Skyrim impressions

chockomonkey said:
Yea... this: http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/5679/skyriminterface.jpg

From the top of that, the 3 reasons why Skyrim's UI is less than efficient:

1. Not making good use of screen real estate
2. Requiring too many user actions to reach information
3. Putting crucial information below the fold

Really though, that picture has way too many good points to list. Many i hadn't even thought of, like where the lists start. *shakes head*
Click to expand...

That pic makes one thing obvious. The UI isn't just bad because it's designed for consoles, it's bad because of poor design decisions.

However, at least #3 is a direct consequence of the UI being designed for consoles. Consoles don't have a mouse, so you're required to scroll anyway. It doesn't matter whether the list starts at the top of the screen or in the middle, because you'll be pressing down on your gamepad anyway to scroll down in the list.

I guess PC users are the winners in the end, because someone will no doubt completely redesign the UI, fixing all the issues and optimizing it for a mouse+keyboard. Console users will be stuck forever with a poorly designed UI.
 
I'm carrying like 50 different things, so getting to the letter 'Z' takes about 30 seconds of scrolling -_-
 
Ran into my first major bug, which cost me about 30 minutes of progress..

Just rolled into a new town and saw a grain mill that I can "use". Well I tried it to see what it does, and what it did was put my game into a state where I lost control of the y axis on my mouse. Could not press tab, could not quicksave, could not press esc to save. All I could do was run around swing my sword shout at things with a neckbrace on that only allowed me to look left and right.. :(
 
I find it hard to believe somebody can defend the Skyrim UI. That said, I think it appeals to a certain kind of user...

Those who subscribe to steve jobs UIs and design concepts. Make it pretty and intuitive, rather than useful or powerful.

I'm an Android user with Cyanogen mod, I don't need it to be flashy, but I want tons of options to tweak and adjust and customise and compare.

Console vs PC
Apple IOS vs Android (especially modded Android)
Mac vs Windows
Ubuntu with Unity vs Ubuntu without Unity

I'm on the right hand side of that list, those who like the UI are most likely on the left side.
 
Canadian in Berlin said:
I find it hard to believe somebody can defend the Skyrim UI. That said, I think it appeals to a certain kind of user...

Those who subscribe to steve jobs UIs and design concepts. Make it pretty and intuitive, rather than useful or powerful.

I'm an Android user with Cyanogen mod, I don't need it to be flashy, but I want tons of options to tweak and adjust and customise and compare.

Console vs PC
Apple IOS vs Android (especially modded Android)
Mac vs Windows
Ubuntu with Unity vs Ubuntu without Unity

I'm on the right hand side of that list, those who like the UI are most likely on the left side.
Click to expand...

I 'm not sure about "intuitive".
 
Intuitive would be the right word, any idiot can use it. It doesn't mean its good.

It's not very useful, convenient, efficient, powerful or what we actually want, but its so obvious what to do an idiot can pull it off.

The bugs don't help
 
I don't know if this is normal, but I remapped the right and left hand to 9 & 0 and I was not able to set up a right hand spell to dualcast. Wasn't until I went back to Mouse left and right for my hands that I could dual cast.
 
Canadian in Berlin said:
I find it hard to believe somebody can defend the Skyrim UI. That said, I think it appeals to a certain kind of user...

Those who subscribe to steve jobs UIs and design concepts. Make it pretty and intuitive, rather than useful or powerful.

I'm an Android user with Cyanogen mod, I don't need it to be flashy, but I want tons of options to tweak and adjust and customise and compare.

Console vs PC
Apple IOS vs Android (especially modded Android)
Mac vs Windows
Ubuntu with Unity vs Ubuntu without Unity

I'm on the right hand side of that list, those who like the UI are most likely on the left side.
Click to expand...

i too am on the right side of that list
 
Canadian in Berlin said:
I find it hard to believe somebody can defend the Skyrim UI. That said, I think it appeals to a certain kind of user...

Those who subscribe to steve jobs UIs and design concepts. Make it pretty and intuitive, rather than useful or powerful.

I'm an Android user with Cyanogen mod, I don't need it to be flashy, but I want tons of options to tweak and adjust and customise and compare.

Console vs PC
Apple IOS vs Android (especially modded Android)
Mac vs Windows
Ubuntu with Unity vs Ubuntu without Unity

I'm on the right hand side of that list, those who like the UI are most likely on the left side.
Click to expand...

I disagree on the grounds that Macs / Consoles / Apple iOS dont actually have terrible UI's. They may sacrifice some productivity for intuitiveness, but they are still functional and allow you to get things done quick. Skyrim is not that. Its just bad.
 
UtopiA said:
I'm carrying like 50 different things, so getting to the letter 'Z' takes about 30 seconds of scrolling -_-
Click to expand...

At least your inventory is categorized. Mercheants are categorized. Chests are.. not. :rolleyes:
 
Canadian in Berlin said:
Intuitive would be the right word, any idiot can use it. It doesn't mean its good.

It's not very useful, convenient, efficient, powerful or what we actually want, but its so obvious what to do an idiot can pull it off.

The bugs don't help
Click to expand...

I don't know about that... I feel like it's less intuitive than previous elder scrolls games or even the pipboy.

It's really kind of garbage right now. I feel incredibly inefficient when using it and it seriously bogs down the immersion in the game when I need to access the menus and have this really annoyed feeling.
 
UI is bad, but it's only really annoying in combat. Hotkeys fix that mostly. I'm sure a mod will come out to deal with it fully.
 
I was mortifiedwhen I read all the UI complaints before receiving my preordered copy. Come to find out it's bad, but not that bad. Needs an overhaul for sure, but so much of whining I thought was going to be a lot worse. But it wouldn't be a good gamer thread without an ample amount bitching. :D I hope a patch or mod comes out soon though. Otherwise, I am thoroughly enjoying it.
 
the UI takes some getting used to but it's not as bad as some people are making it out to be...the Favorites/Hotkeys is what saves it from being much worse...after playing for around an hour or so you get used to the layout and how to manage things...the immersion of the game more then makes up for any UI issues
 
westrock2000 said:
I don't know if this is normal, but I remapped the right and left hand to 9 & 0 and I was not able to set up a right hand spell to dualcast. Wasn't until I went back to Mouse left and right for my hands that I could dual cast.
Click to expand...

Yeah, trying to remap any of the keys does that. Guess they didn't have time to test that in the 48 seconds of total beta testing they did on the PC version.
 
Their choice to have as little on the screen for immersion also took precedent to handy info like buff timers... i really am tired of having to load because my muffle spell wore off and everyone suddenly hears me and owns my face...
 
chockomonkey said:
Their choice to have as little on the screen for immersion also took precedent to handy info like buff timers... i really am tired of having to load because my muffle spell wore off and everyone suddenly hears me and owns my face...
Click to expand...

I didn't know where to find my buffs/debuffs until level 11 :|
 
Probably already posted, but I lol'd hard.

UWT6h.jpg
 
[DFR]Random;1038007747 said:
* Biggest issue I've had in my 3 hours of play is being unable to exit a chat with an NPC in Whiterun (Heimskr). TAB would not let me leave the conversation. Nothing would. I could Alt-TAB to my desktop and back in and just select either of the two conversation options, but could not walk away. I had to load a Save from 10 minutes prior to continue. This is troubling, as not everyone Quicksaves every 5-10 minutes when they get in the zone. Could be a fluke, but I hope to not see this again.
Click to expand...

I too had this issue, multiple times and it's frustrating. I figured out what was causing it though. If you are chatting with an NPC, and you open your steam overlay, it will lock you into conversation with that NPC. Test it out for yourselves, it seemed pretty consistent.
 
Cali3350 said:
I disagree on the grounds that Macs / Consoles / Apple iOS dont actually have terrible UI's. They may sacrifice some productivity for intuitiveness, but they are still functional and allow you to get things done quick. Skyrim is not that. Its just bad.
Click to expand...

I didn't actually mean to indicate that apple UIs are bad (though i really don't like them or UIs along those lines), I'm indicating that this is showing a trend to try and make UIs 'pretty' as a priority over functional/powerful. I'd rather have lots of options and not use some (SOME!) of them, than have few options and wish for some.

(Note: I hate the Microsoft office ribbon, and dread windows 8 with its explorer ribbon)
 
First time Ive ever played a game like this (always went for COD, BF games and RTS) but I must say this game is amazing. At the beginning I entered the wilderness wandering aimlessly as a Wood Elf type character cause I like the idea of being a sneaky stealth archer type (Robin Hood) and noticed a Deer so I snuck up and shot it with an arrow..the deer bolted so I chased it only to see it attacked by a pack of wolves. So I had to scrap with them to get my arrow back. Now...where to go......
 
Canadian in Berlin said:
(Note: I hate the Microsoft office ribbon, and dread windows 8 with its explorer ribbon)
Click to expand...

Waiiiiiiiiiiit a second... IS 7 going to be the new XP? (as in, the OS i use for YEARS after they release new shit)

The ribbon is atrocious. It's been 2+ years since i deployed office 2010 at work, and i still cannot find what the fuck i'm looking for in whatever application i'm using.

Fuck the ribbon idea, it's huge and annoying, and everything is spread out so i have to read everything left-to-right in order to find shit.
 
chockomonkey said:
The ribbon is atrocious. It's been 2+ years since i deployed office 2010 at work, and i still cannot find what the fuck i'm looking for in whatever application i'm using.

Fuck the ribbon idea, it's huge and annoying, and everything is spread out so i have to read everything left-to-right in order to find shit.
Click to expand...

:confused: 2010 removed the ribbon.

It still has the same tab layout as 2007, but no ribbon.
 
sKiDmArK said:
:confused: 2010 removed the ribbon.

It still has the same tab layout as 2007, but no ribbon.
Click to expand...

Damn i must misunderstand what the Ribbon actually means.. The tabbed layout is what i was talking about... i didn't notice any difference really between the tabs of 2007 and the tabs of 2010, so i thought they were both the ribbon...

Can you enlighten me?
 
As far as my first impressions. It's absolutely amazing. Got it Monday after work, and have logged about 10 hours so far in the past 2 evenings of playing.

Made a Nord Paladin, he's pretty damn strong, trying to focus a bit more on his skill trees rather than spreading out a little bit.
 
I tihnk the inventory should consist of a bag with the commands "empty" and "rummage". Rummage would allow you to pick out a random item, and empty would tip all your stuff on the floor. Realism is very important in this game. :D
 
Well if your going to go for that kind of realism. You should take damage while rummaging, from constantly impaling your self on all the pointy objects in your bag :D
 
shifty68 said:
Well if your going to go for that kind of realism. You should take damage while rummaging, from constantly impaling your self on all the pointy objects in your bag :D
Click to expand...

And sampling ingredients should do more than just have minor effects. I'm not sure chewing on bear claws or a dozen different mushrooms is such a good idea...
 
Daedric actually has higher stats than Dragonbone, despite being earlier in the tree. Does Glass has higher stats than Dragonscale as well?

I guess this balanced out by the fact you can craft Dragonbone/scale very early, since you do not need to wait for the leveled lists to spawn Daedric hearts and ebony ingots/ore.

edit: Too many Skyrim threads, thought this was the main one lol...
 
JimmiG said:
However, at least #3 is a direct consequence of the UI being designed for consoles. Consoles don't have a mouse, so you're required to scroll anyway. It doesn't matter whether the list starts at the top of the screen or in the middle, because you'll be pressing down on your gamepad anyway to scroll down in the list.
Click to expand...

You could always use one of the analog sticks to move the cursor. I've been using a program called Pinnacle Game Profiler (PGP) to allow me to use the 360 controller as a mouse, haven't touched my mouse in literally 4 years. Right trigger = left click, Left trigger = right click, etc...

JimmiG said:
I guess PC users are the winners in the end, because someone will no doubt completely redesign the UI, fixing all the issues and optimizing it for a mouse+keyboard. Console users will be stuck forever with a poorly designed UI.
Click to expand...

I think for people using the controller, the UI is fine. I'm sitting here reading all these comments thinking "what in hell is everybody complaining about? I don't even think about the UI", but then I realized it's because you guys are trying to do it with kb+m.
 
Canadian in Berlin said:
I find it hard to believe somebody can defend the Skyrim UI. That said, I think it appeals to a certain kind of user...

Those who subscribe to steve jobs UIs and design concepts. Make it pretty and intuitive, rather than useful or powerful.

I'm an Android user with Cyanogen mod, I don't need it to be flashy, but I want tons of options to tweak and adjust and customise and compare.

Console vs PC
Apple IOS vs Android (especially modded Android)
Mac vs Windows
Ubuntu with Unity vs Ubuntu without Unity

I'm on the right hand side of that list, those who like the UI are most likely on the left side.
Click to expand...

It's funny you say this because Todd Whatever (forget his last name), the main dude behind Skyrim, said that in designing the UI they asked the question "How would apple design this UI". Guess they succeeded and failed at the same time...at least for you kb+m guys.
 
shantd said:
On the UI: http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/...ing-messand-will-soon-be-the-best-version.ars
Click to expand...

The mistakes made in the menus are basic and frustrating: why am I scrolling when so much of my screen goes unused?
Click to expand...

Console oriented UI

Why is it so tricky to compare the stats of my weapons and gear?
Click to expand...

Console oriented UI

And not even that functional. Moving equipped items to the top of the list (like the reddit graphic suggests) would be tricky to do. Move it instantly and the selected item would 'disappear' from the cursor focus and cause confusion. Move it to the top at the next inventory open would work better, but it's kind of clunky. Best would be the pic of your character with (selectable) equipped items. Click to equip or drag and drop. Like Morrowind (which imo is one of the main points of the reddit pic.)
 
I do agree, a picture of the character where you could select equipped items was a rather baffling omission. It doesn't really get more intuitive AND functional than that...why would they have ditched that? That has nothing to do with console vs. PC.

Also, not being able to compare items is another omission that can't be justified in a game like this. This is not a console vs. PC situation either.
 
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