How important is sound in modern games?

Veridian3

Everyone raves about graphics and generally games sell better if they look impressive... but what difference does sound make to your experience?

Mousey

If the sound can't accompany the grapical prowess of the game then what's the point in making it look like pure secks?
That's how i see it, i'm no audiophile but i don't settle for crap audio

Zelig

A great score can add hugely to a game, along with voice acting/effects.

However, since the vast majority of PC users have cheap crap (Logitech Z-5500 = cheap crap, and it's just downhill from there) hooked up for sound purposes, it makes no sense for developers to invest much for epic soundtracks to games.

Good voice acting would be nice if there was a really good system to sync up lips to voices. As it stands, in most games with much dialog, I tend to just enable subtitles and skip over most of the talking.

MIG-31

I don't care for great voice acting....But for me Great EAX and sound effects add more to a game for me.I just prefer a decent game that makes full use of my logitech 5.1's.

It's just a pity the current creative xfi drivers still fall short of the xp quality.

Zardon

yeah I gave up on creative a long time ago. the move to vista was horrific. they took 6 months longer than everyone else to even get semi working drivers. Will never touch their hardware again.

dipstick

The sound coming out of my speakers is just as important as what's on my screen tbh. Think games like Bioshock and COD4 would have left the same impression if you played them with no sound or if they used snes mario style sound effects? I may not have found a need to run dual graphics cards but I enjoy running dual sounds cards(one for skype/vent and one for gaming/music).

BlueMak

I want good quality sound effects. I want good quality sound all around, including voice and music. If they can't be arsed to provide good sounds then chances are the game sucks in other fields too.

I would love to have games with very good music in them. Unfortunately for most games the music is far worse than it should. The other problem I find with music in game is in games that I find myself having to disable it either for being of terrible quality or it is working against me in the game. For example for most of the FPS out there that have good sound effects, I want to be able to hear enemy moving etc and the music only makes it more difficult.
Two FPS games that I found the music was actualy helping in the game are the original Doom and Prey.
For other types of games it depends. RTS are more and more like FPS in this. Adventure games the music is usualy too short or too boring. In TBS games and wargames where there is time I rarely find a game where more than 5 min went in the making of the score, if that. There are exceptions, like Ascendancy, X-Com, Europa Universalis series, Transport Tycoon Deluxe, Pacific General, Star General and others.

Lowfat

Voice acting is a very important part these days. Games like 'The Witcher' have AWFUL voice acting. Sounds like they are dead. KOTOR/KOTOR2 had great voice acting.

BiGBrOwNPimpsta

Amazing voice acting can be seen in games such as GTA, Metal Gear Solid, Mafia just to name a few. I'm extremely picky on sound, I like hearing the little details, big noise and explosions like a movie. No wonder I have an x-fi and z5500 digital.

RogueDOc

Good voice acting and music score are a must. IT Adds to the overall atmosphere of games. There is nothing worse than a great looking game with crappy sound and music.

Forbidden Donut

I, myself, don't really care too terribly much about voice acting as long as the sound effects and music are good. In fact, it can actually harm a game if the voice acting is not extremely well done. I'd rather have none at all than bad and that's what most are imo.

swimtech

Great sound makes the environment really come alive.

Also, with game sales figures as they are (although sadly not for PC as much, where the best sound "can" happen) I would think the developers should be able to invest as much resources and attention toward sound in games as movie studios do for sound in movies.

Cow_160483

I just joined DH and my thoughts are that you do really need good sound; both voice and music in a game to make a complete package. Otherwise a really good game can end up having a bad fell to it and mess up your game play.