FluffyAssassin64 Posted June 14, 2014 Share Posted June 14, 2014 I know subtitles have been discussed a lot in various threads around this site, but as I could find no 'general' topic, I thought it would be good to clear up once and for all; do you play a majority of the time with subtitles ON or OFF? I know for me, I'm in the off camp for the following reasons: In some games they can be really ugly (can't think of any off hand, but I know there are many...) They're DISTRACTING (constantly drawing your eye during epic cutscenes away from the action a la Watch_Dogs, or from character emotion in TLoU for example) I feel they can 'ruin' what a character is about to say; especially if it would have been funny (I found this in Portal and Quantum Conundrum, among others) I can definitely understand why people might like them on (make sure you don't miss any dialogue, hard-to-pronounce words can be heard, need the volume down for whatever reason), but personally, I will do all I can to avoid turning subtitles on. This often involves headphones, increasing the volume or only playing that particular game when the family isn't home, for example. I am guilty of replaying audio logs (e.g. in Watch_Dogs at the moment) after turning subtitles on momentarily if I feel I missed something, but it hasn't been an issue 98% of the time. So, what about you? Do you play a majority of your games with subtitles ON or OFF? Why? Note: There are some exceptions for subtitles for me (RPGs such as Fallout, Skyrim, ME, etc.), but this is the only genre I do this for. Every other game I turn them off pronto. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WuTangJase- Posted June 14, 2014 Share Posted June 14, 2014 I have them set to off for the same reason as you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sand dan Glokta Posted June 14, 2014 Share Posted June 14, 2014 I always turn them off, however I have played a few games where there wasn't the option to do so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJROE95 Posted June 14, 2014 Share Posted June 14, 2014 I have and always will play with subtitles on I struggle to hear little bits of information and just want to make sure I learn everything about a game. I still play with headphones on at night - however the subtitles remain!!! Still its cool to hear why people don't like em'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zadorvp Posted June 14, 2014 Share Posted June 14, 2014 Always on for me, provided there is an option to have them at all (this is especially bad for a deaf friend of mine). I like reading subtitles and I've never had them take away from anything going on screen since I'm perfectly capable of reading and following moving imagery at the same time Naturally when volume is on, that's even easier but I play without voices or with low volume at night time. Subtitles are also helpful when I actually don't understand what is being said (foreign words, weird pronunciation, people talking too fast) or when audio is just gone (some people would have Murdered: Soul Suspect as a recent example). Naturally there are also words I don't know since I am not a native English speaker. There's also the "fun" factor when subtitles do not match audio at all or are just very weirdly presented (inFamous: Second Son) Downside of course is the already mentioned spoilers contained within subtitles such as a sentence ending abruptly usually meaning that something's about to cut the conversation short. P.S. Subtitles would have been really nice to have during my recent playing of Toy Story 3 since it was in Finnish and the voiced dialogue during cutscenes was entirely unhearable with low volume at night Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Xxleonardo97xX Posted June 14, 2014 Popular Post Share Posted June 14, 2014 I'm not a native english speaker so I always turn on the subtitles (always in english) because I don't want to miss a thing they say and sometimes some characters talk like shit You say subtitles distract you from the actual image, I always watch movies and play games with subtitles so I (and almost everyone i guess) read them very fast and I never miss a single 'emotion' shot 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragon-Archon Posted June 14, 2014 Share Posted June 14, 2014 I always turn the on, because I can work on my English when playing games (or so I told my teacher). Since English isn't my native language, I learned the majority of my English vocabulary from games and movies (thus proving that games are educational and this should be a mandatory learning method ). And subtitles also come in handy when I missed a dialogue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
itzzh3lixx Posted June 14, 2014 Share Posted June 14, 2014 I always have subtitles on since inoften play games during the night so i can't have too high volume Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Naoto Shirogane Posted June 14, 2014 Share Posted June 14, 2014 I always turn the on, because I can work on my English when playing games (or so I told my teacher). Since English isn't my native language, I learned the majority of my English vocabulary from games and movies (thus proving that games are educational and this should be a mandatory learning method ). And subtitles also come in handy when I missed a dialogue. You sound like one of my online friends who learned more English online playing games more than his teacher. I would teach him English while in turn he would teach my sister French. On topic: I always leave subtitles on because I enjoy reading them unless the game doesn't have subtitles such as Assassin's Creed. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parker Posted June 14, 2014 Share Posted June 14, 2014 If the game has the option I always turn subtitles on. I feel that I absorb more of the dialog if I hear and read it as opposed to just hearing it. Parker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lion-Lhasa Posted June 14, 2014 Share Posted June 14, 2014 I have them on most of the time because I like to make sure I haven't missed any vital information or anything. I'm a very quick reader though and I've never been distracted by subtitles long enough to 'ruin' a scene. I hate it though when the subtitles are too long or too fast and display things the character hasn't said yet. As you say, like Portal 2. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glaivewurm Posted June 14, 2014 Share Posted June 14, 2014 Absolutely on at all times. I can't imagine playing (or, in many cases, watching) anything without them. The crux of the matter is that I live in a very noisy household and quite often I can't make out what sort of noises are coming from where and at what time. In comparison, I'm adept at reading quickly. Therefore, I'm able to gather more information about the events occurring in-game in a more dignified manner by using subtitles. That's basically all I have to say about it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skateak Posted June 14, 2014 Share Posted June 14, 2014 I always turn them on. Sometimes you can't hear what people say in the background but it will show on the subtitles. I usually turn them on in movies for the same reason. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Posted June 14, 2014 Share Posted June 14, 2014 Ever since my headset broke it's subtitles all the way baby Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albani0310 Posted June 14, 2014 Share Posted June 14, 2014 I'm not a native english speaker so I always turn on the subtitles (always in english) because I don't want to miss a thing they say and sometimes some characters talk like shit You say subtitles distract you from the actual image, I always watch movies and play games with subtitles so I (and almost everyone i guess) read them very fast and I never miss a single 'emotion' shot This. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoldenShaka Posted June 14, 2014 Share Posted June 14, 2014 Considering i'm not a native English speaker i always leave subtitles on. But I'm agreed with u about the possibility to miss surprise moments when subtitles are not correctly synced. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yadilie Posted June 14, 2014 Share Posted June 14, 2014 Always on. Sound design teams for everything are atrocious. They are absolutely terrible at doing correct sound balances but I guess when you waste all that money on the Philharmonic Orchestra you have to boost the volume so its louder than speech. This bleeds over into TV shows and movies. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
damon8r351 Posted June 14, 2014 Share Posted June 14, 2014 Between a wife and a dog that both have a penchant for making unnecessary noise, I always have the subtitles on. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JaM Posted June 14, 2014 Share Posted June 14, 2014 If the game has subtitle option.. I always make sure it's On.... I am not sure if I am just deaf or what... but there are times that i couldn't understand or hear at all what character says sometimes... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheManQueen Posted June 14, 2014 Share Posted June 14, 2014 I always turn them on, because I'm afraid I'll miss something important.. also in games like the last of us they were needed, I always ran away from Ellie and without them, I would of missed so much dialogue. Anybody reading now who's yet to play TLoU, when you do, turn the subbies on man! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mcbeanstr Posted June 14, 2014 Share Posted June 14, 2014 It depends on the game for me I alternate between them being on and off 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevieboy Posted June 14, 2014 Share Posted June 14, 2014 (edited) I don't play the majority of my games with the subtitles on, I play ALL of my games with the subtitles on. I do this so I know EXACTLY what has been said as sometimes the speech can be too quiet, in a particular accent that I might mishear a couple of the words, in a foreign language (in some games it is translated to English in the subtitles) or I just don't pick up what was said. With the subtitles on I can follow every word without any problems. Edited June 14, 2014 by Stevieboy 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BAZINGA0802 Posted June 14, 2014 Share Posted June 14, 2014 It depends on the game for me I alternate between them being on and off This. I generally leave them on default. If they're on, they're on. If they're off, they're off. Unless the subtitles are too big or distracting or not synced correctly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kailunee Posted June 14, 2014 Share Posted June 14, 2014 Sometimes I do have a hard time hearing what characters say so that's when I turn them on, and if I don't care to listen to their voices Otherwise, most of the time, they're off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hemiak Posted June 14, 2014 Share Posted June 14, 2014 Always on. If a game is really well done I'll watch and listen to everything but if the dialogue is dry or the characters are irritating or uninteresting I'll just read and skip ahead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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