Hey all, and hopefully devs too. š
First off, I want to say Iām loving the game. Though itās more common these days, finding a game that is as richly packed with accessibility features as D4 is rare, especially in the MMO space. My experiences thus far have been rewarding as hell, and I definitely stand by my buying of the game months ago.
That said, I have some suggestions and feedback regarding accessibility, in particular, the chat system.
First a little background; I use the in game screen reader to play, which for those who donāt know, provides spoken feedback on everything from reading inventory, announcing targeting focus such as when looking at enemies and NPCs, accessing the menues, and reading out text popups as they happen in Realtime. Through this, Iāve been able to play and play fairly well, at least I think so. Iām having fun at any rate, so thatās godda say something.
I also use some of the highlight features to denote where my character is on screen, where NPCs are, itoms, enemies, the works. All and all, itās a fairly good experience.
Usually, we, that is to say, other blind/low vision players and I, have to rely on mods and all sorts of hacks, or suffer through someone sitting with us while we game, which for a high-anxiety girl like me, isnāt exactly conducive to an enjoyable experience. When games go out of their way to include us like this, itās kind of a really big deal, and I for one appreciate the efforts put in.
With that cleared up, letās go into what works well and what doesnāt.
It took a bit of work getting my setting just so, but my visual impairment has very specific needs, and even with other AAA games, I find myself spending about 20-40 minutes getting things set up just the right way for my needs.
The accessibility menu is clean, well-organized, and you know what each thing is, either by reading/listening to the prompts and abouts. Everything does what youād think it does, and even if youāre confused, tinkering and experimenting will see one through.
Character creation is mostly good, though thereās a lot of unspoken/read out loud itoms. I can pick my skin tone, hair and eye color easily enough, but body type/gender is kinda a black whole that even with my limited but still useable sight, had me taking a screen shot and running it through GPTās image describer just so I could be sure I was playing as a female.
Further into the character creation process also has some hiccups, primarily in the markings/tats/makeup/accessories section. I left all mine defaulted because I honestly just wanted to get into the game, but even still, a bit more work there just so I had a clearer idea as to what my necro girl looked like would have been nice.
That said, itās certainly better than other games. Hogwarts Legacy comes to mind hereā¦
The name field was also a tad bit confusing, once again requiring a bit of tinkering to get it right. That can be done accessibly, but one shouldnāt expect to get a whole lot of feedback in the moment if they wanna make sure their name is as they want it.
Once into the game, I was launched into a cut sceen that was gripping as much as it was a bit of a black hole.
I wonāt harp on about audio description too much here, but audio described cinematics would go a long way, especially for those who rely on them more than I do.
The gameās playability is solid, though I noticed in later sections of the game that the wide open spaces can cause a lot of confusion if you donāt know where youāre going or canāt really make out details on the map. A high contrast mode or a customizable map/minimap would go a long way towards fixing that, and perhaps some sort of guided rail system for those who canāt see the map.
Fable 3 comes to mind. I played that years ago and the golden breadcrumb trail was a lifesaver more often than not. The idea was that youād select a section that you wanted to get to on the map, then youād follow this little golden trail that was easy to see until you reached your location.
I also know that The Last of Us used something similar to this to keep players on the right path and to help them navigate complicated and twisting environments. This would be especially helpful in dungeons and towns where thereās a lot of twisting and turning about.
My biggest frustration though is with the chat system.
In my experience, chat is another āblack hole.ā I can pull up the chat menu, but from there I get no feedback. I canāt select messages, know where Iām at, respond to things, offer or do anything in the trade chat, socialize, or reach out to other players for help with quest objectives. As D4 is an MMO that encourages player cooperation, this is a pretty big one in the oversight department.
What I do get from chat though is spoken messages as they come in, but if I was in the mittle of combat and couldnāt respond/hear the message, pulling that message up doesnāt seem to work for me. I can hear whoās trading what over Trade, but again I canāt interact or respond. The chat accessibility feature is entirely broken from the screen reader perspective. I donāt know if itās a bug or something else, but it seems to me like this wouldnāt be all that hard of a fix, or so Iād think as a non-dev person.
Otherwise, I want to thank the developers for keeping us disabled players in mind. Even if no one else says it, I truly appreciate your efforts and would be delighted to help in any ways I can, whether that be honest and open feedback, suggestions as someone with multiple disabilities, or even as a sounding board for other accessibility features.
I really do hope that this level of accessibility reaches World of Warcraft at some point because you have no clue how many of us have been sitting around hoping and praying for this for so very long now. Yeah, thereās a community mod, but it would say and mean so much more to the blind player base if there was some sort of open acknowledgement from Blizard regarding accessibility in one of the greatest RPGs of all time.
That said, Iām off to go burn more late night oil gaming.
If devs do read this, thanks so much for taking the time to.
Much love!
