Weapon techniques would be so much better if I could just assign them to a button.

[ShadowDragon8685]

Seriously, this is annoying. I play with KB+M, not controller. I do not even own a controller, and I do not like them.

It's not even like the weapon techniques are some kind of "skill based non-mana" feature for button-masher fans; they use mana, just like my spells. So why can't I assign them to buttons like spells?

[SmallGespenst]

Because it's based on Castlevania, where fighing-game inputs for special techniques have been a thing since SotN.

[Knobz]

Originally posted by ShadowDragon8685:

Seriously, this is annoying. I play with KB+M, not controller. I do not even own a controller, and I do not like them.
?

sorry kids, metroid and castlevania was made for controller and all games that descend from it are controller based.

[Algester]

imagine Zangetsu as Richter mode now THATS A LOT OF BUTTON INPUTS you want to put everything in a single button DUH MACRO IS YOUR FRIEND

[Bloodrealm]

I don't really have too much trouble with them using KB+M; it takes a little bit of getting used to, but it's not that bad.

[⛧NecRoBile⛧]

I understand your dislike of using controllers on PC, but there are some games that truly do feel like they need a controller. Now, with that said there are plenty of people who can actually not only play fighting games, but they can play them competitively on their keyboards. At least that's what they claim on fighting game forums.

So, if people can not only play fighting games but play them well with a keyboard, then you can do the weapon techniques in this game. Just keep practicing.

[SmallGespenst]

fun fact: a keyboard is potentially better for the directional inputs then a controller!
the arrow keys allow for fast inputs with better control and precision than an analogue stick and easier then a D-pad.

[Kyutaru]

Also fun fact: You can macro keyboard inputs. There's never a reason to gripe about combos when you can program them yourself on a PC.

[fender178]

I watched a playthrough of SOTN using a PS1 emulator and he was using a Keyboard and he was playing the game just fine and doing spells/skills/techniques just fine. Just keep practicing you will be able to pull them off with no problems Controller or no controller.

[Don Lobo]

My first... I dunno... 10 runs through SotN were done on an emulator without a controller. Doing these kind of motions is a lot easier when you can have 2 or 3 fingers on WASD (arrow keys for me on the emulator) than it is on a pad with just your thumb (specially if you have big fingers like me).

And to answer your question. Weapon techniques give you multi-hit attacks with higher overall DPS than normal attacks (not accounting for bunny hopping) and some of them can even move you through and behind enemies. If set to a single button, the max number of techs per weapon type would be reduced quite a bit and abusing techs for massive damage (in an already arguably easy game) would just be broken, even if they cost MP. This is even more evident when you find places where you can hover using the kicks to get to, since doing so would require no skill whatsoever, just having enough mana.

[Kyutaru]

Originally posted by Don Lobo:

My first... I dunno... 10 runs through SotN were done on an emulator without a controller. Doing these kind of motions is a lot easier when you can have 2 or 3 fingers on WASD (arrow keys for me on the emulator) than it is on a pad with just your thumb (specially if you have big fingers like me).

If you think that you may be doing them wrong. You are thinking you need 2 or 3 fingers for these moves because you're seeing them as separate actions. Don't. These buttons represent a single action, sliding the thumb across the d-pad or stick. The stick is even easier because you literally cannot screw up. Rotating a stick means the controls will naturally transition on their own from down to downright to right as the stick moves into each area with no chance of doubling back on previous commands as long as you keep rotating the stick in a single direction. The D-pad is a little trickier because inputting extra commands is possible but the action is the same -- a single smooth slide of your thumb across the edge zone. You do not need to input each action individually with giant thumbs, you merely hold down and then slide to the right along the outer edge.

[Don Lobo]

Originally posted by Kyutaru:

If you think that you may be doing them wrong. You are thinking you need 2 or 3 fingers for these moves because you're seeing them as separate actions. Don't. These buttons represent a single action, sliding the thumb across the d-pad or stick. The stick is even easier because you literally cannot screw up. Rotating a stick means the controls will naturally transition on their own from down to downright to right as the stick moves into each area with no chance of doubling back on previous commands as long as you keep rotating the stick in a single direction. The D-pad is a little trickier because inputting extra commands is possible but the action is the same -- a single smooth slide of your thumb across the edge zone. You do not need to input each action individually with giant thumbs, you merely hold down and then slide to the right along the outer edge.

Thanks, but I have no problems with techniques whatsoever. The point of my post was that doing these motions on WASD or the arrow keys is not harder than on a pad, in fact it's much easier. I said this because OP seems to believe playing with KB+M makes techniques harder than they are on a controller, which they're most definitely not.

[Charles]

Originally posted by ShadowDragon8685:

Seriously, this is annoying. I play with KB+M, not controller. I do not even own a controller, and I do not like them.

What does this have to do with anything, input commands are straightforward to execute on a keyboard. Just think of them as a chain of keystrokes rather than an analog stick's movement.

Also controllers are one of the worst input devices created and a showcase of stockholm syndrome.

Anyway techniques are mostly fine, but parrying is kind of boring since the delay makes it hard to pull off reactively (although the parry window is so big that it's really easy to use predictively)

[Don Lobo]

Originally posted by Das Boot:

Also controllers are one of the worst input devices created and a showcase of stockholm syndrome.

Ehh... that's a bit much, ain't it? Controllers can be limiting at times but the way some games play can make controllers much more suitable and easy to manage and learn (and not just because the dev team spend virtually no time at all setting up KB+M settings). Sometimes a controller feels better and does just what you need without having to set or configure anything, sometimes KB+M can feel cumbersome and un-intuitive. That's why we play on PC, to have choices (though you can use KB+M in some consoles for some games as well).

Originally posted by Das Boot:

Anyway techniques are mostly fine, but parrying is kind of boring since the delay makes it hard to pull off reactively (although the parry window is so big that it's really easy to use predictively)

By parrying, do you mean Eleventh Hour? The timing is a bit weird, but here's a little secret (not really) you can use to abuse the heck out of it: Eleventh Hour works on contact damage, so you can literally walk up to an enemy and activate the technique just as you're about to receive contact damage and it will work. Meaning, you can use it without being attack as damage by contact with an enemy counts as physical. Also, this doesn't help too much for bosses, as most seem to not do any damage on contact.

[El Fuerte]

Nah. Too casual. I'm playing this game on KB+M as well, its fine.

[ShadowDragon8685]

It's honestly obnoxious:

They use mana, even if they don't connect;

They can be triggered accidentally - especially Eleventh Hour, for example, since the input is forward-forward-attack, and I discovered Sansetsuzan entirely by accident whilst trying to unleash crimson slash;

Even using my Redragon gaming mouse's macro editor, Sansetsuzan is unreliable at best. Sometimes I get off a perfect three-strike combo, sometimes I just step forward awkwardly and make a normal attack; hardly ideal if I was counting on the length of the first-strike's thrust just barely connecting.

If they're going to cost mana regardless of connecting, the control input should be democratized, not reliant on my fighting-game skillz, which are entirely nonextant. There's a reason I played Megaman X instead of Street Fighter.

Also, the problem with "just use a macro editor" is that macros are directional-reliant. I can easily hit one macro button on this mouse but not the other; it's actually quite awkward to hit. Meaning I can really only set up Sansetsuzan, or Crimson Slash, or even Eleventh Hour, to go off in one direction. That degrades the utility somewhat,. And keyboard entry is not so hot; I can input normal controls just fine, but for fiddly things my index finger is much more reliable than my ring finger; blocking to the left with Eleventh Hour is about the most I can do reliably, forget about Crimson Blizzard, and Sansetzen, I might get one strike off, but forget the combo.