Text Sounds: Yes or No?

[Spookybun]

@Tai_MT
Babe you really need to calm down. If you think someone disagreeing with you and being passive-aggressive is “insulting” you.

I never said you were a bad person, I just said that the way you delivered your opinion sounded rude and it gave me a wrong impression of you. Don’t want people to think badly of you? Think about the **** you write. You can’t write whatever the hell you want and then get offended when someone calls you out on it.

Or I suppose you can, since this is the Internet. But I’m not going to continue this anymore since this drama is going off topic from the original thread.

Sorry OP for the drama. I hope that whatever you decide for your game, it runs smoothly for you!

 

[MechScapeZH]

@Tai_MT
Babe you really need to calm down. If you think someone disagreeing with you and being passive-aggressive is “insulting” you.

I never said you were a bad person, I just said that the way you delivered your opinion sounded rude and it gave me a wrong impression of you. Don’t want people to think badly of you? Think about the sheep you write. You can’t write whatever the hell you want and then get offended when someone calls you out on it.

Or I suppose you can, since this is the Internet. But I’m not going to continue this anymore since this drama is going off topic from the original thread.

Sorry OP for the drama. I hope that whatever you decide for your game, it runs smoothly for you!

It's really all right. I guess people disagree, right? Nothing's wrong with it. Disagreement is a part of discussion- that's what my grandfather always said.

Both of you really have valid points anyway. Thank you for your input.

 

[Wavelength]

I find text sounds EXTREMELY annoying in all games, and if there's no option to mute them, they significantly damper my experience with a game. I personally don't see the point of them either - like, I know text is coming onscreen, I don't need to be constantly reminded of that.

I've noticed I'm much more sensitive to noise in general than most people are, so I don't necessarily consider myself "the average player" in this regard, but consider that at least a significant minority of your player base will hate this, so, give them an option to turn it off without muting all sound effects.

I also find it annoying when the text is slowly printed on the screen letter by letter (or word by word). I prefer the text to appear instantly, but if a four-line message can make it onscreen within about a second and a half, that works for me too.

 

[rue669]

I have found text sounds to be very annoying for some games. But other games, like Undertale, the text sounds add to the personality of the characters and the tension in the scenes.

I think it depends on the game and how well those text sounds are designed. Games with lighter themes tend to have text sounds that go with the game. Darker themed games usually don't (at least I can't think of any).

 

[Rockenberg]

I'm a strong believer in text sfx. What I'm not a strong believer in, is every character having the SAME SOUND!!!
It's so annoying, haaha! At that point you might as well not even use it!

Text Sounds are really only at their peak when you give different characters different sounds.
Like NPCs and such can share them to an extent where you have like three different sounds for guys girls and kids, but your main characters and supporting characters should have their own text sounds.

 

[M.I.A.]

For once, I actually agree with @Tai_MT entirely on this subject.

Sure, sometimes their opinions are strong or may seem "my way or the highway", but so what? Strong expressed opinions hold more value than no expressed opinions, right? And the OP did ask for opinions.. and opinions they got.

Personally, I tend to mute all sound of all video games anyway. It tends to be too much sensory overload for me. Ambient music + BGM + SE + Text Noise? No thanks. I think the only game I've ever played where I actually ENJOYED the Text SE, was Final Fantasy Tactics. They really balanced all the music, sound fx, and text SE brilliantly. In a way, I feel like the text SE in that game actually added to the immersion of it.

I also feel like text filling the bubbles one letter at a time, no matter how quickly, is a bit jarring. Unless it's being used in a cutscene or select dialogue where it makes "story-telling sense", I'd rather see all the text at once.

But, you know what they say about Opinions.. hehe.
-MIA

 

[MechScapeZH]

For once, I actually agree with @Tai_MT entirely on this subject.

Sure, sometimes their opinions are strong or may seem "my way or the highway", but so what? Strong expressed opinions hold more value than no expressed opinions, right? And the OP did ask for opinions.. and opinions they got.

Personally, I tend to mute all sound of all video games anyway. It tends to be too much sensory overload for me. Ambient music + BGM + SE + Text Noise? No thanks. I think the only game I've ever played where I actually ENJOYED the Text SE, was Final Fantasy Tactics. They really balanced all the music, sound fx, and text SE brilliantly. In a way, I feel like the text SE in that game actually added to the immersion of it.

I also feel like text filling the bubbles one letter at a time, no matter how quickly, is a bit jarring. Unless it's being used in a cutscene or select dialogue where it makes "story-telling sense", I'd rather see all the text at once.

But, you know what they say about Opinions.. hehe.
-MIA

What about only BGM & text noises or SE only? That's something I'm considering.

Thank you to everyone for their opinions- they've all really helped a lot.

 

[M.I.A.]

Nobody said your game (or any game) MUST have BGM, Ambient Sound FX, Special Sound FX, and Text SE all the time in all instances. You know what I mean? It's perfectly acceptable to utilize sounds and music to help convey a feeling or atmosphere without overloading the senses.

For example: You enter a misty wooded swamp at night..
No BGM. Only Ambient SE. Such as crickets and/or an occasional subtle breeze.. A small cutscene begins.
Then, a surprise ambush from the bushes! Turn off the Ambient SE, and begin a high intensity BGM track that transitions into a battle.
Finish the battle, turn off the BGM, and revert back to the Ambient SE of crickets and subtle breeze.

Example 2: (all text is shown at once, 99% of the time) Your party enters into a Inn. It's kinda creepy.. slowly fade out the BGM.. no Ambient SE.. then a single Special Sound FX of a door shutting.. in walks the Inn keeper staggering on his feet. He collapses (Play special sound FX). He begins to speak, slowly.. Text is now letter by letter, rather than shown all at once. He dies.. Slowly queue back in BGM.

Example 3: You are regularly finding letters or diary entries.. every time you open one to read in game.. text switches from Shown All At Once, to single letters at a time and with a Text SE.

Catch my drift?
-MIA

 

[MechScapeZH]

Nobody said your game (or any game) MUST have BGM, Ambient Sound FX, Special Sound FX, and Text SE all the time in all instances. You know what I mean? It's perfectly acceptable to utilize sounds and music to help convey a feeling or atmosphere without overloading the senses.

For example: You enter a misty wooded swamp at night..
No BGM. Only Ambient SE. Such as crickets and/or an occasional subtle breeze.. A small cutscene begins.
Then, a surprise ambush from the bushes! Turn off the Ambient SE, and begin a high intensity BGM track that transitions into a battle.
Finish the battle, turn off the BGM, and revert back to the Ambient SE of crickets and subtle breeze.

Example 2: (all text is shown at once, 99% of the time) Your party enters into a Inn. It's kinda creepy.. slowly fade out the BGM.. no Ambient SE.. then a single Special Sound FX of a door shutting.. in walks the Inn keeper staggering on his feet. He collapses (Play special sound FX). He begins to speak, slowly.. Text is now letter by letter, rather than shown all at once. He dies.. Slowly queue back in BGM.

Example 3: You are regularly finding letters or diary entries.. every time you open one to read in game.. text switches from Shown All At Once, to single letters at a time and with a Text SE.

Catch my drift?
-MIA

Ah, I think you misunderstood me- what I mean is at a time. When one plays, the other turns off, which I think is what you're saying. Only text sounds & BGM or only sound effects & BGM. No sound effects while anyone's talking.

 

[Scoodoink]

I have this same question every time I start a project. Thing is, I love when it's executed well like in Undertale and Pokemon, where the speed and pace matches the text to actually emulate voice. But, i've tried to implement it in the past where it just sounds like an awful drone and it sucks...so yea, its cool if its done right.

 

[Prescott]

Give players the option to turn it on or off. Simple.

 

[JosephSeraph]

This thread makes me play a game about cats, where the sound effect of the text is constant purring. That'd be quite a therapeutic game.

 

[MechScapeZH]

This thread makes me play a game about cats, where the sound effect of the text is constant purring. That'd be quite a therapeutic game.

This made me laugh harder than it should have. Made my day @JosephSeraph.

 

[DJK1NG_Gaming]

I hate them. It's annoying and distracting.
If it's not a voice clip or voice acting don't do it.
If there an option to turn it off then that good.

But in general just don't use text sound. Just have voice clip.

 

[JosephSeraph]

By the way, I'm kind of surprised by the massively negative reception towards text sounds. I think they're a tool that can be very well used, as illustrated previously on this thread by several games that pulled it off successfully as a form of coloring their characters and world.
It can be badly done, but given how nonstandard it is for RPG Maker games, I actually urge people to try and play around with it to help their game's unique identity -- of course, do have the option to turn it off if you don't want your PMs to be filled with hate mail and death threats over text SE

 

[MechScapeZH]

By the way, I'm kind of surprised by the massively negative reception towards text sounds. I think they're a tool that can be very well used, as illustrated previously on this thread by several games that pulled it off successfully as a form of coloring their characters and world.
It can be badly done, but given how nonstandard it is for RPG Maker games, I actually urge people to try and play around with it to help their game's unique identity -- of course, do have the option to turn it off if you don't want your PMs to be filled with hate mail and death threats over text SE

Yeah, I'm a bit surprised too, considering how memorable text sounds have been for me. I guess I'm the only one who finds them... relaxing, somehow? I really do process them as speech and not sounds. If you ask me how certain characters from certain series sound (Zoids Legacy characters, if anyone remembers that game, or characters from the Mega Man RPGs), my mind immediately jumps to the text sound. That's how the characters sound like to me- hearing that specific sound is synonymous with the story of these games to me. If I hear the "bee-bee-bee-beep" of Mega Man, I'm hearing "for everlasting peace!" or any one of the memorable lines from that series.

This association was what drove me to consider adding text sounds in the first place, and thus create this thread.

So let me ask the people who don't like text sounds this: do you not like them simply because you find them annoying- akin to an annoying high-pitched voice- or because they don't sound like someone speaking to you?

Thanks to everyone that responded thus far for your input.

 

[Aesica]

I'm actually pretty surprised too, since, if done right, they can be quite memorable. You'll probably have to shop outside the default RM sound bank, though.

 

[Tai_MT]

So let me ask the people who don't like text sounds this: do you not like them simply because you find them annoying- akin to an annoying high-pitched voice- or because they don't sound like someone speaking to you?

A few reasons for me.
1. The sounds are generally quite annoying. Beep beep beep takka takka takka. Just... No. It's distracting. I have no desire to listen to it or to deal with it.
2. If the sounds accompany the text speed... they get worse as I get to my preferred text speed... or the text speed gets worse in order to properly account for the "typing sound".
3. I played Banjo Kazooie. They did that "voice over text" schtick. I didn't like it then... I don't like it now... it certainly hasn't aged well, even in newer games like Yuka-Lay-Lee (or however it's spelled).
4. The sounds themselves actually slow down my reading. When it tries to "simulate" a voice, it causes me to reflexively slow down my reading and try to "read it in time" to what is being said. This is sort of annoying as it begins to feel like conversations take ages to complete.
5. The "simulated voice" immediately kills any "clever" writing you have. It causes jokes to no longer land. It causes emotional scenes to no longer be so emotional (bleepy bloopy blippy beep bup bup bup wuah wuah wah wah grah grah grah). Unless you have figured out how to make random sounds repeatedly played for every word "act" like real people do... it pulls you instantly and immediately out of the moment.
6. In cases where it isn't overtly offending to my personal tastes... I am able to just ignore it. Thus, there's no reason to have it. If I don't notice it, and it's doing nothing for me as a player... why does it exist?
7. It feels like a gimmick. It doesn't feel interesting. It doesn't feel innovative. It just feels like a gimmick thrown in "just because". More often than not... that's exactly why it's in the game. Stylistic choice in the form of a gimmick. As a person who has gamed for like 30 years... I just don't like gimmicks. Unless the sound of your "text sounds" has some sort of gameplay element, or serves some kind of atmospheric function and isn't intrustive… I'm just going to write it off as a gimmick. I don't like dealing with stuff in games that exists because the dev thought it was cool. Look, I'm the one playing the game. Your design choices should exist because you think the player will find it cool. Not because you, personally, think it's cool. You then need to spend the time to actually ensure it is cool to the majority of players.
---

Also... dear God... I would've muted Undertale freakin' IMMEDIATELY. Seriously, I would not be able to tolerate that at all. I only got 13 seconds into the video and had to hit "stop" on it. No. Just no.

 

[bgillisp]

@MechScapeZH : I don't like them as I can read faster than the sounds. So if you force the text to slow down to match it you are hindering my ability to read it at my pace.

 

[JosephSeraph]

20 seconds ago i just found the worst, most hideous example of text sounds in the history of vidya. dont do this