In Defense Of Consoles & Gamepads

[Vigormortis]

Hmm...clever. Hiding an obvious "consoles are better than PCs" thread in a seemingly harmless, "I like controllers" thread.

As pointless as these are, being that they just ignite flame wars and are often started by closet trolls, I feel compelled to actually respond to this one.

For me, it's all about what I'm going to play. If it's an adventure game, platformer, fighting, or driving/racing game, a controller is a must. However, if it's an FPS, RPG, RTS, or an adventure game, keyboard and mouse are the only way to go. That simple.

I think this is yet another topic where personal opinion is going to be hefted around to downplay the other game system's mechanics/gameplay.

If you like consoles, stick to consoles. If you like PC's, stick to PC's. If you like both, etc.

Bitching and moaning about something you don't prefer just doesn't make sense. If you're a convert from one to the other, then maybe you weren't really the first one anyway.

I like PC gaming. I only abandoned it a year ago when Crysis not only crashed but took my save game with it. I'm glad I spent all those years pursuing it... but when the Xbox debuted, I was of the opinion that they needed to be shaken up. What happened to Thief and Deus Ex annoys me to this day.

I didn't think console gaming would become this dominant and it saddens me to watch the PC gaming scene slowly die, and it's so strange not to see the PC scene pushing the graphical envelope... but I think consoles have picked up the FPS torch and have done amazingly well with it.

You really think the PC gaming scene is dying? Please. The PC market is as profitable and successful as it's ever been. Probably even more so then it was in the 90's. People stupidly assume that because there's fewer shelf space in stores devoted to PC games that "clearly the PC market is dying!" Bullshit. PC's have been nothing but excelling because of digital distribution. With the likes of Steam, GoG, and D2D, most PC gamers don't need to get their games in stores anymore. Something consoles are only recently trying to catch up to. (and doing poorly at it)

You also say PC's aren't pushing the "graphical envelope"? Really? Where have you been the past 4 years? PC's have outpaced consoles graphically, in strides I might add, since the 360 and PS3 released.

Case in point:

Spoiler

When you view these screenshots, keep in mind that the 360 and PS3 versions are being SEVERELY dumbed down graphically. Just so the consoles can run the game, even at a meager 20 to 30 frames per second. [link]http://media.pc.ign.com/media/143/14354294/imgs_1.html[/link]

That last bit about the "passing of the torch" is pure opinion. I can't really say you're wrong based purely on opinion. However, I will say this. The success of dumbing down FPS's for consoles has lead to a general lack of quality and depth in terms of gameplay and interaction that were so prevalent in PC games before the current generation.

On a final note, I can't help but shake the feeling this thread is an attempt at starting a flame war. Versus threads are notorious for that on this forum and this one, while not seemingly so on the surface, is still a versus thread. I could be wrong, but I don't see this topic going anywhere good or constructive.

 

[octafish]

Console aiming is still shit though

And the truth dost purge thee of thy sins. Go forth, and be merry with thy platform of choice, so long as thou stayeth true to thy mouse, and have no aiming methods before it.

Just keep in mind, this was an xbox exclusive.

And this is what PC controls looked like in 1995, 10 years before Far Cry.

Ahh the real MW2. I'm not paid enough to die! Hell I remember getting a game for the commodore 64 that was a helicopter sim of some kind (Apache?) that had a cardboard overlay that told you what keys did what.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

Hell I remember getting a game for the commodore 64 that was a helicopter sim of some kind (Apache?) that had a cardboard overlay that told you what keys did what.

Sounds like the original version of Gunship from... shit... Microprose, if memory serves.

 

[Netrigan]

Hmm...clever. Hiding an obvious "consoles are better than PCs" thread in a seemingly harmless, "I like controllers" thread.

As pointless as these are, being that they just ignite flame wars and are often started by closet trolls, I feel compelled to actually respond to this one.

I was a pretty hardcore PC gamer for many years and hopefully that shines through in my discussion.

I even got a mention in the Blood Wiki:

http://blood.wiki-site.com/index.php/Steven_Clubb

Shame I can't find the links to the two reviews I did for 3D ActionPlanet back in the day (Requiem & Wages of SiN). I find links to the site on the old Gamespy Network but the site seems to be completely gone.

I have a genuine and sincere love of PC gaming, even though it's driven me mental more than a few times by not working the way it was supposed to, but we've all been there.

I could be wrong, but I don't see this topic going anywhere good or constructive.

You know how you make a topic go wrong and nonconstructive around here. Mention PCs, consoles, Halo, Call Of Duty, or five million things people have strong opinions about

But I see a lot to like about both PCs and consoles and I've been participating in quite a number of threads which are thinly veiled attacks on console gaming and I felt like starting up a thread and sticking up for them by having a bit of fun with some of the annoyances I've had with PC gaming over the years.

 

[octafish]

Hell I remember getting a game for the commodore 64 that was a helicopter sim of some kind (Apache?) that had a cardboard overlay that told you what keys did what.

Sounds like the original version of Gunship from... shit... Microprose, if memory serves.

That is a loooooong time ago, but I think your memory serves you extremely well.

 

[GordoFreemann]

It seems like an awful lot but once you've been using a Mouse and Keyboard forever hitting F12 and L-Ctrl is nothing, at least that is how it is for me. I like my mouse and keyboard for my FPS and RTS games, and my controller for just about anything. Game is a game, regardless of how I control it I will be having fun.

 

[FalloutJack]

You know what I find funny? Console gamers like myself find it irritating about keyboard controls and, equally, PC gamers usually can't stand a game controller.

Its simple enough to explain, console gamers find the flexibility and power of the PC control-scape bewildering and PC gamers find the simplicity of a controller limiting.

Seriously, try playing X3: Terran conflict with a xbox 360 controller.

Oh, it's more than that. I've seen 'em try. They're really not good at it at all. Well, I can't say that's without fail. Some must. But I mean the ones that complain and hate the most at a game controller just can't get their heads around and into it. Nothing to be ashamed of, yo. I have a PC with some games and a PS3. I admit that as a video game player throughout the years, it's difficult to adapt. I'm not calling either one of them bad. Many PC players just like to aim the hurt at a console 'cause they're unable to cope.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

Hell I remember getting a game for the commodore 64 that was a helicopter sim of some kind (Apache?) that had a cardboard overlay that told you what keys did what.

Sounds like the original version of Gunship from... shit... Microprose, if memory serves.

That is a loooooong time ago, but I think your memory serves you extremely well.

It was one of my all time favourite games on the C64. First game I ever played that actually gave a shit about how well you completed your missions as well as the usual racking up score for general mayhem.

 

[tzimize]

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.

Er...I might have misunderstood, but I dont think so. Could you explain to me how you can do the same thing with 10 buttons as 20? Unless console controllers have magic buttons...

If you see added functionality as just useless complication then I guess its impossible for you to understand, but some people actually LIKE that you can both prone and crouch, and go directly from standing to proning if thats what they want. I didnt see any point in his post other than him not liking the fact that PC games have a lot of options. Which is a bad point if you ask me. If you, or he wants to scroll around in an inventory to find the medpack just when you need it instead of pressing Q? Fine. If you want to scroll through a list of weapons to find what you need instead of pressing 5, fine. But that doesnt mean that the option to choose directly should not exist for anyone?

I can appreciate being able to sit down with a game and grasp it in a few minutes, sometimes thats all I ask from a game too. But that doesnt mean I dont/cant appreciate the fact that the developers wanted to please everyone, and has included options for me if I want to play the game fast, or directly or without a gazillion scrolling menus or whatever you might want to call it.

 

[Vigormortis]

Hmm...clever. Hiding an obvious "consoles are better than PCs" thread in a seemingly harmless, "I like controllers" thread.

As pointless as these are, being that they just ignite flame wars and are often started by closet trolls, I feel compelled to actually respond to this one.

I was a pretty hardcore PC gamer for many years and hopefully that shines through in my discussion.

I even got a mention in the Blood Wiki:

http://blood.wiki-site.com/index.php/Steven_Clubb

Shame I can't find the links to the two reviews I did for 3D ActionPlanet back in the day (Requiem & Wages of SiN). I find links to the site on the old Gamespy Network but the site seems to be completely gone.

I have a genuine and sincere love of PC gaming, even though it's driven me mental more than a few times by not working the way it was supposed to, but we've all been there.

I could be wrong, but I don't see this topic going anywhere good or constructive.

You know how you make a topic go wrong and nonconstructive around here. Mention PCs, consoles, Halo, Call Of Duty, or five million things people have strong opinions about

But I see a lot to like about both PCs and consoles and I've been participating in quite a number of threads which are thinly veiled attacks on console gaming and I felt like starting up a thread and sticking up for them by having a bit of fun with some of the annoyances I've had with PC gaming over the years.

I can see your point. I've had my share of moments like the ones you've laid out before us. With both PC and console gaming. Still, as noble of a venture as you think you're performing, I fear it won't go well. These sorts of "discussions" usually end up with the thread being locked and a number of people suspended or banned. That may not be entirely bad as anyone that fervently participates in a flame war probably should be suspended, in the very least, but it's still an ugly affair.

In the end though, despite all of this, there's one thing to keep in mind. PC's can use keyboards, mice, AND controllers to play games. So, it's usually a win/win no matter your preference. : )

 

[Netrigan]

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.

Er...I might have misunderstood, but I dont think so. Could you explain to me how you can do the same thing with 10 buttons as 20? Unless console controllers have magic buttons...

If you see added functionality as just useless complication then I guess its impossible for you to understand, but some people actually LIKE that you can both prone and crouch, and go directly from standing to proning if thats what they want. I didnt see any point in his post other than him not liking the fact that PC games have a lot of options. Which is a bad point if you ask me. If you, or he wants to scroll around in an inventory to find the medpack just when you need it instead of pressing Q? Fine. If you want to scroll through a list of weapons to find what you need instead of pressing 5, fine. But that doesnt mean that the option to choose directly should not exist for anyone?

I can appreciate being able to sit down with a game and grasp it in a few minutes, sometimes thats all I ask from a game too. But that doesnt mean I dont/cant appreciate the fact that the developers wanted to please everyone, and has included options for me if I want to play the game fast, or directly or without a gazillion scrolling menus or whatever you might want to call it.

Wall Of Text Begins

I think my original point is that sometimes limitations lead to smarter ways of doing something. Just because you can add a button doesn't mean you should. You can still add the functionality, but a dev should ask themselves, "can I add this to an existing button?"

And since I'm talking FPS, we're in an area where simpler is often better. Not always, as there are games that benefit from added complexity (Deus Ex springs to mind), but Far Cry is a fairly simple shooter with a bit of a stealth mechanic. The actual amount of functionality in the game didn't really match the number of keys I had to bind. Yeah, if it's Jedi Knight and I have half a dozen force powers, that's major functionality that is going to raise the number of key binds and I'll accept that even as I'm going crazy trying to figure out how to make this work. Far Cry seemed to have a much more Kitchen Sink design, tossing in every gameplay control that popped up in a standard shooter, added two or three completely unique to their game, and just trusted that the PC gamer would accept it as normal and bind away. Lots of players enjoy the choice, I'm not saying they're wrong... but it's Feature Creep and you start running the risk of making a simple game style too complex to attract new gamers.

Consoles get a bit of stick for eliminating leaning. I've given consoles a bit of stick for ditching leaning, but I don't think there are a lot of games that benefit greatly from having it. If a FPS came out that didn't have leaning, no one cared; it was only when a franchise that had leaning got rid of it that people griped. Was that them "dumbing down" the game or was that them saying, "it doesn't really add anything to gameplay". Consoles may have forced them to ask that question, because there's a finite number of buttons that can be used; but I think it's the sort of question a game dev should be asking themselves anytime they're dealing with a new feature. If it genuinely adds something to the gameplay, then make it work. If it doesn't, you're probably better off leaving it out. PC gaming, with keys a plenty to spread out with, often just tossed in there in case someone wanted to use it... which isn't a bad attitude for the fans, but creates a bit of a hurdle for new players who don't realize that you don't really need to lean, and they'll need to bind something else there instead of attempting to play using default key bindings.

Let me repeat, this isn't me saying that PC gaming is bad. But it had certain habits and downsides that we PC gamers were used to and gladly accepted because the rewards were much greater than we saw on the console. I was never raging about Far Cry's control scheme. I dealt with it, because I was used to it, but I did recognize that the genre was getting a bit too complicated for its own good and that the limitations of the Xbox's controller would make quite a lot of games more enjoyable by streamlining the controls.

Of course, they had to shit on my dreams and immediately set out nerfing Deus Ex, which was the complete opposite of what I wanted to happen, because that was a game that needed its complexity (with devs tweaking things to make them work better, of course). I didn't expect *all* major FPS franchises to make the leap, thinking that it would just happen with the more mainstream titles and the streamlining of controls would filter back to the superior PC exclusives as they saw there were smarter ways of doing things... and the Console Age can be blamed for this not happening. But for me, this is balanced out by the consoles going their own way, such as melee combat being much more prevalent or mild RPG customization that are appearing in more and more games. Epic's next project, Bulletstorm, looks like a lot of fun and I don't think a PC dev would have done that without the influence of the consoles.

I can even see console FPSs adding inventory functionality. Bioshock's control scheme has two wheel selections. The right one is for weapons, the left for plasmids (Crysis uses a similar system to control its power suit). Well, most games aren't going to have super-powers, so what if you put all the inventory items there. Left trigger, left stick up for flashlight; left trigger, left stick down for health kit; left trigger, left stick right for IR goggles; etc. Right here, this is at the heart of what I'm saying. A limitation can lead to a smarter way of doing things. Tomorrow's FPS might have a level of complexity common to most games that are far in advance of anything PCs did simply because the consoles had to come up with a smarter way of doing things.

 

[Netrigan]

Still, as noble of a venture as you think you're performing, I fear it won't go well. These sorts of "discussions" usually end up with the thread being locked and a number of people suspended or banned.

Not sure if I'd call it noble. More like amusing myself and soap boxing

And so far it seems to be going fairly well. I love undermining my own points, so complaints of both systems spew out from me, even though I'm trying to focus on some of the positives of the Console Age... and I take care to point out any argument that I think is a fair point, even if I think otherwise. As much as folks love to go into Console Tards Vs. PC Elitists debates, I think there's a very large number of people who enjoy discussing the Console/PC dynamic in a reasonably rational way.

But mostly I just like seeing myself type

 

[drizztmainsword]

OP: I'm in the unique position of both agreeing with you and disagreeing. I like a smooth and streamlined input system for games, but oftentimes, things like radial menus in consoles and the "hold to go prone" functions are just game designers trying to get more functionality out of a smaller number of keys.

Number keys will always be a better way to select weapons than radial menus; it's fewer button presses. If you want to get to your shotgun really quickly because some guy just jumped out right in front of you, do you want to press a button, go into a radial menu that's going to take away either aiming or movement functionality, move the stick to select the weapon, and let go of that button, or would you rather just press "4". I'd rather just press 4.

Mind you, some games do radial menus quite well on the PC. Crysis's suit enhancement menu was gorgeous, but only because there were very few options in it. You knew everything would always be in the same place, so you didn't think about it, you just flicked the mouse a bit in that direction.

What it comes down to is that PCs are better at dealing with many features at once with great speed. A keyboard and mouse simply has a larger input bandwidth.

 

[Continuity]

Oh, it's more than that. I've seen 'em try. They're really not good at it at all. Well, I can't say that's without fail. Some must. But I mean the ones that complain and hate the most at a game controller just can't get their heads around and into it. Nothing to be ashamed of, yo. I have a PC with some games and a PS3. I admit that as a video game player throughout the years, it's difficult to adapt. I'm not calling either one of them bad. Many PC players just like to aim the hurt at a console 'cause they're unable to cope.

OK, but personally I don't have a problem with the controller per se, in fact I have one sitting on my desk at the moment and I happily use it for platformers and racers. I've even used it for split-screening left 4 dead with a mate, it works but no matter how much practice you have with the controller you'll never be as good as you could be with a mouse (for FPS). To be frank, using a controller for an FPS feels like doing needlework whilst wearing boxing gloves....
But I'm getting off track here, we're not comparing controllers to mouse and keyboard but just looking at the multitude of controls in many PC games and asking if its necessary or even if its good design, and to those questions I answer yes and yes, with reservations as its a generalisation. I think the acid test of control complexity is this, you have to ask yourself the question: Would this game be better with fewer/simpler controls or does the richness of control add to the game experience?
For me, 9/10 the answer to that question will be more controls add to a game rather than making it less enjoyable. You can say large numbers of controls present a learning curve and that's true, but its often the case and I think it holds true here, that the more effort you put into something the more you get out of it.
If anything I think the majority of games that are slated for having poor controls are actually on the console.

 

[tzimize]

Wall Of Text Begins

I think my original point is that sometimes limitations lead to smarter ways of doing something. Just because you can add a button doesn't mean you should. You can still add the functionality, but a dev should ask themselves, "can I add this to an existing button?"

And since I'm talking FPS, we're in an area where simpler is often better. Not always, as there are games that benefit from added complexity (Deus Ex springs to mind), but Far Cry is a fairly simple shooter with a bit of a stealth mechanic. The actual amount of functionality in the game didn't really match the number of keys I had to bind. Yeah, if it's Jedi Knight and I have half a dozen force powers, that's major functionality that is going to raise the number of key binds and I'll accept that even as I'm going crazy trying to figure out how to make this work. Far Cry seemed to have a much more Kitchen Sink design, tossing in every gameplay control that popped up in a standard shooter, added two or three completely unique to their game, and just trusted that the PC gamer would accept it as normal and bind away. Lots of players enjoy the choice, I'm not saying they're wrong... but it's Feature Creep and you start running the risk of making a simple game style too complex to attract new gamers.

Consoles get a bit of stick for eliminating leaning. I've given consoles a bit of stick for ditching leaning, but I don't think there are a lot of games that benefit greatly from having it. If a FPS came out that didn't have leaning, no one cared; it was only when a franchise that had leaning got rid of it that people griped. Was that them "dumbing down" the game or was that them saying, "it doesn't really add anything to gameplay". Consoles may have forced them to ask that question, because there's a finite number of buttons that can be used; but I think it's the sort of question a game dev should be asking themselves anytime they're dealing with a new feature. If it genuinely adds something to the gameplay, then make it work. If it doesn't, you're probably better off leaving it out. PC gaming, with keys a plenty to spread out with, often just tossed in there in case someone wanted to use it... which isn't a bad attitude for the fans, but creates a bit of a hurdle for new players who don't realize that you don't really need to lean, and they'll need to bind something else there instead of attempting to play using default key bindings.

Let me repeat, this isn't me saying that PC gaming is bad. But it had certain habits and downsides that we PC gamers were used to and gladly accepted because the rewards were much greater than we saw on the console. I was never raging about Far Cry's control scheme. I dealt with it, because I was used to it, but I did recognize that the genre was getting a bit too complicated for its own good and that the limitations of the Xbox's controller would make quite a lot of games more enjoyable by streamlining the controls.

Of course, they had to shit on my dreams and immediately set out nerfing Deus Ex, which was the complete opposite of what I wanted to happen, because that was a game that needed its complexity (with devs tweaking things to make them work better, of course). I didn't expect *all* major FPS franchises to make the leap, thinking that it would just happen with the more mainstream titles and the streamlining of controls would filter back to the superior PC exclusives as they saw there were smarter ways of doing things... and the Console Age can be blamed for this not happening. But for me, this is balanced out by the consoles going their own way, such as melee combat being much more prevalent or mild RPG customization that are appearing in more and more games. Epic's next project, Bulletstorm, looks like a lot of fun and I don't think a PC dev would have done that without the influence of the consoles.

I can even see console FPSs adding inventory functionality. Bioshock's control scheme has two wheel selections. The right one is for weapons, the left for plasmids (Crysis uses a similar system to control its power suit). Well, most games aren't going to have super-powers, so what if you put all the inventory items there. Left trigger, left stick up for flashlight; left trigger, left stick down for health kit; left trigger, left stick right for IR goggles; etc. Right here, this is at the heart of what I'm saying. A limitation can lead to a smarter way of doing things. Tomorrow's FPS might have a level of complexity common to most games that are far in advance of anything PCs did simply because the consoles had to come up with a smarter way of doing things.

Good post. Let me counter-wall you What I understood from the bottom of it is that consoles invent new, smarter ways of doing things because they have to, read: limitations. It is entirely possible to invent new and smarter ways of doing things on PC too. For example using 1-5 to change weapons and caps+1-5 to change plasmids. While I dont know if this would be a good way to do it, you see that the same can be done on PC, only more times, since there are more buttons :>

I recognize that limitations can lead to smart solutions, but there is an important word right there: CAN. What it WILL lead to is less possibilities, which is just not a good thing. If you want a simple game you can make it on the PC too, but you can also make it as complex as you want, if thats the goal. This is the reason I favor PC, its not limited (or as limited).

Now, I am a PC and a console gamer both. And imo there are certain genres that belong on PC and certain genres that belong on consoles. Or, what is more correct is really saying, some genres should be played with a mouse/keyboard and some with gamepads/joysticks. I LOVE my keyboard, but I would NEVER choose to play a helicopter game with that instead of say a joystick. Neither would I want to play street fighter or MK on a keyboard. Nor an FPS on a gamepad.

The reason for this is not only habit, but also the possibilities. Imo fpses on consoles are designed around the fact that people simply cant aim and move as well as on PC. This leads to games being "nerfed" or designed to be played by people with poor accuracy or slow movement/turning (compared to a gamer with mouse and keyboard). While this is not necessarily a good thing, I have never seen it lead to something good.

Example: I remember playing GTA and doing sniping missions and raging like a mad bull when thinking how simple this would be with a mouse. And at that point, the game itself is not a challenge, the control system is! This just completely stupid and it makes me mad at the game itself.

At this point I have rambled on so much, and it is so late I am unsure what my point was, but to try to sum up:

I dont dislike consoles on a regular basis, I just dislike them trying to be something they are not. I dislike PCs for the same reason. If devs just looked at the strengths of their platform and built games around THAT my guess is that we would not be having this conversation. But the devs are trying too hard to please everyone, and especially please every platform, at once. This is simply not possible because they have too different attributes, and I wish they would stop.

 

[Sabiancym]

Look at any control diagram for a new game. It's impossible to figure out just by reading it, but when you play the game for a bit you just naturally pick it up.

The most complicated controls schemes can be learned relatively quickly just by playing the game.

 

[shadow skill]

In general it probably is poor design to have as many buttons as many PC games do. In many cases the use button in many shooters can easily and painlessly be collapsed onto the fire or reload buttons. The biggest problem is the weapon switching assignments. So many shooters are overly obsessed with not stopping the action that they spam the keyboard with so many buttons for weapon classes unnecessarily or they stick you with a very small number of weapons. If they would simply pause the game while a weapon is chosen there wouldn't even be a need to have ten or eleven buttons for switching weapons in single player mode. Leaning could easily be accomplished with a modifier key that changed strafe keys to lean.

Basically PC games shouldn't take the route of Emacs and try to make a default keybinding for something just because they can. (Emacs is one of the oldest text editors in existence. The number of keybindings is legendary.)

 

[phenity]

So you're not a fanboy... but you liken console gamers to illiterate morons?

OT:
the controller is one of the main reason why i prefer consoles to PC for gaming, i hate having to look down at the keyboard to do something as simple as switch weapon or type a message. Admittedly if i played pc games more often i'd probably get used to it, but it says a lot that in cod4, a relatively simple game, you have to use the W,A,S,D,Q,E,R,F,T,G,V,C,U,N,ctrl,3,4,5,6,shift, and space keys, plus the mouse, as opposed to a controller where all of the buttons are easily within reach.

There is a certain "default" control scheme to pc fps that you get used to though. For instance, WASD is always move. The number keys always switch weapons. Ctrl or C is always crouch. Shift is pretty much always run or sprint. In games without leaning E is always use, if there is leaning, it's F. G is usually grenade. In games with lean, Q and E are lean left and right respectively. Left mouse is usually fire, Right mouse is usually scope or secondary fire. R is always reload. A growing trend is that V is melee unless there are melee weapons in which case, you switch to that weapon and then click. If you get used to one PC shooter, basically you're used to all of them.

And with mappable controls, if there are functions you are generally more accustomed being on different buttons, you just change it to fit your needs.

Also, I've yet to ever strain for a button on my keyboard, but maybe I just have more nimble hands than you.

 

[Glademaster_v1legacy]

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. Stop saying put reload into use it is not a good suggestion and it never will be there is reason most console game do not incorporate them into the same function.