52 réponses à ce sujet

[Ieldra]

Now, having acquired almost all Codex entries in various playthroughs, I have to say it's sort of a mess.

 

1. The entries are sorted alphabetically. Except for main quests. Except for one of them.

2. Whether an entry related to history actually appears in the history section appears to have been determined by rolling dice.

3. Whether a quest-related document you find in the world has a Codex entry or not appears to have been determined by rolling dice.

4. If you play "Champions of the Just", you can buy all the entries you missed from the other path in Val Royeaux, if you played "In Hushed Whispers", you can only buy some of them.

5. It's hard to find entries you just acquired in the Codex because they're marked as read. Only, not all of them because you don't always get to read them on acquiring them.

6. If you meet important characters for the first time, you get Codex entries for them. Only not always.

7. If you acquire a Codex entry during a conversation, you sometimes get to read it immediately, sometimes not.

8. Sometimes an important character has a Codex entry, but you don't get it at all in a complete playthrough even though that character makes an appearance in the main storyline.

9. Sometimes, an entry is marked as unread after an update, sometimes not.

 

I take it that the Codex is a low-priority feature, but I find the amount of chaos in it disconcerting. Aren't there rules about how the Codex entries should be handled that those who implement them are expected to follow? If this is a typical result of how game development works, I'd say there is room for improvement.

[zeypher]

The font, the bloody font that makes everything look like its in CAPS. THIS DOES NOT MAKE FOR PLEASANT READING. They need to get better font, it literally hurts trying to read what its written.

 

Every bloody text is in capitals. Which genius thought that was a good idea. Honestly this is the first time i say this, bioware made a game for nobody in their blasted crusade to make a game for everybody. 

[TurretSyndrome]

I read the game's codex on the wikia page. Saves power and doesn't cause a headache.

[Precursor Meta]

The font! The font hurts my eyes!

[Pincey]

Yeah i have to agree, it shoud of been designed better somehow. Better sorting, better fonts etc etc.

[King Cousland]

Agreed. As a more general point on the presentation of the codex and UI itself, does anybody else prefer the parchment-coloured, handwritten style we had in Origins to the sleeker design they've gone with since Dragon Age II? If they could have combined Inquisition's codex art with Origins' general aesthetic that would have been perfect. 

[zeypher]

Aesthetics implies creativity, what we have a is a soul less, unholy mix of mmo and ubisoft design. Though i am interested what they do in future, i mean beige inquisitor is literally jesus, how will they top that? 

[TheKittyBro]

One thing that really bothered me was the codex entry about Redcliffe village. 

 

Geographically speaking, it makes absolutely no sense.

[NRieh]

I'd prefer to have a normal text headers instead of cards (e.g. DA2), really. Character cards could stay in their codex entry, I guess, but what's the point in that 'wall' of similar images in 'notes and letters'? Among all the codices this one is the least user-friendly. DAO one was also messy, but DAO icons were small and did not uselessly take so much of the vital UI space.

 

The only similarly player-unfriendly thing I can think of is ME3 quest journal.  

[Marshal Moriarty]

I DON'T SEE ANY PROBLEM WITH IT. ESPECIALLY NOT WHEN THE WRITING IS WHITE ON A LIGHT GREEN OR WHITE BACKGROUND. iT IS PERFECTLY EASY TO READ... PROVIDED YOU HAVE SEVERAL HOURS FOR EACH ENTRY AND A SUBSCRIPTION FOR FREE PAIRS OF SPECTACLES FROM YOUR LOCAL OPTICIAN.

[SomberXIII]

I agree. DAO codex was the best design imo. I never liked DA2 version.

[Wulfram]

What I want to know is: what's wrong with labelling the codices with their actual names?

 

Though honestly I mostly just use the Wiki. 

[ThreeF]

The UI in general is really messy in its design and implementations and Codex is a part of the problem. It  gives the impression that whoever designed did it, never designed any UI before this one and has no idea what "user friendly interface design" is.

[katerinafm]

Yeah it was pretty frustrating to shift through, especially when trying to go back to entries you've already read. I also suggest that the titles of each entry appear without having to click each freaking card.

[JackPoint]

Now, having acquired almost all Codex entries in various playthroughs, I have to say it's sort of a mess.

 

1. The entries are sorted alphabetically. Except for main quests. Except for one of them.

2. Whether an entry related to history actually appears in the history section appears to have been determined by rolling dice.

3. Whether a quest-related document you find in the world has a Codex entry or not appears to have been determined by rolling dice.

4. If you play "Champions of the Just", you can buy all the entries you missed from the other path in Val Royeaux, if you played "In Hushed Whispers", you can only buy some of them.

5. It's hard to find entries you just acquired in the Codex because they're marked as read. Only, not all of them because you don't always get to read them on acquiring them.

6. If you meet important characters for the first time, you get Codex entries for them. Only not always.

7. If you acquire a Codex entry during a conversation, you sometimes get to read it immediately, sometimes not.

8. Sometimes an important character has a Codex entry, but you don't get it at all in a complete playthrough even though that character makes an appearance in the main storyline.

9. Sometimes, an entry is marked as unread after an update, sometimes not.

 

I take it that the Codex is a low-priority feature, but I find the amount of chaos in it disconcerting. Aren't there rules about how the Codex entries should be handled that those who implement them are expected to follow? If this is a typical result of how game development works, I'd say there is room for improvement.

Its a Codex its ment to be mystical, or it was designed by a blind dyslexic with a hangover.

[Illyria]

The fact that Hard In Hightown don't appear in order is slightly annoying.  DAO had the best codex desgin out of the three games.

[Ieldra]

Agreed. As a more general point on the presentation of the codex and UI itself, does anybody else prefer the parchment-coloured, handwritten style we had in Origins to the sleeker design they've gone with since Dragon Age II? If they could have combined Inquisition's codex art with Origins' general aesthetic that would have been perfect. 

Indeed I would've preferred that. I feel the DA games lost something when they changed the design. The cards are really nice though. Those with individual art anyway. A combination of the new Codex and the old general interface design would've been perfect.

[robertmarilyn]

I wish it was organized in a way that would make it more user friendly. And I wish the tiny gold icon in the top right hand corner, that indicates that you haven't read an entry yet, wasn't nearly invisible. The almost invisible icon is so aggravating when you are trying to find the entries you haven't read yet. 

[AdamJames]

I wish it was organized in a way that would make it more user friendly. And I wish the tiny gold icon in the top right hand corner, that indicates that you haven't read an entry yet, wasn't nearly invisible. The almost invisible icon is so aggravating when you are trying to find the entries you haven't read yet. 

 

It really is nearly impossible to find new or updated codex entries. The white-gold star used to mark new entries is more often than not lost against the backdrop of the codex card illustrations, which generally use a white-gold color palette. This would be easy for BioWare to fix if they changed the color of the "new" icon something that provided higher contrast, like bright green.

 

To illustrate the problem, here's two codex cards. Try to guess which is read and which is unread.

 

                          

[Aiyza]

I totally agree!!! I love reading the codex, but it's so stupid how some of the entries are marked as read if pops up during your travels. Sometimes I don't want to read the entry then and there. I personally can wait till I have a couple and then go back and read them all. But some of them, I can't tell the different between which ones I did read and which ones I didn't because they are all mixed together. It's really stupid. They should go back to the old codex entry designs. I don't mind the cards, but don't mark a entry read unless it was actually clicked on in the codex section. Not just cause it popped up. Some people don't have a chance to read it at the moment it pops up.

[Monica21]

Agreed. As a more general point on the presentation of the codex and UI itself, does anybody else prefer the parchment-coloured, handwritten style we had in Origins to the sleeker design they've gone with since Dragon Age II? If they could have combined Inquisition's codex art with Origins' general aesthetic that would have been perfect. 

 

I do, but I don't think they're going back to that so I won't bother wishing for it. *sigh*

 

What I do want is for the codex to actually be integrated into the rest of the inventory like it was in Origins. I mean, yeah, the Codex is a mess, but the the Inventory in Inquisition is just as awful and painful. Origins was just seamless and easy, and every iteration since then has been progressively worse until now, I actually have to hit Escape to read an entry. It's not just "there" like it should be. It's technically part of my inventory and should be treated as such.

[Neon Rising Winter]

I've hated the codex in every one of its incarnations. I wish they'd index is as text not images, perhaps format it as a book with the entries being a table of contents. Then I could browse quickly if there was one I wanted to read, rather than poking aimlessly at obscure images in the hope I'll eventually find what I want.

[Shahadem]

The substance of the Codex is also a contradictory mess and that's a much larger problem.

[Fireheart]

Yeah, like for HoF letter, I had a hard time finding that. Also, some notes and books I picked up I accidentally clicked off of sometimes, and I tried to search them in the codex to read, but I didn't know what section to go to. Also, playing on PS3 makes it worse, like when you walk into a new area and a codex entry pops up at the bottom right, is nearly impossible to find. On PC, you can simply click on the pop up and it takes you to the entry, and on Origins on PS3, if you pressed the select button, it would automatically take you to the most recently acquired codex, but now whenever I press it, it just brings up that damned tac cam. -.- I wish they'd go back to the old controls, and get rid of that tac cam... And add bigger text.

[GGTeMpLaR]

It really is nearly impossible to find new or updated codex entries. The white-gold star used to mark new entries is more often than not lost against the backdrop of the codex card illustrations, which generally use a white-gold color palette. This would be easy for BioWare to fix if they changed the color of the "new" icon something that provided higher contrast, like bright green.

 

To illustrate the problem, here's two codex cards. Try to guess which is read and which is unread.

 

                          

 

One year later and the codex is still awful.

 

I mean seriously look at these two cards it's almost indistinguishable.

 

Really Bioware?