Game Controller

[princessmelia18]

Hi! I have this game on my PC and am realizing a controller would make it much easier to play. Does anyone know what controller I could use for this game that could also be hooked up to my laptop? Thanks!

[Skoi]

both the steam and xbox controller work. but keyboard and mouse isnt bad either.

[princessmelia18]

It's true. But when I have to use the space bar, mouse pad, and arrow keys all at the same time it can be a lot. And I have a mouse too but then I have to use WASD and the space bar still. As you can tell, I'm still fairly new to gaming lol

[Mizufluffy]

I can't deny that I enjoy playing (some) games with a controller, at least those games that have a good controller support. On a keyboard there are easily dozens of buttons and the layout often fits better for typing than performing actions in a game. Let's imagine for a moment there is a game that doesn't support mouse, you have movement in WASD keys, jump (or something similar) in space bar and perhaps some other actions in ZXC keys. All of those would be under your left hand and it could be tricky to perform some actions while moving around. One reason why I like controllers is because there are fewer buttons making it easier to remember what each individual button does and they are spread in a way that allows you to reach them easily with both hands and makes it easier to perform other actions while moving around or controlling camera in a game.

Despite of saying all that I feel like I'm quite new to controllers myself. I was using a Logitech F310 controller for a couple of years until its bumbers didn't feel as responsive as they used to and about five months ago I ordered the Steam Controller and I have been using it ever since it got shipped to me. I'm hardly even qualified to say what kind of controller is 'good' and what isn't but I can at least say that I prefer my Steam controller over the Logitech controller.

Anyway, if it is your first controller you are thinking about buying then you might want to think of a few possible choices and read / watch reviews about them and especially investigate their pros and cons and if it would suit for your needs. I'm sure you'd want to use a controller for other games aside from just Ori and it would be a good to get one that you can use for several years. ;)

I can't deny that Steam controller doesn't have the most amazing reviews on Steam (63% mixed for recent reviews and 74% mostly positive for all) and I personally have liked it but unfortunately I can't really compare it much to some other controllers for obvious reasons. I actually hesitated for months before I finally gave in and bought it. It does have a bit steeper learning curve so you might want to get something a little bit easier first and I'm sure someone else will be able to help you with choosing something you might like.

As for does a controller make games instantly easier to play... Well, yes and no. Every kind of input device always has some kind of learning curve and getting used to a controller might take a while if you haven't used one before. On the other hand once you get hang of it then playing can be quite intuitive and you spend more time on thinking what you want to do in a game rather than where to find the button on a keyboard that you want to press. Most games even have similar actions in same buttons, for example 'accept' is usually in A button and 'cancel' is usually in B button.

Of course controllers have their weaknesses as well as their strengths, even in Ori, and I can't deny that using skills like bash can be quite accurate with a mouse. On the other hand, like I said earlier, I feel like a keyboard is overall better for typing and a mouse is great at pointing at things with a cursor where controllers are basically designed for gaming. If there is a game with controller support then it's usually worthwhile to at least give it a try. If you don't feel like playing Ori with a keyboard (and with or without a mouse) then perhaps you might want to try xbox controller just like skydiamand suggested.

[LinkSamus3]

Other people have different opinions, but my belief is that any game that could be described as an "action" game, where you have to input commands with a certain speed or rhythm, is easier to play with a controller. By which I don't mean a mouse, a mouse is not a controller.

Now as for which one, I'll tell you how I came to my conclusion before I tell you which one. I went to my favorite gaming website, GameFAQs, and I looked at a topic about "favorite controller" or something like that on the PC message board. There were a bunch of things mentioned, but far more than the others, roughly two thirds of the people in that topic all said one of 2 controllers: the XBox 360 and the XBox One. So I decided to look at both of them and decide for myself which one I liked better. That's what I recommend you do. And yes, the Steam Controller was mentioned in that topic as well, but only by a few people. So that confirms what I thought when I first saw it: it isn't very good.

As for my specific choice, it came down to what kind of games I would mostly be playing. The 360 controller felt a little bit more comfortable in my hands, but its D-pad design was horrible. I've used a controller with a D-pad like that before, and I hated it. The XBox One controller's D-pad works much better. So since I play more action games in 2-D than 3-D, I went with the XBox One controller. Many games still support the 360 controller, though, so whichever feels better to you.

[Mizufluffy]

Originally posted by dungeonconquerorB:

And yes, the Steam Controller was mentioned in that topic as well, but only by a few people. So that confirms what I thought when I first saw it: it isn't very good.

This is just my humble opinion but I think it's a matter of a preference. I can't deny that I was quite suspicious about how good or bad it would be (especially considering it's user rating on Steam) and I watched probably 25+ reviews and other videos of it on YouTube and even left a comment on one of those videos to ask a question (which got answered) I was wondering about it before I gathered my courage and purchased it.

One of my favorite features about the Steam controller is its dual trackpads. While the camera movement in 3D games might not be always perfect (it depends a little bit what kind of settings the game supports) but usually it is at least decent and at the best I feel like it gives better control over the camera than what camera based on mouse movement can give. If a game needs D-pad then I like to use one of the trackpads as a D-pad (and almost exclusively without physical pressing of the trackpad), I like it how I can just slide my finger over the trackpad to different directions. In full 3D games I prefer using the analog stick for movement, there is just something about it that trackpad can't imitate.

I know this sounds like I'm only defending the Steam controller, and maybe I am a little, but I do understand it has its shortcomings or at least that it doesn't suit for every kind of player and to get most out of it you might have to adjust Steam controller settings for each game separately.

Anyway, all I wanted to say was that I don't believe Steam controller is as bad as some players make it out to be and there are players who actually enjoy playing with it. I definitely don't have anything against other controllers and it's really hard for me to objectively say if Steam controller is trash or a gold nugget but subjectively I can say I like using it.

[solvargraven]

Hello there, I can only say something about the Xbox controllers, as I'm using them. They were easy to get, plenty of support, affordable =) (But so are others, too) I chose them because I have MS PCs and it is simply plug and play when you use cable. I have not tried the Xbox one wireless with the pay-for-extra adapter on PC. They both work with win 7 and win 10 fine.
With the wired Xbox 360, I think dungeonconqueror is right, the d-pad is very weird. It's round and I find it very clumsy/inaccurate (but as I said elsewhere, I'm not excellent at controls, so....). That's part of why my "round d-pad Ori" is still messing around in the Ginso Tree while the "cross d-pad Ori" is happily in his way to the Mountain now. The cross-like one on the Xbox one controller feels and works nicer.

[LinkSamus3]

Actually they make now an XBox One controller that connects to PC via Bluetooth. You no longer need an adapter or cable if you buy the new model.

[LinkSamus3]

Originally posted by pixelfox:

Wait... you serious right now ? If yes then god bless because previously i had so many problemes with wireless controller.

Technically I haven't personally connected mine yet, so I can't verify from experience, but I can tell you for sure that that's what it says on the box.

[Wylie28]

Controllers DO NOT make it easier to play. You cannot hit all the buttons you need to at the same time and going from left to right or right to left takes forever. Controllers are good for racing games if you lack a wheel and that is about it.

[LinkSamus3]

Originally posted by Wylie28:

You cannot hit all the buttons you need to at the same time and going from left to right or right to left takes forever.

Please explain, because as far as I can tell, that is 0% true.