What are your thoughts about "dialogue blips" when a character speaks?

[10kk]

Not too many games adopt this style. Most notably, a little game called Undertale incorporated it into their characters
dialogue, to give the illusion of their voice tone, the brain seems to put it together that way at least.
However, Undertale wasn't the first to do this, games like Golden Sun and early Phoenix Wright games were very popular franchises for their times, which had it in their own iterations of "dialogue blips". It's not really the same between any of them.

I'm curious what you guys think about this kind of design. Is it a good compromise to full voice acting? Or do you not like it? How would you feel about it in a RPG Maker game?

Examples:

 

[Verdelite]

Imho it only really works if you either go for a very retro-styled game or in a not-so-series setting like Undertale. It has a very comical effect to me so I'd probably stay away from it if you're not going for a light mood.

 

[Kes]

I personally find it intensely irritating, along with its close cousin, the typewriter effect (for want of a better description) that accompanies text. Of the 3 samples, the 3rd is the least irritating, partly because it's not really trying to imitate speech/typing, but mainly because it is brief.

In my experience it destroys any sense of atmosphere that the dev has tried to create through music, or BGSs, and like any staccato sound repeated for great lengths of time, it can become quite stressful.

 

[bgillisp]

I'm not a fan of it. Most games that have it also force the player to read at the speed of the text, and I can (usually) read text faster than most games display it. As it is, it feels like a forced slow down to pad the game's playtime more than anything to me.

 

[Bonkers]

It works well for story based games where you have lots of dialogue like a visual novel. I personally don't mind it, but I don't feel it enhances anything or makes up for no VA. It depends on what type of style your game is, and what kind of audience.

 

[Lornsteyn]

Ah I know this, actually its not bad and if you like it, go for it.
I played Golden Sun, also Harvest Moon has this, too.
Personally, I think it will fit in an RPG Maker game.

 

[Lestroth]

I love text sounds! When every character has its own pitch, it's another indicator to show who is currently speaking. Furthermore you get an idea on how their voices could sound like, even without voice output.

 

[Jules98]

I like to have some kind of audio cue during dialogue. People talking in complete silence just feels awkward to me.

 

[jkweath]

I never minded audio blips personally. Undertale's audio blips were done very, very well, that's for sure. Definitely helped set the personality and tone for certain characters. Golden Sun's weren't as great (they seemed more in tune of differentiating between young, male/female, and old characters than setting personalities), but then again it's a very old game. I can understand why some people would get annoyed by them though.

 

[Doktor_Q]

I've always enjoyed audio blips, especially if they're used differently by different characters- it gives them a voice, even without a voice actor, and much more affordably.

The biggest issue with voice acting is that unless it's really well done, it can be hugely grating.

From a developer perspective, voice acting is also much harder to change after the fact.

 

[Little Adventurer]

I love text sounds! When every character has its own pitch, it's another indicator to show who is currently speaking. Furthermore you get an idea on how their voices could sound like, even without voice output.

That's what I want to do with my current project! Give each character their own "voice" through that.

Unfortunately, there's something wrong with my project that makes the pitch changes not work anymore, meaning I have to scrap it for now.