Why care about Skyrim's menus?
- Thread starter dashiz94
- Start date
Yes people are going on about it like the UI has physically violated them in some way.. but the complaints about the UI are genuine and completely warranted, especially considering that previous Bethesda games pretty decent menus.. i dont really remember that being a complaint about FO3 FO:NV or Oblivion... so i dont really know why they decided to go for something so radically different.dashiz94 said:
This handy image someone made pretty much sums it up.
I have no trouble with any of these things. Especially with the addition of the 'favorites' option. But hey, maybe I'm just not that much of a perfectionist. /shrugIlikemilkshake said:Yes people are going on about it like the UI has physically violated them in some way.. but the complaints about the UI are genuine and completely warranted, especially considering that previous Bethesda games pretty decent menus.. i dont really remember that being a complaint about FO3 FO:NV or Oblivion... so i dont really know why they decided to go for something so radically different.dashiz94 said:
This handy image someone made pretty much sums it up.
Wait... what? Skyrim's interface worse than Oblivion's? On what drugs do you have to be to even consider that?
Skyrim's interface is easier to read and is less cluttered.
Skyrim's interface can easily be controlled with the keyboard. In fact, the keyboard makes it easier to use.
Skyrim's interface can in face be controlled with only one hand (any shortcut that requires "Enter" also accepts "E").
It's easy to move between your inventory and the chest/corpse/shop inventories. Crafting is stupidly easy to do.
The Favourites menu gives another layer of convenience in addition to the standard 1-8 keybinds and it's quite welcome considering the number of spells, items and shouts you need to manage as the game gets warmed up.
The only aspect of the interface that's a bit unwieldy are the Perk constellations, but how often do you need to navigate those?
Overall, Skyrim's interface is great. It's a console-friendly interface that also works quite well on the PC. Oblivion's interface was a flaming pile of poop in comparison...
Skyrim's interface is easier to read and is less cluttered.
Skyrim's interface can easily be controlled with the keyboard. In fact, the keyboard makes it easier to use.
Skyrim's interface can in face be controlled with only one hand (any shortcut that requires "Enter" also accepts "E").
It's easy to move between your inventory and the chest/corpse/shop inventories. Crafting is stupidly easy to do.
The Favourites menu gives another layer of convenience in addition to the standard 1-8 keybinds and it's quite welcome considering the number of spells, items and shouts you need to manage as the game gets warmed up.
The only aspect of the interface that's a bit unwieldy are the Perk constellations, but how often do you need to navigate those?
Overall, Skyrim's interface is great. It's a console-friendly interface that also works quite well on the PC. Oblivion's interface was a flaming pile of poop in comparison...
Is this a good time to post a picture of Morrowind's inventory?
Those windows are resizable. It wasn't perfect (potions were kinda confusing when you had lots of them) but still, quite good and fast to use.
Unfortunately, that kind of a UI doesn't work on a TV screen so Oblivion and Skyrim have UIs better suited for consoles. But you have to wonder, why can't they make a different UI for the PC-version?
EDIT: Ninja'd.
Those windows are resizable. It wasn't perfect (potions were kinda confusing when you had lots of them) but still, quite good and fast to use.
Unfortunately, that kind of a UI doesn't work on a TV screen so Oblivion and Skyrim have UIs better suited for consoles. But you have to wonder, why can't they make a different UI for the PC-version?
EDIT: Ninja'd.
Once again, move the camera around to in front of you, where you can see your character, then enter your inventory, and viola! You can see the gear change before your very eyes! (At least, on 360 you can. Haven't played on PC yet.)[/quote]Xaio30 said:
I tried what you said before, and what happens (since i look my character over the shoulder) is that he gets placed under the appearing items menu. It works fine when I want to equip magic since it's on the other side of the screen, but it's not as visual as clothing and weapons.
You can count. Great! Now, lets get back to what I was saying:pluizig said:
Tab+S+S is FASTER since I already have my fingers over the corresponding keys. Pressing M on the other hand requires me to move my hand and maybe even look down to see if I am hitting the right key.
Luckily for both of us, both options are available. If you feel more comfortable with using M, nothing is going to stop you.
My only issue is when you're playing "what item do I drop so I can pick up with uber axe of painsplitting" you must scroll through every item looking at its weight and cost. In Oblivion it laid out all the information in a lovely database.
ITEM NAME ARMOR VALUE ATTACK VALUE WEIGHT VALUE
You could arrange items by value/weight and instantly see which items gave the least value:weight.
I like the favorate system, but I miss assigning spells to hot keys. Melee mages ironically were more enjoyable in Oblivion because you had your weapon layout (2her/1her/1her and shield) and a seperate key bind to cast (C). In Skyrim to emulate the same thing you need a 1her or a shield in one hand and a spell in the other. Or press Q to bring up the favorates menu but that takes you out of the moment some-what mid-battle. It's extra hastle that does more to damage any immersion. It's like in Dragon Age constantly pausing to ensure everyone's doing the best thing they can do at the time. It plummets the experience back to 'you're only playing a game' which is a shame, as the game is played in first person (preferably).
Would be nice if we had both favorate and hotkeys. The favorate menu is useful for lesser used abilities like shouts and racials.
*edit* The perk constallations are very intimidating the first time, especially if you're the type of player who wants to pick the *best* perks. You have to learn to submit and pick perks in skills you use often... or just go to a skyrim wiki page that summerieses them all for you so you can cherry pick.
ITEM NAME ARMOR VALUE ATTACK VALUE WEIGHT VALUE
You could arrange items by value/weight and instantly see which items gave the least value:weight.
I like the favorate system, but I miss assigning spells to hot keys. Melee mages ironically were more enjoyable in Oblivion because you had your weapon layout (2her/1her/1her and shield) and a seperate key bind to cast (C). In Skyrim to emulate the same thing you need a 1her or a shield in one hand and a spell in the other. Or press Q to bring up the favorates menu but that takes you out of the moment some-what mid-battle. It's extra hastle that does more to damage any immersion. It's like in Dragon Age constantly pausing to ensure everyone's doing the best thing they can do at the time. It plummets the experience back to 'you're only playing a game' which is a shame, as the game is played in first person (preferably).
Would be nice if we had both favorate and hotkeys. The favorate menu is useful for lesser used abilities like shouts and racials.
*edit* The perk constallations are very intimidating the first time, especially if you're the type of player who wants to pick the *best* perks. You have to learn to submit and pick perks in skills you use often... or just go to a skyrim wiki page that summerieses them all for you so you can cherry pick.
The main problem isn't how it looks, it's how it works and it's usually complaints from PC players. See, the menu is all lovely and grand if you're going to cycle through with the arrow keys or WASD. But if you're going to be scrolling and clicking a lot of the time it's counter intuitive.dashiz94 said:
Occasionally I'll be talking to an NPC and accidentally 'miss' a dialogue option only for it to end the conversation... well bloody well done game.
Skyrim's UI reminds me of old text console applications like Norton Commander. It consists of lists of menu items that are slow to navigate and makes it hard to get an overview. It works, but it is far from optimal. Old text applications were limited for technical reasons, but in a graphical environment I think we should expect better.
Controls on consoles are limited in what they can do, but that doesn't make the experience any better for a PC user.
When a game needs to show a lot of information it puts extra strain on the capabilities of the UI. The more time I spend using the UI the more the quality of that UI matters.
Controls on consoles are limited in what they can do, but that doesn't make the experience any better for a PC user.
When a game needs to show a lot of information it puts extra strain on the capabilities of the UI. The more time I spend using the UI the more the quality of that UI matters.
![])rStrangelove](https://eg-forums-escapist-data.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/data/avatars/l/125/125479.jpg?1621029148){kind=avatar}
It actually feels awkward to click something and 50% of the time its not working at all or activates something above / below. You can easily tell the game has been developed for consoles, but i'm ok - got the hope the next patch will be up soon.
I'd rather have a 95% finished version of Skyrim than no Skyrim at all.
Besides, some problems are fixed with this little mod here: http://www.skyrimnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=88 (Interface Hard Coded Key Tweaks by crazy-g)
I'd rather have a 95% finished version of Skyrim than no Skyrim at all.
Besides, some problems are fixed with this little mod here: http://www.skyrimnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=88 (Interface Hard Coded Key Tweaks by crazy-g)
Most of those things are just minor annoyances.. but i think your equiped items not having its own section, or at the very least not going to the top of the list, is a real oversight... its very difficult to tell what you have equipped, which makes it very hard to compare what you're wearing to whatever else you have in your inventory.King of the Sandbox said:I have no trouble with any of these things. Especially with the addition of the 'favorites' option. But hey, maybe I'm just not that much of a perfectionist. /shrugIlikemilkshake said:Yes people are going on about it like the UI has physically violated them in some way.. but the complaints about the UI are genuine and completely warranted, especially considering that previous Bethesda games pretty decent menus.. i dont really remember that being a complaint about FO3 FO:NV or Oblivion... so i dont really know why they decided to go for something so radically different.dashiz94 said:
This handy image someone made pretty much sums it up.
I have no problem with the layout its the fact that it hates keyboard and mouse and doesn't properly work with them.
The menu looks good but it's very annoying and clunky for PC users, we get the option to use our mouse but if we've nudged the keyboard at some point even if we click with out mouse button it'll select what the keyboard had highlighted instead, on top of that I often find the menus closing when I click my mouse button.
What we need is an actual PC UI for the game, the current one works great on consoles but leaves a lot to be desired for PC users.
I think the best analogy I can come up with is that it's like putting a driving wheel in a jet, it would work fine in a car but a jet is different and requires a different control scheme.
What we need is an actual PC UI for the game, the current one works great on consoles but leaves a lot to be desired for PC users.
I think the best analogy I can come up with is that it's like putting a driving wheel in a jet, it would work fine in a car but a jet is different and requires a different control scheme.
Because some of us have standards, and interface is pretty important part of the whole game thing. The problem with Skyrim UI is that it has very limited functionality, reaching information that should be easily available takes way too many steps, and all it's faults come from very, very simple reason - it's a console optimized UI.dashiz94 said:
The fact that, during my gameplay, I have break the flow of said gameplay each time I get a new item I want to use.
I have to press Tab -> Items -> Weapons -> Favourite -> Tab a few times to exit Item menu -> Q to enter favourites -> scroll all the way to where that item decided to be placed -> and only then I'm able to bind it to a hot key is a little too much actions to consider it fluid and streamlined.
Or maybe I want to have Awesome Dagger Of Stabbing in left hand and Shiny Dirk Of Slaughter in right hand (as in 2 different weapons). I can't bind them both to single button to switch quickly, no sir. If I bind one of them to 2 and other to 3 it will still only change between them in main hand. To equip both I have to again press Q, find the item, and make sure it goes into the hand I want. Now in combat, say I want to switch to healing spell... means I'll have to repeat the whole equipping process once more when I'm done with spellcasting. Not fun.
I could also have a silly idea I want to see how much time left is on my buff... Another trip into the fantastic UI system, with Tab->Magic->scroll all the way down to active effects. Why? Why not let me see it on the HUD right away?
That's only few of the many issue is have with it. Each wastes my time, each makes me stop playing to cycle through tabs of menu that is constructed in such way only due to how limited console controllers are compared to keyboard and mouse.
Maybe it doesn't annoy You or some other people, but for me it simply distracts me from experiencing the actual game. When I spend more time combating the menu than murdering the innocents it is not fun at all.
The why even make it useable if it's not a viable option? It's no good saying durr you're not supposed to use the mouse, obviously you are because it works to do so.teebeeohh said:
The interaction with menus for mouse and keyboard are actually quite frustrating. Looks aside, if I hover my mouse over an item I want to see/use that item, not the one above or below it- the same goes for dialogue selections, etc.
Maybe the issue is too much control: I can use my arrow keys, wasd, mouse1, and the scroll wheel to navigate the menus.
I love this game, but this would have to be my most common complaint.
Maybe the issue is too much control: I can use my arrow keys, wasd, mouse1, and the scroll wheel to navigate the menus.
I love this game, but this would have to be my most common complaint.
Why is it that every flaw a PC gamer finds in one of their games is attributed to it being related to consoles? Im honestly curious, are consoles just the ultimate dirty word in your culture of something? I mean really, since when does menu lag have even the slightest relation to it being made for multiple systems?
Edit: For the record, the menu lags its ass off on the 360 too, so for all the special love consoles apparently got, it didn't do much good.