Interface design ruins immersion of Fallout 4. : Fallout 4

» Wed Dec 02, 2015 8:11 pm

I am a gamer from the days of the Commodore 64 and lover of the Fallout series.. until now. They destroyed the immersive things of the user interface completely and utterly in Fallout 4... Fallout of the past had such immersive graphically awesome interfaces to view and see.. They were designed to keep the player immersed and feeling that way with their visual style.

Fallout 4 destroyed that completely. This interface, obviously put together console interface, is just bad.. graphically and usability wise. It is NOT intuitive at all. It looks cheasy,, basically it looks like a console game interface. You cannot change your keymapping. The interface lacks ANY Fallout 'feel' to it both in looks and functionality.

I am sick and tired of companies creating one size fits all.. This obvious console designed user interface just destroys some of the unique immersive qualities of the game.

It is not intiutive. It looks like crap compared to what we come to expect in the Fallout games in the past.. those little things like the pipboy graphic interface that looked retro, wires arcing, tubes glowing.... just that 'feel' of immersive nuclear fallout holocaust.

While the game is 'prettied' up graphically and the storyline seems to be interesting, the interface design is a piece of crap and I am tired of playing PC games that have console interfaces. All in the name of profit and greed.. Big name developers now seem to be more interested in designing things they can pass off to multiple platforms instead of building on each platforms strength. While I have no issue with creating cross platform parts, pieces and code, it is the user interface and graphics of the plaform that should ALWAYS be designed to the strength of the system..

In this case they took the easy cheap way out as is very very obvious. When I booted up last night like everyone else, within an hour I shut it off and did something else because I just could not get 'into' the 'feel' and immersion I had expected like with previous Fallout games..

I thought Fallout 4 would keep me going until Star Citizen, XCOM 2 and Elite Horizons released... but instead I am sitting here typing a complaint before going to do something else..

I am sure I will play the game... I did buy it after all. But I am very disappointed in this release especially the interface. I can tell you this, I WILL be watching for mods or anything that can fix this trashed interface... and I will definitely be second thinking any further Fallout series purchases in the future if this is now what we can expect of the developers in the series..

What ever happened to quality over greed? Oh wait, that is why games being financed by users like Star Citizen and Infinity Battlescape are becoming so big... because the USERS and the developers are doing it the right way vs this very bad design we see happening from so many developers that have become nothing but console game mills instead of true immersion and game designers.

Whomever made the interface design decisions should be fired because they obviously have no clue what immersion AND franchise loyalty mean. Just like another series I so loved (the Space game 'X-series from Egosoft', it appears Bethesda is doing the same thing and destroying the very thing that made the series a hit in the first thing...

» Wed Dec 02, 2015 5:46 pm

Yeah because mods were made for consoles right? Because PCs are supposed to have every advantage over consoles right? Because you speak for everyone right?

Its fine to me. It seems to be virtually the same. Keymaps can be a pain on consoles to. Quit thinking everyone is out to hurt PC users.

» Thu Dec 03, 2015 12:01 am

I like it better than the default UI for Fallout 3 and NV on PC. And Skyrim was god awful compared to this.

» Thu Dec 03, 2015 12:07 am

The OP is right. The UI is bad on PC. Really horrible. But our saving grace is to wait for the modders to deal with it. Assuming they can.

So put the game down. And wait it out. I'll probably forget about it by Jan. Which is shame and not what Beth wants to hear. They want another Skyrim on the PC. Somehow, I think they missed that boat.

» Wed Dec 02, 2015 5:54 pm

Agreed. I played an hour last night and have not touched it again.. I am seriously think of just doing the refund thing and seeing what happens in the future... The good side of this is I now have more time for XCom2 on release, Star Citizen and Elite Dangerous.

» Wed Dec 02, 2015 6:31 pm

You can change your key mapping. I did. I changed weapon ready/reload from key r to f. I may change a few other things too. Not sure yet.

» Wed Dec 02, 2015 9:59 pm

It's not a disaster, it's no catastrophe, it's not the end of the world...but I do agree...it's not necessarily good. I could live with the pip boy UI, but the HUD. It's somehow distracting, oversized and very basic.

However, I'm sure Schlangster and team will handle it.

» Thu Dec 03, 2015 7:28 am

Hmmm. I haven't played the game yet but was afraid of this. I did start at character creation and had problems with the controls for that so I'm guessing I'm going to have issues too.

And as far as content goes, contrary to popular opinion, I thought Skyrim was a big step backwards for Bethesda. Sure it was pretty countryside but after diving into the 10th dungeon that looked exactly like the 1st 10 I started to question the quality. Oh, and specializations? Nevermind, I'm a an absolute god of everything. I was thiefing away in heavy armor and downing so many dragons they were put on the endangered species list.

And now it sounds like they've made Fallout 4 a console FPS instead of an RPG. Sad that everything seems to be heading that way (ref. Mass Effect 3) and good characters, stories and immersion are being lost.

» Thu Dec 03, 2015 12:35 am

Yes the "hold the button to make it do something else" thing is a tad annoying, I hope they make mods so you can map the functions to different keys for you, I'm on console so their is no chance for me

» Wed Dec 02, 2015 6:05 pm

I remapped a few keys too. I swapped the VATS key with the Auto Move key and I swapped the run key with the sprint key. I also edited the fallout4prefs.ini file to turn off the compass entirely and set my character to walk by default instead of run.

» Wed Dec 02, 2015 8:30 pm

i am playing this on a console because my aging vista desktop can't play the game. i gaming mostly on consoles these days because i am tired of spending more money on hardware than on software. consoles users have to put up with more grief that PC users. so far no mods, no console commands. geeze, the interphase upsets you and that is enough to stop you from playing the game, than perhaps you don't the game overall.

» Wed Dec 02, 2015 4:58 pm

The UI not the greatest, no, but I don't really think its some poor quality console port job either. It does its job just fine for me.

» Thu Dec 03, 2015 12:03 am

You never had much immersion to begin with, you might not want to bother trying to immerse yourself in Video games if this interface "interferes" with your immersion, because you will ALWAYS be disappointed then.

» Thu Dec 03, 2015 3:51 am

Yeah because mods were made for consoles right? Because PCs are supposed to have every advantage over consoles right? Because you speak for everyone right?

Its fine to me. It seems to be virtually the same. Keymaps can be a pain on consoles to. Quit thinking everyone is out to hurt PC users.

» Thu Dec 03, 2015 6:24 am

People throw "greed" around an awful lot.

It's not about greed, it's about cost effectiveness. It costs less money to develop one interface for three platforms. Bethesda stays within budget, their investors are happy.

You think the 26 year old kid designing the UI goes home at night and rolls around in piles of money?

Yes, the PC interface svcks. Whether that ruins the game or not depends on your personal conviction. I'm willing to deal with it because the entertainment I'm getting from the game is greater than my dislike of the UI.

And look at SkyUI. Give it some time and we'll have a stellar interface, which shows more information and is easier to navigate. It svcks they skimped on the interface, but let's not make it sound like a personal affront to PC gamers.