10 réponses à ce sujet

[Ncongruous]

I'd like to preface my spiel with a tantalizing bit on me as a player. I know you care deeply I know, but also to help paint an understanding of where my influences lie. I like DAO. I meh DA2 but love sarc-hawke. I like ME, ME2 and 99% of ME3. What I think impressed me most about the ME series was the evolution of the user interface with each release. The ease of use and fluid navigation left me not in want. And yes I view that ideal with rose tinted nostalgia glasses. Also many apologies for possibly beating a dead horse, breaking the stick being used and promptly gathering another to continue. Now then, prepare thine eyes for interface nitpickery!

Inventory Menu

Navigating is a nightmare just in general. Particularly though flipping through characters to reach the one I want and in doing so suffering a loading circle every step. Why? It comes across as archaic but more importantly obtuse. I recall doing the exact same thing in DAO but the loading times were wonderful. So perhaps the loading time is the catalyst for this being a point at all, but I believe it's ancillary to the real issue. It's time to move on to a new mechanic that allows for easier character navigation. Another use for the tarot cards perhaps? There is so much empty space on this screen. I encourage you to explore the periphery.

 

Better explanation: http://imgur.com/ozBTv8C

 

The thrill of menu navigation harrows on. Insofar that your weapons, rings and accessories are all compartmentalized. You should be able to equip whatever you want from one item pool of equippable items. So what's stopping that? Seven is stopping that. That's the maximum number of items that can be displayed within that scrolling window. Please expand that number by scaling down items in that scrolling window. It doesn't make me view items with a more discerning eye or value them any more. They are tools to be used. Function and practicality should be worthwhile hallmarks.

 

Quick points:
1.) Item comparison in regards to properly displaying when mouse wheel scrolling. View an item for comparison, mouse wheel to a new item. Still viewing the old item in the comparison. Minor bug, just thought to mention it.
2.) Skill rings. I have no way of telling if a ring that boosts a specific skill will be beneficial to the character being viewed. You are required have to have some providence in the matter or exit the menu and navigate to the character sheet for that character. Remember or write down what skills they use and then return to the inventory screen.
3.) Mouse over tooltips for “Core Stats” and “Defense Stats”. Those bars are great and all but it would be nice to be able to see what they mean in real numbers without heading over to the character menu. Speaking of which...

Character Menu

If only a segue between these two menus could be performed in game as easily. As mentioned above with skill rings, it is simply austere that you must exit one to access the other with no direct link. There should be some button or tab to press to interchangeably navigate between these two menus.

Now I apologize for the hubris of this next statement but my eyes are not super terrible yet. I can read size 12 font proficiently. And I believe data should be readily digestible. Which isn't the case for the Attributes tab. To see the attribute stats in their entirety I must scroll and scroll a lot. I actually want to know what the borromean rings mean... I'm still unsure if they represent only magic resistance, all elemental resistances added together or my character's level of faith in the chantry. I implore you to reduce the height of the individual stats tiles so I can see more at a glance. You could even hypothetically divide the attributes into two separate columns. Though in terms of coding it seems to go against every other scrolling feature.

Continuing on readily available information. The Abilities tab. Why do I have to click and drag the tree to see the skills? It incited an eye rolling “vraiment?” from me. The implication seems to be that there is some lacking of empty space on this screen that prevents the tree from being fully visible...

Quick points:
1.) The arrows directing the user left and right on the Abilities tab occasionally disappear. A minor UI bug that doesn't affect usability. Just an FYI.

 

Crafting Menu

Why are the ingredients listed alphabetical? Why not by rarity tier (rarer up top) then alphabetical keeping with the prior? Or custom sorts even. By amount, rarity, ascending, descending? The current sorting choice is understandable because it's easy, but from a user standpoint it's awkward. Personally when I make something I want to hang on to it. If only for a bit. I do not set out to create a hat out of cotton, though I hear it breathes well. Instead I'm using the culmination of all my arduously acquired materials to create a hat - with exotic phoenix feathers, and sparkling gemstones, and tiny nug skulls with gemstones for eyes, and every nug skull also has a tiny hat. Paragon luster not iron bluster. Silverite not drakestone amirite?

 

Quick points:
1.) Item comparison if applicable. I know that ”The” Iron Bull can not wear my, as of yet made, cotton cowling of nuggy death - but if he could, it would be nice to compare it against his current headgear.

TL;DR: Menu navigation and information presentation needs some loving.

[dumbo]

You could also add the party selection screen - is it impossible to show all the cards on 1 simple screen, and let us select 3 of them?

 

And in terms of the inventory:

- the arrow buttons to change character are far too small (and also seem to be buggy).

- equipped items are randomly thrown into the list of items in each category.

- inventory should default to filtering 'what character X can use'.

- items are weirdly always sorted by price (I think?).

- whilst we know that we've filled 56/60 of our inventory, the only way to find out where those 56 items are is to go through each category, scroll endlessly and count the items.

 

Generally, the UI is not very good.

[mickey6688]

This is put far more eloquently than my rant on the subject. Kudos.

[torq_za]

The designer(s) needs to be allowed to design the UI for mouse & keyboard. Pretend that controllers don't exist. 

 

Then the designer(s) needs to be briefed on the dozen or more "user journeys"; the tasks the players will often take through the menus. What does the player need to do - how do we make it painless and simple? A lot of this is already there; it is very helpful to see the journal from the map, and back again. However other areas are seemingly deliberately obtuse. What is important to know when one is crafting a pair of light armour legs for instance? Does the player need to see all other leg armours they've crafted? Does the player need to see that they have already crafted this leg armour, it just has a crazy name? Does the player need to see the stats of the item? What about seeing if any characters in the party have gaps in their armour? The Iron Bull doesn't have heavy arms, let me make some. 

 

The crafting is very clever; certain items give different boons and colours to the item being made. Clever. The process of deciding what to make, if it's been made before, how to compare, and then to install... all of that is very tiresome. It's like it's a game unto itself. A rather unenjoyable one. 

 

As long as they put the player (user) in the centre of their design, and ask all the kinds of questions that UX designers ask, they will design a better UI for those with a mouse and keyboard. Less time in the menus, allows us to get back to enjoy the story.

 

Then everything will work fine. 

[Sartoz]

You could also add the party selection screen - is it impossible to show all the cards on 1 simple screen, and let us select 3 of them?

 

And in terms of the inventory:

- the arrow buttons to change character are far too small (and also seem to be buggy).

- equipped items are randomly thrown into the list of items in each category.

- inventory should default to filtering 'what character X can use'.

- items are weirdly always sorted by price (I think?).

- whilst we know that we've filled 56/60 of our inventory, the only way to find out where those 56 items are is to go through each category, scroll endlessly and count the items.

 

Generally, the UI is not very good.

Funny. My inventory acquisitions seem to be more accessories that weapons or armour.. I've reached 59/60 because of them.

I usually do an inventory cleanup at Haven but still show 30-38/60 because of accessories.

[torq_za]

Accessories are the worst offenders because you need to know individual abilities for each of your NPCs to know whether to equip or not. That info is not readily available, it being in another screen behind several clicks.

[Reverend1313]

The UI for PC is a dumpster fire plain and simple. 

[nightscrawl]

I agree with you OP. I'm big on having a functional, easy to navigate, intuitive UI.
 
That said, the default Skyrim UI set the bar extremely low as far as UIs go... After that horrible mess, pretty much anything is an improvement, including the DAI UI.
 
The one thing I do miss from the DAO days is sorting. I liked how you could sort by type or alphabetically. For DAI it would be super nice to sort weapons by damage or armor by well, armor. I also feel that mage staffs should be grouped by element type first (alphabetically), then by damage within that type; the same is true for the other weapon categories with multiple types.

Accessories are the worst offenders because you need to know individual abilities for each of your NPCs to know whether to equip or not. That info is not readily available, it being in another screen behind several clicks.

OH! This is really terrible, I agree. When I first started playing the game I just hoarded numerous rings until I could take the time to go through them on each companion because I couldn't remember each skill or whether I/they had it.

[hostaman]

I agree 100%, the UI in ME is mostly simple and slick, but the DAI UI is mind crushingly over complicated.

[Yosharian]

The UI is just balls

[Lee T]

The UI for PC is a dumpster fire plain and simple.

It's just as good on console, believe you me.