A while ago I wrote this letter to contact@bioware.com in hopes of getting it passed up the chain of command to Rob Blake and the audio team for Mass Effect 3. I'm not worried about a reply from BioWare; rather, the Mass Effect 3 / Dead Space HUD thread inspired me to post this to the forums. I'd love to hear what other passionate Mass Effect players think of these observations—hopefully a discussion can generate some attention and interest in these issues!
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I'm writing to Rob Blake, the audio lead for Mass Effect 2 ("and future Mass Effect projects," according to his LinkedIn profile) to ask him and and the audio team to minimize music and character dialog cutoff in Mass Effect 3, especially for the Windows version. It may sound like a simple request (or a nit-picky complaint), but please let me explain further. The short answer: some polish in this area would make the game even more immersive and emotionally satisfying.
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Part 1: In-Game Music Cutoff
All the audio work in Mass Effect 2, from music, sound effects, and voice acting to implementation, is superb, and that's not just lip service. This fact makes the occasional, abrupt audio cutout noticeable and emotionally detracting for the player, which I'll detail below.
This problem may only occur on the Windows version of Mass Effect 2. It might be the video playback system's fault, but it's still an audio problem. Near the start of the game, Mass Effect 2 shows a video of the Lazarus Project, then a loading video/screen, and then the character creation interface ("Facial Reconstruction"). The Windows version transitions immediately from the end of the video to the loading screen, cutting off the last 2-4 seconds of the music of said video. From what I've watched online, this doesn't occur in the Xbox 360 version—it looks like there's a fade to black (maybe part of the video itself) between the video end and the loading screen, which is perfect.
This glitch in the Windows version struck me because the scene is supposed to be this incredible, triumphant return as Shepard's brought back to life, but hearing the last bit of fanfare unceremoniously cut off lessened the moment's emotional impact. It reminded me that this was just a game. It certainly didn't spoil it for me, but it was a loose end in an otherwise tightly optimized piece of software.
Of course it is, in fact, just a game, and making performance consistent on any number of Windows configurations is a tough job. That said, sound designers for a hollywood movie (that BioWare's games outclass) would surely check that all versions of a final cut have consistent, glitch-free audio. Mass Effect's audio requirements are more ambitious than a movie's, but I'm positive that people looking for these types of cutoffs can and will eliminate them from the game. Also, PC gamers will absolutely worship the team if the Windows version of Mass Effect 3 is an equal-or-better production than the console versions.
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Part 2: Character Dialog Cutoff
I've also seen non-essential (but very interesting) dialog from party characters stop abruptly in-game, To my knowledge, this should occur in the console versions of the game too. Sometimes the player's party characters spontaneously start talking, probably when the player is stationary. From recollection, the audio system stops this dialog when the player moves or enters a different area of the world, even if there's no other audio that should take priority. Emotionally invested players that inadvertently stop this dialog feel disappointed that they won't get to hear the rest of it (at least I did).
There are practical situations where this dialog should be cut off—if the player walks into a fight, having "one less!" interrupt the conversation is definitely the right thing to do. I haven't confirmed this, but I bet the situation I described above happens more frequently in crowded areas like the financial district on Illium. Here, a party character might be talking, but the audio system cuts them off when the player moves closer to a NPC with ambient dialog (i.e. the player's proximity allows them to eavesdrop on nearby NPCs). The audio system should prioritize the party character's dialog, letting it complete before playing NPC ambient dialog. I've also had party character dialog stop simply because I moved a meter down a hallway, with my characters still following, with only environmental ambience audible in the background. I'm not sure what precisely causes this type of cutoff.
As videos on YouTube demonstrate (Tali and Garrus's reminiscence of their elevator talks comes to mind), these moments are very enjoyable—they flesh out the characters and contribute to the powerful illusion that the in-game world is a real place filled with real people (possibly the most impressive overall effect to BioWare's games). BioWare's created this engrossing cast of characters that players care about and want to learn more about, and this side dialog is a wonderful addition for them. With that perspective, having the audio system cut them off is disheartening.
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Part 3: General Rationale & Closing Remarks
The audio work by Bioware (and Wall of Sound) in Mass Effect 1 and 2 has raised expectations for the entire game industry. I have no reason to pay BioWare lip service here—we all know this is true. If Mr. Blake, his associates, and BioWare's QA team have enough time and ambition to find these audio problems and fix them, Mass Effect 3 will be better off for it.
From a technical standpoint, fixing these glitches will minimize the number of breaks in Presence Illusion that the player experiences, leading to a more satisfyingly immersive experience. (I'm studying virtual reality this semester.) Some VR researchers even consider audio fidelity more important than graphical fidelity in terms of immersion, so there's justifiable merit for polishing the audio presentation.
Practically speaking, reviewers and gamers notice when a game delivers incredible audio. (The Mass Effect series and the Dead Space series are two recent examples that come to mind, and not just because they're from EA studios.) They also notice when a game has a great soundtrack, which the game delivers to them and makes emotionally significant. (I wouldn't have bought nearly all of the Mass Effect 1 and 2 soundtracks if the games didn't make me absolutely enjoy them!)
Anyway, if the right people are reading this message, please consider it a love letter of sorts and a challenge to make Mass Effect 3's audio even better. It's outstanding that a company like BioWare is clearly full of incredibly talented people that care about these kinds of details, so I took a chance to share this feedback with you. Thank you again for your time and consideration.
[Edited 4/2 to change "Bioware" to "BioWare". :-P]
Modifié par kohlmannj, 02 avril 2011 - 06:53 .
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