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Where did all the bad voice sound quality go?

nWeCinematicsnWeCinematics
edited October 2009 in Tales of Monkey Island
Forgive me if nobody else noticed this...

But I just finished playing through Chapter 3, which was a fun, hilarious, depth-defying, crazy character-filled, piratey puzzling game of utmost greatness, except for one thing:

THE VOICES SOUNDED GOOD.

I could hear all of the dialogue and there was no distortion or crazy sibilance. Maybe it is just my speakers acting up?

Sarcastically (duh),
-Confused in Los Angeles

P.S. Thank you TT. LotL really shines.

Comments

  • JedExodusJedExodus
    edited September 2009
    Noticed this one too, could be because there's a few less areas (or at least it seemd it to myself) so more room for sound data. Or I could be talking cobblers :)
  • nWeCinematicsnWeCinematics
    edited September 2009
    In all seriousness, the size of the voice archive for chapter 3 was larger than chapter 1 and both releases of chapter 2. So either there is a lot more dialogue, or they've decreased the compression (or both). It certainly sounded better.

    Either way, I'm guessing it's making a lot of people very happy!
  • SHODANFreemanSHODANFreeman
    edited September 2009
    Well, they did say they've been severely optimizing their compression techniques for other parts of the game, so I imagine slightly less compression in the voices is a result of that.
  • nWeCinematicsnWeCinematics
    edited September 2009
    I did also noticed a significant increase in overall performance of the game.
  • ChemBroChemBro
    edited September 2009
    I didn't noticed it, because... the sound quality was good (and the story and everything in this episode).
  • JedExodusJedExodus
    edited September 2009
    ChemBro wrote: »
    I didn't noticed it, because... the sound quality was good.

    Erm, well then you did notice it I think ;)
  • Rather DashingRather Dashing
    edited September 2009
    Did the last episode have individual volume sliders? Because I noticed those in the Settings menu. I can't really remember, but if they're new, that's great!
  • WDerangedWDeranged
    edited September 2009
    I was impressed at the vocal quality too, especially considering the download size..maybe they've finally cracked the issue :)
  • Mike HaleyMike Haley
    edited September 2009
    The updated version of Chapter 2 replaced the old compression algorithm/codec (Speex) with an OGG Vorbis substitute. I assume that was carried over to Chapter 3, and that is the difference that people are hearing.
  • OutlawJimOutlawJim
    edited September 2009
    nWeCinematics wrote: »
    I did also noticed a significant increase in overall performance of the game.

    I noticed that also, I was able to increase the graphics quality with no noticeable effect on gameplay. Too bad I only tried to over half way through the game X3
  • RMJ1984RMJ1984
    edited September 2009
    The sound / voice quality in Episode 3 was good, i didn hear any problems what so ever.

    I do believe they messed up by accident on episode 2, also why they released the higher voice patch, because that was really mediocre sound. and i bet they also reliased what we said, when their voice actors do such a great job and spend so a huge amount of time doing these great things, nobody sane would throw it away with lousy compression or whatever, because that is just plane stupid :D
  • PaintbrushPaintbrush
    edited September 2009
    I noticed while installing the latest chapter that there was some longer "unpacking" of some files (I think sound ones)- I didn't noticed that while installing other chapters. Maybe this is it? Better installation compression-smaller setup file?
  • JakeJake Telltale Alumni
    edited September 2009
    Rather Dashing wrote: »
    Did the last episode have individual volume sliders? Because I noticed those in the Settings menu. I can't really remember, but if they're new, that's great!

    Those have always been in Tales.

    And the lower voice quality in Ch. 2 was a mistake.
  • der_ketzerder_ketzer
    edited September 2009
    I noticed that the background in the lab of the Marquee looked alot better then in ep. 2.
    Voice quality went from good to verry good. But the performance got a little worse for me. meaning I had a little bit of loading time in the first scene whenever I started the game. But it was perfect after that even if the scenery changed.
  • Iron CurtainIron Curtain
    edited September 2009
    I noticed that the background in the lab of the Marquee looked alot better then in ep. 2.

    I think you mean "Marquis".

    This is a Marquee: marquee.jpg
  • Rather DashingRather Dashing
    edited September 2009
    Jake wrote: »
    Those have always been in Tales.
    Ah, my mistake. Then I should have been turning up the Music slider all along!
  • thatdude98thatdude98
    edited September 2009
    I never heard the supposedly bad sound quality anyway, so...
  • YohmiYohmi
    edited September 2009
    I just want to say, as I’m a very long time complainer about sound quality in telltale productions, that indeed, the sound quality just reached the «*just perfect*» sound quality it needed. I have played it with my big headphone, as I’m compelled to do, and it was just perfect.

    So I just want to thank telltale for that huge improvement, it really improved the overall gaming experience.

    Yes, I’m very happy*:) (and this episode was quite long and beautiful, I’m in love with Telltale.)
  • PirateguybrushPirateguybrush
    edited September 2009
    Ahh, damnit! I LIKED the hissing and crackling! I say we start a petition to make Telltale put it back in! Who's with me!?
  • SHODANFreemanSHODANFreeman
    edited September 2009
    Pirateguybrush wrote: »
    Ahh, damnit! I LIKED the hissing and crackling! I say we start a petition to make Telltale put it back in! Who's with me!?

    funny-pictures-cat-sees-what-you-did.jpg
  • salmonmaxsalmonmax
    edited September 2009
    I was going to start a thread in praise of Telltale finally resolving the sound compression issues... but I guess I don't need to.

    So I'll just add this thought... you guys rock!!

    (Could we ever dream of a patch for episode 1, or am I pushing my luck?)
  • der_ketzerder_ketzer
    edited October 2009
    Pirateguybrush wrote: »
    Ahh, damnit! I LIKED the hissing and crackling! I say we start a petition to make Telltale put it back in! Who's with me!?

    I am. *hisses*
  • JedExodusJedExodus
    edited October 2009
    Here's a question, do the DVD releases come with superior sound quality?
  • LogicDeLuxeLogicDeLuxe
    edited October 2009
    nWeCinematics wrote: »
    Either way, I'm guessing it's making a lot of people very happy!
    Including me. Thanks for that!
    RMJ1984 wrote: »
    nobody sane would throw it away with lousy compression or whatever, because that is just plane stupid :D
    Nobody? Unfortunately, there are many audio engineers, producers, managers whatever, which do exactly that: http://www.dynamicrange.de/
    Well, it's not exactly about compression as in data reduction, but about insane dynamic compression, which is just as bad.
    JedExodus wrote: »
    Here's a question, do the DVD releases come with superior sound quality?
    Unless they rerecord all the music with live musicians, I don't see how.
  • JedExodusJedExodus
    edited October 2009
    LogicDeLuxe wrote: »
    Unless they rerecord all the music with live musicians, I don't see how.

    I was more on about the dialogue, the vast majority (if not all) of the music is midi in TOMI, but I was thinking that they would keep the master tapes or some kind of loseless audio format backed up and then compress it. SO when it comes to DVD time when you've got up to 8GB of data depending on the format we could be treated to higher bit-rate audio.
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