Weeks ago I started thinking about a tricky issue: friendly fire in Helldivers 2. Many users have failed when trying to open a debate about it. Not because they have bad ideas (which there are, as in everything), but because a large part of the community does not even conceive of other approaches or possibilities.
Arrowhead Game Studios, responsible for Helldivers 2, nor did they help to have a conversation. I don’t say this as a criticism, but as a fact. They have always made it clear that they consider friendly fire (as it is) one of the most fun parts and that they do not plan to change it in any way. And I respect them for keeping things so clear.
I want to talk about it, if only for the luxury of being able to do so. I’m not trying to lecture or tell developers how to do their jobs. Imagine that we are just a few fans exchanging opinions without further significance: you as readers in comments and me as editor of iGamesNews.
Helldivers 2 friendly fire: talk for the sake of talk
I like friendly fire Helldivers 2. I think its best quality is also its biggest flaw: it is simple to the extreme. Everything hurts, you can suffer injuries to different parts of the body and dying is extremely easy. The concept is so basic that anyone can understand it.
Now, it is far from perfect. There is no system to protect players from others with bad intentions, people who resort to friendly fire at the slightest adversity. And it happens very frequently. Remember that at the beginning there were people killing others for collecting the samples, when they are shared with the entire squad.
Too many times I have encountered players who resort to friendly fire to pay for their frustrations: when they are not listened to or what they want is not done specifically, when someone hurts them by mistake and even for the luxury of annoying or playing practical jokes on others. players. Several times I have seen how a colleague has killed us all before getting on the extraction plane and leaving alone.
All of these are not theories or invented stories. These are proven facts that occur daily in Helldivers 2. So when I say that the lack of a system that protects us from these players is a negative section, I do not say it with malice, but as a response to a real problem. In fact, there is no option to report a player for abusing this mechanic.
Known solutions for known problems
The friendly fire of Helldivers 2 It’s not perfect, but it’s cool. I have thought a lot about how it could improve without losing its essence and fun. After researching for many hours, I remembered a video game whose ideas could fit very well with Arrowhead Game Studios’ friendly fire.
Back 4 Blood, spiritual successor to Left 4 Dead and developed by the same creators, passed without pain or glory through the video game industry. It had some impact during its launch, but was forgotten too quickly… and its post-launch DLCs didn’t help it much to stay on players’ radar. Not that I’m surprised: the game is exactly the same as it was when I last played it before uninstalling it from my PS5.
His friendly fire is one of the parts that I like the most and that I think are best thought out. It works as follows: the higher the difficulty, the more damage players do to each other. Below you can see an image with the friendly fire levels according to the level of difficulty. We are only interested in the “Friendly Fire” option, you can ignore the rest of the options.
From my point of view, I think this is the perfect middle point between those who do not want the slightest touch of the friendly fire of Helldivers 2 and those who think that Arrowhead Game Studios should implement options to make it more friendly or to adapt to all tastes. I would only modify the Recruit difficulty to put “Friendly Fire: Low” instead of No, because it directly goes against the basis of being able to hurt our companions at all times.
I leave the idea there. I reiterate that I do not intend to convince anyone that my opinion is the best, much less give lessons to the developer team. I encourage you to share your thoughts: do you like friendly fire as it is? Would you change or balance anything? I read you!
Fuente | Main Image
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