The New/Added Combat Sounds...Thoughts?

[YuSheena]

They ruined my au ra. (female voice 1)

Seriously, they tried to make something new, I appreciate it.
But what I got is at least 3 people's voices come out from my character, and some of them just like...for example, old voice 1 + new voice 2 + old voice 2, anyway, those voices just sound not right especially when they mixed together.

I still cannot get used to them even after a month.

...BTW any voice suggestions for female au ra? (fantasia ready

[HyoMinPark]

I am a Japanese light warrior(HIKA-SEN ).
I'm sorry, forgive me for using Google Translate.

Opinions have also been expressed at the Japanese Forum regarding the Battle Voices added in Patch 5.1.

>Japanese Forum / General Discussion
>5.1追加戦闘ボイスの違和感について
>(Japanese Only)

Like everyone, most of the opinions are uncomfortable, not your character's voice, revert to the previous !, or to the choice system (some people like it).
I posted to tell you that the situation is the same in Japan.

Thank you for reading.

I really appreciate you letting us know what the current opinion is about this change over on the JP side, Rasen-san. Thank you so much! ありがとうございました。


I posted a question in the NA PLL Q&A thread wondering about the design decision behind making this change. After hearing that opinions are also mixed with the Japanese playerbase, I have also posted asking about giving us the option to toggle between the old combat sounds and the new combat sounds.

[3c-33]

...BTW any voice suggestions for female au ra? (fantasia ready

I like voice #10, the new additions for those sound fine to me/I like it in general

[Gemina]

Though I understand that the additional voices were unexpected, and forced customization changes are generally a bad idea; but after reading this whole thread and some comments on reddit, I am still lost as to why this bothers players to the extent that it does. I understand that it is bothersome, but hearing that it is putting people of their mains and the even the game is where I am like, "huh?" Then I get even more confused when players are looking for a new voice to fantasia too, which will change your character's voice completely (so now we are talking audible emotes as well).

No one in my FC cares, or has even brought it up. It's also only during combat from my observations, and even when just doing dungeons, I am too focused on not screwing up to notice, let alone care about it. Especially as a melee job, which seem to have "suffered" the most from the additions (not changes) as the old battle voices are still intact.

Oh well. I do feel for those of you who are upset. I just don't feel that the additional voices have game changing magnitude.

[HyoMinPark]

Though I understand that the additional voices were unexpected, and forced customization changes are generally a bad idea; but after reading this whole thread and some comments on reddit, I am still lost as to why this bothers players to the extent that it does. I understand that it is bothersome, but hearing that it is putting people of their mains and the even the game is where I am like, "huh?" Then I get even more confused when players are looking for a new voice to fantasia too, which will change your character's voice completely (so now we are talking audible emotes as well).

No one in my FC cares, or has even brought it up. It's also only during combat from my observations, and even when just doing dungeons, I am too focused on not screwing up to notice, let alone care about it. Especially as a melee job, which seem to have "suffered" the most from the additions (not changes) as the old battle voices are still intact.

Oh well. I do feel for those of you who are upset. I just don't feel that the additional voices have game changing magnitude.

It’s fine if you feel the way you do. However, keep in mind that there are players out there who are very attached to their characters, and who are very peculiar about their customization. Unneeded or unasked-for changes can really affect people’s experiences—the degree to how much they affect someone varies from player to player. They may not affect you or several other people—may not even be worth mentioning—but that isn’t the case for everyone.

While I still play and haven’t felt my need to play really decreased by the changes, I still don’t like them because it was a change I never asked for. And, as I have already expressed in this thread several times, the new sounds are very jarring and do not suit the character that I’ve had for 4 years (and that has remained virtually unchanged during that time in many aspects minus the week she was a Midlander—and then immediately reverted back to her original design). Even though it’s combat sounds only, considering I play physical ranged jobs quite frequently (which are notorious for being particularly vocal), it’s something I continuously hear every time I’m playing.

Asking for an option to toggle between these new sounds and the old ones is not that far out of left-field.

[Jybril]

I don't remember which voice I have for my Au Ra but
it doesn't sound too jarring, so I am thankful for that but it's
a weeee bit deeper than my original voice.

My problem is, why add something no one asked for?
Feels like they wasted their time adding something like this.
I can't say I have seen a SINGLE person ever ask for more "battle voices".
Time coulda been spent on the original GNB sounds (if that's not reverted already.)

[3c-33]

-

Well, I believe part of the reasoning here comes from emotional attachment to your own character, and the voice plays a part in that, so hearing something being forced onto your own character that doesn't sound right would be upsetting. Rather than continue dealing with this, some might find it easier to switch to a different voice because it would be one they're not already attached to or enjoyed. Maybe a good comparison would be something like, so I never played AST during stormblood, however i did play SCH and DRK, and when shadowbringers rolled around, I was very upset by the changes they had made to two of my favorite jobs. On the other hand, I never played AST, so I dont feel quite as much about the loss that others do about it, though I very much understand why it's a widely not well-received change. I kinda like AST how it is right now but I'd be willing to bet if I had played it previously I would probably be more bothered by it as I am with the jobs I did play.

And back to the main subject, I might be speaking for a small (or maybe larger) group of people here without going into too much detail, but a lot of my friends including myself consist of people that kinda have some mental stability issues at times, and I think changing something like this that we care a lot about is more likely to affect us emotionally than it may others. I know it probably sounds ridiculous but I have a friend who shares the exact same voice as me and when I told them about what had gotten changed, it was just about breakdown-inducing. While I wasn't impacted as strongly by this, it still was significant enough that I was put off by it enough to stop playing and stay pretty upset about it for a number of days before getting over the initial shock.

I'm not exactly saying that's healthy or reasonable probably, but that's just the way things are for some of us and with all due respect I have tried to post here in this thread about my complaints/concerns with these changes without letting my own emotions/state of mind affect how I talk about it. (but I know you can probably see some of that influence in my previous posts anyway.) Coming here and trying to use all of my own emotions/experiences as a justification for change wouldn't be helpful or contributional and would largely come across as "I don't like this, change it." I'm just glad that I'm not the only person here that shares the same sentiments and that there are fair arguments as to why this change wasn't implemented very well or fairly. I think if we had always had more voices than just two for combat, this never would have been an issue, because the voice actor would be right there.

Sorry if I'm not making any sense or am being off topic right now, I'm kind of scatterbrained and have a hard time putting words together

[Gemina]

It’s fine if you feel the way you do. However, keep in mind that there are players out there who are very attached to their characters, and who are very peculiar about their customization. Unneeded or unasked-for changes can really affect people’s experiences—the degree to how much they affect someone varies from player to player. They may not affect you or several other people—may not even be worth mentioning—but that isn’t the case for everyone.

While I still play and haven’t felt my need to play really decreased by the changes, I still don’t like them because it was a change I never asked for. And, as I have already expressed in this thread several times, the new sounds are very jarring and do not suit the character that I’ve had for 4 years (and that has remained virtually unchanged during that time in many aspects minus the week she was a Midlander—and then immediately reverted back to her original design). Even though it’s combat sounds only, considering I play physical ranged jobs quite frequently (which are notorious for being particularly vocal), it’s something I continuously hear every time I’m playing.

Asking for an option to toggle between these new sounds and the old ones is not that far out of left-field.

I appreciate the elaborate response Hyomin. And from the perspective of a forced customization addition, I totally get it why it could be disheartening and upsetting. I don't want to leave an impression that players shouldn't feel the way they do. I just have troubles understanding why we're still talking about it a month later.

I'm strongly attached to my character as well. So much so that I refuse to fantasia and play additional characters (would cut into her growth). While I wasn't negatively affected by the voice additions, I was still affected by them. One might argue that I would feel differently if I was negatively affected. However, there is usually something that comes from a patch or expansion release that does not agree with me; I just don't have the energy to dwell on it so long as it doesn't affect gameplay.

I agree that some kind of toggle would totally be fair, and likely should have been implemented along with the additions. As a matter of fact, I think it would be perfectly reasonable for SE to give out at least one free fantasia when they force customization on players. Like you said, nobody asked for this that I am aware of.

[Gemina]

Well, I believe part of the reasoning here comes from emotional attachment to your own character, and the voice plays a part in that, so hearing something being forced onto your own character that doesn't sound right would be upsetting. Rather than continue dealing with this, some might find it easier to switch to a different voice because it would be one they're not already attached to or enjoyed. Maybe a good comparison would be something like, so I never played AST during stormblood, however i did play SCH and DRK, and when shadowbringers rolled around, I was very upset by the changes they had made to two of my favorite jobs. On the other hand, I never played AST, so I dont feel quite as much about the loss that others do about it, though I very much understand why it's a widely not well-received change. I kinda like AST how it is right now but I'd be willing to bet if I had played it previously I would probably be more bothered by it as I am with the jobs I did play.

Again, I will point out that I am strongly attached to my character emotionally. That's not where the disconnect is. I keep trying to connect by relating it to something like my character's height or eye color (two things that are extremely important), but those entail a change, not an addition. My character's battle voice(s) was never something I could choose at any point, and I had to get used to it. That might be part of my issue.

I remember when I read about the coming additions, I was really worried. Some characters are more expressive of pain than others when they are KO'd during combat, or after a fall, and I did not want this to change for my character as she just sounds more exhausted than actually in pain. So I guess I was a bit relieved that this didn't happen more than I was bothered by the additional grunts.

I am thinking that perhaps the best way for me to relate is if that change did happen. I'd get REALLY good at the game if that was the case xD

[Moomba33]

I'm unhappy with the new combat sounds. My character has always been fairly quiet in battle, even on physical jobs, and now there's a loud battle grunt that really stands out compared to the rest of her sounds. It's especially bad on bard.

I don't understand why this change was made and would like the option to toggle it off.