In Defense Of Consoles & Gamepads

[shadow skill]

Yes there is a reason! Choice! I'm pretty sure its possible to play through Far Cry (not counting the dummy-course) without proning, and holding your breath, and maybe even crouching. But they exist so that we can CHOOSE to do so if we want. If you get tired of memorizing controls, thats fine. Play a different game, or play it the way YOU want. But thats no reason to cut the features entirely so no one else can enjoy them.

I dont think you understood his point at all. The point is that is a console can do something with 10 buttons why does it require 20 on a computer but doesnt actually do anything more. The added buttons do nothing but complicate the game and make it harder for new people to get into them.

It actually can't that is why they took lean out of the CoD games so that it would be easier to port to consoles.

snip

You can get PC controllers.

OT: There is no reason what so ever to complain about PC controls some things yes should be a use key but others things like crouch and prone need to be separate. I don't want to have to double tap a key or tap it or hold it in to access something that is easy enough to have 2 separate.

On PC you have around 16-20 input options for game you actually use for normal play excluding things like WASD and tab as movement is need same as analog and tab is only for a quick score check. On consoles you have 16 not including analog movement as that is still technically a button press. So there is actually very little difference between consoles and pc with input use. In fact on the technically speaking the 2 analog sticks are actually 16 button press together 8/analog.

Even besides that you can use a damn controller on the PC you don't like keyboard so you have no excuse. I hate people saying you have to look down at the keyboard to use the controls or you will never learn them it is complete overload. It is not. If a pure PC gamer went over to consoles they WILL look at the controller to look for things same as console on PC. PC gamer for 6 years console gamer for 15 and I can safely say a keyboard is just as easy as a controller to use without looking in fact right now I am typing without looking at the keyboard. It is a skill like using controller that you develop over a few months to an adequate level.

One thing people mentioning is annoying me is the Reload being on the use key. This is the worst possible suggestion of the thread ever. You don't even have that on console why would we have it on PC? Say if in CoD(since it is more popular than Jesus and Allah) you are a bombsite in S&D and someone is shooting at you and go to reload and it is on USE key. You will plant the bomb. To not plant bomb you will have to move the objective out of your cone of view completely losing where the other person is and probably killing yourself.

Have you played Quake IV or Doom 3? (And probably earlier games in those franchises.) In both those games the fire button doubled as the use key since looking at an interactive panel of any kind prevented you from shooting. If you used the reload button you could achieve the same effect without compromising the ability to fire a weapon, which could be useful if your interact button is used for vehicles or to interact with other random objects. There was absolutely no need for a use key when you can't interact with any other objects in the environment.

In Crysis you had to manually pick up weapons to get ammo you already had which meant you had to look at them which meant that you could not shoot at enemies and pick up ammo. Which is exactly the same problem you outlined. Except it isn't actually a problem with the button assignment and is actually a problem with what objects can be interacted with and how that is done within the game. The simple answer for fixing Crysis was to just drop the requirement that you had to manually pick up weapons you already had in your inventory to get ammo.

If you are looking at a med station you don't want to shoot it there really is no reason to maintain the standard functionality of the fire button in that context; just like if I am planting a C4 explosive I have no need to look down sight. Which is why your scope button doubles as switch to detonator in Crysis.

 

[Wicky_42]

A side problem is that PC keyboards generally suck with multiple button presses.

Press more than 2-3 keys, or certain combinations, and they won't register properly.

Which is why you buy a decent keyboard You get office keyboards that throw fits with 3 keys, and then good keyboards that don't. Which one would you buy, given the option at the similar price?

I'm a fairly recent PC-to-console convert. Love the PC gaming of my past, but as the Console Age was dawning, they had a serious problem. That problem was Feature Creep. Simple FPS games were starting to ship with leaflets illustrating the control scheme for the game.
...
Not only do I have a run key, I have a walk key. Why?

Crouch and Lie Prone are two separate keys.

There's a friggin' hold breath key. Seriously, you can hold your breath.

Keep in mind, this isn't some FPS/RPG hybrid that utilizes a whole bunch of elements not typically found in shooters, these are the sort of options that were creeping into all standard issue games. Switch view (F) allowed you to switch between first and third person view, which you did a lot in vehicle mode because of camera issues. You got a key for Reload and for Use. Each inventory item has its own use key. There's a key to toggle grenade types and a key to toggle between semi and full automatic.

1) Are you complaining that games got more complex after Doom? Really?

2) Run: to move faster, making more noise - a tactical asset. May be limited in duration and require a recharge. Walk: to move slower, making less noise and to have more accuracy of movement for fine control. PCs dont have analogue sticks; would you complain that you move at different speeds according to how far you push a stick in a direction in Halo - sure, it's not a button, but it's complexity. A 'run' button also features in some console games as well, and not in all PC games, just as a point. And, of course, you'll like as not never use the walk key in a game.

3) Yes, crouch and prone are commonly two different keys. They are two different functions, as are reload and use. Obviously. Sometimes you want to crouch, others throw yourself to the ground, without having to switch between positions sequentially. You have the keys, use them, obviously

4) Holding breath is a pretty damn uncommon one, but one that Crytek likes to use for their sniping sections. Seeing as how your aiming is done using a mouse, with no auto-aim, cross-hair movement can be more realistically used, and that naturally makes sniping tricky. It's a rare gimmick, not something to be held up as 'PC games are too complicated!'

The last paragraph I quoted, talking about the increase in options and abilities of games - is that meant to be a criticism? I mean, console games have buttons for grenades and for changing grenade types as well, and are often forced to have 'use' and 'reload' or 'pick up weapon' as the same key - that's not a bonus, that's a compromise.

As you pointed out, these features were becoming more and more mainstream. How is that a bad thing? Should we be going back to SNES or something, have a single D-pad and like 2 buttons to do everything on? How many commands are too many, how many too few?

Gamepads are awful for so many types of games.

Forget mouse aiming, how about the fact that you can't even use the right analogue stick and the face buttons at the same time.

Quoted for so much truth. Back when I played the hell out of Halo 1, my right hand was contorted to keep my index finger over the B key. Pretty much ALL of the key controls are designed to be done with one hand that's held pretty inflexibly in place by the need to have the thumb over the joystick. The same finger that works the stick is also meant to work four buttons? Great... At least the current gen's bumper buttons alleviate this some, but still, I'll take the grouping around wasd any day - qertfghcvbxz\[shift][tab][ctrl]123456. All relatively easy to hit with a modicum of familiarity, and all fairly standard uses between most games.

 

[Glademaster_v1legacy]

Have you played Quake IV or Doom 3? (And probably earlier games in those franchises.) In both those games the fire button doubled as the use key since looking at an interactive panel of any kind prevented you from shooting. If you used the reload button you could achieve the same effect without compromising the ability to fire a weapon, which could be useful if your interact button is used for vehicles or to interact with other random objects. There was absolutely no need for a use key when you can't interact with any other objects in the environment.

In Crysis you had to manually pick up weapons to get ammo you already had which meant you had to look at them which meant that you could not shoot at enemies and pick up ammo. Which is exactly the same problem you outlined. Except it isn't actually a problem with the button assignment and is actually a problem with what objects can be interacted with and how that is done within the game. The simple answer for fixing Crysis was to just drop the requirement that you had to manually pick up weapons you already had in your inventory to get ammo.

If you are looking at a med station you don't want to shoot it there really is no reason to maintain the standard functionality of the fire button in that context; just like if I am planting a C4 explosive I have no need to look down sight. Which is why your scope button doubles as switch to detonator in Crysis.

Why yes I have played Quake 4 and in Quake 4 it works as it is not online you really use the USE key. The affect is you drop your weapon to show you can use console but than it pops back up almost straight away if you need to fire. There is nothing good about it in other more objective driven game types like Sabotage or S&D. As you can't go to plant the bomb and reload. In fact I have problems with this before with picking up weapons. I wish CoD had a different button to pick up weapons as I have lost games and semi competitve games over people dying on the bomb and not being able to ge their weapon far enough away by picking it up and dropping it.

So while I have never had a problem with it in Quake as I never went near a damn console until I was sure everyone else was dead or I could get it done without problems you don't have that luxury in a competitive setting against the clock. To some degree you should be able to double and triple bind keys to get rid of unneeded spreading of commands but you should equally so have the option to spread out commands as much as you please.

 

[YesConsiderably]

The xbox 360 really is the perfect way to play a game. The dual anolog sticks replicate a much more natural range of movement than a mouse.

 

[GLo Jones]

My main issues with PC gaming, are that while the mouse has fantastic sensitivity, the keyboard doesn't. At all. You are either 'moving' or 'not-moving', and there are only 8 directions of movement. This just makes things feel too clunky, in a weird contrast to the mouse.

All I'd like is a 360 controller/mouse hybrid, then I'll be happy.

 

[BadassCyborg]

PS3 controller is the best. 360 is big, clunky, the sticks are not parallel and the whole thing looks like a kid's toy with its white plastic and spinning lights.

Anyway, with a controller you can sit back on your comfy couch and look at your large TV screen. With a keyboard your stuck hunched at a desk looking all nerdy.