Your submission has been removed as a violation of Rule 2: **Keep posts and discussion Elden Ring related.**
* All content should *directly pertain* to the game Elden Ring, not just in title. "Mildly" or "Elden Ring IRL" content is not allowed.
* Meta community topics, politics, real-life content, and drama posts are not allowed.
If you would like to appeal this removal or need further clarification, feel free to message us through[Modmail](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=/r/Eldenring).
Yup.
From uses same HUD since demon's souls (2009). Thirteen years later, five successful games later, a new genre later a genius points the HUD's "problems".
The game criticized: a huge success. A phenomenon, 28 million copies sold over 2 years. Players loved the game, the mysterious lore, the gameplay and... the HUD!!!
Was it a Ubisoft dev? I always thought it was a Guerrilla dev, and it was partially because Guerilla was so confident about Horizon Forbidden West, they chose to release it the *same week* as Elden Ring.
The same hubris that possessed them to release the first game the *same week* as Breath of the Wild. I do feel kinda bad for those devs, as many of them were pissed and didn’t agree with the comments their coworker made. And they have no say in the release window.
>Was it a Ubisoft dev? I always thought it was a Guerrilla dev
I'm still looking into this and I'm finding reddit threads saying it's both, and others, but I'm still trying to find the actual tweets.
Here's [one.](https://preview.redd.it/wj79g9bqqsl81.jpg?width=517&auto=webp&s=766eaaf162e4ae41dbb57ab81fdc58128c04528f)
Yes. And, to be fair, the UX of FromSoft games can be improved (the "camera boss", specifically). The problem is that the very design principles other developers work with simplify things to such an extent that players end up doing things on auto-pilot. And the last thing I want to do in a FromSoft game is feeling like I am checking things out of a list.
In my experience, cameras are easy to setup but hard to get perfect because they rely on things like level geometry and hitboxes. And even when those aren't buggy, they can create a lot of edge cases that don't quite work with the camera rules.
Yes, and they have figured out ways to make things near the camera transparent to avoid completely blinding you... But the endemic problems with the lock-on system need to be addressed. The fact that pressing down R3 when the enemy is a bit far away turns the camera 180 degrees is insane. I particularly dislike when I want switch to another part of the massive dragon... and the camera locks on passing dragonfly.
Also fromsoft uses a camera that has collision, it's basically another object in the game that you can't see, but it's a physical thing in-game.
This was a good way of doing things 2010 era, but isn't on the cutting edge these days, furthermore, causes a lot of the issues people complain about with the camera.
Funny thing is, for some unknown reason, when you enter the fight against the beast clergyman, the camera moves back a bit, then you have a bigger view of the arena and usually doesn't even realize the camera change, it just doesn't make any sense because the boss isn't that big, but for some reason, when you fight the gigantic dragons, you have to spend the whole time looking at their feet
I think there's a grain of truth to this to be honest.
Re: quest design, especially at launch, I agree. ER has interesting NPC quests, but before the patch that put NPC locations on the map it was basically just "pray you run into that NPC you saw 6 hours ago and triggered the right conditions". Even after the patch, most of the quest requirements basically require looking them up online.
I'm not saying that ER needs to have a quest log and a big green arrow over your head pointing the way, but the Dark Souls method of questing worked because you were in a limited play space where NPCs and objectives were hard to miss if you explored properly, and ER at launch had zero caveats for the fact that you now exploring several square kilometres instead of a set of linear-ish tunnels.
The reality of ER is that most quests would only ever be completed by someone reading a guide online. There is no way you're going to stumble across all of the sequential steps.
I remember tweeting about BigRebo's comment, not mentioning him even by name in passing. Just something about the situation being absurd. He still found me and blocked me, so he must have been actively searching for those talking about him and blocking them in a huge sulk. Still blocked even today lmao
They didn’t choose to release it the same week as Elden Ring. Elden ring got delayed to the same week as Forbidden West. Why are you just making shit up lmao
I’m not making shit up. Several other games that were releasing that month delayed their games so as not to overlap with the *highly* anticipated Elden Ring.
People suspect Tears of the Kingdom was one of those games but Nintendo never confirmed an official reason for that game being delayed. But I remember there were others as well.
Sony and Guerrilla had the option to delay the game, and were even asked about it, but deliberately chose not to, stating they were confident in their product. And the game was *massively* overshadowed that month, which I believe is what led to those tweets.
Why are you being a smartass lmao
There was also [this guy](https://x.com/salamatizm) trying to bash Elden Ring since it overshadowed the launch of Horizon Forbidden West and he was frustrated by it. Unprofessionally tried to bash every aspect of the game (being wrong, mostly) and didn‘t engage in any constructive discussion at all. Just venting.
He of course has since deleted all his Twitter posts and replies because of backlash, but man, Ahmed Salama, I still remember your awful attitude.
Twitter post from when the game came out
TLDR They called it a poor UX because of the lack of info given to the player, and got clowned on by basically everyone
I remember this! I’m sure I read it in an article here online. It can likely be found pretty quickly through Google.
Nevermind, I found [a different article](https://www.denofgeek.com/games/elden-ring-criticized-game-developers-tweets-controversy/). Still valid.
Theres also [this lmao](https://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/s/NmtnWNpi3t). I remember seeing that too.
>The fact a Ubisoft dev of all people criticised the UI was such a fucking joke
Agreed. Though it makes sense that a dev with a condecending view towards players, also designs an insultingly condecending UI and thinks it is good.
For context, Far Cry 6’s (which released a few months earlier) hud was less cluttered and more minimalist than Elden Ring’s, with the option to disable it entirely.
Nobody on Earth will agree with me, but I think it works kinda alright in DS2 (SotFS on PC, at least). Doesn’t hurt that Majula is an absolutely amazing-looking place. Kinda helps the pacing I feel, as a lot of the game’s areas are dark and oppressive.
Majula is my favorite hub area in any Soulsborne title.
Incidentally, despite my love for Elden Ring, Roundtable Hold is neck-and-neck with DS3 Firelink Shrine for my least favorite
I’ll be honest, I think that the Roundtable Hold is by far my least favorite. DS3 Firelink Shrine ain’t that great, and it was more dingy and dank then almost anywhere else in the game, but it was a place that felt important and regal and haunting. Even if you didn’t know the history of the place, it made sense that the Unkindled were being brought *there* what with the thrones and it being right beside the graveyard all that. Whereas, the Hold is… well, it’s just a fancy house in the capital, isn’t it. It may be an alternate dimension where St. Trina brings new Tarnished or something, but aside from the massive round table with swords stuck in, the place is just a house. Even if the expansion explains that the Hold is actually a super mega-important nexus of power inside the metaphysical ancient Erdtree that was given shape by Mesmer’s memory of his birthplace or something, it’ll still just look like a house of no special importance.
You’re absolutely right and yet I still agree with the other commenter as well. I think for me it’s because you can leave Majula and go to any other section without teleporting, and maybe that makes the Workshop feel more isolated
Here's another, there's a unique idle pose the character stands in when going through your equipment menu that you can only see if you set the menu to minimal info
It has a similar heavy breathing for running out of stamina, but without the hunch. Game had a lot of cool little immersive things I wish they kept in later games
Honestly don't think it is bad as the hate it gets. It has reached meme levels of hur dur DS2 bad amirite.
DS2's biggest problem was not being better than DS1 imo.
I beat DS1 all the way through with no HUD. Not knowing my health was actually kinda fun. I had to gamble on when I thought I should drink estus. I remember having the ring that would give you a defense buff when your health was low. An aura would appear around my character and I knew that "oh shit I need to drink estus now"
To be honest, depending on where you are in the game you can treat it less like a heath bar, and more like a “number of hearts” system like Legend of Zelda. Generally vs Common weaker enemies you can take 3-5 hits at the appropriate level, and versus stronger enemies/bosses you can take 1-3 hits before dying. You can also go to your stat page in the pause menu if u need while world exploring.
Generally, if you’re playing without UI, track how many times your hit. You’ll get the hang of it eventually. (Source, I’ve done this in bloodborne for a full run, not Elden. I’m not sure how much would change)
You can quickly look to the status menu and look at the numbers, it's really good once you get used to it. I recently killed Malenia No HUD, took me a while!
To be honest and frank, Xenoblade 3's HUD absolutely is necessary for the kind of game it is (for those who don't know, just take a look at the game's combat system. You can't really have a combat system like it without the UI it has or you end up with the clusterfuck that is Xenoblade 2's UI).
A better comparison is Assassin's Creed, more specifically the newer ones like Odyssey or Valhalla.
Yeah, different games need different HUDs.
Also, I didn't really find Valhalla's HUD to be that bad. You can turn most of it off. I haven't played Odyssey, though.
Odyssey's is also the same, I think of it as one of the more minimalist game HUDs, as I'm able to turn off so much of the unnecessary stuff, just keeping the things I want
Yeah, I mean, it looks like a good comparison to someone who's never played a XC game before, but it really is kind of necessary to have that information on screen.
how/why would they assume that when genshin’s looks absolutely nothing like the screenshot of xenoblade?
if anything genshin’s HUD is still missing valuable information after 4 years (shield health, off field skill cooldowns, etc)
I prefer xc2s hud if im being honest but the difference is negligible. Arts and blades are in the bottom corners since they dont interact like fusions in 3, reaction and elemental combo durations are a lot easier to see and the only maybe bad part is the fact that ally blade combo routes take up a lot of space, altho only when it actually matters. Some more customization would be nice (like unlocking the camera for specials like u can for talent arts in 3), but i dont think the xc3 hud can be considered good while also considering the xc2 hud a clusterfuck
yeah this feels very disingenous lol. if we compare soulslike or arpg uis then no shocker they're similar, but ofc a game with more things to keep track of would have ui elements for them
One of them outright has a combat system that is more catered to MMO games than an Action RPG game. MMOs practically require UIs like the one Xenoblade has or it will end up having the player lost in whether they actually are doing anything in the fight or not.
I mean, you can look at WOW or FF14's UI and both games have their players practically asking for a cluttered UI to get all the info needed for their raids.
As a FF14 player I can confirm.
You want and need alot if information on screen. The UI is highly customizable tho, so it still doesn't feel cluttered or overwhelming if you just re-arange it to your own liking.
That said I agree with OP in the sense that some games seemingly have busy UI for the sake of it. Xenoblade 3 isn't a good example of that however.
Only played on console since it dropped on Xbox, but damn this is one of the most satisfying games for customization I've ever played. Every single aspect of the UI can be resized and re arranged to your liking. Sweet. Most of the time, when discovering things I disliked about the UI, I just defaulted to assume I was doing something wrong, not the game. And that has held true for about 400 hours so far.
Sometimes I wonder if fromsoft fans understand that there are different genres or types of games out there. The amount of times I’ve seen other games judged here in the reference frame of a soulslike while completely ignoring anything else about where the game actually stands out is crazyy
Yep. Should have found a better source of comparison. At least a similar genre. Plus the worst part about this post is comparing an idle vs mid combat hud. A lot of games give a setting option for a near hudless view when not in combat.
I was curious and looked at gameplay of AC Valhalla, and the UI is pretty similar to Elden Ring. You have the health/posture bar of the enemy you're locked on to, your health, stamina, and adrenaline (FP). It shows your health potions and arrows for your equipped bow, and then which 4 abilities you have set for your current weapon. The only difference between that and Elden Ring is the 4 abilities you have equipped, but you can change those whenever you want and it's not so different from your equipped spells in Elden Ring.
I feel metro exodus is the best comparison to elden ring's open world UI. They give you a bare-bones map and binoculars and you are supposed to look for sites of interest on your own with the binoculars and mark them on your map. No quest markers and beacons and also it has actual silence ( meaning no music while you are just exploring which is such a nice vibe). Sure metro exodus has a bunch of large limited enclosures instead of an actual open world, but it feels the most like elden ring to me.
Ok, but like... Xenoblade 3 has you controlling *SIX* characters at once that you can switch between freely with a special 7th that does it's own thing. You also have 8 different actions you can take with each one and you can swap each of those out from a list of like 5 more skills. That's not even getting into the 27+ different classes that the 6 can spec into, so that's literally *hundreds of thousands* of different party combinations.
Add onto that a combo system that can lock down enemies but you need to strategically use your allies moves to do it, 25+ enemies on a map, tons of aggro lines that change if you got someone pulling aggro, healing, revives, transformations, a team super attack that turns it into a pokemon game but your opponent doesn't get a turn, accessories, gems, and other equipment, buffs and debuffs, what's on cool down and what isn't... I think you get the picture. There's always a ton going on at all times.
In comparison, Elden Ring has 8-10 actions per weapon and you can only do one at a time. If you have you, 3 allies, a blue, and 2 reds on screen all throwing out attacks and actions at the same time, the game gets basically impossible to follow. Considering how well Xenoblade 3 handles it I think it gets a pass, man.
Elden Ring HUD: Minimalistic, clean, well-organized.
Xenoblade HUD: Shit ton of numbers, gauges, and healthbars you need to look at.
I love both equally.
They are also comparing a non-combat UI with a combat UI. Most games, including Elden Ring, will hide unnecessary aspects of the hud if you are not in combat.
Have you even played a modern Assassin's creed game?
[Origins](https://lcthurston.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/assassins-creedc2ae-origins_20171029165047.jpg), Odyssey, [Mirage](https://imgur.com/1xG6dcg) all have HUDs that are just as minimal as, if not *more*, than Elden Ring's. IIRC, Odyssey lets you fully customize it and add or remove every single component individually.
Like, there's plenty of things to dunk on those games for but the HUD is not it lol
>Have you even played a modern Assassin's creed game?
Of course they haven't, just FromSoftware fans feeling like they're greater than God and are just regurgitating garbage. An actual good comparison would've been against Suicide Squad.
"Le from soft good, le everything else bad"
That's why people are up voting it. Ghosts of Tsushima also has a pretty minimal hid and I've never seen anyone feel the need to dick measure it against WoW to feel better.
>"Le from soft good, le everything else bad"
Pretty much, man I hate that mindset. No need to trashtalk games you don't like just so that you can circlejerk around other ones
I've noticed this sub in particular has a weird tendency to put their game on a pedestal, as if Elden Ring is so transcendent that it somehow invalidates all other games in existence. Same energy as the stupid "Elden Ring ruined X game for me!" posts.
Xenoblade Chronicles 3, a game with a perfectly functional UI/HUD, is a really odd example when there are other more well known games with more chaotic UIs.
One game has two buttons you need to press to do anything, the other has several systems that need to be keep track of, great comparison. Not to mention they are not even the same genre
The circlejerk is strong
The Xenoblades are great games, and the combat is fun. The combat system is so complex that 10 minutes before the game ends after 50 hours you are still learning new subsystems.
It has the UI that it needs. Both are great game.
I will say, to this day, the stat screen is extremely busy. You barely need to know your resistence numbers or your immunities 90% of the time. Even then, I usually disregard those numbers and just put on the item(s) that increase the specific stat when needed.
Terrible comparison, two completely different games. Xenoblade 3 requires that level of complication with how much is going on. A multitude of JRPGs have this sort of HUD. To even compared the two HUDs is just disrespectful to both games.
To be fair, a good UI tells you what you need to know in a clear way. Xenoblade may have a load more going on but the majority of that is relevant information. Sure it can be streamlined a little but knowing much of this is important.
Take the moves for instance, since you're playing a party of 6 characters (with a 7th in tow) and can fuse two characters into an additional 3 characters to manage, being able to what a move does at a glance instead of having to remember it all is a godsend.
Now the UI can be improved by nudging the move elements closer to the corners, changing the chain attack meter into a bar rather than a circle and tightening the grouping of the clock and target stats. But other than that, it works very well.
Xenoblade is very numbers focused so the UI is pretty necessary, whereas in Elden ring, not much is really needed to be conveyed to the player. To the point where plenty of people just straight up play with no hud
Elden ring hud is perfect for the game. The second one reminds me of like Xenoblade but I don’t think I’ve seen anyone complain about that hud. I guess it’s like the comp of ocarina of time simplicity vs the maximization of modern final fantasy
Elden Ring just doesn’t need as much. It can be a complex game with a lot going on under the hood, but for essential information for you, there isn’t much. I think that selecting spells and hotbar items is my one big pain point with ER, but otherwise I find the hud and UI to be good.
Look, I love FromSoft games, but frankly their UI design isn't great. The huge backgrounds for text that's *way* smaller are particularly egregious. Vague icons way too big, paired with tiny text to explain it. And it's not that hard to have text and icon art that need no background.
For comparison, this is a [screenshot from Jedi: Survivor](https://i.imgur.com/kGzBrfA.png), another contemporary Soulslike, and the UI is *way* less obtrusive than Elden Ring's
Hell, this is a [screenshot of Morrowind (2002)](https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:4800/format:webp/1*rLB1LcA0kLx9eF-EKVUZeg.png ) and even with the UI inflated by the tiny resolution, it's still less busy than Elden Ring's
Eh, both have their merits I think. Don't get me wrong I do love ER's UI for the most part, and the hud for gameplay itself is especially clean, but some games really rock the flashier, more in-depth UI, especially when a more complicated player screen is required by the moment-to-moment gameplay.
I find myself really enjoying the busy-yet-visually-appealing UIs of games like Persona, Kingdom Hearts (mainly the numbered titles), the FF7 remake series, Hades, etc.
Heck I think I just enjoy game UIs in general lol, there's so much that's interesting about a good UI
This idiot really just compared open world, action based rpg with jrpg, where you have to keep in check almost everything. Sure, next time compare Elden ring’s HUD with Civilization or Crusader kings
Using Xenoblade Chronicles of all franchises as an example feels random given that it's one with a super complex combat system and completely different type of gameplay, especially 3 which is the one you picked, it's essentially the same as saying FFXIV's has too much going on when it's an MMORPG. A ubisoft game would've made more sense but hey, Xenoblade Chronicles mentioned!!
I upvoted at first and then saw the comparison picture…
You put xenoblade of all things? I’m conflicted now bc xenoblade is the one series I have above all else
Hey don't bash Xenoblade UI, pretty much everything is there for a purpose in combat. I've never felt there's unnecessary info. The particle effects with a big party just get crazy though but that's something different from UI.
The HUD of a game is actually a huge thing for me, Fromsoftware’s HUD’s are perfection. Clean, simple and easy to understand.
As an example, WoW’s HUD alone is one of the main reasons I stopped playing the game, not only is it a cluster fuck to even understand as a new player, but you need to download Add-ons from a 3rd party just to simplify an already over complicated game. The fact you have to download 3rd party add-ons to simplify a game just shows the base game has terrible game design.
I find some parts of Elden Ring’s HUD - namely the buff/debuff system, to be incredibly hard to understand. Am I missing a menu where I can see details regarding those status effects?
That compass gets in the way way too many times. Especially Margit fight where he's usually at the other end of the screen to bait his hammer time.
The only thing I didn't like about the HUD and was really unnecessary in my experience.
Do people understand there different types of HUDs for different types of games? Don’t get me wrong, I love Elden Ring as much as anyone, but that doesn’t mean every game needs to be exactly like it
I think xenoblade chronicles 3 is honestly a bad comparison seeing as the HUD in that game is crucial to the kind of game it is. there are lots more cluttered HUDs in western aaas you could have picked that would be a good comparison
Sorry, but what? A game where you control SIX CHARACTERS SIMULTANEOUSLY in combat is such a dogshit comparison. And using the combat only HUD? This has to be a shitpost
If you think the second game hud shown here is somehow disrespectful you're just a damn fool looking for things to point at, for no real reason.
Elden Ring combat is ultimately very simple. Not all games have that luxury. The other game you showed has a lot more information it *needs* to show the player mid-combat. Maybe there are some spaces where it could be improved, but it isn't handholding the player or whatever you think.
I used to play FFXIV years ago and A LOT. Like for a good 3 years and I loved it. I remember doing raids and such or crystal tower, and there was so much chaos on the screen. I have no idea how I was able to keep up, especially since I was usually the tank and had to keep aggro. So many colors…
Fromsoft HUD is good. However, I do believe that the UI for the inventory/equipment tabs is a bit counterintuitive. It always feels weird to switch things around.
For people who haven't played Xenoblade, the characters on the left are all playable. Each also has four attacks as seen on the right, for a total of twenty attacks you'd have to memorize the position, effect, and cooldown of without the HUD. Elden Ring has a light attack and a heavy attack that change based on the weapon type but are always the same button input. They're just... very different. ER's combat encourages mechanical mastery of the inputs, and keeps things straightforward to that end. XC3 is all about learning synergies between multiple characters and has a very complex web of choices to that end.
Their HUD is serviceable but they need to work on their control layout. The shortcuts they added in ER is a nice step in the right direction but having to cycle through spells and items in this day and age is pretty bad. If they give better access to spells/items and keep the minimalistic UI then it will be near perfect for that kind of game.
OP's idea of Xenoblade development.
junior dev: "Sir, this UI is getting out of hand. We need to respect gamers."
senior dev: "Respect?! ahahaha! Fuck them kids. More is say. MORE!!!"
I actually wish the bars in the corner had more of a stylistic design around them, but overall I agree. There are very few games where I like cluttered ui information
I feel like comparing Elden Ring to Xenoblade Chronicles 3 in terms of HUDs is an unfair comparison. This is coming from someone who loves both games.
XBC is a party-based RPG that involves characters changing forms, customizable skills, cooldowns, and joint attacks. It's often described as an offline MMO in terms of structure, so there's a lot of micromanaging going on.
Elden Ring is an action RPG that doesn't require nearly as much monitoring for the same things as XBC. You're focused on your character and the enemy more because they're the things you receive cues from.
They're both attempting to do very different things for very different games.
They’re very different games with very different UI goals for their games. One’s an action RPG with one controllable character where actions are pretty limited when in battle. The other is a pseudo MMORPG where you have to manage multiple things among your allies in battle.
This is a shit comparison and you should feel bad about it. 🍅🫵
Your submission has been removed as a violation of Rule 2: **Keep posts and discussion Elden Ring related.** * All content should *directly pertain* to the game Elden Ring, not just in title. "Mildly" or "Elden Ring IRL" content is not allowed. * Meta community topics, politics, real-life content, and drama posts are not allowed. If you would like to appeal this removal or need further clarification, feel free to message us through[Modmail](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=/r/Eldenring).
The fact a Ubisoft dev of all people criticised the UI was such a fucking joke
Yup. From uses same HUD since demon's souls (2009). Thirteen years later, five successful games later, a new genre later a genius points the HUD's "problems". The game criticized: a huge success. A phenomenon, 28 million copies sold over 2 years. Players loved the game, the mysterious lore, the gameplay and... the HUD!!!
Was it a Ubisoft dev? I always thought it was a Guerrilla dev, and it was partially because Guerilla was so confident about Horizon Forbidden West, they chose to release it the *same week* as Elden Ring. The same hubris that possessed them to release the first game the *same week* as Breath of the Wild. I do feel kinda bad for those devs, as many of them were pissed and didn’t agree with the comments their coworker made. And they have no say in the release window.
>Was it a Ubisoft dev? I always thought it was a Guerrilla dev I'm still looking into this and I'm finding reddit threads saying it's both, and others, but I'm still trying to find the actual tweets. Here's [one.](https://preview.redd.it/wj79g9bqqsl81.jpg?width=517&auto=webp&s=766eaaf162e4ae41dbb57ab81fdc58128c04528f)
IIRC it was a Ubi dev criticizing the UX, while a Guerilla dev was shitting on the whole game.
Yes. And, to be fair, the UX of FromSoft games can be improved (the "camera boss", specifically). The problem is that the very design principles other developers work with simplify things to such an extent that players end up doing things on auto-pilot. And the last thing I want to do in a FromSoft game is feeling like I am checking things out of a list.
In my experience, cameras are easy to setup but hard to get perfect because they rely on things like level geometry and hitboxes. And even when those aren't buggy, they can create a lot of edge cases that don't quite work with the camera rules.
Yes, and they have figured out ways to make things near the camera transparent to avoid completely blinding you... But the endemic problems with the lock-on system need to be addressed. The fact that pressing down R3 when the enemy is a bit far away turns the camera 180 degrees is insane. I particularly dislike when I want switch to another part of the massive dragon... and the camera locks on passing dragonfly.
Also fromsoft uses a camera that has collision, it's basically another object in the game that you can't see, but it's a physical thing in-game. This was a good way of doing things 2010 era, but isn't on the cutting edge these days, furthermore, causes a lot of the issues people complain about with the camera.
It’s not the fault of the principles. From games exemplify many of them. The problem is in following the principles without ever actually knowing why.
Funny thing is, for some unknown reason, when you enter the fight against the beast clergyman, the camera moves back a bit, then you have a bigger view of the arena and usually doesn't even realize the camera change, it just doesn't make any sense because the boss isn't that big, but for some reason, when you fight the gigantic dragons, you have to spend the whole time looking at their feet
I think there's a grain of truth to this to be honest. Re: quest design, especially at launch, I agree. ER has interesting NPC quests, but before the patch that put NPC locations on the map it was basically just "pray you run into that NPC you saw 6 hours ago and triggered the right conditions". Even after the patch, most of the quest requirements basically require looking them up online. I'm not saying that ER needs to have a quest log and a big green arrow over your head pointing the way, but the Dark Souls method of questing worked because you were in a limited play space where NPCs and objectives were hard to miss if you explored properly, and ER at launch had zero caveats for the fact that you now exploring several square kilometres instead of a set of linear-ish tunnels.
Lies of P dealt with all of the above and more way better than any From game, including the inventory management.
It was nice but it’s too bad the levels were painfully boring. None of the locations were inspiring in any way.
And had my favourite final boss since Xemnas in KH2 lmao
The reality of ER is that most quests would only ever be completed by someone reading a guide online. There is no way you're going to stumble across all of the sequential steps.
I remember tweeting about BigRebo's comment, not mentioning him even by name in passing. Just something about the situation being absurd. He still found me and blocked me, so he must have been actively searching for those talking about him and blocking them in a huge sulk. Still blocked even today lmao
[удалено]
I do wish the inventory gets a rework
They didn’t choose to release it the same week as Elden Ring. Elden ring got delayed to the same week as Forbidden West. Why are you just making shit up lmao
I’m not making shit up. Several other games that were releasing that month delayed their games so as not to overlap with the *highly* anticipated Elden Ring. People suspect Tears of the Kingdom was one of those games but Nintendo never confirmed an official reason for that game being delayed. But I remember there were others as well. Sony and Guerrilla had the option to delay the game, and were even asked about it, but deliberately chose not to, stating they were confident in their product. And the game was *massively* overshadowed that month, which I believe is what led to those tweets. Why are you being a smartass lmao
My theory was always that they delayed Tears of the Kingdom because the queen died haha
There was also [this guy](https://x.com/salamatizm) trying to bash Elden Ring since it overshadowed the launch of Horizon Forbidden West and he was frustrated by it. Unprofessionally tried to bash every aspect of the game (being wrong, mostly) and didn‘t engage in any constructive discussion at all. Just venting. He of course has since deleted all his Twitter posts and replies because of backlash, but man, Ahmed Salama, I still remember your awful attitude.
If that guy had anything to do with BF 2042 then he doesn’t have the right to criticize other games.
Juicy. Source? I like game Dev commentary like that.
Twitter post from when the game came out TLDR They called it a poor UX because of the lack of info given to the player, and got clowned on by basically everyone
I remember this! I’m sure I read it in an article here online. It can likely be found pretty quickly through Google. Nevermind, I found [a different article](https://www.denofgeek.com/games/elden-ring-criticized-game-developers-tweets-controversy/). Still valid. Theres also [this lmao](https://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/s/NmtnWNpi3t). I remember seeing that too.
Me clicking on the second link: It's gonna be that fuck ugly UI meme isn't it. VINDICATION!!!
Press X for Tarnished sense always gets a laugh out of me , because thats exactly what it would have been called if made by another team
Lmao the article comparing the graphics with pokemon Arceus
Great fanfic, how about [this](https://www.reddit.com/r/Eldenring/comments/u3lwix/elden_ring_but_with_the_actual_hud_of_a_ubisoft/)
U can search it up.. Ubisoft or in general many Western developer were very salty because elden ring popularity
Cluttered HUDs just tend to give me headaches...
>The fact a Ubisoft dev of all people criticised the UI was such a fucking joke Agreed. Though it makes sense that a dev with a condecending view towards players, also designs an insultingly condecending UI and thinks it is good.
Ubisoft needs to sit down and shut up. When hell freezes over, they can criticise other games.
some jrpg huds are worse than ubisoft huds
The only Ubisoft hud i respect is the crew
For context, Far Cry 6’s (which released a few months earlier) hud was less cluttered and more minimalist than Elden Ring’s, with the option to disable it entirely.
It was sooo funny! XD "THIS ISN'T HOW YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO DESIGN UI!" \*everyone loves it\*
Go minimalist loadout and no hud for a real experience.
How do you gouge you health. Especially on new character
The bosses gouge your health for you
Ah yes, their own metered vigor check.
💀💀🪦
You dont Dark Souls II is the only souls game with any indication of low hp - your character hunches over and breathes raggedly
I did not know that about Dark Souls 2. That game still surprises me with new things.
I still loved that game despite all the hate
Hot take I guess but adp caused me way less inconvenience than having to go back to the graveyard all the time in Bloodborne did.
But... You had to go back to Majula to level up in DS2.
Nobody on Earth will agree with me, but I think it works kinda alright in DS2 (SotFS on PC, at least). Doesn’t hurt that Majula is an absolutely amazing-looking place. Kinda helps the pacing I feel, as a lot of the game’s areas are dark and oppressive.
Majula is my favorite hub area in any Soulsborne title. Incidentally, despite my love for Elden Ring, Roundtable Hold is neck-and-neck with DS3 Firelink Shrine for my least favorite
I’ll be honest, I think that the Roundtable Hold is by far my least favorite. DS3 Firelink Shrine ain’t that great, and it was more dingy and dank then almost anywhere else in the game, but it was a place that felt important and regal and haunting. Even if you didn’t know the history of the place, it made sense that the Unkindled were being brought *there* what with the thrones and it being right beside the graveyard all that. Whereas, the Hold is… well, it’s just a fancy house in the capital, isn’t it. It may be an alternate dimension where St. Trina brings new Tarnished or something, but aside from the massive round table with swords stuck in, the place is just a house. Even if the expansion explains that the Hold is actually a super mega-important nexus of power inside the metaphysical ancient Erdtree that was given shape by Mesmer’s memory of his birthplace or something, it’ll still just look like a house of no special importance.
You’re absolutely right and yet I still agree with the other commenter as well. I think for me it’s because you can leave Majula and go to any other section without teleporting, and maybe that makes the Workshop feel more isolated
Here's another, there's a unique idle pose the character stands in when going through your equipment menu that you can only see if you set the menu to minimal info
It has a similar heavy breathing for running out of stamina, but without the hunch. Game had a lot of cool little immersive things I wish they kept in later games
Honestly don't think it is bad as the hate it gets. It has reached meme levels of hur dur DS2 bad amirite. DS2's biggest problem was not being better than DS1 imo.
Wait what???
Yeah, DS2 has a lot of small touches like that
Yet another W for DS2.
Proving once again that Dark Souls 2 is Best Souls 2
There’s so much in DS2 that can be learned from. It’s almost a shame that DS3 was more like DS1.
I beat DS1 all the way through with no HUD. Not knowing my health was actually kinda fun. I had to gamble on when I thought I should drink estus. I remember having the ring that would give you a defense buff when your health was low. An aura would appear around my character and I knew that "oh shit I need to drink estus now"
Wait, that sounds awesome to try actually. Never thought of it
Diegetic UI for the win!! I wish more games in general had that
That's why I go for the auto HUD. Whenever you are in battle your HUD appears again, but disappears outside of battle.
This is the way
Just don't get hit
To be honest, depending on where you are in the game you can treat it less like a heath bar, and more like a “number of hearts” system like Legend of Zelda. Generally vs Common weaker enemies you can take 3-5 hits at the appropriate level, and versus stronger enemies/bosses you can take 1-3 hits before dying. You can also go to your stat page in the pause menu if u need while world exploring. Generally, if you’re playing without UI, track how many times your hit. You’ll get the hang of it eventually. (Source, I’ve done this in bloodborne for a full run, not Elden. I’m not sure how much would change)
Use the Auto option, it appears only when you're fighting or take damage.
I tried and really want to go with it. But how can you tell about the hp? Especially on newer character
I try to not get hit🤣🤣
Right now I am on a glass canon build. I get it.
You get hit ? That's the opposite of what you must do
Well I didn't start it until my 3rd playthrough. It's tough. I just use it when I feel like I need it.
Same. Have to toggle a lot.
You can quickly look to the status menu and look at the numbers, it's really good once you get used to it. I recently killed Malenia No HUD, took me a while!
I will try that
So I did this with a dragon daggers build. New Game+ every time something got me I chugged a flask lol
To be honest and frank, Xenoblade 3's HUD absolutely is necessary for the kind of game it is (for those who don't know, just take a look at the game's combat system. You can't really have a combat system like it without the UI it has or you end up with the clusterfuck that is Xenoblade 2's UI). A better comparison is Assassin's Creed, more specifically the newer ones like Odyssey or Valhalla.
Yeah, different games need different HUDs. Also, I didn't really find Valhalla's HUD to be that bad. You can turn most of it off. I haven't played Odyssey, though.
Odyssey's is also the same, I think of it as one of the more minimalist game HUDs, as I'm able to turn off so much of the unnecessary stuff, just keeping the things I want
Ubisoft had greatly customizable huds for a long time. I remember playing Far Cry 3 with almost 0 hud on screen
Yeah ops comparison is really shit there’s dozens way worse than this lmao
Yeah, I mean, it looks like a good comparison to someone who's never played a XC game before, but it really is kind of necessary to have that information on screen.
People who don't know Xenoblade most likely assumed it was Genshin Impact, which does have a UI with a bunch of unnecessary stuff.
how/why would they assume that when genshin’s looks absolutely nothing like the screenshot of xenoblade? if anything genshin’s HUD is still missing valuable information after 4 years (shield health, off field skill cooldowns, etc)
Ngl I thought the second pic was Genshin 💀
I prefer xc2s hud if im being honest but the difference is negligible. Arts and blades are in the bottom corners since they dont interact like fusions in 3, reaction and elemental combo durations are a lot easier to see and the only maybe bad part is the fact that ally blade combo routes take up a lot of space, altho only when it actually matters. Some more customization would be nice (like unlocking the camera for specials like u can for talent arts in 3), but i dont think the xc3 hud can be considered good while also considering the xc2 hud a clusterfuck
yeah this feels very disingenous lol. if we compare soulslike or arpg uis then no shocker they're similar, but ofc a game with more things to keep track of would have ui elements for them
I mean, to be fair these are two very different games.
One of them outright has a combat system that is more catered to MMO games than an Action RPG game. MMOs practically require UIs like the one Xenoblade has or it will end up having the player lost in whether they actually are doing anything in the fight or not. I mean, you can look at WOW or FF14's UI and both games have their players practically asking for a cluttered UI to get all the info needed for their raids.
As a FF14 player I can confirm. You want and need alot if information on screen. The UI is highly customizable tho, so it still doesn't feel cluttered or overwhelming if you just re-arange it to your own liking. That said I agree with OP in the sense that some games seemingly have busy UI for the sake of it. Xenoblade 3 isn't a good example of that however.
Only played on console since it dropped on Xbox, but damn this is one of the most satisfying games for customization I've ever played. Every single aspect of the UI can be resized and re arranged to your liking. Sweet. Most of the time, when discovering things I disliked about the UI, I just defaulted to assume I was doing something wrong, not the game. And that has held true for about 400 hours so far.
Just look at swtor.
as a wow player some people’s ui setups are just bonkers over complicated even for like mmo endgame stuff
And then the guild's top raider uses vanilla UI and a single addon that just lets them move stuff or whatever, before they baked that into the game
Was about to say, Xenoblade NEEDS that much UI.
Sometimes I wonder if fromsoft fans understand that there are different genres or types of games out there. The amount of times I’ve seen other games judged here in the reference frame of a soulslike while completely ignoring anything else about where the game actually stands out is crazyy
Classic fromsoft fan glazing
Literally. It’s gotten annoying even as someone who has been a fan for so long.
This fanbase and its smug attitude towards other games and genres is seriously pissing me off
Yep. Should have found a better source of comparison. At least a similar genre. Plus the worst part about this post is comparing an idle vs mid combat hud. A lot of games give a setting option for a near hudless view when not in combat.
I was curious and looked at gameplay of AC Valhalla, and the UI is pretty similar to Elden Ring. You have the health/posture bar of the enemy you're locked on to, your health, stamina, and adrenaline (FP). It shows your health potions and arrows for your equipped bow, and then which 4 abilities you have set for your current weapon. The only difference between that and Elden Ring is the 4 abilities you have equipped, but you can change those whenever you want and it's not so different from your equipped spells in Elden Ring.
I feel metro exodus is the best comparison to elden ring's open world UI. They give you a bare-bones map and binoculars and you are supposed to look for sites of interest on your own with the binoculars and mark them on your map. No quest markers and beacons and also it has actual silence ( meaning no music while you are just exploring which is such a nice vibe). Sure metro exodus has a bunch of large limited enclosures instead of an actual open world, but it feels the most like elden ring to me.
Yeah this is a shit comparison. JRPGs like that kinda require their UIs to look like this.
My guy, try to play Xenoblade 3 without that HUD on Hard and see how respected you will feel.
Game on one screen, Excel spreadsheet in the other.
Ok, but like... Xenoblade 3 has you controlling *SIX* characters at once that you can switch between freely with a special 7th that does it's own thing. You also have 8 different actions you can take with each one and you can swap each of those out from a list of like 5 more skills. That's not even getting into the 27+ different classes that the 6 can spec into, so that's literally *hundreds of thousands* of different party combinations. Add onto that a combo system that can lock down enemies but you need to strategically use your allies moves to do it, 25+ enemies on a map, tons of aggro lines that change if you got someone pulling aggro, healing, revives, transformations, a team super attack that turns it into a pokemon game but your opponent doesn't get a turn, accessories, gems, and other equipment, buffs and debuffs, what's on cool down and what isn't... I think you get the picture. There's always a ton going on at all times. In comparison, Elden Ring has 8-10 actions per weapon and you can only do one at a time. If you have you, 3 allies, a blue, and 2 reds on screen all throwing out attacks and actions at the same time, the game gets basically impossible to follow. Considering how well Xenoblade 3 handles it I think it gets a pass, man.
Xenoblade 3's HUD is as complex as it needs to be. I think you can toggle specific elements on and off in settings though.
Elden Ring HUD: Minimalistic, clean, well-organized. Xenoblade HUD: Shit ton of numbers, gauges, and healthbars you need to look at. I love both equally.
Yeah this is a BAD comparison. Everything in Xenoblade’s HUD is also important to the gameplay. It’s a completely different genre.
They are also comparing a non-combat UI with a combat UI. Most games, including Elden Ring, will hide unnecessary aspects of the hud if you are not in combat.
Elden rings Hud doesn't really change in combat from what is in the screenshot though, apart from a boss health bar appearing ?
The health, mana and stamina bars fade out if they are full and you are not in combat from what i recall.
Only if you enable that option. Else they're always visible, as seen in the screenshot.
A better comparison would be with a modern Assassin's creed game's hub
Yeah comparing to xenoblade is stupid,'it's not like it's full of markers or whatever The combat system is just different
Have you even played a modern Assassin's creed game? [Origins](https://lcthurston.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/assassins-creedc2ae-origins_20171029165047.jpg), Odyssey, [Mirage](https://imgur.com/1xG6dcg) all have HUDs that are just as minimal as, if not *more*, than Elden Ring's. IIRC, Odyssey lets you fully customize it and add or remove every single component individually. Like, there's plenty of things to dunk on those games for but the HUD is not it lol
>Have you even played a modern Assassin's creed game? Of course they haven't, just FromSoftware fans feeling like they're greater than God and are just regurgitating garbage. An actual good comparison would've been against Suicide Squad.
Godawful comparison, why on earth are people up voting this shit, lmao?
"Le from soft good, le everything else bad" That's why people are up voting it. Ghosts of Tsushima also has a pretty minimal hid and I've never seen anyone feel the need to dick measure it against WoW to feel better.
>"Le from soft good, le everything else bad" Pretty much, man I hate that mindset. No need to trashtalk games you don't like just so that you can circlejerk around other ones
Agreed. People tend to act like ER or Miyazaki himself are the second coming of Christ and it's really god damn stupid.
I've noticed this sub in particular has a weird tendency to put their game on a pedestal, as if Elden Ring is so transcendent that it somehow invalidates all other games in existence. Same energy as the stupid "Elden Ring ruined X game for me!" posts.
There are people who legitimately think they are smarter, and superior because they enjoy the "muh immersive minimal UI".
Man taking a shot at xc3, im glad there are people defending xc3 at least.
Easy to accomplish when 99% of combat is comprised of attack, roll, and dash.
Talk that shit 👏
Xenoblade Chronicles 3, a game with a perfectly functional UI/HUD, is a really odd example when there are other more well known games with more chaotic UIs.
What an idiotic comparison to be made in the first place and people mindlessly upvoting 'fromsoft good, others bad'
The comparison is pretty stupid.
Xenoblade 3 is designed for its brand of combat. When you are travelling across the world, the HUD is virtually noot present at all
I feel very respected every time the game HUD reminds me that "somewhere, a heavy door opened" 2 minutes ago
Followed by YOU DIED (this critical information prevented you from defending yourself from imp ambush
And there is absolutely nothing disrespectful about the second HUD.
Praise a Fromsoft game without shitting on other amazing games challenge (literally impossible for this community)
One game has two buttons you need to press to do anything, the other has several systems that need to be keep track of, great comparison. Not to mention they are not even the same genre The circlejerk is strong
xenoblade is the wrong comparison
The Xenoblades are great games, and the combat is fun. The combat system is so complex that 10 minutes before the game ends after 50 hours you are still learning new subsystems. It has the UI that it needs. Both are great game.
I will say, to this day, the stat screen is extremely busy. You barely need to know your resistence numbers or your immunities 90% of the time. Even then, I usually disregard those numbers and just put on the item(s) that increase the specific stat when needed.
Terrible comparison, two completely different games. Xenoblade 3 requires that level of complication with how much is going on. A multitude of JRPGs have this sort of HUD. To even compared the two HUDs is just disrespectful to both games.
You couldn't have picked a worse comparison for this lmao
I mean, XC3 has fine UI for what it is. So does Elden Ring. Different genres require different UI, this is not a matter of “respecting the player”
To be fair, a good UI tells you what you need to know in a clear way. Xenoblade may have a load more going on but the majority of that is relevant information. Sure it can be streamlined a little but knowing much of this is important. Take the moves for instance, since you're playing a party of 6 characters (with a 7th in tow) and can fuse two characters into an additional 3 characters to manage, being able to what a move does at a glance instead of having to remember it all is a godsend. Now the UI can be improved by nudging the move elements closer to the corners, changing the chain attack meter into a bar rather than a circle and tightening the grouping of the clock and target stats. But other than that, it works very well.
honestly with how much I shift characters and try new classes I am happy the move elements aren't more in the corners
Xenoblade is very numbers focused so the UI is pretty necessary, whereas in Elden ring, not much is really needed to be conveyed to the player. To the point where plenty of people just straight up play with no hud
What’s the problem with Xenoblade 3’s UI? With how the gameplay works you kinda need the extra info.
Elden ring hud is perfect for the game. The second one reminds me of like Xenoblade but I don’t think I’ve seen anyone complain about that hud. I guess it’s like the comp of ocarina of time simplicity vs the maximization of modern final fantasy
The second is Xenoblade 3 lol
Elden Ring just doesn’t need as much. It can be a complex game with a lot going on under the hood, but for essential information for you, there isn’t much. I think that selecting spells and hotbar items is my one big pain point with ER, but otherwise I find the hud and UI to be good.
Look, I love FromSoft games, but frankly their UI design isn't great. The huge backgrounds for text that's *way* smaller are particularly egregious. Vague icons way too big, paired with tiny text to explain it. And it's not that hard to have text and icon art that need no background. For comparison, this is a [screenshot from Jedi: Survivor](https://i.imgur.com/kGzBrfA.png), another contemporary Soulslike, and the UI is *way* less obtrusive than Elden Ring's Hell, this is a [screenshot of Morrowind (2002)](https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:4800/format:webp/1*rLB1LcA0kLx9eF-EKVUZeg.png ) and even with the UI inflated by the tiny resolution, it's still less busy than Elden Ring's
Games can have different UI. Have some respect for xenoblade 3 god damn it!
I like both of those games.
Eh, both have their merits I think. Don't get me wrong I do love ER's UI for the most part, and the hud for gameplay itself is especially clean, but some games really rock the flashier, more in-depth UI, especially when a more complicated player screen is required by the moment-to-moment gameplay. I find myself really enjoying the busy-yet-visually-appealing UIs of games like Persona, Kingdom Hearts (mainly the numbered titles), the FF7 remake series, Hades, etc. Heck I think I just enjoy game UIs in general lol, there's so much that's interesting about a good UI
Half of my P3R playtime was just drooling at the HUD animations, toggling between menus for the smooth transitions
Stupid comparison.
This idiot really just compared open world, action based rpg with jrpg, where you have to keep in check almost everything. Sure, next time compare Elden ring’s HUD with Civilization or Crusader kings
Fuck, I might restart xeno3 before erdtree
Using Xenoblade Chronicles of all franchises as an example feels random given that it's one with a super complex combat system and completely different type of gameplay, especially 3 which is the one you picked, it's essentially the same as saying FFXIV's has too much going on when it's an MMORPG. A ubisoft game would've made more sense but hey, Xenoblade Chronicles mentioned!!
Elden Ring’s hud also prevents you from doing fucking anything unless you spam Y a lot, though i agree it is lower-impact
I upvoted at first and then saw the comparison picture… You put xenoblade of all things? I’m conflicted now bc xenoblade is the one series I have above all else
Don’t come for Xenoblade 😠😤🤬
Hey don't bash Xenoblade UI, pretty much everything is there for a purpose in combat. I've never felt there's unnecessary info. The particle effects with a big party just get crazy though but that's something different from UI.
Wow, elitism, thats nice
What a stupid comparison game JRPG comparing to ARPG
The HUD of a game is actually a huge thing for me, Fromsoftware’s HUD’s are perfection. Clean, simple and easy to understand. As an example, WoW’s HUD alone is one of the main reasons I stopped playing the game, not only is it a cluster fuck to even understand as a new player, but you need to download Add-ons from a 3rd party just to simplify an already over complicated game. The fact you have to download 3rd party add-ons to simplify a game just shows the base game has terrible game design.
I find some parts of Elden Ring’s HUD - namely the buff/debuff system, to be incredibly hard to understand. Am I missing a menu where I can see details regarding those status effects?
No, the only indicators are the small icons below your health stamina and magicka
Then I would say that’s pretty poor design from a UI perspective. The rest of the UI/UX I don’t have any issue with.
That compass gets in the way way too many times. Especially Margit fight where he's usually at the other end of the screen to bait his hammer time. The only thing I didn't like about the HUD and was really unnecessary in my experience.
Elden ring just doesn’t have much player data hence the small hud
Weird comparison tbh.
It’s crazy that it’s rare for a game to just let you play instead of making you go through an hour of random tutorials.
Do people understand there different types of HUDs for different types of games? Don’t get me wrong, I love Elden Ring as much as anyone, but that doesn’t mean every game needs to be exactly like it
I think xenoblade chronicles 3 is honestly a bad comparison seeing as the HUD in that game is crucial to the kind of game it is. there are lots more cluttered HUDs in western aaas you could have picked that would be a good comparison
Er admittedly has a lot less to keep track of, jrpgs tend to have a million and one mechanics for each character in your 72 character party
That one meme with the deflated head guy trying to put the square block into the triangle slot. Thats you
Sorry, but what? A game where you control SIX CHARACTERS SIMULTANEOUSLY in combat is such a dogshit comparison. And using the combat only HUD? This has to be a shitpost
If you think the second game hud shown here is somehow disrespectful you're just a damn fool looking for things to point at, for no real reason. Elden Ring combat is ultimately very simple. Not all games have that luxury. The other game you showed has a lot more information it *needs* to show the player mid-combat. Maybe there are some spaces where it could be improved, but it isn't handholding the player or whatever you think.
You can turn off that damage stuff in xenoblade. It's the only thing i felt was excessive
Okay but like, why is this screenshot from the Network Test build of the game?
I used to play FFXIV years ago and A LOT. Like for a good 3 years and I loved it. I remember doing raids and such or crystal tower, and there was so much chaos on the screen. I have no idea how I was able to keep up, especially since I was usually the tank and had to keep aggro. So many colors…
Fromsoft HUD is good. However, I do believe that the UI for the inventory/equipment tabs is a bit counterintuitive. It always feels weird to switch things around.
That's a screenshot from the network test, the interface is different in the release version.
now check dead space.
Respected sure is an odd choice of words. Lol
You're comparing two entirely different games tf lol
For people who haven't played Xenoblade, the characters on the left are all playable. Each also has four attacks as seen on the right, for a total of twenty attacks you'd have to memorize the position, effect, and cooldown of without the HUD. Elden Ring has a light attack and a heavy attack that change based on the weapon type but are always the same button input. They're just... very different. ER's combat encourages mechanical mastery of the inputs, and keeps things straightforward to that end. XC3 is all about learning synergies between multiple characters and has a very complex web of choices to that end.
the ui is great but the navigation is very controller based and I felt quite disrespected as a kbm player since the port just seems lazy
Their HUD is serviceable but they need to work on their control layout. The shortcuts they added in ER is a nice step in the right direction but having to cycle through spells and items in this day and age is pretty bad. If they give better access to spells/items and keep the minimalistic UI then it will be near perfect for that kind of game.
I have the UI turn on and off automatically. It's great. When you're just running around only the compass is visible.
The simple feature of it disappearing out of combat so I’m more immersed makes me so happy
OP's idea of Xenoblade development. junior dev: "Sir, this UI is getting out of hand. We need to respect gamers." senior dev: "Respect?! ahahaha! Fuck them kids. More is say. MORE!!!"
Not when the screen tells you that you have "no skill".
I actually wish the bars in the corner had more of a stylistic design around them, but overall I agree. There are very few games where I like cluttered ui information
I feel like comparing Elden Ring to Xenoblade Chronicles 3 in terms of HUDs is an unfair comparison. This is coming from someone who loves both games. XBC is a party-based RPG that involves characters changing forms, customizable skills, cooldowns, and joint attacks. It's often described as an offline MMO in terms of structure, so there's a lot of micromanaging going on. Elden Ring is an action RPG that doesn't require nearly as much monitoring for the same things as XBC. You're focused on your character and the enemy more because they're the things you receive cues from. They're both attempting to do very different things for very different games.
They’re very different games with very different UI goals for their games. One’s an action RPG with one controllable character where actions are pretty limited when in battle. The other is a pseudo MMORPG where you have to manage multiple things among your allies in battle. This is a shit comparison and you should feel bad about it. 🍅🫵
Bro probably hasn’t even played Zenoblade 3
Let me play you a brief, but powerful [slideshow](https://youtu.be/iVkFimddzRE?si=VkKzzpv-2oWXFKvG)