No captions / subtitles?

[Thw0rted]

I just started playing on Game Pass and can't seem to find any settings in the menu for closed captions / subtitles. Am I missing something? It seems hard to imagine somebody would launch a game in 2022/23 without such a basic accessibility feature in place.

[Fenrir]

There is such limited voicelines in the game that it is unneeded. What do you need subtitles for? The only voices you hear are units when you select them, or opening trade menus, and its only a few of the same lines.

[Thw0rted]

I first launched the game in a loud environment where I couldn't turn the intro up enough to make out what was being said. I assumed there would be other cutscenes with a similar problem. Maybe it's really just the intro?

[JayTwoPointOh [Shiro]]

Originally posted by Thw0rted:

I first launched the game in a loud environment where I couldn't turn the intro up enough to make out what was being said. I assumed there would be other cutscenes with a similar problem. Maybe it's really just the intro?

It's only relly the intro that would require subtitles, as there are no other real cutscenes in the game.

However, I can raise this with the devs as something to explore if it's something that you guys want!

James

[Thw0rted]

I wouldn't necessarily prioritize it over other important features while you're in EA, but captions are important to a lot of folks -- Deaf/hard-of-hearing, obviously, but also people who just situationally aren't able to hear audio cues, whether it's because of background noise, the baby is sleeping nearby, you're on a Zoom call at work , whatever.

[Ravenal]

Originally posted by Fenrir:

There is such limited voicelines in the game that it is unneeded. What do you need subtitles for? The only voices you hear are units when you select them, or opening trade menus, and its only a few of the same lines.

1) It's not a matter of limited voicelines, there are federal laws in the United States that require any company that creates media for profit such as video games, movies, tv shows etc. Are all required to have subtitles, or they are subject to possible lawsuits for violating those laws.

2) There are folks like me, who are hard of hearing and cannot make out what is fully being said making it difficult. And some who are completely deaf

3) If you are going to support specific group of people such as those who are color blind, you need to be able to support for those who are hearing impaired or deaf.

[Thw0rted]

https://www.nad.org/resources/technology/captioning-for-access/when-is-captioning-required/

Most private media producers (as opposed to government agencies, schools, etc) aren't required to add captions under US law. I don't know how you would write a law that requires every form of media that could have subtitles to include them, scoping it would be really problematic.

That said, it's definitely the right thing to do if you're planning to reach a broad audience! Hopefully they've already added some kind of accommodation here; if not, it would be great to keep it on the roadmap for post-EA.

[IonizedMercury]

Originally posted by Thw0rted:

https://www.nad.org/resources/technology/captioning-for-access/when-is-captioning-required/

Most private media producers (as opposed to government agencies, schools, etc) aren't required to add captions under US law. I don't know how you would write a law that requires every form of media that could have subtitles to include them, scoping it would be really problematic.

That said, it's definitely the right thing to do if you're planning to reach a broad audience! Hopefully they've already added some kind of accommodation here; if not, it would be great to keep it on the roadmap for post-EA.

And again, what do you need subtitled? The game doesn't rely on voice acting when it comes to gameplay critical elements.

[Thw0rted]

I actually didn't play more than a few hours of the game here, and eventually stopped subscribing to Game Pass so I can't check back in on it. I figure that even if the gameplay doesn't include notable voice lines, the intro cinematic should still have a subtitle option as long as there's dialog, and if/when the game leaves EA, it's pretty common to include more cutscenes in campaign mode, in which case it would be great to caption those as well. I think more-accessible games is always a good thing.