I have come to absolutely love this game and cant point many fingers on anything other than the sound effects and music feels a bit bland. I dont know if its just me. Many actions, spells and abilities is kinda underwhelming and so is the music. For an arpg (focusing on the action) i would have hoped for more intense and greater sound stage. Mages glacier do however sound great and impactful but many others dont.
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I think this is an ongoing improvement with each major patch.
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i wish it wasnât so chill feeling too
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Itâs for sure one of the weakest parts of the game in my opinion.
The music feels a bit uninspired and leaves me feeling sad and depressed for a lack of a better word. I think the overall lack of âthemeâ in the music is what hurts it the most. The new character select music is a lot better though and could be the overall guiding theme.
For instance the music in Grim Dawn actually makes me feel that the world is lost to something horrible. It has some sad tracks especially the ones in the Malmouth xpac but also has those classic gritty songs like The Captain (one of my favorites). I know exactly what the world is like from the music alone.
Now LEâs music is quite a mix of overall tracks. Most zones have their own track. This reminds me of WoW - where zones also have their own music. But there it makes sense, since theyâre quite large and thus giving you time to take in the atmosphere. In LE however, Iâm just zooming through. And having sad music while bashing in skeletons does not make me feel excited in any way - it just dulls the moment.
The Majâelka music is somewhat better but honestly most of it could definitely use an overhaul like the character screen music got. Something more epic to get the blood pumping and again, have an overarching theme. It would be better to have this across the eraâs instead of having one per zone allowing you to get a feel for what has transpired there.
Now that was a bit of a rant so Iâll keep this other point short. The combat is imo also a bit lacking but this is mostly due to Iâd say a 60 / 40 ratio of audio and visual feedback. I donât have any good points on how to improve here. It would be good if they take a good look at how PoE / Lost Ark or other games gets it satisfying crunchiness.
It seems other games just over exaggerate theirs and while it is a bit silly at times, it does really make it that much more fun to blow up packs of mobs. It makes me want to do it again and thus making me play more to chase that feeling again.
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I like that about this game actually, but to each their own.
The new main theme is real cool and pumping though; wouldnât mind a bit more of that in game but overall I do enjoy the slower tempo of music. Itâs a nice change from basically every other game.
Sure the main thème one is fantastic, iâm just saying i donât want fall asleep while killing stuff 
Last epoch is actually the opposite of Wolcen. Wolcen has a great sound and music but lacks everything else 
Good comparison haha. Although I would say Wolcen also has big step up on the graphics department as well but the âfoundationâ itâs build upon is just⌠yikes.
It would be great to post examples of skills/music that sound lackluster and explain why. Itâs hard for us to pinpoint the problem if feedback is too broad.
Iâll preface this that Iâm not trying to be a debbie downer and that I want the game to flourish and be the best it can be.
In my opinion about, 85% of the skills just lack that crunchy goodness. Itâs really hard to pinpoint it since I donât have any expertise in this area nor do most people who comment on this. In general I would say most skills lack actual bass and âcrunchy-nessâ.
One example off the top of my head would be the landing part of Leap or Sunder making impact with the ground and the fault lines traveling through them. It sounds like theyâre traveling through gravel rather than breaking up solid ground.
Most of the abilities in game arenât really overdramatized enough if that makes sense. Glacier is one that does feel good because of the build-up. I do think some additional cracking ice noises (like a Glacier would do irl) added in here would add a another layer of depth. Like the cracking of ice building up to some sort of explosion. Just spitballing.
I might post a complete compendium of Sound FX that I find lacking later, if that helps. Maybe throw in a few comments others have made on the subject.
Iâve also added a comment on the Music a bit higher up in this thread but again, not my area of expertise so I canât really comment on exactly which parts of said music tracks are not up to par.
If I have to be a bit more precise Iâd say the Void zone tracks are almost like ambience but not horror ambience (which could be exciting), theyâre just depressing. I get that the world is dead at that point in time from a lore perspective but it doesnât feel good for the gameplay at all.
There is something with Disintegrate making weird slappy sounds that repeat quickly on beat, whenever you hit an enemy with it.
Rather annoying, imo.
Some sounds feel hollow when the directional sound comes from off the screen. This can be from spells, minion actions and it interrupts the music of the areas to the point I remove my headphones and play no sound and do better. Some songs are too slow of pace to match the mood or significance of the area. This sound distortion gets magnified on wide screens greater than 16:9.
IMHO the spires have now very nice sounds - in particular this fire bolt spire - when the bolts smashes into the ground the sound give you this feeling that this bolt realy hits hards - please ad similar stuff to ALL the skills - would be so much more immersive - at least for meâŚ
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I second this. I forgot to bring this up in my earlier comments.
The spire projectiles feel as they have weight to them and the landing has much more of an impact compared to almost any skill in the game. I donât know whatâs done differently there but itâs worth looking into.
Keep examples coming guys! Iâll show your comments to our sound designer.
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Other positive example would be this ârevealing spireâ - when you activate it, I get the feeling that hard metal is moving and grating with big force - and when finished the activation sound is nice as well too!
Another positive example is the new âupheaval skillâ - you realy hit the ground.
Negative one would be imho all the flash/thunder sounds from primalist. Playing a storm totem build right now and the flashes realy sound like my speakers are broken. Its a very thin âzishyâ only
Or many of the bow skills from the rouge - all very thin and unimpactful.
In summary - give us more âweightâ everywhere
(non native speaker - hard to discribe this)
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Think about the sound when we free Zerrick in chapter 9.
And the sound when we free Alric in chapter 4 (or 5).
The first one is very realistic, very well made. The second one is more generic and does sound artificial.
All the recent sound design changes are very good.
totally agree!
I feel that some effects lack the âboomâ, a big portion of bass.
There are numerous lightning effects in the game but not a single one comes with a thunder (that is the sound when the lightning is born).
Maybe not all Lightning effects should have a fat boom because all the small ones that get procced could mess up the experience. But the big ones like storm crows minion ability should defenitely have a boom!
In general theres so few bass in this game. Warcry is the only ability I can remember having that boom. And so this skill feels awesome to use.
Mauls sound fx is really underwhelming. Itâs very silent and also has absolutely no boom despite the fact that the earth gets shattered and broken.
Void Cleave lacks the high sound of a âzzzingâ at the end.
Overall most of ability sounds lack of impact and feedback that you hit something.
Extremely well done sound design is found in New World. Every ability has a fat and crisp sound even the trades like when you chop down trees.
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exactly its like the highs and lows are silenced. Some effects have a big impact like glacier. If you can adjust treble and bass on your soundcard that actually gives a little but still.
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