Does a game-pad help controlling the game character better?

[hkBattousai]

I'm not into computer games very much, I have never bought any gaming hardware before and I have zero knowledge about them. On the other hand, I am quite obsessed with Touhou (primarily with EoSD) recently, and I'm very frustrated by the low precision of the keyboard control keys. A tiny touch on a navigation key moves the character more than I want. This makes it harder to dodge especially the Stage 3 spell cards.

My question is, would buying a game pad help making a better game play? As far as I know, game pads have one or two "analog stick" on them. Does it increase precision? Does that analog stick actually allow to move the character more precisely? I watched some playback videos on Youtube; they are definitely not playing with the keyboard since their character move way too smoothly on the screen.

So, would a game pad help? Or, is there any other hardware you would like to suggest to me?

[shockdude]

Are you using the Shift key? If you want any sort of precision, hold Shift, Let go of Shift to make rapid dashes across the screen.
Also if you don't know already, press X to bomb, and hold Ctrl to skip dialogue.

Imo Touhou plays fine with a keyboard, assuming your keyboard isn't bad quality. Touhou controls digitally; an analog stick would make the game harder. However, a gamepad's directional pad (DPAD) is digital and works well with Touhou, and a lot of people prefer it over a keyboard.
I use a keyboard but I edited the controls so that my left hand does movement and my right hand does shooting.

[Drake]

It's generally accepted that control method is almost entirely a matter of preference. Many good players control with keyboard, many use gamepad, many use arcade stick, whatever. Most Touhou fans would use the keyboard mainly because it's the default control method.

Really the answer is just try it, to see if you like it. But I'm curious as to whether or not your keyboard is working properly. The game polls input on every frame, and the player only moves a few pixels per frame. Using a keyboard in particular has nothing to do with it.

[hkBattousai]

Thank you for your replies.
Yes, I'm already using the Shift key. But still I can't reach the precision I desire. Maybe I'm trying to overkill it. I will try it with a game pad and see the difference anyway.

[t_prinny]

Like Drake and shockdude said, it is a matter of preference to play Touhou on a keyboard. It would help to know whether some of your inputs aren't being read by the keyboard when you play. Some keyboards generally don't like more than 2 or 3 inputs at any time.

Aside from that, using the keyboard for Touhou takes a bit of practice. Personally, I use a keyboard since I did not have too many options for playing when I started getting into Touhou. In my opinion, it also takes a few tries just to get used to the general feel of the game before it feels like you can perform competently.

[Cream Soda]

I think a major issue in the older games (pre-Mountain of Faith) is input lag that makes control more clunky than it should be and makes your precision suffer. When I started using vpatch to run those games, it made a huge difference.

[shockdude]

Yes, vpatch ftw. The increased responsiveness is almost magical.
EoSD is weird to set up with vpatch. I'm on a phone right now but I could post more info later if you want.

[CyberAngel]

Do keep in mind that there are a few tricks that increase movement precision. One is tapping the button rapidly instead of holding it. You can even control how long you keep the button pressed while tapping to have different movement precision, but that requires quite some skill (though I enjoyed discovering that). Another nifty trick is pressing against the edge. Say, you're at the bottom of the screen. If you move diagonally down, you obviously won't move any lower, but you'll move to the side slower than usual.

What I understood from controller type discussions is that using a gamepad is better if you're more used to them than to keyboard. Analog sticks don't give any benefit of precision, you always move at the same speed. You'd still need to use tricks I mentioned to move slower than that, just like with a keyboard.

[Ghost]

Keyboard is fine for playing touhou.
As was mentioned, an analog stick isn't superior, movement's controlled digitally.

Really it's just personal preference, but there's no innate advantage to a pad over a keyboard.

[Mero]

I think a major issue in the older games (pre-Mountain of Faith) is input lag that makes control more clunky than it should be and makes your precision suffer. When I started using vpatch to run those games, it made a huge difference.

Considering you're playing EoSD, this is the first thing you should look into.

As for what you asked, it's just like they said, it's a matter of preference, there may be some obvious advantages at first, Arrow keys are more precise, while a D-pad is more fluid, but with enough practice either peripheral can do both things, so really, just try different stuff and see what works best for you

[cactu]

All the good players play with controllers.

[ふねん1]

I also use a keyboard, but I know that it's not the only option out there. I'm just used to the setup I have here. As others have said, it's pretty much preference. With enough practice, you'll learn how to do whatever precise movements you want with whatever controller you use. The controller itself is not the only factor that goes into improving at these games.

All the good players play with controllers.

I would like to hear what your definition of "good" is then.

[Esper]

All the good players play with controllers.

Tl;dr version: Not all of them do, regardless of the game.


Long version

There are people that can play well at shmups in general with a keyboard, such as Prometheus (guy on shmups.system11.org w). He's likely not a touhou player, but he's one of the higher-ranking (highest that speaks english iirc) players in Dodonpachi at the very least.

Whichever controler you pick, remember that MrMonkeyMan (Higher-ranking player, not on MoTK) has proved you can destroy a difficult [STG] with a crazy score using a pad and [PROMETHEUS] proved you can do that using a keyboard. If you've been playing other competitive games with a pad or keyboard before, then you could stick with that input as you already are familiar and skilled at using it quickly and accurately. Just don't listen to the crowd of people who sing together how STGs are meant to be played with arcade sticks so arcade sticks have to be the best at it. They are wrong.

(Edited slightly for context and made more broad)

Even more to disprove your point a tiny bit is the next paragraph in which is said:

I personnally secretly believe keyboards are actually a superior input to arcade sticks. (...) That's because they're much faster at changing directions, and they're also better at tapping one direction very shortly multiple times, which are very useful perks for STGs. Some people will point to you its easier and more intuitive to make circles with an arcade stick, but that's pretty much useless !! I might be wrong about keyboard being superior, (...) [but] keyboards rule anyway.

I realize this comment isn't touhou-related, but this kind of thing applies to any shmup anyway, which is the topic matter. Just saying that in case someone wants to disregard my point for not mentioning a 2hu player.

Heck, as imprecise as an arcade stick is, if you can get good with it, it's your call.

Full Extent of the Jam, written by ProMetheus, is a good source because it presents useful tips that can help newer players get accustomed to the genre of shmups, which applies to Touhou. It may not be touhou-related, but it's certainly helpful and should be mentioned over here. The only problem is that it discusses the use of things that are prohibited discussion on this site as it is aimed towards shmups running on mame, but most of the tips that apply generally to all shmups will apply to touhou. For reference on who prometheus is, ProMetheus is a player whom of which has dominated the DoDonPachi scoreboard, the second-highest score being almost 200 million points below him (which is like 40%-ish w)

Sorry if it sounds like I'm sperging out, but I just needed to make this point. If it's such a problem that I cited a document written by someone who knows what they're doing, feel free to tell me.