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Raziul

How does anyone in their right mind actually play with an arcade stick?

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By far the most disappointing and awkward experiences I've ever had with a controller of any kind. I'd rather try to use a move controller for my inputs. Even after investing several hours into heavily modding the controller into something I thought might work for me with time, I was sad to find out that it was still a complete failure.

I'm most disappointed since the entire FGC raves like these things are the be all, end all to fighting game controllers.

I really am having a hard time imagining how in the world any of you all use one of these things.

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Troll topic, but I'll bite.

You use it for more than five minutes. Alternatively, you go to an arcade and find you have no choice but to learn to use one or not play at all. Once you can use them, they're really nice, and several inputs, like DPs and TKs, are easier on stick than pad.

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You have to treat it like learning an instrument. It takes a while to learn but the benefit is that it doesn't break as easy and it is easy to make it crossplatform, so you are not victim to different console controllers whenever you go to a tournament. Also lets you get right into an arcade and play just as good as home. Although that isn't really relevant anymore.

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By far the most disappointing and awkward experiences I've ever had with a controller of any kind. I'd rather try to use a move controller for my inputs. Even after investing several hours into heavily modding the controller into something I thought might work for me with time, I was sad to find out that it was still a complete failure.

I'm most disappointed since the entire FGC raves like these things are the be all, end all to fighting game controllers.

I really am having a hard time imagining how in the world any of you all use one of these things.

Fighting games are designed with stick in mind. Being able to use your whole right hand instead of just a thumb is kinda a big deal. Especially because normal controllers aren't made to a very exact standard. I have 4, and I can tell you they all handle differently, I even have a favorite. None of them convey directional inputs completely accurately, but I know how to use them to get the results I want.

That's a pretty major difference in quality. Sticks are expensive and require maintenance, but they are held to higher standards and provide a lot more freedom. They are preferred because you get more out of it on the high difficulty/precision commands long after the basics have been mastered. If it made it easier to do easy stuff then what would be the point?

If you want precise control without the awkwardness of getting used to the stick portion of the arcade stick, you probably would have been better off with a hitbox style controller.

EDIT: Is it really a fact that sticks break less easy than controllers? I've never broken a controller in my life, and it isn't like I'm paranoid with them. I drop them time to time. But like I've known many people that have had sticks crap out on them. I know sticks are easier to repair, but harder to break sounds wrong to me.

Edited by Osuna

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Yeah, remember that using a controller well is based on muscle memory. The first time you used a keyboard or a game pad, if you can remember it, was horribly awkward and unnatural. It takes time to get used to it. Once you do though, it's nice.

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EDIT: Is it really a fact that sticks break less easy than controllers? I've never broken a controller in my life, and it isn't like I'm paranoid with them. I drop them time to time. But like I've known many people that have had sticks crap out on them. I know sticks are easier to repair, but harder to break sounds wrong to me.

I have gone through like 6 XBOX controllers. Probably more. Lost count.

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Troll topic, but I'll bite.

You use it for more than five minutes. Alternatively, you go to an arcade and find you have no choice but to learn to use one or not play at all. Once you can use them, they're really nice, and several inputs, like DPs and TKs, are easier on stick than pad.

Nah, I was dead serious. These things feel absolutely terrible to use to me, and I can't wrap my head around why anyone would think this is better. Also, arcades are a horrible waste of money, you'll never see me in them spending my own money. So that's one thing I won't have to worry about.

You have to treat it like learning an instrument. It takes a while to learn but the benefit is that it doesn't break as easy and it is easy to make it crossplatform, so you are not victim to different console controllers whenever you go to a tournament. Also lets you get right into an arcade and play just as good as home. Although that isn't really relevant anymore.

Perhaps, but from first impressions, I can tell I'll learn to play guitar before I can do anything useful with this arcade stick.

Fighting games are designed with stick in mind. Being able to use your whole right hand instead of just a thumb is kinda a big deal.

To be entirely honest, I've never had any trouble getting attack inputs in fast enough. It's the half-circles and DD motions that I wanted to be more consistent. I don't think the hitbox controller would be much better, but it was something new to discover.

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I have gone through like 6 XBOX controllers. Probably more. Lost count.

I don't know if you've ever opened up an xbox controller for modding or anything, but the dpad on them has this 4 sided pyramid like shape on the bottom. That grinds into the circuit board over time and eventually digs deep enough to gouge out some filaments. It's a really really bad design flaw.

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Don't know about the others, as I kind of tried to get truly into BB only after getting a stick, but I noticed a great deal more control for myself when it came to Street Fighter. I can't FADC for the life of me with a regular controller in that game, much less combo off it. Arcade sticks made such an order MUCH easier. As for BB, I could never accurately do bursts on a regular controller, nevermind RCing.

Edited by Solless

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and I can't wrap my head around why anyone would think this is better.

They give potentially higher levels of APM. There are physical limits to how much your fingers, especially the thumb, can do at once. With arcade sticks using your wrist for motion, it can be much faster and concise than a thumb. And as Osuna said, the right hand using all its fingers for buttons is also an advantage; be it for one-frame links or just overall faster execute-to-action between the fingers and the game.

Note these advantages are not guaranteed. For some people, pad is simply better for them to play than stick and always will be, which seems to be the case for you (though I have no idea how much time you actually spent trying to learn the peripheral).

As also stated, most fighting games are meant to be played on an arcade-style platform, which can create less-than-desirable needs for macroing buttons on pad in 6-button fighters, and can make negative-edging feel unnatural. Again, depending on the player these issues can be overcome, but the point to all of this is there are many logical reasons as to why someone would pick a fighting game's "native" method of control over the controller pad.

(personally I primarily play pad and probably always will)

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Don't know about the others, as I kind of tried to get truly into BB only after getting a stick, but I noticed a great deal more control for myself when it came to Street Fighter. I can't FADC for the life of me with a regular controller in that game, much less combo off it. Arcade sticks made such an order MUCH easier. As for BB, I could never accurately do bursts on a regular controller, nevermind RCing.

Bursts and Rapid Cancels both use the same command. Tie them to a shoulder button like R1 and it's right there.

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I use a regular controller myself but to answer your question:

To each their own. Just because you have a hard time playing with a fightstick doesn't mean everyone who use one is ''out of their mind''.

Of course it would be difficult for someone who got used to pads to suddenly switch to a fightstick. Like mAC Chaos said, it's very much like a musical instrument; no one can instantly become good without practice

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They give potentially higher levels of APM. There are physical limits to how much your fingers, especially the thumb, can do at once. With arcade sticks using your wrist for motion, it can be much faster and concise than a thumb. And as Osuna said, the right hand using all its fingers for buttons is also an advantage; be it for one-frame links or just overall faster execute-to-action between the fingers and the game.

That part I get. What I need is some frankenstein set up where I can get the tactile feel of the dpad, with the full hand buttons.

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I've actually come to the conclusion that the particular arcade stick I bought is highly over rated and just not the right one for me. The corners on the stick are too deep and is ruining everything. It's that, or the hardware makes the corner inputs slower than normal.

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On a side note, these things are awful to shop for. The return policy at every gaming store makes them a prohibitively expensive investment, and there's no try before you buy opportunity, so the risk is even greater that you'll get something you don't like.

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