Is the parabolic microphone finally useful? I REALLY want to like it, but as it stands, even with all the buffs, the paramic is still quite useless. As far as I can see it will never help you locate the ghost room any better than simply listening for sounds would. If you disagree with my arguments and/or potential fixes in this video I would love to hear it! I am simply critical because I love Phasmophobia so much and want it to be the best game possible! Much love and see you during the streams!
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The #phasmophobia patch notes for v0.25.5:
Fixes
1. Fixed a bug where several objects couldn’t be seen by the smooth VR recording camera.
2. Fixed several sounds that could not be heard by the parabolic microphone. There are still some missing sounds such as some ghost sounds that won’t get read yet.
3. Fixed a bug where some areas on maps had a constant sound value on the parabolic and sound sensor that would slowly raise over time.
4. Fixed a bug where ambient sounds were not playing in their correct locations on several maps.
5. Potential fix for the ghost sometimes checking the floor below the player it is searching for.
6. Fixed a bug where some objects could still be interacted with by the ghost if they were picked up near the ghost and taken to another location.
Changes
1. Improved how some sound values get display on the parabolic and sound sensor monitor to make them more realistic.
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I thought the "Purpose" of a paramic was to pick up sounds a normal person "Wouldn't" hear. The only reaon i'll use it because i've turned the game sound way down. Don't want to risk hearing damage just to hear some faint sounds in the background with that constant droning. So yeah, only current use is if you want to use sounds without having sound on i guess
I think the hearing should be nerfed, you shouldn't be able to hear a cell door or a door being touched from the entrance of prison or asylum, that's unrealistic IMO. Maybe when you're using the paramic, you'll be able to hear those sound farther(like increase the ball area you can hear) or in the direction you're pointing, this need buff to paramic range tho.
What they could potentially do is lower the amount of noises you can hear by ear, and add in noises that can only be picked up by the paramic – of course under the idea that it's a functional piece of equipment. This could make it useful I think.
The cone is much smaller than what you think, it's basically 2 times smaller than the light in front of you.
Now, it doesn't mean it's good as of now. 30m is still not enough, no point if you can hear it. And this small cone is useles precisely because you have to already know whre…
I think the initial idea was good but it just needed range. I Would give it a very long range and a very large field. So you could easily find the general direction and follow it to the room. I think this tool should be the main one to find the room in large zones.
I think I might use it, because I like to talk a lot in multiplayer and you can't hear signals from the ghost when everyone is talking.
watermelon if you see this plz.
I use paramic on asylum whenever I play with guys. Helps a lot.
(I'm in VR)
Seems the spirit box only responds to some people. We have had games where the 4th person to try it gets a response
I use it for the meme
Does it still work when you're outside the building? In that case, I could see it having niche use for a challenge run where you spend the least amount of time possible inside the building, as it would help you triangulate the ghost room from the outside.
Aside from this extremely far fetched example, I can't think of any stellar uses for this thing.
Yeah, honestly they'd have to change the way parabolic works on a base level or change the game entirely to make it be useful. The only thing I could think of is adding constant undetectable sounds that the mic pics up, but it'd either find the room/general area instantly or have the same exact problem of using your ears still being better.
Other ideas, they could relegate it as a just being an objective to pick up a sound level which is kinda lame but promotes use casually.
If you wanted something actually impactful they could potentially do another collectible object, like the bone, or even using one of the intractable objects as like a memento that you take back into the van, that you somehow have to use the mic to figure out what and where it is. The problem is people could think of cool ways for the mic to interact in maps for days on end, but it just would be too hard, would be too complicated to implement or disrupt the game pace too much without doing a game overhaul they don't have a need to do. It's prob just gonna always be bad.
I think the main thing that needs to change is that walls and especially floors should mute or at least lower the volume of sounds for the ear, but not the paramic or sound sensor. These sensors should be able to pick up stuff your ears can't detect. I would also like for there to be low level sound in the ghost room that you can't hear. That way if you find a room with constant low level sound it would be like finding the room with the lowest temperature using the thermometer.
In other news I died today in Ridgeview because I could no longer pass behind the black car to loop the ghost. When did that get changed?
Maybe the Jinn is bugged or something. We played on the beta recently, and got Jinn 3 times in an exhausting ordeal to find all the evidence. All 3 times, it wouldn't give spiritbox so we got it wrong.
idk if it's the intention but when I upgraded my headphones recently I could hear soooo many more things that I couldn't hear before, so I could see the paramic as helpful for people with limited hearing or with not great audio equipment in the first place, especially if you're trying to not lean on the thermo
paramic would be better if it actually increases the sound volume of interactions on a direction while equipped instead of a signal volume might also add a wearable like a headset for the sound volume increase while the paramic alone does the reading
para mic should be an electronic model with lights that "point" to the sound source… that would solve the time problem.
not only is the emf 5 a piece of evidence, but emf readings stick around for A LOT longer then sounds so it just makes it so much better
I noticed you say "One Mississippi". Is that not just an American thing?
it would be nice to hear random whispers (random words or crying) from the ghost, coming from the preferred location, only those who are using it.
paramic has a LED lamps… what about use that lights to blink when you point mic closer to sound direction, and when you kinda straight point on sound source middle light is glowing.. guess that make sense too if you're not so good at hearinglocate sound on bigger maps? that will be way useful to scan the map. what do you think?
I think it should be the opposite in related to the updating numbers..
My suggestions:
1) super fast updates. detects and changes in real time.
2) even if the noise finished, the map should keep generating an echo up to 3 seconds that the paramic can detect.
3) Paramic extends your normal hearing in the general direction and also increases the ambient sounds of that area.
Explaining #1: It takes 250ms to update the number displayed in the paramic. This way when you rotate your character with the paramic, you can get a glimpse of where the noise comes from and then gives you a chance to back off and relocate the paramic to find the source.
Also it COULD have 3 cones instead of 1 to add detection feasibility. The more centered you are, the more "clear" the noise is for the paramic. (add colors, red is bad source, yellow is good source, green is pinpoint) Green being VERY HARD to obtain because you have to literally aim the center of the paramic to the source. Numbers should detect loudness too. This way you have LOCATION and noise strength should correlate with distance.
2) This is the main problem with the paramic. Unless you're specifically aiming to X area, you will never catch a number. And when you're moving around, you might get a glimpse of the slow updating number thing and have a huge swath of possibilities with no chance to follow up because the noise is by then gone. And then you have to wait until the next noise event. If the map keeps "pinging" the noise for the paramic to pinpoint for at least 3 seconds. This would make the paramic useful.
3) Lets say you have a sound nerf, You cannot hear anything farther than 15 meters between walls, and 25 in straight lines with no barriers. Paramic can and will extend your hearing to 30-40.
Also.. 4) Make giggles, noises, grunts, etc.. more common when you have the paramic and only for the paramic wearing dude. In real investigations you hardly "hear" voices, most of the ghostly stuff happens with electronics enhanced devices. This will get those with paramics on their toes.
I think it would be cool if you could use the para mic to hear ghostly whispers and such. And the closer you are to the ghost the louder it gets. Then if the ghost was roaming or something, you could use the mic to follow it. Or they could have some invisible hunts or give red herring evidence to spice it up.
To be quite frankly I think there is more of a use in multiplayer than in singleplayer. When me and my friends are "investigating" we are almost always constantly talking or joking or just walking (which is also quite loud) making it much harder to recognise any little noises, so maybe the paramic comes in handy there? I will try that. ^^
My only use was checking if it was above me or not
You can make a challange, turn of the sound and use the paramic as the only way of detecting sound.
How about this?…when a sound is detected (or maybe a sound over a certain number), the number stays on the paramic readout until a reset button is pressed.
Or…the paramic has shorter range 360 degree capability as well as long range cone capability based on facing. The paramic could have an indicator if the sound was heard within the short range 360 or within the facing of the mic (giving the player an general idea of direction). In both cases, this only works if the mic picks up sounds that the player can't hear.
I don't get the creator's hype about the Paramic. I hope they will make it a little more usefull tho, because I do think this could be helpful (especially for beginners or people like me that just generally can't hear shit even tho they're trying)
Someone might use a parabolic mic if they’re hard of hearing. Having a tool like that helps them identify sounds they’re unable to hear and pinpoint where they’re coming from. With that being said, having the mic register sounds for a longer duration of time would be SUPER helpful for everyone!
It's useful with full groups one person thermal one person para one has some of the other stuff and on bigger maps can split up in different directions to find the ghost
What if you just make a new ghost with a sound ability, and then the Para-mic has a niche secondary evidence spot?
Paramic= Boner found every time. Too op, Gotta nerf.
Paramic buff: Reading time up to 7 seconds and a "radar" screen instead numbers that shows the direction.
they could make it so you hear more sounds when you've got a para mic so at least then you can use it in the same way you find the room using a thermo, cause obviously not all ghosts react to thermo's
I think they should add something with EVPs and a recorder, not sure how it would be implemented though. Maybe a new evidence?
Heres a change I'd put on the parabolic microphone
amplify the sounds that come into it and put a compass on it that shows the sound waves coming from the direction that it was heard from. Increase the correctness of the direction of the parabolic
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How tf did he get that add all buttons?
Am I missing something?
Watermelon
it could be for deaf player sir
OH THEY COULD USE IT AS A FORM OF EVIDENCE (like recording a ghost box spirt)
they should add a bip on the direction, and show the volume on the screen…