I was playing the Demon’s Souls remake. I’ve played a number of Soulslike games before, but never any from the original line of Demon’s Souls or Dark Souls, and I figured it was about time. It was pretty much exactly what I had expected (which is good), given what I’d heard about it and what I knew from other non-Fromsoft games plus my playthrough a couple years ago of Bloodborne. Probably not much I could say about it that hasn’t been said before, but I was certainly enjoying it.
I also have found I love metroidvanias so I’ve usually got one of those on rotation. Right now it’s Laika: Aged Through Blood which stands out largely because it is focused on a movement mechanic where you’re entirely, always on a motorcycle, very unique for a metroidvania. Combat all happens while you’re rollin’ and you only get two bullets (4 after upgrading) and the only way to reload is to do a backflip on your bike. There’s a lot I could say about it, but I’ll just keep it short and say it’s definitely fun and unique but also deeply flawed. The story is really quite gruesome, just describing the opening scene and plot motivation would require a number of content warnings. It’s got some great original singer-songwriter music, the woman who sang and produced it (honestly has a beautiful voice and clear musical talent) was apparently full on co-creator of the game, heavily involved in the coding and nuts and bolts of the gameplay too, which is cool. One of a slew of indie games coming out of Spain, it does have a strong western “libertarian” vibe, but as is often the case (imo), it feels right on the edge of being a potentially strong left-libertarian story if the creators were just a little more politically aware. I think. The protag does live on a dying commune, after all. The creators do know who the famous Laika was, since the main character is a dog who looks like, well, Laika. But unfortunately, there is nothing in it relevant to the Soviet space program (that I know of so far) aside from a few vague jabs at gommulism=bad, but you have to look for it. Considering its Spanish origin, I wonder a lot about potential inspiration from the Civil War, and who on the team may actually be anarchists, meaning maybe I should actually be giving it more credit as left-libertarian than the initial vibe I got.
At the top, I did say I “was” playing, but now I am not… because my fucking “dualsense” controller suddenly developed severe stick drift, making it too frustrating to play. I’ve only had it 2 fucking months.
I was literally saving up for over 2 years to get a PS5, it was a huge deal to get such a big treat for myself. I’m disabled, on foodstamps, basically no income, so for me, getting a console is a major expense and I felt guilty for spending that much on a treat. I knew stick drift was an issue, so I’ve been really careful, always washing my hands directly before playing and even keeping the controller in a plastic bag when not in use (it is really dusty here), I’ve not dropped it or banged it on anything a single time, always treating it delicately. But after only 2 months, fucking controller is practically unusable.
Isopropyl-dipped cotton swab + canned air around the stick ball edges haven’t helped so I think it’s just shitty hardware that is plain broken. And it’s such a fucking scam, I can’t believe it. Well, I can, but you know what I mean. The controllers are widely known to do this. Sony obviously knows and refuses to do anything about it, however many years it is now into the ps5 cycle. There have been a bunch of class action law suits against them (that of course were thrown out) for knowingly using their faulty controllers to bilk players by making them so they inevitably break and you can’t replace the parts and have to buy a completely new one for $70. Or you can buy their $200+ “edge” controller which has a few fucking bells and whistles but the main thing most people would want it for is that you can swap out the stick components for new ones. Only they’ve made those replacement sticks artificially scarce. And their “technology” is patented on all their controllers, so if you want the full functionality, you can’t buy 3rd party because 3rd parties aren’t allowed to make controllers with the full functionality. So everyone essentially has to just keep buying new controllers all the time as Sony rakes in the cash.
I realize this is hardly unique or new, it’s basically standard practice for this kind of shit. But it still pisses me off. Fortunately I’m still under warranty. I mostly only buy this kind of thing used to try to save money, but I knew this was a case where I might need the warranty, but I thought I’d have a little longer than < 2months. But part of the scam is that Sony is well known for being particularly bad with customer service to the point most people give up (again, nothing unique there, but apparently they’re really bottom of the barrel with this stuff), I will have to pay fr shipping to them, and it will be 2 weeks minimum before getting it back. So it looks like it will be a bit before I can continue my playthrough of Demon’s Souls. I have an old ps4 controller and apparently you can use them for ps4 games, but you’re locked out of using it for any PS5-only games like Demon’s Souls, and I do have a couple PS4 games I can play, so I won’t have to go cold turkey, but still… sucks. If you actually read my boring ass rant, I’m surprised, but thank you.
My ps5 controller also developed bad drift within the first couple months of use. And I shipped it back and they paid for shipping. It did take about a month to get back which was lame but I the replacement has held up for 3 years now, so hopefully if you get yours fixed it’ll hold up.
Thanks. Glad to hear you ended up with a good outcome. But damn, a month is quite the turnaround time for something like this.
Do you mind if I ask how heavy your use was of the controller that got the drift, and if your use changed when you got the replacement? I’ve seen some people (around the web) say they’ve had to replace theirs every few months like clockwork and others who’ve gone years without any issue.
I was playing pretty heavy yeah, Elden ring came out around then and I put about 100 hours in it or more. I’d also spent alot of time with hollow knight and gungeon and atomic crops. Atomic crops was the game I identified the drift in specifically.
But I haven’t eased off at all. I’ve got thousands of hours on the replacement controller. So maybe I got lucky with a solid replacement? It’s a real shame Sony basically killed off third party controllers so you have to buy from them now. The dual sense is fine, but most of its fancy features I don’t really care about (adaptive triggers has only made my fingers hurt so I always turn it off, the speaker is a gimmick, and the swipe pad is fine but just another button really).
But fr, I’ve had that issue, I have to slowly drip alcohol inside the stick, wiggle it around, turn it upside down, wait for a day, check, do that again 3-4 times and it’s been working for 6 months (for now) worst that could happen from pure alcohol - mic/sound breaks
*also, as a sign for improvement for me, the drift was gone while it was wet from alcohol (it’s fine, it’s non conductive + voltages are low anyways)
OK, well cool. Maybe there’s still hope for me before having to do the return thing, then. So long as I don’t void the warranty, I guess I’ve got nothing to lose by soaking the sucker. But just so I understand you correctly, the drift thing happened to you once, you did that, and it has been good for 6 months since? Or you have had to do that more than once in the last 6 months, but it has repeatedly worked?
also, as a sign for improvement for me, the drift was gone while it was wet from alcohol (it’s fine, it’s non conductive + voltages are low anyways)
I did for a little bit at first think my attempt at cleaning it with the alcohol+swab had worked, but within 5 or 10 minutes the problem reappeared. I’m not sure if that’s promising or not, but I’ll give it another shot. Thank you for the tips!
yeah, happened once after 15 months maybe (?), with big breaks though, cause i use it for pc, maybe 4-6 months of active use or thereabouts, and then problems for a week and now been working fine.
my logic was that either some shit was stuck to thingy reading it out or dust was there, so when i wriggle the stick, and then turn it upside down, it maybe dislodges and flushes down with excess of alcohol (so onto the visible part of the stick), and then i wipe it, and do it again, and it kinda sorta worked?
*with return though, might be extra careful not to wet the sticker, there is mic hole nearby, it definitely was dripping from there during my machinations, so maybe put a tissue there beforehand
Ok, will do. Good to know about the sticker. You let it sit for a whole day, though? Seems the alcohol should evaporate pretty quick and either work or not within an hour, but I’m clearly no expert. Also, I only have 70% isopropyl. I’m thinking I should probably be using 91% for something like this.
I did just put a fairly hefty amount (but not enough to really douse it) of 70%, shook it around a little, rotated the stick around a bit, put it upside down for about 15 minutes. … No improvement. 😞 I’ll try again with more alcohol but going to try to find some 91% instead.
well, mainly cause i was doing it in the evening when “games not work” issues cropped up , and from inside evaporation is slower cause i didn’t use fancy air cans to dry it, so waiting 2 hours or 1 day feels roughly similar tbh. I did use pure alcohol though, it is fairly cheap after covid in online shops.
I was playing the Demon’s Souls remake. I’ve played a number of Soulslike games before, but never any from the original line of Demon’s Souls or Dark Souls, and I figured it was about time. It was pretty much exactly what I had expected (which is good), given what I’d heard about it and what I knew from other non-Fromsoft games plus my playthrough a couple years ago of Bloodborne. Probably not much I could say about it that hasn’t been said before, but I was certainly enjoying it.
I also have found I love metroidvanias so I’ve usually got one of those on rotation. Right now it’s Laika: Aged Through Blood which stands out largely because it is focused on a movement mechanic where you’re entirely, always on a motorcycle, very unique for a metroidvania. Combat all happens while you’re rollin’ and you only get two bullets (4 after upgrading) and the only way to reload is to do a backflip on your bike. There’s a lot I could say about it, but I’ll just keep it short and say it’s definitely fun and unique but also deeply flawed. The story is really quite gruesome, just describing the opening scene and plot motivation would require a number of content warnings. It’s got some great original singer-songwriter music, the woman who sang and produced it (honestly has a beautiful voice and clear musical talent) was apparently full on co-creator of the game, heavily involved in the coding and nuts and bolts of the gameplay too, which is cool. One of a slew of indie games coming out of Spain, it does have a strong western “libertarian” vibe, but as is often the case (imo), it feels right on the edge of being a potentially strong left-libertarian story if the creators were just a little more politically aware. I think. The protag does live on a dying commune, after all. The creators do know who the famous Laika was, since the main character is a dog who looks like, well, Laika. But unfortunately, there is nothing in it relevant to the Soviet space program (that I know of so far) aside from a few vague jabs at gommulism=bad, but you have to look for it. Considering its Spanish origin, I wonder a lot about potential inspiration from the Civil War, and who on the team may actually be anarchists, meaning maybe I should actually be giving it more credit as left-libertarian than the initial vibe I got.
At the top, I did say I “was” playing, but now I am not… because my fucking “dualsense” controller suddenly developed severe stick drift, making it too frustrating to play. I’ve only had it 2 fucking months.
I was literally saving up for over 2 years to get a PS5, it was a huge deal to get such a big treat for myself. I’m disabled, on foodstamps, basically no income, so for me, getting a console is a major expense and I felt guilty for spending that much on a treat. I knew stick drift was an issue, so I’ve been really careful, always washing my hands directly before playing and even keeping the controller in a plastic bag when not in use (it is really dusty here), I’ve not dropped it or banged it on anything a single time, always treating it delicately. But after only 2 months, fucking controller is practically unusable.
Isopropyl-dipped cotton swab + canned air around the stick ball edges haven’t helped so I think it’s just shitty hardware that is plain broken. And it’s such a fucking scam, I can’t believe it. Well, I can, but you know what I mean. The controllers are widely known to do this. Sony obviously knows and refuses to do anything about it, however many years it is now into the ps5 cycle. There have been a bunch of class action law suits against them (that of course were thrown out) for knowingly using their faulty controllers to bilk players by making them so they inevitably break and you can’t replace the parts and have to buy a completely new one for $70. Or you can buy their $200+ “edge” controller which has a few fucking bells and whistles but the main thing most people would want it for is that you can swap out the stick components for new ones. Only they’ve made those replacement sticks artificially scarce. And their “technology” is patented on all their controllers, so if you want the full functionality, you can’t buy 3rd party because 3rd parties aren’t allowed to make controllers with the full functionality. So everyone essentially has to just keep buying new controllers all the time as Sony rakes in the cash.
I realize this is hardly unique or new, it’s basically standard practice for this kind of shit. But it still pisses me off. Fortunately I’m still under warranty. I mostly only buy this kind of thing used to try to save money, but I knew this was a case where I might need the warranty, but I thought I’d have a little longer than < 2months. But part of the scam is that Sony is well known for being particularly bad with customer service to the point most people give up (again, nothing unique there, but apparently they’re really bottom of the barrel with this stuff), I will have to pay fr shipping to them, and it will be 2 weeks minimum before getting it back. So it looks like it will be a bit before I can continue my playthrough of Demon’s Souls. I have an old ps4 controller and apparently you can use them for ps4 games, but you’re locked out of using it for any PS5-only games like Demon’s Souls, and I do have a couple PS4 games I can play, so I won’t have to go cold turkey, but still… sucks. If you actually read my boring ass rant, I’m surprised, but thank you.
My ps5 controller also developed bad drift within the first couple months of use. And I shipped it back and they paid for shipping. It did take about a month to get back which was lame but I the replacement has held up for 3 years now, so hopefully if you get yours fixed it’ll hold up.
Thanks. Glad to hear you ended up with a good outcome. But damn, a month is quite the turnaround time for something like this.
Do you mind if I ask how heavy your use was of the controller that got the drift, and if your use changed when you got the replacement? I’ve seen some people (around the web) say they’ve had to replace theirs every few months like clockwork and others who’ve gone years without any issue.
I was playing pretty heavy yeah, Elden ring came out around then and I put about 100 hours in it or more. I’d also spent alot of time with hollow knight and gungeon and atomic crops. Atomic crops was the game I identified the drift in specifically.
But I haven’t eased off at all. I’ve got thousands of hours on the replacement controller. So maybe I got lucky with a solid replacement? It’s a real shame Sony basically killed off third party controllers so you have to buy from them now. The dual sense is fine, but most of its fancy features I don’t really care about (adaptive triggers has only made my fingers hurt so I always turn it off, the speaker is a gimmick, and the swipe pad is fine but just another button really).
Cotton-swab?
, just douse that shit in isopropyl 
But fr, I’ve had that issue, I have to slowly drip alcohol inside the stick, wiggle it around, turn it upside down, wait for a day, check, do that again 3-4 times and it’s been working for 6 months (for now)
worst that could happen from pure alcohol - mic/sound breaks
*also, as a sign for improvement for me, the drift was gone while it was wet from alcohol (it’s fine, it’s non conductive + voltages are low anyways)
No more half measures.
OK, well cool. Maybe there’s still hope for me before having to do the return thing, then. So long as I don’t void the warranty, I guess I’ve got nothing to lose by soaking the sucker. But just so I understand you correctly, the drift thing happened to you once, you did that, and it has been good for 6 months since? Or you have had to do that more than once in the last 6 months, but it has repeatedly worked?
I did for a little bit at first think my attempt at cleaning it with the alcohol+swab had worked, but within 5 or 10 minutes the problem reappeared. I’m not sure if that’s promising or not, but I’ll give it another shot. Thank you for the tips!
yeah, happened once after 15 months maybe (?), with big breaks though, cause i use it for pc, maybe 4-6 months of active use or thereabouts, and then problems for a week and now been working fine.
my logic was that either some shit was stuck to thingy reading it out or dust was there, so when i wriggle the stick, and then turn it upside down, it maybe dislodges and flushes down with excess of alcohol (so onto the visible part of the stick), and then i wipe it, and do it again, and it kinda sorta worked?
*with return though, might be extra careful not to wet the sticker, there is mic hole nearby, it definitely was dripping from there during my machinations, so maybe put a tissue there beforehand
Ok, will do. Good to know about the sticker. You let it sit for a whole day, though? Seems the alcohol should evaporate pretty quick and either work or not within an hour, but I’m clearly no expert. Also, I only have 70% isopropyl. I’m thinking I should probably be using 91% for something like this.
I did just put a fairly hefty amount (but not enough to really douse it) of 70%, shook it around a little, rotated the stick around a bit, put it upside down for about 15 minutes. … No improvement. 😞 I’ll try again with more alcohol but going to try to find some 91% instead.
well, mainly cause i was doing it in the evening when “games not work” issues cropped up
, and from inside evaporation is slower cause i didn’t use fancy air cans to dry it, so waiting 2 hours or 1 day feels roughly similar tbh. I did use pure alcohol though, it is fairly cheap after covid in online shops.