General Gaming Do you skip dialogue in games?

[stepee]

I’m playing Harry Potter super high and I was thinking how the way I usually play this type of game where you have conversations with people is I always have subtitles on and I listen to the dialogue but if I read to the end before the character voices it then I skip to the next line. Because I kind of already heard them say it in my head ya know?

 

Is that what a lot of people do? Or do you listen to everything/skip everything?

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

I listen to everything even though I finish reading the subtitles text first.

[stepee]

Also the reason why I was thinking about this was because I was trying to find what button does it, “y” button is a weird choice.

[TheLeon]

For me it comes down to how much I'm enjoying the writing/performance. Sometimes I'm happy to put the controller down and let it play, other times I'm skipping through as fast as I can. 

[best3444]

4 minutes ago, Commissar SFLUFAN said:

I listen to everything even though I finish reading the subtitles text first.

 

This is me, too. 

[CastlevaniaNut18]

Not really skip it, but sometimes I'll speed through. Like with the Fire Emblem Engage stuff. The support convos I don't always  find very interesting, so I'll speed them up. That's just a recent example.

[legend]

Depending on the game, I may turn subtitles off and listen through it. 

 

But if it has a lot of kind of boring dialog, I'll leave them on and just read it and advance.

[Xbob42]

27 minutes ago, stepee said:

I’m playing Harry Potter super high and I was thinking how the way I usually play this type of game where you have conversations with people is I always have subtitles on and I listen to the dialogue but if I read to the end before the character voices it then I skip to the next line. Because I kind of already heard them say it in my head ya know?

 

Is that what a lot of people do? Or do you listen to everything/skip everything?

I do exactly what you do if I actually read the subtitles. I always have subtitles on, but try not to read them unless I actually need to because I can read the entire sentence before the actor finishes the first word, and it just makes dialogue a lot less fun.

That's why I've wanted "active subtitles" for a long time, i.e. words getting added to the subtitles as they're spoken, rather than an entire line all at once. Reading ahead can spoil all kinds of scenes, especially if sentences are supposed to have long pauses, which just become super boring if you read ahead and know what they're going to say.

 

I realize active subtitles probably wouldn't be the accepted standard in terms of accessibility, but I sure would like it for quality of life!

[Biggie]

I never skip anything but I do turn subtitles off. I feel like I understand everything better by just listening. If its text at the bottom of the screen I try to read that instead of looking at whats going on during the scene.

[SuperSpreader]

I try to skip all dialogue and all cinematics 

[Demut]

No, I'm not a philistine.

 

Although I mostly have subtitles on out of habit at this point. Back in the day I'd have them one so that whenever I heard a new/unknown word I could see how it was spelled and looked it up. That's almost never necessary anymore so nowadays this mostly only comes into play for proper names and made-up terms (particularly in fantasy games).

[unogueen]

Game stories could benefit from actual fucking writers contributing, but that's not the norm so dialogue is just a buffer between me and whatever gameplay comes next. So skip.

[Keyser_Soze]

3 hours ago, unogueen said:

Game stories could benefit from actual fucking writers contributing, but that's not the norm so dialogue is just a buffer between me and whatever gameplay comes next. So skip.

 

Same

[Paperclyp]

MOSTLY listen but some games it’s just too much lol. Even like witcher 3 at times I’m just like Jesus Christ get along with it yeah yeah monster tore out the eyes something something oh there’s a perfume I can follow. 

[LazyPiranha]

Skip that shit bro.

 

If we’re talking some meaningful, emotional scene with an actual performance then yeah, I’ll listen, but some fucking dickhead explaining why they need the hides of a dozen owlbears?  Nah.

[Mr.Vic20]

It varies from game to game. Good writing and strong delivery will get a complete listen, but that is actually a rare treat in gaming. 

[Brian]

Read and skip when possible. If I start to skip cutscenes, it’s usually an early sign I’m gonna drop the game soon. 

[Spawn_of_Apathy]

Never on a first play through. Often in a second or more play through. Especially if those subsequent play through date relatively soon since the first. Though if there was multiple dialog options and I’m playing the “role” differently than before I won’t skip the different dialog. 

[Bacon]

Depends on how long I've been playing the game for.

 

By the end of an RPG or JRPG, I'll be reading the lines while internally whispering "shut up shut up shut up". There is often a point where characters just don't have anything interesting to say anymore. Like, I don't skip stuff in the actual ending, but that last mission before the final mission after already putting 100 hours into the game? Yeah I'm speeding that shit up.

 

The sweet spot for RPGs is 66 hours for me. After 66 hours I feel this urge to either stop or to hurry up and get to the ending.

[crispy4000]

I’ll skip through only if the voice acting itself is cringe.

[gamer.tv]

I always play with subtitles and will do the same, unless it’s a key scene - the I enjoy it. Meaningless chat (the support chats in Fire Emblem: Three Houses) get skipped immediately.

[SuperSpreader]

12 hours ago, Demut said:

No, I'm not a philistine.

 

[AbsolutSurgen]

I normally listen to all of the dialog.

1)  If I am finding the story "not to my taste" I will sometime start skipping the dialog completely (for instance, in a Devil May Cry or Ace Combat game)

2)  If I dislike the voice acting, or find the pace of it overly slow, I will sometimes just read the subtitles.

3)  If I am really into a world, I will read the dialog on the collectibles and "audio logs".  However, I am finding more and more that I just collect and go.  This is the case with Control right now.

[best3444]

I was doing this today playing Hogwarts. I'd finish reading the subtitles and hit the skip button before the characters voice acting was even finished. 

[Bjomesphat]

I can’t imagine listening to every line of dialogue in a game, even well acted ones like TLoU. Sure if it’s a cinematic I’ll watch the whole thing, but if it’s just back and forth dialogue I’ll read and skip. Saves a ton of time.
 

And I t’s really no difference in the experience, tbh. If you’re reading along in your head while the voice actor speaks, and you finish reading the line first and move on, your memory of it is still a fully voiced experience. 

[unogueen]

A lot of expo dumps are for hiding load times, or just some overexcited dev that want to share their totally unique, completely underived from other media mental tchotke that they had a dream about last night. How else do you get the inception ouroboros ending to bioshock infinite without some deep lunged fart huffing.

[unogueen]

Chris Nolan is downright pared down and subtle and capable of creating believable characters compared to most games. Games should really stop heavily selling on kitch value honestly.

[5timechamp]

Take in all content as intended in first playthrough.. if game has redundancy built in where certain things repeat then I might advance forward…In older games its gotten me in trouble in games where mashing dialog also makes decisions.. 

[Bloodporne]

I usually cannot wait to get the fuck through cutscenes, dialog and what not to do what I came to do, play the game. Of course there are exceptions like a Disco Elysium or SOMA or whatever but the vast majority of games I play, I tend to give cutscenes a short grace period and if I get bored I just skip them.