I got my kid a cheap generic gamepad that I like a lot for its features (and price!) And was thinking of getting another one and modding them with hall effect sticks, so I stopped to actually look at it to consider if it was worth it and noticed it doesn’t have triggers, the L2 and R2 are just buttons.
Which got me thinking, do analog triggers matter all that much? I don’t really like racing games in general and since I’m a PC gamer I don’t even consider the gamepad for precision shooters (if I feel I need precision aiming I just do m+k). I can’t think of many situations where I don’t just bottom out the triggers on my xbox gamepad, to the point where I get surprised if in the middle of a game I find out I can do stuff like a weak shot with a bow or a weak anything.
What situations, other than throttle and break in vehicles, do you find yourself making real use of the analog triggers? Do you think you would miss them if you didn’t have them? Why? Maybe I’m just not noticing when I use them, it’s nice to have, sure, but can’t say more than that.
The only thing I have ever played, aside from racing/driving games, that really made use of the analog nature of the triggers, was Metal Gear Solid. Squeezing the trigger really lightly just held the gun up. Holding it a little harder activated the laser sight. Pulling it all the way fired your gun.
That game made use of every feature of the controller back in the day, which was also one of the only games I’ve ever played that used Playstation’s pressure sensitive face buttons. AFAIK, they don’t even have pressure sensitivity anymore, like the original DualShock controller did.
I pretty much never see the analogue triggers used beyond a basic 1/0 switch outside games with vehicles (and sometimes not even those). There’s no degrees of actuation unless using them to accelerate and brake. And I’m not sure what else you could really use them for besides feeling like an actual trigger when using a gun in the game (which the adaptive trigger system does really well).
GTA and Gran Turismo (and most racing games on the PS2) used the pressure sensitivity on the face buttons. The DualShock 3 was the last controller to use them. I don’t think it was used much on the PS3, so they removed them for the PS4.
Hah, I distinctly remember the first time I discovered the pressure sensitivity in MGS 3. I was hiding inside of a locker, and pressed a button to lean towards the grate and peek out. I lightly pressed it, and Snake barely leaned at all. I couldn’t really see what I needed to. So I mashed it harder. But I pressed it so hard that Snake slammed his face into the metal locker door with an audible thud. The noise alerted the guard and I was caught.
The fact that they even thought to program in a “slam face into whatever you’re peeking out of” mechanic has me rolling now that I’m thinking about it. It really is peak Kojima.
FYI: If you do the same thing in a locker that has a poster of a woman in it, Snake will smooch the poster instead of slam his face into the door. Don’t remember how many were in 3, but there were a few in 2. In 5 you can paste them to your box and lure guards like Bugs Bunny in drag.