PS3 Controller Configuration

[akai_GO]

Rather than just post this in the couple of suit-specific threads I mentioned it in, for the benefit of anyone that might be coming in new to the game and not have any habits formed:

 

I've discovered a greatly increased quality of life in playing the game by changing a couple of button mappings if playing the game with a PS3 controller instead of an arcade joystick box.

 

• Chief among these changes is changing my L1 button to beam rifle (default Sq). There are a number of melee combos that end in CSa that provide great damage and knockdown. However, these can be very uncomfortable to try and perform with the default controller setup since you only have your one thumb trying to manage Sq, X, and Triangle. Impossible without awkwardly bringing down an extra finger. But mapping BR to L1 allows you to charge the CSa while using your left hand to input direction and your right hand to just manage boost and melee.
• Similarly, I'm currently trying out changing my melee (default Tri) to R1. This is a little more situational decision that helps with making Cherudim or Heavy Arms slightly more playable since they have ranged abilities instead of melee. Also one of the middle phases of one of the Extreme Gundams has missiles instead of melee. But basically if you are in retreat mode and out of your main ammo, it can again be a little uncomfortable trying to retreat boost and use Tri to shoot something back. R1 is much more comfortable.
• If you implement both of those changes you've now put yourself in a position that you have two fingers and a thumb dedicated to default X, Sq, and Tri instead of just one thumb. You can have much better control over whether you charge CSa or CSb (for suits that have both but one that charges faster than the other).

 

• "So what about the abilities you just unmapped?" Well the subweapon on R1 technically doesn't have to be mapped for the game to allow you to play. CPU command/message send on L1 for some asinine reason does have to be mapped (you will get an error message if you try to leave the menu with it, shooting, melee, or jump not mapped my friend in the US showed me via picture lol). I remapped my CPU command to L3 for the time being, but am probably going to move it up to Triangle and put subweapon on Sq since X->Sq is a much more natural position and reach for the thumb than X->Tri.

 

Want to do this but don't read Japanese? The button configuration ボトン設定 can be found typically third from the bottom on the pause menu of any screen. From the main menu it can be found as the second option in the Option menu. From there you have 4 configurations to choose from at the top: コントローラ (controller, green), ジョイスティック1 (joystick 1, orange), ジョイスティック2 (joystick 2, red), and カスタム (custom, blue). The options for the buttons are only a list that you can choose from. Going right, the order of these commands is:

 

      -　　射撃　　格闘　　ジャンプ　　ターゲット切り替え　　指令・通信　　射撃＋格闘（サブ）　　射撃＋ジャンプ（特殊射撃）　

      格闘＋ジャンプ（特殊格闘）　　射撃＋格闘＋ジャンプ（EXバースト）　　一番近いターゲットに切り替え

 

      - (blank), beam rifle, melee, jump. change target, CPU order/message, (sub), (special shot),

      (special melee), (EX Burst), change to closest target

 

I mean, you can choose to try it or not, especially if you've already gotten used to playing the game in the default control manner. But for what it's worth, I've found making these changes greatly increases the ease of playing the game and a higher level. Having L1 be shoot instead of CPU alone has been an immediate game-changer in my book, and I kinda feel like an idiot for having not done this long before now...

[Skillkill107]

CPU command/message send on L1 for some asinine reason does have to be mapped

This kinda ticked me off.  The reason why this has to be mapped is that communicaton is an absolutely essential part of the game. Your partner has to make pacing decisions based on how much health you have and unless they risk their positioning to force their camera onto you the easiest way for them to know is if you let them know by hitting neutral comms. I know  you mentioned that you're planning on remapping this but don't neglect this for anything.

[akai_GO]

This kinda ticked me off.  The reason why this has to be mapped is that communicaton is an absolutely essential part of the game. Your partner has to make pacing decisions based on how much health you have and unless they risk their positioning to force their camera onto you the easiest way for them to know is if you let them know by hitting neutral comms. I know  you mentioned that you're planning on remapping this but don't neglect this for anything.

 

Yeah I remapped it to Triangle. When I play hold with my friend we just use Skype, but for as important as you say it is, anytime I've played shuffle I don't seem to ever have anything sent to me until after a game when I'll get a "thanks" or "my bad" or "you saved my ass that round"...maybe I'm just not up to a high rank where it's more common yet?

 

What are the default battle messages?..."I'm going forward"(up), "I'm retreating"(right), "I'm coming to help"(left), "I'll play back"?? Can't remember the default down off the top of my head. I'd assume at higher levels of online play people just know from the suit they're playing and that their opponent is playing which position they are going to play at the start without needing to communicate that.

 

I already changed one of my in-battle messages to basically say "hey, watch out". Should I change the other 3 to say something more effective than the default options?? I know I kept "I'm retreating" as a useful/important one.

[Skillkill107]

Yeah I remapped it to Triangle. When I play hold with my friend we just use Skype, but for as important as you say it is, anytime I've played shuffle I don't seem to ever have anything sent to me until after a game when I'll get a "thanks" or "my bad" or "you saved my ass that round"...maybe I'm just not up to a high rank where it's more common yet?

 

What are the default battle messages?..."I'm going forward"(up), "I'm retreating"(right), "I'm coming to help"(left), "I'll play back"?? Can't remember the default down off the top of my head. I'd assume at higher levels of online play people just know from the suit they're playing and that their opponent is playing which position they are going to play at the start without needing to communicate that.

 

I already changed one of my in-battle messages to basically say "hey, watch out". Should I change the other 3 to say something more effective than the default options?? I know I kept "I'm retreating" as a useful/important one.

Neutral is health comms and it changes dependant on how much Health you have remaining. White means optimal, yellow means low, orange means critical, red means I'm dead. The rest are here on the online modes.  Given what you've said and your understanding of suit compositions from our previous talks I'm gonna honestly assume it's just not at your level of play where everyone has their stuff together yet. Health comms are extremely vital, moreso than your other comms in terms of understanding how to play, because it lets you understand how the match progresses. Here's a quick scenario. You're playing rear with a 2.5k and your 2.5k front sends you a yellow comms message on his first life. You have not died and are in good shape. If he does not know how much health you have, the other 2.5k has no idea how aggressively he should be playing relative to you. Also he obviously is going to take care with his life if he thinks he's back but if you're both working on the assumption you're playing back, you can get caught in this scenario where neither of you project your presence strongly enough to prevent the enemy team from overrunning you. You can also get caught on scenarios like this. It's your first life as a 2.5k and your 3k has just died. Standard rules for that are now for the 3k to play more defensively and let the 2.5k play more upfront for a bit until the 2.5k's death, then they switch back. The problem is for this scenario you've taken a lot more damage than expected in your first life and have to run or you'll be overcosted immediately. If you don't let your 3k know this and they are in a position where they cannot see your health, they'll simply let you die and you'll be hunted again now that you've been overcosted and they have no incentive to chase down your 3k.

 

Generally speaking you need to let your partner know what your health is and in Shuffle you sometimes need to announce roles at the start of a match. (You both are using the same suit, you're both running suits of the same cost and role, you're running a specific suit setup that requires the lower cost partner to front like EX-S or you have a preference for a particular role). It also helps newer or more tunnel visioned players to become aware of situations if they see you send a comms message that says "Pulling back" or "Going in" so they can make decisions according to your actions, and an acknowledgement message is nice. The default commands all facilitate this but if you're playing with western players you can change them to surrogates.

 

I'll say that "Watch out" is actually less helpful than having a command that says "Run!" or a suit specific command like say "Activating Transam" on the Susanoo or "I'm out of ammo!" on a suit with extensive reloads. You want your comms messages to be short an unambigious in what they mean as well as extremely important. Since you only have four commands you want to send the most clear messages you can without wasting too much space.

[akai_GO]

Ahh see, I had no idea that there was a neutral comm that relayed health status. Add this to the list of things you don't learn playing offline mode ><

 

And again, at I guess the level I'm playing, I have only a couple of times max gotten any comm from a partner during battle. So thanks for the notice about this matter! Also, that's a great idea of possibly having one that says "out of ammo" or maybe announcing "low ammo"

[brett_]

Actually I just noticed - the translation of the coms is actually off in that translation image. The right com (previously left in EXVS) is not "cover me". It's "I'll cover you" if I'm not mistaken. Generally you use this com to signify you're playing back, and use the up com to signify you're playing front. The down com is literally meant for when you're running away.

 

I won't really elaborate much more than saying that the com button is just as important as any of the other 4 buttons. 

[KiraYamatoSF]

Ahh see, I had no idea that there was a neutral comm that relayed health status. Add this to the list of things you don't learn playing offline mode ><

 

And again, at I guess the level I'm playing, I have only a couple of times max gotten any comm from a partner during battle. So thanks for the notice about this matter! Also, that's a great idea of possibly having one that says "out of ammo" or maybe announcing "low ammo"

 

Ammo isn't that important. Your health status and what are you going to do is more important.

For example, I myself will tell my partner that ima turn on my Ex BURST. So that my partner will help defend me while i am attacking one target with my burst.

Another example, 2500 + 3000 teams. Whenever i am low to around 300 I will tell my partner that i am going to cover he/she. So we could instantly switch from 3K front 2.5K back to the other way around. Once my partner is around 300 health, it will be my turn to get to the front.

And when my second 3K is out and my partner is still not dead yet, I will storm the front while my partner will wait till i get low. When i am low to around 400, my partner will come up to the frontline with me and we be doing the double front formation. That way, when my partner arrive in his 2nd MS he has around 120 health and i will be having around 200.

We will make sure that we are using every bit of our health to gain the most advatange.

[brett_]

 

 

 

 

@Mino: when responding to quotes please write your response outside of the quotebox - it's very difficult to read what you're writing because we don't know when his quote ends and your response starts. Like I just did.

[KiraYamatoSF]

 

 

 

 

@Mino: when responding to quotes please write your response outside of the quotebox - it's very difficult to read what you're writing because we don't know when his quote ends and your response starts. Like I just did.

 

 

I apologize for my mistake, still not that used to this forum yet