Agreed, I've never experienced a game with smart subtitles as you said. Either it's so slow that you hear it first, or its immediate and spoils iit like you said.
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Ubisoft's numbers say subtitles are really jolly popular
- Thread starter DOA
- Start date
Always on. Sometimes the mixing is bad or the action so fast-moving and accompanied by music and other effects that I can miss stuff, especially if it's about fantastical terminology or spoken in regional dialects I'm unfamiliar with. It's far easier to rewind a film if you missed something than to rewind a cut scene mid-game, so I have subtitles on for a quick glance at the text if the audio was unclear. I wish more games had them all accessible from a menu once you've seen them.
Always, for all games. If I need to read them I do it. If I dont, I hardly notice they are there.
Audio balancing / mixing is hard enough when you have total control over it (like in a movie or a TV show), to the point where it often gets fucked up there.
In a medium where there is often absolutely no telling how close or far away the player will be from any given audio source, and where the player can often trigger additional audio sources, audio balancing / mixing becomes effectively impossible.
Subtitles are often the only option if you want to know wtf is being said.
In a medium where there is often absolutely no telling how close or far away the player will be from any given audio source, and where the player can often trigger additional audio sources, audio balancing / mixing becomes effectively impossible.
Subtitles are often the only option if you want to know wtf is being said.
First playthrough always with subtitles. Beginning with the second playthrough always its disabled for more immersion.
You skip every cutscenes in any game?
Wow first time i heard that a game had no subtitles. For real?
Those poll results,lol.................I never use subtitles,too much of a distraction and there is so much dialogue in modern games it's the first option I make sure is set to off.Can't say I've ever had any issues with missing dialogue tbh.
I always use subtitles, but I'm a bit of an odd one. I enable subtitles on all video streaming apps too like Netflix. For some reason I find I'm able to concentrate better with them. When they're off I find myself missing things or my mind wanders.
I also always turn them on.
Or you play in your second language and it makes it easier to follow everything.
Or you play in your second language and it makes it easier to follow everything.
considering non-insignificant amount of games i play, I need subs cuz I don't fully understand spoken language, I use them a lot. But lately, I've been using them more in general, cuz there's often a lot of noise that can drown out the game itself. cuz kid in other room, noise from the window or even just ps4 fans themselves.
it's not just bad audio mixing or the lack of language proficiency that subtitles are needed, sometimes a game just had too much of its own mumbo jumbo that regardless of how good its audio mixing or your hearing skills, it's difficult to tell what is going on. Like imagine if FF13 doesn't have subtitles and all the characters just kept saying L'Cie, Fal'Cie or whatever'Cie and you are supposed to catch all that in a cutscene.
Never use them. I don't enable them for films, so why would I in games?
They make sense if it isn't your primary language, or you're hard of hearing, but otherwise I'm convinced this is a thing most gamers stick with out of habit more than anything else. Get that text off your screen and immerse yourself in the performance rather than reading ahead of what characters are about to say and keeping your eyes glued to the bottom 10% of the screen in cutscenes.
They make sense if it isn't your primary language, or you're hard of hearing, but otherwise I'm convinced this is a thing most gamers stick with out of habit more than anything else. Get that text off your screen and immerse yourself in the performance rather than reading ahead of what characters are about to say and keeping your eyes glued to the bottom 10% of the screen in cutscenes.
Now that the information is out there, I hope publishers start to give a shit about them. Most of the time the implementation is absolute garbage.
Thank you. Those are perfect examples of what I had in mind.
I personally think there is an awful lot wrong with subtitle in game.
Tiny Text is one thing
Whole paragraphs
Impossible to read contrast
I really wish there was a standard
Thank you. Those are perfect examples of what I had in mind.
Usually put them on as my hearing isn't great and when it comes to games I usually end up preferring to keep the volume quite low for some reason. Still it would help if console games' subtitles were at least twice the size. My eyesight's not too bad bud I really struggle to read them, same for flavour text and menu text.
Sometimes I'll have my AC on or some outside noise is going on and I can't hear what the heck their saying. It's like "hey blah blah blah so remember to do that blah or you'll die" and you're like "what the hell?".
So team subtitles here.
So team subtitles here.
Yes I have subtitles because even though I can understand English perfectly well without them, there are times when the dialogue isn't comprehensible (the VA mumbles, there are explosions/loud noises or other distractions that make it hard to hear what exactly is being said etc.) and I don't want to miss that stuff.
Tgis is totally me. I also have subtitles almost always on because of this. They're also great because if I do get distracted by something (or feel like I misheard a character or anything like that) I can just quickly read through the subs to see what I missed/make sure I'm not crazy or anything and just having them there for a "just in case" thing like that is great.
I like having them on because games can be really noisy and I'd miss some vital info otherwise. With movies and TV shows it's not a necessity (it really depends on the kind of show it is, if it's full of technical terms I probably have them on), but with games I practically always turn 'em on to make sure I don't miss anything.
So with defaults off/on, 50% of people actively choose to turn on subtitles and only 3% of people actively choose to disable subtitles? Interesting.
i always turn them on. as a non-native english speaker, it really frustrates me if there's no subtitle option cuz sometimes i just can't understand what a character is saying if there's no subs.
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I always turn them on, it just sucks that most devs don't know how to implement them well, I think that the best ones that I've seen were from naughty dog.
I always use subs when they are available. I dont' know why, but I just prefer reading while hearing than just hearing or just reading. Also I'm not a native english speaker so sometimes I don't really get what it says so it helps understand :)
Always on, no exceptions. I don't have the best hearing, and some games have dreadful audio mixes.
Well then, i'm the oddball apparently : i always get rid of them, they distract me way too much. I can't stop reading anything thrown at me. It's almost physically impossible for me not to. And reading instead of playing can have some unwanted complications.
I needed subtitles when i was learning english but i'm now fluent enough to have lost the need for them. So subtitles are basically for languages i don't actually understand like Japanese of German. In english and french, they are a liability.
I needed subtitles when i was learning english but i'm now fluent enough to have lost the need for them. So subtitles are basically for languages i don't actually understand like Japanese of German. In english and french, they are a liability.
Subtitles, always. Though most video game subtitles are horrible and almost impossible to read.
Also, usually very hard to hesr dialogue is also subtitled (like characters speaking through a phone), which makes me wonder how the hell people watching without subtitles are ever supposed to hear that dialogue.
I also always turn on English subtitles if I can. Sometimes films use hard to hear accents, dialects or slang that I might not be completely familiar with, so subtitles really help there.
Also, usually very hard to hesr dialogue is also subtitled (like characters speaking through a phone), which makes me wonder how the hell people watching without subtitles are ever supposed to hear that dialogue.
I prefer to play without them since I'm a quick reader and getting ahead of the dialogue can ruin actor delivery, but the instant I miss a line because I couldn't hear it or an accent was too thick I turn them on for the remainder of the game.
Can't believe I'm part of only 5% of folks who put subtitles off in AC:O
I never really use subs as I can hear everything pretty well with my headphones when playing.
Also subs are too distracting from the on screen action or performances.
I never really use subs as I can hear everything pretty well with my headphones when playing.
Also subs are too distracting from the on screen action or performances.
Subtitles off, unless the levels are particularly bad. I know this is a minority opinion but I can deal with the occasional lost word in order to avoid undermining the delivery of the dialogue, which subtitles do, almost constantly. That and, I can't help having my eyes drawn to them.
On for everything. I wish the subtitles in AC Origins would tell me the random chatter of the village NPCs who repeat everything constantly.
If the sound-mixing is good I turn them off. I'm not a fan of extra screen clutter and I can't help but read dialog ahead of what's being said, which takes me out of it a bit and diminishes it for me and can flat out spoil scenes.
If the mix is trash though I turn them on.
Please have good audio mixes and mix options. Usually when there is none the Music is just a *huge* offender and needs to be turned down really badly.
If the mix is trash though I turn them on.
Please have good audio mixes and mix options. Usually when there is none the Music is just a *huge* offender and needs to be turned down really badly.
Stick me in the minority—in large part at least. The more cinematic a game is the less likely I usually am to have them on, and vice versa to an extent. I want to fully absorb careful visuals and subs can detract from that. When I don't know the language there isn't a choice obviously (unless the viewer isn't meant to know it) and sometimes I turn them on in cinematic games when there is a specific stylistic element to them.
Here's the thing, I do think subtitles can pull you out of the experience and lead to less immersion with the gaming world, because you read lines instead of focusing on gestures and facial expressions. Still, subtitles are a must in some cases. When English is not your first language, subtitles can help, especially when strong accents are part of the experience. There are also games like Bastion where even with very good English it can become tough to follow the narrator AND fight battles at the same time. As fluent as some of us are in second languages, I think we tend to understand our mother tongue even passively without too much concentration and effort, while we have to actively listen to foreign languages.
I often have subtitles on so I can understand what people are saying over my PS4's fans. I don't like to though, I'd rather have subtitles off but I don't want to miss anything.
Audio mix is fucking atrociously dreadful on most games so unless you've got subtitles on or SFX blowing out your eardrums you ain't gonna know what the hell anyone's saying.
It's a pretty common complaint in movies as well and for the life of me I can't figure out why nobody cares enough to fix it.
It's a pretty common complaint in movies as well and for the life of me I can't figure out why nobody cares enough to fix it.
The first Assassin's Creed is what got me to turn subtitles on for most things, I don't think I've fiddled about with the volume for anything more than I had to playing that.
Was ludicrous.
I do it for almost everything now (not sports or internet videos), I can take in scenes whilst reading like its standard.
I need to know every word uttered, regardless of importance or if it's mumbled, grunted or whatever.
"Getting the gist" just isn't enough for me.
Was ludicrous.
I do it for almost everything now (not sports or internet videos), I can take in scenes whilst reading like its standard.
I need to know every word uttered, regardless of importance or if it's mumbled, grunted or whatever.
"Getting the gist" just isn't enough for me.
Most games have really bad mixing at times. Gunfire, explosions and loud music can muffle a characters voice
