Subtitle or no Subtitle?

[Singletap]

I really enjoy subtitles in games like mass effect but in Dragon Age as far as I can know it won't let you have them on. I like subtitles because it allows me to hear the dialog while I'm playing music or if I am walking away from a character and can't hear them. So yeah I think it's a big part of some games what about you?

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

Not in my story driven or HUD-less games.

 

[Nebr66]

I always turn subtitles on, as i tend not to really listen to what the people are saying. And for those instances when a well timed explosion or something makes me miss hearing my next mission objective.

 

[Jack and Calumon]

It depends how they look. In PORTAL, they are awful cos it's like a bar going across the screen at the bottom, but in games like Devil May Cry and Metal Gear Solid, i like them as they are just floating white writing at the bottom of the screen, cut off nicely, so I still know EXACTLY what is going on.

Calumon: I can't read, but my ears are big enough to know whats going on ALL THE TIME! YAY!

 

[TheNamlessGuy]

DELETED

 

[Iwata]

Not being a native english speaker, subtitles do help.

 

[Internet Kraken]

I always put on subtitles whenever they are available. They're not to distracting and they allow me to understand exactly what is being said. If I turned them off I might have to keep replaying a cutscene to try and understand what one of the characters was saying. Subtitles solve that problem, as I can simply read the dialogue if I can't understand the voice actor.

 

[Eiseman]

Many games I'm accustomed to feature giant, talking monsters. Usually with weird-sounding voices that are difficult to understand.

Subtitles on. Always.

 

[Jenova65]

I'm a little hard of hearing so I need them, although it would be better if they weren't tiny *Looks at BioWare* What were those poxy subtitles in ME2 about??? I have a diabetic daughter (who has diabetic cataracts) and those subtitles are pointless!

 

[Cowabungaa]

Practically never, unless the other sound effects or accents are so loud and/or obnoxious that's it's really hard to follow the dialogue.

For example, I turned on the subtitles in BioShock 2 for a while during Fontaine Futuristics. Alexander can be pretty hard to follow through his crackly security bot speaker.

 

[SnootyEnglishman]

I use subtitles all the time because i'm always hearing constant things..and they distract me from hearing the in-game story.

 

[Tasachan]

I always have subtitles if available, including while watching movies. I seem to have a problem distinguishing what people are saying... though... I don't think I have anything wrong with my hearing.

 

[Ascarus]

I really enjoy subtitles in games like mass effect but in Dragon Age as far as I can know it won't let you have them on. I like subtitles because it allows me to hear the dialog while I'm playing music or if I am walking away from a character and can't hear them. So yeah I think it's a big part of some games what about you?

head phones are your friend -- with those, you shouldn't ever need to have the subtitles on.

 

[A random person]

Generally yes, I have a tendency to mishear things and they don't hurt anything. I make an exception for Half Life, though, as for some reason they hurt the feel and immersion of the storytelling for me. I'm not entirely sure why, though.

 

[Mortons4ck]

In school, whenever we'd watch movies (health, history, geography, etc.), the teachers would always put the subtitles on to help compensate for crappy speakers.

Now I can't watch anything without subtitles.

 

[Monocle Man]

For some bizarre reason nearly all games I play have a ridiculous surroundings-voice volume ratio, so I have to put on the subtitles if I don't want the explosions to tear my eardrums apart.

I know it's possible to change those ratios, but when your TV resets the volume every time you turn it on while also turning of the volume at random among many other annoying things it's impossible to keep it at the right volume.
It would also be nice if you didn't have to change the audio settings, exit the menu, wait till it's done saving, do something to notice whether the settings work out together, repeat the process till it's reasonably good.

Also, what happened to background music? Is it forbidden to have it outside combat? In Dragon Age I often drew my weapons on my travels just to test if the sound was still on.

 

[Joe Matsuda]

I always turn the subtitles on

I cant hear for shit

Im not deaf, I just never understand what the hell people are saying...if only the real world had subtitles...