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[The artful mincer]

A Big pet peeve of mine is having to pause during gameplay to equip item's or abilities that I should have access to in real time.

The Biggest example of this is weapon wheels in shooters on console's. You have to either pause the action entirely or really slow it down to change weapon. The Horizon and Ratchet games are good examples but it's basically been the default way to do things for a long time.

This is bad because firstly it feels like cheating giving you more time than you should to make choice's and secondly it breaks the game flow and doesn't feel very good. We've seen PC gamers real time switch for age's and we all know how good those weapon combos are to pull off.

This is where Resident Evil 4 remake comes in (Although I think Doom Eternal updated to this as well). There's no pause and you have 8 weapons mapped to the d-pad 2 weapons to each Direction. Tap once for the first weapon and twice for the second weapon and Bingo that's it! You basically have your entire arsenal accessible in split seconds and can weapon combo almost or as good as Mouse and Keyboard players.

It's so Goddam simple that I'm amazed it's taken this long to figure out (Unless there's any game I've missed?). One of many reason why I think RE4 remake feels amazing to play. This could potentially scale up to 12 or even 16 weapon's beyond that I think it could potentially get clunky.

Are they any other example's of Intuitive controls you can think of?

I remember Infamous and Dead Space being ahead of there time allowing you multiple abilities when holding R1. Infamous especially allowing all your powers while climbing/hanging was really cool.

 

[Captain Toad]

Don't other RE games use the exact same thing?

I know I've used it before. Maybe The Last of Us?

 

[Punished Miku]

Don't other RE games use the exact same thing?

Seems slightly reminiscent of the quick select menu from RE6. I haven't played the remake for 4 much though other than the demo.

I can't remember the system 5 had.

 

[Nankatsu]

Agree, however I wish you could map health items too.

 

[protonion]

I hate the wheels but I would like to pause also.

Sometimes I find myself panicking in intense action and equip the wrong weapon or delay a lot and get damaged.

I have a soft spot for mgs1-3's weapon selection.

 

[RagnarokIV]

I hate the wheels but I would like to pause also.

Sometimes I find myself panicking in intense action and equip the wrong weapon or delay a lot and get damaged.

I have a soft spot for mgs1-3's weapon selection.

Even both iterations of Metal Gear Online had it, which was fun.

 

[GymWolf]

I have no problem with weapon wheels so the remake really didn't rocked my world ui wise tbh.

 

[Filben]

Problem on console is you usually use your left thumb for moving and using the d pad/selecting weapons and therefore sacrifice your movement especially in hectic situation where you really want to keep said movement. That's why it slows down in many games because even if they use a wheel you then select usually with the movement stick your weapon and again leaving the movement of your character.

It's different on m/k.

 

[Matt_Fox]

Are they any other example's of Intuitive controls you can think of?

I'd say Red Dead Redemption 2 was the opposite. Considering its a candidate for GOAT and so highly praised, the weapon wheel and UI was really problematic.

I really want to see the paddle controls on Elite game pads become mappable for new inputs (rather than just useless clones of existing buttons). For example in Resi 4 you could map First Aid or flash bangs to them, anything that keeps the gameplay flowing and keeps you out of menus is good.

 

[k_trout]

from soft has made me doubt any inventory screens actually pause the game lol

 

[The artful mincer]

Agree, however I wish you could map health items too.

Yes that's the one major blemish. At the very least the health items need an animation.

Currently there a cheesy get out of jail free card

 

[01011001]

I mean yeah it's pretty good, but in the end it's nothing special, it's basically a variant of what PC shooters like Max Payne used, only that there you use the number keys and not a dpad of course.

as an og RE4 veteran I still often just open up my inventory and change weapons there tho lol

 

[Inviusx]

I wouldn't really call it intuitive as similar systems have existed for a long time but in the context of this remake compared to the original, its a smart change that keeps you in the action.

 

[The artful mincer]

Don't other RE games use the exact same thing?

I know I've used it before. Maybe The Last of Us?

I think they mapped 4 weapons to the d-pad but not eight

 

[The artful mincer]

I wouldn't really call it intuitive as similar systems have existed for a long time but in the context of this remake compared to the original, its a smart change that keeps you in the action.

Have they? Can you name any please?

 

[The artful mincer]

from soft has made me doubt any inventory screens actually pause the game lol

Lol Elden Ring's UI was atrocious lol. I swear after 140+ hours I was still getting input's wrong. The Nioh games are far better.

 

[theStartupSound]

I would also prefer this to a weapon wheel. In gta online I often choose the wrong radio station because the controls feels so vague. But with so many stations, I don’t have a solution for a better system.

 

[The Cockatrice]

Is this your first game ever played?

 

[The artful mincer]

Is this your first game ever played?

What games then have had this set up then Mr sarcastic??

 

[shiru]

eh

 

[Evil Calvin]

There is a weapon wheel? I know you can press left, right, up and down to select items and weapons, but that's not a wheel (like Diablo 3). How do you access the 'wheel'?

 

[Inviusx]

Have they? Can you name any please?

Deadspace has the exact same 4 weapon d-pad switcher except it doesn't extend beyond 4 weapons which is a design choice.

 

[SlimySnake]

I am pretty sure TLOU and TLOU2 had this.

But yes, i prefer this over the horizon and red dead weapon wheels. two taps on the dpad is way better than fucking around with the left analog stick pausing the game just to switch weapons.

 

[The artful mincer]

Deadspace has the exact same 4 weapon d-pad switcher except it doesn't extend beyond 4 weapons which is a design choice.

Plenty of games have mapped 4 weapons or abilities to the d-pad. This is first game that I'am aware of that's gone beyond that.

It's nothing groud breaking but a pretty cool evolution at least.

 

[The artful mincer]

I am pretty sure TLOU and TLOU2 had this.

But yes, i prefer this over the horizon and red dead weapon wheels. two taps on the dpad is way better than fucking around with the left analog stick pausing the game just to switch weapons.

I just googled and the last of us have you go in the back pack which is a touch screen press.

 

[Knightime_X]

If there's a wheel, I will always config my guns the same.

Down for heavy
Up for long range
Right for side arm
Left for assault

 

[SlimySnake]

I just googled and the last of us have you go in the back pack which is a touch screen press.

Nah, im pretty sure you only go into the backpack if you want to change weapons that are already mapped to the dpad. For example you can have two pistols on the right dpd but there are several pistols in the game so if you want to switch to a third pistol then you double tap right then hold X to into the dpad. The game then cycles through all your remaining pistols in realtime.

it is very similar to the RE4 weapon wheel. The only difference is that the up and down buttons are limited to grenades and other healing or melee items where as RE lets you customize each button. Now that i think about it MGSV might have had a similar system.

 

[EverydayBeast]

I’d rather see weapon wheels than pausing the menu to swap weapons.

 

[sainraja]

The Resistance series and Ratchet series have long had a weapon wheel system. I really liked how it was done in Resistance 1.
The Last of Us also has a system that allows you to switch weapons on the fly (even by type by holding down Square). The system in The Last of Us is designed for us to be able to access quickly during gameplay.

The past RE games focused on their inventory system but it is nice to be able to quickly switch between guns and assign them shortcuts.

 

[The artful mincer]

Nah, im pretty sure you only go into the backpack if you want to change weapons that are already mapped to the dpad. For example you can have two pistols on the right dpd but there are several pistols in the game so if you want to switch to a third pistol then you double tap right then hold X to into the dpad. The game then cycles through all your remaining pistols in realtime.

it is very similar to the RE4 weapon wheel. The only difference is that the up and down buttons are limited to grenades and other healing or melee items where as RE lets you customize each button. Now that i think about it MGSV might have had a similar system.

Ah okay got you been while since I played

 

[sainraja]

I just googled and the last of us have you go in the back pack which is a touch screen press.

Play the game and you will see. You can quickly switch weapons and even accessing the backpack is during gameplay so you can't just stop and navigate at your own leisure.

EDIT
Just saw SlimySnake already explained it in detail.

 

[BouncyFrag]

Oblivion had a strong weapon/item/spell dpad. Must have mod for Skyrim. Witcher 3 mapping buttons for signs was a welcome change too.

 

[drotahorror]

` - melee weapon
1 - pistol
2 - smg
3 - shotgun
4 - AR or Sniper
5 - Rockets
G - Grenade
Z - Crossbow or Sniper
X - Plasma
B - Chaingun
H - alt Grenade or Health kit
Q - ?
T - ? or Flashlight
Y - ?

With only 8 slots, RE4 was very easy to setup.

But yeah I'm being kinda silly. Glad the weapon wheel works well for RE4. I'm not big on them at all.

 

[Drizzlehell]

I don't have any particularly strong feelings on it. There are times where I double tap the d-pad expecting to get a sniper rifle but end up pulling a shotgun instead. Doesn't always work perfectly but the idea is neat. Same with weapon wheels. I guess they work best if they slow down time but they can be finicky as well. Overall no solution that I've tested so far was perfect. I think that Doom Eternal did the weapon wheel best.

 

[darrylgorn]

I think developers should do a lot more with secondary bindings.

Instead of a weapon wheel, you could access the weapon you want much faster if you hit left bumper/shoulder and map each weapon to one of the face buttons.

 

[Astral Dog]

I often forget about this thing and just equip the weapon the old fashioned way(for a classic RE4 experience )

yeah its nice it exists but most of the time i use only 3 slots 4 at most

 

[Captain Toad]

I think they mapped 4 weapons to the d-pad but not eight

 

[rodrigolfp]

as good as Mouse and Keyboard players.

No, because more than 1 tap on a key is still needed + claw grip.

H - alt Grenade or Health kit

Y - ?

Too far from the fingers. "C" and "V" would be better.

 

[drotahorror]

Too far from the fingers. "C" and "V" would be better.

I usually use C for crouch. V is typically my melee button but with RE, it's E because it felt better. Plus it's the same key as Action.
I was more or less talking only weapon keybinds.

I also use wasd a bit goofy so things like C, V, F, etc, are more comfortable for me than CTRL and LSHIFT, etc.

 

[rodrigolfp]

I usually use C for crouch

"Ctrl" for crouch is the oldest "standard". Use it too.

I also use wasd a bit goofy so things like C, V, F, etc, are more comfortable for me than CTRL and LSHIFT, etc.

Try ESDF.

 

[drotahorror]

"Ctrl" for crouch is the oldest "standard". Use it too.


Try ESDF.

I don't see 30 years of muscle memory changing any time soon

Same with inverted on consoles. I've tried, I can't change to 'normal'.

 

[TexMex]

As others have pointed out, many (great) games have adopted this system already, but you are correct - it really is great.

 

[Sygma]

A Big pet peeve of mine is having to pause during gameplay to equip item's or abilities that I should have access to in real time.

The Biggest example of this is weapon wheels in shooters on console's. You have to either pause the action entirely or really slow it down to change weapon. The Horizon and Ratchet games are good examples but it's basically been the default way to do things for a long time.

This is bad because firstly it feels like cheating giving you more time than you should to make choice's and secondly it breaks the game flow and doesn't feel very good. We've seen PC gamers real time switch for age's and we all know how good those weapon combos are to pull off.

This is where Resident Evil 4 remake comes in (Although I think Doom Eternal updated to this as well). There's no pause and you have 8 weapons mapped to the d-pad 2 weapons to each Direction. Tap once for the first weapon and twice for the second weapon and Bingo that's it! You basically have your entire arsenal accessible in split seconds and can weapon combo almost or as good as Mouse and Keyboard players.

It's so Goddam simple that I'm amazed it's taken this long to figure out (Unless there's any game I've missed?). One of many reason why I think RE4 remake feels amazing to play. This could potentially scale up to 12 or even 16 weapon's beyond that I think it could potentially get clunky.

Are they any other example's of Intuitive controls you can think of?

I remember Infamous and Dead Space being ahead of there time allowing you multiple abilities when holding R1. Infamous especially allowing all your powers while climbing/hanging was really cool.

Gyro aiming honestly. Splatoon is so wonderful to play