Controller or KB/M?

I would have answered KB/M a year or so ago. Now that I have a Steam Link, Steam Controller, 65 inch TV, and a comfy couch with a blanket, I find it hard to sit at a desk and less relaxing. The TV setup also encourages me to devote full attention to the game making it more immersive in a way.

When I first got the controller I didn’t like it and switched back to my gamepad. But posts here encouraged me to give it a fair shot. It’s now my favorite controller ever.

Like Giles_Habibula, I have tried for hours to use a controller, but it always seemed like using the wrong tool for the job at hand. It was never comfortable. There are many games that I simply do not buy because they state they are meant for controllers.

HOTAS.

Fuck yeah!

I used a gamepad via Joy2Key for lots of space sims. Freespace 1 + expansion, Tachyon, IWar2, Starlancer, likely others I forget.

But for non-vehicle sims I use KB&M.

This makes no sense. I mean, I understand the psychology if you’re not used to them, but PCs have the most control mechanisms, not the fewest. You’re shutting yourself out from a huge swathe of games, or at the very least playing them massively sub-optimally and harming your enjoyment long term, if you’re only using one.

This basically, with the following additions:
Over-the-shoulder but requiring precise aiming: M/KB
Racing: Gamepad, or if I can be arsed to set it up, wheel
Sports: Gamepad
VR (in appropriate games) - Touch

VR (where appropriate) - Touch and/or HOTAS (throttle/stick combo)

Oh I know full-well I’m missing out.

For instance, the game I made the most progress with was the first “Uncharted” game (came with the system). Damn it, I fought with that game for tens of hours, and got over halfway through it, but I wasn’t having any fun. Because the controller just never got intuitive.

Look, if I cannot adjust to a device with 45 hours, chances are that I’m never going to. 45 hours is plenty of time to give it I think.

Worse yet, I also bought some first-person dino-hunting game for that PS3, and those devs couldn’t even be bothered to include a reverse Y-axis in the options. I also absolutely cannot adjust to non-invert after 25 years of playing inverted. I tried and tried there as well, but that game was wasted.

I also tried “Demon’s Souls”. Heh-heh. Uh, yeah. That was a fantastic 30 minutes. ;-)

Think of it. 25 fucking years knowing only one way.
For instance, imagine (where ever you’re at) suddenly being forced to drive on the opposite side of the road, after doing it only the other way for your entire life. I rest my case. Some of us are just not wired for alternate controls. [although, I think I’d have much better luck adjusting to driving on the ‘wrong’ side of the road, so that was probably a bad comparison.]

Hey, I’ve played a few games that were meant to played with a controller on my PC, with a kb/m, and I always did okay. So as long as the dev includes kb/m control options, I can manage it, no matter how awkward it may seem to others. That said, I have been a bit too intimidated to try the Souls series on PC with kb/m.

Not saying my way is better. Not at all. In fact, I envy you multi-controller people. I really do. And I gave it my best shot for 45 hours. But I’ll never be like the rest of you. :-(

EDIT: Oh, and in my original post, I left out that I play space sims and flight sims with a joystick. But there again, I’ve been using one of those for 25 years as well.

If only I had got accustomed to using a gamepad 25 years ago, I’d probably be using one to this day.

I agree with the inverted y-axis on controllers, but this is a bad example. You’ll really be surprised how easy it is to adjust to the other side of the road!

People do that all the time, if they visit the UK from Europe or vice versa. It doesn’t seem to cause chaos on the roads.

I get there’s a steep learning curve for some types of games, particularly FPS or anything with camera controls, but for racing games, really? Or platformers?