Kilsin said:Community Debate - Game sound, On or Off in MMORPG's, which do you prefer and why? #PRF #MMORPG #MMO #communitymatters
On...always. It was put there to help fit with the world and make it a more immersive experience. Turning it off dilutes that. There's also a need for game sound in many cases as it can tie into the gameplay, adding something that you should be listening for as well as watching.
Other than Music Off [×]
Why in Gods name would anyone whos not deaf turn game sound off?
To me gaming (especially MMORPGS) is about escaping this world a d delving into another. So immersion is super important, I would hope sounds fit the environment and when Im near a river or waterfall I hear its rumble.
Athstetically speaking I believe sound also sets the mood, for instance, slithering sounds, owls hooting, and a general stillness to the air or gusts of wind set the tone for a spooky undead filled zones and with zombie groans etc.
Kilsin said:Community Debate - Game sound, On or Off in MMORPG's, which do you prefer and why? #PRF #MMORPG #MMO #communitymatters
On, definitely, through high-quality headphones. The sounds of the world help to draw you in and to push aside those things from the real world that might interrupt. But the sound is only a part of it. There is the large monitor with all the graphics sliders set to the highest levels and the room nice and dark. No disruptions from extraneous sights and sounds. One can nearly feel themselves actually looking through the eyes of the character. It is the only way to play.
Music wether combat or just music for a zone is the first thing I turn off in any mmo I play. Even if it's good it soon gets boring but that isn't the real reason I turn it off. For me it just doesn't belong there unless it's in an inn where there is a band playing I don't want to hear it.
It depends on the MMO. I cannot stand FFXIV's constant, ear-grating combat music, and there's no way to turn it off, so music stays muted in that game.
On the other hand, I LOVE the soundtrack for WildStar (Jeff Kurtenacker is a flat-out genius) and will ALWAYS have the music on in that game. Heck, I listen to the soundtrack constantly outside of that game as well.
Generally I leave ambient sounds turned all the way up (I like keeping the "feel" of a zone, even if I've turned off the music), and leave combat sounds on but turned down fairly low so that I can hear the sound effects of impact but it doesn't hurt my ears.
General note to VR: If you do go the route of having separate combat music (really, please, do NOT do this... it will end up being the only track we ever hear), PLEASE give us the ability to turn combat music off but leave the regular background music on.
I’ll typically leave game sounds on their default settings for the first few trips, but typically end up turning them down just enough to hear any auditory cues while I listen to my own playlists.
Sounds allways on, I tend to scale myself on audio clues more than visual as they rarelly overlap themselves (while combat log might scroll superfast and animation clip between two long ones).
Music, mostly on for the first few weeks, but If I catter in the same area for a long time (which usually happens as a roleplayer) I end up by beeing fed of it and turning it off. Then I mess a lot of great instants and areas, even completely ignoring the whole soundtrack of an expansion or content addition, just because I got mad about a city or such. I'd love a "specific zone music turn off" but that would be a lot of UI updates every new zone added and I'm really not asking for that much.
Typically off as soon as possible. The combat sounds are typically repetitive, including spells, skills, "hi-ya!" or "have at thee" or whatever other thing the character says. Footsteps become tedious after a very short while.
Same goes for music, it's typically very short 'songs' of 2 minutes or less. hearing that in a loop 30 times an hour tends to get grating, for me.
So, I turn off the music first, and keep on ambient as long as it's not too loud. I would love a reason to keep it on, but haven't found one yet.
If there was a reason, as in, I could detect stealthed NPC's by their footsteps? Awesome, but I would use the hard-of-hearing visual interface that would be required, because it would be superior.
I always read the subtitles in cutscenes faster than they're spoken, so games that have those get skipped as fast as I can read. It's also why I see little value in voice acting anything, but that's just me.
It's not that the sounds aren't good, they just become repetitive after long enough, so ... off they go. /shrug
In the center console of my car, there is a USB port that connects to my stereo. In that USB port is plugged a 16 GB stick that currently contains about 11 GB of game soundtracks (with some movie soundtracks thrown in).
I feel that should answer the question about how I play games, too :)
