What sounds should enemies make? Believable or not necessarily? Skeleton laughter in both EQs is iconic but hardly believable - funny at the beginning, but to be honest more irritating later on. I'd like a lot more if in Pantheon they'll make sounds more like in Dark Souls series. Same with all other monsters (and environment). "Unnatural" or rather unbelievable sounds imho break immersion.
What is your opinion on that matter? Any preference?
A skeleton being "alive"/animated and running around is hardly believable to begin with.
Anyway: I loved the laughing skeletons, crunchy zombies, and whooping ghouls in EQ from the first time I heard them and even to this very day. Never change please.
I want all kinds of sounds from all sorts of different things, from serious to things that are more mocking of life like the skeletons from EQ.
I think we can have newer high fi sounds that can be the new "iconic" standard, but anything is going to be repetitive in time. I hope theres richer ambient noises that monsters make, such as breathing, talking to nearby allys, growling/howling etc when not yet in combat. I dont really know how you can make attack sounds not irritating in the long haul though. Same with attack music.
Seeing how well Hollywood movies manage to make scary monster sounds in many movies, I certainly hope that VR can make many mobs' sounds quite realistic and frightening. Given the humor that we see from team members regularly, I certainly hope that at least a few mobs have sounds that are deliberatly funny. I see that as almost a type of Easter Egg, though not exactly.
But I agree that a genuinely dangerous and challenging Goblin who laughed like a Halloween Witch in a B-grade movie could be fairly destructive to my personal sense of mortal terror when I wander into a fight with him that I wasn't planning.
Any sounds can become irritating if heard enough times for sure, and humor is particularly susceptible to such 'burnout'. Which suggests that "Humor is a spice that is best used sparingly".
(Holy crap, I have to stop reading so many of Stellarmind's posts)
Hegenox said:What sounds should enemies make? Believable or not necessarily? Skeleton laughter in both EQs is iconic but hardly believable - funny at the beginning, but to be honest more irritating later on. I'd like a lot more if in Pantheon they'll make sounds more like in Dark Souls series. Same with all other monsters (and environment). "Unnatural" or rather unbelievable sounds imho break immersion.
What is your opinion on that matter? Any preference?
Ha! What are you talking about. The Skellie laugh in EQ is the best mob sound in the history of gaming. I’d say Pantheon has a lot of competition on its hands ;)
I like all a lot fo the sound effects from EQ, now obviously i hope they kind of keep some of the sound effects but obviously better implemented, now i can play the sound in my head how that could actually be, but typing in down is a going to take a lot of effort to even have it make sense lol.
Hegenox said:"Unnatural" or rather unbelievable sounds imho break immersion.
What is your opinion on that matter? Any preference?
In a fantasy world filled with magic, fantastical creatures and monsters, what really then can be considered 'unnatural'? So what if the skeletons had their laugh, that's just what they did. In that world, that noise they made was absolutely natural..for them as it was part of the magic that animated them.
If Im relating with the OP... and I think I do.. I believe its the repetition of the effects which makes it seem "fake" and eventually annoying. Little to no variance in whats said/done time after time whenever you attack that model.
Alyonyah said:If Im relating with the OP... and I think I do.. I believe its the repetition of the effects which makes it seem "fake" and eventually annoying. Little to no variance in whats said/done time after time whenever you attack that model.
Ok, repetitious noises where they really only make 1 sound and nothing else is annoying. Every creature should have some range of auditory choices, both in attack and defense, to choose from. That said, I'd rather the game come out with just 1 sound than have to wait any number of weeks, etc for the sound team (or person) to make multiple sounds for every entity in the game. That stuff can be added over time.
Vandraad said:Alyonyah said:If Im relating with the OP... and I think I do.. I believe its the repetition of the effects which makes it seem "fake" and eventually annoying. Little to no variance in whats said/done time after time whenever you attack that model.
Ok, repetitious noises where they really only make 1 sound and nothing else is annoying. Every creature should have some range of auditory choices, both in attack and defense, to choose from. That said, I'd rather the game come out with just 1 sound than have to wait any number of weeks, etc for the sound team (or person) to make multiple sounds for every entity in the game. That stuff can be added over time.
Yea I agree. This can always be freshened up. Is worth noting however.
Vandraad said:Ok, repetitious noises where they really only make 1 sound and nothing else is annoying. Every creature should have some range of auditory choices, both in attack and defense, to choose from. That said, I'd rather the game come out with just 1 sound than have to wait any number of weeks, etc for the sound team (or person) to make multiple sounds for every entity in the game. That stuff can be added over time.
Agreed - to be honest that is the main reason why it irritates me so much. Multiple sound effects from monsters would help immensly, though not really solves the issue in grinding game, where number of defeated foes from one type can reach hundereds of thousands and more.
There is a definite 'atmosphere' conjured by the sound scape and it's more important than a lot of people recognise.
The skelly cackle in EQ fit the bill in a game where ogres scratched their bum crack while sitting in a dingy cave full of chopped up dwarves. It wasn't exactly going for serious high-fantasy, but it managed to walk a fine line of humour and realism and ended up being striking and effective.
I'm hoping Pantheon is a little more... realistic? Gritty? But I'm still expecting some nostalgic and characterful moments.
More important these days is sound being used for gameplay purposes. The surround sound actually letting you know when something is coming from the side or behind. Being able to tell how far something is and how many. That kind of thing is fantastic for immersion.
disposalist said:More important these days is sound being used for gameplay purposes. The surround sound actually letting you know when something is coming from the side or behind. Being able to tell how far something is and how many. That kind of thing is fantastic for immersion.
This is where I think the focus should be in terms of sound effects surrounding mobs. Nothing adds to the ambience/fear of circumstances than a true surround sound set up. This is what I tried to highlight in this thread early on. Hope we can expand this area in pantheon.
I wouldn't mind 2 sounds for common enemies, one for atacking and one for general being. This lends itself to the undead, magically influenced, or semi-sentient creatures. For instance: Skeletons general being would be bones rattling as they walk or shuffle, but attacking would be the cackle, Spectres would have that hollow, deep-sea diver like breath moan when cruising, but would shriek when attacking.
The sucking, bathroom plunger sound of foglok footsteps I always liked, although dreaded when I heard thousdands through the wall, and their croak when attacking was singular.
However for natural animals or semi-sentients it might be harder, an orc walking in the wild would sound much like a human unless they had a propensity to snuffle or something.
I dont mind combat music, but I assume the UI will have a slider to turn music down if I wanted.
Alyonyah said:disposalist said:More important these days is sound being used for gameplay purposes. The surround sound actually letting you know when something is coming from the side or behind. Being able to tell how far something is and how many. That kind of thing is fantastic for immersion.
This is where I think the focus should be in terms of sound effects surrounding mobs. Nothing adds to the ambience/fear of circumstances than a true surround sound set up. This is what I tried to highlight in this thread early on. Hope we can expand this area in pantheon.
Definitely! Surround sounds can build climate and make us anxious sometimes more that a sight of a monsters. And how cool it would be if we could learn the enemy behaviour and anticipate at least some attacks based on sound they make and be able to prevent/counter it.
Alyonyah said:Hegenox said:
"how cool it would be if we could learn the enemy behaviour and anticipate at least some attacks based on sound they make and be able to prevent/counter it."
This ^ is the type of thing Id love to see implemented in pantheon.
pfft. pvp is the answer >=D and great news it's going to be in pantheon ^_^
Back on topic. Im certain this game will have surround as even EQ did, but imagine the fidelity that could be experienced with todays tech? Anyone remember being totally shocked when they heard a giant walking nearby for the first time? I can remember my heart jumping out of my chest, and in hindsight those sounds sound like 8 bit video games, compared to whats out there today. We just havnt really felt like we have been in a world outside of brads games. Least thats the case for me. Every other game just feels like a game.