I love subtitles in games.   
 
Before I play any game for the first time I check the options to see if I can turn them on. Too many times I've gotten to a cut scene and some story was being given and a freaking firetruck rolls by the house (I live 4 blocks from a fire station). Or my wife decides right then is the time to start putting pots and pans away. Or the dogs sees a squirrel and barks up a storm. Or whatever. And if the game doesn't have an option to go back and view video content, you've just missed something. Drives me insane.  
 
I am also not a fan of games who have another character shout instructions at me and also decides to blow something up at the same time. "HEY! GET OVER TO THE <EXPLOSION>!"  What? Where? And then I end up either hunkering down or randomly running around until the instructions are repeated or I get lucky and happen across where I'm supposed to be.
 
Subtitles fix this issue. If a noise happens you can read what was said and odds are you hear enough of the audio before and after the missed line to get the emotional context. I know a lot of people hate them, but subtitles are the way to go for me. 
 
What do you folks think?

I tend to focus on the subtitles more than what's going on-screen if I turn them on but I don't have very good hearing either so I'm screwed either way.

When I have subtitles on, I pay more attention to the subtitles and not the action which is really annoying. 
But it is even worse when I miss something and I can't figure out what they said so I always keep my subtitles on.

It depends on the sound balancing. Sometimes there is loud shit in the background that prevents me hearing what people are saying. In these cases I will immediately search for the subtitle menu. (Oh, I read your post after my reply, I guess the same as you then).

It's weird. When I watch tv, I find subtitles distracting. But when I play games, I feel like I'm not hearing the characters speak unless there are subtitles. So, I always turn them on for games.

I tend to focus on the subtitles more than what's going on-screen if I turn them on but I don't have very good hearing either so I'm screwed either way.

I put subtitles on in everything. My hearing's perfectly fine but I prefer being able to know exactly what any character on the screen is saying.

I put them on so incase of something weird happening (like sound balance issues) is happening I can still get what the fuck people are saying.   
Never had the problem of me focusing on the subtitles more than the action though since I don't turn my ears off

I love subtitles. I don't have the issue with looking at the subtitles instead of the action. They're mainly just there to glance at when I can't hear a character speak due to a glitch or bad sound mixing, or if I'm not entirely sure what they just said.

I end up misunderstanding what characters are trying to say sometimes without subtitles sometimes, so I just always turn them on.

When I didn't have a gaming headset, I used to turn subtitles on every game because I couldn't hear clearly. Now, I don't turn them on anymore unless they're on as a default because I no longer need them.

I use the subtitles in almost every game- although for games like Dead Space I turn them off.

Always have subtitles on. Even in LA Noire.

I love subtitles, but what's interesting is that I had them turned on when I started LA Noire and  they kept on diverting my attention away from the POIs in interrogations because I felt that I needed to focus on what they were saying. That fucked up my interrogations because I didn't know what to choose that was based on not paying complete attention to their facial expressions... I turned the subs off and had more success during the interrogations, though there were times when I didn't completely hear the dialog with my partner while I was driving or in a cutscene.

I'm hearing impaired and kinda need them so yeah, they are awesome

I hate subtitles (in movies too)..I don't seem to be able to read AND watch the show at the same time. Generally when gaming I wear my awesome headphones.

I hate subs, but I hate games that make me need them because they can't balance the fucking audio correctly or give me the option to do so myself even more. Red Dead Redemption was the most horrible culprit of this in recent memory for me.

The only game that I've found subtitles to be detrimental in is L.A. Noire.

I always have them off because when I have them on, I usually focus on reading the words instead of watching the whole scene. The only exception is with RPGs, where names and locations are a lot of times weird and fantastical, so I have to read it to make a connection.