Do you play otome or BL games with music?

[anibroco]

I've noticed that lately I listen to any music other than the game's soundtrack—calm, soft music, rock, anything Dx. So I was wondering if you guys do it with or without music, and why.
And I always play music while reading visual novels.

 

[ruruchan2u]

In settings I usually turn down the bgm and up the sfx and ambiance sounds (rain/nature). High pitch character (main/npcs) noises also turn down. But when tense battle scene ost hits, I go max volume dokidoki.

 

[NoveiaVonGeorgia]

In settings I usually turn down the bgm and up the sfx and ambiance sounds (rain/nature). High pitch character (main/npcs) noises also turn down. But when tense battle scene ost hits, I go max volume dokidoki.

I do the same. Particular bgms that I have to turn off it's when it's too overly comical in composition or noisy. Like some rock themed BGMS or some BGMS in cupid parasite really turns me off. For SFX i go with 10% because some games tend to mix SFX with UI SFX and the UI SFX ironically sounds louder than the battle SFX.

 

[yueop]

I do not play games while listening to music. This is to listen to the game's background music to feel its unique atmosphere. Since different background music plays for each scene, it is also fun to listen to.

 

[arson194835798]

The games themselves usually already have music, so I like just listening to that. I do turn down the music to around 30% and the sfx to around 80%, and leave the voices at 100%

 

[mangopie]

I personally like to listen to the game soundtrack as I play. I feel like it makes my experience more enjoyable

 

[Reizerolei]

I listen to game soundtracks, and I really love them.

But when I'm actually playing a game, I usually turn the background music down quite a bit and keep the voice volume high. I don't want to miss any of the voice acting. ♪⁠(⁠┌⁠・⁠。⁠・⁠)⁠┌

 

[yousoro]

In settings I usually turn down the bgm and up the sfx and ambiance sounds (rain/nature). High pitch character (main/npcs) noises also turn down. But when tense battle scene ost hits, I go max volume dokidoki.

this really is The Way for me as well

 

[nerim-w]

Absolutely need to have the games music!! Unless the music is absolutely trash but I've never encountered that lol, I need music to set the ambiance!! Its such a powerful way to create mood and evoke certain feelings, especially during emotional moments!! When certain scenes started playing in Shuuen no Virche and they started playing the cinematic sad music the waterworks would not stop Good music can seriously elevate a game and I will always stand by that

 

[AlexandraDel]

I set it to the quietest volume, You have to get a feel for the atmosphere, after all
And when I get back, I turn it off so I can hear specific lines

 

[801_9ma]

I can't listen to anything other than the game I'm playing or else I get super distracted.

I can rarely think of times when I found the soundtrack of a game grating to the point of wanting to turn off the music, though at some points I was pretty close (the most recent example I can think of is when I was playing Algorithm Prescription's demo).

That being said, when it comes to settings themselves, I like to turn down the music and SFX to 30% and the voice lines to the maximum so the voice acting isn't covered up by the music or SFX.

 

[Pastels]

I don't usually listen to music while I play Otome games but I do put on YouTube videos or sometimes a movie. I just like having background noises while I play. Plus just listening to the game's soundtrack over and over again annoys me after a while.

 

[NightingaleDream]

I'm someone who can get easily distracted if I have background noise like, I can't help but let my focus wander lol so If I'm playing an otome game, I don't listen to music or anything unrelated so I can fully focus on the story or else I risk getting lost or forgetting things I've just read haha

 

[thetigerlily]

Yes and i even change playlists to match what i'm playing

 

[xaioblack]

I don't listening to music while playing otome game, but I do put stream on if there is no va. Its a bit too silence even there is background ost playing. Sometimes when there like voicelines playing, I just mute the stream and resume when the voiced scene are done.

 

[ruuuiii]

I don't listen to music while playing, i like hearing the characters voices better and experience the games as the developers intended it.

 

[Rawamabuk3020]

Si el juego es demasiado largo y la música de fondo se vuelve tan continua que aburre, me pongo los auriculares y escucho música en otro teléfono xd

 

[fr4pp3cinn]

I'll only play it with the background music. To me it helps setting up the atmosphere as a whole, and I enjoy BGM music a lot!

It's not exclusive to otoge (or VNs) though, I'll only play with the game's actual BGM, other music can be distracting (and especially in emotional scenes, it feels dissonant to me).

 

[totallyamanda]

depends on the game! some have great, nongrating music but hearing it replay for the 49th time, it wears on your brain. (´-ε-｀)

i'm in the same boat of turning bgm down, system sounds down, max volume character voices and med-high ambient noise. d( ᵘ ꒳ ᵘ ✼)

If there's an option of music silencing or quieting when a character speaks, I always enable it. I prefer to hear the voices than the beeps and boops some music choices seem to favor. It might just be me but there's some music that has a certain tone that rings through straight to my brain no matter how quiet I make it. (´･д･｀)

if i play my own music, i get distracted by it and trying to find one to fit the tone of the story which will just take me out of the immersion. (•̀o•́)ง

 

[tsuki09_]

When I play otome, I feel like I need to feel it all to its fullest, so I choose to keep the bgm on
In terms of listening to music by itself, I like to separate my moment to listen to music from most of my activities. I think the only exception to that are these chill piano playlists or that bossa nova Vocaloid medley while I study :)
My brain overall goes wild with music, which is why I can't blend it with most activities

 

[stellasikes]

Like others have said, I usually turn the BGM down a little, and also lower the sound effects so I can clearly hear the characters' voices.
So far, I've never come across an otome game where I had to turn the BGM completely off because it sounded terrible.

Kind of off-topic, but I sometimes watch anime and play an otome game at the same time just to save time if the game doesn't have any time limits or anything like that.