Character Record/Sheet UI Feedback
Franpa
Member Posts: 637
Baldur's Gate EE v1.3: http://imgur.com/fxcFzwi
Baldur's Gate EE v2.0 Beta: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=642060260
Baldur's Gate 2 EE v1.3: http://imgur.com/kn6H85f
Baldur's Gate 2 EE v2.0 Beta: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=642059874
Provide feedback for this UI here.
Baldur's Gate EE v2.0 Beta: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=642060260
Baldur's Gate 2 EE v1.3: http://imgur.com/kn6H85f
Baldur's Gate 2 EE v2.0 Beta: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=642059874
Provide feedback for this UI here.
Post edited by Franpa on
4
Comments
I think, apart from buggy parts, my biggest gripe with the new Character Records/sheet is, as @GreenWarlock already put it eloquently in the Inventory discussion, is the lack of 'flavour'. It just misses the same touch the old screens had. It misses a bit of colouring and with that beige colour that is just everywhere in the new version, it looks bland and unattractive.
Furthermore, with the old screens on the pc you only had to scroll. With the new UI, you have to first click and then scroll, which means one extra operation every time you want to look up something else (this increase in operations is visible throughout the whole v2.0).
Maybe also, reputation could be moved to the 'Character Sheet' screen, as it is now muffled away under proficiences. Maybe even be displayed under the alignment?
I find the neon-blue light of the level up bar when filled truly abysmal. There must be a better and less contrasting way to notify the player of the possibility of levelling.
Remove some of the more annoying scroll bars. E.g. make details being collapsed the default look in the proficiencies and skills tabs.
Rearrange the tabs in order of diminishing usefulness. My suggestion: character sheet, class, combat stats, proficiencies, skills, ability, kit description, inventory, spells, stats, biography.
Find a better place for Reputation and Lore. Maybe they could fit on the character sheet tab under the ability scores and above the status effects?
Instead of XP needed for next level, show the current XP total and the next level XP total near the top of the window. Or make enough room to fit all three. This information should be readily available.
Rename the "stats" tab to "statistics" in order to avoid confusion with "combat stats".
Rename the "ability" tab to "ability effects" for clarity and naming consistency.
New one not only looks worse and a lot more basic, but functionally it provides less info per screen and requires more navigation and clicks overall.
I can't see as much or simply scroll down the right hand panel and see what I'm looking for while at the same time still being able to view my stats and other parameters with ease since everything is segregated by it's own category now in the new one.
Speaking of which these are a bit all over the place. (Apparently Reputation is regarded as a Weapon Proficiency)
The new character screen as is from those shots doesn't even provide all the categories or information clearly. Indeed if that was a thief character in those screenshots, then their 'skills' heading would actually be below the biography panel that we can see there (Kind of out of the way for something that is pretty important) and is actually hidden entirely from view, requiring a scroll down. This is something that took me far too long to figure out as I was scratching my head wondering where the heck my thief abilities were as I played in the Beta recently.
Aesthetically the new one is just so plain and basic and doesn't at all fit in at all with the style and what we've been used to seeing for 2 decades now.
Ultimately and at the end of the day I never had an issue with or even once assumed that these needed replacing anyway, nor did any of my cRPG Baldur's Gate playing friends over the years.
It all just seems sort of arbitrary and out of the blue to change these 'For the sake of change' regardless of whether they even needed to be changed or without concern for the consequences of culling the amount of information or accessibility that us long time fans appreciated from them.
All the rep and praise in the world goes to the first modder to FIX what beamdog has BROKEN here, if the devs are still so adamant about not changing it back.
I don't expect the following suggestion to be implemented but being able to drag 'n' drop tabs to re-arrange them would suit everybody's needs.
In my original post i made a Photoshopped version of the current new Records UI while keeping the flavor of the original:
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/48436/comparing-the-old-and-new-character-record-ui-is-it-final
1) When I scan a list, my gaze tends to go from top to bottom. The closer the tab I'm looking for is to the top of the list, the faster I'll find it. In case of alphabetical ordering I'd need to remember the names of the tabs from memory, and I'd rather just scan for the one I need.
2) The scroll bar usually hides a few tabs on the bottom of the list. The less useful these tabs are, the less often I'll need to scroll the tab list. That would be great! (As long as the game saved your preference.)
When I saw the SoD previews, I had assumed there would be a way to see total xp earned, but this is not the case? That is important information when deciding when to dual-class, especially in the first game, when you need to be sure that sufficient xp remains within the cap to regain your abilities.
For some reason, the alignment of Strength stat relative to character name is bugging me. Partly, it looks like they don't line up properly, but are close. That is exacerbated by the Strength appearing slightly higher than the Char name, which goes against a (Western) intuitive glance of left->right, top->bottom. With the amount of space available in the new layout, I might put the char-name above the stats, and make space for another row on the page-selector.
If we are looking to save space, it might be interesting to incorporate the level-up button into the xp/level area itself.
Can anyone show a screen-shot of a triple-class character? I am guessing the xp row will still be a single row, depicting total xp required for the nearest level, but am curious how it might indicate which of the 3 classes is next in line. 3 xp bars might be preferable, but harder to display.
Taking one last look, I think the most glaring thing is the color shift from the frame to the contents. If we had a similar blue background for the content as used by the frame, rather than the jump to beige, it would be a lot less jarring.
So a change of UI for new players to understand the game easier is logical.
But does it need to be this ugly and bland? Beamdog please, make it look prettier.
Where in this sheet do status effects go?
(rephrased - the effort you folks are putting in is very much appreciated, despite my poor reaction to the initial results)
As for the flavor, I think it would actually look a whole lot better with the old darkened background used in the current screen rather than the tan scroll look. A big, tan rectangle with stuff laid on top of it in the middle of your screen is about as flavorless as it gets. I think it would be vastly improved just by reapplying the existing "theme" to this new screen. Change the background and the selection/highlight colors to match, add some nice looking borders between the three columns and between any subdivisions, and put a border around the portrait, and I think you'll have a decent looking screen.
To be honest, I really like the one that @00zim00 mocked up in that other thread. It still suffers from the fact that its left column is still just a text dump, but that could be cleaned up just by turning the headings (Level, Proficiencies, Saving Throws, etc) into clickables that show/hide the details on click. Other than that I think it's really nice, and it's my favorite concept that I've seen or heard. That said, I don't hate the current beta screen, it just needs some artistic love and (apparently) some cleanup.
I also have to say, in general, I think it's great that there's effort going into the new UIs. There seem to be a lot of veteran players who like the old screen, but I've been playing for a long time myself and I think those old UIs are and always have been terrible. A long, scrollable, jumbled text dump for your stats and everything else is barely even a UI at all. Yes, we've all gotten used to it, but that doesn't mean it's good.
1. Higher contrast font for the tab list. Having dark text on a dark background is not good for visibility.
2. It would be nice if the character record remembered what tab you were on last, that way you can decide what info is available when it is first opened.
3. Remove the "inventory" tab, this is redundant information (we have an inventory screen for this).
Also I am very glad they did away with the "wall of text" that the character record used to have, I can actually find the information I am looking for now.
2. Expirience progress bar is pretty, but it's nonsensical that it not dispay "current/total". Where did you get that 'xp left to lvl up staff', from some MMORPG? This bar is on the screen all the time when charsheet open and this bar shows absolutely useless information (hint: how many players ever asked for this in last fifteen years?). If it's on the screen all the time than I want current/total score, it's more important and informative and useful. I believe I can handle substraction pretty well, and If I'm suddenly drunk and can not than progress bar itself is enough for me. And don't tell me that you did it just because nobody in your team knows what to do with double/triple classes.
3. Inventory part - why is it even here? Seriously guys, for what purpose I come to that screen when a have normal inventory screen? What I suppose to see here?
4. Overall on graphic part UI is a major step back. It was rich, it was eerie, and now it's just some accounter log book. Look at the old BG1 screen, at at old BG2 screen, at prev. version BG:EE1/2 screens. Guys, you supposed to 'enhance' things. Not broke them.
Yeah, if for whatever reason Beamdog is adamant about making change for something that doesn't even need change nor was ever asked for in the first place; then do precisely what they did and posted in those bloody amazing looking mock-up screenshots.
Still has the big Info panel with everything in one familar place in the same familiar order that I am used to and prefer, ontop of the categories tabs that other new players might want. Caters to everyone.
Most of all it actually still fits aesthetically and looks exactly like something from Baldur's Gate.
Think that's a winner.
I might be nitpicking but its a very out of place and noticeable element borrowed from the old priest/mage screen. That shape/area is used to add a click-able button/arrow on the left and right side which is used to scroll though menus. Besides looking strange it actually makes me think like they planned to have all the menu options scroll-able by those buttons and then removed it last minute before the settled on the final look but never went back to fix it.
I know its a small thing.. but its one of those things that once its seen it cant be unseen. Would be nice to fix that oversight up unless they plan to return the buttons.