Genius!!! Genius!!! Genius!!!! As a UI/UX designer keen on transitioning into design for video games, I really enjoyed this video. Please consider making more, or point me to a great course to get me started in Ui/Ux Design for video games. Once again, thanks a lot for this video, was really insightful.
Thanks for the review! Always nice to hear other people's perspectives. The tool selector was mimicking the PlayStation controller D-pad, and ofc has partially the same issues, but the PC conversion didn't help :) I like the solutions proposed though!
Thanks for the inside scoop. Always thrilled to hear from actual devs & designers. Horizon Forbidden West PC release has been announced for early 2024 and I can't wait!
Cycling tools does feel like a chore in this game. This is why never craft any traps and resist potions (they're pretty useless anyway). Some games also allow you to set a fixed item so when you hold down the cycle button it brings you directly to it.
On my next playthrough, I think I’ll abandon the potions which I seldom used. I used the traps a bit more. Planted them like flowers around cauldron bosses.
It'd be interesting to see an update video on your thoughts on Forbidden West's UI... I found their Skills section to be weird, the entire menu felt more clunky and a step backwards in some regards, although same could be said about certain gameplay mechanics like the magical removal of the shield armor and double downing on grindy progression mechanics. I played it on playstation plus cloud cause I don't have a PS5 so I wasn't that invested in grinding through all questlines... ended up leaving the game after main story.
Horizon Forbidden West releases for PC early 2024. I'm very much looking forward to it. I consider Horizon Zero Dawn to be one of the best games ever made. I adore it! I've seen positive & negative responses to FW… so we'll see. Whether a game is grindy depends largely on how much we enjoy it… I thought Elden Ring was terribly grindy! But I did EVERYTHING in Ghost Recon Wildlands. Keep it here.
@@MediaKitGaming That is true but I guess it only applies to singleplayer grind, cause I think "live service" games grind is just a whole another monster. Horizon ZD is in my top5 of all time too, what made it the best for you? I loved the unique premise and the counter-fantasy trope of the "ancient magic" being 21st century technology... I've always found traditional "magical fantasy" elements to be unimpressive, but the scientific twist in HZD was perfection for me. I loved the environments they created, the machine combat and Aloy's character in the first game (not so much in the second)
@@Alpha_GameDev-wq5cc I’ve never subscribed to a live service game. Inherent in games I play is the need for them to end, to have a goal and a finish line. *Re: HZD:* I’ve contemplated doing a breakdown of HZD’s combat because, while the game does many things well, I think its combat is exceptional. I’ve finished it 3 times, most recently on “very hard” (not NG+). I love games that incorporate stealth AND open combat with ranged and melee including dodges/evades. It also has drop attacks, slide attacks & ambush weapons. I don’t need to review all its varied spring-based weapons. I love that the ropecaster is a completely utilitarian weapon, there’s great creativity in that. Plus whistles and stones to lure. It’s weakest in its melee offerings but with 2 staff attacks (fast & strong), slide and drop attacks, stealth attacks, + the dismount strike, it’s still outperforming many games in melee. Then there are the machines, each with their weaknesses and strengths, and the components that can be detached and exploited, including detachable offensive guns (always go for cannon first on the ravager). I love learning the machines and developing a strategy for each. Put it all together and I’ve never played a game that comes close to HZDs full package on combat. Nevertheless, it remains challenging but learnable even at the higher difficulties. Because there’s so much strategy that can be employed. One of its best features is the lack of guns. A brilliant idea. They only appear occasionally, have limited mags, and they’re cumbersome. Keeping the weapons ancient, slows the combat giving time to react but also making open combat more of an option. Whereas guns turn games into cover-shooters. Take away the combat and HZD doesn’t have much. Nevertheless, its graphics are amazing. The overgrown world is so pretty, and the tech world is an imaginative view on futurism. I do love the story, I love the characters and it’s all so well acted. I 100% agree with your position on magic vs sci-fi tech. I dislike magic, especially in movies. Characters stuck in an impossible situation? There’s a spell for that! Sci-fi will do the exact same thing, but give a science explanation for it, and for some reason, I’m OK with that. I feel like sci-fi at least tries to hold itself back… unless your name is JJ Abrams.
@@MediaKitGaming That was a great read! You should definitely turn that into a video idea, perhaps you can compare and contrast with their HorizonFW combat system. I remember from my playthrough, that I found the new overlay for researching machine's weakness to be cumbersome and while in HZD I was approaching each machine with strategy... a lot of HFW was just me throwing the advanced explosive spike with double damage buff after the mid-game.
@@Alpha_GameDev-wq5cc Yeah, I don't know exactly what you're talking about, having not yet played HFW. But it sounds like a mistake a lot of games make. Enemies get harder because they have more HP, so they give the player weapons that deal more HP damage. But you have to grind for them or earn them in other ways. This was Elden Ring for me. In the end, you're not playing different, or smarter, just the pitting enemy's buffs vs your grinded buffs. The right way to do it, IMO, and much more difficult for developers, is to introduce new abilities, moves, attacks & defenses for the enemies and then provide counter abilities, moves, attacks & defenses for the player so that there is a toolbox to reach into for various combat situations. The player has to know the enemy, know their tools, and be familiar enough with both to act quickly in combat. The best games will accommodate different playstyles or in other words, allow varied tools to accomplish the job. In HZD, I didn't use the slings much (some, but not much). I've seen players on UA-cam who definitely prefer slings. I used the ropecaster more on my 3rd playthrough than any other. Fingers crossed, I don't end up agreeing with you about HFW having inferior combat.
Have the tools be an item wheel exactly like the weapons wheel. Accessed by holding L1, and pressing down. Time slows down when viewed. Tools can be semi-automatically crafted in the tool wheel. To use the selected item, Press R3.
i know this is an old video... but at 1:18 you say that there should be a display all button... there is, it's G. it says so at the buttom of the screen.
Yup. There it is! I guess that would be a different design error all its own. Beat the game twice and never saw that. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Thanks for pointing that out.
Absolutely brilliant ideas, excellent animation. I hope your channel blows up man you're amazing
You're very kind. Thank you
Dude, I love this UI/UX breakdown video. being a UX designer myself I see all the frustrations that you pointed out. Love this content.
Genius!!! Genius!!! Genius!!!! As a UI/UX designer keen on transitioning into design for video games, I really enjoyed this video. Please consider making more, or point me to a great course to get me started in Ui/Ux Design for video games.
Once again, thanks a lot for this video, was really insightful.
I wish I could help. I'm just a designer/animator with opinions. All the best, though!
Thus channel needs way more subscribers because looking at the quality and simplicity then looking at the subscriber count is so crazy
Thanks for the review! Always nice to hear other people's perspectives.
The tool selector was mimicking the PlayStation controller D-pad, and ofc has partially the same issues, but the PC conversion didn't help :)
I like the solutions proposed though!
Thanks for the inside scoop. Always thrilled to hear from actual devs & designers. Horizon Forbidden West PC release has been announced for early 2024 and I can't wait!
Cycling tools does feel like a chore in this game. This is why never craft any traps and resist potions (they're pretty useless anyway). Some games also allow you to set a fixed item so when you hold down the cycle button it brings you directly to it.
On my next playthrough, I think I’ll abandon the potions which I seldom used. I used the traps a bit more. Planted them like flowers around cauldron bosses.
It'd be interesting to see an update video on your thoughts on Forbidden West's UI... I found their Skills section to be weird, the entire menu felt more clunky and a step backwards in some regards, although same could be said about certain gameplay mechanics like the magical removal of the shield armor and double downing on grindy progression mechanics. I played it on playstation plus cloud cause I don't have a PS5 so I wasn't that invested in grinding through all questlines... ended up leaving the game after main story.
Horizon Forbidden West releases for PC early 2024. I'm very much looking forward to it. I consider Horizon Zero Dawn to be one of the best games ever made. I adore it! I've seen positive & negative responses to FW… so we'll see. Whether a game is grindy depends largely on how much we enjoy it… I thought Elden Ring was terribly grindy! But I did EVERYTHING in Ghost Recon Wildlands. Keep it here.
@@MediaKitGaming That is true but I guess it only applies to singleplayer grind, cause I think "live service" games grind is just a whole another monster. Horizon ZD is in my top5 of all time too, what made it the best for you? I loved the unique premise and the counter-fantasy trope of the "ancient magic" being 21st century technology... I've always found traditional "magical fantasy" elements to be unimpressive, but the scientific twist in HZD was perfection for me. I loved the environments they created, the machine combat and Aloy's character in the first game (not so much in the second)
@@Alpha_GameDev-wq5cc I’ve never subscribed to a live service game. Inherent in games I play is the need for them to end, to have a goal and a finish line. *Re: HZD:* I’ve contemplated doing a breakdown of HZD’s combat because, while the game does many things well, I think its combat is exceptional. I’ve finished it 3 times, most recently on “very hard” (not NG+). I love games that incorporate stealth AND open combat with ranged and melee including dodges/evades. It also has drop attacks, slide attacks & ambush weapons. I don’t need to review all its varied spring-based weapons. I love that the ropecaster is a completely utilitarian weapon, there’s great creativity in that. Plus whistles and stones to lure. It’s weakest in its melee offerings but with 2 staff attacks (fast & strong), slide and drop attacks, stealth attacks, + the dismount strike, it’s still outperforming many games in melee.
Then there are the machines, each with their weaknesses and strengths, and the components that can be detached and exploited, including detachable offensive guns (always go for cannon first on the ravager). I love learning the machines and developing a strategy for each. Put it all together and I’ve never played a game that comes close to HZDs full package on combat. Nevertheless, it remains challenging but learnable even at the higher difficulties. Because there’s so much strategy that can be employed. One of its best features is the lack of guns. A brilliant idea. They only appear occasionally, have limited mags, and they’re cumbersome. Keeping the weapons ancient, slows the combat giving time to react but also making open combat more of an option. Whereas guns turn games into cover-shooters.
Take away the combat and HZD doesn’t have much. Nevertheless, its graphics are amazing. The overgrown world is so pretty, and the tech world is an imaginative view on futurism. I do love the story, I love the characters and it’s all so well acted.
I 100% agree with your position on magic vs sci-fi tech. I dislike magic, especially in movies. Characters stuck in an impossible situation? There’s a spell for that! Sci-fi will do the exact same thing, but give a science explanation for it, and for some reason, I’m OK with that. I feel like sci-fi at least tries to hold itself back… unless your name is JJ Abrams.
@@MediaKitGaming That was a great read! You should definitely turn that into a video idea, perhaps you can compare and contrast with their HorizonFW combat system. I remember from my playthrough, that I found the new overlay for researching machine's weakness to be cumbersome and while in HZD I was approaching each machine with strategy... a lot of HFW was just me throwing the advanced explosive spike with double damage buff after the mid-game.
@@Alpha_GameDev-wq5cc Yeah, I don't know exactly what you're talking about, having not yet played HFW. But it sounds like a mistake a lot of games make. Enemies get harder because they have more HP, so they give the player weapons that deal more HP damage. But you have to grind for them or earn them in other ways. This was Elden Ring for me. In the end, you're not playing different, or smarter, just the pitting enemy's buffs vs your grinded buffs.
The right way to do it, IMO, and much more difficult for developers, is to introduce new abilities, moves, attacks & defenses for the enemies and then provide counter abilities, moves, attacks & defenses for the player so that there is a toolbox to reach into for various combat situations. The player has to know the enemy, know their tools, and be familiar enough with both to act quickly in combat. The best games will accommodate different playstyles or in other words, allow varied tools to accomplish the job.
In HZD, I didn't use the slings much (some, but not much). I've seen players on UA-cam who definitely prefer slings. I used the ropecaster more on my 3rd playthrough than any other. Fingers crossed, I don't end up agreeing with you about HFW having inferior combat.
Excellent video and great ideas.
thanks
Good little analysis, and great exemplary animation editing.
Thank you, friend.
Have the tools be an item wheel exactly like the weapons wheel.
Accessed by holding L1, and pressing down.
Time slows down when viewed.
Tools can be semi-automatically crafted in the tool wheel.
To use the selected item, Press R3.
i know this is an old video... but at 1:18 you say that there should be a display all button... there is, it's G. it says so at the buttom of the screen.
Yup. There it is! I guess that would be a different design error all its own. Beat the game twice and never saw that. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Thanks for pointing that out.
Thoughts on Horizon Forbidden West's UI? What would you fix?
First, it needs to drop on PC... but im really looking forward to it.
@@MediaKitGaming alright