The Sword and Laser discussion

So the reading vs. listening thread in the Rule 34 forum got me thinking.

Every time I start a new game, I spend a good while deliberating on whether I should turn on the subtitles.

With subtitles, I get more information, more quickly, but I lose immersion because I'm reading the titles and not watching the action.

Without subtitles, I can concentrate on the characters, dialogue, and action, but my gameplay can suffer because I go into a sort of passive "movie mode". Also, I sometimes miss information altogether because I couldn't understand what a character said due to bad mix or enunciation or my extremely loud furnace coming on.

I turned subtitles on in Skyrim because characters in RPGs often take forever to get to the point.

I always do this with RPGs for the exact reason you mentioned. I'll maybe go for full immersion for a little bit, depending on my level of patience, but most often I'll just turn on the text, read what they're about to say and skip the performance.

I turned them on in TOR and skyrim because I have experienced no sound bugs in the past.

In games I turn subtitles on if the option is available.

With all the music and sound effects, the dialogue sometimes gets garbled.
With RPG's you need to hear what they are saying.

Plus some accents are harder to understand than others and everyone outside of Tasmania has an accent ;-)

Generally, I like to keep the subtitles turned off. Like Dennis, hearing the voices helps bring me into the game. On the other hand, my kids are rather loud so I often find myself turning subtitles on so that I can understand what's happening. No matter how loud I turn up my computer, a 4 and 6-year old are louder.

It depends on the game & the console. For most PC games, I like having text on. It's second nature for me to listen and read and watch the ongoing action. Once I'm familiar with in-game dialogue for basic stuff, I just don't read the text.

For console games, I love original voice acting (mostly Japanese games) and subtitles. If I have the choice, I always go for the original soundtrack, etc. Translations aren't completely accurate & US dubs tend to annoy me due to not really fitting the character.

I like to keep them on. There are enough audio distractions in my house that it's way too easy to miss something, so having the text there just in case is nice. I've watched enough subtitled material that having the text there doesn't distract me as much as it does for some.

Also, I play a lot of jrpgs, and I like to use the original Japanese voices if at all possible. And it's honestly quite amusing to see just how wildly the English translations diverge from the original dialogue sometimes. ^_^;

Leighann wrote: "Also, I play a lot of jrpgs, and I like to use the original Japanese voices if at all possible. And it's honestly quite amusing to see just how wildly the English translations diverge from the original dialogue sometimes."

See, I also play a lot of JRPG's (actually mostly JRPG's). I prefer to read the subtitles than listen to the childish girlie voices in the traditional JRPG. It grates on my nerves sometimes. :)

I like to have them on, but I also watch TV and movies with subtitles.

I always use subtitles. It helps me during second playthroughs to speed through quest stuff.

I'll usually leave them on if it's an option. For translated games, I also like to switch back to the original-language audio -- that's how I played Last Remnant (JRPG) and Metro 2033 (first-person shooter set in the Moscow subways after an unspecified apocalypse). The only problem was that in Metro I think I missed some stuff because civilians would be talking in the background and their dialogue wasn't being subtitled.

Speaking of subtitles, I just watched 13 assassins and highly recommend it for anyone who is a fan of samurai films.

I just had to turn them on in skyrim. People kept saying important things when the extremely loud dragon-soul-absorbed gong went off. What?? What did you say???!!! Urgh

As far as the cutesy girl talk in JRPGs, I put up with them. Then, annoyingly, I'd end up spouting their catchphrases out of nowhere all day.

Yay us!!!
It'll be cake!

And all around me thought I was crazy.

If it's an option, I always turn on subtitles. It doesn't distract me at all. If anything, I find games more immersive if I can turn on the subtitles. If I can't turn on subtitles, I usually turn off the music, and turn the sound effects way down.

subtitles are always bether

I always go for subtitles. Between poor sound mixes (See Halo Anniversary) where the sound effects and the music drown out the dialogue and terrible voice acting (Those accents in Skyrim that change a half-dozen times over the course of one line) I often find it less distracting to read the subtitles.

I also find the subtitles useful in RPGs because I can generally read the subtitles much quicker than the person saying the lines can deliver them, so I don't have to sit around for ages on additional playthroughs.

another one for the 'have them on' camp - I automatically go into options, turn them on and turn down music and fx volumes if the chance is there. It saved my sanity on the Citadel in mass Effect 3 when so many quests were picked up by 'overhearing' conversations.

I usually have them turned on; it's easier for me to follow when I'm able to read along the voice acting.

I have them turned on in case I ever miss something, and also because English is not my mother tongue, and sometimes I worry about mishearing something >.>

I always have them turned on. With 2 gamers sharing the same room, the noise from all of the machines we have in the room, and usually the TV running, even with headphones its too easy for me to miss something without them.

Dennis wrote: "I turned subtitles on in Skyrim because characters in RPGs often take forever to get to the point."

Me too, for the same reason. I'll also use them if the voice-acting or sound editing is poor and I can't understand what's being said.

On the other end of the spectrum, there's the Uncharted series, which wants to be an interactive movie so badly. The facial expressions and camera angles in the cutscenes are really effective, the dialogue is clear and understandable, and characters with a regional accent are usually portrayed by a voice actor from that region. In games like these, I find the subtitles distracting and turn them off.

I usually start out playing with the games default - but sometimes I switch it up as I play.

Most recently I was playing Dragon Age 2 and I kept missing the conversations my party was having as I walked around - so I turned the subtitles on to make sure I caught it all!

I like to have them on in games that have a lot of extra NPCs. I'm playing KoA: Reckoning and I want to talk to everyone and hear what they have to say, but if I listened to what everyone had to say about everything I don't think I'd ever finish the game. So I skip through it all quicker by reading.

Generally speaking, I do not like video game sound effects/music or voice acting. I think there a very few games that get it right.
Unless it is absolutely necessary for me to have the sound turned on to play the game, I turn the volume all the way down, turn the subtitles on and then put my ITunes library on shuffle.

If I have the option I always turn subtitles on. It helps me not miss things. Plus sometimes when I play my wife is asleep in the other room so I turn the sound way down.

As many others have mentioned, it depends upon the game and situation.

I will say I didn't realize the sheer headcrushing amount of dialogue in The Longest Journey (played it twice before) until I played it again with my wife. For the first few chapters, we had subtitles off, then quickly decided the game length would approach 30 hours if we didn't start reading some of the dialogue and skipping some of the voice acting.

I pretty much always have them on. Sound design in games is usually so bad that actually hearing the voice acting can be quite difficult at times. This way I can enjoy what is going on, but if I missed hearing something I can glance down and see what it was.

I always turn subtitles on if there's the option (games and movies) but that's cause my hearing kinda sucks.

I also always have subtitles on if it's an option. Especially with games with Dragon Age and Mass Effect

My hearing can get worse as my syndrome declines, so I always turn on subtitles if I care the least bit about what's said. I don't mute the game, and I will sometimes try to slow down my reading so I don't get to the punchline or plot point ahead of the actors, but it is necessary since I can't rewind a videogame to hear a line over again.

I always turn it on for two reasons (both of which have already been mentioned):

Firstly, sometimes the sound mix in a game prevents me from hearing dialogue - especially when it isn't 'main' dialogue, like overhearing conversations.

Secondly, in games where NPCs have a tendency to talk a lot and slowly, it means I can just read it as fast as I want and skip through.

Captions are a life saver in ME2&3. I can scan the dialogue and skip to the next line and make those exposition breaks fly by.

subtitles are awesome. especially when some stupid batarian is blabbin about some anti human or salarian nonsense and shepard needs to be a paragon....

but being a renegade just feels soooo good