Do you like (ADS) in FPSs?

[moonbits]

Hello, we've all played at least one game with Aiming Down the Sight as a core mechanic:
Hold Right Click/Left Trigger to properly do what you are already doing.

Some games make it almost mandatory to use this mechanic to properly hit your target, slowing down to a crawl, blurring your surrounding. Realistic? perhaps, but is it fun to you?

What do you think about this mechanic?

I played FPSs before and after the Cododyfication if you want to call it that and sometimes I end up preferring not using ADS. The pacing is much more enjoyable, it can be faster and more frenetic like arena shooters. It being mandatory in realistic shooters like ARMA, Insurgency, near simulations makes sense but other than that it just makes the game slow, the moment to moment engagement boils down to whoever does the ADS first. Not to mention the outrageous lock-on it does if you play them with controllers.

 

[Sackboy]

yes. halo youtubers will tell you it's a bad mechanic, but it depends on the game.

it works in cod, it doesn't work in quake, it CAN work in a halo game that's BUILT around it (halo 5 did it well, problem was the old halo maps were just stretched, not reworked), and especially a game like cod that focuses more on aim and recoil control rather than positioning (headshots are way easier in halo than in cod), and with the gunsmith mechanic in modern cod it added a lot more depth to the mechanic.

call of duty is a very well designed gameeven the shitty recent ones, there's a lot that goes into making them, the guns are animated well and usually pretty balanced (usually lol), they feel good to shoot, modern cod's problems are that they can't design a map to save their LIFE, i don't think there's been more than 5 good cod maps since mw3, and (the big one) that they release one every fucking year, they're simply not worth buying, not worth playing.

 

[SliperyHippo]

I think it's a bad mechanic because now I've got the worst habit ever!
No matter what game I'm playing my right clicking finger will always get a little excited and click! This has led to me going into frenzy in Vampire The Masquerade several times just out and about on the streets, accidentally swinging an offhand weapon at a friendly NPC, to even just right clicking randomly on my desktop!
I've gotten a lot better about it as I've mostly stopped playing FPS games, but dang if that wasn't an annoying, I dunno, muscle spasm? It just kept with me for like 5 years!

 

[Zerohour2k12]

I usually don't mind it depending on the game. I'd like to think they put it there for us to engage with it. I decide weather to use it frequently or not after I get a feel for it a few times.

 

[moonbits]

yes. halo youtubers will tell you it's a bad mechanic, but it depends on the game.

Very typical of them. And yes, CoD suffers so much from it's level design that it isn't funny anymore. Did you play the level in MW2 where it's a highway filled with explosive cars? What the fuck were they thinking with that one.

This has led to me going into frenzy in Vampire The Masquerade several times just out and about on the streets, accidentally swinging an offhand weapon at a friendly NPC, to even just right clicking randomly on my desktop!

It happens even to the best of us, when I play Halo sometimes I throw grenades when I didn't want to

I usually don't mind it depending on the game. I'd like to think they put it there for us to engage with it. I decide weather to use it frequently or not after I get a feel for it a few times.

Yup but if the game relies on it, as in CoDs example where if you don't aim your shots don't land, or they barely do. Would you still refrain form using it?

 

[bjork]

I don't mind it, but my main interaction with it is in Bethesda's open world stuff. So arrows in elder scrolls, sniper rifles in fallout. They're slow-paced enough that it doesn't really break up the flow.

 

[redux007]

Hello, we've all played at least one game with Aiming Down the Sight as a core mechanic:
Hold Right Click/Left Trigger to properly do what you are already doing.

Some games make it almost mandatory to use this mechanic to properly hit your target, slowing down to a crawl, blurring your surrounding. Realistic? perhaps, but is it fun to you?

What do you think about this mechanic?

I played FPSs before and after the Cododyfication if you want to call it that and sometimes I end up preferring not using ADS. The pacing is much more enjoyable, it can be faster and more frenetic like arena shooters. It being mandatory in realistic shooters like ARMA, Insurgency, near simulations makes sense but other than that it just makes the game slow, the moment to moment engagement boils down to whoever does the ADS first. Not to mention the outrageous lock-on it does if you play them with controllers.

View attachment 145363

I think it's over done. Certain guns have no reason to have a down sight look mode as they're meant to be hip fired in real life. However, there's no denying it's a fun mechanic, especially when combined with going prone and looking over/around corners.

 

[Evaccaneer Doom]

I love advertisements in FPS! Nothing is more satisfying than jumping down a hole and seeing a Geico ad in low poly

 

[BladeEXE67]

That's how you are supposed to use a firearm though so it makes sense, unless you have other means like fookin laser sights, a hud, or are a Counter Strike chad.

I get what you mean though, most games feel the same now and hip firing is comfortable. There where times where you would only hip fire, to have the advantage in COD. I think Metal Gear Online did a fantastic job with the gunplay, rest in pepperonis MGO.

 

[metascrawl]

I think it's over done. Certain guns have no reason to have a down sight look mode as they're meant to be hip fired in real life. However, there's no denying it's a fun mechanic, especially when combined with going prone and looking over/around corners.

I don't know that there are any guns that are hip fired in real life. The kind of fully automatic rifles that you see fired from the hip in movies are in fact shouldered IRL, otherwise you'd never hit your target, nor could you effectively absorb the recoil.

 

[Scarlet Devil]

Depending on the game I think ADS does serve very specific purposes. We can all agree that its pointless in boomer shooter like games as the pacing of those games require you to always be on the move. At most they have a sniper rifle type weapon where its the only weapon with any zoom function. By the same metric, with realistic tactical shooters, its required as you're usually not given a crosshair to aim with and at most would have a red dot for hipfire. But looking at games that are in between that would have a lot more mixed results.

FEAR is neither boomer shooter nor realistic but is some weird middle ground that could probably only exist in the world of '00 FPSes. It does feature an ADS like mechanic that offers the same trade off most games will bring with ADS. Which is your aim becomes more accurate at the expense of your movement speed. FEAR is a little freak because its one of those games where your aim does become more accurate, you do slow down, but you don't actually aim down the sight and your vision is just slightly zoomed it. I do still end up using it because I swear it makes the shotgun spread a little tighter. Plus having your vision slightly zoomed in more is helpful in a lot of games including fear during the rare times you are not shooting guys in an office building. Of course the movement speed penalty isn't that bad in fear since the main mechanic of the game is the on demand slow motion button. Ultimately I would say the ADS mechanic in FEAR is weird by today's standards but certainly not obtrusive or entirely nessicary.

Blood West is a recent FPS I've played that seemingly intentionally nerfs the player's aim. This one is certainly more on the tactical side of things but still very arcadey for the lack of a better term. Its a immersive sim like game but functions more like a stealth shooter with some imsim like interactions and has a list of skills to pick from using points that you gain from a level up. Right off the bat, hipfiring in Blood West is inaccurate to the point where you might as well not try unless the enemy is in your face. With the game being wild west themed, the only gun you would feasably hipfire are shotguns. This certainly feels like an intentionally thought out design choice because blood west is very much the kind of game where they want to make a small group of enemies feel very dangerous. They even go as far to induce some aim sway to ADS, which can be mitigated by purchasing a perk. Enemies are certainly fast enough to make back pedaling while aiming not viable. The ultimate intent here feels like to prevent ranged options from being too powerful as if the player had perfect accuracy or no movement penalty, theres no challenge. When you do use guns or bows, it has to be a lot more intentful where you consider your positioning and enemy count more seriously than other games. I certainly dont mind any of this and find it to be a reasonable challenge because without the aim sway, id probably trivalize the game by nailing easy headshots.

What I would like to see more from FPSes, particularly ones that are more of an RPG, is to play around with character skill being tied to weapon accuracy. It can be done in ways where shooting isnt miserable but just less effective than you would expect of most games. Such as making recoil harsher at lower skill investment, having aim sway like in blood west or capping the maximum accuracy. Hell I'm crazy enough to say that reload speed should be also tied to character ability with ranged weapons. Just nerfed enough where you cant preform special forces tier room clears with a character that found their first handgun and landing consistent headshots. But still effective where with some intentional positioning and strategy, even an unskilled character can effectively use a gun with the common sense an average person would have.

TL:DR, theres a time and place for ADS in a game but it certainly should be given some thought relative to how fast paced a game is, how much does tactics and realism factor in, and how deep do you want your RPG mechanics to go.

Bonus thought: Does focus shot in a shoot em up count as an ADS since it gives you more accuracy at the cost of movement speed?