Sound-Coded for Your Convenience: Difference between revisions

Line 5:

Compare [[Variable Mix]]. See [[Color Coded for Your Convenience]] for the visual variant.

== General ==

Line 35:

* In ''[[Half Life]]'', where enemies loved to suddenly teleport to prescripted areas, the idle sounds of these enemies were played in these areas even before they started to teleport. And the teleporting itself was done with one fixed sound.

* In ''[[Half Life]] 2'', with its close captioning ability, distinguishing enemies becomes much easier. 'Barnacle pull', you know, 'Headcrab alert', 'Combine: chatter' and, of course, '*moan*'.

** ''[[Half Life]] 2'' also had a very noticeable sound warning for the poisonous headcrabs: a very loud cry that sounded like a cross between a dolphin and a rattlesnake. Since these enemies could temporarily reduce your health and make you a [[One Hit Point Wonder]], this could be extremely helpful... if the aforementioned sound and the effect that their attacks caused weren't nightmare fuel.

** ''[[Half Life]] 2'' also had a very noticeable sound warning for the poisonous headcrabs: a very loud cry that sounded like a cross between a dolphin and a rattlesnake. Since these enemies could temporarily reduce your health and make you a [[One-Hit-Point Wonder]], this could be extremely helpful... if the aforementioned sound and the effect that their attacks caused weren't nightmare fuel.

*** The developers mentioned that playtesters tended to drop everything to focus on where that sound was coming from and kill it.

* In ''[[Serious Sam]]'', suicide bomb soldiers emit a continuous "aaaaarrrgh" scream when they're coming at you, allowing you to tell where they're coming from, especially if they're behind you. The distinctive whine of chainsaws tips one off to the presence of the chainsaw-wielding pumpkin-men. Pretty much every enemy makes their distinctive sounds, often from [[Stock Sound Effects]].

Line 75:

** Further, every type of item that [[Randomly Drops]] has its own sound effect. They're pretty easy to distinguish even among similar types (i.e. a ring sounds quite different than an amulet, a spear or polearm sounds different than a javelin, etc.)

* ''[[God Hand]]'' has this to an extent. Draw aggro from offscreen enemies and you'll hear them yell (popular phrases include "You're not Alexander!" and "Damn!"); the louder the yell, the closer they are. In addition, should an enemy become a demon, not only does the color scheme change, you hear a very distinctive hissing roar. This combines with [[Musical Spoiler]] as well, as demons have their own music.

* ''[[No More Heroes]]'', as a standard [[Beat Em Up]], doesn't really need complex audio cues (though different sets of mooks have different cries). What it does matter with are the Lovikov Balls; powerups found hidden throughout Santa Destroy that make a distinct humming sound when they're nearby.

* ''[[No More Heroes]]'', as a standard [[Beat'Em Up]], doesn't really need complex audio cues (though different sets of mooks have different cries). What it does matter with are the Lovikov Balls; powerups found hidden throughout Santa Destroy that make a distinct humming sound when they're nearby.

** Also, you'll know when Speed Buster's [[Wave Motion Gun]] is about to fire - she yells something at you. Usually it's ''"Fuck you!"'' Useful if you're in the wrong direction to see its charge-up glare.

** In ''[[Killer 7]]'', just about every enemy laughs when they spawn. This is useful because they're normally invisible until you press a button to scan for them.

Line 135:

* ''[[Arcanum]]'''s flawed combat system does not pause when an enemy spots you, so you have to listen for the combat music to cue you in with its distinctive strings intro.

* ''[[Knights in The Nightmare]]'' has this ''out the freaking wazoo'', almost to [[Stop Helping Me]] levels. Pretty much everything that happens on screen is commented on by the knights ("The sword attached. The duelist activated. Enemy attack!"), and given the pace of the action, this becomes a constant stream of commentary.

* ''[[Pokémon]]'' has three sound effects to tell if a move has [[Scratch Damage|little (1/4 or 1/2 normal damage) effect]], normal effect, or [[For Massive Damage|great (2x or 4x normal damage) effect]]<ref> A Fire-type move used against a Paras or Parasect with the Dry Skin ability will yield 5x normal damage; the "great effect" sound is still played</ref>. This only applies to the [[Elemental Rock Paper Scissors]] calculation. It doesn't factor in [[Critical Hit|critical hits]], so you can still get the "thud" sound, but do regular damage.

* ''[[Pokémon]]'' has three sound effects to tell if a move has [[Scratch Damage|little (1/4 or 1/2 normal damage) effect]], normal effect, or [[For Massive Damage|great (2x or 4x normal damage) effect]]<ref> A Fire-type move used against a Paras or Parasect with the Dry Skin ability will yield 5x normal damage; the "great effect" sound is still played</ref>. This only applies to the [[Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors]] calculation. It doesn't factor in [[Critical Hit|critical hits]], so you can still get the "thud" sound, but do regular damage.

** The above mentioned example of Ben Underwood, blind since age 3 and still being able to play ''Pokémon'' games, is actually not too [[Incredibly Lame Pun|far-fetched]]. Each Pokémon has a unique cry when sent out (save for a few from the first generation that share cries due to sound limitations). Sufficiently experienced players can recognize the most common Pokémon by only their cry. Presumably, he learned to play once a sighted friend explained what the sound effects mean.

** There's also a particular [[Critical Annoyance|disconcerting]] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWTJRLW6uRM beeping noise] that lets the player know when his/her active Pokémon in battle have a low amount of [[Hit Points]] remaining.

Line 150:

== Stealth-Based Game ==

* The ''[[Metal Gear]]'' series has the distinct "!" sound that lets you know when you've been spotted. Also in the game, your [[Voice With an Internet Connection|radio-based support]] mentions you can track the enemies by their sound if you have surround sound. If you don't have surround sound, they say [[Does This Remind You of Anything|it's perfectly alright to have cheap speakers, and it doesn't make you any less of a man.]]

* The ''[[Metal Gear]]'' series has the distinct "!" sound that lets you know when you've been spotted. Also in the game, your [[Voice With an Internet Connection|radio-based support]] mentions you can track the enemies by their sound if you have surround sound. If you don't have surround sound, they say [[Does This Remind You of Anything?|it's perfectly alright to have cheap speakers, and it doesn't make you any less of a man.]]