Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback BG like menu

Without going into all the details this does not feel like a BG game...

Main menu looks like DOS:
https://ibb.co/52txt9C

Expected, something like... (quick photoshop, sorry I am a bit lazy...):
https://ibb.co/cvN9xpX

Who prefer something alike the expected?

Nope ... sorry. :-/
I like current one more.

Nostalgia is fine thing, but nothing should be exaggerated, its over decade old design, games moved on.

Maybe not a copy-paste of BG2, but I'd like something in a similar vein. Would help a tiny bit with "making BG3 feel like BG".



"Moved on" in this case means "current aesthetic trends are different". Which, imo, is no reason to do or not do anything. BG3 doesn't need to copy current trends any more than than it needs to copy old trends. The old design was perfectly functional (and stronger stylistically); and even then, there's no reason we can't have aesthetics calling back to the originals (BG2 has a great style even by modern standards) and implement modern QoL/ease-of-use on top of that.

As of now, BG3 lacks strong stylistic identity. There are some elements that could work very well, but they're very subtle (UI "golden borders" etc.). If you made them more prominent and combined with BG2 stylistic framework, the effects could be amazing.

A decade old design... Give me a break.
Good design is good design no matter how old it is.
Id argue recent designs are lifeless and boring.
It isn't <nostalgia> , this IS a Baldurs gate game right?! Then why have a DOS style main menu. Maybe something a bit different/original could be nice. Everything else in the UI is pretty much like DOS2.

I don't really like BG3's main menu because it lacks of personnality.
The music and the "graphics" are irrelevant to me and looks like an introduction of a viking game or something like that...
Nothing feel like Baldur's Gate/The Forgotten Realms/Dungeons & Dragons in the main menu, and that is very dissapointing, especially the first time you launch the game.

On the other hand, as an huge fan of BG1/2 I think BG3 deserve something better and "more 2020" than something that was done 20 years ago.

To be honnest, DoS 1/2's main menu were way better than BG3's main menu to me.

Looks nice, would be cool to have a mod with menu like this.

Im not sure i understand ... those two sentences together. O_o

On one hand you say that they dont need to it ...
On the other hand you say that they should do it ...

Im confused here. :-/

Anyway all i wanted to say is that old one seem ugly. *shrug*

I don’t think the old UI is that good.

Button layout is unintuitive, menus are massive. The difference between then and now is resolution - one doesn’t need to cover the screen in large buttons to make things readable. And while, BG1&2 base menus are functional, they are not once more options are available. I also disliked how many clicks one had to go through to start playing the game.

BG3 seems to be using a pretty standard modern layout. It looks perfectly fine. With game running on 3D engine, and being able to generate nice background on top of couple buttons... why take the advantage of it?

I don’t think menu is as good as D:OS2 though... the cave BG3 uses as background isn’t terribly meaningful, at least to my knowledge. Perhaps it will change once we have actual Baldur’s Gate in the game?

A midterm between the two would be nice

A lifeless flat screen with four colors and nothing to look at but the buttons that are there for functionality is not something I'd enjoy seeing.
Nostalgia is weird.

Yah, I am gonna say I like the beautiful, animated 3-D cavern with pretty water reflection effects and stacks of foreboding skulls over what looks like the box art of a board game.

The old art doesn't so much scream "Baldur's Gate" to me as it screams "This game is from the 90s/early 2000s and digital art has only come so far".

The BG2 menu screen is glorious in its simpleness and dark beauty.

They could keep the ３D animated cavern and have the center BG3 logo with tentacle buttons popping out (new game etc...) in a similar layout to BG2.
The current boring UI buttons and placing is ...underwhelming.

Another thing, I sense everyone HATES BG1/BG2 in these forums, what gives????? When people mention sensible stuff like this, you know being a Baldurs gate game, its ALWAYS negativity towards the old games.

The bg2 menu is long time favourite of mine but objectively... It's lame and dated

Current UI easy to read and well organised. That’s just nostalgia for nostalgia sake -updating dated UI is one of best things a new game can make.

I would say the new one is blend and boring. Just a moving 3d cave pictur(???), not much style in the layout. Its functional. Like a stool.

Because.....?? Old games are bad? Like old paintings or old books? I am currently playing BG2, not because of nostalgia but because its quick ass good game. Thats why. Mods are still being developed for it and I dont think its because of nostalgia.
I can give individual party commands and move my characters 5x faster around the map and more efficiently in BG2 than BG3. Yea talk about an <dated> UI....
I do not understand this logic. I understand updating the UI for a console game. ok. But unless I am mistaking we are all using keyboards and mouses in 2020 like we were in 2000. Our mouses and keyboards are just shinier and glow rainbows now.
I mean by your logic, isn't BG3 even dated now that we have next gen VR? Sitting at a desk in front of LCD is just sooo dated now right?. Is that nostalgia Im sensing? Give me a break...

I don't miss BG1&2 menus and BG3 UI isn't final - UI takes a lot of time and iterations since things constantly change and require rework. I don't expect to see a final version of the UI before the final stretch of the development and til then I won't mind the current look too much.

To be honest though the DOS2 stuff definitely doesn't help to get rid of the DOS feeling the game has (though I don't think it's fair to call it DOS3). Especially since it just keeps your mind on all the DOS-gameplay stuff they ported over with little success.

I hope they will make a more dedicated effort to move away from the over DOS-estethic to something more DnD related. No need though to go back to 90s-UI design.

This topic reminds me of FilmCow's "Modern Titles" series - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bz2vAXL-Gc

I have no real attachment to BG2's menu, but BG3's is bland - it could be for an assassin's creed game. On the other hand, I don't really care. It's only annoying to the extent it reminds me of other aspects of the game I find bland.

Updating the BG2 look would at least be a bit more interesting.

What I meant was that something just being old or new is no reason to copy it. You know, the "it's 2020, so X" argument without giving a single reason for WHY "X" is better. So my first sentence was "it's not better just because it's new/BG3 is under no obligation to follow trends just because they're trends, be it old trends (in general) or new trends". HOWEVER, I believe it would benefit from taking inspiration from BG2's style. Not mindlessly copying it 1-to-1, but, as I said, merging old style with new conveniences and certain stylistic elements already present in BG3.



And with this I just thoroughly disagree. :P



That's the problem. It looks just like any other modern game. It's generic. Hide the logo (and perhaps background) and it could be any franchise. It's painfully bland.

One of my gripes with BG3 is ALL the type in the game is exactly the same font, weight and style as the DOS games, right down to the numbers that pop over your head. That’s partly why it all feels so similar. The dialogue options are even formatted exactly the same way with brackets for skill/race options and stars for narration. Something more akin to earlier BG or something new would be appreciated. Maybe that’s in the works.