Comments on: Mass Effect: Massive Interface Fail Part I

By: Mass Effect 2: a few steps forward, and a few steps back. « Significant Bits

Fri, 19 Feb 2010 23:15:34 +0000

[...] ME1 has been been cut down and streamlined, and there are plenty of general improvements (although the UI is still pretty bad). The new approach to missions and progression is so consistently predictable, [...]

By: Dave Wilson

Dave Wilson — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 03:57:44 +0000

Pfffft, you and the troll are being pedantic. This is a humorous blog on a website not a diplome thesis

By: Krystian Majewski

Krystian Majewski — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 21:06:42 +0000

You are confusing rhetoric with evidence.

However, if you feel that I made an argument based on implied authority or my personal opinion rather than facts, please do tell where.

By: DensityDuck

DensityDuck — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 20:29:57 +0000

Sorry, but no. He’s got a point. If you’re going to set yourself up in an authoritative position, then you need to *not* make amateur mistakes.

Especially when your article is really just a way of using multiple hundreds of words to say “I Don’t Like The Choices They Made”.

By: Krystian Majewski

Krystian Majewski — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 00:49:11 +0000

Clearly, you have found the weak point of my entire article. My entire argument falls apart like a house of cards. I’m going to go cry myself to sleep now.

Back in the real world, the term “italic” is frequently used to describe the text leaning effect, whether or not an italic font is used to render the text. Adrian Frutiger (also a person “familiar with type”) is to blame. He started called slanted versions of his font Univers “italic” even though they were just oblique.

Good luck trolling elsewhere, Mass Effect fanboy. Hugs & kisses.

By: b33f3r

b33f3r — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 16:38:36 +0000

you raise some good points. your referencing to various graphic/information design systems and rules lend credence to your points. i just can’t get over the fact that while touting the knowledge of an authority figure on the subject you would use the word ‘italic’ to describe a font that so clearly isn’t ‘italic’. people familiar with type get frustrated when ‘italic’ is misused so, hence i know that you are not familiar with type. as a graphic designer myself i can’t justify your blatant misuse of the term. the letters are ‘oblique’, a term the laymen wouldn’t understand; if you were trying to overcome this unfamiliarity by using words present in the vocabularies of anyone who has used a word processor, you did a horrendous job of it and the word ’slant’ is obviously not included in your vocabulary.

By: Symbll Day 1 « Quasiternal

Symbll Day 1 « Quasiternal — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 20:55:26 +0000

[...] idea is to explore how a game can utilize symbols. I came across this idea when I was reading an article about the “failed interface” of Mass Effect (read the point about “poor choice of [...]

By: Rayden

Rayden — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 10:55:39 +0000

Hey Krystian!

I think I’ve completed the game about 6 or 7 times by now and yeah you start noticing the little things after a while. Don’t get me wrong, I love Mass Effect, but it’s far from a perfect game.

The Shepard healthbar annoyed me from the start. I mean, the only explanation I could think of it being bigger than the other two is that it shows which character you’re controlling. But you can’t switch character control like in SW:KOTOR, so what would be the point of this? It would have been perfect if it had a percentage somewhere or the actual hitpoints xxx/xxx. Same thing about the shields, I would have liked to know the exact number of shield points not 1 to 6 bars.

The grenade icon is just awful. I noticed it was the grenade counter way late into the game after I was forced to use grenades (Thorian planet).

And yeah, having played WoW for 3 years of normal to hardcore raiding, a complete stats information about my character would have been great. Min/max damage with current weapon, damage reduction from armor, health regen and shield regen/sec, damage vs synthetics, damage vs humanoids, etc

Paragon/Renegade – totally agree, if you want to max them out you can barely tell how many points you’re gonna need.

By: Stuff I’ve Read This Week

Stuff I’ve Read This Week — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 14:01:42 +0000

[...] minutai of a game’s menu system isn’t usually my idea of a good 7500-word essay, but this set of posts by Krystian Majewski absolutely changed my mind. It’s an examination of the many shortcomings [...]

By: Bryant Drew Jones | Spry Bry

Bryant Drew Jones | Spry Bry — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 15:17:49 +0000

[...] The failings of Mass Effect’s interface design. If only I could express in words my deep love … [...]