I've suspected for a while that Skyrim would play more fluidly with a controller than a Keyboard and Mouse. Can I get opinions on how it plays with a 360 controller versus standard PC controls for melee, archery, and magic?

360 controller works great and its very easy to use on a computer. Just plug it in and use some software.

Edit: the only flaw is that it tends to be less accurate than a mouse, but its really not a major issue in a single player game.

It′s pretty fluid with controller.

Accuracy is the first thing that comes to mind. Mouse is going to be much more accurate (especially with Archery) than a controller can ever be. I personally play on 360 though, because my PC is unfortunately not good enough to run Skyrim and even if it could, I'd probably play on a controller because it feels more casual to me and I'd probably connect the PC to the TV so I can sit back on the couch.

The controller outshines the KB&M, for me. It has a more fluid control of the character and the camera. Not to mention the rumble pak. The aiming of the controller, for fast shots and targeting a moving enemy is a little slugish, then again I am nit into the fast shot type of gameplay in the first place.

EDIT : Plus I can play for days on end with the controller, but the mouse will start killing my wrist after a half hour.

I'm actually really horrible with using mice in FPSes, I've always been better at Halo than Half-Life. As long as there's slight auto-aim correction, anyway. As long as the archery representation isn't worse than standard for using a controller with a projectile weapon, that shouldn't be too much of an issue.

I use this to make it amazing and give access to 8 hotkeys. http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/12964

That looks a little awkward. Good to know there are mods that allow use of all eight hotkeys properly, didn't even know that it wouldn't be designed that way by default.

I envy you.

Edit: Actually, that does look a little awkward. I still wish vanilla controls for hotkeys were the same as Oblivion's D-Pad, they could have put Wait in the menu somewhere and favorites as select. Then again, some people had trouble with Oblivion's hotkeys but I never had a problem.

I just can't stand using a keyboard and mouse. I hate using the arrow keys and such to move and using a mouse to aim doesn't feel right.

Accuracy depends on what you are used to and are best at. Which is better will always vary from player to player. I played all the previous games on PC and am still a little more accurate with a mouse but for movement I now prefer the controller by far. If anything the slight lack of accuracy just makes the game a bit more challenging for me which is actually a good thing. But for movement I love the fact that I can move at any speed with the controller allowing me to easily walk along with NPC's even on horseback. I always hated how the keyboard only has walk, run, or sprint. It seems like a little thing but it makes such a big difference being able to move more naturally. It used to bug me having a lack of hot keys but thankfully the Kinect took care of that. Overall if you're comfortable using a controller it won't be a big deal to change. It's really down to what you like the most.

It was not at all awkward for me. I am at a second nature with the controller. I guess the avid PC players can easily say the same for KB%M. I actually like it better that the Oblivion D-Pad, because I was always hitting the wrong thing. I ended up only using 4 of the 8. Now it's just a quick press of the LB and I have 4 more.

There are two files for that mod. I use the "My Config". Then there is always Xpadder for those that truly want to expand the power of the controller. I have to use that for playing Morrowind,Oblivion and The Witcher on the PC. Without that program, I could not play those games.

I prefer both but if your mouse is a touch pad then a controller is better in my opinion.

I looked over it again, and I see that holding LB is a gateway to a crapload of essentially new buttons. Pretty neat, it'd take some adjusting to but that actually looks much more efficient. For some reason the first time I glanced over the pic, I somehow read stuff like the sprint button being replaced by something else lol, my mistake.

You know. I really just use 4 of the 8. Even with that option. I put less used things in the back 4 like Lanterns and seldom used things. I find myself using the quick access to the different menus, quite often.

Then there is the Quicksave function. I find mysef using that a lot. It is nice to have prior to getting crashes. I turn off all the Autosaves.

I'm surprised they didn't add quicksaving in the first place.