21 replies to this topic

[Kite]

Which method of continue hearts do you think is the best to use?

I am mainly curious since I'm trying to determine which would be best for me to use.

[Banedon]

I like continuing with full hearts, which I see on a LOT of quests...

That's one thing I really didn't like about the original game (and most Zelda games made by Nintendo)...you start with something like 3 hearts full out of 16 when you reach the later stages of the game...

[Radien]

Personally, as a designer, I don't like the idea of continuing with full hearts. It gives an incentive to quit and then continue. I don't think this should be a part of the gameplay. And since doing so causes continue bugs more often than actually dying, there's a glitchy side to it, too.

[Hergiswi]

If the option was available, I would like to use a % when you get to a certain number of hearts, and start with full before that.

Of course, I'm in reality, and I'd vote full hearts. I agree with Radien, but I find it easiest to make use of. Maybe it's just me.

[plith]

Go percentages. Full is more likely to make people take advantage of it, but starting with just 3-5 hearts forces people to go searching for a fairy every time they restart.

[Rambly]

Percentages. Having a set number of hearts is aggravating, and the Quit -> Continue method gives players an incentive to kind of "cheat", if that bothers you.

I normally use percentages in most of my quests.

[Neppy]

Continue with x% hearts. This seems to me as the most fair one, and you don't get stuck with a small amount of life. Full hearst to me, seems unfair, as people could easily cheat...

[Shoelace]

Well I was going to put full hearts in the Hero of Dreams, however, after reading these comments, I never really thought of people restarting it. I am going to have to decide and vote later.

[Radien]

Well then... now that we've got the opinions of a good number of people, may I ask another question of you all?

For those of you who prefer X%, what percentage do you like to set it at?


I will most likely go with 50% or so, but that decision will come late in my current quest's development.

[plith]

Probably just depends on how easy or hard you want the quest to be. 75% should be the absolute max, and even that is pushing it, since it's a cheap way to get your hearts close to full if you're dying. 50% is probably best, since it doesn't really reward anyone too much for restarting, nor does it punish them too much if they last left the game at full health.

To be fair, I like using Quit->Continue as a sort of unofficial Farore's Wind. Helps me get back to the start of an area quicker. If you restart at 50% all the time, and assuming the player has a fairly even distribution of how often he has whatever percentage of hearts, the end result should be nothing gained or lost.

Or you could do 25% or 10% if you want to make it a hard quest.

[IaN]

I'm gonna have to go with percentage.

[4matsy]

Yeah, ditto with 50%. It's neither too much nor too little.

Only problem is that it rounds down to the nearest whole heart, so if you have 3 containers you're only going to restart with 1 filled up...

[Highsight]

I do 70% hearts.

[LinktheMaster]

I am leaning towards precentage, but I think only x number of hearts is also acceptable.

[ShadowTiger]

I used to keep the percentage at 100%, but now, I think a healthy 90% will do. It makes the player take a few moments to look for health pieces, or bear the consequences in an otherwise merciless dungeon. I don't fill my dungeons with enemies. I use combo-cycling traps or puzzles.