Controllers suck.

A friend of mine left his PS4 at my place for the time being (he doesn't really use it much, and since we usually meet at my place we hope it will get some multiplayer use here). And since it's here, I decided to try out some PS only games. I just finished playing through the first Uncharted, and good heavens does aiming with a controller suck. It's like trying to put shoes on an octopus. Unbelievable. It's so slow and imprecise and frustrating as fuck.

And don't tell me I need to "git gud". I finished the game and got all the shooting achievements along the way (five headshots in a row, 100 headshots total), without even going out of my way to do so. So it's not me. I can use it fine... as far as it can be used at all.

I actually liked the game, it's a total Indiana Jones rip-off, cliched and predictable as hell, but it's fun enough, but it would be so much more fun with a mouse and keyboard.

The Xbox360 DPad sucks....

Rest of the controller is pretty decent.

I will NEVER know how anyone can play any kind of shooter with a pad or a stick. It boggles my mind.

Meh you seem to be quite capable with controller even if it suck to get the shooting achievements? :)

Normally the Ps4 is compatible with mouse and keyboard, last i tried was with world of tanks and it was plug & play.

For me, Uncharted 2 is really, really good, where the first had its moments and the 3 dragged on...

As for Ps exclusives, you should not miss on Shadow of the Colossus, and i guess Uncharted 4 and the Last of Us, i have them last two but not played yet to comment further.

Well, I also died a lot, so I had a plenty of opportunities to practice :D But even as I got better it never got less frustrating. It's like... I learned how to better deal with it, but it never stopped feeling like it's fundamentaly broken. I might try for the next game. For now, part of the whole point here was to "get the authentic PS4 experience" so to speak. I probably won't play many PS4 games. They are just crazy expensive, compared to what I can get for the PC, especially if a nice sale is on. And I'm certainly not going to overspend on them when the console isn't even actually mine and likely won't stay with me forever. I went for the Nathan Drake collection because Uncharted was one of the exclusives I was most curious about and it's three games for something like 15$, so not a bad deal.

Most FPS sucks with gamepads. But, there is one that is a exception (at least for me): Bioshock Infinite.
The aim with the right stick is pretty smooth.

Anyone ever been hit the head by an NES controller?

Very refreshing! :D

It is impossible to be as accurate with your thumb that moves only few centimeters, compared to using your whole hand and a mouse. Any game that includes aiming should not be played with a controller, unless you are a player who does not want to put any effort. How about that aim assist ? You can miss half a meter it will register a hit. Then simply bring it to a next level and just watch a video of the game. I use a controller for racing games, platformers and games like classic 3D Prince Of Persia games.

It depends on the genre of game though. If the game is part of the shooters genre yeah using a controller is very clumsy at times. But if it's a game made for a controller like any platformer or action adventure game or even an RPG then using any other control method is clumsy and terrible but at the end of the day it boils down to the genre of game.

Maybe some controllers suck. I have high hopes for this.

Now, I will say, I think the Gamecube controller is a clumsy bag of rocks.

What's that I hear... uh smell?

It's the smell of a thousand angry pro Smash Bros. players.

Seriously though, I think it was the best controller of its generation. The PS controllers all have their left stick in a stupid place and the original Xbox controller was a complete mess.

I think you get used to it, eventually, but you won't ever be as good at something that requires aiming and looking around compared to doing it with a mouse and keyboard instead.

I'd expect controllers to be quite ok with fighting games, platforming adventures games and the like. Also, the NES controller is pretty sweet man.

But weren't the controls for the first Uncharted a little janky? Not to say that aiming with the controller is easy, since I've never played a shooter with a controller, but I think they corrected it for PS4. Or am I thinking of another remake?

I have one but it's mostly used for platformers, racing games and to replace joysticks on old ZX Spectrum games. Ironically one of the best uses for a game controller turned out to be a remote control for VLC / Netflix / Youtube on a PC.

- Most modern FPS's are only playable with controllers because the entire game was written around them, eg, the "back-end" code contains a lot of auto-aim (enlarged hitboxes, snap to hitbox, etc) which when keyb & mouse users use them are called "aimbot cheats" that receive VAC bans... To really showcase this, take a 90's FPS that doesn't have controller support or any native auto-aim code in game, setup your controller to mimic a keyb & mouse via xpadder / Anti-Micro (controller to K&M emulator) and try and play it like a modern shooter without the auto-aim code. It is painful to say the least.

- Keyboards & mice have a larger range of both accuracy and movement speed simultaneously simply because you have more fine motor control in your wrists than thumbs. Hence why you can move a mouse 1 pixel or 2,000 pixels on the same sensitivity in say a photo editor. Try controlling the same cursor with a controller. In games, either you increase the controller sensitivity to turn faster (which makes it harder to precision aim without autoaim cheats) or you go for aiming accuracy but then you turn much slower (typically 1.0s to do a 180 degree turn vs only 0.2-0.4s with a mouse). To me the "thumb scrolling" slow turn speed in FPS's with controllers always feels off, like you're wearing a neck brace or remote-controlling a toy tank or something, vs the "wrist flick" of a mouse which is more in line with how fast you'd snap your head around in real life if you heard a sudden loud clatter behind you late at night.

- Lack of controller rebinding anywhere near what most games allow for keyboard rebinding. And alternative presets are often stupid for left-handers.

- Gameplay compromises. Other 'controller friendly' game design tweaks include : fewer but more bullet spongy enemies (to reduce the number of successive fast turns - even Doom 2016 suffers from "far fewer enemies at once plus each kill separated via a micro-cutscene", etc, to slow the pace down vs Doom 1-2 (in GZDoom with mouselook) constant fast action vs dozens of enemies due to the need for controllers). Game pauses / slow-motion inside of a weapon selection wheel (due to lack of direct F1-F12 / 1-0 weapon selection keys). Quicksave / load buttons were also removed partly due to no F5/F9 buttons on controllers, etc). An awful lot in first-person games has been dumbed down over the consolization years to accommodate them as a primary input.

Reasons why i think FPS games should be on pc and not consoles.