Interface suggestions

[[P]aradox]

I've some suggestions for the in-battle interface to make a few things more straightforward.

Party legend:
At the top are the NPC heroes, with their shield and health.
Below, party soldiers in the order you put them in. Each group has an icon, beside each icon are health bars for each soldier. Green is remaining health/red is health lost. When a soldier is killed/knocked out, the bar turns grey.

Compass legend:
Orange arrow: your direction.
Green dot: friendly troops
Red dot: enemy troops
Blue dot: your inventory
And of course your shield and health. Your remaining health is colored; when it's at half, it turns orange, at a quarter, it turns red.

Any thoughts on this? I think the compass especially would be useful, the maps have very few orienting features and it's very easy to lose track of your inventory and even the battle itself.

 

[aw89]

I don't think the compass is such a good idea, more realistic to look around once in a while checking for people coming behind you.

 

[[P]aradox]

Perhaps it should only show the location of troops where you saw them last. Or maybe not enemies at all. I would just really really like some way of finding my damn inventory.

 

[Worm]

I think the real necessary interface changes should be done in the menus. Health updates would be nice, though I'd rather see visual damage so I can rush in and save the guy. I do not think a compass is necessary as long as my NPCs home in.

 

[n00854180t]

Honestly, I'd be grateful if the current amount of interface was done away with in favor of a visual feedback system. If you're at 5 health, you should look like it. If your shield is about to break, it should have lots of dents/slashes in it.

 

[Little Raven]

I'm against any kind of a 'radar' or mini-map. Medieval battles were terribly confusing events, and I think the game actually captures that rather well, considering its scope.

However, sticking a flag or banner by your inventory seems perfectly reasonable.

 

[[bulletproof]]

I think sliding all four buttons on the bottom of the map screen to the left a bit is necessary since "late afternoon" always gets cut off for me. Besides, theres that big blank space on the left.

I'm against a minimap/compass, too.