Why care about Skyrim's menus?

[])rStrangelove]

)rStrangelove]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)

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.

1. Not _every_ flaw, only those where its obvious. In this particular case its ok to say it, because the menu is much more useable with a controller or KB. But i get where you're coming from.

2. Nothing dirty with consoles (apart from monthly XBoxLive fees), i own all of them because a real gamer doesnt care.

3. I didnt say anything about lag. I was on about the mouse loosing its focus when highlighting things in the menu (or not highlighting at all). Plz read again.

Sorry if my text appeared overly aggressive to you. I played Skyrim for over 30 hours now and only cursed about the bloody menu a couple of times.

 

[Hisshiss]

)rStrangelove]

)rStrangelove]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)

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.

1. Not _every_ flaw, only those where its obvious. In this particular case its ok to say it, because the menu is much more useable with a controller or KB. But i get where you're coming from.

2. Nothing dirty with consoles (apart from monthly XBoxLive fees), i own all of them because a real gamer doesnt care.

3. I didnt say anything about lag. I was on about the mouse loosing its focus when highlighting things in the menu (or not highlighting at all). Plz read again.

Sorry if my text appeared overly aggressive to you. I played Skyrim for over 30 hours now and only cursed about the bloody menu a couple of times.

I actually see where your coming from, the way that menu is designed reminds me alot of mass effect, and there is no doubt it was built for controller convenience in mind, but again, it's a simple interface that could have just as easily been made for a PC, it just happens to be a bigger perk for a controller.

As for the mouse focus thing, that obviously doesnt happen with a controller in theory, but Im still sitting at about 60% accuracy when opening menus because the menu doesnt go where I point the analog stick. So let's just call it even. In fact, pretty much every menu in the game has a really nasty lag and detection issue to it. I'm inclined to say bethesda just doesn't tweak their menu's well, because I dont think ive ever played a game they made where I didn't have that problem.

Edit: Games they made that had excessive usage of menu's. Obviously. Which is pretty much all of them for me, since I really only played elder scrolls 4, 5, brink, and fallout 3.

 

[Bonecrusher]

I've been seeing numerous threads and articles complaining about Skyrim's interface and menu and what I just can't understand is...why? Why does it matter if the menu is slightly worse than it was in Oblivion? Does it still work for you? Can you still get to your items? Is at least partially organized? Yes, yes, and yes. So why make a big fuss over it? Judging from the tone of many of the comments regarding it, they almost make it out to be a total gamebreaker, when it's not.

Basic point, if you're going to complain about a game, make it so with decent points. Not because the menu doesn't look purrty.

Why care about Skyrim's menu?
Because It makes the game very troublesome to play and hard to navigate, "duuh!"

I really love this weird argument. It shows many of the "Skyrim's target players" are lack of common sense, lack of experience and lack of empathy.
This may be their first (or almost first) game, therefore they will expect everything the game gives.

However, this is not our first game, some of us played every elder scrolls games on PC, and get used on what kind of UI can be handful on cRPGs.

Let me give an example about why we should care Skyrim's menus.
In the combat, I need to drink a potion. For this, I need to open the compass, go to items, select potions, scroll down and look to every item on the list to find the correct one.
After that I need to cast a different spell, may be a frost rune? OK, Open the compass again, go to magic, select proper school, and find your spell under a text list. Select the spell, close the menu, cast the spell. Then I need to use my bow. What should I do? Open the compass, go to items, select weapons, equip bow, equip arrow. Close the menu again, back to combat. If you need to melee again, you need to follow these steps again.

You see, it is time wasting, tiresome, boring and useless menu system for us.
You can say "you still can cast spells, so it is not problem",
Then I ask you, you will still walk with a torn, ripped sneakers, but will it be comfortable and enjoyable?
That is the problem.

Let me describe how can a "good interface" be:

before:
http://i.imgur.com/CahCf.jpg

after:
http://i.imgur.com/4NgHv.jpg

If you tell "why should I care about your problems on the menu?"
then, this is a sign of lack of empathy.

 

[VladG]

I've been seeing numerous threads and articles complaining about Skyrim's interface and menu and what I just can't understand is...why? Why does it matter if the menu is slightly worse than it was in Oblivion? Does it still work for you? Can you still get to your items? Is at least partially organized? Yes, yes, and yes. So why make a big fuss over it? Judging from the tone of many of the comments regarding it, they almost make it out to be a total gamebreaker, when it's not.

Basic point, if you're going to complain about a game, make it so with decent points. Not because the menu doesn't look purrty.

It's not about being "purrty", in fact, aesthetically the menu looks great, the finest so far. HOWEVER, in terms of usability (and that's what counts) the menu is a mess. For a game that encourages various types of dinamic play, having to trek through 3-4 layers of text based menus just to change my freaking spell is, actually, quite game breaking.

I understand that the game was designed for consoles, but so was Oblivion, and hell, even Morrowind came out on the xbox, and both those games had FAR better menu systems, so the console thing is NOT an excuse.

And harping on the UI is a very valid complaint. The UI is how you interact with the game and the game world, and for a game like Skyrim where you DO spend a lot of time in the menus, it's a bad design oversight.

 

[Craorach]

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.

I'm not going to deny that, sometimes, perhaps even often.. PC gamers blame consoles for things that are just poor design choices all around.

This menu system, however... when you compare it to similar PC orientated titles, is clearly designed with console controllers in mind and hasn't been sufficiently reworked to make it even remotely convenient or conventional for PC users. It may be poorly implemented even on the consoles, but on the PC it becomes a real chore, made more so because of the super minimal general UI means little to no information is accessible without digging into it.

 

[Craorach]

Let me describe how can a "good interface" be:

before:
http://i.imgur.com/CahCf.jpg

after:
http://i.imgur.com/4NgHv.jpg

If you tell "why should I care about your problems on the menu?"
then, this is a sign of lack of empathy.

Please tell me the second one is a mod available and not just a photoshop..

 

[Hisshiss]

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.

I'm not going to deny that, sometimes, perhaps even often.. PC gamers blame consoles for things that are just poor design choices all around.

This menu system, however... when you compare it to similar PC orientated titles, is clearly designed with console controllers in mind and hasn't been sufficiently reworked to make it even remotely convenient or conventional for PC users. It may be poorly implemented even on the consoles, but on the PC it becomes a real chore, made more so because of the super minimal general UI means little to no information is accessible without digging into it.

Actually now that I really sit back and think about it, alot of Skyrims menus do seem like they would be a nightmare without an analog stick o.o. The PC version actually uses the exact same interface? I guess you guys are actually right about this one then xD.

Doesn't seem like it would be all that hard for them to have unique interfaces for different systems, I mean considering the obscene amount of content in the game you can't really say they didn't put the time investment into it.

 

[VladG]

Let me describe how can a "good interface" be:

before:
http://i.imgur.com/CahCf.jpg

after:
http://i.imgur.com/4NgHv.jpg

If you tell "why should I care about your problems on the menu?"
then, this is a sign of lack of empathy.

Thank you! that is a brilliant menu system, it's still as aesthetically pleasing as the original one, but much, much better to navigate around in.

Just a question, this wouldn't happen to be a work in progress mod would it?

 

[Spoon E11]

Well I do Find them irritating, many times the mouse doesn't work properly I have pressed one option and its given me another. It's not very responsive for those using a mouse and keyboard. I am eagerly awaiting this:

http://forums.bethsoft.com/index.php?/topic/1278538-skyrim-ui-pc-specific-redesign-no-2/page__p__19326414#entry19326414

 

[Levethian]

Looking forward to those UI mods .

Still, it seems that some people can't scroll without breaking down into a fit of tears or rage, given the amount of fuss this is causing.

 

[Elsarild]

I've been seeing numerous threads and articles complaining about Skyrim's interface and menu and what I just can't understand is...why? Why does it matter if the menu is slightly worse than it was in Oblivion? Does it still work for you? Can you still get to your items? Is at least partially organized? Yes, yes, and yes. So why make a big fuss over it? Judging from the tone of many of the comments regarding it, they almost make it out to be a total gamebreaker, when it's not.

Basic point, if you're going to complain about a game, make it so with decent points. Not because the menu doesn't look purrty.

The reason it is annoying is because, it's fricking annoying all the time, it is constantly grinding my gears, I don't have a count of how many times shop owners have closed the browsing window while I was browsing, People have become hostile because it tought that I wanted to intimidate them, rather than persuade them, or the fact that I've wasted 25k on a house I didn't want because the interface blows.

I know I can fix it by using my controller but 1. it should not be necessary for people who don't have this kind of peripherals to go out and buy them to play their game. And 2. I play as a sneaky assassin/theif with a bow, I can't do as well with a controller, I need the finess of a mouse.

You might not think of it as a direct gamebreaker, but when I can't have proper control and that leads to gangs and people attacking me for no reason, wasting my money on shit I don't want, wasting my time by showing me a 3D model of a book thats a copy paste 6 times through my entire list of books, and screwing me over in speechcraft and closing off entire quest lines because of derp-di-doo, it is a gamebreaker.

 

[Wayneguard]

About one in four times, when I open the menu it'll freeze for a few seconds like the game is trying to decide if it really wants to let me unequip my heal spell and equip a sword. That kind of shit is unacceptable. I own a blackberry so I get enough of the nonresponsive menu/freezing bullshit on that front. I do not need it in my game.

 

[Flames66]

Why care about the menus? Because I have to use them to do anything. (or I will when I get the game anyway)

 

[Levethian]

I don't have a count of how many times shop owners have closed the browsing window while I was browsing, People have become hostile because it tought that I wanted to intimidate them, rather than persuade them, or the fact that I've wasted 25k on a house I didn't want because the interface blows.

Truth to this, I've done things I didn't mean to a few times and closed the UI unintentionally many times. Thank goodness for autosaves.

 

[ThisJustin]

I don't get the complaints either. Like someone said before if you get used to the idea of using the keys instead of the mouse, it work fine. I actually find that it I move through the menus very fast and fluid. So call me crazy, but it works great for me. Also, the look of the menus is good IMO. Every item detailed, the transparency allows me to see my character and what I'm equipping. The favorite allow me quick access and I can assign my ultra-favs to the # keys. I think it's all very over blown, and shows some peoples stubbornness to adjust to an interface. "but I shouldn't have to adjust" you say, that's just being hard headed. Like the mouse keys controlling the opposite hand, just go in the controls and switch it. I did in the first few minutes of play. All I hear is "I don't like all this streamlining of games" and then they turn around and say "why doesn't this game intuitively play how I'm personally comfortable with". Oh well, I guess because the keys work better than the mouse in conversations and menus that makes this a console port, and complete shit, instead people just being a little lazy. Not everything's perfect, and nothing ever will be.

 

[ThisJustin]

I don't have a count of how many times shop owners have closed the browsing window while I was browsing, People have become hostile because it tought that I wanted to intimidate them, rather than persuade them, or the fact that I've wasted 25k on a house I didn't want because the interface blows.

Truth to this, I've done things I didn't mean to a few times and closed the UI unintentionally many times. Thank goodness for autosaves.

Use the keys and not the mouse and you won't have any problems. It works faster too.

 

[Weslebear]

hmm.. people are complaining about this? i find the new menus very intuitive and user friendly.

Same, until I came on here I hadn't heard of any hate for the UI at all and I know a fair number of people playing the game.

I play on PC and I haven't noticed anything annoying yet.

 

[Ace of Spades]

I'm playing on the PC with an Xbox controller, and the menu occasionally doesn't register when I move the control stick left or right to access a menu, which does a pretty thorough job of breaking the flow when I want to drink a potion during a fight with a dragon.