Aesthetically pleasing UI/Borders in RPGs?

[howlingFantods]

I'm a sucker for old-school UI; I find it charming--even more so if they put an actual artist to work on it.
Some examples:

Maryū Gakuen: Nerawareta Shitai

Hiōden: Mamono-tachi tono Chikai

So putting aside functionality for a second, what are the most aesthetically pleasing UIs/borders that you know of?

 

[Eisenheinrich]

NWN. Sleek and efficient.

 

[thesheeep]

NWN. Sleek and efficient.

Efficient, yes, but it's futuristic style has always been at odds with the fantasy setting. A bit of decoration would have done wonders.

howlingFantods By putting aside functionality, do you also mean putting aside wasted screen space?
Because, while some UIs do look amazing, especially of older games, many also just fill the screen with about 30-50% of nice-looking nothingness.

I have always preferred UIs that have some kind of art applied to them, fitting the rest of the game, but never liked those that went overboard with it, wasting space or getting in the way of easily identifying what something does.

 

[ManaJunkie]

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[Butter]

Nothing beats Fallout and Arcanum.

 

[ManaJunkie]

Fuck...Gorasul?

 

[Aemar]

Definitely agree with Siege of Avalon. Also Might&Magic 6 with its clean, marble-like appearance, and Lands of Lore 3.

Spoiler

Spoiler

 

[Gregz]

 

[ManaJunkie]

Definitely agree with Siege of Avalon. Also Might&Magic 6 with its clean, marble-like appearance, and Lands of Lore 3.

Spoiler

Yes! Love the spellbooks...

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

 

[FeelTheRads]

Not an RPG, but I always liked the UI of Age of Wonders:

 

[Piotrovitz]

Sleek, elegant and convenient, plus those talking heads, man :'(

Holy fuck, just pasting those makes me wanna start another run : |

 

[Eisenheinrich]

Efficient, yes, but it's futuristic style has always been at odds with the fantasy setting. A bit of decoration would have done wonders.

I prefer it to the pixel-crap that is posted here. Most stuff in this thread is just hideous. Bad taste.

 

[Egosphere]

I'm a sucker for old-school UI; I find it charming--even more so if they put an actual artist to work on it.
Some examples:

It'd be more pleasing if they removed the ui entirely

 

[Eisenheinrich]

Asking such a question on a board with mostly east-european kitsch gobblers is pointless anyway. Slavs have no sense for aesthetics. But some random over-the-top ornamentation anywhere and they will suck it up like borscht. It's not even racist, every living room east of the Oder river proves my point.

 

[Egosphere]

Slavs have no sense for aesthetics. But some random over-the-top ornamentation anywhere and they will suck it up like borscht.

So you're saying Slavs like baroque?

 

[Eisenheinrich]

So you're saying Slavs like baroque?

Stolen faux baroque without any sense for proportions, you bet.

 

[DraQ]

Most of the good UIs I have seen were functional, rather than ornamental - Morrowind, Wizardry 8, etc.

The problem with many old UIs was that they were explicitly designed to take up sapce due to technical constraints, but even then they rarely looked good doing so.
Of course there were exceptions.

Nothing beats Fallout and Arcanum.

Fallout UI looked great (the usability, OTOH left a lot to be desired), but Arcanum was just amateurish looking screen hog.

What else...
Larian's stuff tends to have pretty consistently nice UI art.
Witcher 1 looks great.
Uhh... I gues Diablos looked OK?

Eisenheinrich
*hangs carpets on the walls*
Sup bro?

Spoiler

Actually, that's more of a ruskie thing.

 

[Naraya]

 

[Nano]

The Sims 4's UI is pretty sleek and modern.

 

[FeelTheRads]

If we're talking about Heroes, I think the UI of H4 is also cool:

Or I just like dragons in my UIs.

 

[luj1]

Good ol' HoMM a staple in this regard..

 

[Lonely Vazdru]

Most of my favourite ones are here, but I can't pass an opportunity to pimp Thunderscape a bit.

 

[Naraya]

I remember that one of the Polish reviewers called Heroes of Might and Magic (interface and the game itself) "baroque" and I think it describes it the best.