As far as I know, jay - there's none.

Heh, I just started playing Culpa Innata too, and the minimal subtitles are REALLY annoying! How many people here actually listen to these games?? I not only need subtitles, but I need an interface that allows me to click through the subtitles. Even when Culpa Innata has subtitles, if you click, you don't get to see the rest of the conversation. That means you have to listen to them ramble on forever. It doesn't help that CI has some really, really terrible dialogue. And tons of pointless dialogue. Can someone explain to me the point of the first "interview" you do with the Patel guy?!? Is there some way to get it right, or wrong, and what does it matter if you do? It just seemed like a complete waste of time.

It should be an adventure game commandment:

Thou shalt have subtitles, and thou shalt allow the player to click through them.

But, and I'm really interested in hearing this so I'll ask again, how many people actually listen to the dialogue in adventure games?

Oh! And this is my first post!

Hi cl0vis and welcome to GameBoomers!

That's an interesting avatar.

I don't know how many people listen to the dialogues, but I would think it's a high percentage, as the dialogues often have clues in them, not to mention plot and character development.

Clovis, it was Cula Innata, that drove me to start this thread. I am beginning to lose interest in this game, mainly because of trying to hear what she is saying when there are no subtitles.
It appears that there are many reasons for wanting full subtitles such as, hearing impairment, not waking others and English as a second langaue. Not to mention barking dogs
Lets hope the developers are reading this

yep Im for sub titles

If you have a suggestion for a developer, I would advise to write them direct.

Ana

I do - as long as the story draws me in, the dialogue is well-written, and the voice acting is bearable. If a game falls down on any of those points then I'll be speed-reading and click-click-clicking past great screeds of it.

I didn't click-click past any of Culpa Innata's dialogue, I thought it was excellent.

I very rarely listen to the dialogue as I am usually listening to the television while I play, or am on the phone. I love to multi-task..... That is why I LOVE subtitles and turn them on in every game where they are available.

Becky, you misunderstood. Of course, I pay very close attention to the dialogue :-) However, I like to quickly read it. Especially when it's just useless nonsense; which, unfortunately, is often. So I quickly skim the dialogue and jump to the next bit, essentially ignoring the person talking.

So, my question is, to be people actually take the time to listen to the audio, instead of reading it themselves? 90% of the voice acting is terrible in AGs. I just couldn't handle listening to it all :-)

old lady: Well, luckily, Culpa Innata is one of the first AGs that I've played in awhile that doesn't have subtitles. Culpa Innata also has a box to turn Anti-aliasing on, but, I swear, it does nothing. The game is just as jaggy and ugly with or without it.

On the avatar: Thanks! It's a picture of my wife's dilated eye after an eye examination. The only thing I don't like is that some people might think it is a drug reference, which it is not. It's just a cool picture that turned out perfectly.

Rushes: Really? I'm finding Culpa Innata's dialogue to be almost unbearable; especially the player-character's droning thoughts. "That's my big plant. I should water it more often. blah blah blah". Is she supposed to be drugged or something??

Clovis,

It's good to hear different comments about adventure games.
Just wondered... did you find any good thing about or anything you enjoyed in adventure games?

Hi, cl0vis

To GameBoomers

I don't pay much attention to voices in a game...For me it so trivial...I thought Patel was a waste of time in the game oF Culpa....But, You have to realize every developer... See's their reason for putting in certain things to the game...Some people might like something more involved...Like interrogation...Which I thought had alot to do with the <Who Done It Thing>

MaG, haha! Yeah, I'm being pretty negative. I was enthralled with AGs back in the Sierra Quest era. Since then gaming has stepped forward, and, somewhat thanks to Myst, AGs have stepped back. That said, I really enjoyed Syberia (nice graphics, good storyline, good puzzles), and The Longest Journey. I've played adventure games intermittently recently, but just bought a whole bunch at once: Sam and Max Season I, Holmes: Nemesis, Culpa Innata, and the "Adventure Collection" (Tunguska, Nibiru, Dead Reefs, Mysterious Island, and Keepsake).

I've enjoyed some of the humor of Sam and Max. I wish that game had funny death scenes a la Space Quest though. Don't you sometimes wanna' see Max injured?

I'm enjoying Tunguska, but I just keep thinking some things could better. At first the nostalgic game play was fun, but some of the later puzzles seemed arbitrary and silly.

And Culpa Innata is really disappointing me. I keep hoping the story picks up enough to save it from a slew of technical/gameplay/graphics issues. Seriously, those character models are the creepiest things I've seen since The Polar Express. Go to the wiki and search for "Uncanny Valley". Culpa Innata is definitely IN the valley.

My main problem is that in the Quest Era adventure games were THE best games out there for the PC. They aren't now, but really could be. I just see a genre that is stagnant, and shouldn't be. I want to play an adventure game in a beautiful 3D world like Oblivion. Oblivion was great, but could have been improved greatly by having adventure game style elements involved. It really was kinduv' a dumb game; besides building your character you just walked around, killed creature X and returned to where the mission started. Meh.

Are there some boomers here who have played games like Oblivion and thought: wow! think of an AG in a world like this! That's why I'm kinduv' negative. That game doesn't exist, and either will never exist, or is years and years away.

Harking back to this subject, I've just started playing Rhodan Myth of the Illochim, call those subtitles? A very small font size and done in pale gray on a black background.

I have no hearing problem but I'm not english, and subtitles for me are absolutely vital to properly understand the game.
What developers and publishers ought to understand is that their game is sold even in countries where english is not the first language, because not all the time the game is localized in all languages. Subtiling is very important for indie games, as the Carol Reed's and Last Half of Darkness sagas, as you can find these games only in english.
No subtitling really put me off Culpa Innata 2 already!
The first Culpa Innata was localized in italian but the dubbing was so awful that I'd prefer to play it in english, with full subtitles!
If developers can't make the effort to translate the cutscenes too, I'm not going to bother buy it.

Hi Carlo (and all)

As to the substance of the dialogs - well some like them, some don't. We understand.

However Culpa One had all cut scenes subtitled as well as Dialogs, in addition to certain comments that were plot significant. The only spoken words not subtitled were Phoenix side comments or one liners. We saw these as extra character flavoring available to the player. Background stuff. In other words, it wasn't important to recall them in regards to gameplay decisions. But, we listened to gamers comments and wishes otherwise. So other versions incorporated this change. For example the UK version has anything spoken totally subtitled.

And... this version will be available for download in the very near future and also is uncensored as it is euro rather than US rated.

As for subtitles for Culpa 2: Chaos Rising, erm the game is a ways away from release (Fall 2009) and no playable in game code has been seen by anyone outside our team. But I absolutely state it will be fully sub titled. Not sure where the idea came from that there are no subtitles. We are scheduled to have a playable demo releasing sometime before the end of this year. So our playable slice will speak (and read) for itself

I am English and I am partily deaf in one ear and I also like subtitles although it is nt that bad for me .Some times some peoples voices I cant seem to catch the words if you understand what I mean .I like Jack Keane for this .Voices are very clear and subtitles to

I like playing without the subtitles on- if they are on the screen I tend to look at them- if they are not I concentrate more on the graphics and become more engaged into the game. If I am having trouble understanding them- yes I will have them showing. What I like is being able to go back into the inventory area and if there was a conversation I did not understand I can go into dialog and be able to read it-as in Drac3 and Sherlock ---

Gatorlaw, so glad to see that Culpa 2 will have subtitles. I always keep them on, and am really handicapped when movies/games don't include them.

Not to worry, the features list in the announcement had to leave off a lot or run pretty long ... REALLY long *faints*

Happy to clarify things for everyone

*waves back at Loony*

Gatorlaw, I love you if only more developers like you would read our forums and take on board what we say. XXX

Thanks for the info and clarification, Laura!

Awww

Many developers lurk and listen just some are shy about responding or they are really swamped. But please...keep posting your thoughts, reactions and preferences. It all helps us make better games for all of you.

We are also lucky as an independent development house , meaning we can listen AND hopefully respond intelligently (in the game design) where it matters most

Thank you gatorlaw for 'lurking & listening'!

I've enjoyed many of the new games that have come out over the last few years, but for me Culpa Innata has been one of the best & I'm waiting in anticipation for Chaos Rising hoping to get more of the same!

I know Culpa Innata evoked mixed feelings but I liked it just the way it was (except maybe for one glitch where in a particular place Phoenix moved backwards!)

My feeling on trying to make a game to please everyone is that you can end up playing something that's too formulaic & therefore more bland than something that oozes the heart & soul of the developer which can be far more interesting (if that makes sense!)

I've played quite a few of what I would call 'formulaic' games - yes - they have all been very enjoyable, but Culpa Innata was all the more so for trying something a little different.

On the subject of subtitles - I do prefer to have them & I know Culpa Innata had the option.

Uhmm .. and a big "our oops moment"

The default mode was supposed to be "subtitles on" with the option then being to turn them off. But somehow in the 20 kazillion checks, testings etc - this "somehow" got reverse ordered in finalization.

so it may be people just assumed there weren't any and never turned them on.

But! one total promise - we are not changing our basic focus. We will be adding variety to the puzzling - but not making them less accessible. There are a lot of great pure puzzlers out there and although we think challenge is an essential element of any quest game, we are more focused on improving the accesibility of the story (which is huge) and character depth, atmosphere and a better perception for players as to how and when their choices make a difference in the game.

The changes we are focused on is making the design choices we made for game 1, work harder and better in game 2.

I always have subtitles on, mostly because I enjoy ambient noises, but also because if a word is slured or said in a way I have trouble picking up then its just so easy to catch. I will click through the subtitles on the first go round now and then when some conversations just drag on, but that's rare. The times I love the click through is on the second or third go round which happens as we all know for this or that reason (mess up). I think its very interesting to see that subtitles are so popular and for so many reasons. Good thread.