/vg/ - Vidya & Games

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Steam Controller First Impressions Review Finrandojin!WkFEwJGsiw 16/01/08(Fri)10:37 No. 57148 ID: f44962

I received the Steam Controller I ordered last year today, here are my first impressions after about 4 hours of use.

This controller is like a crystallization of the concept of PC gaming. What I mean by that is that it's a technically superior to all other comparable controllers in features, customization and function. The other side of the coin is that you're going to have to do some legwork to make it work right. Namely you need customize the profiles to suit your style. Sure there are some pretty good official profiles out there for some games but most are just 1:1 copies of Xbox controller scheme.

The first game I tried it with was War Thunder, a WW II F2P multiplayer flight-sim / tankfest. I tried the standard controller profile and it was pretty bad. So I delved into the controller profile editor to make my own. Took about 15-20 minutes to come up with something that worked fairly well. I set the D-pad to WASD with overlap for pitch and roll and the Right pad I used as a mouse for precise aiming. This worked much better than the PS3 Dual Shock that I've tried in the past. But still left much room for improvement. Then I took a look at a few user submitted profiles and realized that the Steam Controller has a very accurate gyro that can be mapped as a mouse.
I've since tried this method of control in a Realistic Air battle against human opponents and it's damn near as good as a mouse and keyboard. The only problem is that like a lot of new control methods it takes a while to get used to it but I got 3 kills in my first fly-out with this profile and was pretty impressed by this little thing.

I've also tried fallout 4 as a test of how well this works in FPS games and it's a whle different ballgame, in War Thunder you don't have to make fast and accurate mouse movements at a moments notice but in FPS you need to turn 180 degrees and blow a raiders head of right the fuck now the Gyro doesn't cut it alone. I cobbled together a system where I use the track-pad as a ball mouse that I can flick around for fast movement and then transition to gyro with a grip button as a modifier for accuracy. This is getting much harder to get used to but it's OK for single player games if you're not playing on the higher difficulties.

In summary The Steam Controller is a very good and extremely versatile customizable controller. Won't beat KB+M but gets pretty damn close with the right settings. I'm getting a new TV pretty soon and once my steam Link arrives I can get comfy and play on my couch. But when the chips are down and I absolutely have to hit a Mofo in the head with flick-shot I'll use KB+M for that extra edge.

>>	Bat Guano 16/01/08(Fri)16:23 No. 57149 ID: cfe73e Valve's Steam Controller Isn't for Console Gamers - GDC 2015 https://youtu.be/VdMe4mHUH2c

>>	OPERATOR 16/01/09(Sat)14:02 No. 57156 ID: 254d85 The Steam Controller looks neat but if I was going to get another gamepad I'd probably stick with the Dualshock just because I like the form factor. They also released a neat video showing their almost entirely automated production line.

>>	Avgas!100LLq8aMU 16/01/09(Sat)14:58 No. 57157 ID: 3796ec >>57148 > But when the chips are down and I absolutely have to hit a Mofo in the head with flick-shot I'll use KB+M for that extra edge. So what you're saying is: Keyboard and mouse.

Finrandojin!WkFEwJGsiw 16/01/10(Sun)07:34 No. 57161 ID: f44962

>>57157
>>57156
After more hours of couch gaming I can distill my opinion a bit.

1. The Steam controller should never be used as a 1:1 replacement for dual analog controllers, this is the number one reason it is bashed by reviewers, they're used to dual analog and the touchpads simply don't cut it in that role. Because you can't center them so you get drift and you lose position easily.

2. In regards to dual analog controllers the Steam controller is superior in every regard, BUT ONLY IF USING THE TOUCHPADS AS MOUSE OR MOUSEJOY.

From these two points I've inferred the true POU (philosophy of Use *Smacks swollen Nutnfancy lips*) of The Steam Controller:
To enable PC gamers to play on the couch with some ability no matter the game. There really isn't anything else to it and for that purpose it is more than fine, I've played through The Disappearance of Ethan Carter, several hours of 80 days, 1,5 hours of Final Fantasy VI, 1 hour of Primordia (2d mouse driven adventure game) and 2 hours of Blood Dragon. With the exception of Blood Dragon I got into groove with the controls in no time. With Blood Dragon it took about an hour until I got proficient enough to not constantly die like a bitch, by the 2 hour mark I was in a shape where I could with a bit of luck knock over an outpost on medium difficulty with only a few attempts.

OPERATOR 16/01/10(Sun)19:28 No. 57162 ID: 5d1757

I'm looking forward to hearing about your Steam Link review.

I've heard of some people having frame rate issues with theirs, but I wonder if that's because they have shitty routers.

>>57157
KB+M for FPS, no other substitute other than some kind of Zapper gun.

I mostly use this controller for playing 3rd person or side scrolling games.

>>	OPERATOR 16/01/11(Mon)00:55 No. 57167 ID: 254d85 >>57161 So it seems like it's more intended to provide a way to control PC games with a gamepad, than as a full replacement for a regular twin stick gamepad. How is the D-pad for stuff like fighting games/platforming?

>>	Findroid!WkFEwJGsiw 16/01/11(Mon)03:20 No. 57168 ID: 031806 >>57167 I don't play platformers or fighters but I feel the d-pad is not suitable for that type of use. Use a controller with a real dpad or a fightstick.

Finrandojin!WkFEwJGsiw 16/01/15(Fri)01:28 No. 57198 ID: 8c5d06

I've been using the steam controller for quite a while now. I've played over 20 hours worth of different games using the controller and I'm still finding new neat features and tricks to improve the experience. The main thing that I've noticed is that I'm flat out playing more when I'm sitting on the couch, I don't alt-tab constantly and break the flow so to speak, because I would have to get off my ass to do it. If I have to find a guide or something I can use the built in Steam Browser with the controller. for the first time in years I've made a decent dent in my backlog. Also I've heard the gyro is awesome when playing racing games, going to test that out next.

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