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Worst control in a game....Opinions?

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ret...@my-deja.com

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Dec 9, 1999, 3:00:00 AM12/9/99
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I've noticed that people seem to have similar tastes in a lot of things
like graphics, sound, physics... Which isn't surprising since in general
it's pretty straightforward to judge whether one game's graphics/sound
are more convincing or realistic than another's(of course, not always).
IOW, almost anyone would agree Soul Calibur looks nicer than Killer
Instinct Gold, for example. But I've noticed that with the issue of
control, tastes seem to vary a lot more. There are people who love
Resident Evil's control style and others who hate it...a lot of people
love the Turok default setting and seems like just as many people prefer
Goldeneye's default setting....

So just kind of curious to see if any if us will at least agree on a
game or style that we feel is the worst.. I personally hate Omikron's
control style more than any other game..Just because I think third
person free camera games work best with analog control... But I may be
in the minority there. I'd like to hear everyone else's opinions....


Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.

ret...@my-deja.com

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Dec 9, 1999, 3:00:00 AM12/9/99
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alex kidd for dreamcast

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Dec 9, 1999, 3:00:00 AM12/9/99
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hands down superman 64 worst control ever!!!!!

-ant-


Ronald Spillman

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Dec 9, 1999, 3:00:00 AM12/9/99
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I have never played that, but of those I have played,
Bubsy 3D was pretty grim, control-wise (and the game
blew as well....)

If you don't know me by now...

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Dec 9, 1999, 3:00:00 AM12/9/99
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The control set-up for Shadow Man on the DC is fairly twitchy, but with
a little practice you can compensate for it, for the most part....

Bob


David West

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Dec 9, 1999, 3:00:00 AM12/9/99
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If you don't know me by now... wrote in message
<19404-38...@storefull-114.iap.bryant.webtv.net>...

The control set-up for Shadow Man on the DC is fairly twitchy, but with
a little practice you can compensate for it, for the most part....

Bob

What's wrong with the control setup? It's no more clumsy than the setup in
Zelda or Soul Reaver for instance. Nothing is ever far out of reach, it's
easy to lock onto an enemy and strafe, it's easy to switch between weapons
and use your inventory and the camera doesn't get in the way. I've never had
a problem with this setup at all, in fact it's one of the best I've ever
been presented with in a 3d action game.

-David


Benjamin

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Dec 9, 1999, 3:00:00 AM12/9/99
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ret...@my-deja.com wrote:
>
> I've noticed that people seem to have similar tastes in a lot of things
> like graphics, sound, physics... Which isn't surprising since in general
> it's pretty straightforward to judge whether one game's graphics/sound
> are more convincing or realistic than another's(of course, not always).
> IOW, almost anyone would agree Soul Calibur looks nicer than Killer
> Instinct Gold, for example.

Yes. Gee, does anything _not_ look better than that? :^)

> But I've noticed that with the issue of
> control, tastes seem to vary a lot more.

I don't like Soul Calibur's control. For one, I've had many times when
my attempt to run away made my character duck instead. The eight way run
is poorly implemented I find although a good idea (Power Stone just
handles it _better_). Second, blocking is a pain because it's far too
difficult to tell where a particular attack is striking since they're
all too flashy and elaborate to quickly determine where it will strike.
The whole "vertical" and "horizontal" attack seems a bit ridiculous to
me since often time those buttons do anything but, but at least it's not
as bad as assigning one button to each limb. (I can picture Tekken 4
using a butt button, a head button, a chest button....)

> There are people who love
> Resident Evil's control style and others who hate it...a lot of people
> love the Turok default setting and seems like just as many people prefer
> Goldeneye's default setting....

The lil bit of Resident Evil I've played gave me the impression that it
was meant for a mouse, not a joypad.

> So just kind of curious to see if any if us will at least agree on a
> game or style that we feel is the worst.. I personally hate Omikron's
> control style more than any other game..Just because I think third
> person free camera games work best with analog control... But I may be

> in the minority there. I'd like to hear everyone else's opinions....

Croc has the worst control ever of the games I've played. Terrible
camera work and a terrible control implementation. I also don't care for
analog control, period, and have yet to see a console game that really
benefits from its use. Analog controllers seem to accept three different
phases of response: the first is usually _really_ slow movement, the
second is for some kind of slow walk, and the third (when the stick is
pushed farthest) is a quick run. I have _never_ seen anyone use the
first two... unless, of course, the stick is broken. :^) Actually, the
only game to use analog perfectly was NiGHTS, but I'm inclined to think
that's more because of the controller rotation required for looping,
which makes the analog ergonomically better suited to the game than a
digital pad.

Analog may be fine for driving games, but, those, too, don't seem to
handle as well as digital. The "gap" between the three levels of analog
don't allow for a continuous sense of control and predictability I like
in a game so heavily reliant on the controller's movements. That is, I
don't like having to turn my vehicle from phase one to phase two without
having much input on how much I wish to turn. With digital, I can at
least tap the controller to the extent I want to adjust my movements.
Still, I can somewhat understand why people would like such control in a
driving game, though... but a platform game? A fighter? A puzzle game?
"RPG?" hehe

Here's a quickie poll: How many people play Power Stone or Soul Calibur
with the D-pad rather than the analog stick? Granted, the games weren't
designed with analog control in mind, but it's _a lot_ more intuitive to
use the digital pad than the other. Does anyone _really_ think analog
control gives them 360 degrees of movement? Is that much movement even
necessary?

Benjamin

Scott X

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Dec 9, 1999, 3:00:00 AM12/9/99
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The Super StarWars trilogy on the Snes, and any game with the same
mechanics. Maybe I was missing something, but I could never really get good
at those games, enemies just kept mobbing me and hitting me and I didn't
have the moves to really defend myself. These games sucked for me because
of this, keep in mind that I was playing Revenge of Shinobi and Shinobi 3 at
the time and was used to being able to master controls and take out the
enemies with them.

Richard Chang

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Dec 9, 1999, 3:00:00 AM12/9/99
to
Hmm,

Oh yeah, Star Wars for the 32X. Plain couldn't fly the thing like a
spacecraft should. And forget about the Death Star.

Anyhow, I use the stick for Power Stone and Soul Calibur. I'm doing fine,
no complaints. Blitz with the D-Pad though.

Richard.


Benjamin wrote in message <384FB5A3...@tmbg.org>...

Scott Bryant

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Dec 9, 1999, 3:00:00 AM12/9/99
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I always loved the style of tomb raider. But I hate the waty it controls
worse than any game ever. You touch the buttons and she bounces along. the
responce is to slow and lose. I'm sure that after I played for a couple of
hours I would get used to it but I don't have that kind of attention span.
I love the control in Soul Reaver. How could one company do so good and
suck so bad?
<ret...@my-deja.com> wrote in message news:82na0c$b2g$1...@nnrp1.deja.com...

> I've noticed that people seem to have similar tastes in a lot of things
> like graphics, sound, physics... Which isn't surprising since in general
> it's pretty straightforward to judge whether one game's graphics/sound
> are more convincing or realistic than another's(of course, not always).
> IOW, almost anyone would agree Soul Calibur looks nicer than Killer
> Instinct Gold, for example. But I've noticed that with the issue of
> control, tastes seem to vary a lot more. There are people who love

> Resident Evil's control style and others who hate it...a lot of people
> love the Turok default setting and seems like just as many people prefer
> Goldeneye's default setting....
>
> So just kind of curious to see if any if us will at least agree on a
> game or style that we feel is the worst.. I personally hate Omikron's
> control style more than any other game..Just because I think third
> person free camera games work best with analog control... But I may be
> in the minority there. I'd like to hear everyone else's opinions....
>
>

Mike Gillgannon

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Dec 9, 1999, 3:00:00 AM12/9/99
to
Scott Bryant <srbr...@mindspring.com> scribbled:

> I always loved the style of tomb raider. But I hate the waty it controls
> worse than any game ever. You touch the buttons and she bounces along. the
> responce is to slow and lose. I'm sure that after I played for a couple of
> hours I would get used to it but I don't have that kind of attention span.
> I love the control in Soul Reaver. How could one company do so good and
> suck so bad?

-----------
Eidos is a publisher not a developer. Crystal Dynamics developed Soul
Reaver, CORE has done the TR games. By the way, I don't agree about TR
controls being loose. They're actually very precise, but they do take
quite a while to get the hang of.
--mike g.

Chad Faber

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Dec 9, 1999, 3:00:00 AM12/9/99
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Scott Bryant <srbr...@mindspring.com> wrote in message
news:82oq6h$ack$1...@nntp3.atl.mindspring.net...

> I always loved the style of tomb raider. But I hate the waty it controls
> worse than any game ever. You touch the buttons and she bounces along. the
> responce is to slow and lose. I'm sure that after I played for a couple of
> hours I would get used to it but I don't have that kind of attention span.
> I love the control in Soul Reaver. How could one company do so good and
> suck so bad?
>
Simple, one company was Core (Tomb Raider) the other was Chrystal Dynamics
(Soul Reaver).

Also, Tomb Raider was one of the first 3rd-person 3-D adventure games, and
they have been using the same tired old engine for every TR game.

-Chad

Raymond McKeithen II

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Dec 9, 1999, 3:00:00 AM12/9/99
to

<ret...@my-deja.com> wrote in message news:82na0c$b2g$1...@nnrp1.deja.com...
> I've noticed that people seem to have similar tastes in a lot of things
> like graphics, sound, physics... Which isn't surprising since in general
> it's pretty straightforward to judge whether one game's graphics/sound
> are more convincing or realistic than another's(of course, not always).
> IOW, almost anyone would agree Soul Calibur looks nicer than Killer
> Instinct Gold, for example. But I've noticed that with the issue of
> control, tastes seem to vary a lot more. There are people who love
> Resident Evil's control style and others who hate it...a lot of people
> love the Turok default setting and seems like just as many people prefer
> Goldeneye's default setting....
>
> So just kind of curious to see if any if us will at least agree on a
> game or style that we feel is the worst.. I personally hate Omikron's
> control style more than any other game..Just because I think third
> person free camera games work best with analog control... But I may be
> in the minority there. I'd like to hear everyone else's opinions....
>

Well "Mr. Rumor," I can't comment on Omikron since I've never even heard of
it (PC game??), but I can say that I truly hate analog control for any type
of "action" or "platform" game. All it does is make the control vague and
mushy. Various publications claimed in raving about the control in Mario 64
about the "variable speed." In practice it seems the games have about 3
levels of speed, creeping along, full speed, and one step in-between. The
only one typically useful is the full-speed, and occasionally the slowest.
These two speeds were accomplished more precisely with digital control by
either doing a double-tap to dash, or just having the thing speed up after
you hold for a predetermined time. The other supposed improvement is
360-degree movement; aside from it making it harder to line things up, 8-way
pads/sticks seem more than sufficient.

I accept analog control as being useful with flight sticks and steering
wheels and the games that such are made for, but not in "platform" and
"exploration" games. I have quite a few gripes about DC Sonic Adventure;
many of them stem from its analog control (and the others are about the
problems in taking 2D platform games into 3D in general). My view is that
Nintendo took a giant step backwards with that little stick on the N64
controller; a step that, unfortunately, the other companies have felt
compelled to follow. :(

I don't play FPS so I won't comment on Goldeneye vs. Turok controls.

--
Raymond
remove "suchiepai" for email


DugFreez

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Dec 9, 1999, 3:00:00 AM12/9/99
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Bubsy 3D was pretty bad, but I give worst controll to Star Wars: Masters of
TeraTurd

Ronald Spillman <r...@netset.com> wrote in message
news:384F7393...@netset.com...

.

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Dec 9, 1999, 3:00:00 AM12/9/99
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Raymond McKeithen II wrote:

I don't think he was asking about specific games..but whatever...

For me TR is by far, the worst. 3D games by nature should be analog...2D games
make sense with D-pad since there is only one plane of movement, whereas 3D
games have infinite planes so limited # of directions of movement is really
confining. With a D-pad you can move in 8 directions, period. It would be
kinda tough and extremely unintuitive to do things like look around, for
example, in games like QuakeII or Mario64. Luckily, a huge majority of
developers have the same view.

Billy Bissette

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Dec 10, 1999, 3:00:00 AM12/10/99
to

Benjamin wrote in message <384FB5A3...@tmbg.org>...
>Here's a quickie poll: How many people play Power Stone or Soul Calibur
>with the D-pad rather than the analog stick? Granted, the games weren't
>designed with analog control in mind, but it's _a lot_ more intuitive to
>use the digital pad than the other. Does anyone _really_ think analog
>control gives them 360 degrees of movement? Is that much movement even
>necessary?


Power Stone is playable with either. But the style of play
changes depending on which you use.

For experiences with other systems:
PSX Vigilante 8 can have more exact control with the analog stick.
It makes precision jumps easier becuase the wheels recenter when you
let go of the stick. But you would never want to play the game with
analog control as you lose the special weapon attacks as they were
designed to only work with the D-pad. (You can jury-rig all but the
mine specials, but it still is too much effort.)

PSX Tobal 2 can play pretty sweet with the Dual Analog pad. It
even has a built-in shortcut for the fireball command to make up
for the limitations of the analog stick. But again, I play using
the D-Pad... The reason? You still can't do some of the moves
with the analog stick, you can't do any of the ground throws for
example.

PSX Ehrgeiz has a nasty trade-off... I find 360's easier with
the stick, and running is better... But the sloppy nature of the
stick hurts any other precision movements.

N64 Mario64... I agree with the three speeds comment, and you
only actually use two of them. And while the stick gives more
range of movement, again the cost is that its not as precise as
it could have been with a pad-type control scheme.

From everything I've heard, PSX Ape Escape controls wonderfully
with the DAP, excepting the swimming level. It was designed
specifically for a DAP controller though, with the regular
D-pad not even being an option.

At least Tomb Raider was released before the DAP pad... It
relies so heavily on its precision controls that it would have
been unplayable with an analog stick. Particularly the jumps
which required precise spacing and timing. Such things just
could not be handled with an analog control scheme and it would
have to been designed with different obstacles and more leeway
in the puzzle aspect of the jumps.


If a game is made for analog control specfically then it can
work. If analog control is an add-on feature for a game designed
around D-pad control, then it will probably fail against the
d-pad. The same is true if the analog stick loses too much
over the d-pad.


Rd Ninja69

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Dec 12, 1999, 3:00:00 AM12/12/99
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well i can't remember all the way back but the worst control in a game i can
remember is hands down slave zero. i'll give anyone a cookie if they can
accurately do a forward turning jump <G>. Generally i like the option of being
able to use the d-pad in games simply because i am more accurate with it. In
games like bond for n64 i have a hard time moving just a little to the right
and so on so i would've liked the option of being able to use the d-pad.

anders0n

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Dec 12, 1999, 3:00:00 AM12/12/99
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Worst controls would have to go to tomb raider... sorry if i offend anyone...

Richard Chang wrote:

> Hmm,
>
> Oh yeah, Star Wars for the 32X. Plain couldn't fly the thing like a
> spacecraft should. And forget about the Death Star.
>
> Anyhow, I use the stick for Power Stone and Soul Calibur. I'm doing fine,
> no complaints. Blitz with the D-Pad though.
>
> Richard.
>

> Benjamin wrote in message <384FB5A3...@tmbg.org>...

> >ret...@my-deja.com wrote:
> >>
> >> I've noticed that people seem to have similar tastes in a lot of things
> >> like graphics, sound, physics... Which isn't surprising since in general
> >> it's pretty straightforward to judge whether one game's graphics/sound
> >> are more convincing or realistic than another's(of course, not always).
> >> IOW, almost anyone would agree Soul Calibur looks nicer than Killer
> >> Instinct Gold, for example.
> >

> >Yes. Gee, does anything _not_ look better than that? :^)
> >

> >> But I've noticed that with the issue of
> >> control, tastes seem to vary a lot more.
> >

> >I don't like Soul Calibur's control. For one, I've had many times when
> >my attempt to run away made my character duck instead. The eight way run
> >is poorly implemented I find although a good idea (Power Stone just
> >handles it _better_). Second, blocking is a pain because it's far too
> >difficult to tell where a particular attack is striking since they're
> >all too flashy and elaborate to quickly determine where it will strike.
> >The whole "vertical" and "horizontal" attack seems a bit ridiculous to
> >me since often time those buttons do anything but, but at least it's not
> >as bad as assigning one button to each limb. (I can picture Tekken 4
> >using a butt button, a head button, a chest button....)
> >

> >> There are people who love
> >> Resident Evil's control style and others who hate it...a lot of people
> >> love the Turok default setting and seems like just as many people prefer
> >> Goldeneye's default setting....
> >

> >The lil bit of Resident Evil I've played gave me the impression that it
> >was meant for a mouse, not a joypad.
> >

> >> So just kind of curious to see if any if us will at least agree on a
> >> game or style that we feel is the worst.. I personally hate Omikron's
> >> control style more than any other game..Just because I think third
> >> person free camera games work best with analog control... But I may be
> >> in the minority there. I'd like to hear everyone else's opinions....
> >

> >Croc has the worst control ever of the games I've played. Terrible
> >camera work and a terrible control implementation. I also don't care for
> >analog control, period, and have yet to see a console game that really
> >benefits from its use. Analog controllers seem to accept three different
> >phases of response: the first is usually _really_ slow movement, the
> >second is for some kind of slow walk, and the third (when the stick is
> >pushed farthest) is a quick run. I have _never_ seen anyone use the
> >first two... unless, of course, the stick is broken. :^) Actually, the
> >only game to use analog perfectly was NiGHTS, but I'm inclined to think
> >that's more because of the controller rotation required for looping,
> >which makes the analog ergonomically better suited to the game than a
> >digital pad.
> >
> >Analog may be fine for driving games, but, those, too, don't seem to
> >handle as well as digital. The "gap" between the three levels of analog
> >don't allow for a continuous sense of control and predictability I like
> >in a game so heavily reliant on the controller's movements. That is, I
> >don't like having to turn my vehicle from phase one to phase two without
> >having much input on how much I wish to turn. With digital, I can at
> >least tap the controller to the extent I want to adjust my movements.
> >Still, I can somewhat understand why people would like such control in a
> >driving game, though... but a platform game? A fighter? A puzzle game?
> >"RPG?" hehe
> >

> >Here's a quickie poll: How many people play Power Stone or Soul Calibur
> >with the D-pad rather than the analog stick? Granted, the games weren't
> >designed with analog control in mind, but it's _a lot_ more intuitive to
> >use the digital pad than the other. Does anyone _really_ think analog
> >control gives them 360 degrees of movement? Is that much movement even
> >necessary?
> >

> >Benjamin


Paladin

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Dec 13, 1999, 3:00:00 AM12/13/99
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MK Mythology, no contest.


Ethan Hammond

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Dec 13, 1999, 3:00:00 AM12/13/99
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That Star Wars fighting game was pretty bad.

--
All Purpose Cultural Randomness
http://www.angelfire.com/tx/apcr/index.html

Jeremy Goodwin

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Dec 13, 1999, 3:00:00 AM12/13/99
to
China Warrior for the TG16.

Then comes Tomb Raider far, far behind.

-Falcom

Ian Finnesey

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Dec 14, 1999, 3:00:00 AM12/14/99
to
Sentinel Returns. Bar None. Some may come close, but none will ever
parallel this game's suckiness.

One that comes close is the game I rented on the same day...X-men
Vs. Street Fighter EX. Good god. I heard it sucked, but then people said
the quite decent psx ports of KOF95 and Darkstalkers sucked too, and were
wrong. Framerates this low can make a game unplayable.


--

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they crashed the car would explode." -- ChristianSlayer on
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Me, I think there would just be more exploding cars.
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Perry Mercer

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Dec 19, 1999, 3:00:00 AM12/19/99
to
All 3DO games. Especially Way of the Warrior. Pulling off the
secret moves were hell. I told Jason Rubin & Andy Gavin about
the problem when I interviewed them BEFORE the game came
out, but it still had some pretty bad controls. The controller really
sucked though, so I can't blame it all on the Naughty Dog group.
Rise of the Robots all had some bad controls.

--
Perry Mercer - Senior Editor
pme...@vgt.com
Video Game Time - Online
http://www.vgt.com

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