Sorry if this sounds overly negative, but i am in the camp of *strongly* disliking a lot of the new sounds. As in, they actually cause me pain to listen to. The two big themes for my criticism are: inconsistency, and demanding attention.
A lot of the sounds are just screaming for attention now which is exhausting and annoying to have as background sounds. I was specifically playing to hear the new sounds and after like an hour i had to stop because so many things bothered me so much i literally can't play.
There is also a specific trend that i dislike, and that is more scraping sounds, and more high pitched sounds, both of which i find very unpleasant. Another trend is more intermittent sounds instead of constant sounds, and that again calls for attention. Constant noises are easier on the ears.
I also strongly agree with what IronCartographer and KatherineOfSky have written:
IronCartographer wrote: ↑Fri Jan 31, 2020 5:11 pm
The "dirty/muddled" effect may not be as exciting as the new ones, but for some people that is the point: They were relaxing...rather than
exhausting.
I get that opinions will vary, universal appeal is impossible, and people will inevitably mod things to their liking, but please take the long-term effects seriously as well as immediate "shiny appeal" of the new sounds. This all reminds me of how some audiophile gear is so good at generating precise high frequency distributions that it makes music more fatiguing than cheaper, more muddled speakers to many listeners. Consistency and relaxation are desirable too.
KatherineOfSky wrote: ↑Sat Feb 01, 2020 7:12 am
I think that belt sounds at all are not a good thing. Belts are everywhere, and having extra noise created by them is just too much. I don't even want to be in my factory any more when I hear that constant background noise. I hope the belt sounds are removed completely. Their silence was very restful and relaxing to the game.
Especially entities that are everywhere should simply not make much sound. Currently playing factorio is just extremely overwhelming.
Here are my thoughts on the specific sounds:
- Belts: Just way too noticeable for an entity you have everywhere, and many of them (see also quotes above)
Yellow belts: Not too bad and by far the least bad of the belts, but still too much for constant background noise.
Red belt is just a horrible and unbearable whine. One of those sounds that make me unable to play.
Blue belts are less bad than red, but still worse than yellow and quite unpleasant.
- Splitters: Same story as belts, way too loud and annoying for an entity you have everywhere.
- Alert sound when buildings get destroyed: metal plink, when i first heard it i thought it was just some assembly machine making a sound and i would never have guessed it was an alert from the sound alone. Needs to be more noticeable and more clearly an alert sound
- Offshore pump: Similar to belts, just way too much for constant background noise, and also an annoying sound.
- Assembly machines: The intermittent clinking sounds are annoying, and AM3 also has some scraping sounds which are really unpleasant.
- And while we're speaking of sounds: Old walking sound on sand was so bad for me i modded it out. The dirt walking sound now has similar qualities, even if not as bad.
- Substations: Pressure feeling from the constant hum, especially if you have several
- Turbines: Again: i love the sound by itself, it's good for a turbine. But it causes a heavy pressure feeling, and it's just too much for something running in the background.
- Pumpjacks: Some unpleasant qualities, also bit of a scraping, and while technically it might be a better sound by itself and more fitting, it just demands attention too much and it's unpleasant
- Chem plant: Mostly good, but also the intermittent almost "ticking" kind of sound is annoying and again screaming for attention
- Centrifuge: Extremely piercing high frequency screeching every ~2s, absolutely unbearable
- Hand mining ores: Same story, the high pitched sound is very piercing and unbearable
- Trains: Does not sound like a fuel burning locomotive. Also again a grindy kind of sound which is unpleasant and not satisfying
A few things that aren't as bad, but i still don't like or don't make sense to me:
- Landmines and combat bots exploding use the same sound: It's very good for bots, but it does not sound right for landmines. Bit hard to describe, but it sounds like a high tech thing exploding and it just doesn't make sense for landmines.
- Atomic bomb: I am very confused as to what's going on there, but it sounds absolutely wrong for an explosion, and it's very disappointing. It almost seems to me like nuke sounds use the same small explosion sound as mines and exploding bots, and the change to that sound messed with it? Either way, i suggest looking at the mod "Mushroom Cloud" for how to better make a nuclear explosion look and sound better / more satisfying
- Tank sound: Idle sound is great, the fact that the sound is basically the same even when driving doesn't make sense and is also disappointing / feels like a huge wasted opportunity
- Wood chopping: Of the multiple chopping sounds, the new ones are less satisfying compared to the old chopping sound.
- Running over trees is inconsistent and also produces a "pling" kind of sound that sounds more like hitting something metal instead of wood
Neutral:
- Combat bots: Cool idea in theory, but also you'll never want to use *all* bot types at the same time so it feels bit pointless. Also i'm not sure i like the execution, but i haven't quite made up my mind about the bot sounds yet
Also possibly a bug:
- Double sound when getting items out of a chest / putting in a chest with opening inventory and ctrl / shift clicking a stack. Sounds like there's both a sound playing for taking an item, and receiving an item in the player inventory.
The few good things i noticed:
- Rocket set up and launch sounds are amazing
- Tank idle sound, also very good