Redesigning and Overhauling the interface.

[Isiolia]

I'd like to see the option to increase the font size or the DPI of the interface or something along those lines.

If I actually run FFX on my HTPC at the resolution of my TV (1920x1080), the text is too small to read without scooching a chair up to a few feet away from the screen. The PS2 and 360 versions don't have that problem so much, since they're running at a lower resolution anyway.

It's not something that you'd typically run across, since on a desktop computer, even at higher resolutions, things are perfectly visible. However, if there was a massive UI overhaul it might be something to include.

[Epical]

Remember, this game's UI was made in 2000-2002 (almost 7-9 years ago), with obviously NO thought to expanding it once hardware allowed it to do so (in terms of third party customization, etc). So all of these fancy new resolutions and >15" displays we have are for the most part going to go unused, for the same reason a decked out computer in 2003 can run it the same as a decked out computer can now.

I guess we just have to be thankful for the registry edits we can do.

[Gasgul]

a static 7 lines of text to display every game message is clearly enough, ?

or

your doing it wrong!, ?

you pick,

[BRP]

I'm not sure if it would fall under PS2 limitations, but I always thought it made sense that your status effects appear and switch with your linkshell/bazaar on a 3 or 4 second rotation.

[The Stig]

That mock UI is "ok", but you can't see your own TP!!!

What the hell was the designer thinking.

[Rhianu]

Oh wow, so many responses. Okay, gonna have a lot of quotes here people, so prepare yourself. :3

Personally, I was looking through some of your ideas, and found them to actually add to the convolution rather than solve it. I don't want to have to go through 2-3 SUB-menus in order to find something, when in reality, it was easier to access BEFORE changes.

Also, I get the feeling like your ideas here are spurred by a person on the GameFAQs message boards, and it was a person named GaminGrandma. I'm not so sure that this is the audience SE was targeting when they first started working on FFXI (the grandparent age)... maybe choose your battles?

Having to navigate through a bunch of sub-menus is a perfectly valid concern, but it only applies to a few of the buttons I moved. But then, I never said that my redesign was in any way finished or complete. There's still much work that needs to be done on it. That's why I put "Part 1" at the top. For Part 1, my goal was mostly just to simplify the surface menus and eliminate unneeded and unnecessary buttons. In Part 2, I'll most likely work on redesigning the sub-menus so that you don't have to click through a bunch of crap just to get the information you want.

And actually, I was spurred on by my own dissatisfaction with the interface. The post made by GaminGrandma was just something that I happened to stumble across and decided to save for future use to help show how the interface is confusing to new players. And as for the thing about target audiences, I think the fact that she had 12 years of prior experience playing PC games is proof enough that she's not your average grandparent. And I don't care how old someone is, if they've got 12 years of experience with PC games, and they can't figure out how to do something as simple as reconfigure the keyboard, there's something wrong with the interface.

Personally, I'm very used to using the escape key to untarget things, and it just doesn't feel like a place that a menu belongs. What's more, moving things from the main menu into a new "sorta-main" menu doesn't really constitute simplification. It's true that I never actually use certain menu options like region map, magic or current time, but that's because it's much easier to type /rmap or /clock, or press alt-i or alt-m.

A duel option would be extremely useful to build TP or remove sleep, and for that reason will never happen. Unless you want to suggest some contrived way of making it into useless fluff, like wiping TP upon exiting duel mode, and making it impossible to enter while asleep or bound, but in that case why would you want it? Just to show random people how fast they can get oneshotted?

Pretty much every other PC game I've ever played has used the Esc key to pause the game or bring up some sort of menu or something. And the reason I split up the Commands menu and moved some of the buttons to the new Start menu is because it seemed illogical to have game buttons and system buttons all mixed together. That is, things that deal with your character or the game world should be kept in a separate menu from things that deal with configuring the system or controls. For example, things like Quests and Equipment should be kept in a separate menu from things like screen resolution and keyboard settings.

And about the fact that you're accustomed to using the Esc key to un-target things... well, I think that pressing Alt+Tilde (~) to do that instead works just as well. Sure, it might take a bit of getting used to since you're used to the current control scheme, but once you did, I don't think you'd notice much of a difference anymore.

And as for the Duel option, I would want it because PvP is awesome. :3

my only beef here is that magic and abilities are in the big menu because you can sort them in that menu alone. which I do often, and removing them would make it impossible to do so.

so, don't remove them from there

Or, how about we just allow players to sort them from the smaller Action menu? That way, we can still reduce the number of unnecessary buttons, and you still get to keep the ability to organize your spells and abilities the way you like.

There will be no interface that EVERYONE will prefer, so I'd rather they just focus on game elements that it.

Hehe, yeah, that's probably true. What they need to do is just allow legalized addons like WoW has. That way, people who don't like the interface can just make their own. Everyone's happy. :D

This, and when I go into my menu to find a spell, i would like if 2/3rds of the alliance didn't disappear... ><

It does that due to resolution limitations of the PS2 and Xbox 360. On the PC version, there's so much wasted and empty space since you can't have more than one menu open at a time, but on the the other versions, there simply isn't room to have more than one menu open at a time. Though to be honest, I think it's rather kind of dumb that SE tries to keep the menus exactly the same for all three versions of the game. I think what they should do is create two totally different interfaces: one for consoles, and one for PCs. Just because two people are using different interfaces from each other, that doesn't automatically mean one person has any sort of advantage over the other person. In fact, I think that forcing both players to use the same interface when only one of those players is using a system for which the interface was optimized is what really creates an unfair advantage.

I kinda like having the Trade option available from the main menu as well as the little menu. >.>; It doesn't happen often, but every once in a blue moon, I need to be traded something in battle. I'm one of those awful "just in case" people.

This is a legitimate concern. However, you've arrived at the wrong solution to the problem. You yourself admitted that this is an edge-case scenario (it only happens every once in a blue moon), and keeping an extra button right on the surface of the interface simply for the sake of rare edge-case scenarios does not constitute good or user-friendly design. Instead of simply keeping that extra Trade button, I think a better solution would to just take Siralin's idea and add a /trade <t> function to the game. That way, in those rare cases that you need to trade during battle, you can simple target the player you want to trade with and type /trade.

[ShiggidySchwah]

am i the only one who finds it humorous that the self purported designer is looking over other incredibly massive game flaws (hi2u puppet master) and focusing on something as trivial as an interface that you might have to read the fucking manual for?

shit, takushii, they already coined a fucking term for that

[Rhianu]

I'm well aware that there are problems with job balance, but I think it would be incredibly foolish to say that there are no problems with the interface.

And yes, I suppose I do sort of purporte myself to be a designer, but an interface designer. The classes I've taken and the books I've read all focus on teaching you how to create interfaces that are user-friendly. Making job classes that are well-balanced is a whole different ball park.

[ShiggidySchwah]

there are a lot of things wrong with ffxi, and in order of importance, a messy ui is waaaaaaay down there

ill start caring when you actually develop said interface mod

[Rhianu]

I disagree. I think a messy UI is among the most important things, taking precedence even above problems such as job balance. In fact, the only problems I can think of that are more important than a bad UI are the horribly slow, mind-numbing pace of leveling and LFG times (though LFG times look like they might be getting fixed in this next update ).

[Correction]

Speaking of things they've coined a phrase for, repeatedly posting in a topic with 'I don't care for this topic' is one half of the BRP Rule. Guess what the second half is.

[ShiggidySchwah]

thats not really a fair call because i just dont like takushii

[Rhianu]

BRP Rule? What's that?

[Kabbalah]

I'm guessing it has something to do with Banning.

But seriously, the GUI is definitely one of the most important parts of anything having to do with a computer, much less an RPG, and while the in-game balance of FFXI and the problems with the GUI may seem unrelated, both of them give a new user two very different sorts of headache that are focused on the same thing: FFXI. It's a lot like saying that an adjustable steering wheel and an ergonomic radio have nothing to do with each other, but when they're contained within the same environment (for this example, a car), then the connection between the two becomes more obvious.

The idea behind any GUI isn't to make the user look for an instruction manual, but to be so intuitive that a new user can take a quick look at the UI and know what a good 60% of the stuff on the screen does or what it's going to lead to. If you need to read the instruction manual or ask an online forum how to perform the most rudimentary of tasks, or you need to use a calculator to find out something as elementary as how much accuracy your character has, then there is something very wrong with the UI.

[Rhianu]

If you need to read the instruction manual or ask an online forum how to perform the most rudimentary of tasks, or you need to use a calculator to find out something as elementary as how much accuracy your character has, then there is something very wrong with the UI.

Finally! Someone understands!

I keep trying to explain this simple concept to people on GameFAQs, but they just don't get it.

[ronin sparthos]

This one? Because its pretty sweet~

http://i334.photobucket.com/albums/m...f0fd5ffgg3.jpg

http://i334.photobucket.com/albums/m...s/d0a12b46.jpg

http://i334.photobucket.com/albums/m...s/bbc18f77.jpg

I actually like the little avatar, though it could be made slightly smaller. It'd be a good way to display status effects on a player.

Its kinda retarded that you cannot see status effects on another player or what status effects are on an enemy monster.

The idea behind any GUI isn't to make the user look for an instruction manual, but to be so intuitive that a new user can take a quick look at the UI and know what a good 60% of the stuff on the screen does or what it's going to lead to. If you need to read the instruction manual or ask an online forum how to perform the most rudimentary of tasks, or you need to use a calculator to find out something as elementary as how much accuracy your character has, then there is something very wrong with the UI.

Kab also presents a good point. The lack of being able to see sooooooooo many things is part of what pushes the playerbase to 3rd party tools. You cant tell what your Ranged Accuracy is, cant tell what your Ranged Attack is - these are things that certain jobs pride themselves on but are mysteriously absent?

[Priran]

the lack of a visual representation for status effects is something that's always bugged me about ffxi. not only do most other MMOs have them, most other final fantasies have them.

[Rhianu]

Oh yeah, I know. Like with the Sleep spell, for example, why can't a monster or player that is under the effect of Sleep just have a little animated "Zzz" icon above their heads? The icon appears briefely when you actually cast Sleep on the mob, but then it disappears as soon as the animation is finished. Why can't it just STAY there? And for Poison... make the character pulse a green hue. That way, you can instantly tell if any player or mob is Poisoned just by looking at them.

[Colenzo]

I would be so much happier if on PC the macro pallete didnt lag when you tried to open it.

[Tymon]

PS2 Limitations can answer just about every question in this thread.