Awful Video Game UIs

Xenoblade 3 ui is so bloated it looks like a meme
1710241776922.png
 
I knew there was going to be some king autist who got butthurt about his waifu game having a baffling, indecipherable interface.
>someone disagrees with me? LOL BUTTHURT AUTISTMO KING LMAO
Get new material, you insufferable faggot. You literally sound like you got fresh off a 2024 /v/ train.
Shit UI tax:
1710242327590.png
I love P2 but the UI despite its minimalism is fucking horrendous, legitimately looks like a Strange Rope Hero Ultimate Crime Police Unity asset flip you'd find on the Play Store, just missing the fly/replenish stamina button. The weapon selection is also janky as shit, I don't even know how you could fuck this up. And why would you put everything on the right side?
 
tom-clancys-ghost-recon-breakpoint-drone.jpg'
^Also I know theres a health bar right here. I realized this is from breakpoint not wildlands, nobody played breakpoint because of a number of issues that game had and I'm referring to the vast majority of their games that have regenerating hp.

I tried breakpoint last weekend and one of my biggest complaints was that it has one of the worst world maps I have ever seen.
1710244730837.png
I grabbed this screenshot off google, but trying to decipher wtf any of the icons were was so annoying. Like I had to always hover my cursor over multiple icons until I could find a fast travel point because they arent clearly defined.
 
Sims 4's "simplified UI all over the screen" somehow is more bloated than the "menu with a lot of tabs" UI from the 3 earlier games. Even Sims 1 gives me an easier time finding the shit I want to look at.
 
FEAR 2 had a really stupid fucking looking HUD.
View attachment 5807777
I loved that shit! I really enjoyed how it simulated wearing hi tech glasses that flashed and crackled when shit went down. It just did a great job getting me out of my comfort zone.


I hate MMO screens in general. I have to waste hours getting that shit as minimized and reduced as possible without compromising game play.

Anything with damage numbers pisses me off.
 
  • Thunk-Provoking
Reactions: Nguyen Van Phuoc
Battleborn was notorious for a cluttered UI full of useless, distracting things:
View attachment 5807927
View attachment 5807932
It might not have been the reason the game died but, it certainly didn't help.
as one of the few people who actually played battleborn, that didn't matter much ingame, especially not with those handpicked screenshots. the first one literally reminding you to pick your fucking upgrades which takes 2 button presses in a 30+ minute match. the rest is standard fare and info you want - remember it's a fps moba, you need more to know shit than just health + ammo.

it's literally "I don't do what the game expects of me, why do the alerts and info keep increasing!?!?"

here's how the UI looked 99% of the time:
bb.jpg
 
I tried breakpoint last weekend and one of my biggest complaints was that it has one of the worst world maps I have ever seen.
View attachment 5808731
I grabbed this screenshot off google, but trying to decipher wtf any of the icons were was so annoying. Like I had to always hover my cursor over multiple icons until I could find a fast travel point because they arent clearly defined.
I remember starting it and having a list of quests always on screen and no idea where to go to do them.
 
It's hard to pick one, but the worst of all time is almost certainly going to be some kind of 90s PC game. Being inscrutable hieroglyphic clusterfucks was the rule rather than the exception.

View attachment 5807587
I DID NOT KNOW I COULD SAVE MID-MISSION UNTIL I WAS ON MARS!!! I iron-manned that game by accident. Fuck playing a long late-game mission again even if 80% of my squad got wiped out at the end.
 
Xenoblade 3 ui is so bloated it looks like a meme
View attachment 5808655
In the game's defense (since this screenshot is damning and I, myself, mentioned the game in the thread's first reply) this is the battle UI and most of it goes away for something like 70 percent of your play time. And, unlike Suicide Squad, all of that information is useful AND it has to be in a giant font because you need to be able to see it in handheld mode.
 
  • Like
Reactions: wtfNeedSignUp
This menu is the worst. It never has any purpose. You literally just pick the biggest numbers and enemies scale to your numbers so theres zero reason to not just have fixed attack, defense, etc. The only reason it exists is because low iq retards get happy when they see green arrows pointing up.

Every 10 minutes of gameplay is interrupted by 5 minutes of menuing that should be 100% automated or scraped.
 
This menu is the worst. It never has any purpose. You literally just pick the biggest numbers and enemies scale to your numbers so theres zero reason to not just have fixed attack, defense, etc. The only reason it exists is because low iq retards get happy when they see green arrows pointing up.

Every 10 minutes of gameplay is interrupted by 5 minutes of menuing that should be 100% automated or scraped.
Do you want to elaborate because there's like 20 games in there and the Nintendo ones, at least, don't have level scaling.
 
Do you want to elaborate because there's like 20 games in there and the Nintendo ones, at least, don't have level scaling.
Im not talking about literal scaling im saying the games progression matches the loot you get or the difference is so negligible the gear effectively does nothing.

These systems are such a waste of time regardless, loot mechanics have ruined so many games where you spend 30% of your time in menus selling useless stuff for a currency will always exceed the need for it and theres no decisions to be made the whole system is worthless.
 
Last edited:
Do you want to elaborate because there's like 20 games in there and the Nintendo ones, at least, don't have level scaling.
Not the guy you quoted, but going to throw a couple of things around. Of course this does not apply to every game, and even good games often display the following issues:
  • Sterile UI that is only utilitarian and does not fit in with the game's aesthetics. Games that do this better for example: Diablo 2, Witcher 1.
  • Only important use of the gear is some sort of power level, which the entire balancing revolves around. Gear has no other purpose other than to be a skinner box. Might as well cut out the entire "process" of equipping gear.
  • Why does this screen and gear exist at all, like in the GoW reboot from 2018? Was there any thought put into the decision to have RPG elements, or was this just because kitchen sink approach = more money?
  • Is there any player agency for deciding with piece of equipment to use? Do things like 3% more crit or poison matter, or is the only important thing the overall power level?
There is probably more, but I am going to bed soon. All those things don't exist in a vacuum. It has a cascading effect. Is there any balancing around gear? Do secondary stats matter? Are alternative play styles viable ? Why does gear exist in the first place in this game ? Was the UI change necessary (Xenoblade, Demake Souls) ? And so on.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Scarthew
Not the guy you quoted, but going to throw a couple of things around. Of course this does not apply to every game, and even good games often display the following issues:
  • Sterile UI that is only utilitarian and does not fit in with the game's aesthetics. Games that do this better for example: Diablo 2, Witcher 1.
  • Only important use of the gear is some sort of power level, which the entire balancing revolves around. Gear has no other purpose other than to be a skinner box. Might as well cut out the entire "process" of equipping gear.
  • Why does this screen and gear exist at all, like in the GoW reboot from 2018? Was there any thought put into the decision to have RPG elements, or was this just because kitchen sink approach = more money?
  • Is there any player agency for deciding with piece of equipment to use? Do things like 3% more crit or poison matter, or is the only important thing the overall power level?
There is probably more, but I am going to bed soon. All those things don't exist in a vacuum. It has a cascading effect. Is there any balancing around gear? Do secondary stats matter? Are alternative play styles viable ? Why does gear exist in the first place in this game ? Was the UI change necessary (Xenoblade, Demake Souls) ? And so on.
I agree that (most) gear is useless in XB, but it isn't in BotW. While levels are extremely important in XB and used to gate players while they are much less so in BotW (really, only the first 30 or so hours for a 150+ hour game.)

What you are really saying is that "slooter-style" gear systems suck in general. And yeah, I agree with you. "Loot" can be fun but it has to be stuff the player actually wants to find, like unique or rare clothing and items in Morrowind, versus the random trash that chests spit out in Xenoblade or Hogwarts Legacy.
 
Why does this screen and gear exist at all, like in the GoW reboot from 2018?
This is a big one because while its not the most polished game ever GoW has some interesting prospects for an action game. First it has an insane amount of enemy hit reactions and states compared to even many of the greats I think the only games that have it beat are like transformers devastation and maybe god hand? Second juggling in it is done on the ground so comboing an enemy isnt free if other enemies are nearby you still have to be aware of your surroundings. Far too many games try to copy DMC1 and Bayonetta with juggling but seem to forget that air juggles arent the combat system, theyre the reward for bypassing your enemy's offense/defense state. Any game where you can just launch any enemy freely inevitably devolves into: Launch>combo to death>repeat. Where the game can't even fight back. This is a big problem in dmc4/5 since most enemies can be launched from neutral in that game.

Anyway those and many other interesting aspects of GoW's combat is totally undermined by its rpg mechanics. NG+ introduces enemies leveling mid fight as a timer mechanic to force player aggression which works sorta like enemies going DT in DMD mode. However, level scaling is absurd and this can result in your damage being significantly cut or more likely you'll still be overleveled and it won't change anything. Meanwhile the highest difficulty is so overtuned that 90% of your attacks become worthless and you're forced to just spam supers.
Nobody's talking about that game don't worry, that game doesn't have any of the issues brought up.
 
Last edited:
In the game's defense (since this screenshot is damning and I, myself, mentioned the game in the thread's first reply) this is the battle UI and most of it goes away for something like 70 percent of your play time. And, unlike Suicide Squad, all of that information is useful AND it has to be in a giant font because you need to be able to see it in handheld mode.
I don't think so, compare with Xenoblade 2:

1710323248549.png

1710322780795.png

First of all a blue UI is already way more easy on the eye. The gauges are also more readable, for example you can barely see the health. The bottom action ui is also slotted more on the edge of the screen, which gives you more view of the action. The limit break meter is also above the health, leaving the upper right side to see what's happening.

While you can argue that 3 had more features, most of those features were bloat that didn't add anything to the game (if not actively hurt it). In general feature bloat correlates with ui bloat.

Speaking of which, Doom Eternal isn't as bad, but still too much bloat
1710324872131.png
 
Back