Vote: Who is still playing SEV ?

se5a · #1 March 4th, 2007, 03:44 PM

the main beef I have about SEV UI is the loss of the single click to add items to queues.

that, and some places where it needs cleaning up a bit, like the size of the combat log in the news.

Atrocities · #2 March 4th, 2007, 05:25 PM

David,

Its not change that I am resistant too. Its lack of function, less information, more clicks, bad organization, and a sincere lack of inspiration that make me dislike the UI. I like the visual look of the UI, but in most cases it lacks the depth and attention to information detail that SE IV's DOS like UI had. I miss seeing what I need to see at a glance. The new FILTER system is a PITA and often requires many clicks to find the info you need. In SE IV it was a simple matter to get to the info you wanted, in SE V it is not.

The pointless features of the UI that do absolutely nothing to help the game like clicking on the main image and it brings up a larger view of it but with NO information. WTH is the point to that? Clicking on the main image should bring up information about that object, not just a larger view of it.

Click fest is not something my index finger enjoys either.

Sure I am spoiled because SEIV was a well thought out design that provided much needed simple information at a glance whereas SE V's UI doesn't.

All this aside, I can never recall a time where I was frustrated by SE IV's UI and gave up playing the game because of it. While I love the game, the UI is simply to aggravating for me to deal with over long periods. It ruins the gaming experience for me and frustrates the hell out of me. I am sorry but that is the God's honest truth.

Aaron has made a wonderfully deliteful game in SE V. No one can deny that say for the few who are hooked up on moo3 comparisons. I am in no way knocking the game, it is a great 4x game and one that I highly recommend for purchase, but for me the ONLY issue that keeps me from playing it are the UI issues that annoy me. I have faith though that over time many of them will be ironed out and that keeps my hope running high.

Fyron · #3 March 4th, 2007, 09:40 PM

se5a said:
the main beef I have about SEV UI is the loss of the single click to add items to queues.

You can generally double click, which is pretty much the same action.

Suicide Junkie · #4 March 4th, 2007, 09:48 PM

Except when trying to add multiple items.

Se4:
1,2,3 of that. 1,2 of those.

...With only small movements of the mouse down the list
...a list in which you can see 19-20 items without scrolling, rather than just 5 or 6

There is really no doubt that SE4's UI is vastly superior.
The debate is really whether SE5's UI is good enough on its own. I'd say a non-emphatic yes.

Fyron · #5 March 4th, 2007, 09:53 PM

Even then, double click takes roughly as much time as single click. The list could certainly stand to show more items, but I don't see any fundamental issues with double vs. single click.

Slick · #6 March 4th, 2007, 10:04 PM

Oh, come on. The UI has many many issues. Even though people got hung up on one of the things I listed, here's a sizable list (yes, a few have been reported fixed in the as yet unlreleased latest versions), but there are a lot more UI problems than just a double click issue.

Link
Edit: Fixed the crazy-long link

Fyron · #7 March 5th, 2007, 01:22 AM

Didn't say or imply there weren't.

Suicide Junkie · #8 March 5th, 2007, 01:31 AM

There is no problem with a doubleclick if you have to do it only occasionally.

Atrocities · #9 March 5th, 2007, 01:43 AM

I see the spread is pretty even and stable. Despite its flaws SE V is still the best 4x game to come out in the last five years. (Say for SE IV Gold)

Kamog · #10 March 5th, 2007, 03:32 AM

SEIV was addictive. The more I played it, the more I wanted to continue playing. SEV is the opposite. The more I play it, the more frustrating it becomes and I increasingly want to do something else other than play SEV. And I don't think it's just because I'm used to SEIV and I'm resistant to change. I had no problem switching from SEIII to SEIV many years ago even though I was used to SEIII and SEIV was different. I really want to like SEV. I've started many games of SEV and spent dozens of hours playing it, to get used to the interface.

The main problem I have with SEV is the crashes. In order to not have the game get stuck while processing turns, I have to keep saving the game, quitting SEV and restarting every 5 turns or so. Otherwise the turns go slower and slower until it eventually crashes. If the memory leak problem gets fixed, that will solve about 50% of the frustration for me.

The other frustration I have with SEIV is the user interface. It's not so much the number of mouse clicks or the way the menus are organized that is really the biggest problem. I could live with the awkward user interface if all the functionality I wanted was available somewhere, even it took a lot of clicking. One of the annoying things is that some of the screens get increasingly cluttered as the game progresses. For example, the obsolete ship designs never seem to disappear from the ship list in the combat simulator, so after a while you've got hundreds of old ship designs in the list that you don't want and can't get rid of. You can't delete old construction queue fill lists so they pile up as well. Plus I agree with a lot things from Slick's list, especially the ones related to the ship design screen.