Why stop at Healthbars?

Along the lines of hiding the health bar and numbers, I think the game could do wonders by hiding even more things from the average player. I love the idea of having an Anatomy skill that will slowly give you more information about the creature as you develop it, but where I really think it could shine is by hiding certain boss attacks that are traditionally shown through induction bar/circles/etc. The Anatomy skill, at high enough level, will start to reveal these things in the more traditional manner. That would add a much needed additional role beyond the typical tank/healer/dps, and it would fit in with a lot of literature where the hero brings along an expert in the creature he is seeking out (Someone has to tell him "DUCK! It's about to breathe fire!"). The skill could also reveal weakspots, providing a buffing type role.

I would have this skill increase through non-combat activities such as studying books and experimenting on body parts of the creatures (creating another little economy there). Players that dislike combat could find themselves becoming experts on creatuers and tagging along with adventurers simply to provide the information they need for success, out of danger.

 

I get that removing the UI makes a game more immersive and cinematic. But to an extent, that only works if have absolutely no UI, and that makes the game difficult to play.

I don't know if boss fights in SotA will have mechanics you need to learn to fight them, or if they are all simple DPS races. But if there are specific mechanics for boss fights (which I hope and prefer) then you need those UI indicators for what to do when.

 

I have and still play Gauntlet Dark Legacy on the PS2 and GameCube. The game cube version (I don't know if it's just bad design, as I can't imagine it's on purpose) doesn't show Boss's hit-bar during fights, and while this adds to suspense you can't tell if your shots are connecting and have no idea of your progress, while this isn't bad the first time, when you have to do it over and over again it gets old fast.

While in "real life" you might say that we don't have health-bars and mana-bars and a number displaying how many ninja-stars are left in our quiver, we do have sensory input. In a video game we have no sensory input so a device is needed to compensate.

 

They could make "battle damage", and when almost dead try to run or crawl away, or start stumbling towards you, or whatever. Bad example, but I just played a round of Plants vs. Zombies. No health bars, you caught on quickly the "battle damage" of the bucket or cone on the zombie head, and you could tell the zombie was almost dead by the way the battle damage looked or an arm falling off or whatever. So there could be some form of sensory input besides a health bar.

For me it would be refreshing if I did not know exact weapon damage (numbers flying everywhere or in battle log) and did not know the health of enemies. But I could over time know if a weapon was more effective or not by how quickly I could dispatch the same enemies.

 

I've been playing WarZ and they do have a numberless system, you do get used to it and get to know, "If I have to beat down every zombie in my path with a flashlight, this is going to take forever and I might not make it (probably wont)." Or, "I have a Samurai Sword, this will be like a weed-eater tearing through a strawberry patch...fun and messy." So I guess you are right, it wouldn't be bad. In the original Doom there was no hitpoint bar for your self, there was a little box with your guy's face in it and the worse you gou hurt the more beat up he got to looking 'til he was bloody and black&blue. It wasn't hard to tell when he was almost dead.

 

They can display all they want as long as it can easily be turned on and off or removed from the user interface as far as I'm concerned. The thing I really don't want is flying numbers everywhere on the screen distracting me when I hit or get hit! Animation is great when it is done right and it doesn't throw people into epileptic shock.

 

I think one issue with this is what BillRoy pointed out:

With a big baddie, I wouldn't expect noticeable damage from a few hits. But I would like to know, is what I'm doing remotely effective? Depending on the "boss" battle mechanics, it could be a big issue - I've played lots of games where you're not even sure if you're fighting the boss properly, and then suddenly it keels over. But even if we're sure we're hitting, we need to know if we're doing a lot or a little - is this dragon particularly resistant to fire damage? I don't want to rely on noisy signals like how the dragon reacts to a hit, these animations are often misleading/ambiguous, silly, and/or suffer on lower graphics settings. Don't make me try to read the body language of a giant crab to be able to tell that a mace isn't effective against it.

Give me the option of having numbers pop up, monster healthbars, and all that stuff. I don't care what the default is. Yes, it might be nice to turn off that UI noise sometimes, for areas I know well. But more likely, I'm going to want all the info I can get, and I don't trust animations to get that info across with much fidelity.

 

I like that, seeing the numbers pop up or flying off, and health bars going back and forth.It's good feedback, and makes you feel like you are digging in and working your opponent down. Also you want to know if the thing you are fighting has healing magic or regeneration.
And if they are shielded in any way does the shield have hit points or is it linked to your enemy's mana bar or pool.