Well, the Wii U tablet is probably heavier than an xbox controller and you used both hands on it, and I thought it worked great for aiming the bow in Zelda:BotW. But to be fair, you would fire off the bow just a couple of seconds at a time, and then spend many minutes doing other things, with the controller back in your lap. I can see why a shooter where you need to keep it up in a sustained fashion could get tiring.
Conversely, I really didn’t like aiming single handed with the Wii, like in Metroid Prime. Maybe if you literally held it like a rifle to your eyeline, if could be ok, but I felt it was almost as clumsy as a thumbstick; like aiming a gun from the hip, just not great. Especially since overcorrecting your aim sends the reticle off the tv, rather than just turning the camera more.
Anyway, didn’t mean to start a controller argument, just seems like if I want to play older shooters in the future I should stick to PC, and live off Steam sales rather than ebay purchases.
I felt the same way when trying it myself, but in one of the other threads, someone posted a video on why people use it in Splatoon 2, and it was a pretty convincing video. Apparently you can’t just use the gyro aiming. You have to use a combination of the thumbstick and gyro aiming for it to be really effective.
I can’t remember if it was on this very forum someone shared a video about gyro aim on Splatoon, all but a few of the best players used gyro (in addition to the sticks)
Honestly, if you just use a gamepad, you’ll get used to it. You just have to be willing to deal with it feeling weird for a while. But your brain will adapt just fine.
Yeah, all I can say Timex is check this video out. The first minute or so is enough to show what it’s capable of, but the rest is well worth watching as it addresses a lot of the key arguments.
Once you’ve played a game that does gyro aiming well, like Splatoon/Splatoon 2, and it clicks, you’ll realise how infuriating it is that this tech has been inside controllers for years now but not properly utilised. Splatoon came out six years ago and… nothing. In Microsoft’s defence, at least they don’t have the tech inside their controllers to not use, but Sony have had it since the Sixaxis. What a waste. It should be an option by now if nothing else.
One of these days I’m going to try the flick stick on PC for fun but, seriously, console shooters need to catch up, particularly now crossplay is becoming more of a thing. The sooner that gap is bridged without aim-assist, the better.
But Splatoon isn’t really what I would consider a serious business shooter. There’s essentially no precision aiming at all in it, right? In a game like Splatoon, enabling motion controls effectively jacks aim assist up to a RIDCULOUS level. That guy in the video even talks about it. But that’s the thing, gyro aiming isn’t enabling increased precision… it’s giving the illusion of increased precision, by having insanely high aim assist.
If you really want that effect, you could achieve it with thumbsticks by simply jacking the sensitivity way up and adding the same degree of aim assist. That’s one of the main limiting factors with thumbsticks… high level players generally play with maxed out sensitivity, thereby removing (or at least significantly reducing) the limit of turn speed. But to do this requires significantly more precision in terms of aiming with your thumbs, which is hard for most people (I know that I rarely play shooters with the sensitivity maxed). With extremely heavy aim assist, then that second aspect becomes less of an issue, but it also trivializes the aiming.
In a game like splatoon, this can work, but this isn’t a shooter… it’s some other kind of game. It doesn’t even have things like headshots, right? And it works well for that. In something like RE4, you can see what happens, in that the insanely high aim assist snaps your reticle to enemy heads and trivializes that kind of precision.
I think it’s kind of mistaken to say, “Why can’t they just use Splatoon as a model for everything?” without acknowledging that Splatoon, while being a very cool game, is not a game that really focuses on precision aiming at all. That’s not really as fundamental an element of the gameplay compared to how it’s the core of a game like CoD.
Wouldn’t the solution then be to disable auto aim for those using Gyro? Zelda didn’t need it at all, given how precise you could be with the gyro, and in that game I was routinely shooting goblin headshots flying through the air, or nailing Guardian bots in the singular eyeball.
You keep saying this but it doesn’t have aim-assist.
No aim-assist, no illusion!
Because Splatoon allows for thumbsticks and gyro aiming. I’d point to other games that do it but there aren’t many out there, let alone ones that do it so well. Since Splatoon, and particularly the Steam Controller’s release, I’ve seen enough videos trickling on to YouTube of PC folk using gyro aiming in ‘serious business’ shooters like CS:GO, Titanfall 2, CoD and Apex Legends–against PC players–to know that I’m not mistaken in thinking that aiming on console shooters could be much, much better than it is now, or at the very least offer more choice than thumbsticks when the tech is right there in your hands already. (Or not in the Xbox controller’s case.)
Sorry, I misunderstood then, I thought that one video talked about how aim assist kicked on with gyro controls enabled.
But regardless, the fact remains, Splatoon is not a real shooter, in that there’s no precision required. It doesn’t even have headshots, right? I’m not saying this as a pejorative against the game, either. I’m not saying it’s not a real game, or is not competitive. It is, and I know folks who love it.
But It’s a different kind of game.
Regarding using it in real shooters, I’m sure it’s possible, but at least some of those videos (I didn’t watch then all) don’t really demonstrate it. The TF2 video for instance. Ignoring the fact that essentially anyone can make a highlight reel of separate individual kills, no matter how terrible they are, even in that guy’s highlight reel… He isn’t good. He’s spraying fire all over the place. It’s a very bad video, if you are trying to show off precision aiming.
Sony has been verrrrryyyy slowwwllllyyy adding support for gyro aiming. Days Gone and The Last of Us 2 has it. I’ve been using it on TLOU2 and love it. Nailing headshots feels very satisfying. I really wish more games supported it however.
Of course Splatoon’s a shooter, and of course precision is required. Whether or not you think it’s a ‘real’ shooter because it doesn’t have headshots or whatever isn’t relevant to my main point: six years ago Splatoon’s gyro aiming was good enough to convince me that more fluid, responsive and precise aiming–without any aim-assist–is possible with controllers and should be an option where the tech allows it. Those (quickly selected) videos show how well it can work in other competitive games–and against PC players no less. With crossplay becoming more commonplace, I think that’s important. I’m simply arguing for choice because I sure as shit would be more interested in playing shooters on consoles if it was there, like in Splatoon.
I honestly don’t know what else to say then Timex so I won’t labour the point any further.
Oh, this is very cool to hear! I just found this video which shows the kind of fine control you can have and it looks so free and natural. More of this please!
I’m surprised no games have weapons shaped like gamepads, for a perfect match between what you feel and see. Doubly so in VR. Though they do sometimes show you controllers in VR.
I enjoy gyro aiming because it’s a better simulation of aiming & firing a weapon than either M&K or gamepad sticks. You have your sights, adjusting your wrist angle up/down/left/right to align to the target, and pulling a trigger.
So, did anyone try any of these? I just got through the Sable demo, and it was interesting. There’s no combat in the game, just exploration, fetch quests, and some light platforming. But the art style is great- not so much ‘cel-shaded’ as like a rotoscoped animation movie, which gives it a cool feel. And the world is intriguing- they give you bits and pieces of hints through dialog, and I’m really interested where the journey goes.
