Oh yeah you are right. It kinda feels weird though with the minimap being displayed all the time, I dunno if I'll turn it off or not (on my 1st playthrough).
Option to disable Monster Names & health bars displaying above their heads?
I'd like to ask for this now, rather than wait for the game to release and possibly have the option not be there - which I would find unsatisfying.
When wandering woods at night, and coming across a werewolf, I would not like to see a bright-red health bar and the title Werewolf appear floating above its head - and experiencing that would take me right out of the sense of realism to the environment, and intensity of the experience. I prefer to not know the health of my opponent while I am attacking them, and I certainly don't need an MMO-style headline of what type of creature I'm fighting being displayed on my monitor, like Geralt has some LED military visor from the future showing him references from a lexicon database on some server.
Witcher 3 is looking great, but there's way too much screen noise in most of the released media - too many layers of superfluous data and world-hacking information that just doesn't seem right for exploring and existing in a medieval natural beauty.
How much is needed? It seems to me like the choice of design in W3 is a style-based choice, and not a practicality and need-based design. Number / bar / title noise is not a favourable design direction, in my opinion and preference, and I hope to feel, while playing Witcher 3, as if I'm there in the natural world, and not behind a digital screen that's layered with meta-data filler.
I've been told there's option to disable much of the HUD data, but what exactly can be disabled, and how things function when it is disabled, I'm still wishing to know:
- Will NPC names appear only when highlighting them with the mouse while near to them?
- Will Geralt's status bars fade and disappear while not in combat, and maybe only briefly appear in combat when hit or stamina is exerted?
- Can daytime stat and indicator be disabled independently from the other elements on the screen?
If you could, 3DPR, please give understanding to us regarding the configurability and operation of customizing and hiding HUD elements.
At any rate, when playing a game about hunting monsters, with so much work put into crafting a moody, detail-dense world with believable environments, all that serious sentiment is undercut when floating titles for beasts running out of the woods not only remind you you're playing a game, but also give away the opponent location and identity, taking away player sensation, puzzle-solving, tactics and battle calculations, and immersion. I want to rely on my learning, capability, and judgment, and not on on-screen meta-data serving as a handicap indicator for how to handle my battles.
I'd like to ask for this now, rather than wait for the game to release and possibly have the option not be there - which I would find unsatisfying.
When wandering woods at night, and coming across a werewolf, I would not like to see a bright-red health bar and the title Werewolf appear floating above its head - and experiencing that would take me right out of the sense of realism to the environment, and intensity of the experience. I prefer to not know the health of my opponent while I am attacking them, and I certainly don't need an MMO-style headline of what type of creature I'm fighting being displayed on my monitor, like Geralt has some LED military visor from the future showing him references from a lexicon database on some server.
Witcher 3 is looking great, but there's way too much screen noise in most of the released media - too many layers of superfluous data and world-hacking information that just doesn't seem right for exploring and existing in a medieval natural beauty.
How much is needed? It seems to me like the choice of design in W3 is a style-based choice, and not a practicality and need-based design. Number / bar / title noise is not a favourable design direction, in my opinion and preference, and I hope to feel, while playing Witcher 3, as if I'm there in the natural world, and not behind a digital screen that's layered with meta-data filler.
I've been told there's option to disable much of the HUD data, but what exactly can be disabled, and how things function when it is disabled, I'm still wishing to know:
- Will NPC names appear only when highlighting them with the mouse while near to them?
- Will Geralt's status bars fade and disappear while not in combat, and maybe only briefly appear in combat when hit or stamina is exerted?
- Can daytime stat and indicator be disabled independently from the other elements on the screen?
If you could, 3DPR, please give understanding to us regarding the configurability and operation of customizing and hiding HUD elements.
At any rate, when playing a game about hunting monsters, with so much work put into crafting a moody, detail-dense world with believable environments, all that serious sentiment is undercut when floating titles for beasts running out of the woods not only remind you you're playing a game, but also give away the opponent location and identity, taking away player sensation, puzzle-solving, tactics and battle calculations, and immersion. I want to rely on my learning, capability, and judgment, and not on on-screen meta-data serving as a handicap indicator for how to handle my battles.
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Heiko Klinge from Gamestar said that you'll be able to completely hide the HUD, about the same way it's possible in the Assassin's Creed series. Apparently you are free to chose exactly which parts of the HUD you want and which you don't. "Hardcore-RPG" was the term he used for playing without any additional on-screen informations. There are no detailed descriptions of fading HUD-elements, but april 27th isn't too far away. We'll know more after that. 
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HUD toggle?
I hope you can at least turn it off for screenshots, but I also like to just soak up the environment without a bunch of on screen information.
I hope you can at least turn it off for screenshots, but I also like to just soak up the environment without a bunch of on screen information.
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You could in TW2, so you should be able to in TW3. (I think it's also been confirmed by CDPR)
Yeah, you can turn it all off.
http://forums.cdprojektred.com/threads/29276-The-Witcher-3-HUD?p=1521072&viewfull=1#post1521072
Btw @spookypuppy , just for future reference in case you'll keep browsing these boards - you can easily find posts of CDPR staff in the threads (it's how I quickly fished that quote of Marcin). Go to the top of the page, see the thread title (Thread: The Witcher 3 HUD), and on its left you'll see a small RED icon. Click on it and it will take you to the first post from one of the Reds in the said thread (if they participated). Then in that post, on the right, next to the post number, you'll sometimes have another small RED icon, and it'll take you to the next post from the staff in the thread, if there is any.
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YAY, CDPR are my favourite developers ever, they actually care about player experience, that is so rare these days it's almost mythical.
Health/item bar fading in and out of combat appears to be the default method. Also, there is a second menu option for the HUD that was not explored in the footage.
Yeah, but I was hoping for the map opacity - it is opaque and I wouldn't want it to turn it off completely or open the big map very often. Hopefully, the last HUD-related menu has something, but it is unlikely.
What is the armor thingy on left corner?
Equipment durability. It pops up when your stuff is broken.
I remember seeing in one of the videos that turning durability off was a choice..wonder if it's an option.
the indicator, yes. the mechanic, not. (I'm guessing you meant the former)
Yep...guess now we know..although having the indicator on is quite important if you ask me.
definitely. though I think it could do with a much simpler design (and a better placement). maybe just a small exclamation point with a hammer next to it.
I'm not sure how much worse broken equipment is, but you probably want to replace it as soon as possible, so you will open your inventory anyways and you can see there what's broken. no need to clutter the hud.