I picked up on the lead community manager saying that the UI changes were made with new players in mind, and that they need something that will service both veterans and those new players. This to me implies that Frontier thinks the Horizons UI is bad for new players. I find this kinda baffling, because all-in-all I think the Horizons UI is one of the best game UIs I've encountered. If you go back to my early days of playing on PS4, you'll see even then as a new player I had great praise for the UI. Of course my opinion may be influenced being a console / game controller player (even on PC I use a controller), but I've also used the UI with K&M and found it pretty good.
That's not to say there aren't some bugs with the UI, along with some silly decisions (like burying the frequently used docking request feature), and the way fleet carriers are represented in the system map is an abomination, but the ship and station menus, along with the galaxy and system maps, are great IMO in Horizons. In fact, the reason I was inspired to post this new thread is that I've been playing X4 Foundations exclusively since I decided to pass on Odyssey, and holy cow is that an obtuse UI! I feel like it's always fighting me, like a bad dog always pulling against the leash in the wrong direction instead of walking beside me. I personally think X4 does a lot of things better than ED, but ED Horizons blows X4 out of the water when it comes to the user interface (pre-Fleet Carriers).
So why change the user interface so radically in Odyssey? Is this change for change sake, or does Frontier really believe that kids won't be able to play Elite unless they incorporate a cellphone UI in the game? Do they really look at Horizons UI and think, "New players will never figure this out this old UI - we need to completely change it!" Is this some sort of "Okay Boomer" moment inside Frontier where the new young designers look at the old, established work and feel the need to replace it because a stereotypical "Old is bad!" mentality? I'm just baffled that Frontier felt the need to change what was one of the best game UIs I've personally experienced (bugs and a couple QoL issues notwithstanding) and so dramatically rewrite it so that new players would find Odyssey engaging... Kinda reminds me of this old but apt meme (except that the new UI is nowhere near as pretty as the girl in red):
ps - Frontier, if you don't like the Horizons UI anymore, please consider donating it to X4 Foundations, because that game desperately needs a UI as good as Horizons!
That's not to say there aren't some bugs with the UI, along with some silly decisions (like burying the frequently used docking request feature), and the way fleet carriers are represented in the system map is an abomination, but the ship and station menus, along with the galaxy and system maps, are great IMO in Horizons. In fact, the reason I was inspired to post this new thread is that I've been playing X4 Foundations exclusively since I decided to pass on Odyssey, and holy cow is that an obtuse UI! I feel like it's always fighting me, like a bad dog always pulling against the leash in the wrong direction instead of walking beside me. I personally think X4 does a lot of things better than ED, but ED Horizons blows X4 out of the water when it comes to the user interface (pre-Fleet Carriers).
So why change the user interface so radically in Odyssey? Is this change for change sake, or does Frontier really believe that kids won't be able to play Elite unless they incorporate a cellphone UI in the game? Do they really look at Horizons UI and think, "New players will never figure this out this old UI - we need to completely change it!" Is this some sort of "Okay Boomer" moment inside Frontier where the new young designers look at the old, established work and feel the need to replace it because a stereotypical "Old is bad!" mentality? I'm just baffled that Frontier felt the need to change what was one of the best game UIs I've personally experienced (bugs and a couple QoL issues notwithstanding) and so dramatically rewrite it so that new players would find Odyssey engaging... Kinda reminds me of this old but apt meme (except that the new UI is nowhere near as pretty as the girl in red):
ps - Frontier, if you don't like the Horizons UI anymore, please consider donating it to X4 Foundations, because that game desperately needs a UI as good as Horizons!