The game is 100% made for a controller. Everything from menus to combat.

To me this question might as well be "is this an FPS or RTS?" I use a controller for just about everything.

I found the K&M controls a bit weirdat the start too after the the Witcher 2 controls, but got used to it after a couple hours and now it's quite natural. The only thing amiss with the K&M controls is potentially the dodge as it is bound to the Alt key by default making that a bit awkward, but so far I have not bothered to rebind it as I'm rolling allt he time anyway.

You can do 100% of the things you need to do in the game with a controller. The menus are even better that way. I see pretty much no reason to use keyboard and mouse for this.

@tennmuerti: i did find that odd. i'm only about 1.5 hours in at this point though.

I play mouse and keyboard because that's how I played the Witcher 2 but honestly, the interface is very well crafted and seems to work well with a controller. I'm thinking of switching to controller but I feel like I'm just starting to get the hang of the combat and switching to controller would destroy my muscle memory.

KB&M for me all the way. I rebound dodge to Mouse 4 before I started playing and combat has been fine from the get-go. Then again, I'm the sort of person that finds 99% of shooters to be intolerably bad when played with a controller.

Controller 'cause vibrations

Oh hey! I did that too! Makes combat a whole lot better.

found keyboard and mouse alot easier after i did some rebinding and turning mouse sensitivity down.

I'm trying to use my dual shock so i can use the trackpad for the mouse scroll to quick swap signs. So far it's too sensitive ingame and i haven't been able to get it right.

Xbox One controller has been amazing.

Mouse and Keyboard is absolutely fine, as it was for the 2nd game too.

Keyboard and mouse for me. It took a while for me to get used to, and I'm a little irritated at some of the restrictions (parry and Witcher sense can share rmb, but not strong attack + sense, why!?), overall it works ok for me. I rebound dodge to cntrl and made sure to turn on the "hardware cursor" option.

It's a PC game so I'm using Mouse and Keyboard

WASD is for assholes. I'm using arrow keys.

I'm using a 360 pad primarily but I had to use mouse and keyboard for about an hour last night while my battery pack was recharging and it worked fine, if I didn't play the vast majority of games with a mouse+keyboard I would probably just stick with that.

I'm guessing here but I think its because parry and witcher sense share the same button on a controller.

@oursin_360: Have you considered using something like Pinnacle to map mouse scroll to another button or combination of buttons on the controller? I've done this in other games and it has worked great.

There aren't really any spare buttons to map it to, though, and button combinations? Sounds cumbersome.

The mouse and keyboard worked fine for The Witcher 2 and it works fine for this game. However, I'd be surprised if that was the control method that CD Projekt Red had in mind for players. If you're OK with using either, I'd suggest going with the controller.

That said, why are people saying the the inventory is designed for the controller? It's a bunch of squares in a grid with items laying in them and hovering over them shows information. If that ain't mouse-centric UI design, then I don't know what it is. It's OK with a controller, but I've always been a fan of spreadsheet-esque lists that show me everything's stats at a glance. SkyUI is the best UI.

You can also also functions to double tap, and assign a third function to tap and hold.

What this fine gentleman said. After applying the following fixes, it became almost perfect:

• Rebinding a couple of keys (like dodge to mouse side button)
• Turning off mouse acceleration (Video -> "hardware" option -> "on")
• Dropping mouse sensitivity
• Instantly opening/closing the different menus (and jumping from one menu to the next) using I, L, K, J, M, N, B and G
• Quick-selecting signs using numbers 3-7

BIG TIP FOR M+KB PLAYERS:

Plug in your controller and use it to look at inventory/shop items. Using the mouse/keyboard disables the info section of the screen, it just disappears from the screen. I pick up the controller to look at the different items and the info section pops up:

From what I've heard it controls extremely well with m/kb. Just like the first 2 games.

I went with KB&M because, after struggling through Shadow of Mordor with a controller, I realized that I just can't stand panning cameras with a joystick.

I played TW 1 and 2 with keyboard and mouse, the game is designed to be played however you like.

I voted for controller but I have an XOne pad.... Don't really understand why people say the 360 pad is better, I don't see it.

@terminatorz: that... seems like a bug.

A nasty one IMO, I spent the first day moving the mouse over every item to read the details in a pop-up -_-

So glad I thought of trying a controller for it.

@terminatorz: cause profit

well this seems like a consensus. thanks.

The keybindings are so fucked up. I've been using a 360 controller.

I've actually found the Keyboard and Mouse in this game to be better than the gamepad. Originally started with the controller because I figured the third person action would map to it better but the mouse seems to do a better job of dealing with the movement.

@korwin: I'm trying both, but i did find that feathering the mouse sensitivity is hard to find the right spot.

I use a controller but switch quickly to the mouse when using the crafting menu. That giant list of crap is significantly easier/faster to navigate using that mouse. Even though you can collapse the sections to make the list shorter. You can scroll the list with the right stick but for some stupid reason they made it so you can't actually select from where you now are. It zooms back up or down to where the item you still had currently highlighted.

With the mouse however you can just scroll with the mousewheel and click the thing you wanna build.

Also something to note on the issue of the shop being worse with the KB+M. That info doesn't just go away, it actually becomes a mouse tooltip. When you highlight over an item it displays the information normally under your inventory next to the item itself like in this screenshot(I had to add a little cursor in MSPaint because hardware cursor goes away in screenshots for some reason).

I switched to the controller after about the 4th time the dodge key being so hard to hit in the middle of combat got me killed..and havn't looked back sense.

Of course there are things which the keyboard is better at, store menus and such and your in luck! This game switches between keyboard and controler extremely well, like instantly with no issues what so ever. All one has to do is move the mouse and boom, back to M/k you go, or move a stick and its over to controler. That alone has made this kinda a..

Both, I use both. The controller mostly but the keyboard for some things (like quick save, menus, etc) I'm unsure what the game was designed to play with best but eh, a bit of both works pretty well with my setup.

I've switched to mouse and keyboard for almost everything. The benefits are too great.

I can't decide. Running feels light and weird as if it lacks mass with the controller. Will see if KBM is any different.

I use KB+M. I had to rebind like half the keys, but once I did it's flawless. One of the big advantages is that you can bind each sign to a key and then change signs on the fly without going into the menu. It makes the combat much more fluid imo, I've never liked having to pause mid combat to change signs, especially since I change signs a lot.

@tobbrobb: Use whatever you enjoy more, controller or MKB it doesn't matter as long as you're having fun, but you're pretty wrong, you can't do 100% of what the MKB does in the Witcher 3 with a controller.

You don't nearly have the same control over Geralt's walking/running, fighting from horseback, quick-switching signs,instantly dragging inventory items with the mouse, and many more things, by using a mouse with side buttons and spreading your left palm over several keys comfortably.

Again I'm not criticizing your choice, but you shouldn't make misleading claims.

The controller has one advantage though, which is showing item info in a dedicated info section on the inventory screen, as opposed to having to mouse over every item to read its details in a cursor pop-up.

@terminatorz: Over time I agree the inventory and shops are better with a mouse. And quick selecting spells is nice enough. But having more control over Geralt or the horse I just plain don't agree with. It's on par at best.

And mind, I would have used KB+M like I did for the previous games if the default bindings weren't bad, and rebinding the keys to my taste was an unneccessary hassle from how they designed the rebinding menu.

Definitely controller. The game, like other third person action games, was made to be played with a controller so using the KB/Mouse will be quite awkward.

The two things tempting me to go back to mouse and keyboard is the instant sign switching and navigating menus. Normally I don't mind action wheels but in this game they really should have let you put 3 signs on the d-pad with down or up being devoted to a quick item. I would rather open the wheel and select a potion to drink and have quick access to several signs than how it is now.

The menus can also be a bit of a pain to click your way past every box. It's not the end of the world but clearly it was designed with a mouse in mind and not very well adapted to a controller.

I found Ds4windows (not the input mapper version) and now i have swipe up and down on the track pad for switching signs, left click for map, right click for inventory, top click for quest log, and ps button for quick save. I'm loving the Ds4 on pc with this game now, only problem is the pop up that says keyboard detected/gamepad detected but that's just more annoying than anything.

ps3 controller!

I use a 360 controller, but use the keyboard for quick saving and getting to the map/inventory/character screen quicker.

I played this with the mouse and keyboard. Couldnt even imagine playing the game with a controller. To me mouse and keyboard just seems like it is more precise especially when it comes to combat. I think it is just basically a question of if you are mainly a console guy or if you have been playing pc games for a long time. People who have played mostly with a controller might have problems with mouse and keyboard.

Any way to walk with a controller? (other than pushing the stick midway to make him walk) It's the only issue that makes me consider switching to KBM

@nardak: I've been primary a PC gamer for a long long time, but I find the Witcher games (at least 2 & 3) just work better with a controller for me. Combat is better with a controller and the inventory system... well... it's pretty clunky either way.

People who play games clearly designed for a controller with KB/M are insane. Especially third-person games with deliberate movement (as discussed on the podcast), the analog controls make sense. Having limited 8-way movement because of the WASD set-up is outdated.

@ch3burashka: Though witcher 1 and 2 were developed primarily for pc. Witcher 1 didnt have any console versions. Witcher 2 was published first for pc and then about a year later for xbox360.

The combat is not designed primarily for only a controller. The soft targeting in the game is very intuitive and you can fight stuff with keyboard and mouse just fine. Some people just play better with a controller than a mouse & keyboard. For Brad or Dan to say that controller is better doesnt mean much since they mostly play console games and use a controller for most of their gaming (even when they play games on pc). There are also some people who use a controller for fps games when they could use a mouse & keyboard which has a much more precise control.

I started the game on the second hardest difficulty and finished it on death march since about halfway through i was plowing through the opponents. Mouse & keyboard worked for me just fine.

Kb/m. Having to pause mid combo to switch signs is stupid. Also, F5.