What are you Playing Now? Who needs a life anyway?...

[Wormerine]

I am surprised how much I enjoy the Guardians considering how little gameplay it has. Someone in Eidos Montreal must have a thing for Lamas - first Shadow of Tomb Raider now this. I wonder if that's why they dropped Deus Ex - it's a no-Lamas-allowed universe. 

Edited March 12, 2022 by Wormerine

[Keyrock]

1 hour ago, Wormerine said:

I wonder if that's why they dropped Deus Ex - it's a no-Lamas-allowed universe. 

Big mistake on their part. Cyber-llamas would do gangbusters business.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

Gave Dark Souls a shot finally. It's ugly and the controls are awful, guess Prepare to Die is much inferior. I think I'd like it a lot more if it wasn't so clunky. Guess I'll give Elden Ring a shot when it goes on sale.

[Lexx]

Hope you tried it with a gamepad. People who play Dark Souls with mouse and keyboard deserve all the suffering.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

8 hours ago, Lexx said:

Hope you tried it with a gamepad. People who play Dark Souls with mouse and keyboard deserve all the suffering.

I don't have a gamepad.

The control scheme is very bad and the forum software ate my post.

Edited March 13, 2022 by KP wants Blue Velvet

[Bartimaeus]

33 minutes ago, KP wants Blue Velvet said:

I don't have a gamepad.

The control scheme is very bad and the forum software ate my post.

It's common wisdom that the Souls games (and really Souls-like games in general) are unfortunately pretty much unplayable without a gamepad, so I would say do not bother with any of them.

Edited March 13, 2022 by Bartimaeus

[Humanoid]

Ideally you'd use a Wii Fit board to sense which direction you intend to roll in.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

13 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

It's common wisdom that the Souls games (and really Souls-like games in general) are unfortunately pretty much unplayable without a gamepad, so I would say do not bother with any of them.

Oh no!

[Wormerine]

53 minutes ago, KP wants Blue Velvet said:

I don't have a gamepad.

Yup. That's a big no-no for all FromSoftware games. 

[Keyrock]

Yeah, if you are unable or unwilling to get a gamepad, that, more or less, disqualifies you from playing certain games. A gamepad is the best input device for a rather sizeable chunk of games. Most of these are still perfectly playable with m&kb, but there are games that just not designed for that interface. For example, pretty much any racing game is going to be awesome with a proper wheel & pedal setup, great with a gamepad, and bad at best with m&kb.

It goes the other way, of course. RTS is great with m&kb. I can't imagine how horrible RTS would be with a gamepad, or a wheel for that matter. 

[Sarex]

There is nothing about DS games that should make them hard to implement on M&K, in fact it should be easier and not harder. God of War being a great example of a port.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

54 minutes ago, Sarex said:

There is nothing about DS games that should make them hard to implement on M&K, in fact it should be easier and not harder. God of War being a great example of a port.

After playing it for just a bit, I can't think of anything the game requires that wouldn't work with an optimized mkb setup. Looking at the bindings for DS:PTD, I doubt they've every played with mkb.

[Hurlshort]

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07ZGD53JF/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_glt_i_SZE2Y0Q88J9ZMG5ZAV6S

Controllers are pretty cheap for the pc, too. I have a couple of these on hand and they work perfectly.

[Wormerine]

44 minutes ago, KP wants Blue Velvet said:

After playing it for just a bit, I can't think of anything the game requires that wouldn't work with an optimized mkb setup. Looking at the bindings for DS:PTD, I doubt they've every played with mkb.

I always despised games with M&K that relied on autolock. It just never sit well with me. Any game where striking direction is different then camera direction is a gamepad game for me. 

But yeah, I am sure M&K control could be better then it is. FromSoft is a Japanese developer and idea of playing on PC seems to be foreign to them. They are incapable of creating a very good PC port, so I wouldn't hold my breath for a polished mouse control. I will join a choir of others encouraging you to get a pad. I didn't own pad until few years ago, and I discovered a new love for certain types of games. There really are title which simply play better with pad, even if they are perfectly playable with M&K. 

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

1 hour ago, Wormerine said:

I always despised games with M&K that relied on autolock. It just never sit well with me. Any game where striking direction is different then camera direction is a gamepad game for me. 

But yeah, I am sure M&K control could be better then it is. FromSoft is a Japanese developer and idea of playing on PC seems to be foreign to them. They are incapable of creating a very good PC port, so I wouldn't hold my breath for a polished mouse control. I will join a choir of others encouraging you to get a pad. I didn't own pad until few years ago, and I discovered a new love for certain types of games. There really are title which simply play better with pad, even if they are perfectly playable with M&K. 

In general yeah, Japan is much more console oriented than Europe or the Americas. But still, you'd think after a decade they'd have it down a bit better.

I think I'll look into getting a gamepad and go back to DS (maybe 3 or even Elden Ring, PTD is ugly) when I bite that bullet.

[Lexx]

To be honest, I pretty much play everything with gamepad nowadays unless it is a first person shooter or some strategy / tactical game.

On PC I'm using a simple Xbox 360 gamepad. Bought it years ago for ... I actually can't even remember the game. Actually I think it was when I connected my TV with an HDMI cable and for the first time started playing games from the couch ... it really is a whole different experience.

Maybe I should upgrade to one of the new Xbox gamepads. Then again, from the looks of it there doesn't seem to be a huge difference.

Edited March 13, 2022 by Lexx

[majestic]

37 minutes ago, Lexx said:

Maybe I should upgrade to one of the new Xbox gamepads. Then again, from the looks of it there doesn't seem to be a huge difference.

Yes, there is, the newer XBox gamepads all die after a couple of months of use.

[Lexx]

I like this touch pad on the ps4/5 pads. Shame that the xbox doesn't have that. Would be at least 2 to 3 more buttons that can be pressed.

I'm level 84something now in Elden Ring. Funny enough, the last 15 levels were extremely fast to get to. Can't have taken longer than 3 or 4 hours. My big sword is also upgraded to +19 now and generally I'm having a much easier time with most stuff now. Ticket off some of the minor dungeons that I've skipped before and it's funny how easily I'm breathing through almost all of them now.

Made it to the Royal Capital and here the difficulty is spiking again. I'm still killing reasonably fast, but almost every enemy can take me down in two hits. Also the stupid hands are back, and they are sucking all motivation right out of me.

Often I find myself just teleporting back to the starting area, to reminiscence the humble beginnings.

Edited March 14, 2022 by Lexx

[BruceVC]

I completed The Forest  after about 105 hours last night  and it easily scores a 70/100 on the globally respected " BruceVC game rating system "

In the interests of full disclosure I did " cheat " and use console commands at the end but only right at the end. Once I used the hang glider to fly into the sinkhole I found that their were not any trees to get branches from so I couldn't save my game strategically in the final cave system accessed through the pool in the sinkhole ( you can only save your game when you can make a shelter, or find a shelter, and you need branches to make that shelter ) 

So I used the console to spawn branches and some food in the final mission

But its a great survival game and I definitely recommend it

[BruceVC]

16 hours ago, Keyrock said:

Yeah, if you are unable or unwilling to get a gamepad, that, more or less, disqualifies you from playing certain games. A gamepad is the best input device for a rather sizeable chunk of games. Most of these are still perfectly playable with m&kb, but there are games that just not designed for that interface. For example, pretty much any racing game is going to be awesome with a proper wheel & pedal setup, great with a gamepad, and bad at best with m&kb.

It goes the other way, of course. RTS is great with m&kb. I can't imagine how horrible RTS would be with a gamepad, or a wheel for that matter. 

QFT, their are several games that I cant imagine using m&kb with that includes games like Far Cry and Assassins Creed....oh and imagine Sleeping Dogs without a controller 

I have to say I love using my controller effectively during frenetic combat in games designed for it 

[majestic]

1 hour ago, Lexx said:

I like this touch pad on the ps4/5 pads. Shame that the xbox doesn't have that. Would be at least 2 to 3 more buttons that can be pressed.

To be honest I absolutely hate this trend towards having more and more and then some more buttons on gamepads, and I hate most gamepads to boot, so screw having another to or three more buttons to press. It doesn't enhance the gaming experience for me, at all*, and all it does is make the developers even lazier with control schemes than they already are. Four face buttons, two analog triggers and two shoulder buttons are the upper limit of what I can stomach (not enjoy, but... live with).

Gamepads peaked with the GameCube for me**. That one was comfortable to have in my hands, didn't have an excessive amount of buttons, everything was easily reachable and hey, the games could be played just as well.

Speaking of FromSoftware games, it's not like they playtest their games with the gamepads either, or else I can't really imagine how they think it's a good idea to default the healing items to the d-pad like it was for Sekiro (not sure if that was like that for DS too, I don't think so). If a fight goes sideways enough to need healing (happens to to the best of us ), and you already slow down when using healing, do you really want to let go of any of the other buttons or sticks?

*WoW-gameplay doctrine from Cataclysm going forward. "Players enjoy having more buttons to press." Yeah, maybe, like, damage dealers do. I didn't. I enjoyed making the best use of the buttons that I do have, which is why I always played healers. More buttons, more stuff? Eh... please Blizzard, balance the buttons we already have.

**But what do I know, people think the DS-style controller layout is fine. Maybe it is if you don't have spindly and overly long fingers, but with that layout, I can choose between "clawing" at the buttons and sticks (i.e. arching my fingers all the time, which is hellishly uncomfortable after a few minutes) or having my fingers touch all the time. Especially the thumbs when having to use both analogue sticks. Not cool.

 

Edited March 14, 2022 by majestic

[Lexx]

23 minutes ago, majestic said:

Gamepads peaked with the GameCube for me**

The GameCube controller is probably the worst piece of hardware I ever had in my hands.

[majestic]

5 minutes ago, Lexx said:

The GameCube controller is probably the worst piece of hardware I ever had in my hands.

Some people wouldn't recognize greatness even if it bit them in the arse. Know that I shall henceforth ignore your opinions on input devices. Not that I didn't already after you said you prefer playing Mass Effect 2 with a gamepad to keyboard and while back, but even more so now than before!

Edited March 14, 2022 by majestic

[Lexx]

Did I say that? I never played any of the ME games with gamepad. I wanted to at some point (so I can play them from the couch on my big ass tv), but if I remember right, the PC port flat out didn't have gamepad support, so it wasn't working.

Edited March 14, 2022 by Lexx

[Humanoid]

In terms of shape, it's the original Microsoft Sidewinder Gamepad for me.

As for the Playstation touchpad, I've never held the PS5 gamepad but the PS4 one had the issue that for all the limited functionality the touchpad added, it was cancelled out by the start and select button being rendered useless for use in any fast action context. They're tiny, poorly-positioned, minimal feedback, and just generally horrific - I'd expect better even from a MadCatz controller in the 90s. Furthermore, as I never did play a game that properly employed the touchpad, the result is a net loss. That said, it's a fairly minor complaint in the grand scheme of things and I'm not opposed to them trying things; it's just in the wrong position, size or shape. I won't get into the rest of the issues I have with it, as I've already done so at least a couple of times here.

A bigger complaint I have with regard to game controllers is the designs of steering wheels controls being completely dictated by the consoles. No, it's not about the buttons being labelled like console controllers, that's irrelevant. It's that in assigning the mappings there's no consideration to how many controls actual normal cars have. The design of various flight controllers shows that speciality controllers don't need to be dumbed down in terms of inputs, but nope, standard console inputs only. Give me my indicator stalks, my high beams, my cruise control ...controls.