***
The readout for Skyrim appears very stream-lined. Heath,
Magic and Fatigue bars all appear on the bottom of the screen during normal
game play. These bars will fade from view typically while the attributes they
indicate are not being affected, presumably to allow the scenery to dominate
most of the screen. Equipped weapons are displayed in the player’s hands while
in first person view and drawn and on the player’s back and person when in
third person view. Spells are only displayed when the player has “drawn” them.
Within combat, an enemy’s health will be displayed in a read
out above it, along with the enemy’s name. Both enemy and player health give
feedback on damage by the bars depleting, typically with some kind of
accompanying sound effect either in the way of an impact noise or a
creature/humanoid grunt.
There is no mini-map but rather a compass located at the top
of the screen. The compass is also minimal in design, not so much showing
surrounding scenery as much as indicating nearby known/discovered locations,
enemies and the current direction the player is facing. The compass also serves
the dual role of indicating if the player can use his shout ability; when a
player uses a shout, the compass will glow blue and gradually stop glowing from
the center until it returns to normal, at which time it’s possible for the
player to use the shout once again.
The game has a unique menu that separates the
map, items, magic and skills into four separate sub-menus. If the player presses
the tab key on the PC, a compass-style menu is brought up. Pressing the WSAD
keys or mousing-over a compass point and clicking brings up the corresponding
menu.
Within the Magic and Items menus, the
corresponding items are sorted into categories, such as books or keys for items
or destruction and illusion for magic. Both menus also have a catch all category which lists everything on the player’s person relating to either items or
magic
The skills sub-menu is a constellation map
wherein each constellation represents a skill tree for the player. As the
player levels up, the player is allowed to light on of the stars in one of the
constellations, adding to their current skills with perks.
The map menu displays a bird’s-eye view map of Skyrim,
complete with small icons displaying discovered locations in white and known
but undiscovered locations in black with a white outline. Quest icons appear in the shape of an arrowhead as do
custom player icons, though the latter are cobalt in color instead of white.
This is all, of course, without taking into
account the sub menus for potion creation, blacksmithing, equipment
modification, lock picking, conversation, shopping, looting, cooking, and
enchanting. In a nutshell, menus such as those for creating or purchasing items
have a readout similar to the item menu, with a row of available categories
situated in a panel on the left hand of the screen. Each category folds out
into a drop-down menu that lists available items (for shops or looting) or
possibilities for creation (for any crafting sub menu – potion making,
blacksmithing, etc). Typically, hi-lighting one of the items will display what
is needed for it, whether it’s materials or coinage.
Lock picking, on the other hand, is a mini-game in which the
player must use the mouse or controller to rotate a lock pick around a lock
and, using contextual clues in the form of how far the lock turns and what
noises the lock makes, figure out how best to position the lock pick to open
the lock.
The interface as a whole is a strange mix of dynamics. On
the one hand, icons for locations, sound effects played when scrolling through
the menus and the font appear to all fit with the fantasy and Nordic themes of
the game. The smooth layout, though, can at times feel very high-tech.
No comments:
Post a Comment