UI/action bar question...

[Arcell]

If I recall correctly, the last game I remember seeing with fast-paced combat and a classic menu was Kingdom Hearts. It kind of worked there but for things you used with any decent frequency you just put them on the shortcut menu. Anytime you had to actually navigate the menu in the middle of combat it was pretty cumbersome. For gamepad users especially it's a bit of a nightmare, trying to move your character with the left stick while repositioning your camera with the right stick and navigating menus with the D-pad, not to mention selecting those options as well.

It works best in slower paced games, FFXIV I think is just fast enough that it would be detrimental.

[Wolfie]

If I recall correctly, the last game I remember seeing with fast-paced combat and a classic menu was Kingdom Hearts. It kind of worked there but for things you used with any decent frequency you just put them on the shortcut menu. Anytime you had to actually navigate the menu in the middle of combat it was pretty cumbersome. For gamepad users especially it's a bit of a nightmare, trying to move your character with the left stick while repositioning your camera with the right stick and navigating menus with the D-pad, not to mention selecting those options as well.

It works best in slower paced games, FFXIV I think is just fast enough that it would be detrimental.

Kingdom hearts with a menu based combat worked because it was single player. If other people are depending on you to perform well, and you are purposely handicapping yourself despite that, then you don't deserve to be part of the group.