Gaming on PC vs. Gaming on consoles . . . a thoughtful and measured discussion.

I would never claim my preference is universal. And I certainly don’t think the controller is perfect in all situations. But I do, for instance, really like it for FPS games. I tried playing something a few years back, I forget exactly what but some random FPS, using a mouse and keyboard and I couldn’t wrap my brain around it. I could beat that with practice, no doubt, but I’m kind of past the point where it matters enough to me to try.

I have a simple answer. Fidelity of control, especially when it comes to aiming, or games that have a lot of keybinds. Controllers just don’t have enough of either of those, especially when being fast is required.

WoW is a perfect example, there is just no way I could ever play a game like that with a controller, there are just too many different things to have to do. Console games, because of the inherit control scheme, tend to be a bit more simplistic in nature. That’s not really a dig, I like a lot of console games, and have owned a console since they sold pong at Sears. Consoles can be really great, and can be more relaxing. I used to have a 52" plasma hooked up to my xbox in my bedroom. Few things can match the joy of lying in bed playing Xbox on that thing.

At the end of the day, they each have their strengths, I like them both for that reason.

Final Fantasy XIV Online works well on controller, and I wouldn’t call it simpler than WoW.

It uses the two triggers as modifiers for the face buttons and d-pad, letting you quickly hit any of 16 different hotbar actions by holding a trigger and hitting a button. Then one of the bumpers is also a modifier, to swap between 8 different hotbar sets. There’s similar setup for target selection.

I play it on PC and find it more comfortable/casual using the controller. Not to say it’s a superior mechanism, I just don’t think the game is any simpler due to being on PS4 as well. And the PS4 version also supports m/k! :)

Sorry, I get lost in my own thoughts and make contradicting paragraphs sometimes. I just want to make the point that control preferences can be for optimal, practical and/or comfort reasons, what’s best is relative. Much like a lot of the reasons prefer PC or consoles. Or, heavens, mobile.

And I remember when it came out, the first time, designed for a controller and slow as hell on anything with a UI. It was so horrific they had to relaunch it to work better with a K/M and you know, actually do something when you hit a button. I’m not sure those with a controller could even tolerate it fully then but i was definitely under the impression that was their starting point to begin with.

Yeah. I have reasons to like one over the other, and in a perfect world… I would pick based on that and that alone.

I’m talking about Realm Reborn, not the abomination from 10 years ago. The one you can play today. :)

They are pretty much different games.

You don’t have to convince me. I beta’d one and bought the other. I just wonder if part of the problem with the original was this weird controller based thing they had going. The UI was clearly not designed for how PC players play games … So weird.

Yeah they planned to release the original on PS3 as well as PC, plus I guess they didn’t have a lot of PC expertise back then either.

This whole discussion reminds me of trying to get through the shooting test in the Alpha Protocol tutorial. I tried 5 times with a controller and couldn’t get a passing grade. I tried once with KB & M and got the highest possible score.

To each their own, of course, but some people’s thumbs seem to be wired completely differently than mine.

I’ve played on damn near everything, but there’s one reason for preferring consoles I haven’t seen mentioned: the posture required for PC gaming is brutal on my back. Using mouse & KB freezes me in place, and after a relatively short period of time, my aging back with bulging discs gets sore and stiff. Getting old sucks. Console gaming, with all of the controls in one small package that’s not dependent on a desk or mouse pad, allows for a lot more flexibility in posture.

That, and console exclusives, is enough to keep me buying new systems even though I have a very capable PC.

You can use a controller with the PC. It’s not like you are stuck using a m+kB.

And I do, but some games (I’m on a WoW kick right now) demand more than a controller can offer.

But those games you have no choice but to play on the PC with m+kb. The original question was if you have both a PC and a Console why would you play on the PC. So as far as posture required for PC gaming, you could use a controller on the PC for any game that is also available on the console. The only games that would require a m+kb and thus hurt your back, are games you couldn’t play on the console anyway.

Um, you win?

YES!!!

Next up for pizzaddict: world hunger!

You know the best thing about PC vs Console wars these days…

How cheap both entries really can be. I mean sure you can blow 32k on a dream machine, Maximum PC loves showing those, and you stick your console on a 2k TV with a 2k receiver set-up but the reality is… you can pick up a modern console with a game and controller for like… 200 dollars. And that game, combined with any free game you can tolerate could last you for… a long time. If that’s not enough you can pick up, on PS4, last year’s games or older for sometimes as low as 12 dollars, and these often have add-ins for them.

On PC, easy, easy to pick up up gaming rig for around 500. It’s not going to win any benchmarks but bam, you’re playing and you might not even have to pay a single cent for a game. There’s free games… everywhere all the time.

Disability… probably got some neat accessories designed or being designed for that. Color blind… I see settings for that too.

It’s a great time to be playing games. But yeah I still choose PC over console at the moment, most of the time but not always.

If everyone I knew had a PS4 and Overcooked 2… telling yah.

Well there’s just games that feel right playing on PC, versus games that feel right playing on console. Now obviously that’s as YMMV as a thing can get, but right now I have the option through Game Pass of playing the original Bard’s Tale trilogy on either PC or Xbox. But I would never play that on Xbox because it would feel weird, crazy even. That game needs the glow of a monitor 12 inches from my face, bent over mouse and keyboard. Bard’s Tale is an experience, maaaaan, and you’ve got to live it!

How many people are responding to this thread using a console? I prefer pc games, though the issue of back stress is a factor. Of course I own consoles and play games on them (who doesn’t own both?), and I have gamepads for my pc (again, who doesn’t?), but the limited number of buttons on a controller versus the multitude of assignable keys on a keyboard keeps me on pc for all my strategy needs. Hell, I play all the Souls games on a pc with a wireless controller, plus a few other third person games, so I feel like my consoles (PS3, PS4) exist only for a few exclusives, and of course Madden.
This vs argument always seems pointless.

Already solved it… 🍕 for everyone!

Hmmm, that looked better on my phone. That is supposed to be a picture of a slice of pepperoni pizza.

Pizza for everyone!