NOW what are you playing?

Pyrian on 23/10/2019 at 21:36

My first trackball was Missile Command. Even when mice started becoming ubiquitous, my parents were using trackballs, and therefore so did I.

Renzatic on 23/10/2019 at 22:21

It's actually not all that difficult to use. Just two hours in, and I'm already feeling more comfortable and precise with it.

My biggest issue with my trackball right now is hitting stuff that's far away from my cursor as quickly as I can with a mouse. I usually overshoot, and end up having to readjust a bit. Though on the flipside of that, it's great for making fine adjustments. It's easier to twitch your thumb to make a minute movement than it is doing the same with your whole wrist.

Judith on 24/10/2019 at 05:56

Good choice Renz, I've been using trackball for months now, wouldn't go back to mouse. Both casual use and stuff like modeling is easier on the palm/wrist, and it allows you to have more precision, mostly because you can decouple clicking a mouse button from cursor movement.

Renault on 24/10/2019 at 15:52

Despite the mediocre reviews, I'm having a lot of fun with Days Gone. Maybe its just because I love "End Of the World" settings. Combined with an open world format, that's kind of a dangerous mix for killing my free time.

There's a lot of stealth gameplay here. Zombie AI are in abundance, so you pretty much have to get sneaky. Especially with some of hordes that travel around, which is basically a parade of about 100 undead moving at the same time in the same direction. Pretty frightening. The environment is great, a very wooded and mountainous Oregon. Lots of terrain to maneuver through and around. And riding through it all on a motorcycle makes it even sweeter.

Most of the reviews say it gets too repetitive, so maybe I'll get to that point. I can see it coming, but I haven't got there yet. In a way, it's a poor man's Last of Us (mainly with gameplay, not story, the story in Days Gone is pretty weak). It also reminds of some of the stealthier parts of Rise of the Tomb Raider. But right now it's just fun exploring every corner of the map, collecting supplies, and opening up the map.

Renzatic on 24/10/2019 at 16:30

Quote Posted by Judith

Strangely enough, the one thing I specifically bought it for is the one thing that still feels strange to me. I'm doing a number of things to help speed along my readjustment period, editing text, playing games, goofing around on the internet. Normal computery stuff basically, though performed in concentrated bursts. I've acclimated surprisingly quickly to all of these, and have actually come to prefer it in a number of ways. When you're making little adjustments, it's surprising how much it helps being able to lift your finger off the thing that moves your cursor when clicking your mouse buttons. There's no risk of accidental bumps to fret over.

This is probably due to the time spent with my Steam controller, which, for games anyway, is like a less exacting version of this. I've been tearing things up in Alan Wake like I've been using a trackball for years now. Also, using an MS Sculpt Ergonomic mouse helped a bit too, since it's also a big fat sumbitch you have to wrap your whole hand around.

Though I still haven't quite come to terms with it in Blender yet. This is probably due to its multi-button mouse comboed hotkeys, and swishy movements, but it still feels fiddly and weird to me. It's not a gamebreaker or anything, but it's thrown me for a loop.

Pyrian on 24/10/2019 at 17:09

The thing I like best about trackballs compared to mice is that you never reach the edge of the mousepad.

qolelis on 24/10/2019 at 17:59

On my second playthrough of Heaven's Vault now. Still as captivating. So many branches to explore, but also play styles and loyalties to choose from. I do wish I could skip through scenes or sites sometimes to get to the new, but there are also small choices here and there that can make you approach a site/scene -- that you already know from a previous playthrough -- from a different angle. There are also choices in one part that can open up new dialogue trees in other parts, so skipping through could make you miss new opportunities.

The cutscenes and scripted scene transitions are still annoying at times, but I'm learning to just sit through them, maybe taking the chance to reflect.

Pyrian on 24/10/2019 at 18:20

I've basically 100%'d Into the Breach at this point. All the achievements, all the squads (including the secret one), all the pilots (including the secret ones). Took a custom squad (Laser Mech, Siege Mech, Swap Mech+Mantis Pilot) through an all-island run at Hard difficulty and just about smoked it (had some trouble in RST as the third island - should've never tried the Volatile Vek mission, I know that one's always trouble but I figured, eh, nevermind).

Renzatic on 24/10/2019 at 18:56

Quote Posted by Pyrian

The thing I like best about trackballs compared to mice is that you never reach the edge of the mousepad.

It's the perfect device for the clinically lazy. You just slap your hand down on it, and occasionally wiggle your fingers!

Gryzemuis on 24/10/2019 at 19:25

Quote Posted by Renzatic

It's the perfect device for the clinically lazy.

Ah, that explains it.
I've been using a trackball since 1999 or so. For work, for leisure and for gaming.

The big benefit of a trackball is that it is a lot less stressing on your body. CTS/RSI (whatever you call it in your country). With a mouse, when you make those small movements, you move not only the mouse, but also your: fingers, hand, wrist, elbow, arm and shoulders. Even the muscles in your back and neck will be involved. And because the movements are small (but precise) it can be very stressing on all those parts. When I started gaming (on top of sitting behind a mouse/keyboard/monitor for work 8 hours a day), everything started to hurt. A trackball allows you to move only your fingers (and part of your hand maybe). Your wrist, arm, shoulders can be totally still. In fact, if you practice a little, you can learn to have completely relaxed arms and shoulders while using the trackball. I never have problems with CTS/RSI types of pain anymore. I've had a few friends and colleagues also switch to a trackball, with good results.

One thing I also did: I use my trackball with my left hand. While I am right-handed. I believe this spreads the strain over both my hands/arms/shoulders more, helping to prevent CTS/RSI. I do think that means my aim is a bit worse than if I would use my right-hand for the trackball. But who cares ? I'm not playing real FPS-games, I'm not playing competitively. So having only 90% aim is good enough for me. (I'm using a (PS4-)controller at the moment to play GTAV. Now that is painful aim ! (When auto-aim isn't working)).

Judith, Renz, are you using a trackball that is operated with your thumb or with your 3 middle fingers ? (I use a (https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/417FCRZRJ9L._SY355_.jpg) finger-operated one. Symmetrical).