PC Do you prefer a controller?

As much as I love PC gaming, I just find it easier for first experiences to be with a controller. Maybe it is just growing up a console gamer before making the switch to PC gaming as well, but even with say Battlefield 3, I bought PC and 360 copies, but mainly play 360. I'll get around to playing on PC as well, but for right now I enjoy starting out on the consoles.

I much prefer using the keyboard and mouse for this and other TES games than I do using a controller. There are keyboard shortcuts for most things I want to do, including some basics like quicksaving. If I had the option, however, I might use a joystick and keyboard, considering that the mouse effects are... well, in need of some smoothing out.

seems like keyboards would make sneaking around more troublesome

I don't have a controller, so I'm forced to use the keyboard. But I would use it anyway, hotkeys hotkeys hotkeys

Yep The controller suits most games heaps better than the mouse does. I understand that alot of people will be complaining about this comment but I am correct; mouse and keyboard suck crap compared to the cntroller. With a keyboard, you can strafe up,down, left and right - not much movement control- even though you can hold say, down and right and you will strafe daginally down right. While with a controller you can: strafe in all directions, never stuff up with buttons and will not have to continually move the mouse around to see.

Out of Xbox 360 and PS3 controllers... I would have to go with the PS3 setup. Xbox has the god damn analog sticks in different positions...

PS3 FTW!!!!!!

Good point about the strafing (sic). I should find the source for this, but there was an online multiplayer competition done between PC Halo players and console Halo players and the PC guys stomped them, because 1. Hotkeys 2. More accurate, and faster look ability with a mouse. Feel free to tell me I'm wrong, because so much of this is subjective.
But, there is one type of game in which the mouse and hot key setup is far superior: real time strategy.
It's also better for turn based strategy as well, imo.

Controller = platformers, shooters, fighting games, kboard/HOTKEY/mouse = stategy, FPS and most RPGs

I understand what you mean. The mouse is good for ultra-fast turning and by far the better option for strategy games. I find to like the controller better because of the realism it creates in the turning of games and if there is one thing i love in games... it's realism. By realism i dont mean that fantasy and other stuff that is not life-like are crap, to the contrary, I love that stuff I mean that like when something happens to your character, they respond as if it were real life. For example, in Oblivion, when you were in 3rd person view and you got hit you would just slide backwards as if nothing had happened, whic was lame -_-. Like come on... but in Skyrim, apparently when you get hit you stumble and hurt a limb or something If so than... EPIC!!!!!!

keyboard and mouse here.. I usually play in 3rd person so i can see around me a little better, but i tend to be swinging my 2hander like a freak and missing a bit.. which i guess is because of the 3rd person and me moving the receptical off them i bit too much

^^ Yeah, I tried doing that. It was fun, but really inaccurate rofl XD

Ive beeen using the 360 controller for pc. I think it fits this games style of play better.

I have another vote here for keyboard and mouse. As someone already pointed out, the quick turning with the mouse is better. Plus I love controlling the view with the mouse. But for me I like it because I played oblivion on computer originally and 90% of the games I play are on computer. So I'm more adept to the keyboard and mouse.

Hmm, I like the idea of having a controller for ps3 but my main concerns are about the lag... having multiple programs open can make a game play experience suck...

I am playing the game on Xbox purely because while I love all Bethesda games that I have played, I have yet to find one that is glitch free. It isn't a complaint, I expect Bethesda games to have glitches because they always push the boundaries of what is possible in gaming.

As I like playing archers I would rather play with keyboard and mouse but I have Fallout New Vegas on my PC and I cannot play for more than an hour without the game crashing and me having to reboot my PC. I don't know if that would be the case with Skyrim on the PC but I was not willing to risk it. At least with an Xbox you know one Xbox is the same as the next. PCs have too many variations which leads to all kinds of compatability issues.

Aside from Arena, I've been a strict console user with Bethesda products. I swear by the 360 Controller (I have really big hands so PS controllers always felt like a toddlers toy to me).

HOWEVER

I made the last minute decision to switch to PC because A) I finally have a PC that can run anything at Max Settings B) All the mods and unofficial patches I miss out on as a console gamer, and C) This corresponds with A but the better graphics a PC can produce.

Everything about the PC has absolutely blown me away at Ultra settings. This game is gorgeous....and I also discovered I LOOOOOOVE Mouse and Keyboard now.

Mouse and Keyboard severely cuts down on time spent in menus. Sifting through Favorited spells is fast and convenient. It overall makes the whole interface more easily navigable in my opinion.

Not to mention sifting in and out of 3rd and 1st person with the mouse wheel is way smoother than using a controller to change your view. My game style has adapted to play both in and out of these views easily which I really enjoy now!

I have been a skilled FPS console gamer for years, and I gotta say mouse and keyboard destroys controller as much as I hate to say it. I'm currently running a level 21 Wizard with only Magicka upgraded. I'm firing spells a lot, and while it took some adjusting I have to say my accuracy is freakin' wicked now.

Doing a 180 turn takes no time at all. I could never do max sensitivity on a controller to get that kind of speed. With a mouse it's far more controlled.

Don't get me wrong I love the 360 controller, but I have to tip my hat to the mouse and keyboard. You win.

Especially when doing Archery!! Aiming is so much more sensitive with a mouse and keyboard.

The computor does have better graphics but... the errors that occur on PC's are incredible. Also, you have to sit so close t the screen >.< I prefer to game in comfort

I have a 25ft HDMI cord hooked up to my plasma with wireless mouse and keyboard...you can adjust

If errors are your concern, consider the errors you get on a console, and wether patches will be available. Also, if there is a patch, at least if you don't want that patch on PC, you don't HAVE to download it like Xbox.

Hmm... Mainly I'm playing with the regular mouse/keyboard settings. Probably because I don't have a controller lying around here somewhere. It does feel a bit stiff sometimes, especially when I'm playing around with my inventory.

I rather play shooters on PC tho, due to lack of controller skill and also because the mouse feels a tiny bit more realistic. Last time I played a shooter is a while back tho, not my genre. I'm definitely a PC gamer