[controllers] Anyone playing using PlayStation 4 controller?

[BlackjackGT]

Asking for friends who prefer controllers for this type of game -- is anyone using a PlayStation 4 controller to play this? Can you provide some basic observations/insights on how it plays that way, and your general experience?

I know it's a work in progress. I just would be curious how it's working at this point. Although I reviewed the game enthusiastically, that's strictly on my kb/m experience. So I'm just hoping to hear about the current state of things on the controller side. Thanks in advance. :)

I have an XBox 360 controller for Windows and haven't tried it with this yet.

[stezoid]

Im playing half xbox one controller half mouse remapped with controller companion and a few changes in game mouse settings, working out well as i hate wsad

[Misery]

Tried it at first, gave it a few attempts. As far as I'm concerned, it's going to be completely unusable for most players. With the aiming reticle in free-movement mode (exactly what SHOULDNT be done in this genre). Basically like trying to control a mouse cursor with analog sticks (which are inherantly inaccurate, and also means that movement of the cursor is typically slow). And yeah, I'm using a PS4 controller, not an Xbox one (hate those). I normally never, ever play this genre with keyboard/mouse, but in this case it's the ONLY way.

Granted, I know why the devs cant just do it the usual way. Alot of the gameplay mechanics quickly make that obvious. Alot of important things wouldnt be doable with the normal method of aiming. But it means they're gonna have a heck of a time trying to come up with a control scheme that's acceptable for controllers if they intend on bringing this to consoles.

Theoretically it may be possible to FORCE different functionality here with outside programs, but obviously that doesnt count.

[Shrike]

We are trying to make the cursor move back, the free aiming really is not convenient
Ill try getting it in the update tomorrow

[stezoid]

just do what im doing best of both worlds

[Darkness]

Originally posted by stezoid:

just do what im doing best of both worlds

Although it's a smart solution, it can't be mandatory or standard. Most people would rather stick to one of those (many Kb+mouse fans don't have joystick or don't like them, and many joystick adepts would rather play on couch or something).

[stezoid]

agreed, i for one would rather be on the couch but i cant see how this game can translate over to a gamepad and even if id did i think it would be an inferior experience, hope im wrong as im really looking forward to playing this local coop with my bud just like the days of gungeon

[Misery]

Originally posted by Shrike:

We are trying to make the cursor move back, the free aiming really is not convenient
Ill try getting it in the update tomorrow

I'll be interested to see just how this ends up working.

Will certainly post feedback after some time with it, then.

Fortunately though, it's not actually a necessity for the PC version in many cases (aside from those wanting to play from a couch or that sort of thing).

Now if only my mouse wasnt absolutely horrid, which was the reason I tried the controller in the first place. Bah.

[BlackjackGT]

OK thanks guys, appreciate the insights. I'm sure the devs do too. :) Some of my Helldivers buds are really more comfy using gamepads in this genre, and they're usually willing to sacrifice aiming precision for the sake of more precision movement (i.e., thumbstick vs. w,a,s,d or other kb keys).

My early point had been that twin-sticks like Helldivers that were multi-platform had no crosshair at all on their original consoie iterations, nor when using a controller on the PC/steam version. They're 'point thumbstick and shoot,' not so much 'steer crosshairs and shoot.'

They either followed the original arcade twin-stick classic Robotron 2084's lead, where pressing the right thumbstick in a given direction auto-fires in that direction (which keeps the right controller trigger free for other functions); or you'd press the right thumbstick in your aiming direction -- with your charcter model pointing weapon in that direction to give you a visual cue --
and right-trigger to fire.

Because of Synthetik's emphasizing headshots and precision aiming, tperhaps that's not viable to do in this case. Justi in my experience, I think one of the above setups would be more akin to what controller users tend to expect in this general category.

Perhaps it could follow one of the above setups most of the time; and then when you needed/wanted to make a precision headshot, perhaps you could 'click' (i.e. push vertically down) the right thumbstick to enter Precision Aiming Mode" for headshots? And so the 'steer the crosshair with thumbstick" would only then be used. Then you'd 'vertical click' the right thumbstick to go back to a more traditional twin-stick shooter no-crosshair/aiming setup.

That's my one attempted constructive suggestion. I think both PS and XBox type controller thumbsticks have this 'click down' function, though many games don't make use of it.