Larian Studios Forums Divinity - Original Sin Divinity - Original Sin - Enhanced Edition Please turn off the constant loop of NPC dialogue.

The background NPC dialogue is beyond obnoxious in Cyseal. Any pause I take to read dialogue options, do anything in my inventory, etc., they endlessly loop. It's maddening.

Apparently Larian never heard of the phrase "Silence is golden." But really, the NPC barks happen way, way too frequently, and in some cases, without any pause at all.

I remember that this was an issue when the original released. They toned it down in one of the first patches, I believe. Hopefully they will do the same with the Enhanced Edition. The constant moaning in the first town makes my wife and I laugh, however.

It is now known as the Kenny Rodgers affect.

We get it Kenny... You go to know when...

I can't comprehend the point of view that thinks this is a good thing, or in anyway atmospheric for the game. It breaks immersion, it distracts from the score and just... makes me not want to play through it again. You have to spend way too much time in Cyseal at the start of the game. Hearing the same short dialogue strings every 15 seconds or so, it's stupid.

Each bit of dialogue should be 3-5 minutes apart, minimum.

Disturbing how this issue is making a reappearance now.

No way. Any more than 1 minute between loops is way too much.

Edit: For the record, back in D:OS (not enhanced) the NPCs repeat the same audio lines every 30 seconds, and often saying different audio lines every 10 seconds - and there's still a lot of dead air in the marketplace despite it being occupied by multiple speaking NPCs.

Its irritating when I'm in Roberts the mortician's house and I'm still getting text / audio from Anna & Alistair. All of my party in the Morticians, I shouldn't be hearing them.

So much yes to this. I would love an option to mute all the background chatter, or at least make it much quieter so it's actually background chatter. I've actually taken to turning my sound off when I'm in Cyseal because this is so obnoxious. Most games do a non-invasive "crowd chatter" noise when you're in a busy place rather than having loud, clear voices repeating the same jokes every dozen seconds.

Marketplace pitches like "try my cheese" might make sense once a minute or so, but I agree with the earlier suggestion that things like interactions between soldiers should be maybe once every five minutes, or once when they come on screen period.

"Dead air" is not a bad thing. If you go walk around a real marketplace, you're not consciously hearing specific, loud, clear & isolated voices every few seconds. That would drive people crazy, just as it does in this game.

Not in the mood for cheese?

I can only say it's difficult to take these complaints seriously. Are you all not making smart use of your volume sliders?

I play D:OS pretty much exclusively with friends unless I'm testing out something, and we're always using voice chat while we play. That means we're holding conversations over voice while dialogue is being voiced by the game in the background, and we're still managing to listen to each other and anything important being said in the game without issue.

We aren't having any problems with the chatter in Cyseal, and I believe that's because a) we took the time to set up our volume sliders in a way that the audio levels satisfies us, and b) we're not the type to make mountains out of molehills.

There are problems developers have to step in and fix, and there are problems that players have the tools to fix on their own, and the in-game audio chatter falls in the latter category. Having the developers step in and apply their own "fix" means changing the audio experience for every D:OS player out there that isn't currently taking issue with the chatter and isn't here on the forums complaining about it. I would really hope all of you are sincerely doing everything on your end before just demanding changes for everyone.

It is possible for people other than YOU to actually have a valid opinion.

Yes, volume sliders exist. HOWEVER, the problem is not the volume of the NPC's but at the FREQUENCY at which they speak. Some people think that NPC's speak too often, and could use a longer delay before they start speaking again. Just because you, personally, do not agree with that does not mean that no one is allowed to complain about it.

I totally agree with all of that, Stabbey. The thing is "the volume of this background chatters is like 10x as loud as the volume of the main character's dialogue, and I have to keep adjusting my sound levels ever few seconds" is a valid complaint in need of a fix. However, like you said, it isn't about the volume (although adjusting your volume settings properly can help background noise seem more like background noise rather than a constant assault on your senses).

But this thread is just a bunch of opinions - the opinions of less than 10(?) people versus however many DOS:EE owners who aren't complaining about the frequency of chatter. So, the options are either: a) side with the silent unknown quantity, side with the vocal few, or create a frequency slider to make everyone happy and/or a volume slider for trivial NPC chatter . Not too many are asking for that last option. Instead, people in this thread seem to be wording their comments in a way that suggests Larian only consider the opinion of the vocal few. Your comment about "..It is possible for people other than YOU to actually have a valid opinion.." applies to everyone, including everyone in this thread.

The only complaint against the chatter that holds weight as real problem (versus a problem being defined as something that annoys you personally) is Tarasis's complaint about distance and chatter making its way into enclosed environments (e.g. struggling to hear audio in a house because of audio from guards who are patrolling nearby).

[quote=Gyson]The only complaint against the chatter that holds weight as real problem [/quote]

...is any complaint, because it is held by a customer and the purpose of the game is to please the customer. For the record, I agree that the chatter is very annoying. I play with headphones, so I just take them off when I have to stop and do something like organize my inventory. I can't imagine playing the game with speakers.

Apparently Larian agreed it was a problem back then since the frequency was reduced. What could have changed to not make a it a problem now?

It involves a lot of gorgombert and halibuts.

TG I have a one-click mute button on my keyboard. I wonder if it's possible to mod the sound every time the inventory is opened.

That's an interesting philosophy if you want to turn your game into an utter mass. It is impossible to please everyone, and the truth of the matter is some complaints are just whining (not saying this thread is, but to pretend "any complaint" holds weight just because it's coming from a "customer" is ridiculous).

If Player-A complains that the dialogue in the game is too goofy and needs to be more serious in nature, and Player-B complains the dialogue in the game takes itself too seriously and should add more humor, what's a developer to do? At some point a dev team just has to say "we're making the game and this is our vision", and if the customer doesn't like it he can find a different game. The customer is not always right.

I agree it's way too frequent, which is not only annoying but also makes NPCs less believable as "real" people. I mean, sure, they are always more or less standing in the same spot, they always more or less say the same thing when you chat with them, etc. All things that are unrealistic for real people to do in the first place, but for example hearing that one legionary say "Where is my pepper? Did it sprout legs and run away?" every ten seconds makes me think of her as an alzheimers patient. Reducing the frequency of this chatter won't [i]fix[/i] this, but it'll help greatly. I'd say once per minute max, ideally once every two minutes.