You’ve got a pretty “my way or the highway” vibe in your post, especially the further I read on into it. OP definitely didn’t need to hear/read that you’re just gonna mute their game over something small like a SOUND EFFECT. If you’re going to lose interest in a game over something trivial like that, that's a “you problem”, not a “dev problem”.
The Original Post asks for opinions on it. My opinion is no more "my way or the highway" than your own. It is my opinion. As I stated in the very first sentence.
As it is my opinion, it is very much geared toward "how I deal with this in a game" as well as "what I personally like".
I'm not entirely sure you know what an opinion is or how it works, since you seem to think I'm not allowed to have one simply because you disagree with it.
The sound-associated text and typewriter style of text-display clashes with your fast reading. Is that what you were trying to get at?
No. Please reread my post.
Here's the short version: The sound itself clashes with any other sounds you might be playing as well. This includes sound effects, ambient music, ambient sounds, etcetera. It can greatly disrupt a cutscene and "muddy the water" when you're trying to create a sense of immersion for an event in the game.
Likewise, the sound itself pulls a reader like me, out of immersion immediately and ruins enjoyment of your story as a result. I don't "read text" when I read a story. Yes, my brain is reading text and translating it. However, when I open a book and get three words in... I am no longer seeing words. I am no longer seeing pages of a book. My vision fills with the vision of the artist. Your words are replaced with the mental imagery of what you are trying to convey.
Typewriter sounds undermine this heavily for me. Every word reminding me that I am playing a video game. Every word reminding me to shut off my imagination. Every word reminding me that it is all monotone text and I should be analyzing it instead of experiencing it.
It is already difficult enough for me to become "immersed" in a video game. What with the controls not always being responsive, the constant menu navigation, the constant text telling me I got items and money and experience... And now, you've got text sounds at the parts where I would get immersed.
So, I'm going to mute the crap out of your game. To preserve what little immersion is left to be had. The noise is a real physical annoyance to me. I'd rather mute your whole game to get rid of this actual annoyance and miss out on all the other sound and music in your game... than have to be constantly pulled out of immersion with every letter or every word.
To counter the “display it all at once” and the “trope needs to die” comments, please consider this: <b>not everyone reads as fast or as well as you</b>. Granted, I’m glad YOU can read a wall of text and absorb it well, because I sure as hell can’t.
This is why I clarified that I'm the type that puts text speed at maximum. So that I could
read at my own pace. That does not mean "read faster than everyone". It means, I can read the entire box of text at a speed that may be
somewhere in between the text speeds offered by your game. "Normal" may be too fast while "Slow" is too slow. If I slap "Fastest" on the text speed, I am allowed to read the text at the speed I am comfortable with, without having to worry if it's too slow and I lose immersion.
A true alternative would be to simply have voice actors instead of text. No reading necessary. No text sounds necessary. People who have issues reading as well as others, could simply be told the story through visual cutscenes and voice acting.
To be quite honest, however, I often turn the subtitles on with voice acting and read what's going on before the characters utter it. I sometimes also mute the voice acting as well, because I get more out of the medium by reading it (things are always better in your imagination than they are in reality, after all).
Or other people who’re below-average readers, and/or those who’re dyslexic (which affects about a fifth of our population). Speed in or out of the equation, absorbing the material all at once is difficult for some people. It’s easier to absorb the text as it comes out, and it’s natural to read word by word, like what “typewriting” does. Probably why it’s a popular trope. Just because it bothers you, doesn’t mean the trope should die.
My stance on it needing to die is that it exists as a stylistic choice and not for much else. If it were included for any of the reasons you suggested, it wouldn't need to die. However, this is rarely, if ever (okay, it's never been included for that reason) the reason the typewriter sound is included. It is often the reason why a "slow text speed" option is included, which I have nothing against. But, the word typing thing exists purely for aesthetics. It is also rarely ever included in a video game. Most likely because it can be divisive... or because you'll basically be called out for "copying another game" and it's very difficult to "innovate" the action of just playing a sound for every letter/word.
I've played a lot of RPG's... Granted, I haven't played them all... But, the vast majority of RPG's do not have this feature. You don't ever wonder "why not?"?
OP is asking for opinions on their idea to get the pros and cons on their idea, NOT looking for opinions for the sake of being opinions. Opinions like that aren’t worthwhile if they have to crawl over the self-embedded word-vomit to get to the part they actually NEED.
That is exactly what I provided. Some "cons" to implementation of it.
An opinion is only worthwhile if someone views it worthwhile. That is its very nature
as an opinion. The OP is free to completely dismiss any and everything I've said in my post and ignore it. I won't have hurt feelings if they do so. In fact, I often say on these forums that people are free to dismiss anything I say due to one bias or another... or free to completely ignore my posts and never respond to them.
Think of me sort of as the guy on the street corner shouting about the end of the world and he doesn't care if anyone is actually listening. That's most of what I do here. Shout my opinions and stances and facts, and it doesn't matter if anyone listens to me... unless they decide to respond to me. At which point, you've agreed to a social contract to listen to what I have to say and take it seriously.
As for trying to dismiss my opinion entirely through insults... Is that how you win an argument? Project your point of view? Also, why are you speaking for the OP? If they have something to say to me, they will. If they do say something to me and I feel the need to respond to it, I will. It will start a dialogue either good or bad. That's how a conversation works.
Likewise, if someone doesn't want to "crawl over the self-embedded word-vomit to get to the part they actually NEED", they don't actually have to. They glance at the length of my post and decide, "nope, not worth it" and ignore it. The mature thing to do.
I do not hold it against anyone on these forums to not read my posts. They are frequently quite long and daunting. If they care, they'll read them. If they still care by the end of reading them, they'll throw me a reply and hope I reply in kind.
If not... they let my posts fade into the ether.
) But that isn't a text sound per se, right? That's supposed to make the player alarmed. You're definitely right about needing a lower pitch. I can't think of any game I've played with a high-pitched text sound.
