Games with MEANINGFUL TouchPad Use

[Captain_Earink]

Witcher 3 , if you swiped up it opened the Map I believe!

[Lady Blanc]

Final Fantasy XIV uses it like a mouse, and pressing the touchpad like a button allowed you to quickly highlight different on-screen elements (chat, active quests, mini-map, etc.) instead of scrolling over to it.

[Eyjabria]

In Senran Kagura Estival Versus the touchpad was used to go into frantic mode, but luckily it had alternate controls as it was very awkward to use (move 2 fingers on touchpad while holding R1 I think). Also in Gravity Rush 2 it was used to change gravity mode, but it sometimes registered wrong. I haven't seen any "meaningful" use for it so far.

Somehow the Dualshock touchpad reminds me of the catastrophically bad rear touchpad on Vita which is probably the worst technical implementation in video game history. Sony should leave the "gimmicks" to Nintendo who actually knows how to make them function properly.

[Such-A-Goonie]

Blue Estate uses it in a hilarious way. In the first level you play this dude who has awesome looking half long hair, but it's always sliding in front of his eyes and you have to swipe it away while shooting tons of bad guys.

[SuperGravyBoat]

Elite: Dangerous does make use of it in some ways. When in your ship, you touch the bottom left to access the galaxy map and contact docking stations and you touch the bottom right to look at your cargo manifest, your ship modules, basically all of the important stuff. Top left and top right I believe are a way to switch between weapon groups that you’ve set up but I’ve never used them as I use the square button + L1/R1.

[ViperLance34]

Joe Dever's Lone Wolf uses it to scroll through the book pages.

 

The Trine games use it similarly to a mouse pointer, but it works pretty bad.

 

Emulated PS2 games use the sides of the touch pad to imitate the START and SELECT buttons.

[Gone Fishing]

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Edited September 14, 2020 by Fragtaster

[The_Hoxifier]

Stepping away from games for a moment, it's pretty useful for web browsing. Also for typing, if you force yourself to learn how to use it properly.

[TVippy]

On 26.12.2017 at 6:21 AM, dadoudelidou said:

- Infamous Second Son

- Tearaway Unfolded

- Killzone Shadow Fall

 

Are the 3 games that used it well.

 

And yes, more games should implement the feature in their mechanics.

I didn't particularly like it in inFamous, haven't played the other ones, but I guess I won't like them either...

 

The problem seems to be that when adding it to the controller, Sony itself didn't know what meaningful uses it could be applied to, thinking "devs will figure it out...". Well, devs certainly did not.

On 28.12.2017 at 1:26 PM, Such-A-Goonie said:

Blue Estate uses it in a hilarious way. In the first level you play this dude who has awesome looking half long hair, but it's always sliding in front of his eyes and you have to swipe it away while shooting tons of bad guys.

That's funny... probably gets old quick though.

On 02.01.2018 at 1:04 AM, The_Hoxifier said:

Stepping away from games for a moment, it's pretty useful for web browsing. Also for typing, if you force yourself to learn how to use it properly.

Does it really improve the speed of typing? How long was the learning period? Speedier than with accelerometer?

[Zolkovo]

On 24/12/2017 at 1:59 AM, Dr_Mayus said:

I hate when companies put stupid gimmicks onto their system to "make them different". I love my PS4 but honestly have not played a single game that couldn't have been on the ps3 as well. 

 

That stupid Touch Pad takes up half the control and no one is going to use it because whey would EA or Activision make something that uses it when they can't do the same for the Switch or XboxOne. that means they are putting extra money into Sony's system that at the end of the day isn't going to benefit them with 1 additional sale. 

 

Like I wish S ony would just take about the Six Axis, touch pad, share button, rumble and every other gimmicky nonesense and just make the controller cheaper.

 

I have to agree 100%. I wish we could petition Sony to release an official basic DS4 that strips away all the useless gimmicks that I turn off on day one under settings to save battery life anyway (i.e. vibration). I also get annoyed whenever a game forces me to use the SIXAXIS motion technology, although these are typically Sony titles. They just break up the game-play for me. As for the built-in speaker on the controller, pretty sure I only heard it in use for about 10 seconds during my entire playthrough of Infamous Second Son; didn't even know it existed before then.

 

I do however like the ergonomics of the DS4 and perhaps that is a result of the combination of all these "features" but I'm sure a lot of people would have just been happier with a bigger and longer lasting battery.

Edited February 6, 2018 by Zolkovo

[Dr_Mayus]

10 hours ago, Zolkovo said:

 

I have to agree 100%. I wish we could petition Sony to release an official basic DS4 that strips away all the useless gimmicks that I turn off on day one under settings to save battery life anyway (i.e. vibration). I also get annoyed whenever a game forces me to use the SIXAXIS motion technology, although these are typically Sony titles. They just break up the game-play for me. As for the built-in speaker on the controller, pretty sure I only heard it in use for about 10 seconds during my entire playthrough of Infamous Second Son; didn't even know it existed before then.

 

I do however like the ergonomics of the DS4 and perhaps that is a result of the combination of all these "features" but I'm sure a lot of people would have just been happier with a bigger and longer lasting battery.

There are built in speakers? I actually didn't know that and as I read your statement I looked at my controller and there are indeed holes that are probably for a speaker. I honestly didn't pay any attention to that.

 

Also who still likes Rumble? I am being serious here. I mean it was neat for the N64 to have it and the first time your ship was hit in Star Fox it was like But after a couple of uses it got boring and you took out the rumble pack because it is stupid.

 

[ElBolovo]

3 minutes ago, Dr_Mayus said:

There are built in speakers? I actually didn't know that and as I read your statement I looked at my controller and there are indeed holes that are probably for a speaker. I honestly didn't pay any attention to that.

 

Also who still likes Rumble? I am being serious here. I mean it was neat for the N64 to have it and the first time your ship was hit in Star Fox it was like But after a couple of uses it got boring and you took out the rumble pack because it is stupid.

 

 

I use Rumble and I miss it when I don't have it when I play PS3 with my DS4. What gets me is the useless light on top of the controller, SIXAXIS and the speaker, but the mic jack is very nice, I hated the default bluetooth mic for PS3.

[Dr_Mayus]

5 minutes ago, ElBolovo said:

 

I use Rumble and I miss it when I don't have it when I play PS3 with my DS4. What gets me is the useless light on top of the controller, SIXAXIS and the speaker, but the mic jack is very nice, I hated the default bluetooth mic for PS3.

Well there you go, I guess someone does like Rumble

 

Regardless you are right about the Light and the rest of the crap. I was actually wondering why my controller dies so quickly and it is probably due to all of this extra stuff. I turned off Rumble but I don't think I can turn the light off. 

 

It is just all so unnecessary because besides inFAMOUS I have not played a single PS4 game that actually used any of the other stuff.

[Zolkovo]

9 minutes ago, ElBolovo said:

 

I use Rumble and I miss it when I don't have it when I play PS3 with my DS4. What gets me is the useless light on top of the controller, SIXAXIS and the speaker, but the mic jack is very nice, I hated the default bluetooth mic for PS3.

 

The mic jack is indeed a very useful implementation but sadly the only useful innovation too, at least for me.

 

1 minute ago, Dr_Mayus said:

Regardless you are right about the Light and the rest of the crap. I was actually wondering why my controller dies so quickly and it is probably due to all of this extra stuff. I turned off Rumble but I don't think I can turn the light off.

 

I also set all the light features to the dimmest possible setting but realistically I don't know how much of a difference this actually makes.

Edited February 6, 2018 by Zolkovo

[bstn617]

I wouldn't call it meaningful not by a long shot but Saturday Morning RPG uses the touchpad to scratch the ticket's before each fight but you could also use the analog stick so it was more of a gimmick.

 

I have the touchpad ribbon cable removed because it's just a waste of battery power (no more usb charge when removed). It would be cool if Sony would release a pro controller with no touchpad and no headlight. Or they could have at least put a better battery in the DS4 considering it's all just a drain on the juice.

[NutellaOrgies]

On 12/23/2017 at 8:59 PM, Dr_Mayus said:

I hate when companies put stupid gimmicks onto their system to "make them different". I love my PS4 but honestly have not played a single game that couldn't have been on the ps3 as well. 

 

That stupid Touch Pad takes up half the control and no one is going to use it because whey would EA or Activision make something that uses it when they can't do the same for the Switch or XboxOne. that means they are putting extra money into Sony's system that at the end of the day isn't going to benefit them with 1 additional sale. 

 

Like I wish S ony would just take about the Six Axis, touch pad, share button, rumble and every other gimmicky nonesense and just make the controller cheaper.

 

I keep forgetting that there is sixaxis in it lol

[Dr_Mayus]

5 minutes ago, NutellaOrgies said:

 

I keep forgetting that there is sixaxis in it lol

Yeah. i had t turn my controller on its side and shake it to do every single spray paint event in infAMOUS

[MMDE]

The touchpad is awful to use, so I don't want to see anything meaningful or useful connected to the use of it.

 

Only good use I've seen of it is as the start and select button in emulated PS2 games.

[Mog]

I like the one in Nier: Automata where if you swipe the touchpad, your character will pat your Pod. The Pod is basically a little flying robot that stays with you all game, and it's never shown to you how you do it or that you are even able to do that in-game. (or not that i know of?)

 

In most games the touchpad is pretty much used like a normal button, skip cutscene, map screen, item select...etc. I wish more devs would use it as... buttons? As in, the plural of a button, because some games do use it more than once depending on where you press (left-right, or top right, bottom right, etc.), but the majority just uses it for one thing, and it feels like a missed opportunity. 

[Pershing24]

I get what you mean about very few games that take advantage of a new gimmick on the console, though play station seems to suffer this the most.

 

Remember how few game took full advantage of the PS3 6 axis controller. LAIR and the first Uncharted game are the only ones I've played that have implemented this function, but were immediately disliked for it.

 

As for the PS4, Only Killzone Shadowfall and Infamous Second Son uses the touch pad extensively, but some games use it as the new select button, like Destiny.

[Charizarzar]

I remember the touchpad bringing up the map on Dying Light without having to press on it like most games do. It was my first ps4 game and it took me way too long to realise that the map kept being brought up because my knuckle was brushing against it- I even googled why the game had this issue.

[TheArcadeKid]

Sparkle 2. You can play the whole game using the touchpad, and it actually works really well. 

 

That's it, that's all I've got. 

[fastflowdaman]

On 24.12.2017 at 5:51 AM, reckscollie said:

Klaus uses touchpad.

 

True, but it feels half-assed. Especially when doing the time trials.

 

5 hours ago, Pershing24 said:

I get what you mean about very few games that take advantage of a new gimmick on the console, though play station seems to suffer this the most.

 

Remember how few game took full advantage of the PS3 6 axis controller. LAIR and the first Uncharted game are the only ones I've played that have implemented this function, but were immediately disliked for it.

---

As for the PS4, Only Killzone Shadowfall and Infamous Second Son uses the touch pad extensively, but some games use it as the new select button, like Destiny.

 

The only game that I can remember where I really liked the implementation was the part in Heavenly Sword where you used the six-axis to steer the cannon balls. And that took some time to get used to as well.

---

Yeah, also PS2 remasters use it for Start and Select respectively.

 

25 minutes ago, TheArcadeKid said:

Sparkle 2. You can play the whole game using the touchpad, and it actually works really well. 

 

That's it, that's all I've got. 

 

But it doesn't feel as natural as using the touch screen on the Vita I suppose? That always kept me from replaying the game on the PS4 (especially because of "nightmare mode", is that how it's called?). Didn't even know about the touch pad functionality.

Edited February 8, 2018 by fastflowdaman
spacing

[TheArcadeKid]

19 hours ago, fastflowdaman said:

But it doesn't feel as natural as using the touch screen on the Vita I suppose? That always kept me from replaying the game on the PS4 (especially because of "nightmare mode", is that how it's called?). Didn't even know about the touch pad functionality.

1

The Vita version probably is more natural, but honestly, after a few levels on PS4, I could hardly tell the difference. In general the game is more about speed than accuracy, and the touchpad works fine for speed. That said, I never did play beyond Normal mode, out of a lack of time and interest. 

[ShogunCroCop]

I am not entirely sure what you mean by "meaningful." Inanimate objects don't tend to be meaningful. Life can be, stories can be, but I don't understand how a Touchpad can be.

 

It's just a Touchpad.

Edited February 8, 2018 by ShogunCroCop