My 62 year old hands suffer from osteoathritis and the gruelling consecutive Ur-D battles with constant 100/1,000 Kisses slashing take their toll. Ghost of Kirin recommended the Hori Pad EX2 Turbo that is able to assign a turbo or rapid fire function to each button:
http://www.hori.jp/us/Products/XBOX360/us_xbox360_horipad_ex2_turbo/index.htm
Fig.1: Blue Hori Pad EX2 Turbo with standard 360 and Razer Sabertooth Controllers
I just received it yesterday and, although I have not had much time to use it yet, I have put it through its paces and a preliminary report follows. The pad is the same size as the standard XBox Controller but the sides are a lit
tle more flared. In Fig. 1, the Hori is to the left of a Razer Sabertooth and
below a standard XBox 360 controller.
The Hori controller provides three features not found on a standard controller. *Each button can be enabled with a turbo function
- Two buttons have been added that duplicate and can be used interchangeably with the left and right bumpers.
- The sensitivity of the analog sticks can be changed. There are three settings.
Hori Pad EX2 Turbo showing Turbo button and Speed & Analog control switches
Fig. 2 shows the center of the Hori pad. Note the turbo button in the upper right that activates the turbo feature, the speed switch below the start button that changes turbo speed, and the analog control switch below the back button that changes the sensitivity of the analog sticks.
The turbo feature is activated by pressing the turbo button and then pressing the button to which the turbo feature is to be enabled. Pressing the turbo button and a button that already has the turbo feature enabled will initiate automatic turbo. In other words, the turbo feature will be activated without the button being depressed. Pressing turbo and a button with automatic turbo will restore the button to its default non-turbo state.
Fig. 3 shows the six button layout of the Hori Pad EX2 Turbo. The standard A-B-Y-X buttons are
A-X-Y-B buttons with Left Bumper and Right Bumper Buttons
slightly smaller than on a standard controller but are similarly placed on the EX2 Turbo. Very little
adjustment is required to use them exactly as one has become accustomed to using them on the standard controller. The left bumper and right bumper buttons to the right of the A-B-Y-X buttons are completely optional. The pad has bumpers and the bumpers can be used the same way they are used on the standard controller. However, the option exists to use the additional two buttons interchangeably with the bumpers whose functions they duplicate.
A conventional approach would be to activate turbo on the button to which 100 Kisses is assigned. This works very well. The player plays as normal except instead of tapping the 100 Kisses button for multiple hits the button would simply be depressed. As long as the button is depressed 100 Kisses would execute in rapid sequence. Note that 100 Kisses requires the Right Bumper to be depressed in addition to the bumper to which 100 Kisses is assigned.
There are more sophisticated alternatives. For example, assign 100 Kisses to either the X Button or the Y Button and activate automatic turbo on that button. As long as a bumper is not depressed, nothing will happen because the X and Y buttons do not execute an action by themselves. Once the left bumper is pressed, because automatic turbo has been activated, multiple 100 Kisses will execute in rapid succession without pressing the button to which 100 Kisses was assigned.
Since the B button performs actions by itself, the above technique will not work with the B button. There is another alternative that lends itself to the B button. Assign 100 Kisses to the B button. Activate normal but not automatic turbo to the B button. It is now possible to rapid fire 100 kisses by holding down the RB and B buttons with the same finger. This leaves the rest of the hand free to manipulate the rest of the controller in particular the left analog stick.
The bottom line is that this controller provides quite a few alternatives to relieve repetitive pressing of action buttons. I am anxious to explore it further and am confident it will reduce or eliminate some of the pain and fatigue I have been experiencing.
The reason employing 100/1,000 Kisses against the Ur-Dragon is so fatiquing while grappling the Ur-Dragon is because the right hand is doing three things. First, the Right Bumper has to be depressed to engage the daggers. Second, the button to which 100/1,000 Kisses has been assigned must be pressed rapidly and continuously. Third, the right analog stick has to be manipulated to direct the camera angle. The Hori Pad EX2 Turbo is able to alleviate the complexity as described above.
Another approach is to use a controller like the Razer Sabertooth pictured in Fig. 1. It does not have a turbo capability but it has four extra controls. There are two multi-functional buttons inboard from the right and left bumpers. There are also two multi-functional triggers that are located on the bottom of the controller. One of these four extra controls can be assigned to activate 100/1,000 Kisses. This reassignment can result in an arrangement that places significant less stress on the right hand.
Both approaches have merit and which one is selected has to do with personal preference and what type of stress needs to be alleviated. I lean towards the Hori because I find I can set it up in a manner that allows me to better concentrate on the two analog sticks. However, someone else may find the ability to assign 100 Kisses to a multi-function trigger to be an attractive option.