Weapon sounds are a bit... "low key" (Boring)

Discussion in 'Planetary Annihilation General Discussion' started by squishypon3, November 11, 2014.

  1. squishypon3

    squishypon3 Post Master General

    Messages:
    7,971
    Likes Received:
    4,356
    In TA weapons sounded... Powerful, and if I'm going to watch my dox get blown up in one hit I want to hear one bad *** firing and explosion sound. Followed by a nice explosion (PA trailer unit explosions?)

    I miss the feeling of epic when the annihilator fired, or the fear instilled into my soul when a can walked by. (Remember when the vanguard felt like that? That was awesome! )

    So yeah... Bad *** sound effects, Ubr pls.

    (And don't you lie to me, you have a bunch of cool laser sounds not being used atm. ;D )
    Last edited: November 11, 2014
    devoh, Jaedrik, wilhelmvx and 10 others like this.
  2. brianpurkiss

    brianpurkiss Post Master General

    Messages:
    7,879
    Likes Received:
    7,438
    It'd also be nice if the projectiles themselves got some improvements and variety.

    Not these little flying balls.
    popededi, Jaedrik, wilhelmvx and 6 others like this.
  3. allister

    allister Active Member

    Messages:
    115
    Likes Received:
    175
    I hate to say it, but most of the TA sounds are cooler than PA. The uber cannon and laser towers sound whimpy; I miss that Annihilator sound and the heavy artillery shots from the Intimidator and Big Bertha. I also miss the way each unit tech type had their own distinct sounds when you commanded them to move or attack. Krogoth noises were cool too.

    But PA does have a few cool sounds. The engine startup and asteroid impact sounds are great, and the sounds of the metal planet charge-up, loop, fire, and impact are some of the scariest things I've ever heard. Scary cool.
    Jaedrik, nateious and eroticburrito like this.
  4. squishypon3

    squishypon3 Post Master General

    Messages:
    7,971
    Likes Received:
    4,356
    To be fair many TA weapons were these little yellow orbs, they were called emg blasters, many arm units used them. :)
  5. stuart98

    stuart98 Post Master General

    Messages:
    6,009
    Likes Received:
    3,888
    TA was a 1997 game.

    Planetary Annihilation is a 2014 game.

    I should think that graphics should improve in 17 years.
  6. squishypon3

    squishypon3 Post Master General

    Messages:
    7,971
    Likes Received:
    4,356
    That's not really a graphics thing... It was an EMG blaster, it's supposed to be a yellow orb flying at the enemy, and if the current weapon effects aren't a nod to that then... I don't know.

    The issue however is that it does NOT sound like an EMG weapon, it sounds like a weird machine gun.
  7. eroticburrito

    eroticburrito Post Master General

    Messages:
    1,633
    Likes Received:
    1,836
    Agreed. TA's sounds and aesthetic were a lot more physically satisfying. PA should strike a balance between jabbering high-pitched robots and engaging combat noises. I want some booms and bangs and metallic clatter, not squeaky pops ^^
    Jaedrik, ace63, Nicb1 and 2 others like this.
  8. MrTBSC

    MrTBSC Post Master General

    Messages:
    4,857
    Likes Received:
    1,823
    looks at crysisgames .... yea they didn't ...
    seriosly though ... uber .. indy ... limited budget .... expectations and reality of the situation are 2 different things ...
    and i dont know bout you but to me even with this artstyle ( actualy especialy with this artstyle) the grafics DID improve ...
    it is simply a fact that higher fidelety will be always more expensive and hardwareconsuming to do ...
  9. ace63

    ace63 Post Master General

    Messages:
    1,067
    Likes Received:
    826
    That is fine, but the little balls in PA actually look much worse than in TA all those years ago. Half ofhtime you cannot even see them because they completely blend into the underlying terrain (most prominent on desert and ice biomes) which makes the situation even worse.

    On topic: I think I mentioned exactly what you are saying in a few other threads. There are some sounds which are nice and recognizable (bots walking, the T1 naval destroyer firing, the pelter [strange sound but recognizable!]) and pretty much everything else feels rather dull. One of the biggest gripes I have is how weak and timid laser turrets sound.
  10. temeter

    temeter Well-Known Member

    Messages:
    501
    Likes Received:
    305
    Yeah, the effects are bit unspectacular at times. Not only in sound, but also muzzle flash's and hit effects.
    One of the PGI-guys (afair sorian?) said that most of the weapon effects are still placeholders, though.
  11. Alpha2546

    Alpha2546 Post Master General

    Messages:
    977
    Likes Received:
    1,561
    I think some sound effects definately could use some extra boom however its not all to blame to the sound effects.

    I think theres also a problem with how sound effects volumes are being altered when you zoom in and out in PA. In total annihilation you could always hear the exact same sound without the volume being altered. In PA as soon as you zoom out of the battle the sounds are almost unnoticable.

    When I hear some of the sound effects in Fmod they sound pretty good but as soon as you hear them ingame it just ain't sounding that awesome.

    I would increase the volume of the weapon effects to get that BANG more in the game and give the impact or explosion sounds some more BOOM. I truly love the boom sound of the guardian in TA and we miss those kinda of explosion sounds in PA.

    Howard you know what to do :p . Get some more sounds like the weapons/old/land_weapon_fire_artillery.
  12. MrTBSC

    MrTBSC Post Master General

    Messages:
    4,857
    Likes Received:
    1,823
    in that case i would ask to have a slider for soundrange because i wouldnt want to hear the sound all the time when zoomed out far ... and just lowerring the volume wouldnt fix that imo ...
    ace63 likes this.
  13. nateious

    nateious Active Member

    Messages:
    409
    Likes Received:
    212
    I miss the sound of a battery of LRPCs firing away at distant targets, and the boom of the explosions, when their shells land. PA really needs to capture that.
    ace63 likes this.
  14. Remy561

    Remy561 Post Master General

    Messages:
    1,016
    Likes Received:
    641
    I agree that vanilla unit weapon effects have a lot of room for improvements. I currently play with awesome projection and Cplosions mod, so don't know if vanilla has improved the last couple of builds.
  15. philoscience

    philoscience Post Master General

    Messages:
    1,022
    Likes Received:
    1,048
    The addition of the dox noise was nice, I agree that planes and other units would benefit from more noises. Don't think we'll see that happen though.
  16. lapsedpacifist

    lapsedpacifist Post Master General

    Messages:
    1,068
    Likes Received:
    877
    The ones I really remember from TA is the artillery (as people have said) and the planes.

    Not sure if my memory is accurate, haven't played any TA in a long time, but I loved watching bombers scream across the map on the way to some important target.

    I love the score and announcer in PA, but a lot of the other sound effects could definitely use work.
  17. MrTBSC

    MrTBSC Post Master General

    Messages:
    4,857
    Likes Received:
    1,823
    i realy would like the cplosionmod without the c ...
    i dig the the colored telemod and colored uc mod though ...
    the uc could also have a better sound to be honest ...
    Last edited: November 12, 2014
  18. toric55

    toric55 Member

    Messages:
    69
    Likes Received:
    13
    yes. i miss my d gun and its sounds.
    Remy561 likes this.
  19. krakanu

    krakanu Well-Known Member

    Messages:
    540
    Likes Received:
    526
  20. wpmarshall

    wpmarshall Planetary Moderator

    Messages:
    1,868
    Likes Received:
    2,989
    I must admit, REALLY like the sounds of the pelter and far-tillery firing :)
    elodea likes this.

Share This Page