One thing that really pisses me off about the FFXI community

I think the OP means most people simply do not like reading instructions on how to play a pc game and would rather not. And that reading a book on H.C.I. will tell you this.

However, it's still a conscious choice people make. Read manuals, or figure out how to move your character on your own. And there are some fairly obvious keys you'd press first to see if they work, in my opinion (that's playing on pc with a keyboard, idk about other consoles or using a controller, but I honestly can't picture that being much harder).

Anyway, I'm kind of left with the impression going by the title of this thread, and OP's posts, that they made this thread to pick a fight lol.

Double post go!

If a new player ends up not wanting to play because figuring out how to move their character is too complicated, chances are they wouldn't last long anyway, since this game does require some effort to get things done.

aside from walking i find wow much more confusing than this game, take stats on gear, theres fking tons of lines of all kinds of stats on wow, i have absolute no clue what they do or anything, in this game its like "attack+5", or "str+5", thats it, nothing more, it does what it says.

I like XI ui how it is, i found it very simple, i didnt get stuck at first cuse i just buttons i figured would work and finally found the dpad of use. And now i absolutely love them controls over anything, i was furious when XIV couldnt use arrow for camera.

a lot of windower plugins dont aid much tho, TP fair enough but it takes away "communication", when people make /p <tp> and stuff, it'd just be "i see ur tp, i will go when u go" and end of story lol, so i see why they didnt include it, and EXP bar idk i loved not being able to see it, cuse then i'd never know when i was about to level and i had a concept of mystery that made levelling not feel like "ugh 3000 exp to go....." etc. I hate that its now forced on XIV. I hate being constantly reminded that my x kills only takes me up a small amount on the bar.

minimap fair enough be nice but again i dont care much for it, i like stopping and checking map and planning my way, eventually learning it, on XIV i only use it to find direction of levemobs, other than that its useless to me.

better icons like the ui theme provides would be a nice addition.

(my thread on interface features) I think I put it in the wrong forum, since it hasn't gotten much discussion. Just thought I'd link it here for potential mature discussion :)

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Originally Posted by Tamoa

I think the OP means most people simply do not like reading instructions on how to play a pc game and would rather not. And that reading a book on H.C.I. will tell you this.

However, it's still a conscious choice people make. Read manuals, or figure out how to move your character on your own. And there are some fairly obvious keys you'd press first to see if they work, in my opinion (that's playing on pc with a keyboard, idk about other consoles or using a controller, but I honestly can't picture that being much harder).

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I agree with this. Ignorance is not an excuse

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Originally Posted by Tamoa

Read manuals, or figure out how to move your character on your own.

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God forbid the game actually TELL YOU how to walk. -_-

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Originally Posted by Tamoa

And there are some fairly obvious keys you'd press first to see if they work, in my opinion (that's playing on pc with a keyboard, idk about other consoles or using a controller, but I honestly can't picture that being much harder).

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You may think it's obvious, but the fact that so many people have had so much trouble with it over the years is irrefutable proof that it's not.

Though this particular problem only applies to the PC version. No one ever has trouble figuring out how to walk on the PS2 or Xbox 360 versions because the walking controls on both of those versions follow the standard convention for their platforms (i.e. character movement is done with the left analogue stick). Using the numpad as character movement is highly unconventional for a PC game, and because FFXI needlessly breaks with convention, it causes an immense amount of confusion for new players.

Compare this to FFXIV. Now yes, FFXIV does have a lot of UI problems of its own, but one thing SE got right was setting the default character movement controls to WASD, which is the conventional standard for PC games, just like the left analogue stick is the conventional standard for console games. As a result, no one has had any trouble at all figuring out how to walk in FFXIV like they did in FFXI.

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Originally Posted by Tamoa

If a new player ends up not wanting to play because figuring out how to move their character is too complicated, chances are they wouldn't last long anyway, since this game does require some effort to get things done.

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See, this is one of the things that really bugs me. The FFXI community blames the player for things that are the game's fault (or rather SE's fault, because they designed the game).

No one is quitting the game over the unconventional character controls, but it's still an unnecessary frustration and confusion that the game needlessly dumps upon new players. This confusion could easily be avoided by a better design, so therefore there is no justifiable reason to put players through it.

And the confusing controls are just one example among many. There are countless other ways in which FFXI creates excessive and unnecessary confusion for new players (such as the convoluted map system, configuration options that seem to be almost deliberately hidden, and the total lack of direction, just to name a few).

And besides, the fact that there are more complicated things later on does not mean it's okay for the beginning of the game to be counter-intuitive. The game can teach players everything they need to know along the way. There is no excuse for just dropping the players on their head and expecting them to figure out everything on their own.

That's the thing though, they don't have to figure out everything on their own. They can pick up the instruction manual and read.

Well, obviously, this is low priority(if at all) for SE. If you want it done try to make a generous donation to SE to persuade them, idgaf.

That or get everyone to complain like mad. Works for FF14.

Arrow keys confuse me. :(

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Originally Posted by Rhianu

Any game that requires the player to read the manual is poorly designed. A good, well designed interface should be so intuitive that no instruction is necessary, or if that's not possible then all the pertinent instructions should be presented within the game itself. Any interface that requires users to turn to an outside source for instruction, whether that instruction be in a manual or on a website, is counter-intuitive.

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What? Since when should it be counter productive to read an instruction manual? A good, well informed player should at least read how to interact with the game before diving head first. To claim the opposite is just plain asinine.

You keep claiming the UI is so convoluded, and contrived, but you hven't really given any examples outside that you just say it is. If you want a productive thread, come up with a comprehensible, coherent, logically sound argument; present it in a fashionable manner; and discuss the results. Do not insult those who think you made a poor attempt at presentation.