Enough with the subtitles, already

[Norman Rafferty]

When I watch a television show or a movie, I'm expected to pick up on what's going on by listening to what the actors say, and by watching the videos. Closed-captions aren't turned on unless I go in and turn them on.

But modern video games always have subtitles turned on by default. What gives? This isn't 1996 any more. You have high-talent voice acting and Dolby sound. I can hear you.

If I can't understand your game without subtitles, then your cinematic has failed to inform me of what's going on. Go re-do it, correctly. Hire better writers and better directors; the video-game industry makes more money than the TV and movie industries, so you can hire better talent, if you need it. (Stop burning out those interns. I'm looking at you, Electronic Arts.)

Or better yet, leave the cinematic out and let me play my own damn game. Yes, we're very proud that you have FMV technology, now celebrating its 25th year. Is it so hard to let me push my own buttons?

No wonder Roger Ebert doesn't take us seriously. He thinks cut scenes are made by people who can't tell a good story succinctly, dramatically, and excitingly. He thinks we're so dumb, we have to READ it.

 

[Sir Kemper]

Seem's like the site accidentally caused you to double post this thread.


Best contact Kuliani, or another one of the mods and have it deleted.

 

[XzarTheMad]

Uhm... chill?
I prefer closed captions to ensure I don't overlook (overhear?) anything. I usually don't, but when I do I'm happy I had the subs on. Besides, if they bother you that much, can't you just turn them off? Seems like a simple enough problem to fix, not sure why it warrants 11 lines of angry writing.

 

[DarthLurtz]

I always turn on subs, especially since you can miss dialogue when people aren't shouting all the time.

"Mumble mumble," he commented to himself. Could've used subs there.

 

[llafnwod]

Every game I have ever played with subtitles on by default has included the option to turn them off. Anyway, I like the part where you imply that the people who think games can't be art do so because of default dialogue captioning.

 

[oliveira8]

Worst rant ever.

Anyway, have you ever stopped and wonder that not everyone has English has their main language and can't make out what the people say? Either because they speak to fast, to low, have strange accent, it has weird words etc etc...

Also by your logic, all movies outside of English speaking countries suck cause they have subtitles, in another language! Lame ass people subbing movies! How can Roger Ebert take cinema serious, if people around the world are subbing them movies? His a hack I tell you!

 

[ProfessorLayton]

I like them. And you know, there's an option to turn them off. Sometimes I can't make out what people are saying, especially when they're in the distance. For instance, I play Metal Gear Solid 2 on my TV in my bedroom and my TV is old so a certain volume will be too loud and the notch right below it will be too quiet. So I'll turn it on the too quiet one and just turn on the subtitles so I can read. Also, sometimes my house will be loud and I can't understand them. Subtitles are nice, and if you don't like them you can turn them off. I'm often upset when it won't let me turn them on.

 

[Dexiro]

He thinks we're so dumb, we have to READ it.

This set off my troll alarm.

Stories in text? This is madness!

 

[Norman Rafferty]

Uhm... chill?
I prefer closed captions to ensure I don't overlook (overhear?) anything. I usually don't, but when I do I'm happy I had the subs on. Besides, if they bother you that much, can't you just turn them off? ...

Most people don't watch movies or TV with the captions on, for fear they'll miss something there. (Queue up a movie with subtitles turned ON, and most people will reach for the remote to turn them off.)

For the most part, it's the point you just made -- fear of "missing something". Video games are full of lazy writing. We need the captions on when watching a Final Fantasy cut scene so we can look for the Capitalized Letter to know that this Word is more important ... because it has a Capital on it. As non-casual video-gamers, we've been conditioned to expect that lazy writers will try to sneak stuff in the dialogue, so we have to dissect it like some foreign art film. (Not that I have anything against foreign art films, mind you, but "Mass Effect 2", "Halo 3", and "Aliens vs. Predator" are not exactly foreign art films.)

A good cinematic would have us pick up on things that are important by using cinematic elements like writing, acting, and directing. If you walked out of a movie not understanding what was going on, you'd say it was a bad movie. Why do we hold video game cinematics to lower standards?

Of course, my rant doesn't say it as well as Unskippable's Metal Gear August thread from last year, where the mighty Stark and Saunders crew dissect how bad those cut scenes are by any film-maker's standards. Even with the subtitles turned on, it's not clear what's going on. Yet we have subtitles turned on anyway because... we might miss something?

As long as video-gamers expect laziness in their cinematics, we'll continue to pay three times as much to look at scenes that play out three times as long, with bizarre puppet-people CGI that doesn't look as good or sound as good as a real movie, and we'll pretend we're playing a game while we're watching it. We deserve better.

 

[the_pleasure_is_mine]

I much prefer subtitles so I can hear and read what's going on.

Most games have options to turn them off generally...

 

[MikailCaboose]

I'm just used to having subs on anyways. However, there are cases where the subs outside of cutscenes, however, are EXTREMELY helpful. Especially when some games, (like HALO 1), people can be talking and I'm pissing around getting to a better spot. Of course, I CAN'T hear them, as they don't follow me like an obedient dog.
In short, I think you're complaining over nothing. It's not a big deal. At least it usually matches the dialogue (unlike TV closed captioning)

 

[Rusty Bucket]

Putting subtitles on to make sure you don't miss anything is not a point against the game's writing or voice acting. It's more likely because the audio for voices isn't quite loud enough. That's the sole reason I put them on, and I put them on in every single game I play (except for Singularity, which didn't fucking have any).

 

[Get_A_Grip_]

Subtitles are awesome!
Also they help increase your reading speed.