Vote for GNB Sounds

[Valic]

I don't think it's an exaggeration, I had migraines all through my teens, and my dad still suffers from them. Migraines are Not just headaches.

Migraines can be due to a genetic defect on certain chromosomes, and when you have a migraine, it can actually leave blemishes on your brain.
Migraines can very well lead to vomiting (and the worst kind. You vomit, but you feel no relief and just vomit again, over and over...). Migraines can have triggers . Some can be sounds (while I like the GNB old sounds, they do sound quite harsh, so I am not surprised if they triggered a person's migraine), mine was flashing flourecent lights and certain foods. Almost all my migraines happened when I was in a classroom (due to the lights) save for when I ate a chocolate cake one time, and when I drank a coke zero another time. They had the same artificial sweeteners it turns out, and it somehow messed with my brain.

Once triggered, my migraines used to induce a stabbing pain in my right temple, partial blindness in my right eye, numbing of the right side of my body, light sensitivity, and terrible nausea and vomiting. These symptoms would last an entire day without meds, and around 8 hours with meds. It would also make my carsickness worse for a month afterwards.

Everybody experiences migraines differently, (one person I knew got them for several days once triggered), but two things remain the same.
It's not fun. And it's not a "headache".

The way you talk about migraines kinda makes it clear that you don't really know what they are.
I actually hate people who think migraines are "just" headaches and only headaches. They're not, they're so much worse.

I'm aware of what they are, but the wording of the previous user doesn't make it sound like it's a trigger. I'm aware they're not "just" headaches but I feel like saying GNB's sounds triggering them is a bit on the nose. Moreso I want to say, "you're telling me until this day, EVERYTHING else in the game souunded just fine but GNB's sound effects were the ONE set of sounds(specifically every single skill they have?) are what trigger your migraines?". In any case, you've actually posted quality and put effort into your post, I respect that and I accept the idea to a degree.

Saying and I'm quoting here... "I'm sure a lot of people don't realize that those SFXs were causing migraines and at time near vomiting in people, myself included." leaves no context behind this other than the idea that they think they were so bad it lead to very peculiar illnesses. At least, that's the way I read that, because it doesn't clarify anything specific, such as why or what skills, or how exactly. Nothing else in the post itself really described "why" or fought the other end of the spectrum to provide a valid argument. If I was to reword it, I would say "I personally suffer from migraines from -blank- sounding things, so I prefer the change because the gunbreaker sfx sounded very -blank- to me". Instead of what implies they're so bad they induce abnormal effects to people's health.

That said, thank you, more replies like this I welcome with open arms because they actually display effort and care into reason.

[NessaWyvern]

I'm aware of what they are, but the wording of the previous user doesn't make it sound like it's a trigger. I'm aware they're not "just" headaches but I feel like saying GNB's sounds triggering them is a bit on the nose. Moreso I want to say, "you're telling me until this day, EVERYTHING else in the game souunded just fine but GNB's sound effects were the ONE set of sounds(specifically every single skill they have?) are what trigger your migraines?". In any case, you've actually posted quality and put effort into your post, I respect that and I accept the idea to a degree.

Well, it's like this, just as a very specific kind of light would trigger mine, it doesn't seem unreasonable to me that a very specific sound could trigger hers, perhaps GNB just had a specific range of sounds that made it especially triggering.
I (luckily) only get silent migraines nowadays since my hormones have settled down a bit ( I just get days of being unable to focus and think properly) but to this day, flashing flourecent lights really do make me feel temporarily unwell so I try to avoid them, so to me it seems completely reasonable that a period of harsh GNB sounds may make her feel temporarily unwell.

In fact, Holy spam makes me feel a little unwell (just like, a slight tense feeling in my head, and a tiny bit of nausea) so I tend to have party visual effects turned down low, luckily it's not so bad that I can't handle it, but when I have to Holy spam, I tend to look away from the screen a bit during the stun period.

If multiple people with sound-triggered migraines are being triggered by the same thing, then it's understandable that squeenix changed it. A lot of people with light-triggered migraines also get triggered by flourecent light like I do, for example, so it's not unheard of that a lot of people are being triggered by the same thing.

There's also some curious links between migraines and epilepsy, if you have migraines with aura, you'll more likely to have family members with epilepsy, and they share many of the same traits. Cartoons globally already lower the frequency of flashing lights ever since that unfortunate pokemon episode, so it seems fair that Squeenix would change the sounds to reduce triggers. That might help explain the "why", anyway.

[Kabooa]

If multiple people with sound-triggered migraines are being triggered by the same thing, then it's understandable that squeenix changed it.

This kind of explains the rapid response to what seems to be a minor amount of feedback regarding the sound effect.

Further, it would make sense that SE would test their sounds and it's entirely possible that their Q/A or even their own developers experienced it. It would explain creating a second, duller set of sounds to be ready to swap. A Q/A and a Developer might be willing to grin and bear it, but an undetermined amount of your playerbase?

It also explains why, even though the statistically minor but still significantly greater request to return them falls on seemingly deaf ears - They released the original sounds and unfortunately their small sample size expanded to garner enough feedback through various channels that they hotswapped to the other set. Unfortunately, given their content schedule, there likely wouldn't be a compromise in the works until after...who knows? One of Nier's primary attractions is its soundtrack, leaving limited time to address the issue further.

Though, you'd think they'd at least break the radio silence if that were the case.