I am curious how console gamers or PC gamers who use a controller find playing Skyrim.

I am a PC user with a controller and I find aiming with the controller to be very hit and miss in open combat. If I told you that my ranged magic/bow attacks hit less than 50% of the time, would you say I svck? I was just wondering if anyone else finds it tough to get in a precise aim using a controller besides myself. I am not referring to stealthy attacks, but open combat when multiple enemies are engaged, attacking and moving about all at once.

(those who use the keyboard and mouse, please don't tell me to use those because I hate being tied down and bent over my keyboard while playing games. I would rather get killed repeatedly while relaxing and sitting back in a chair (which is, sadly, my current state of affairs), thAn be triumphant while hunched over a keyboard.)

Nostromo keypad, wireless trackball.

Win.

That is still using a device with a fixed location...Perhaps it is an imrovement, but that still doesn't answer my question.

See, I've never understood why PC players say that FPS games are superior because of the mouse.

I have a PS3 controller and I can use the bow just fine. Pretty accurate too.

I am an Xbox user turned PC user. I use my same TV as a monitor and the same controller. I tried using a mouse, but my wrists cannot take more than about 15 - 20 minutes of gameplay.

The mouse is indeed more accurate, mainly because the anolog stick has a "dead spot". The mouse allows instant directional change while the stick must travel back to center and then start moving the character.

While it is only a microsecond in difference, it can be a disadvantage. However, if you just get used to it, you can move rather fast. The problem is still pinpointing an exact spot. So it's not uncommon with the controller.

The best bet is to get close quickly with the right stick and use the left stick to move the character to fine tune the shot. By using both in tandum, one can get pretty damn accurate on a consistency.

I play exactly the same as on the Xbox 360, since I use an XBox 360 controller. I have a perfectly good PC gamepad, could not use it since Microsoft seem to think my PC should be an extension of their console, and I hate mouse and keyboard, although I did use it for ages.

Never had any trouble aiming, whether it was keyboard and mouse of the Xbox 360 controller, it is just easier for me to use a gamepad, I hit most things I aim at, unless they do that supersonic dodge move.

Yeah, it's that supersonic dodge move that gets me. In all honesty, I had no problems with the controller until Morvenskar and some pretty fleet of foot fire-balling necromancers. My aiming was 1/3 the speed of their fireballs and it cost me many a trip to soveignguard. But alas, that is for a different thread.

Also, Jesuis Cache casche. By your reckoning, I must just svck with the controller. But hopefully I will get better at it as time passes. Maybe I just need a bigger monitor.

I played the Mass Effect series with a mouse and keyboard and I can tell you aiming was far easier with the mouse in that game than compared with the controller and Skyrim. Of course, when I finished ME, I needed three months of neck and back therapy to be able to unfold myself once again.

I started playing Skyrim on the PS3, and I have only played on the PC since the legendary edition was released... I have to say, I think its much easier to aim with a bow on the PS3 with a controller. Casting spells makes no difference to me, I can do that fine on both systems. But man, trying to lead targets with a mouse is sooooo annoying to me because Im constantly running into the edge of my mouse pad, whereas with a controller I can just keep leading with the joystick. This has caused me to basically never use archery.

Because a mouse is so precise and fast that you don't need artificial aiming aids. All console games including Skyrim have aiming aids. If controllers were truly good aiming aids wouldn't be required.

I don't know if aiming aids are enabled on PC if you play with a controller, but hitting targets should still be easy in this game as the hitboxes are bigger than the models, and any hit does full damage. No headshots required.

Edit:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqiXreIZgT0

I find archery in skyrim very good with a ps3 controller, I don't just not miss, I place arrows in specific parts of the anatomy which I want to for the sake of realism. I hit deer behind the shoulder, hit people in the chest or back in such a way the arrow is hitting the heart, or better yet in the nostril or the eyeball.