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What's your Patient Gamer's Unpopular Opinion?

Share your unfiltered, unpopular gaming opinions and let’s dive into some real discussions. If you come across a view you disagree with, feel free to (respectfully) defend your perspective. I don’t want to see anyone say stuff like “we’re all entitled to our own opinions.” Let’s pretend like gaming is a science and we are all award winning scientists.

My Unpopular Opinion:

I believe the criticism against battle royales is often unwarranted. Most complaints revolve around constant content updates, microtransactions, and toxic player communities

Many criticize the frequent content updates, often cosmetic, as overwhelming. However, it’s optional, and no other industry receives flak for releasing more. I’ve never seen anyone complain about too many Lays or coke flavors.

Pay-to-win concerns are mostly outdated; microtransactions are often for cosmetics. If you don’t have the self control to not buy a purple glittery gun, then I’m glad you don’t play the games anymore, but I don’t think it makes the game bad.

The annoying player bases is the one I understand the most. I don’t really have a point against this except that it’s better to play with friends.

Overall I think battle royale games are pretty fun and rewarding. Some of my favorite gaming memories were playing stuff like apex legends late at night with friends or even playing minecraft hunger games with my cousins like 10 years ago. A long time ago I heard in a news segment that toy companies found out that people are willing to invest a lot of time and energy into winning ,if they know there will be a big reward at the end, and battle royales tap into that side of my brain.

This is just my opinion

MarauderIIC ,

I don’t like Outer Wilds. I played it. I beat it. It was irritating almost all the way through.

limeaide OP ,

Lmao I was just thinking about buying it during this steam sale

MarauderIIC ,

You’ll probably love it lol

Fedop ,

That’s certainly the unpopular opinion, I loved that game!

MarauderIIC ,

Oh yeah I’m totally aware it is an unpopular opinion. I feel the need to bite my tongue every time there is a thread recommending it because I know I’m in the minority, and the person receiving the recommendations will probably enjoy it :)

Ilflish ,

Probably very hot take for this community. The $1 for every hour of enjoyment is a stupid metric. People will spend upwards of $10 for a 2 hour movie or $5 for an hour-long album. Games have components of many pieces of media and many treat it’s worth lower. I’m all for saving money but it’s a different discussion regarding the value of the medium, especially when we just discuss it as the consumer-mindset of “hours of my life” vs. experience of enjoyment

sugar_in_your_tea ,

I absolutely agree.

I do still use the metric, mostly to demonstrate that something that’s expensive is still a good value. For example, I’ve spent hundreds on Paradox games, but I’ve gotten over a thousand hours from them, so I’ve gotten incredibly good value from it.

I’m patient because I hate buggy games, not strictly because of cost, though I’ll buy something on a good sale if I notice it. If games released mostly bug free, I’d buy a lot more games closer to launch. I don’t have a lot of friends who play games, so there’s no pressure to buy things say 1, so I wait until the updates settle down.

MajorHavoc ,

As a book and video game enthusiast, my unpopular opinion is that the average video game is a much better entertainment value than the average book.

I’ve played a lot of games and read a lot of books. When measuring dollars for hours, I think video games win.

On the one hand, I’ve put massive numbers of hours into titles like Zelda, Metroid, Harvest Moon, and Pokemon.

On the other hand, I’ve only gotten two or three read-throughs out of even some of my very favorite books.

And then the video game classics really put up some big numbers: after decades, I’m still enjoying PacMan, Frogger, and Galaga and their kin.

And then there’s the elephant in the room: Tetris.

If I had to pick - on a desert island - between an e-reader with every book ever printed, or one copy of Tetris on a Gameboy…it would be an agonizing choice.

PM_ME_FEET_PICS ,

Video games retain their value much easier and longer as well.

vonbaronhans ,

This is the line of reasoning I used with my parents as a kid. Dollar per hour entertained.

But I think differently about it these days. I’m looking for maximum value per hour, with an eye towards minimal hours, and with a definite end point if applicable.

And value in this sense could be raw entertainment, but it could be something else, like exposure to new ideas and novel perspectives on life etc.

But I suppose that’s what happens when you get older and you’ve got less and less free time to fill.

sugar_in_your_tea ,

I enjoy both books and games, and it’s really hard to compare them directly. Even if we stick to the same genre, games provide interactivity that books just can’t, while books provide so much more depth in story and often much better pacing.

It’s the same idea as reading vs watching movies, the book will feel so much more satisfying, but it’ll take days instead of hours to get through. Sometimes that’s worth it, shows it’s not.

These days I just don’t enjoy movies much anymore because I’m either looking for the depth of a book or interaction of a game. I just wish there were more video game adaptations of movies.

ram ,
@ram@bookwormstory.social avatar

No game project should be AAA. It’s anti-creative, as developers must turn their game into something that appeals to the broadest audience, and it’s unstable, as companies bet their entire next 3 years of revenue on a single title. I’d much rather everything become B or C-tier developments. The great games that come from this development style simply are not worth it for the damage they do to the medium.

sugar_in_your_tea ,

Agreed. I want creative games that take risks, yet the AAA gaming industry is all about eye candy and mass market appeal.

So I play a lot of indie and AA games instead.

graymess ,

I kind of wish all forms of popular media could just, like, agree to defund a bit. Just step things down a few notches. There’s just too much money involved for anything truly unexpected to happen in these industries.

BrightCandle ,

I don’t care if the AAAs survive. They make games that are sometimes worth having in a sale but I won’t miss them much.

limeaide OP ,

I think there is still place for AAA games since a lot of them cannot be made by smaller teams.

I don’t think games like Zelda BOTW or even Elden Ring could have been made by smaller studios. At least not to the same scale.

ram ,
@ram@bookwormstory.social avatar

I agree that such games couldn’t have been made by smaller teams. I love BOTW/TOTK, don’t get me wrong. They’re among my favorite games of all time.

Is it worth it though? Is the prospect of games like these worth the necessary instability, the restriction to creativity that they bring? I don’t believe so. Even if we lived in a world where crunch was illegal, that was enforceable, and it was perfectly enforced on a systemic level, I don’t think that our economic system is one where such games can be good for the artistic medium that is video games.

MrScottyTay ,

I wouldn’t mind the issues of live service games as much, the ones you describe anyway, if it didn’t replace old content or have most of its content timed. Huge sense of FOMO that I just don’t need to have, so I go nowhere near those games.

Blackmist ,

The price of modern games is often justified. I don’t buy many at release, but the ones I do buy have been more than worth the money.

BigBananaDealer ,
@BigBananaDealer@lemm.ee avatar

its one of the few things that never increased with inflation nor quality

SNES games were 60 dollars and could be beaten within a weekend

games today can take weeks to beat, if you rush it

PM_ME_FEET_PICS ,

Games actually decreased heavily in price.

$60 dollars back in 1992 would be $131 today. Still over a hundred for most of the N64 and PlayStation as well.

Tar_alcaran , (edited )

I like to use Red Alert 2 as an example, since it’s the very first game I bought in Euro’s in 2001. It cost me 45 euros, which was a fuckload of money for teenage me. And that’s 77 euro’s today. Warhammer 3 is selling for in 2022 (and 2023 for 17 euros LESS.

CurlyWurlies4All ,
@CurlyWurlies4All@slrpnk.net avatar

The massive amount of work that goes into a modern AAA title is truly mind blowing. It’s gross that so little money goes to the people who actually make the games but certainly the effort is astounding even in titles that fall short of expectations.

LaunchesKayaks ,
@LaunchesKayaks@lemmy.world avatar

A lot of people I talk to think that PC is the best platform. I agree that it is versatile and has the most options. I can’t stand playing games on my PC at this point, though. I spend all day fixing computers at work. I don’t even want to look at a computer after clocking out. To be able to play games for PC, but not use a computer, I’ve decided to get a Steamdeck.

restingboredface ,

I use my pc on my TV with a controller for this reason. It limits the games I can play since so many aren’t optimized for controller but I generally like the games on PC better. I also use my pc for movies and TV as well so it serves as an overall entertainment center.

LaunchesKayaks ,
@LaunchesKayaks@lemmy.world avatar

I have a ps5 for all of my media needs and PlayStation exclusives and all that. My gaming computer is also getting pretty old and doesn’t run stuff as well as it should. A Steamdeck is straight up an upgrade at this point. I’ll keep my PC around for older games I can’t play on other platforms, but I am pretty much fully embracing consoles lol. I also don’t have the funding to constantly upgrade a computer, and consoles seem to last a long time and have just the initial costs.

shinratdr ,
@shinratdr@lemmy.ca avatar

Yup, this is it. One of the major benefits of the Steam Deck is how they’ve consolized the experience. I can’t wait until they fully support a regular gaming PC deployment of SteamOS. I’d drop Windows in a heartbeat. The reduction in flexibility is worth it to just be able to turn on the PC after a month and just play a goddamn game instead of troubleshooting & updating for 45 minutes first.

CancerMancer ,

Ask around the Linux gaming communities, some of the distros are in a really good place for gaming. I’m thinking of making the leap myself now that I’ve been enjoying my steam deck for a while.

sugar_in_your_tea ,

Huh, I’m a software engineer, and when I get home, I’m excited to do stuff on my computer. I even like building software at home for fun.

I’m not big into tinkering with game settings though, I am much more excited about playing or making games than tuning them. So maybe that’s what you don’t like? I find the Steam Deck’s defaults to be extremely reasonable and it feels just like a console.

LaunchesKayaks ,
@LaunchesKayaks@lemmy.world avatar

I don’t like using computers after work because it feels like work just turning it on. Idk why.

sugar_in_your_tea ,

That’s fair. I just don’t have the same experience.

My hobbies are very similar to my day job (software engineer), but in a different tech stack (Python @ work, Rust @ home) and building different things (business logic @ work, distributed systems and games @ home).

Maybe it helps that I’m forced to use macOS at work (which I dislike), and I get to use Linux at home, so it really feels like separate things.

But then again, many of my coworkers don’t have personal projects at home, so I’m probably just weird.

LaunchesKayaks ,
@LaunchesKayaks@lemmy.world avatar

The OS differences probably help. I use Windows both at work and at home, so there’s no difference. And it seems like every time I fire up my PC, something is wrong with it. I avoided fixing a problem for 6 months because I couldn’t handle it emotionally after work lol. My hobbies are not tech-related other than gaming. I went into IT because the thing I have always been the least bad at is working with computers. I don’t have any other skills I thought would help me make money when I was exploring options at college

Clusterfck ,

Just curious how long you’ve been in your field?

I used to feel the same way but burnout slowly set in. I’m back to enjoying it again, but it did take a long break at home from the computer.

sugar_in_your_tea ,

10-15 years. I’m now in a lead position, so I have management and planning responsibilities, but I still get 50-75% of my time to do dev work.

I have never experienced burnout, at least from SW dev, though I’ve certainly burned out on projects/companies. In fact, when I get burned out at work, I often relax by building SW at home (basically angry coding). For example, we had an overcomplicated bit of code at work, so over the weekend I built a POC that’s a lot more elegant.

My main limitation here is that I have kids, so I don’t get a ton of time after work (like 1-2hrs/day, on a good day). I also alternate with reading and playing video games because I also really enjoy those.

I guess I just really love my field. I’m hoping to retire early-ish so I can have more time to work on my projects.

Jakeroxs ,

You can use a controller

calypsopub ,

Unpopular opinion: I play Candy Crush and that makes me a gamer.

CancerMancer ,

Office workers played Solitaire on their work PCs before smartphones even existed, would they have called themselves gamers? I think a certain minimum degree of investment in a hobby/culture is required before you can name yourself as a participant, and Candy Crush doesn’t cut it imo.

B0NK3RS ,
@B0NK3RS@lemmy.world avatar

I don’t have a high opinion on the “game” but who’s to say they don’t have 10000+ hours in Candy Crush?

CancerMancer ,

If you have 10000+ hours in Candy Crush and nothing else, is gaming your hobby or is Candy Crush your hobby?

B0NK3RS ,
@B0NK3RS@lemmy.world avatar

Both options are true.

People can exclusively play what they like. iRacing, WoW or Candy Crush are all valid.

Tar_alcaran ,

That’s 2.3 hours a day, every day, since release in 2012, at minimum

ram ,
@ram@bookwormstory.social avatar

would they have called themselves gamers?

I would

a certain minimum degree of investment in a hobby/culture is required before you can name yourself as a participant

The particular games you choose isn’t really relevant to this though. If you have 600 hours in Spider Solitaire, and you think it’s important enough to you that you’ll self identify as a “gamer”, who am I to be a keeper of the gates?

calypsopub ,

Exactly my point

smeg ,

Now that’s an unpopular opinion! With a game like that (which is specifically designed not to be fun but to extract money from users) I’d say you’re not a gamer, you’re an addict ;)

Paradachshund ,

I think it absolutely counts. Play what you enjoy!

GARlactic ,

I played Dark Souls 1 for the first time about a year ago and it was a miserable experience. I legitimately cannot understand what people enjoy about it. It was slow, clunky, and frustrating. The game was designed to be irritating. The only enjoyable boss in the main game was Ornstein and Smough (although the DLC bosses were all fantastic, with a special shout out to Artorias). The rest were either garbage or Crapra Demon, which deserves it’s own special level in hell.

Prior to that, I had beaten every other Souls game other than DS 2 (and platinumed Bloodborne, Elden Ring, and Sekiro), so I know it’s not cause I don’t like Souls games.

I think if I had played DS 1 as my first, it would have turned me off of the entire genre. I don’t even think it’s because I had played more recent games first, because I love Demon’s Souls.

calypsopub ,

Anything with i-frames is not for me.

MrScottyTay ,

Without i frames sonic would die instantly even with rings when hitting spikes.

Tar_alcaran ,

While technically true, it’s a pretty comparison. They’re obviously not talking about “being invulnerable until the animation carries you away from the hazard you don’t take another hit the very next tick”. They talking “Press button X between 11 and 31 milliseconds before animation Y starts to take zero damage regardless of everything else”

smeg ,

I had similar thoughts about DS1, except that’s the only one I’ve played. Are the others better? I assumed everyone who likes them just likes pain.

SolOrion ,

From my understanding DS1 is a special kind of pain.

But I’ve not personally played it- I’ve only played DS3/Elden Ring.

Jakeroxs ,

Funny, I kinda preferred ds1 over 2 and 3 because it felt a lot more methodical, almost like a turn based strategy game.

Mnemnosyne ,

Many criticize the frequent content updates, often cosmetic, as overwhelming. However, it’s optional, and no other industry receives flak for releasing more. I’ve never seen anyone complain about too many Lays or coke flavors.

Lots of people complain when some product they like is no longer available in favor of a ‘new and improved’ product. Remember ‘New Coke’? Patches and updates to games are the same thing, especially ones that significantly change the gameplay.

I, for example, liked Overwatch during certain time periods. That game is no longer available. There’s certainly people who play League of Legends or DOTA that feel the same way, though I wouldn’t know - the game they liked was at a certain point in its development, and since then changes have made it no longer the game they like. Same applies to a lot of MMOs - I liked Ultima Online, EverQuest, World of Warcraft, and others, but the games I like no longer exist even though the games technically exist.

The problem isn’t easily solved either - no updates may make some people happy but others will not be happy. The resources probably don’t exist to continue splitting the game and maintaining a stable version of an online game at each iteration, and even if they did, the player base would become too diffuse to be able to actually keep the game enjoyable with sufficient players. But it might be a fair criticism to say that updates come too fast for some of these games, and we need more time between them, or various other things. And there’s nothing wrong with people just griping, even if it’s something that can’t reasonably be stopped.

PP_BOY_ ,
@PP_BOY_@lemmy.world avatar

Very specific but Assassins Creed: Revelations is the best game of the series (I’ve only played through Unity). It came just before the games’ mythos got too convoluted and took itself too seriously. The combat and parkour is smooth and Constantinople is a beautiful world to explore.

Also, Homefront: The Revolution is a fun lite-stealth FPS that has held up very well for the amount of hate it got on release.

all-knight-party ,
@all-knight-party@kbin.run avatar

Home front The Revolution luckily does have a good level of cult respect on YouTube nowadays, so I don't think that's an unpopular opinion these days, it's just a cult one. I really enjoyed that game as well! Good to hear some more respect for it.

PP_BOY_ ,
@PP_BOY_@lemmy.world avatar

It does? First I’ve heard of it but I’m glad to see it. That game got torn apart on release but I played it a few months ago and it was actually a good time

all-knight-party ,
@all-knight-party@kbin.run avatar

From what I've seen, yes. I watch a long form analyst named Noah Caldwell-Gervais who did a video on both homefront games and shared a lot of the love I had for the second one. Check it out if you'd like! He's an excellent writer

CancerMancer ,

Homefront: The Revolution

I got that game cheap and enjoyed it for what it was. I think if I had paid full price my experience would have been quite different. It seemed well put together though, a tighter experience than some of the Farcry games and Ghost Recon Wildlands.

SolOrion ,

Wait wait is “Revelations is the best AC game” an unpopular opinion? I didn’t realize that at all.

I’ve played all of them except Rogue and finished everything except the newest three that I really do not enjoy nearly as much.

PP_BOY_ ,
@PP_BOY_@lemmy.world avatar

Idk how much it’s changed since 2016ish when i stopped following gaming news/discussion but at the time it was definitely the most hated of the mainline games

runawaycorvid ,

I’ve never had as much fun online gaming with my buddy than with AC: Revelations.

Secret300 ,

Consoles are for the rich and my mind can’t be changed about that.

After all these years I found a ps3 getting thrown away so I picked it up and asked my cousin for a controller and it’s really fun and convenient for gaming but damn back then I could never afford it. Now it’s worse. You have to pay for online, games are more expensive, controllers are more expensive, and it’s way more locked down. I remember my cousin and I were trying to watching a YouTube video and we couldn’t because sony servers were down and you had to be logged in to watch a YouTube video.

sheogorath ,

Most of my gaming friends who play on consoles are well off. There’s an abundance of games that you can play for free/cheap on PC that don’t need a lot of horsepower to play. Most people play on cheapo laptops or cheap PCs with less than 500 USD budget to build. My brother in law still plays on a Ryzen 1600 and RX 480 PC built in 2017 right when it was released and the only upgrade made to the system is getting 1660 Super or 1660 Ti 3 years ago. He mostly play Brawlhalla and Forza Horizon.

sugar_in_your_tea ,

That was me, but with a 1700 (bought for compile speed, I’m a SWE) and a GTX 960. I upgraded last year when prices came down to a 6650XT and a 5600X, but still on the same mobo.

I never really had an issue playing games because I prefer to play older games. I can afford nicer, but I don’t see a point. I hate paying more for games than I need to, and PC just has so many options that I’m interested in that I don’t see the need to play recent games.

When I was a kid, I saved up for a console but I could only afford a handful of games. My PC wasn’t good enough to play many games, so I just played the games I had. So I have a ton of games I missed growing up, so I’m content lagging a bit on modern games.

CancerMancer ,

You don’t need to be rich in a western nation to get a console, but if you mean the value proposition of having the newest console sucks then yes, absolutely.

verycoolusername ,

It really depends on what you are expecting. I got two consoles, a refurbished PS4 slim and an Xbox One S. The PS4 was 125 USD and the Xbox (an all-digital edition with no drive) was 90 USD. Yes, you have to look out for these deals but they’re there. PS4 games cost me usually 10 USD max, I buy them during deals or used. Xbox had a lot of game pass tricks you could do so the games were mostly extremely cheap.

But I do understand if you mean playing the newest games. That can be expensive.

Secret300 ,

Plus the online if you’d want to do that. PS5 is crazy. My cousin is on his 5th $70 controller because they keep getting stick drift. I honestly don’t know why he still plays console

verycoolusername ,

Yeah that is just laziness. When I wqs a kid consoles were too expensive so everyone wqs gaming on their PC or handheld consoles. You either used a keyboard or a shitty knock-off controller. I couldn’t imagine paying big bucks for a new gamepad. Even though I love games I still like to be thrifty with my gaming related purchases and treat myself only once in a while. Sometimes I wonder if the people who get the newest stuff would necessarily notice if they were playing a PS4 or PS5 game.

limeaide OP ,

The only console I’ve bought since the PS3 has been the Switch and it hasn’t been absurdly expensive. I’ve bought almost all of my games second hand.

It can take a while to find them at the right price, but I’ve had good luck finding people selling multiple games at once and bundling a couple together for a good price. I bought Mario Kart 8 and BOTW for $25/each

Also, the games don’t lose much value if you ever want to resell them. I imagine I could still get ~$30 for each one if I really wanted to and in the future they’ll probably go up to about $50-$60 once they stop manufacturing them

TheSlad ,

I played fallout 3 a lot, was my favorite game for a long minute.

I could never get into fallout new vegas. I tried many times but it just never grabbed me. It just didnt feel right.

PP_BOY_ ,
@PP_BOY_@lemmy.world avatar

Just wondering, did you play them on consoles? Because I played FO3 on PS3 back in 2011(?) And it worked fine but when I tried picking up NV a few years later, I had to drop it because of all the bugs.

TheSlad ,

Pc. I never even encountered any bugs. I just couldn’t get into it

SolOrion ,

I tried so hard to enjoy New Vegas but honestly I think it just had too many choices that all fucking sucked. Tons of factions, and I pretty much hated them all.

In hindsight I think I’ll try to replay it and go full Mr. House.

20gramsWrench ,

Where fallout 3 feels like a desolated wasteland, new vegas feels like a generic western with added monsters, it’s got none of the charm of 3 despite every other aspects being better

B0NK3RS , (edited )
@B0NK3RS@lemmy.world avatar

I don’t like open world games. Give me levels to explore or the illusion of an open world and I’m perfectly happy.

sugar_in_your_tea ,

I don’t even care about an illusion of an open world, I want a hand-crafted experience. I felt Zelda BotW was empty, and I much prefer Skyward Sword.

I have enjoyed a handful of open world games, but I generally avoid them because there are so many that waste my time.

Sigh_Bafanada ,

I really appreciate games like Dishonored, where you have massive levels to explore but they’re still very tailored experiences, and each level gives you something brand new.

My one gripe with Dishonored is that the way runes, bone charms and money (the main upgrade materials) work encourages you to explore every nook and cranny of each level. While some may like that, I’d prefer to find a fun way to reach my target and then on future playthroughs I could find another dozen completely distinct routes, making every run feel fresh.

That whole second paragraph has nothing to do with your point, I just felt like mentioning it.

neosheo ,
@neosheo@discuss.tchncs.de avatar

I actually love the concept of open world games. Ive sunk tons of hours into skyrim, oblivion, fnv, far cry 4, witcher 3, gta v, etc.

But now so many games want to be open world when they dont need to be. I loved the shit out of old school halo and never once thought damn i wish this was open world

limeaide OP ,

Agreed. I’ve only played a couple games that deserve to be open world that actually deserve to be a part of the genre.

neosheo ,
@neosheo@discuss.tchncs.de avatar

And the thing is i dont mind a game trying it out. Witcher 3 and elden ring trying open world came out excellent but so many games just tack on a giant world that ends up being a collectathon or a bunch of fetch quests. Padding out games with a bunch of bullshit is just stupid

sugar_in_your_tea ,

Controllers are better than keyboard and mouse.

I play almost exclusively on PC, but I really don’t like playing most games on keyboard and mouse. Analog sticks are better for movement, triggers are better than mouse buttons, and wheel select is more fun than hotkeys. My main complaint is a lack of modifier keys (probably solved with buttons on the back), but overall the ergonomics is much better.

B0NK3RS ,
@B0NK3RS@lemmy.world avatar

My game time is probably a 50/50 split with console and pc but I prefer using a controller whenever I can. It’s just more comfortable to me as I can lean back and relax.

sugar_in_your_tea ,

Yup. The main reason I play on PC is cost. I already have a PC, so buying a mid tier GPU every few years is much cheaper than buying a new console and paying console prices for games.

TheSlad ,

Its ok to be wrong buddy, you do you. 🙂

all-knight-party ,
@all-knight-party@kbin.run avatar

I'd agree that they're better in every way except for precision and control complexity. Add in gyro and you get pretty damn close, but even then, I think it's easier to be a better shot on a mouse in shooters.

That and it's very very difficult to play something with complex controls on a controller like Arma, or trying to play competitive StarCraft or something, the controller would just always, invariably be worse

sugar_in_your_tea ,

Yes, certain games just don’t make sense on controller, I still don’t understand how people play Cities: Skylines on console, for example. So I absolutely use keyboard+mouse when it makes sense.

However, most games work well on controller, so most of my gaming time is with a controller. In fact, ever since I got my Steam Deck, I’ve played less on my desktop because the built-in controller is so nice, and it’s more convenient since I keep it next to my bed.

all-knight-party ,
@all-knight-party@kbin.run avatar

I think it does boil down to different games work better or worse on different control types, so I don't think either one can truly be better or worse than the other, just better or worse in certain situations.

I think I would agree that a controller with rear buttons and gyro is better at a wider variety of games than M&KB

sugar_in_your_tea ,

Sure, but among PC gaming enthusiasts, preferring controllers is an unpopular take. I want to see more innovative schemes like gyros so I don’t need a kb+m nearly as often.

all-knight-party ,
@all-knight-party@kbin.run avatar

I agree, I was just disputing the absolute, unconditional wording of your original comment where you say they're better than M&KB, not that you prefer them, or that they're better for most or certain types of games.

I'm actually a huge lover of the Steam Controller, it's my daily driver, and unless I'm playing a shooter I use it for nearly everything. Definitely right there with you on innovative control schemes and the flexible power of a controller with custom mapping.

sugar_in_your_tea ,

Fair. And I need to try the Steam Controller again. I like the triggers, but I had trouble with the touch pads, but maybe they’ll grow on me.

I’d really like a Steam Controller 2 with two sticks. But maybe that’s just me not “getting” the trackpads on the original.

all-knight-party ,
@all-knight-party@kbin.run avatar

I quit all other controllers cold turkey to force myself to get used to it, and it worked. That being said there are probably games where a second stick would work better, but I haven't found any where I had to change to my pro controller or something else because it was uncomfortable. The pro controller is around for the Switch or if somebody else wants to play on my PC.

However, the Steam Controller is essentially the "PC gaming of controllers", where getting it to work just how you want sometimes requires setup of the config depending on what works best for the game. For example, you may have disliked the touch pads because they were set to mouse joystick mode, where you must drag across them to create input, which can work better for aiming weapons. I usually set the pads to "joystick move" which means the entire pad is the full range of motion of the simulated joystick, and simply touching anywhere on the pad will pull the joystick to that point in its range, instead of touching, establishing a center point, and then dragging to dictate how far you're pulling the virtual joystick, like you might find in simulated joysticks on some mobile games. I find joystick move much more natural and comfortable for general camera control and things like radial menus.

Similarly, I despise gyro that's always on, but love gyro that can be activated at will by holding down a button, I'm a big fan of gyro only on ADS in shooters, for example. It's hard to explain that sort of stuff over text, hopefully my joystick description made enough sense. Essentially, the Steam Controller can work amazingly, but sometimes how well it feels depends on how much you tweak the controls to your preference, and of course, most of that setup only needs to be done once or twice, then you can just make a few templates and slap them on games where you know how you'd prefer it to work, and then make minor tweaks from there. Unless you do something stupid like map controls to play an MMO, like I did. That requires a ridiculous complex layout. I do adore that the rear buttons are not just mapped to another controller button, but are unique inputs on their own, it opens up a lot of options for control schemes.

If they could find a way to make another joystick fit on the controller then I'd be all for the options, the Steam Controller is already a chunky boy, though, but I find a bigger controller more comfortable anyway. I hope the success of the Steam Deck sparks a new Steam Controller revision, but time will tell.

sugar_in_your_tea ,

despise gyro that’s always on

Absolutely. I disable it in games like Mario Kart, but like it in Zelda for aiming the bow.

The Steam Deck is great here with the capacitive joysticks, which works really well imo (or map a button to toggle).

sometimes how well it feels depends on how much you tweak the controls

And that’s the thing, I really don’t like to tweak stuff. I don’t like mods, I don’t mess with in-game settings, and I almost never remap controls. I will if I absolutely have to, but I really prefer to just have a good out-of-box experience.

So I’m a really good candidate for console gaming, but it’s more expensive than PC gaming for me, and I like games that really don’t work well (or at all) on a console (e.g. Paradox strategy games). So I just use my PC like a console at my desk. Since I got my Steam Deck, I’ve played very few games at my desk because games just work so smoothly on the deck (usually have good settings already).

CancerMancer ,

I have sticks, motion controllers, a wheel, and various regular controllers, as well as the classic kb+m, and I just find myself coming back to the kb+m for nearly everything. Virtually every time I preferred using something else was because of poor control design (GTA V flying vehicles), driving and simulation experiences (racing, truck/farm/flight sims, Elite Dangerous), and VR (you can’t read the keyboard when it matters).

The extreme accuracy of a mouse and versatility of a keyboard make them extremely hard to beat. I even play Monster Hunter games with both because believe it or not, there are advantages on each side.

sugar_in_your_tea ,

Yeah, I’ll probably never give up my kb+m for everything, but when a controller makes sense, I’ll absolutely prefer it. I’ll even use it for most FPS games, with a gyro, it just feels good.

MrScottyTay ,

Gyro for fine tune aiming is a million times better than mouse in my opinion.

Also I would say even if it wasn’t, the left stick makes up so much more for what you would get out of using a keyboard and the inneficiencies of having to swap fingers around the keyboard to both move and interact etc, than what a mouse gains over the right stick.

Also bumper jumper is always the best for fps

KroninJ ,
@KroninJ@lemmy.world avatar

I paired my mouse with an Azeron. 99% of the time it’s way better than the keyboard. The other 1% is split between keyboard and controller.

Between the two though I much prefer keyboard/mouse over controller, but there are some games I would rather use a controller for. But as far as ergonomics go, I agree with you.

Nihilore ,
@Nihilore@lemmy.world avatar

I play on PC and for me if it’s first person it’s gotta be KBM to get immersed into it but if it’s 3rd person I use controller as it helps to feel like I’m controlling the person. I dunno how to explain it, it makes sense to me

sugar_in_your_tea ,

I wonder if it’s camera control? Twin stick movement isn’t really similar to how people move, whereas a mouse (head) and keyboard (legs) is a bit closer.

For me though, I think I just like having my hands close together, and a controller gives me that, whereas kb+m just feels like an unnatural position to be in.

Different strokes I guess, but controller feels a lot more natural to me and I only use kb+m if the controller gets in the way (e.g. Total War, Cities: Skylines, etc).

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