Vote for GNB Sounds

[Yin111]

All the complaints about not being able to hear abilities during a raid or trial; that's how its always gonna be with every other class firing off abilities and the bosses themselves. Also the sounds literally have no impact on gameplay so I still fail to see what the deal is. Unless every weapon swing sounded like a rubber chicken squack, I don't see the need to change. GNB gameplay is fantastic and to shelve it because of sounds is very strange.

If they did change the sounds back, great glad they read these small threads written and read by a small yet passionate subsection of the playerbase. I would have no issue if they reverted the sounds even though I like them now because I play GNB for the class. Not for its sounds, not to be able to hear it during a savage eden run (because lets be honest, hearing the majority of your skills go off in a fight isn't really what you are there for), but for the amazing gameplay and class design of the GNB.

Change the sounds, don't change the sounds; whatever but don't let sound files prevent you from enjoying the wonderful class design that is GNB.

As an acknowledgement, I understand you don't hold audio in high regards, so you fail to see an issue. But it is my hope here, to explain to you what people normally expect from a game and the effects of such. Remember, that everyone has different values, video games are built around those said values.

You are correct in some ways but not at the same time. I'll try to explain in a understandable way. Within a dungeon, raid or trial, every job will have their sound mixed in with other sounds, you would not be able to hear in fine detail the complete sound the job makes. That much is true, however every Job, while they do lose clarity in sound, always have a prominent SE that donates to this job being present and doing a particular action. For example, the Dragoon's 3rd combo which sounds like a passing jet, the three punches from a Monk's boot shine, the thunder sound from a Red Mages's Ver Thunder. I may not hear the impact the Dragoon makes at the end, nor the whoosh from the Monk's Boot Shine during the animation, or the casting of Ver Thunder before it fires off. But every Job's actions has a distinct and prominent sound that even in the midst of combat, can be heard clearly which adds to the feeling or the rush of gameplay.

But what defines gameplay? Mechanics, visual cues, audio cues, story? All of them actually. You see video game, and much of visual media, is built around 4 core pillars. Visual, audio, story, and mechanic (for games)/flow (for other medias), for this purpose, I'll only focus on video games and I will primary exclude story as it's not really relevant to this discussion.

If I were to make a game, I need to consider those core pillars. The story should be engaging, the visual presentation should match the story's tone, the audio presentation should match the visual presentation, and the mechanic should be intuitive/engaging that players would not feel off put. If I don't want a story, and instead I want a sandbox or arcade shooter, then I need to make sure the other three pillars are up to the task of player retention. These is the basis of what people expect from a game. Naturally these element heavily effect gameplay. Gameplay can be gauged by the players satisfaction and engagement to the said game, this is why people engage in "fashion wars". Being able to look and sound the part for your personal gameplay, effects gameplay. One example is that people tend to buy a game if a famous voice actor/seiyū is voiceing a character, it add to the gameplay that someone they like is voicing a character in the game.

For example,

If in my game, I have a Character who is visually and audibly stunning (think of heroes and their powers) but have poor mechanics, then I won't be able to retain players easily. But the opposite hold true however, If I had amazing mechanics but the character is visually and audibly repulsive (think of a 500lb guy with barf on his shirts, and the sounds associated) then I still would not be able to retain players. Now another example, I'm making a game about bloody vengeance, and the graphic style is baby chibi with realistic sounds, and good game mechanics. Even so my game may not sell all too well, I have great mechanics and audio, but visually it is not appealing to the game. Now lets say I have the same game, have a serious stylization, say "Max Payne" or "Hitman", but all the sound is from a kids show. Again it would not be appealing, this is because there is a specific interrupt that brings people out of the game. You yourself recognize this in some capacity with the chicken sound comment.

People hold the pillars in different orders and priority. Some people can play a game with a bad story or the lack of one, others could play a game thats in pixel 2D. Yet at the same time, there are also others who can not handle the lack off or a bad implementation of one of those pillars. Where you can brush off the audio issue, others can not, because it effects their gameplay. Sure, you can tell some one to play the Job regardless of sound because it has good mechanics, but thats like telling someone to eat teriyaki and mayonnaise roasted roaches, dogs or cats because they tastes good.

[Valic]

but that like telling someone to eat teriyaki and mayonnaise roasted roaches, dogs or cat when they don't want to, even if it tastes good.

Man of culture here. No really though, he's absolutely correct in his disclaimer for what I said. Heck, I even played a 2d MMO and loved it's story, visuals, mechanics, and sounds. I'd rather not name it but it was a beat em up mmo, prolly won't be hard to find. Mechanically you could input combos like a street fighter game, customize them too, every hit, impact, sound, fist, fireball, crunch, slash, anything you played had a good "OOMPH" to each attack. The story was interesting enough and developed over time to be better and better and adjusted by patches/content. The music was fast paced and set the mood to pump you up to beat up dungeons and visually.. for a 2d game.. was not at all bad really. Though comparison of 2d to 3d can't be told good vs bad, that's more like saying modern art vs contemporary art... They're both still the same concept, just a different format people enjoy. By the end of it, things have to mesh and feel good. For me,I like a balance... I can deal with certain things not being 100% perfect or if other bits outweigh other areas... In this case, I find the sound not just "a little lackluster". The sounds just don't quite match the hits or the job's actions to me, and it's a large enough change that it throws me off immensely of playing the job. Mechanically? Perfect to me. Visually? Could be a bigger blasting zone or a lil bit more flourish in some areas but I really can't complain. Story? It's job quests felt meh, but I'm okay with that considering all else is fine. Sound?.... ehhhh... it's like a pool noodle hitting cardboard, it's enough to tell me I'm not really "feeling" my hits.