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Audio the poor cousin of glamorous graphics?
Many reviews of MMO's state the graphics are exceptional, stunning, with gorgeous artwork ect, but why is the audio and sound effects always treated as virtually an afterthought. I am looking forward to Rifts release and will be trying it out. I really hope they put some effort into the sound side of things. So few MMO's seem to have good sound effects when it really can make such a difference.
Age of Conan with the background singing was quite effective, the giggling idiotic brokers in Aion ( the rat creatures or whatever they are called) had me reaching for the off button.
Vanguard= all the NPC's had the same voice (Brads I suspect) "Greetings adventurer"
EQ2 sparse to say the least, sounded like an afterthought to put sound on.
Wow made more of an effort.
Warhammer was rubbish effects, combat with non immersive cheap clicks and clonks.
Really good sound effects and music can really set the atmosphere, Vanguard had the distant fog horn near the Vampire village and evil manor... set the hairs risng on the back of the neck.
Which are the good ones and the rubbish out there?
Comments
i think its a matter of personal preferences really, i've played several games where, when i've been travelling through an area, i've just had to stop and listen to the music because i liked it so much - i dont think its possible to create a game where the music/ambience etc, is really going to appeal to everyone.. but the audio part of games does seem to be overlooked, mostly when people talk about games its about the graphics, despite the fact that computers these days have the capability to process really high quality audio... ah well.. it does seem like if you can't see it. ... it doesnt exist..
It seems to be personal yeah. I know friends who play MMO's with their sounds off. Especially back in the WoW Vanilla days when hunters started using Guns, that sound made me hit ctrl+s often!
On the topic though, I have played it at Gamescon and what I've heard of the sound(It was hard with all the background shouting on these cons) it was kinda good. The attacks had sounds that made sense, and the music wasn't all that bad aswell, although I tend to shut that off after 10 minutes of playtime!
Cheers!
AoC (and AO before that) both had amazing soundtracks in terms of music. Funcom has an excellent all-around art team, so the artistic pieces (whether design or music) are always stellar.
Vanguard had some excellent music as well and so does LoTRO.
The only game that truly impressed me with it's overall "Sonic experience" (that is music AND sfx) was Tabula Rasa. It was just incredible to be out at the battlefield and hear drop ships landing or distant shooting or all kinds of things. Sounds became part of the awareness and experience of the game. Oh well, that game's dead and gone.
"Id rather work on something with great potential than on fulfilling a promise of mediocrity."
- Raph Koster
Tried: AO,EQ,EQ2,DAoC,SWG,AA,SB,HZ,CoX,PS,GA,TR,IV,GnH,EVE, PP,DnL,WAR,MxO,SWG,FE,VG,AoC,DDO,LoTRO,Rift,TOR,Aion,Tera,TSW,GW2,DCUO,CO,STO
Favourites: AO,SWG,EVE,TR,LoTRO,TSW,EQ2, Firefall
Currently Playing: ESO
The only one that really stood out for me was LoTRO. Usually audio is an afterthought for me too. Don't care that much.
Definitely is the poor cousin. Agree with others about AoC and Tabula Rasa, those were so good you really noticed. Have lately been enjoying the sound effects in WAR.
There have been a few times for me in the other direction. Like Aion, one of the several odd reasons I couldn't play that game was all the annoying sound effects, especially the female 'youth voice' that sounding more like coitus than combat. (seriously, my girlfriend came in once with a mean look on her face thinking I was watching pr0n).
The other game (and this is sad on my part) was RF online. I downloaded it, heard the intro music, and deleted it.
"Never met a pack of humans that were any different. Look at the idiots that get elected every couple of years. You really consider those guys more mature than us? The only difference between us and them is, when they gank some noobs and take their stuff, the noobs actually die." - Madimorga
I don't know about the sound effects, but as for the *music*?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86Y447mzPV0
is just an example. I have no doubt the music will.. while not super high budget with massive orchestral arrangements, it will be very suitable, immersive, and appealing.
Music plays a good role for me. But I know a lot of players just turn it off in video games. Especially if you are playing a lot and hang out in the same zones/dungeons with the same looping soundtrack.
Age of Conan had a very nice soundtrack. Aion has some annoying sound effects, but the soundtrack is fine. I can't remember WAR much, though I remmeber some of the ambiant sound effect got on my nerves.
this was just posted on gamespot about their audio
i enjoyed this watch, saw it earlier today!
Good movie, like the way they are using multilayers for sounds. This makes the game have a bit more depth then single layer music files, which in most cases will be shut off after two hours.
Cheers!
P.s. Bulbasaur on 3.52!
Thanks for that zoom, interesting stuff and sounds very promising.
Yeah, now we know that Rift, Star Wars: The Old Republic and Guild Wars 2 will all have awesome ochestral soundtracks. The future, for the quality of MMOs, is looking promising.
The worst effects I have found come from darkfall, 1990 casio $40 keyboard eat your heart out.
Oh yes! I so agree with the OP.
I am playing computer games for 25 or so years, and I swear I hear the SAME door opening, sword swinging and hit-sounds I heared 25 years ago! So embarrasing.
People don't ask questions to get answers - they ask questions to show how smart they are. - Dogbert
Well, over at the Rift forums, people are hyped up over some guy that is doing sound/music, forget his name, but I guess he did Dragon Age and some other stuff and people seem to love his work...So you guys may be happy about it.
I know it sounds bad, but I play most the time with my sound off/very low. I play in the same room with my wife, so it makes it easier to converse about the game.
I dont care about glamorous graphics and even less about killer sound. Make it run well on a 2 year old machine, and make the game bug free and combat system complex without being tedious.
I think the first time MMO music really "hit" me was the flight from Menethil Harbor to Ironforge in WoW.
Loved it!! Occasionally I would take the flight a couple of times a day, just to listen to it. Few games have excellent soundtracks that stand up to repeat listening but there are a few rare gems out there!
I played Rift at Gamer Day recently.
The music was OUTSTANDING. It was layered, and made me feel like I was part of some epic. I loved it. Not even kissing butt here - the Defiant starting area (the new one, since its been redone 100% over the past 1-2 months) has the most awesome music.
to bad the character animations make them look like they are robots... much more impressed with Guildwars 2 than with Rift. Also Guildwars 1 always had good music.. wouldnt mind to hear what guildwars 2 has in store.