Those images are very instructive. Thanks Lastman!

From a functionality standpoint, of course I prefer the second screen to the first. But in all honesty, I find them both to be like the visual equivalent of leaving one's Christmas lights up the whole year round lol.

I like the bright rainbow lights In-Season, when the time is right - i.e. when I open my Spellbook bar to survey my spells, or my potion or scroll case. But not forever and always there. Just like perma glowing the whole neighborhood, to the point where I can't avoid looking at them, no matter how much they might clash with the overall ambiance in a particular situation, or out of season context.

This is what I meant by there also being strong aesthetic preferences at play here. It's like they spend all this effort and energy to create visual atmosphere within the game's environments, but then upend or undermine that, by putting up a neon display in front of it like this a Las Vegas casino or something.

Do I hate it every single thing about it? Well, no, not exactly, it does have a certain charm I suppose. I might love Lisa Frank for some things, but not to design my D&D portfolio binder hehe. That's all I'm saying dude. When people criticize the entire game for looking glossy and flashy or somehow plasticky (and I've heard this bandied about here and elsewhere), my first thought is that some of that impression is probably coming from the UI hotbar and the arrangement of all these multi colored tiny squares in the always up display. The fact that they must present at all times for the game to work properly. Some people don't dig it. I guess I'm one of those.

But then I hear you say 'I'm in love' and I realize that, of course this is down to differing aesthetic sensibilities. I don't begrudge you the thing that you love. or want to take it away from you. But it's very different than the thing I love and it's going to take a bit more options than that + an extra shortcut icon to make me swoon over it hehe. I think it really is a matter of taste though, as much as function or scale. To me both images appear very much like an extension of inventory management, but even more brightly conveyed. However unlike the inventory, I can't choose to close it, at at least not if this is going to be the central organizing feature of the UI.

I was planning to take a little break, just to actually play the game more and enjoy it, rather than kicking around on the Boards, but I guess these forums pull me back in like a black hole sometimes that I can't quite escape lol. I didn't even make it 3 hours. Too much intrigue here, and I just want this BG3 game to be as cool as humanly possible when it is finally completed, for all involved. So when I see a strong point of contrast to my own impressions, I have to chime in. Just for balance, not single combat. Given where things are have been and we're they've been going I think it will be easier to satisfy your tastes than mine. Though I still hope for a little equity from the dev team to accommodate both our wishes and loves.