuing attacking him, getting close to a road before BQ p3 starts, timing dfly stuns to cancel enraged phase, only chopping 1 tree before starting attacking toad if it's low enough etc., so you'd become unable to mess those up and there wouldn't be as much risk in doing those and trying to maximize damage before a transition

[cybers2001]

Despite nonsense I tend to see here regarding mods and balance (like how people argue geometric placement makes the game easier, lul), health bars do actually give an advantage. Think of all the times where you are on the verge of dying and having to debate whether to push through with a fight or bail out early, and how a health bar would sway this decision. I mean personally, I'd be fine with health bars for bosses in the base game, but it definitely would make the game somewhat easier.

[Primalflower]

just make it so more bosses have visual changes as they get more wounded ala crab king

[Echsrick]

how about makin it like how the never dragonquest games do it? where the name turns into a differend colour once a certain amount of health is hit? so 100-51% health is white name, 50-26% is turns yellow, and at 25% it turns orange like red, that way you have an idea how much health is left without actualy knowing the direct numbers

[Ridley]

It should probably only be a toggleable option if in the game at all. I used to play with the HP bars, started playing without, and found myself over-committing to a losing fight or retreating in cases were I thought were lost causes. Other times I would be genuinely shocked when the boss dropped dead.

If you ask me it makes situations less dull.

[Frosty_Mentos]

Personally speaking, I think good health indicators are when there's enemies like Crab King and Toad that have different phases and visual display on their spritework to show off how damaged the boss is. I think it should be by default on raid bosses to show off that change in sprite, loss of bits or something being enough to show that those creatures can actually be killed and feel more closer to the end of the battle than not.

Most right now we get is the different attacks, which is fine for when they lose health to show that off, but art wise it would be enjoyable to see more bosses to look more damaged.

[. . .]

if it is added it should be only for bosses imo and should be a toggleable option in case player dont want it (like me)

also before health bars are added klei should up their game and finally make player stats (health, hunger, sanity) always display the current value without the need to hover over them like with the great client mod (Combined Status). They also need to add a temperature icon too

[knner14]

I do always use the health info mod, since I don't like having to just guess how many more hits something has 'till I kill it or keeping track of how many times I hit it (and even then thats only helpful if you know how much health something has). I feel like its good to have some indicator of how close to death the enemy youve been fighting for minutes is, even if not at all specific. But if there were to be some indicator for the health of any creature, having the full stats shown seems unfitting. Most games that have something like that, I sometimes look at the health bar more than the enemy or fight. And some enemies can be killed so quickly or easily that its just redundant to see the exact numbers.

The concept I prefer the most is of a tell for the mobs themselves that indicate how near-death they are. Could appearance changes like getting visible wounds, but it doesnt have to be. For example maybe tallbirds only do their aggro animation mid-combat reaching half health, or beefalo could drop a bit of wool as their health decreases.

Could also be something as simple as a particle effect, like a small blood splatter, or a different hurt sound, one thats more noticeable and apparent; even with no other changes, i'd be completely on board with something like that. I think this would end up being better, because it is still contained within the game world and requires you to look at whats going on in the actual game instead of the UI.

Unless something simple is developed, having it for every enemy might be a bit much work, and it wouldn't be necessary for weaker enemies like spiders or hounds since they die much quicker. I'd be fine if it was just bosses but would prefer if it was the more tough and aggressive enemies as well. Although, if they go for something more elaborate, I could see how this might be more work than its worth. But overall I think it'd be an improvement.

9 hours ago, Echsrick said:

how about makin it like how the never dragonquest games do it? where the name turns into a differend colour once a certain amount of health is hit? so 100-51% health is white name, 50-26% is turns yellow, and at 25% it turns orange like red, that way you have an idea how much health is left without actualy knowing the direct numbers

Since they already have systems in place for items altering names after undergoing certain states (rotting, wetness), this seems like a simple and effective solution.

They don't have to make it color changes either. They could add prefixes like "Hurt" and "Dying" to enemies at certain health states. Could also do both, such as a "Hurt" enemy being in yellow and a "Dying" enemy in deep red, and would be more like wetness in that regard.

Unlike the previous concept, however, it would still distract attention away from whats happening in-game and onto whats happening in the UI, just instead of looking for numbers you're looking for prefixes and colors. Although its still better than full number stats.

Even if they did added health bars similar to how health info does it, I would still welcome such a change, because again I always use that mod anyways.

[Swiyss]

No, absolutely not. One of the things I enjoy THE MOST in this game is being 2 hp while fighting toadstool and having no idea how much hp he has to then see him falling. It is SUCH an amazing "THANKS GOD" moment that if they added hp to the game it would ruins most of my boss killing experiences.

[chirsg]

Health bars should be added with an item where health would be displayed for ALL mobs.

 

Less for boss battles, more for upkeep of domesticated mobs. The horizon expandinator or whatever it's called should have been a sort of xray vision to display the health of any mob in the game. 

But this won't go anywhere. There isn't a clear consensus, and me being right once again is a very lonely thing to experience.