Controller vs Keyboard and mouse

[Viper]

Keyboard wins hands down is ease of using weapons as all you do is hit the hotkey and you have the needed weapon as well as accessing things like your map or precise aiming. Controller however is comfortable and movement is much nicer with the analog sticks. I just hate holding a direction key or mouse button down to move forward. There is no best way to control the game. They both have positives and negatives.

[Vinnie Mack]

it all has to do with what you are use to. As a console gamer, the mouse feels awkward and unnatural. Like trying to move with someone elses legs. Controller all the way. Though i wish they had more hotkey slots on controllers. That is the only thing i like about keyboard/mouse.

[cafrank]

ive played on both a pc and a console for nearly 20 years and after all that time i have liked the keybord&mouse over controller. i wish some one would make a interface with all the pros in one.

[Vinnie Mack]

Originally posted by cafrank:

ive played on both a pc and a console for nearly 20 years and after all that time i have liked the keybord&mouse over controller. i wish some one would make a interface with all the pros in one.

that would be the ideal, the best of both. Maybe Nintendo nx will give us the ultimate controller to show the console lords the way.

[GM Pax]

Originally posted by Viper:

Keyboard wins hands down is ease of using weapons as all you do is hit the hotkey and you have the needed weapon as well as accessing things like your map or precise aiming.

It's a breeze with a controller, too.

I use a wired Xbox 360 controller to play (for comfort, and because I have mild arthritis in my right shoulder, so holding my arm up to use amouse for long stretches, without rests, gets quite painful).

Precise aim, yeah, I can get precise enough with a controller. This isn't a PvP deathmatch sort of affair, you don't need the (unnatural and ludicrously unrealistic) precision ofKB+M targeting.

Quick weapon changes, yeah: d-pad once left, right, or up, press ((A)), bam: new weapon. Maybe 20% slower than a KB ... and again, not PvP deathmatch, hyperspeed isn't necessary. (Oh, and d-pad down once for Stimpacks, twice for Rad-Away, thrice for Rad-X, then ((A)) to use.) Note, by the by: I never carry more than three, maybe four guns. There's just no need to weigh myself down with more.

There is no best way to control the game. They both have positives and negatives.

On this, I agree entirely, especially for a SP game.

[Storm]

Keyboard+Mouse = Unprecedented precision in shooters; immersion. Requires pracise and cultivation of skill.

Controller = Autoaim. Look forward and press fire. Minimum practise required, no skill needed.

[GM Pax]

Originally posted by Storm:

Keyboard+Mouse = Unprecedented precision in shooters; immersion. Requires pracise and cultivation of skill.

Controller = Autoaim. Look forward and press fire. Minimum practise required, no skill needed.

Oh look, we got ourselves a KB+M elitist snob here.



Seriously, you think the KB+M "requires skill" ...? No, it doesn't. All that extra precision you think your "skill" gives you, is a hardware effect, nothing more. Gaming mice are more precise than analog sticks, and that's where the added precision comes in ... end of story.

I'll also add that the prcision you enjoy wiht a mouse, is not realistic, so bollocks to that "immersion" claim of yours. Real-life firearms use is not that precise. Even controllers without auto-aim are too damned precise .... because in real life, you can't rely on your hip-shot rifle always pointing precisely at the centerpoint of your field of view.

Heck, even looking down the sights .... if you don't know how to breathe properly when shooting, you'll have crap for accuracy.

[CerebralAtrophy]

These threads are always fun. A controller over a 17 button mouse and macro keyboard/pad (I use a G13) seriously zero comparison. MandK is faster and more accurate and can set up new game key/button commands on the fly.

Games like fallout are pretty simple though and don't require a lot of skills/heals/buff like some such as pvp mmos out there where you have 15 dif attacks and 30 dif debuffs/buffs while aiming/reacting in real time.

Here you have vats where you hit a button and it slows time close to a stop turns you 90 degrees and lets you fire 17 shots into someones head without doing much of anything at all

When it comes to games like these its about comfort like someone said above

[Beautiful Ham Sandwich]

It'd be cool if there was a keyboard with an analog stick on top of, or in place of, the WASD keys. Don't know how that would work though. I know there are keyboards with an analog stick, but they're always placed poorly for video games and you would have a hard time getting to your hotkeys

[CerebralAtrophy]

Originally posted by Beautiful Ham Sandwich:

It'd be cool if there was a keyboard with an analog stick on top of, or in place of, the WASD keys. Don't know how that would work though. I know there are keyboards with an analog stick, but they're always placed poorly for video games and you would have a hard time getting to your hotkeys

There are a bunch of gamepads with them. edit: The analog stick on a gamepad I don't think will ever be as comfortable or usable as a controller due to your anatomy and how your thumb sets with a flat hand vs a grip of a controller

[SuperBobKing]

Originally posted by Beautiful Ham Sandwich:

It'd be cool if there was a keyboard with an analog stick on top of, or in place of, the WASD keys. Don't know how that would work though. I know there are keyboards with an analog stick, but they're always placed poorly for video games and you would have a hard time getting to your hotkeys

I think some of those gamepads where you have keys for your fingers and a separate set of controls for your thumb might have a joystick. If you really wanted to jerry-rig something, you could get a cheap mechanical keyboard, a cheap gamepad, remove the wasd keys and take the joystick out of the controller, mount it to the keyboard, and wire the joystick back to the controller to make it work.

If one of the custom keyboard firmwares out there works with joysticks, you could make one (a decent one, not hacking something together like above) with a little bit of tech know-how without too much difficulty. Even if none of them do, if you are willing to go through the hassle of learning the USB protocol it is still feasible.

[Beautiful Ham Sandwich]

Originally posted by Cerebral Atrophy:

Originally posted by Beautiful Ham Sandwich:

It'd be cool if there was a keyboard with an analog stick on top of, or in place of, the WASD keys. Don't know how that would work though. I know there are keyboards with an analog stick, but they're always placed poorly for video games and you would have a hard time getting to your hotkeys

There are a bunch of gamepads with them. My g13 has one that is placed well for me but I have fairly large hands

I have one of those too, forgot which one but I think it's also the g13. With how you hold them, it just feels odd using your thumb to move even though you do it with the controller. Maybe that's just me. I stopped using mine when I was forced to get a smaller desk, so now it doesn't fit on my keyboard shelf that comes out

[CaptainSarcastic]

I prefer keyboard and mouse, but most of the time I spent with controllers was back in the days of Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis.

[CerebralAtrophy]

Originally posted by Beautiful Ham Sandwich:

Originally posted by Cerebral Atrophy:

There are a bunch of gamepads with them. My g13 has one that is placed well for me but I have fairly large hands

I have one of those too, forgot which one but I think it's also the g13. With how you hold them, it just feels odd using your thumb to move even though you do it with the controller. Maybe that's just me. I stopped using mine when I was forced to get a smaller desk, so now it doesn't fit on my keyboard shelf that comes out

Yeah I always program mine for up sprint, left jump, down crouch, and right being the wildcard for whatever the game needs like roll, but using it for a wasd would be a pain in the ass. Thumb slips off too much

[Storm]

Originally posted by GM Pax:

Originally posted by Storm:

Keyboard+Mouse = Unprecedented precision in shooters; immersion. Requires pracise and cultivation of skill.

Controller = Autoaim. Look forward and press fire. Minimum practise required, no skill needed.

Oh look, we got ourselves a KB+M elitist snob here.



Seriously, you think the KB+M "requires skill" ...? No, it doesn't. All that extra precision you think your "skill" gives you, is a hardware effect, nothing more. Gaming mice are more precise than analog sticks, and that's where the added precision comes in ... end of story.

I'll also add that the prcision you enjoy wiht a mouse, is not realistic, so bollocks to that "immersion" claim of yours. Real-life firearms use is not that precise. Even controllers without auto-aim are too damned precise .... because in real life, you can't rely on your hip-shot rifle always pointing precisely at the centerpoint of your field of view.

Heck, even looking down the sights .... if you don't know how to breathe properly when shooting, you'll have crap for accuracy.

Wow that's a whole lot of bull you just said geez. It's like you were having a conversation with yourself too.


If you have the precision a mouse brings to a 1st person game then yes, yes it certainly does add immersion. I don't know how anyone could argue otherwise.


Honestly if you think it takes no skill to use a mouse in shooters then that's your problem because you must be stuck in some kind of psychosis.

Btw have you ever heard of a game called Quake? It was this ground breaking game back in the day..................................

[Praetorium7]

It's not like we can only choose one. First playthrough, Xbox One controller - loved it. Second playthrough, which is a melee build, keyboard and mouse - also love it.

I will confess, I think I am enjoying KB+M slightly more. It might have to do with the fact that I always felt melee mapped to the triggers on a controller has felt awkward in Beth games, but I could change that mapping if I really wanted to. I just happen to enjoy KB+M, but I like controller too.

I like both. Both work, both are fun.