One of the reasons why I think the UI looks so "modern" is that it has not a single "round" form or circle. Every element is bascially a rectangle wihch imo makes the whole UI kind of lifeless or lacking personality. And the rectangles (e.g. for the inventory) are not even artificially covered (like e.g. in Skyrim), with its simplistic design the blocks are even more prominent.
That's not true at all.
1) Dial menu is circular, 2) crosshair/lupe is a circle, 3) clock uses a circle, 4) "level" uses a half circle.
I won't bother listing them all.
I agree with you on rectangles.
From a geometrical/layout perspective the whole UI seems to be a bit inconsistent with a lot of unused space between it's components. Also the combination of elements is imo lacking. For example the explanation box doesn't really fit to the inventory box above it, neither in size nor in design nor in its usage of the color palette.
True, there's tons of puzzling misalignments there.
The color palette is the third "problem" with the UI. Why this kind of depressing red/brown combination? And why making it THAT prominent? Color just for the sake of color isn't worth anything. What's the purpose of this strong color palette which is at the same time very limited? I would personally prefer a much lighter or a transparent UI (again like in Skyrim).
Fully agreed.
In general, the UI imo just lacks "art". The only artistic element is the picture of Geralt in the middle. There rest is pure geometry. I just don't know why a game which is based on handcrafting every element of the game and which cries art at every occasion relies on simple geometric elements without further artistic treatment for the UI. I agree that it doesn't have to follow the same rules as the game itself but it's imo still looking inconsistent. For me, the UI is kind of immersion-breaking. With its combination of pure rectangles and the strong but limited color palette it really forces you out of the actual game experience. Maybe the effect would be smaller with at least a transparent background. But then again the simple geometric forms would even fit less to the game in the background...
Might comment on this later on.
The focus should be on respecting other people's opinions instead of calling them out for "crying", don't you think?
Nobody said that the UI is required to follow in-game aesthetics. But some people here think that it should fit together or that a fitting UI would benefit the game IN THEIR OPINION.
Your statement "the devs are free to opt." is absolutely pointless here. Everybody knows that. We're here to give feedback and not to force anyone to do anything. In the end it's the taste and decision of CDPR that counts. We can only give some input based on our own taste and opinion.
You're missing my point altogether.
First off, I respect but do challenge dissonant opinions. Great to see that you profess to do so as well. Therefore, you also respect opinions of those who think aesthetics is not subjective, either at all or just to a lesser degree. Though this is
not own stance, I just pointed that out just to remind you the implied suggestion that its subjective nature is a tautology is not really accurate. Anyway, that was just a side note.
What I wanted to point out is that there is no inherent superiority in a fantasy-fitting UI when it comes to fantasy games, from a conceptual point of view. Thus, we're left with addressing the specifics in each UI, instead of just having to rely on a prejudgement call of whether it's fantasy-fitting or not. In this regard, contrast, and not agreement, is often a better way to underline. And we already have a great in-game example of that: DIN.
The problem is that they didn't follow through.
(what i hope for)
