One of this games larger unmentioned flaws: Sound Design

Having now tried several other mmo's (WoW, Guildwars 2, swtor, neverwinter and a few freemium games) i cant help but notice one thing they all have in common. Their sound is great. Now dont get me wrong, the music in ffxiv is amazing and the one soundrelated thing i have no problems with. But, and heres a very big but, everything from punching monster to getting gil feels incredibly weak.

UI Sounds

For the UI theres mostly standard beebs bloobs. No real complaint other than the gaining gil sound. In WoW, when i aquired a large amount of gold i could feel it. And it felt good. Very good. Almost addictingly good. While on the other hand in FFXIV when i get a huge amount of gil, be it from aquapolis to retainers, i feel nothing. I only see a number grow. And just seeing a number growing is boring, when i could feel the number growing.

Ability Sounds

This is were my biggest issue with the sound design is. Every single attack i have seen so far have been disappointing. As a monk i dont feel like im punching a dragon to the death. I feel like i am dancing behind it. My strikes have no weight behind them it sounds like, because animation wise, i am killing it with fortythousand fiery fists of fury. That just doesnt translate well when all i can hear is "slap, slap, slap poof". I believe that many newcomers also notice this consciously or unconsciously and move on. Without good sound in combat it just feels really boring.

Monster Sounds

For the various foes and fiends among Eorzea i think they all sound fairly generic. Its all the same screeches and roars. Boring, really.

For the humanoid foes there seem to be a trend going on with making all the voice acted foes have voice acting during combat. That worked really well for me in the vault as it gave the few members of the Heavensward a bit of personality. Were it didnt work for me was in the Praetorium and Aetherochemical Research facility. Gaius and Regula have voice acting during those fights but its way way way too low. I can barely hear it. Important fights could also do with a bit of "grunting" from the foes, to show that they also are getting tired and beaten.

Music

As i mentioned the music is awesome. Only real comment i got is that soken shouldnt use whatever human voice immitator he used in the Ultima weapon theme again. I like actual lyrics.

I notice one of the background sound is amazing. During rain in North Shroud, when you enter some cave you can actually hear the rain sound different and i think this is amazing

I wish we could turn off ally voice sounds without turning off the sounds of their skills/the voices of the enemy.. I don't wanna hear the same high pitched grunts every gcd. I didn't even know about Nidhogg's awesome voice til I watched a video of the fight- I've had voices turned off since my first dungeon.

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Originally Posted by Rennies

I wish we could turn off ally voice sounds without turning off the sounds of their skills/the voices of the enemy.. I don't wanna hear the same high pitched grunts every gcd. I didn't even know about Nidhogg's awesome voice til I watched a video of the fight- I've had voices turned off since my first dungeon.

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Usually used to alot of miquotes going "woop" with arrow twang noises,
but one instance, i was paired with a full party of male hyurs, and i swear i had DBZ going on in the games background lol

also theres this one male voice(mi'qote?) thats like "nnnnya-hah" and it reminds me of those goats from diablo everytime

Yeah, the player voices totally ruin my mood. I don't understand how in the world they were approved.

fyi there are separate volume sliders for the player, party members and other players.

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Originally Posted by Rennies

I wish we could turn off ally voice sounds without turning off the sounds of their skills/the voices of the enemy.. I don't wanna hear the same high pitched grunts every gcd. I didn't even know about Nidhogg's awesome voice til I watched a video of the fight- I've had voices turned off since my first dungeon.

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imagine if this was a old school japanese game where they grunt every time you swing your sword. The only sound design that is my real complaint is the lack of VO in the bulk of the game. I feel a real disconnect when all I get is silent text from an npc who is trying to convey emotion or dread.

"Hear. Feel. Think?" More like "Read. Feel. Think."

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Originally Posted by Marxam

imagine if this was a old school japanese game where they grunt every time you swing your sword. The only sound design that is my real complaint is the lack of VO in the bulk of the game. I feel a real disconnect when all I get is silent text from an npc who is trying to convey emotion or dread.

"Hear. Feel. Think?" More like "Read. Feel. Think."

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i only jest about the player sounds, i actually love how all skills have a very unique sound to them, like for instance when im tanking i can hear the healer pop cleric so i know when to pop a cooldown in case, stuff like this, or when raging strikes goes off on a dps i know to pick up a little extra enmity, the sound design for skills is amazingly well thought up, even if they just shoved the same sounds from 1.0 like chaos thrust, but seriously, i love it, i just find the player grunts hillarious is all. And who can hate the skrillex wubs of gravity when an AST is dpsing? "drop the tank!" wub wub wub wub

Strange, of all the MMOs I've played FFXIV actually has bar far the best sound design. The world always feels alive and combat sound effects have a lot of impact behind them. I still marvel at how authentic the explosion sound effects are for fireballs and such.

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Originally Posted by Alberel

Strange, of all the MMOs I've played FFXIV actually has bar far the best sound design. The world always feels alive and combat sound effects have a lot of impact behind them. I still marvel at how authentic the explosion sound effects are for fireballs and such.

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youd be sick of them if 2.1 black mage flare rotation was still allowed, i think my friend got sick of me saying "you guys seeing this?! 6 FLARES!" god i miss counting 6 seconds to flare forever, btw he was a tank LMAO

I can agree with the skill sounds. They need some rework or refinement on some skills and on some jobs. Monk's sound effects are not too convincing yes I can agree with that. With the rest I have no problem although the game could use some more variety on monster sounds. I wish the dev team will make future dungeon bosses have their own voice overs like the brilliant The Vault. One fine dungeon we never saw again something like that despite the very positive feedback on that dungeon.

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Originally Posted by Enur

Ability Sounds

This is were my biggest issue with the sound design is. Every single attack i have seen so far have been disappointing. As a monk i dont feel like im punching a dragon to the death. I feel like i am dancing behind it. My strikes have no weight behind them it sounds like, because animation wise, i am killing it with fortythousand fiery fists of fury. That just doesnt translate well when all i can hear is "slap, slap, slap poof". I believe that many newcomers also notice this consciously or unconsciously and move on. Without good sound in combat it just feels really boring.

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MNK ability sounds during 1.x:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRprJiMoxCQ

ability/weapon sound every weapon no matter how much time/effort you spent acquiring wont sound any different, like a lvl 1 sword compared to a anima/relic/lore weapon there is no weight or any sense of power in your attacks. I know a reworking of this wont ever come to light but even in swtor almost every lightsaber/blaster has a unique weapon sound when fired,thats probaly one of my gripes is that ffxiv is a sub based mmo and yet there are F2Ps that have far better features compared to a MMO that has been Sub based for how long?

I don't agree with the OP.
Maybe you just have the wrong expectations?
After all, all monks do IS dancing their opponent to death with weak punches. If you want something that SOUNDS mighty, play a class that actually DOES land heavy hits.
For example, my BLM explosions are spot-on ;)

I also deeply hate fully voiceacted games, so I'm glad FFXIV does not have that.

I strongly agree. FFXIV is a great world, and the music is really good and sets a great atmosphere most of the time.

But the rest of the sound design, especially the lack of effective ambient sound and enemy vocalizations, makes the world feel somewhat detached, muffled, and dull compared to the richer ambience and speech of other similar worlds.

I don't think this is a make/break sort of thing, but it is one of my few significant complaints about time spent in Eorzea.

the sound...some great and some downright awful.

The character girl sounds when fighting....I cringe everytime.

Sounds like a naughty video

I'd be happy with just disabling the Mickey Mouse voice, honestly. It's the only one that really frustrates me.

Personally my only issue with the game's sound is the lack of voice acting in almost anything, even big parts of the MSQ, which is somewhat one of the reasons why I didn't even bother to follow it (that, and the fact that I personally thought it was boring and badly written - but again, that's just personal opinion so don't start pitchforking me).

But beside that, I do actually like the sound of the moves...but I won't lie that they do feel a bit weird most of the time. My biggest gripe is with monk: when I use skills like Demolish and similar, with a round of final fists, they feel like they're hitting something fleshy and unrealistic and it's the same sound for every type of enemy. Even walls!

I think the sound of the skills are "okay" but maybe the best word for describing it is "unremarkable"

I think you may need your ears checked. The game sounds great on my Harman Kardon speakers.

Precisely the word i was looking for. Unremarkable. I main monk and that might be my problem. I have however, noticed that when i attack coblyns, the sound is more metallic as opposed to the weak "thub" every other enemy makes.

Wow's monk has other more diverse hit sounds. Bones breaking and the likes. It would feel a lot better if snap punch actually sounded like bones snapping. Steel peak could mayhaps break rips. For a blunt damage dealer monks should do more internal damage. A crisp "crack" would be nice

Dark knight's job sounds are amazing. The faint scrape of metal on metal, the faint whispers, all of it really suits the job.

To be honest, though, I play this game silent unless I'm raiding. My computer is in the living room and I don't want to disturb everyone else. Plus, I have incredibly sensitive hearing and a few peculiar issues when exposes to loud sounds for too long, so even when I do have the volume on, it's very low. XIV's strength is that I can play on silent without the sound - the effects are enhancement. The one major exception is Leviathan, where having stereo sound on gives a distinct advantage over visual only. But that's the only real major case.

In general I rather love the game's sounds.

My main complaint is actually when sounds get clipped, especially now an issue for BRD and MCH, since their oGCD sound effects (some of which are really cool) weren't designed with WM and GB in mind, so they get cut off very often.

I spent lots time with char creation because I don't want an annoying sound pack that stick with me during the fight.

However, in general, I love the sound system.

• MCH's bullet loading is cool.
• different monster has different step sound effects, some are ticks some are tumps
• remember jumping on your private room/FC house/ any place the bed will make squeak sounds
• fly over an object will have zoooooom
• monsters will make noise only when they aggro you and during the fight...also different skills have their own sound effect.
• enemy skills like Poison Breath, besides gas sounds you can hear some bubbles sounds together too
• flys will has buzzzzzzzzzzz noise (Soken use his lips to make these) and buzzzzzzzzz differently when they attack
• char foot steps sounds changed according to ground material, even you move tiny little bit or change pose, it will make sound effect accordingly. the foot step sound for coblyns follows every single leg when it touch the ground.
  

This games support 5.1 lots channels are just for sound effects

Sounds seem fine to me. Sorry you are disappointed with them.

Skill/Spell sound effects are definitely lacking in FFXIV, I feel most of them sound too tame or generic and don't really pack much oomph when paired with the visual effects.

I won't complain about the sound design of this game.

SE gave me the Snowcloack theme and he is by far, one of my favorite OST from a videogame.

Exactly. Most attacks look cool but sounds really boring. Almost all i ever hear is the weird "shhhh-thud" and thats really boring imo.

As i stated my problem doesnt lie with the music

I don't like how the player sounds in receiving damage were set up. makes most fights a totally silent affair.

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Originally Posted by Catwho

Dark knight's job sounds are amazing. The faint scrape of metal on metal, the faint whispers, all of it really suits the job.

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It may suit the job, but the metallic sound ringing out over and over again makes my teeth hurt.

I just don't play the job.