How well do you adapt between PC and Console ports?

[DeliveryGodNoah_v1legacy]

This question is largely for those that own and regularly use their consoles and PC.

And I'm not asking to talk about Console Vs. PC, obviously capable PCs are objectively better quality.

For an example, let's say you played a game on PC when it came out, but your friend on PS4 has only recently got it when it was on sale for like $15 or so, and they want someone to play with. You also own a PS4, and decided to indulge them and buy the game for the PS4. How well do you handle playing the console port of the game vs. the PC port?

I did this just yesterday with Dying Light. My friend somehow didn't know you could play the whole campaign in co-op, and wondered if I'd play with him. I said I would, since I loved the game, but I have played it on PC and had to rebuy it on the PS4.

I've played some games between PC and Console before, such as Battlefield 4 and Rocket League, and have been entirely fine. But I found myself with a bit of a headache playing Dying Light on PS4. I'm happy with the 30FPS (though PS4 has frame timing issues) and even the lesser quality visuals, but even at a distance I can't get used the narrower field of view. I think out of every difference between a PC version of a game and it's console counterpart, field of view affects me the most.

How often do you rebuy or are forced into buying a game you wanted on a platform you didn't necessarily want to because your friends had it on that system?

 

[Catnip1024]

Done it for Skyrim, done it for XCOM, did it for the original Dragon Age. What you lose going to the console version controllability-wise (the top down view on the original Dragon Age was so useful, and mouse beats thumbstick most days of the week) you gain in performance - I ran these on a laptop, and it was terrible. Console is slower than a top-end PC, but pretty much guaranteed to actually run.

Also mods. I miss the ability to Mod things.

 

[aozgolo]

The only time I've re-bought a PC-owned game on consoles was Terraria for PS3, which was done exclusively for split-screen co-op, and in that regard, it works just fine (it being a less demanding game means performance is pretty equal). The control scheme is vastly different since I play Keyboard + Mouse on PC, thus I only play the PS3 version when co-oping with a friend, otherwise I stick to the PC version.

In every other case, I pretty much exclusively go for the PC version. Now there have been times when I had timed exclusives on consoles that were later ported to PC (Grand Theft Auto V and Dragon's Dogma for instance) and have reacquired it there, and that's almost always been an easy switch, especially since any game designed for a controller I usually use a 360 pad for, unless it's first person view and benefits from precision controls of a mouse.

 

[Saelune]

I usually buy new on Console and old on PC. I end up re-buying for PC mostly for longevity. PC games usually allow controller support standard now, so thats good, but I am a truly Hardcore Gamer and am more than fine using Keyboard and Mouse if I must. Though I prefer controller and usually fair better with it.

I spent most of my Morrowind playtime on Xbox, but Ive got a few hundred hours paying on PC using Mouse and Keyboard. Im less prone to jumping though...

 

[votemarvel]

Quite well because my brain makes the connection that I'm using different devices and so I use the different control schemes easily.

I have a harder time with games in a series changing how they are controlled when I'm playing on the same device. I find the controls in Dragon Age: Inquisition for example nearly unplayable compared to the first two entries.

 

[Prime_Hunter_H01]

The game itself is what determines if I get it on console or PC, and the swap is ok since I have used both. Though when I first got a PC it destroyed my ability to use inverted look controls.

I am very general when it comes to controls I remember position of button rather than the symbol of buttons so swapping between Playstation and Xbox is ok, and I used to use inverted look controls because one of my earliest games was Ace Combat so I got used to inverted controls.

Though when I got a PC I spent a long time with the mouse and I played so many games I was not able to before, and I do not use inverted mouse so the natural movement of a mouse overrode what the natural movement was for looking, and when I went back to a Console game I had to in every game, swap to normal look controls.

Luckily flying feels normal with standard inverted controls now. Though what I do hate is that some games call up is up and down is down, inverted when setting up plane controls, so I have had a rude awakening when i set inverted and cannot fly for crap.

 

[Foolery]

Well, I played The Orange Box first on 360, then again when I started getting back into PC games. It's better on PC. This is all port quality and control dependant. The lines are pretty blurred these days, since you can plug in a pad and get a console experience. Like Dark Souls, I'd never play that with mouse and keyboard. Too awkward.

Exclusives are the only thing that keeps me tied to consoles, otherwise I'd be solely PC.

 

[CaitSeith]

I usually play PC games with a controller when it's supported (I play sitting on the couch with the PC connected to a TV, ok?). So, I only have to adapt myself to the graphical and performance downgrade.

 

[gsilver]

I play most of my PC games on my tv, with a controller, anyway. The only exceptions are FPS and mouse-driven games.
I own all the major consoles now (took a while to get a PS4, so I got the Pro) but those are just for exclusives.

When gaming with friends, it's really only local (and still usually PC, unless they want to play Smash) so no pressures to play console versions there (and if seems like they only play MMOs online... no thanks)

The lower frame rates on consoles can be a pain, but I put up with it for the really good exclusives.

 

[shrekfan246]

Though what I do hate is that some games call up is up and down is down, inverted when setting up plane controls, so I have had a rude awakening when i set inverted and cannot fly for crap.

This tends to be a particular problem for me in games from the PS2 era, though even today it's still not gone; I've noticed it tends to happen more frequently in Japanese games, but that could just be me. Either way, it's always obnoxious to me to not know what a game means by its "normal" vs. "inverted" controls. Also for some reason it seems like in the games I've played the horizontal camera control is far more likely to have that confusion, so I'll need "inverted" X-axis camera and "normal" Y-axis camera to get the thing moving the way I like. Irritating.

OT: Yeah, I generally tend to go to PC from console, not the other way around. Helps that I don't really play any multiplayer, I guess. But in general, if it's a third-person action game or RPG or something, I'm fine with it on console as well, if it's a shooter then I might as well not bother because trying to aim with a controller tends to frustrate me and if a shooter is multiplatform I'd much rather just have it on PC.

 

[Strelok]

Abandoned consoles mid last generation, so there is no PC to Console for me... Why downgrade? Only three that I can think of that were console first when I had one (PS3/XBox 360). Enslaved: Odyssey to The West, Alan Wake and Brutal Legend, I could actually finish Enslaved when I got the PC version, the controls and performance of PS3 was awful and I never touched it again on PS3, finished it a few times on PC now. Just a much better experience. Alan Wake I played only once on 360 was a great game, only reason to own a 360 at all, but the PC version finally came out and the improvements just blew me away. No more hideous mud smear shadows, eye gouging level of jaggies or pop in and FPS drops, was the same with Brutal Legend, probably one of my favorite games once it hit PC.

 

[kilenem]

I usually go the other way, I buy console games and then go to PC. This is because I Wait for a 50 % gamestop trade in and a steam sell to buy the game. You get the ability to enjoy the game at launch with out buying the game at full price sort of.