Skyrim - PC Interface Frustration @ GamaSutra

Arkadia7 said:

There are reviews talking about the interface being terrible for the PC on Amazon as well. Hopefully it can be tweaked in a substantial way to be customized for the PC by mods in the future. Too bad Bethesda didn't put more effort into their PC customers and apparently thought their console interface was "good enough". Also, many complaints that the game can't be played offline disconnected from steam without crashing eventually.

Click to expand...

I'm telling you, to me it is one of the better easier to use interfaces I have used in an rpg. I love the way it seperates the inventory. Don't go by all this "it is horrible" before you try it. Also, if your waiting months to play it to avoid all these "huge" bugs, I think you are missing out since it is nowhere near that bad. If you have played the witcher 2, it played worse on release then this does.

JDR, just get over it already, I should have known better then to joke with you.

To sum it up, interface is really unintuitive for anyone used to use the mouse (meaning everyone), but once you get hang of it (forget the ESC, the mouse etc) there are only a few mostly small problems with it:

- Skills/perks interface - good looking yet unusable
- Inventory doesn't provide the info it should - weight of the items, their cost, damage etc. - all the info Oblivion managed to put on the screen yet still was criticized for poor console-like interface.
- Keybinding is a pain.
- Hotkeying items/skills should be available directly from the inventory.

Game itself I won't comment, as I would sound unbelievably positive

This is what I've found with the key bindings

Character menu key = exit menu key

Switch POV = Set Favorite in inventory

Tab key = exit menu key

Enter = Use/consume (can't be bound to Set favorite, or you will consume that rare potion when you're trying to favorite it)

R key = take everything when looting, drop item in inventory.

These might not be exactly right, it's hard to keep track of. I use a Belkin Nostromo (gaming keyboard with enough keys for just left hand). The advantage is two keys can perform more than one function, if set up correctly, and save on button real estate. I have my R key set to 'ready weapons' and it also takes all when looting or drops an item from my bag. But it's still a mess straight out of the box (or rather the download queue)

More here but rather NSFW site
http://www.nakedskins.com/skyrim-nude-skins.shtml

I like the favorites menu, it pauses the game and you can easily grab things you use the most, or set number keys. Once you get used to having number keys bound to various weapons and spells (and potions if you like), it's easy to bring up various combinations of spells and weapons. Hitting 1 and 5 gives me a mace and a sparks spell or hitting 2 gives me the bow. Hitting 1 twice and I'm dual wielding two maces then just hit 5 once and I lose one mace and get the spell back. Or hit 6 and the spell switches to heal. Hit 6 twice and now two heal spells for more power etc. Kind of powerful system.

I've gotten used to the interface and the game is overall a massive improvement over Oblivion, reminding me of some of my favorite open world games (Gothic series, Two World 1) with great exploration, which is to me the MOST important aspect of open world RPGs. I hope it stays this good.

The mouse is fine in game (and I've made some tweaks especially dealing with odd difference in X vs Y sensitivities) but mediocre in menus, and in my experience can't be adjusted. Yes keyboard control is possible but the mouse should be easier to control in a PC.

Daddy32 said:

To sum it up, interface is really unintuitive for anyone used to use the mouse (meaning everyone),

Click to expand...

It's funny because obviously PC gaming requires just as much (if not more) comfort using the keyboard, yet people hate using it for menus. Mouse menus aren't faster, so I wonder why that is.

Dhruin said:

Well, I never need to read anything written by Eric Schwartz again. The interface certainly isn't perfect but that ridiculous hyperbole deserves ridicule.

Click to expand...

I agree. Never write anything while you're still mad. Just like never go grocery shopping when you're hungry.

Thaurin said:

Oh, good. I was starting to wonder what some of the usual suspects thought of the game. You know, the ones that complained the loudest about Oblivion sometimes. I wonder what Maylander's thinking… he probably already finished the game twice?

Click to expand...

Heh, I just "finished" it with my first character. I'm dividing it into regions and guilds though, so my next two characters will still have a lot of new stuff to do.

Example:
My first character was a fighter, so he completed the Companions guild, but didn't touch Thieves Guild, Mage Guild or Dark Brotherhood. My next character will be a mage, so naturally he'll complete the Mage Guild. The third is a thief who will do Thieves Guild and Dark Brotherhood.

As for regions, I mainly focused on the central part, western part and south eastern part, simply because various quests lead me to those regions. I have not completed the following:
-- Cities --
- Winterhold
- Windhelm
- Solitude
- Dawnstar
- Falkreath

-- Regions --
- South west
- North east
- North (central, area around Solitude)

-- Guilds --
- Thieves Guild
- Mage Guild
- Dark Brotherhood
- Legion
- Stormcloaks

Like I said, I have at least two more characters that will complete various parts of the missing content. The quests are (mostly) as linear as Oblivion, so there's little reason in doing anything but the really fun or rewarding stuff twice. That'll just kill the replay value.

Hmm, perhaps I should just start a thread with my impressions instead of writing it all here..

Maylander said:

Hmm, perhaps I should just start a thread with my impressions instead of writing it all here..

Click to expand...

Yes, you should. What you wrote is exactly what I meant with how (from what I've read of you) tend to walz through a game and explore everything. It turns out quite objective in a way and it's interesting to read.

I like comparing my own experiences with those of others (if they're honest and heart-felt). It's like sharing.

Thaurin said:

Yes, you should. What you wrote is exactly what I meant with how (from what I've read of you) tend to rush through a game and explore very little.

Click to expand...

I fixed that for you.

Made a thread in the Skyrim forum.

And JDR - as I've already explained before, the difference isn't how much I complete, but how I complete it. I play games systematically from the get-go instead of random roaming.

I've completed pretty much every quest in every RPG I've played, but I see no reason to do it all on the same character. That just ruins the replay value, unless I can somehow affect the outcome of the quests. Unlike most, I usually replay newly released RPGs 3-5 times before putting it away to make sure I've seen and done everything there is to do.

Example: I completed the Mage Guild, Thieves Guild, Arena, Dark Brotherhood and Fighter's Guild all on my first character in Oblivion (who was primarily I fighter if I recall correctly). What a mistake - playing it with 2nd character was exceptionally boring. Sure, the style of play was a bit different, but every major quest in the game was exactly the same.

Amazingly great game. Very good UI, I modified several key bindings to fit my own preferences.

I bought both the PC and XBOX versions. I prefer playing the PC version with the XBOX controller. Awsome game!

Maylander said:

And JDR - as I've already explained before, the difference isn't how much I complete, but how I complete it. I play games systematically from the get-go instead of random roaming.

I've completed pretty much every quest in every RPG I've played, but I see no reason to do it all on the same character. That just ruins the replay value, unless I can somehow affect the outcome of the quests. Unlike most, I usually replay newly released RPGs 3-5 times before putting it away to make sure I've seen and done everything there is to do.

Click to expand...

Oh I know, I was just kidding.

I just don't see the fun in purposely skipping so many areas to be in a rush to finish it with a certain character. I guess it's just a difference in play styles. To me, open-world games are meant to be explored and immersed in, even if I plan on replaying it in the future.

I am lvl 16 and am thinking of quitting. I have some major complaints.

The enemy levelling still sucks. If you dont specialise you are screwed.

Finding some places is really really hard.

The UI for pc is retarded i was forced to play it with controller. Why on earth is the menu not clickable with the mouse?

Still a "min maxing" game.

My copy of the game arrived today. I played about 2 hours. I really don't have any problems with the interface. The presentation isn't much to speak of. But functionally, so far, I have no issues with it.

I'm going to play a bit longer before I declare that a lot of people are complaining way too much about the UI, but I'm leaning toward that declaration at this point.

TheMadGamer said:

I agree. Never write anything while you're still mad. Just like never go grocery shopping when you're hungry.

Click to expand...

Yes, this is The Golden Rule Number One, especially within discussions.

But it is part of the human nature to write regardless.

This is an article indicating that ALL signposts are still in English language in an otherwise full (?) into German language translated game - therefore someone (the article says it's a female player & modder) did a "plugin" which translates all signposts, too : http://www.pcgames.de/The-Elder-Scr...um-Download-Leser-News-von-Scharesoft-854267/

The link towards the "plugin" is a well-known German site which has LOTS of Morrowind mods that are originally in English language - fully translated !

Other articles say that even right now there are the first mods out there …

PC without a console controller UI is a disaster. This is possibly the worst keyboard and/or mouse UI I've seen in years and comes in a game that's GOTY candidate for god's sake.

And you probably think I dislike Bethesda so I'm just whining irrationally. Yea, right. If only that was the case. How do you expect me to kill a dragon without your precious controller I don't have with this idiotic UI? Those appear out of thin air on the map (probably random encounters) and I was only level 10 when one attacked me!
While mentioning "random" encounters... Your actions or level trigger certain ones. Bad ones. However I got lucky. If I didn't buy a certain summoning (conjuring) spell and didn't have a sidekick with me on a certain location, when exiting I'd probably be dead when I was attacked by some overpowered sidequestrelated mobs. Why? Because of the goddamned UI I can't put some FPS moving skills in real action against those and must rely on sidekick(s) AI! And that sux. Majorly.

On the positive side, I like (so far easy) puzzles, the game didn't crash anywhere (and I did have that problem with Oblivion), I've yet to see any bug. Also, I've gathered (and partially solved) more than 30 quests so far on only a few visited locations which means it's a huge step upward from FO3 with it's total of 10 quests in the whole game (hehe). So far the game is really interesting.

I just hope I won't be waiting too long for a mod or a patch that will give PC players some better UI as some encounters with this UI are really not fun at all. But annoying.

How do you manipulate items in the menu? We should be able to rotate them, but it's impossible. I tryed pressing "e" and holding pressed but nothing changed

Gragnak said:

How do you manipulate items in the menu? We should be able to rotate them, but it's impossible.

Click to expand...

It´s not impossible.
Hold left mouse button with the pointer being in the area items are displayed in and rotate away by moving the mouse.
Pressing "c" will bring items to a bit closer view.

Dhruin said:

Well, I never need to read anything written by Eric Schwartz again. The interface certainly isn't perfect but that ridiculous hyperbole deserves ridicule.

Click to expand...

Yes it is this kind of stuff that starts the Bethesda pig pile. I haven't played very far but the interface is "different" and certainly console, but I guess I'm used to dealing with that in lots of games these days? All I care about is the gameplay and so far I'm impressed.

I will check out interface mods when they come in though. That is the beauty of the Bethesda series.