Fledgling Fyora tamagosan Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 I'm hugely disappointed. The poor use of screen real estate is extremely irritating. Not everyone has a 23" widescreen monitor. The map and character status panels are WAY too large. Even the message panel at the bottom is badly designed. I really don't need to see ornate stone dragons, I need to see what's going on in the game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seasoned Roamer monolith94 Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 I'm playing the game on a 15" imac and I'm enjoying it quite a bit. Admittedly, it does get a bit crowded; it'd be nice to have a bit more condensed interface, especially considering I mostly use the keyboard... You're missing out, I have to say. This is easily the best Avernum of the 4-6 generation, with some really compelling areas/activities. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chittering Clawbug Mac Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 It took a little while to get used to the format, but it's worth it. I don't even notice the difference anymore, and I've been playing Jeff's games since Nethergate first came out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hatchling Cockatrice Mea Tulpa Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 I agree with your preferences tamagosan, but I find that those problems don't really interfere with gameplay much. What has been most helpful for me is a habit I picked up in the Geneforge series -- I use the arrow keys HEAVILY to scroll the screen around, which makes it much easier to deal with the limited (and, thanks to those windows, oddly shaped) playing view. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hatchling Cockatrice Lilith Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 Those dragons in the corner are actually really annoying; I've mistaken them for in-game entities before when I wasn't looking too closely. You can turn off some of the backdrops and stuff if you turn the graphics detail down a notch, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fledgling Fyora tamagosan Posted December 20, 2009 Author Share Posted December 20, 2009 I played for an hour or so, and the interface problems NEVER stopped being an annoyance. It's just mind boggling that this game was released like this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curious Artila Sober Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 Originally Posted By: tamagosan I played for an hour or so, and the interface problems NEVER stopped being an annoyance. It's just mind boggling that this game was released like this. Lol @ passing final judgement in one hour. Forrest Gump was a terrible movie because all I saw was some feather floating around in the wind. I mean, who wants to watch a movie all about some feather? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fledgling Fyora tamagosan Posted December 20, 2009 Author Share Posted December 20, 2009 Try going back and actually reading the post. My problem is with the UI, not the game itself. I actually did some measuring in photoshop, and the map and character rosters alone take up about 23% of the entire screen. That's not even counting the clutter at the bottom. I can't even begin to imagine the rationale for making the character roster as big as it is. Not only does it get in the way of what's going on in the game, it's distracting. I own most of the previous games, and the fact that this one is essentially unplayable is, as I said, extremely disappointing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hatchling Cockatrice Mea Tulpa Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 An irritating UI is not the same thing as an unusable UI. But everyone values different things in a UI... I don't see why there are so many extreme statements here. Tamagosan is not stupid for realizing right away that the UI really gets to him. But by the same token, it doesn't seem to be "essentially unplayable" for most people. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hatchling Cockatrice Lilith Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 Yeah, I've got a 13" laptop and while it'd sometimes be nice to be able to see a wider area at once, I manage okay. Still, if it bothers you that much, it's not like I can point to something and say that you're objectively wrong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fledgling Fyora tamagosan Posted December 20, 2009 Author Share Posted December 20, 2009 My point is, I'm a fan of the series, and the UI problems have ruined the game for me, and I won't be buying it unless they're resolved. I hope they do get resolved, because I'm sure I'm not alone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hatchling Cockatrice Alorael at Large Posted December 21, 2009 Share Posted December 21, 2009 Jeff isn't going to change A6's interface. You're out of luck, I'm afraid. —Alorael, who hasn't been bothered by it until now, when he's realized that the screen is rather unnecessarily full of things that are not constantly helpful. He'll try to forget that he noticed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Easygoing Eyebeast Dantius Posted December 21, 2009 Share Posted December 21, 2009 You can collapse the roster and minimap, you know. Just hit the little red orb in the corner, and then drag it to an inconspicuous place on the scree. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tenderfoot Thahd Archmage Brock Posted December 21, 2009 Share Posted December 21, 2009 Also, since you can also MOVE them as well as collapse, you can look at say, one part at a time and leave the rest out of view, if it's anything like G5. Doesn't bother me though; I just turn the resolution up if it bugs me. Which it hasn't. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyshakk Koan Vicheron Posted December 21, 2009 Share Posted December 21, 2009 Does anyone remember what Exile looked like? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magnificent Ornk Ephesos Posted December 21, 2009 Share Posted December 21, 2009 Originally Posted By: Thuryl Those dragons in the corner are actually really annoying; I've mistaken them for in-game entities before when I wasn't looking too closely. You can turn off some of the backdrops and stuff if you turn the graphics detail down a notch, though. I agree that the dragons are annoying... I freaked out when I thought there were dragons in the Food Depot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ineffable Wingbolt Dahak Posted December 21, 2009 Share Posted December 21, 2009 Originally Posted By: Vicheron Does anyone remember what Exile looked like? Oh yes. Now that was small. A6's screen is fine by me. I just my preferences to move the screen when my characters move and I'm good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rotghroth Rhapsody madrigan Posted December 21, 2009 Share Posted December 21, 2009 The only things I don't like about the UI in this game are that 1) when I click on a item on the ground or in a cabinet, it automatically jumps into the inventory of the selected character instead of letting me place it where I want it and 2) the exact health and magic points remaining are not shown on the main screen. I'm still liking the game a lot, though. I didn't even notice the window size or dragon stuff you are talking about. I think I like the dragons, they make the screen look more fantasy-gamey. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garrulous Glaahk Fael Posted December 21, 2009 Share Posted December 21, 2009 Originally Posted By: madrigan The only things I don't like about the UI in this game are that 1) when I click on a item on the ground or in a cabinet, it automatically jumps into the inventory of the selected character instead of letting me place it where I want it and 2) the exact health and magic points remaining are not shown on the main screen. I'm still liking the game a lot, though. Indeed, I think that nails the interface problems nicely. I've more or less gotten used to 2), but 1) will annoy me forever. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seasoned Roamer Cryomancer Posted December 21, 2009 Share Posted December 21, 2009 Oh, you kids and your desire to see everything at once. I actually like the camera being closer to the characters and showing less of the surrounding environment. The early Avernums were annoying because even in town mode I felt like I had to squint to see my characters. Cave tunnels, buildings, water? That stuff is boring, we see it all the time in the game. It's my characters that I really want to see. I grew up playing the Exile games (and I still play and enjoy them a WHOLE LOT MORE than any of the Avernums) and the game screen in those games was really a small portion of the overall screen, but it didn't detract from the gameplay at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyshakk Koan jlsgaladriel Posted December 21, 2009 Share Posted December 21, 2009 I'm using a 20" monitor, and I tend to play in a window, so I'm actually choosing to use *less* real estate for the game, in return for easy access to other windows I've got open. Then again, my first mac was a 128k beastie with a screen not much bigger than my iphone, so modern monitors still seem like luxuries to me. This to say that not everyone's annoyed by the same things. edit: Is it the roster and map which are annoying you, or is it the controls on the bottom? The roster and map can be minimized. It's that bottom interface which is completely redundant with keyboard shortcuts, and yet it isn't minimizable. I wonder how difficult a programming task it would be to convert that bottom bar so that it, too, could be minimized? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Well-Actually War Trall Acky Posted December 21, 2009 Share Posted December 21, 2009 After playing the game a bit on a friends Mac, I have to agree a little bit with tamagosan. It doesn't really look like much in the screenshots. The boxes could have been trimmed down, to say the least. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fledgling Fyora OzoneBlue Posted December 22, 2009 Share Posted December 22, 2009 Quote: 1) when I click on a item on the ground or in a cabinet, it automatically jumps into the inventory of the selected character instead of letting me place it where I want it and 2) the exact health and magic points remaining are not shown on the main screen. I'm still liking the game a lot, though. These two things are the only things that really have annoyed me so far about the A6 UI experience so far. And, in agreement with Fael, the HP / MP thing I could get used to. But is there any way Jeff could take a look at the first thing? It's epically annoying not being able to drop certain items directly into a character's equipped items or into another character's inventory directly upon selecting an item. And considering how much inventory management this game requires, I think it would be one change that would be highly appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hatchling Cockatrice Mea Tulpa Posted December 22, 2009 Share Posted December 22, 2009 Since that's a change from all previous SW games with this item engine (G3, A4, G4, A5, G5) I imagine it was intentional. It's a helpful change if you are just picking up a pile of different loot items to sell, and you want to do it with the mouse (often easier than the keyboard if there is junk mixed in that you don't want to pick up). I agree that in general it's a hassle, but that's probably why it was changed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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