Thoughts on the New UI

[Esk]

Well as we are (well i think we still are) being allowed addons, hopefully that also means we'll be able to reskin the ui. And I'm hopeful that means the menus as well, but well thats more a hope lol.

It fits with a mmo (and at 1st glance it is ok), it's not very fantasy/FF a bit more Sci-fi fantasy but still..

Edit:

I'm not one to typically nitpick the hell out of a post, but on this subject, I must inform you that you are far from correct. COD did not set the standard for anything.

• Halo: 11/15/2001
• Medal of Honor: Frontline: 11/9/2002
• Counter Strike: 11/18/2003
• Halo 2: 11/9/2004
• Call of Duty: Finest Hour: 11/16/2004

Halo most certainly set the standard for "Xbox". Which continued onto Xbox 360. The first COD, was PC only. I never played those terrible games, so, I was not even sure what COD was first on Xbox but it appears to be Finest Hour.

Anyways, I'm not trying to be a jerk, I just can't stand by idly while someone doesn't acknowledge Halo for all it achieved.

lol i tried explaining that about EQ (and many many others) Vs WoW (on the wow forums). My god the flames were impressive took me a week just to stop giggling when i thought about the rage they must have had while typing..
People only remember the latest big thing or their 1st mmo/game unfortunately.

[Eruantien]

lol i tried explaining that about EQ (and many many others) Vs WoW (on the wow forums). My god the flames were impressive took me a week just to stop giggling when i thought about the rage they must have had while typing..
People only remember the latest big thing or their 1st mmo/game unfortunately.

Similarly to people saying ffxi copied wow, even though xi came out 2 years prior.

Edit. And I would say goldeneye was the first fps, but I guess that didn't have duel joysticks

[darkm0d]

Similarly to people saying ffxi copied wow, even though xi came out 2 years prior.

Edit. And I would say goldeneye was the first fps, but I guess that didn't have duel joysticks

Hah, yeah. I twitch when people toute WoW as the first MMO. Also agreed with 007. And shortly after, Perfect Dark. But his post pointed at Xbox, so that what I touched base on. Also, if you go back and try to play 007/PD, you're like OMG HOW DID I EVER MANAGE THIS.

(Side note) Halo 1 has a "Legacy" thumbstick layout thats a homage to 007/PD. It emulates how those controls schemes worked for those seeking that retro feel.

[Matsume]

Similarly to people saying ffxi copied wow, even though xi came out 2 years prior.

Edit. And I would say goldeneye was the first fps, but I guess that didn't have duel joysticks

007 Goldeneye for Nintendo 64 - 25 August 1997. Paintball Mode. Legit, hands down, best FPS of it's time. NEver forget this. Then Halo, then Counter Strike imo...

Edit: Perfect Dark, how could I forget /shame

[Vanguard319]

[B]Edit: Perfect Dark, how could I forget /shame

Perfect Dark: only game I know of to have decent AI bots in multiplayer, and a sniper rifle that can insta-kill you from anywhere on the map. (loved that gun)

[fusional]

i'm not sure i agree that it isn't a Final Fantasy-esque UI. have you played 13 or 13-2? it's slick and funtional, not futuristic. i don't really get it. is it supposed to be more blocky?

and now for some nitpicking of my own:

lol i tried explaining that about EQ (and many many others) Vs WoW (on the wow forums). My god the flames were impressive took me a week just to stop giggling when i thought about the rage they must have had while typing..
People only remember the latest big thing or their 1st mmo/game unfortunately.

EQ UI was a complete mess of pure garbage. the two UIs aren't comparable in any way. otherwise- EQ 2 and WoW were released in the same month, and either any similarities are purely coincidental or if one copied the other it's impossible to tell which was which considering they followed similar development cycles.

if you're talking about things other than UIs in a UI thread, then i don't think it's any secret that blizzard borrowed heavily from its predecessors. i don't recall anyone ever calling it revolutionary. blizzard simply looked at what other MMOs did wrong and corrected it, and then took what they did right and raised the bar. calling WoW the 'latest big thing' does it a tremendous disservice and only serves to highlight your bias. WoW isn't the 'latest big thing'- it's the biggest thing *ever* in the MMO world. nothing has come close to it before or since, and whether you like it or not this is objectively true. mmodata.net should address any of your concerns with this statement.

people only seem to remember whatever they've seen through nostalgia goggles.

[Esk]

i'm not sure i agree that it isn't a Final Fantasy-esque UI. have you played 13 or 13-2? it's slick and funtional, not futuristic. i don't really get it. is it supposed to be more blocky?

and now for some nitpicking of my own:



EQ UI was a complete mess of pure garbage. the two UIs aren't comparable in any way. otherwise- EQ 2 and WoW were released in the same month, and either any similarities are purely coincidental or if one copied the other it's impossible to tell which was which considering they followed similar development cycles.

if you're talking about things other than UIs in a UI thread, then i don't think it's any secret that blizzard borrowed heavily from its predecessors. i don't recall anyone ever calling it revolutionary. blizzard simply looked at what other MMOs did wrong and corrected it, and then took what they did right and raised the bar. calling WoW the 'latest big thing' does it a tremendous disservice and only serves to highlight your bias. WoW isn't the 'latest big thing'- it's the biggest thing *ever* in the MMO world. nothing has come close to it before or since, and whether you like it or not this is objectively true. mmodata.net should address any of your concerns with this statement.

people only seem to remember whatever they've seen through nostalgia goggles.

It was an overall concept and functionality i was bring up, I'll never argue that blizzard didn't polish and play a major part in setting the "standard" we have today as far as the UI goes and a lot of other things too, but WoW did little that was new as you said, they just did it more polished, eventually.
It did have enough UI and other issues in the 1st months it's self as have all mmo's.
But EQ was just the earliest example i personally remember, but there were a number between those dates (SWG/DaoC for example) that did have a much more similar UI, which is why i stated and others.

But lol at the bias comment, maybe my rose tinted glasses just have a little less tint on them then yours.
Many MMO's/games achieved a lot for their time but that passed and others such as WoW took the titles.
As i'm sure eventually something will do to WoW/CoD and a number of other titles, it happens games and people move on with newer games/people eventually taking their place..
WoW came along at time when MMO popularity was really just getting some steam under its belt, and WoW was the best option available,and came from a long franchise of well know and loved games.
DoaC,EvE,WoW,SWG and other will all have a place in my mind as greats of their time.
With EvE being the only one i still follow.

But to make the point i only stopped playing WoW as the number of people i had know for many years gaming slowly dwindled as we all grew up and had other things in our lives, add to that the new content didn't interest me in the way it had previously, i went looking for something new.
I have no issue with the game in any form, it just no long holds any interest for me beyond nostalgia.

But still sorry OP, I'd only intended my 1st comment to be a reply to someone not this

[Mihana]

I don't mean the layout really. For example I love that cross-style they use for the gamepad setting. I think that will be used possibly on PC too and if so that's gonna be awesome. But okay let's take this picture for example:



Look in the top right hand corner of the image. See the connection icon? It feels out of place a little to me. Let's view a few more pieces. The HP/MP/TP bars for example, the Level bar is another. In fact if you go back to the concept art they released back when 2.0 was first announced you'll see a bit more what I mean. The style, rather the theme I guess to be more accurate, feels a little too futuristic.

They really do look nice, I don't deny that at all. My only concern was that it felt a little too futuristic in the theme and appearance to suit the setting for FFXIV. By setting I mean the world, Hydaelyn if you want to be technical. Anyway I don't know if I'll use a reskin or not, depends if it can be minimal and still look well made. In past games I've played that support the whole "reskinning" deal often they have little bugs in them or glitches that just don't look as good as the original.

Maybe this is just one example of the UI themes available, I recall in FFXI (In fact most FF games offered alternate themes including the console titles.) there were varying window styles on top of the default original one. Guess we'll have to see.

[Eruantien]

Well it was a said, no idea how truthfully, that any good ui mods could make it to ps3 with options to turn them on, so maybe in the future you can change the style/theme similarly to how you can on a board forum.

With them added officially, hopefully the bugs will be minimal

[Hulan]

The UI doesn't really bother me, and I make somewhat of a study of such things. It may just come down to the fact that the Dev team wanted a crisp, clean feel to the UI. It is extremely difficult to make a "fantasy" feel UI without making the whole thing feel kind of muddy. Like all things dealing with visual ascetics, it's a matter of personal preference though.

I would go out on a limb and suggest that the problem you have is probably the relatively high saturation and brightness of the colors. It tends to give UIs a cool (temperature), sharp, futuristic feel even while using warm colors. I would go as far as to guarentee you that if you kept the exact same layout, shape, everything, but lowered the brightness by about 20%, and the saturation by a tick, no more than 3%, it would have a much more earthy, warm feel that you personally would find much more appealing.

Personally, I kind of like where it is right now. The Final Fantasy franchise has had plenty of entries that skirt the fantasy sci-fi line so hard that it became more than a little blurry. This isn't really one of those games, but I tend to forgive a little bit of context insensitivity for a nice bright, clean interface like this. That's very much personal preference though.