Wilf Netherton said:
It's a poor design when the design mark inhibits function, and that's exactly the case with PlayStation split D-Pad. The cross-shaped center built into the shell forces the D-Pad contact points down, down low enough to accommodate space for the DPad plate and a rubber gasket material below. The D-Pad hinges both on the non-linear spring fulcrum point below and on the four V-shaped contact points between the shell and the raised directional buttons. This makes the D-Pad 'swim' in a complex path as you move from one direction to the next, particularly in half-circles or greater. The receptors below then receive varying amounts of pressure while the user is applying the same thumb press force above; because of the way the D-Pad plate 'swims' and binds on the four V-shaped contact areas some pressure is misplaced either on binding against the shell or pressing at varying angles to the plane of the receptor.
For players used to a D-Pad with a more rigid below-the-plate fulcrum, no unusual contact points above the plate, and a D-Pad plate that can be raised much higher the PlayStation D-Pad design feels mushy, imprecise, and uncomfortable. Even the Joycon design is better in my opinion because the lack of a plate at least eliminates the bizarre contact areas and the button action is more consistently perpendicular to the receptors.
Since the OP thinks this is some kind of brilliant response:
1. all of your points rely entirely on an opinion hinging on disc pads with a central pivot being superior.
2. The joycon buttons literally prevent the standard contact response everyone learns for Z and QC motions from being possible. While the player response for Z and QC moves on a Sony pad is different from a disc or cross pad the joycon literally doesn't work with the fighting game input movements used by the genre for over three decades. So you're saying that your personal preference for a center mount means you'd take something literally unable to function over something simply different from what you're used to.
3. The d-pad does not "swim" in a Sony controller. They're typically more constrained as they have contact with the housing both below and above the cross, resulting in a more rigid center point. As a result it requires input that works on the outer ring, not the inner ring, but when used in that fashion triggers just fine for diagonals. It only feels mushy if you're a cross/disc user who specifically learned to work the tip of your thumb from the center out applying leverage to the outer pad.
DaveLong said:
I am completely floored that people think Sony pads are good for fighting games. I've had serious issues with QCF, HCF and especially any 360 motion on these things since Nineteen Ninety Fucking Five. I guess if you only play Tekken, which would be a seriously Sonyish thing to do, then you're happy, but holy hell, that dpad is simply not made for fighting games at all.
Flabbergasted. Astonished.
Almost like you just have a personal preference for disc pads and that informs how you personally use a D-pad.
Meanwhile Sony is the only manufacturer who hasn't shipped a standard controller with a mechanical defect in its core design.
Microsoft: 360 and One both used disc based pads with improperly spaced pivot height vs. contact depth, resulting in wildly inconsistent response and very high failure rates simply due to age. The Series pad is much better, but is incredibly loud to the point of being a borderline defect itself. If you want a truly good D-Pad from MS you need to pay $150+ for an elite.
Nintendo: The Joycons don't even offer a D-pad, so base switch is broken out of the gate. The Pro has some potential, but has a widely documented/publicized manufacturing defect where they shorted a segment of the molding/gasket to make room for other components, leading to people opening up controllers to put fucking tape on certain contact points.
And beyond that, while considering FG use, all other competitors place the D-pad in a worse position, requiring thumb extension moving it out of a true up/down/left/right alignment. On an analog stick players already are required to adapt input v. output response due to the non-linear nature of an analog stick. They also sit higher and are easier to control with less total range of motion. A D-pad meanwhile is very much an direct input response device when aligned properly with the hand/thumb while requiring discrete input across a larger total surface area.
Also, as most games aren't FGs the Sony split design works incredibly well for the primary use of D-pads now, as a four cardinal directions input for quick commands/menu navigation/etc.. The rocking motion of disc pads makes this widespread use of the pad problematic as its easy to rock a little too far and get a double input, while Sony's split top level ensures more precise inputs when desired.
So in short: if your D-pad isn't in the primary left hand location its already worse than and Sony d-pad. If your D-pad has poor contact response as part of its core design (not "mushy" but literally does not consistently hit its four contact points) its worse than the Sony d-pad. If your D-pad allows for rocking of the bottom layer/gasket resulting in double inputs its worse than the Sony D-pad. This is every other mainstream D-pad.
So congrats Sony, you win. On a technicality because yes, their D-pads have been largely downhill after reaching D-pad supremacy with the Vita, but its not Sony's fault that Microsoft's core design and build quality both fucking suck for generations on end now and Nintendo decided to save some coins and joined them in the "non-functional design and cheap components is good enough" camp of D-pad design.
Xwing said:
Pretty much my reaction to the completely unnecessary low effort dog piling that has occurred, lmao. I have the specific example of fighting game motion inputs in the OP and barely anyone's acknowledged it.
It isn't low effort dog piling when this "debate" is had on a roughly quarterly basis on here and probably near weekly across VG forums in general, where a clear majority of players are just fine with it.
You can't get offended when you were a simple thread search away from knowing that your opinion is 1. just that and 2. in the extreme minority.
