Just going by what I read here and other places :

http://ie.ign.com/games/darksiders-ii/wii-u-110809

in a weaving tale that runs parallel to the events in the original Darksiders game.

This is why a mouse and keyboard are inadequate. You play the same game with a pad and it's pure joy, the pad input is fluid and you cease to notice it. Fighting your keyboard for the whole game sucks.

The opposite is true, trying to control some games via pad sucks ass and a keyboard is much better.
@xa_chan

As PC gear goes it's actually cheap. The wired XBox 360 for Windows and the regular wired XBox 360 controller are the same device, so you can get whichever is cheaper (around 30 USD). I get that it annoys you to have to switch, but there's nothing fundamentally wrong with it and if a game was tested using a controller, it's that controller that was used. In addition it's extremely sturdy and there's loads of mods for it that you can do if you're that kind of person.
I'm just going to have to go with we'll wait and see because I am not slogging through all the dev diaries and making of videos again;)

I think etna87 might have been talking more about badly designed / poorly thought-out controls rather than controls and combos being clunky due to keyboard input.
Bad controls can be found in games across (probably) all systems and input devices.

Just about any game designed for a pad can be equally playable (if not more thanks to mouse aim) on mouse and keyboard - as long as a good control layout is used.

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As for when Darksiders II takes place, everything I've read so far suggests that it begins sometime shortly after War is sent back to Earth after being re-awoken 100 years after the apocalypse.

And that's a theory that makes a lot of sense, however in my personal experience, even with a great keyboard and mouse layout, if the game just doesn't require that quick mouse precision then it actually plays better with a gamepad. Again, that's personal and therefor anecdotal but it's been my experience.

A couple of examples:
Orcs Must Die (aka I like committing genocide): head shots matter and while it's perfectly playable with a gamepad, the mouse and keyboard is going to net you higher scores.

Darksiders: There's no aiming mechanic (even with the guns) that benefits from mouse speed or precision, but there are intricate combos, reaching across full sized keys will be slower and put subtle strain on your fingers and wrists, therefor it will play way better with a pad.

I'm honestly not sure why this discussion always comes up with this particular genre of games. No one ever argues that a regular game pad or mouse and keyboard are superior to a fight stick (or even could be) while playing Street Fighter or Soul Calibur.

I think it's most likely just down to personal preference.

Don't know if I'd say the keyboard is superior, but I do know that it works pretty well in games like One Must Fall: 2097 and Super Smash Bros. (emulated N64)
(using these as examples as I haven't played any of the Street Fighter or Soul Calibur games :-( ).

Super Smash Bros. can be deep supposedly (I don't like it, personally), if you play against someone with a controller they should be able to own you. If you play Street Fighter against anyone halfway decent and only they have a fight stick, you can expect a solid whooping.

Native 360 controller support or via an emulator?

Yeah, that's what I meant. I haven't played for a while now, but I guess I assumed that controller support wasn't available and just played with a mouse/keyword. I'll have to give it another try now that I know otherwise. Thanks for the confirmation!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DirectInput#DirectInput_vs_XInput

How well does the XBox360 controller work with older PC titles? Quite a few people seem to have problems using it with e.g. GOG Rayman 2, and I am wondering how well it works with e.g. Carmageddon 2.

I am using an older Logitech PS2-lookalike gamepad for Carmageddon 2, works quite fine there.

Overall, gamepad is a jack of all trades, and a master of none. Keyboard + mouse is much more specialized controller combo, mostly good for FPS and strategy games, or other games with constant inventory management or other point'n'click features.

Yeah I tried Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo PC with the keyboard, and it was useless, especially for those moves where you were supposed to yank the joystick 720 degrees or something. That was the reason I bought my first PC gamepad, Gravis something.

I had to use Xpadder, although DKS is available on 360, the PC version doesnt allow you to use the 360 controller without something like xpadder, I have the game on 360 and PC, so I knew where to assign the buttons on the controller from the manual.

When I got the game first, I got the PC version as its SUPPOSED to be controller enabled, I didnt envisage any problems until I plugged in my controller and it didnt bloody work, luckily there was a post on the Larian forums about using xpadder, otherwise I would have binned the game as its M/KB controls were annoying, but as the game was really good, when I saw the 360 DKS for €20 I got it too, its definately one of the top RPG's currently.

I just fired the game up again, and yeah, apparently I lied. You can't toggle to game pad in the options.

That's probably the main reason... I don't like controllers in the first place, and I'm not a fan of all those combo mechanics either. So it would probably feel clunky to me even when playing with a controller ;-)

Orcs... -1 to Alignment ;-)

Wait, does that move me towards LG, right? Damn, goody-two-shoes dicks!;)