It would probably screw a lot of players up to have menus function consistently, but after getting used to using the same set of keys to navigate and select from menu lists, gameplay would be a lot smoother, and those keys could be freed up for consistency with other functions, and more esoteric and isolated functions could be integrated into related menus. It's been a long time since I played Fortress mode, so there are probably some reasons I've forgotten for these multiple keysets to move the same directions through menus, but I haven't forgotten how I had to adapt to the keybindings in the first place, and how much quicker it could've been without the user-contrary interface.
My Adventurer mode experiences are more recent. A good acid test for whether a function could be bundled into a menu is to ask how long it would take players to notice if the hotkey were removed. If the "m"ovement wasn't there to toggle a single movement option, who would miss it? Now there's a whole menu of movement options, that seems the likely place to look for this setting if it were needed. Conversely, players would notice right away if they didn't have a key to toggle sneak mode with; some playstyles are wholly based on it, but everyone has a use for it on a regular basis.
The "I"nteract key so rarely has any function at all that you could easily forget it exists by the time you have in inventory something it'll work on. Why not add it to the inventory menu? The hotkeys for manipulating inventory, wear/remove/put/throw/etc, are useful in regular play, but they'd also be useful when you're looking right at the item's properties or description in the inventory menu. Why not drop it or eat it or put it away without having to pedal back two or three menus to open another and then hunt for the letter matching the item you already had selected?
Trying to swim safely through uneven waters is inconsistent to the point of interface screw. Most of the time you're slowed down with a selection list of only one option: to move the direction you had selected in the first place. You could assume the choice was already made when pressing ALT-<direction>. Even if the extra keystroke was needed or desirable, the times a second option appears, it's presented in the same position as the non-option you've been drudging through. This is like swapping 'yes' and 'no' in dialog trees just to fuck with players -- it's funny when done occasionally, but not when it's done many turns in succession.
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Topic: Interface consistency (Read 525 times)