Poll: Do you turn on the subtitles?

[Janaschi]

Never used to. But I recently developed Tinnitus, which comes and goes, and makes it really hard for me to focus on any one particular source of noise. So subtitles have become a must, especially when there are a ton of other noises going on around me.

 

[maninahat]

As well as games, I watch pretty much all tv with subtitles as well. It came about because my wife struggles with some English accents, but it is really useful if you want to watch whilst stood at the back of the room and not have the volume up really high.

 

[Achelexus]

Subtitles are almost always better.

 

[Saulkar]

Yes, all the time. It was more a force of habit after I accidentally turned them on after buying the DVD release of The Two Towers on day one and have done just the same since then. However audio mixing in games is terrible so now it is a necessity.

 

[KenpoJuJitsu3]

Yes. I have a 15 year old son who has a knack for popping in and talking to me during cutscenes and I miss hearing stuff. Subtitles alleviate this problem. Also, some games don't do audio well *at all* and have the music and sound effects far too loud to hear dialogue properly in a lot of cases.

 

[TZO2K12]

I do, first off; if it has the option for a spoken language other than English, I'll take it! (I'm Xenophobic-phobic...) Secondly, The older I get, the more people sound like they're mumbling, especially since Game devs have to blast the music...(Yeah, I'm getting old)

 

[Creator002]

I do. I don't know why. I think it's just so everything's clear the first time through. If I feel like I missed or misheard something, I have really strong urges to go back, even if it means 10-15 minutes lost.

 

[KoudelkaMorgan]

I always turn on all subtitles. It helps with names and places to know how they are spelt in case there are similar names or you find some book or whatever to read as well. Also actors will pronounce the same name wildly different for no reason just to confuse things further.

 

[KiyoMoon]

I play most of my games with subtitles on, if I can help it. Since I tend to play my games in English, because very often then not, VA in my native tongue are HORRENDOUS, or just plain inaccurate, it's sometimes hard for me to follow a dialogue if I have to rely on my hearing, either because the sound is badly mixed or the characters are speaking in an accent which can be hard for me to understand sometimes.

Sure in some games it's annoying because the Subtitles are aimed at hearing-impaired people, which is why sometimes even sounds are subtitled, but sometimes that can be useful as Katherine Karensky said, with the subtitles in L4D2 giving you ample warning about special infected.

Another case occurs with games that feature either fantasy languages or languages I don't know, where the Subtitles can reveal what they are actually saying. One example of this was the PS2 game "Primal", where one character speaks in a demonic tongue and you can actually understand what he is saying when the subtitles are on.

 

[Xprimentyl]

I always turn them on when they're an option; I'll invariably misunderstand something during a cut scene or get interrupted, so I like having the option to read what I'm hearing. However, the subtitles should be of a reasonable size, font and color so as not to obstruct the screen and/or HUD items; fuck you, Yellow Courier Size 24 Font Subtitles Guy.

 

[RebornKusabi]

Yes, wish the quality of English voice actors in gaming would be as good as Hollywood. Sadly its a profession that's dwindling not expanding from my perspective so I'd rather stay used to subtitles.

This is a 100% why I have them on by default.

Games are getting better, either hiring real actors or what's become the case in 2016, weeding out trash VOs and running with a dependable stable of voice talent that also can vocally act well (albeit Nolan North, Matthew Mercer,Troy Baker and Laura Bailey being In EVERYTHING is getting old...). But games are in a weird place right now where certain sections of gamers don't want games to grow up, for whatever mechanical or sociopolitical reason they have, and because of this, games are still written VERY poorly. They're buried in tired tropes movies have moved away from (unless it's a women in the lead sadly) and because of said gamers, they're NOT allowed to explore themes and content that movies can- rape, child abuse (physical or sexual), religion, race, North America being a villain, all things off the table in 2016. Games are not allowed to grow up. Any game that does is a "walking simulation", or it's "trying too hard to be a movie".

All of that points to why I use subtitles. Because I can usually within an hour now tell if a game is gonna be infantile and conservative, or if it's gonna be telling an actual story I give a shit about. It's sad because in my early adult life, I made a choice to forgo movies and television and get my escapist entertainment from games, but sadly I've drifted back into television and movies because of this drives with gamers to keep games infantile and not approach any of those subjects I named.

Ironically I'm playing Deus Ex: Mankind Divided without subtitles because I actually think the voice acting is good, and the story and themes it's conveying are kind of topical, with race, human trafficking, internet rights and rich privilege/entitlement being current hot button issues.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

Yes because, modern sound-mixing being what it is, I find that I have difficulty hearing dialog more often than not. This isn't always an issue but I want to make absolutely sure I'm not missing out on anything important.

 

[happyninja42]

Depends on the game. Some games, like open world games with random conversations, make it difficult to follow a particular dialogue thread. The subtitles will (usually) stick to the more important conversation going on, so you can ignore the other voices and focus on the one you actually need to hear.

 

[krystalphoenix]

Yes, because dialogue volume in games is varied to such a degree that I feel I have to turn the volume up to hear everything and then have my hear drums burst because the next person shouts. And sometimes vital information is needed and I can pick it up a few seconds faster by reading the subtitles.

 

[darkcalling]

i turn them on since i often play when my roommates are asleep. Also some characters have accents that are hard to understand. Ohgrim in Dragon age rigins in a few spots for instance.

 

[Pseudonym]

Yes, for various reasons. For one, English is a second language. Secondly, there is often noise or music playing as well. Thirdly, not everything is always pronounced well. I'll understand without subtitles, but it occasionally becomes a strain on my attention to clearly understand the text and this is eleviated by using subs.

Unless it's a foreign language game it's completely immersion breakingly annoying to have any subs present, so no, absolutely not.

Hmm. Interesting. I find it no more immersion breaking than any other type of interface.

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

Yes. I read faster than most people speak, so I can skip long winded dialogue sections. Also, my walls are paper thin, so I have to keep the volume down sometimes.

 

[EHKOS]

Due to numerous ear infections in my right ear, my hearing has diminished to about 80%. Combine that and the fact that I play almost exclusively at night means I always have them on.
That, and I read fast so I can skip dialogue quicker.

 

[JohnnyDelRay]

Only reasons I'd turn them on is:
1) I can't make out the dialogue, for whatever reason (mixing, mumbling, voice acting)
2) I'm impatient and want to click through it and speed read, esp on repeated playthroughs
3) I like to hear the source material in it's original language

Generally I try to leave them off, as I find I don't pay enough attention to what's actually happening on screen when there are words I'm trying to follow at the bottom. It does help get back in the story with all the names and details though.

 

[Jute88]

Yes, I turn it on, because if they speak English, then I may not hear every word they say because of the background noise. Or if they speak some language that I don't understand. Hell, they might make jokes or references that I've never heard of before, and if the translator is good, he or she has tried to translate the joke/reference to me in an understandable way.