FlaygletheBagel
Banned
I generally enjoy Rockstar games. I love Red Dead Redemption, and I think GTA V is a borderline masterpiece. But I will never, ever understand why Rockstar insists on using the same sprint controls for every game they've released since the PS2 era.
For the unacquainted, Rockstar games have you mash the X (or A) button repeatedly to sprint. When you stop pressing the button, your character stops sprinting. Sounds simple right? But in execution it feels mechanical, tiresome, and unnecessary. I realize this sounds like a nitpick, and it is to an extent. But I do think it's a QoL improvement that Rockstar games could benefit from.
Pressing a button repeatedly in a video game is meant to symbolize an action that takes effort. For example, in quick-time heavy games like Heavy Rain or The Walking Dead, you'll be prompted to press a button repeatedly in order to overcome your opponent in a fight scene, or pull something heavy, or lift yourself over a ledge. But almost never are these long, drawn out scenarios. Usually you're pressing a button rapidly for a short amount of time, enough to simulate your character straining themselves, before the game moves you on to another quick time event or scenario.
But the issue I have with GTA and Red Dead and the like is that sprinting is an action you have to do a LOT of. And as a result, the action of mashing a button repeatedly is baked into the game at a fundamental, near-constant level. Doing that repetitive motion for something so mundane is monotonous, and while I get the intended purpose of it, nearly every game out right now has a far better way of making your character sprint.
What are your thoughts about the typical Rockstar sprint controls? Are you totally fine with them or do they bother you? For me, they're intrusive enough that I find myself thinking about the tedium of the button mashing every now and then instead of the world the game is presenting me with. And IMO, if a game's controls fail to blend into the background at some point during the game, the game might need better controls.
For the unacquainted, Rockstar games have you mash the X (or A) button repeatedly to sprint. When you stop pressing the button, your character stops sprinting. Sounds simple right? But in execution it feels mechanical, tiresome, and unnecessary. I realize this sounds like a nitpick, and it is to an extent. But I do think it's a QoL improvement that Rockstar games could benefit from.
Pressing a button repeatedly in a video game is meant to symbolize an action that takes effort. For example, in quick-time heavy games like Heavy Rain or The Walking Dead, you'll be prompted to press a button repeatedly in order to overcome your opponent in a fight scene, or pull something heavy, or lift yourself over a ledge. But almost never are these long, drawn out scenarios. Usually you're pressing a button rapidly for a short amount of time, enough to simulate your character straining themselves, before the game moves you on to another quick time event or scenario.
But the issue I have with GTA and Red Dead and the like is that sprinting is an action you have to do a LOT of. And as a result, the action of mashing a button repeatedly is baked into the game at a fundamental, near-constant level. Doing that repetitive motion for something so mundane is monotonous, and while I get the intended purpose of it, nearly every game out right now has a far better way of making your character sprint.
What are your thoughts about the typical Rockstar sprint controls? Are you totally fine with them or do they bother you? For me, they're intrusive enough that I find myself thinking about the tedium of the button mashing every now and then instead of the world the game is presenting me with. And IMO, if a game's controls fail to blend into the background at some point during the game, the game might need better controls.
