Sound is huge. Music is meh/whatever, but environmental sounds are a huge part of the game. Sneaking in that dungeon, sound should matter. Caster mobs getting ready to fireball up on you? Sound matters. Dragon behind yonder wall, methinks sound should matter. And it would make airless zones (The Grey), underwater zones (Kedge, SG), and planar zones much more immersive based on their LACK of sounds.
Music is cool in the right places, just not as constant background. A city is more believable if it has bards and troubadors playing their jams, but I should only hear them when I am in their proximity, not in the lowest levels of Scary_Dungeon_01. Example...the EQ1 background music played all the time, and most of us turned it off or way down, same as most MMOs. That's absurd. Music should be an environmental sound linked to the same volume as every other environmental sound. Consider the Plane of Hate and the Maestro of Rancor. That organ of his should have been a cacaphonous wall of cool creepy organ music you cannot turn off/down. That's the immersion factor. Would it suck after your 100th Hate raid? Yep, but the Plane of Hate should be uncomfortable, annoying and driving you to anger. That makes total sense from any RP aspect you come up with.
Sound. Very important.
I have all my sounds on but I always have them at a low volume so I can hear them. The reason i want the sounds and music on is because music creates a feeling or sense of something. For example, ever been really spooky/scary/dark place and heard a "silly" or "whimsical" music to it? Kinda sorta kills what the designers are trying to do. The sounds I love because I can normally hear when something is approaching me from behind or flying in above me or the like so that gives me a hint that something is coming and I can move to confuse it and hopefully miss the first surprise attack.
All music and sound of a game is important to me and I am aware of just how much thought and effort went into designing and making sure that the sound fits with the concept and the game and everything else. Without the music/sound that is like watching the James Cameron Avatar movie on this awesome graphically enhanced black and white tv... you kinda lose the impact of the movie that way don't ya?
What's important to me is music that fits the theme of the zone. Orchestrate music can be impressive but I think it's overused in roleplaying games. Maybe for an opening theme, but that's it.
Ambient audio is also important to me. Walking through plains I should hear nothing but wind gusting, leaves rustling, and wolves howling. When I run through a little village play a short sample that fits the area.
If they game is going to be medieval high fantasy, build the music using instruments that were available during that period. Focus on stringed, aerophones and reedless winds.
Can't really add anything that hasn't already been said by the previous posters.Environmental sounds are extremely important to setting up the immersion factor. Combat music for the most part to me is mostly pointless due to being in combat so much during your time in game I just turn it off. Zone music I tend to leave at a low level so as to not interfere with the environmental sounds.
Yes sound is very important to me though as of late in like World of Warships I turn it down to listen to my music but in VG it was usually a good tell when you entered say Trengal keep or Darguns or lord tsangs or wardship or apw that you where about to get into some nice ruff stuff.
Let's set the scene...
- You zone in to some new zone you have heard horrific things about.
- The first thing you see is... well... darkness. Darkness with a few shapes - some of which look big and are moving VERY fast.
- The first thing you HEAR.... is THIS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QH2-TGUlwu4
Sounds and music - to me, are part of the "immersion mix" - Done well, it further draws you into the game and OUT of wherever you are sitting while you play the game. Done poorly, and it jars you right out of the game.
speaking of music.. who have the rights of vg soundtrack?? Would be an awsome fluff to add "lost tracks" around the world. Kinda like how the metal gear has it. You pick up lets say... a "music cube" from your travels. And as a player you will need a house or property to place so called player. This i guess would entice players to travel around look at caves, go search for sunken ships , look thru every bush in the luck of finding them. When i mean lost tracks i mean from every game every dev has touched (if they could)... (instrumental is fine)
Let bards have the "fluff ability" to play the "music cube" too while your at it...
Still play EQ with environment, combat, music and effects sounds on unless I'm in Teamspeak or something for a raid. I know alot of players prefer to turn their sound way down or off but for me it is just one more thing to add immersion, and while I'd never call myself a roleplayer, being able to be immersed in a game's atmosphere has always been a huge draw for me, good music/environmental sounds definitely add to that experience.
For me in game sounds and music are extremely important. They both no doubt contribute to my overall immersion when done properly. In fact, I often listen to video game music outside of game. As many of you know (Joppa, Monty and Kilsin especially since I never stop referring to it!) the music from Vanguard has had a particularly strong impact on me and I still listen to it after the game has left us. There are many other games with music that I like but none come close to resonating with me like Todd Masten's work on Vanguard.
I will say that at times I have been known turn down in game music volume while playing to listen to other music or to chat with friends/family. I more than make up for this transgression with the amount I spend listening in game music away IRL.
For anyone who hasn't been force fed this music by me already, you can find a great Vanguard playlist here:
https://www.youtube.com/user/TheCollisionCoarse/playlists
Sound is huge. Music is even a greater HUGE. I still remember the impact when listening to Felwithe's theme, while lurking about the city. Then finding Kelethin? Fighting mobs in the newbie yard in WFP. No game, not just MMO, has had the same effect. It could be nostalgia, but back then? I was sitting there actually listening to the music sometimes instead of looking for a group (ended up /ooc chat in the process....even making friends as well).
I'm going to go out on a limb and say that most games just focus on a huge music budget. Get some big name to write the music...he churns it out...yay. It sounds nice and all, but after the first couple of times...it all sounds the same. I don't care if VR uses sound samples. If the music writing has soul, and communicates to the player? Home run. Especially if it tells a story about the zone/area. Like Felwithe, Kelethin, Kaladim/WFP. Rivervale. How about that Othmir theme!? Even the character select screen made you feel like "yep...another 12 hours of my day...gone WOOT!"
Crucial for me.
Sound and music both. It increases immersion. I often listen to good game music. I still have the Vanguard soundtrack and recorded themes from the game on my playlist. It makes me long for the game it belongs to. Having good music is an easy way to make people form attachement to a game. Even though i no longer play WoW, listening to the soundtrack from Elwynn Forest takes me back to -04 and early vanilla. Music forms connnections in people's minds and helps build emotional ties.
Hire good voice actors. Hire a good composer for a splendid soundtrack. A game's aural experience is crucial to me, and i hope to others as well.
Gosh, I seem to be gleaning these hot topics from every other source sans the original; but since it is a topic of import, I'm thusly importing my reaction in turn:
Absolutely imperative. In fact, if people wish me to function at my best I do better getting off VOIP and listening to in-game prompts. There is a noticeable degradation in skill level from my part if I have sound effects turned off; and that's mainly down to the lack of which being a damper on my awareness. This is especially so in PvP games; where the only talk I can listen to has to be relevant to the encounter and not 'redundant' either (stating too much of the obvious).
Outside of the functional facet; a well designed soundscape really adds to the immersive qualities of a game too. BGMs that layer up with the surroundings I really appreciate when I feel they've been done well; and ambience even more so when it's not jarringly obtrusive - which I only find if they strike me as oddly misplaced. I don't very much care for 'dumb sounding' attacks. :p
I must say I really enjoyed Vanguard's BGM; it fit the various backdrops really well imo. I 'feel' music and sound more than most - possibly due to a mental condition, I'm hypersensitive to most sensory stimuli; but most especially audio prompts - so when it's implemented with notable defintion and heart it really stays with me. It coats my memories in a stay-put varnish, so if you'd play back a signature theme, all of the recollections associated with the hearing of it will come cascading forth out of hiding. :)
I always play with the in game sound and music turned on. I'm an immersion junkie. What I don't like is sound and or music that isn't appropriate to the setting, glares at some offending asian rpg's. I do get tired of many games that use amorphous sound blasts for their spells. I think spell sound effects should be as diverse and intricate as their graphical effects.
Jason said:Sounds and music are very important for me. Even the sounds the buffs had in EQ are a huge part of the warm memories I have for that game. I can still hear the music and sounds echoing in my brain from the very first day I played EQ back in 1999. Kelethin's music playing while I got buffed up from a high level. All the sounds were appropriate too. Casting invisibility made it sound like you were fading away and it sounded calm. Then casting a nuke a very seconds later was the opposite of calm, it sounded like all hell was about to break loose.
And .. can't forget the all important "DING" sound .
I agree that both sound and music are very important for an MMO. I still enjoy hearing that cracking of lightning when my druid activates a porting spell. Just makes you feel all the more powerful.
When grinding, grouping and raiding I turn off music. When doing everything else, I leave it on. Below are my reasons. The first reason I think will persist in Pantheon. The second I hope won't be an issue.
1. In a group setting I use voice chat. I dislike music competing with it.
2. In a grinding session I tend to play an audiobook and shut off part of my brain. (This is mostly because current games are mind numbingly easy) On a side note <3 Audible.
-Baulkin
Well, the sound design and music in Vanguard and EverQuest were very possibly my favorite things about them. From EQ's earworm themes and immersive (for the time) ambient sounds, to Vanguard's dynamic layered music system, this is the sort of stuff I think of first when I think back to them.
I'm not sure how much I noticed while I was playing, but I know it's what I find myself missing most often.