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I like UI with some character and soul to it. Like when you open up your character tab or inventory and it looks like a coffee-stained book page. And every time to click on something it would make that satisfying page-turning sound. FUUUU
I don't play WoW anymore, but if there's 1 thing they absolutely nailed - it's the interface. The sounds of it, the visuals, it's all there.
DAO's interface was s-tier, too.
Thats why we get crappy UIs that try to have 1 UI for all platforms even if it is garbage - for example skyrim ui on pc.
Same applies to graphics etc - everything is mostly console first with some low effort enhancements for pc.
And in general i never liked the newer DA UIs since they look like scifi UIs and not Medieval fantasy UIs.
Ok, I started watching that video once, but I guess I got distracted or something. So, I'm going to watch it, fully this time, and give my 2 cents. With the caveat that, I think he made that video before Bioware released the dragon fight video, where the UI was all but turned off, and they said it was possible to tone the UI down (I know someone who was at the playtest event tried to turn elements of the UI off, the options were there apparently, but didn't succeed for unknown reasons).
I'm going to apply two sets of reasoning here, 1) what would my autistic-a$$ brain prefer, original or this dude's fixes, and 2) what would have been better for my visually impaired mother. She was what in the US had been called legally blind, but not entirely blind. She loved playing video games with me when I was a kid, but unfortunately, she's passed away. Still, she was a bit of an activist for making things visible and legible, and it rubbed off.
Anywhooooo
1) His tiny rant about glow vs hard edges, and glow color. - My answer to that - Glow with a different color IS really good for grabbing attention. Something you might need if you don't have full peripheral vision. Depending on the color and the surrounding environment, it might be very, very hard to actually read the text, though. So this one gets a "yeah, but.... " from me.
2) All the friggin' icons. - My answer to this - Yeah, the icons are a bit excessive, threatening information overload. Especially the scroll. It's visible with the glow effect, it doesn't need an icon. My autistic brain doesn't handle the icons on screen as 5, however, as the quest marker/arrow, wardrobe/ring, and scroll/ring/line register as one each. The text behind the scroll icon seems like an oversight, like placeholder text they forgot to remove.
3) The minimap and surrounding text. - My answer to this - I.... have a gripe with minimaps, and that is, I want fixed minimaps. I want north to point up, not move around. My autistic-a$$ brain again. Otherwise, I like the colors. They have good contrast. The text above the minimap disturbs me for the same reason as it does him, it's off-center. The text below doesn't bother me the same way. The glow on the white text here is the useless kind, it's too subtle to draw real "look at me" attention for people like my mom, and too much not to bother my brain. The blue glow makes it harder to read. His solution to this whole part, taking away all the icons except one and hiding them "under" the alt key, and centering the text around the minimap, works for me. Taking away some of the quest text and changing the glow to black is also good,
4) A very quick comment from him about the subtitles. - My answer to this - Yeah. They're nice. I don't think he had the information making that video, but the fact that you can put a black strip behind them is even nicer.
5) The "new quest" bar and button prompt - My response to this - First of all, he gripes that there is a background on the "track" button prompt. My mom would approve. It's easier on the eyes with a background that hides the environment, just like with the subtitles. "The giant box thing" makes the text more legible. As for the animation ring around the button prompt, it's peace of mind for me, seeing that I really did track the quest. Also, I find things like that satisfying. I'm weird. However, I don't really see anything wrong with his solution. Either would work for me and my mom.
6) Health bars - My response to this - Ok, so... I like long health bars. I like when I can see even small amounts of damage move the health bar. And again, visually impaired people might want something that is, you know, visible, in that regard. His new, small health bars are too small for my liking. On the other hand, I would actually prefer if trash mobs didn't have health bars at all.
7) The ability wheel - my response to this - there really is a lot to say about this wheel. I absolutely agree that the button ledger in the bottom right is unnecessary, especially as it is only barely legible anyway for a lot of people. I might suggest that it's not actually there in the game release, that feels like a "preview build for dummies" situation. I can't say I agree with his take on the lines connecting the abilities for each character. The sidebars (Neve's and Harding's) are a bit too widely spaced both for visibility and my brain, but I like the lines as a concept. Top and bottom lines are better. His fix of making the lines very narrow, which does not bode well for visibility. When it comes to the borders around character portraits and abilities, he's complaining that they are doubled and therefore too thick. I agree that they are doubled. Maybe unnecessarily. They are not too thick, in my opinion. Again, for visibility for my mother's sake. When it comes to the "enemy being attacked" part, I largely agree, it's a bit excessive as is. His redesign of the enemy info textbox is fine. Icons works instead of text. Red on black is usually not a good idea, though, so outlining the vulnerability with red might be an issue. Maybe up/down arrows for resistance/vulnerability would be better. Removing the textbox and just having the check marks for who is attacking is fine. Also, the vignette effect, I can do without, but it does help my brain to focus by blocking out information I don't need.
Other than that, he complains a little about the dodge rings and the spell guidelines, but not in a constructive way, it boils down to "me no like game be helpful to people that is not me", basically. If I am to be fair here, that is because he doesn't have those needs and it doesn't hit him that others might.
I'm going to end that here, as the rest of the video is... NOT about the UI.
I don't know if anyone even managed to read this rant. But I just wanted it off my chest.
As for the video..... its a matter of taste sure.... and i am not a console guy so i despise games that hold my hand so much. But also this UI is HURTING in the eyes. The game in general watches like you sit in the middle of a fireworks show. And yes maybe some people love that but ALOT will find that horrible.