music, sfx, silence

[jack1974]

A review of QoT on Steam said that having some VN scenes "without music" is a bad mistake.
I disagree on this, and I made that choice on purpose. I believe that playing always the same tracks in background can get tiring in the long run. Having some moments with SFX or ambient sound can be good to break the monotony.
Also, unless ALL the game tracks are designed to be played in background, some can result annoying even if the track themselves are good - one thing is a track played in background in an action game, but while reading, I think it's better if you aren't distracted too much by the music.

What do you think?

[Franka]

Like I've said before, I turn off the music anyway.

[Troyen]

I often think it's a bug when music isn't playing (since half the time that actually is the case). It's also kind of annoying if it's a long stretch, because then I have to flip out of the game and turn on my music only to flip back and turn it off when the game starts playing. But then, I'm the type of person that goes around checking "loop music continuously" in all the games that offer that option.

Yes, it potentially could be repetitive, but you typically have enough background track variety for it not to be a major issue. PSCD and C14 didn't have this problem.

It's more distracting when a game is inconsistent between playing music and not.

[jack1974]

OK thanks. This kind of feedback is important, since maybe I get annoyed by the music quicker because I have them running ALL THE TIME when I code the games

[Jaeger]

Dark Souls and the original Tomb Raider were sparse in it's use of music, reserving them for key events and areas. However, they made good use of ambient sounds. Moments of silence can be good for used to enhance atmosphere, calm or tense depending on the context.

That being said, I wished there was music in Spiderweb RPGs, since there is no music at all outside the title screen, especially when the ambient sounds used are annoying.

[BobTheMob]

I personally prefer music to not be in everything, as in some cases it sets the mood better than music being there would.

Exs.: (For those who haven't played LtAP something of a)

Spoiler:

When Loren had been training w/ the makeshift dummies just before the assault on Everburn

the scene had been devoid of music, and thus seemed that much more intense, seeming to reflect how she was at that moment.

In many first and third-person shooters, the lack of music adds a more "real-life" kind of feel to 'em.

Undertale at times is silent, usually at an ominous or mysterious moment in the game, giving an air of unease.


Thus, when music is used in something like a celebration or boss battle or something else big, it makes that much more of an impact. That's how I see it.

[Troyen]

OK thanks. This kind of feedback is important, since maybe I get annoyed by the music quicker because I have them running ALL THE TIME when I code the games

Honestly, I hear the battle music all the time and I can get tired of that stuff, even with two or three variants. But I generally don't get to hear a lot of the non-battle music, or more than short clips unless there's a long stretch of dialogue.

Occasionally, silence helps like when setting a spooky night scene in the woods here, but I think it was a mistake to not have any song on the elven ship party (if I'm remembering right). That was also a situation where a new song would've been appropriate.

[jack1974]

OK thanks. Probably then I was mistaken, from the kind of answers I'm getting here and in social media

[Madance]

I rather have the music playing all the time. The moments without it should be just a few, so it doesn't break the immersion.

[Pace675]

It depends with me, the only thing I do dislike is some sound effects, when it goes through 20 spacebars it tends to get annoying..,(I do like it for its atmosphere but if ran too long...tis muted!)