Do You Think the UI Needs an Update?

[Darthus]

One of the things that's most striking about MO2 is the overall visual quality and polish of the game given the size of the studio. It looks and plays like a AAA game from a studio many times the size of Star Vault. However, it's my opinion that the in-game UI looks decidedly less polished. I'm not talking about the current missing tooltip text or descriptions, I mean that the UI should lend itself to being visually pleasing, matching the game aesthetic and enhancing the gameplay or emphasizing things like feeling of progression.

One example is the skills screen. Right now it's simply a list of text with with numbers and + symbols to expand and show tiered abilities. Think of Skyrim's skill screen, which showed skills as constellations, and significant abilities along the skill path emphasized as stars. Or other games which at least show icons for each individual skill and visual progressions as you move forward. Going from 10 brawling to 90 might be a very long path, but the current UI just ticks up a number rather than visually emphasizing progress.

It doesn't have to be that flashy (the clade skill screen for example is fine showing a visual progression). A simple, clean UI with simple icons would be a big improvement but the general aesthetic currently of somewhat grainy text font on a black background evokes a much lower quality game than the rest of the game (in my opinion anyway, but I am a stickler for UI design).

What do you all think?

 

[Eldrath]

Yes, but fix the functionality first. There is lot that is bad about the UI, which will drive away players. It´s not as bad as MO1, but certainly far from other games.

 

[ThaBadMan]

Why not if it doesnt take away from more prioritized areas.

 

[Valoran]

Yes.

I believe that a games UI should be an extension of the game itself, and in a game like this having a beautiful and immersive UI would add so much to the game while remaining 100% functional, it is merely an artistic work load that needs to be chosen to undertake.

For instance, having an actual spell book with pages open in MO1 to choose your spells instead of a simple blank generic box with icons in it. This is the type of thing they need more of.

Remove as much on screen UI as possible to maintain immersion, but the UI that must remain, should be itself immersive.


Some people don't like artistic UI as they feel it doesn't age well and looks dated very quickly. This depends entirely on the artist who is making the UI.

It was also a common problem older games had, as at the time they couldn't add super high resolution images and so their more blocky visuals aged like milk. This does not have to be the case with MO2 however.


On a more specific note, I absolutely hate the red haze that is behind so many things currently in the games UI, and I wish they would get rid of it.

I would also like to see the compass from MO1 added as an option, perhaps with the spikes removed.

 

[Svaar]

The user interface should be intuitive to play.

1) For example, now it is wildly annoying when, during the game, you accidentally call up the menu by pressing Z and you cannot quickly collapse the menu using the ESC key, you have to press the Escape first and then double-press the TAB key. and if this happens during a battle, then these movements are like death =)
1a) Also, when you call up the settings menu by pressing the ESC, then you cannot close the window by pressing the same ESC key, you have to press the cross in the upper right corner. What for?

2) You cannot customize the side quick access panels. Why are they only upright?

3) So why is there no way to save a preset to the quick access panel? This makes it easier to arrange items after death (after death you have to drag and drop items from your inventory back to the quick access bar all the time).

4) Why are there no sorting buttons in the inventory? Why is there no button to combine items in the inventory? Why to split the object need to press shift + right mouse button and not the left mouse button as in all games that exist?

5) Add an indicator of day and night, cold and warmth, foe example hunger and satiety as it looks like in Kingdom Come Deliverance. as icons rather than stripes
5а) a compass can also be made in a medieval theme.

These are just those little things that are very striking and annoying.

@Henrik Nyström @Sebastian Persson

 

[Bernfred]

i still think inventory tetris is part of the core mechanic.

 

[Bernfred]

what bothers me alot is the fixed grid where you can place the UI.

 

[Ministro]

It could definitely use some polish imo. For example:

Names of items need to be a brighter color than international orange.

TAB still doesn't toggle properly; if you change tabs on paperdoll, for example, TAB doesn't close them.

You should be able to right-click items into bank, like it works at tradeskill tables/vendors/etc.

Items stuck on hotbars need to stay there even if you run out. Even just adding your hotbar bandages to a fresh stack deletes it from hotbar. I belive it's called a ghost icon.

Pressing multiple buttons needs to work better, like moving forward and then hitting autorun, you shouldn't stop, or have to stop, just as an example. Not technically a UI thing but...

Changing fontsize/windowsize on the chat window would be really appreciated.

Nice bonus would be for the inventory to open automatically whenever you engage a vendor or banker. Just a few thoughts.