85 replies to this topic

[mekabuser]

What is going on with the audio in this game? Lets set aside the fact that your mech makes absolutely NO sounds when it comes into contact with another mech or the environment, something thats a joke on a map like bog, which is equal opportunity affront to both my sense of sight and sound.

lets put aside the fact that the most important audio cues in game are missing, what have the devs done to improve audio quantity and quality since . well since day one?

yeah they added betty n sundry weapon sounds of varying quality but the overall nature of the sound in this game remains unchanged at best, diminished over time I suspect.

by unchanged i mean it is minimally viable.Stompy? muddled footfalls more like it. unchanging, without depth.

or how bout the very silly nonsensical sounds the mechs themselves make, like bad techno, more than likely implemented to mask how terrible the base audio is.

so is there even ONE audio engineer on staff? or someone who does who knows what and more nonsense via warhorns.

to put it into perspective, the audio in this game is as bad as my grammar n punctuation in this post.

thoughts?

[Alistair Winter]

I agree 100% with the basic sentiment here.

The weapon sounds have not improved since I started playing. Most ballistic weapons sound worse (especially the AC2), the new PPC sounds atrocious and both the Clan missiles and new IS missiles are worse than before. The Clan SSRM / SRM sound is especially horrible, IMO. Lasers are generally ok, and people love the wubwubs. The small lasers and small pulse lasers sound like bird songs, not 500 kilogram (!) lasers.

What's a lot worse is the lack of ambient sound, as you say. There's no sound of wind, only very rarely a sound of waterfalls. No sound of insects or other fauna. The sound of footsteps is pretty bad, with a big lack of variation according to different mechs. No sound of collisions, like when a 100 ton mech rams into a concrete building.

And like you say, some of the mech sounds are really bad. One of the things I hate about piloting the GRF-1N(P) (one of my favourite mechs) is the fact that torso twisting sounds like dragging a heavy metal chain over a pile of knives and forks. Did someone forget to oil that thing? It sounds like it's about to snap in half.

To answer your question: no, they don't have anyone working on audio at all, beyond making those atrocious Warjingles they're selling. It's a damned shame that PGI doesn't understand the impact of audio in a game.

[mekabuser]

ty Alistair for crafting a post that illustrates the problem in a more thorough concise manner..

Edited by mekabuser, 03 April 2015 - 06:12 AM.

[sneeking]

The person making those ring tones deserves kicking out on they butt hole.

those are awful.

[Burktross]

I mean, it's not thaaaaat bad.
Just uninspired.

[T0rmented]

100% concede sound needs improving.
I am not sure that i wholly agree with your review of the game sound as I like alot of the sounds that are in place. But that is down to preference, I think alot of sounds that are in place are great.
Some weapons could use beefing up for sure and I would like more sounds in general too.
Having something to indicate collisions (terrain and mechs) is a must!

The pulses were better with their *original* even more WUB WUB WUB sound

edit: maybes a way to change sounds, sound packs or something, maybe allowable alter it yourself so you can swap out for old mw2 betty!

Edited by T0rmented, 03 April 2015 - 06:29 AM.

[sneeking]

Its worse than uninspired its a crime against humanity.

Those faction horns are that bad im not exaggerating. ..

[Alistair Winter]

Burktross, on 03 April 2015 - 06:15 AM, said:

I mean, it's not thaaaaat bad.
Just uninspired.

Now, I have a tendency to be overtly negative sometimes, but I feel like I'm on safe ground here. The lack of ambient sound is undeniable, so let's talk about weapon sounds. This is the way I measure it:
How many sounds do you actually feel uncomfortable listening to, when you hear them over and over again?

What's really impressive about a game like Borderlands is that there's probably dozens of different sound effects for the thousands of guns that exist in the game, and none of them are annoying. Some of them are great, some of them are plain, some are just uninspired. But playing that game, I never really thought "Ugh.. That's an annoying sound".

MWO has several offenders like that. When you listen to the PPC sound from Closed Beta, yeah, it's pretty uninspired and a generic sci-fi shooter sound effect. But it's not irritating either. That's what really gets me about some of the new sound effects. They're irritating. I would be fine if they were generic and uninspired.

[MeiSooHaityu]

I've never thought about any of that. Actually, the last time I thought about the sound effects in this game is when HPG Manifold came out (since the lack of atmosphere changed how sound works).

If I'm not concerned about the sound, I'll say it is satisfactory for me. I'm sure it could be a bit better, but I just don't care too much I suppose. In any case, I don't find it as offensive as the OP does.

Its adequate, and that's fine. If it improves, that would be great, but it is an afterthought in my mind.

Edited by MeiSooHaityu, 03 April 2015 - 06:45 AM.

[mekabuser]

Alistair Winter, on 03 April 2015 - 06:33 AM, said:

That's what really gets me about some of the new sound effects. They're irritating. I would be fine if they were generic and uninspired.

It was the first thing I noticed about the clans.. OMG ! are you kidding me? Its the reason I think i never really got into the clan mechs at all. I hated the sound of their weaps.

[Jazzbandit1313]

The only weapon sound I 100% appreciate is the C-LPL. Whenever I run my Wub-Bringer (bass-cannon) with 2 lpl and 4 smpl (or 3mpl), I turn my volume all the way up and let my Sennheiser HD555's take me to Wub town with all that bass.

[EvilCow]

You make it looks like sounds are the worst problem in the game.

[CMDR Sunset Shimmer]

mekabuser, on 03 April 2015 - 05:55 AM, said:

What is going on with the audio in this game? Lets set aside the fact that your mech makes absolutely NO sounds when it comes into contact with another mech or the environment, something thats a joke on a map like bog, which is equal opportunity affront to both my sense of sight and sound.

lets put aside the fact that the most important audio cues in game are missing, what have the devs done to improve audio quantity and quality since . well since day one?

Oh you know... actively make the audio worse over time because reasons?

Seriously, the sound was AMAZING back in Closed Beta...

[Johnny Z]

Alot of the sounds are great, other like the ac 2 ac 5 and LBX-10 are BRUTAL.

[Wrathful Scythe]

Sound is a real minor thing in MWO now. PGI has their hands full with the implementation of new maps and gamemodes for CW, or I hope so at least.

While I think the closed beta sounds are better and I agree with the OP, I don't see how PGI would ever consider reworking the sounds or adding anything new because it would eat valuable ressources which could be spent elsewhere. If the the community doesn't spam Russ's twitter with this over a longer period, we won't see anything like that in the near future.

[Jazzbandit1313]

Johnny Z, on 03 April 2015 - 07:03 AM, said:

Alot of the sounds are great, other like the ac 2 ac 5 and LBX-10 are BRUTAL.

The LBX-10 sounds like a tennis racket hitting a charcoal briquette....

[MeiSooHaityu]

Johnny Z, on 03 April 2015 - 07:03 AM, said:

Alot of the sounds are great, other like the ac 2 ac 5 and LBX-10 are BRUTAL.

I still like the sound of the IS LBX. It sounds good. I just wish I felt like running it (even in mechs quirked for it).

[Lordred]

Presenting, old Laser noises, Missile noises, PPC noises, and AC Noises.


They were much better then what we have now.

[Kristov Kerensky]

I wear headphones, so I guess I hear slightly more than some do, there's actually ambient sounds on almost every map, they just aren't easy to hear without headphones I guess.

As for how the sounds SOUND..eh, I'm pretty good with them myself, since I don't actually expect to hear half of the stuff I do hear ingame. I can easily hear other Mechs walking around, weapons being fired, ambient sounds from the wind, etc.

Mech cockpits are a sealed enviroment after all, a lot of the sound just shouldn't be very audible due to that, especially ambient sounds like the wind.

Weapon sounds could use some work, true enough, but overall, no real issues with them for me.

[MoonfireSpam]

EvilCow, on 03 April 2015 - 07:01 AM, said:

You make it looks like sounds are the worst problem in the game.

Well it is MWO forums. Going to also say the sounds are in a decent spot (although not sure why they were ever changed, the old ones are better). It would be far more annoying if it sounded like being in a boiler room then entire time.

Hyperbole in the OP is offensive.

Edited by MoonfireSpam, 03 April 2015 - 07:33 AM.