Clunky Controls and Gameplay

[Marrt]

Played this a decent chunk of time back a few years, but man, getting (back) into this game now is a headache. The amount of menus and input keys is horrifying, i can't believe this can't be streamlined.

Am i the only one who feels that way?

[Zak]

The amount of keys does not make for "clunky controls". There is quite a lot happening in this game so it requires a lot of keys. The UI is not the best and there are some binding issues but I can't imagine how there could be fewer keys in NMS.

[Gerustroncio]

... Dude you can play this with a gamepad

when playing with a kb-m, you have an interact button, which can be used for many things, you have an inventory button, which shows you all your inventories, you have a build menu button, and you have a quick menu button, that leads to many options

And then of course you have the movement keys and the mouse buttons, that's it...

If you honestly find this complicated then... I'm not sure what to say.. please don't try to play stuff like mount & blade, or star citizen, the effort will probably melt your brain.

[Guyver8]

not the only one ..but you might be in a minority
i play mainly but not exclusively with a controller and everything important is handled nicely by those few buttons

[Marrt]

Originally posted by Onarum:

the effort will probably melt your brain.

It's not so much the effort, it just seems overloaded after coming back. You have inventories, mode switches, than you have a "quick menu" for emotes and building stuff that also contains settings like 1st/3rd person, than you have inventory items that are deployed with their own menus that somewhat share common elements... It just seems like as features have grown, the control/ui part of it metastasized along instead of evolving with it

Anyone can get around complicated controls if they are done well e.g. the merlin controls in gauntlet: Slayer Edition were a superb example of complicated controls that really fit the game. You had to have quick wits to play merlin well and know all your many spell options by heart but that is exactly in line with how a mage would do battle.

I am just saying that the controls & menus kept me from getting back into the game.

[Basan™]

I've also just came back into NMS and it's a nuisance that I've got the "Tab" key harcoded all over again to my Inventory menu instead of running as it's stated upon my customized keyboard and mouse configuration.
This kind of bums me out to further try anything because I simply haven't found out a way to remove that hardcoding crap into some other key that I could easily use (like for ex., "Caps Lock").

[Voodoojedizin]

There is nothing complicated about the controls!
You make it sound like you have to do 100 things at one time and that's just not the way it is. If you can't manage pressing a key once in a while then this game or any game is not for you move along.

[Sam Porter Bridges]

Yep the controls and menus are crazy in this game. Switching weapons on the multitool and the ship, moving stuff between the freighter inventory tabs, the X menu, are just some examples. And then you can't quickmove stuff to that freighter inventory unless you're in the freighter building area. You can't even access those tabs in a ground base even though you can build the storage containers there.

[Sam Porter Bridges]

Originally posted by Voodoojedizin:

There is nothing complicated about the controls!
You make it sound like you have to do 100 things at one time and that's just not the way it is. If you can't manage pressing a key once in a while then this game or any game is not for you move along.

No instead of having to press 100 different keys you have to press one key 100 times in this game.

[Basan™]

Originally posted by Voodoojedizin:

There is nothing complicated about the controls!
You make it sound like you have to do 100 things at one time and that's just not the way it is. If you can't manage pressing a key once in a while then this game or any game is not for you move along.

I've played this game way over 100h just before took a 2 years hiatus break on it. And by that time I already had figured out a way to have my Inventory menu keybinded into something else than "Tab" and it allowed me to either run and also use that key as function upon boosting my Vessel's (when inside it, ofc).

If you can't be bothered to actually provide any help apart the quick stop passing by troll forking 'sass', then you probably also should know better on how to restrain yourself from looking like one. And btw, please don't let the sliding door hit you on the way out... but if it does, it was well earned, imho.

[Vazurro]

I'll agree with OP in that the menu system is confusing for new players. I would say it's the biggest barrier to entry to the game. I tried to get a couple friends into it and the menu system is basically what made them give up.

Myself, I found it kind of time consuming to learn the menus but once I found out there was a quick menu I was much happier and have gotten used to the menu system.