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A way Destiny excites me

by narcogen ⌂ @, Andover, Massachusetts, Thursday, March 14, 2013, 06:23 (4032 days ago) @ Cody Miller

Ha! Don't hold your breath. I'm betting Marty won't think that letting people ruin his mix is "bringing the feature set up to standards". I think it's a valid point of contention, but I also think that there's a certain laziness in not bothering to try and get something right and just leaving it up to the user to set everything.


There's no 'getting it right' when the player is in control of the game, unless you are the one playing. That's what I think you and he don't understand.

I played Marathon 1 without music. It's much better (IN MY OPINION) because it makes it creepier, and the music sucks. Miguel played with the music. That choice is up to us. Both of us had the best experience we could have had because we were given the choice.


The only problems I've ever had with Halo audio-- namely, some dialogue being inaudible because of a nearby explosion or other audio-- could not have been meaningfully addressed by static sliders, as solving that temporary and unpredictable problem would have ruined the mix for all other situations.


Widen your scope man. You're not the center of the player verse. Vox / Music / SFX sliders are of use to people like:

1. Speedrunners
2. Machinema Makers
3. People with hearing disabilities
4. Normal people who want louder / softer individual controls because of their individual setups
5. Folks who don't like the music
6. Tons of situations I can't even think of

I always always always am adjusting sliders in games that do it right, because the defaults are never to my preference.

1. edge case
2. edge case
3. legitimate
4. I can hear Marty say "fix your setup, not my mix"
5. Play another game? There are lots.
6. Think harder.

Aesthethic choices like this know no bounds, though. Where should you stop?

Maybe I like Elites, but not Jackals. Maybe a slider?

The level Halo 2 is too green on my TV. Maybe the grass should be red? Make it a slider.

Captain Keyes' voice is too high-pitched. That'd make a good slider.

Somehow, movie theaters and producers of home video content have managed to get away with allowing end users only a single volume control. I'm at a loss to describe exactly why is it a game is that different.

I'm guessing you're the kind of guy who reaches for the salt and pepper before you've tasted something. Bungie could probably put in a bunch of sliders that did nothing and you'd mess with them anyway, convinced you've just optimized your experience.

Heck, they ought to do just that.

Or maybe just a single slider that goes from "Narcogen" on one side to "Cody Miller" on the other. It doesn't have to do anything, just lets you slide it back and forth to your heart's content. :)


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