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Comment by wintermutestwin | Hacker News Reader

These posts make me feel like an oldster. I got Elden Ring, but learned that you had to use a controller. Using a controller to play a 1st or 3rd person game feels so wrong to my M+K sensibilities. Maybe I just don't grok it, but using swivel sticks while simultaneously pressing buttons seems so clumsy and weird. I guess I could suffer through the learning curve, but instead, I'll just write off the games that are really designed for console.

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Seems a shame to get hung up on that one thing (I don't know anything about ER's KB/M support), but I understand. Being comfortable with your input method is pretty important. ER definitely stretches gamepad input to the limits. It's pretty often I do the infamous "claw grip"[1] to get access to both the right stick (camera control) and face buttons (actions). If you can get over the controller thing, or find the KB/M controls sufficient, I really recommend it. ER is definitely one of "those" generation-defining games that are really special.

[1] https://i.ytimg.com/vi/-oLlVzXeXOU/maxresdefault.jpg

I claw grip when I am forced to both hold the right-most button and don't have the luxury of letting go of the camera stick, no matter the game. More pronounced in this series in particular because of the punishment of death.

Ugh, that hurts my wrists & hands just looking at it. Have you tried one of the Xbox Elite controllers? I've been using them for a number of years now and they're great. They do take a while to get used to, but they basically give you buttons you can use your middle & ring fingers on. They're remappable, but I've got mine setup for A, B, X & Y buttons, so my thumbs never have to leave the joysticks. I know the controllers aren't cheap, but they're worth it, in my opinion.

Every time I think about buying an Elite controller and its $180 price tag, I look at the perfectly good controller I've already got and say nahhhhh.

I've been playing Elden Ring on M+KB, why do you think you have to use a controller? M+KB support was kinda garbage in the PC port of the original Dark Souls but even then it was still there.

I bought the first DS and never played it because it flat out required a controller. I bought a controller to use with ES because the game got so much hype. From what I have read, you can use M+KB with ES, but it is sub-optimal in a game that requires hyper optimal play.

M+KB is fine. The game does not require hyper optimal play by any means.

I definitely played Dark Souls 1 on PC ("Prepare to Die Edition") from start to finish and did not at that time own a controller. I have my AutoHotKey script around for it somewhere. It did not "flat out require" a controller.

I haven't bought Elden Ring yet (it has been a very busy year), but I was alarmed by your claim that you "have to" use a controller, but now that I learn you're just wrong about DS1, I can calm down and carry on.

Also, "requires hyper optimal play"? Are you kidding? Just because kids who've never played a hard game think Souls games are hard doesn't mean it's true.

I was surprised how Much Elden Ring didn’t feel punishing to me. I was expecting it to be much more unpleasant to die. For the most part I can shrug off runes and usually you spawn pretty close.

The style of gameplay just works much better with a controller. I would say the same thing about most melee oriented action games. Devil May Cry with a keyboard is horrible.

I couldn't disagree more. I've played tons of melee oriented action games with M+KB and the only time it gets annoying is when it is a bad console first port.

I'm fifty years old - surely a fellow oldster by now - and mouse+keyboard always feels incredibly awkward for any kind of fast action game. It's a matter of what you're used to; I've been doing most of my gaming on consoles since leaving my old Amiga for a Mac.

My husband used to be like you until they got into Nuclear Throne, now they're at home with a controller for games that work better that way. A twin-stick shooter is probably much better to learn a controller with than Elden Ring IMHO. Or a friendlier jumpy-adventurey-fighty game like Spyro or Sonic or Breath of the Wild that's built with the assumption they might be some kid's very first encounter with this style of game, and has appropriate amounts of training.

But really, there's only so much time in a life to play video games, and only so much time in a life for everything you enjoy doing. If don't wanna get used to a controller then, well, that's fine. You'd miss out on a ton of great games even if your day job was nothing but playing them.

I didn't have any trouble completing the game and killing all of the extra bosses with mouse and keyboard. I could see how some of the horse parkour might be easier with a controller, but never felt like I needed it for fighting. I find the ability to turn much more quickly to be a huge advantage of the mouse over the controller.

Thanks for that! I'll rebuy it and give it a try with M+KB.

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