Gordon Freeman to Remain Mute

[SniperWolf427]

In a world where action game protagonists are defined by the likes of Nathan Drake and Marcvus Fenix; Half-Life's Gordon Freeman is something of an anomaly.

Who now?

I have to concur with Onyx on this one, I've never cared for Gordon as a protagonist.
It's a little hard to root for somebody with the personality of a bread crumb.

Can't say I support the decision to make him speak, especially not this late in the saga, but it's certainly a missed opportunity to make a good character even better.

Valve continues to pull that whole "You ARE Gordon Freeman. Give him your personality," thing, but I'm starting to feel like it's just lazy on their part.

Then again, anything that would speed up the time they spend on developing a single fucking game, I would support it no matter what it was.

Also, I was surprised to find that in Metro 2033, Artyom was silent as well. Except during the loading screens where he would read shit from the book.

 

[Hurr Durr Derp]

I don't really care whether or not an FPS protagonist can speak, but making Freeman speak all of a sudden would be really weird.

I'm glad they're not going to change it just to be more like the other kids on the block.

 

[Jack and Calumon]

Also Gabe Newell said he'll be Mute about any type of announcements to do with Episode 3.

Calumon: It's been so long, I think it's just Half life 3.

 

[ben---neb]

I am Freeman. And I don't want some crappy voice actor ruining that.

Hey Gabe, you know what else might be a 'fruitful avenue to explore'? Releasing the fucking game.

Epic quote achievement unlocked.

 

[Fraeir]

I like his muteness. I just assume he had lost his voice before the train ride in HL1 and permanently lost his voice after being in flippin' Ground Zero of the Xen invasion! 8D

You know, a small fun speculation!

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

Also Gabe Newell said he'll be Mute about any type of announcements to do with Episode 3.

Calumon: It's been so long, I think it's just Half life 3.

@Jack: Best. Comment. Ever.

@Calumon: If it's not Half Life 3, I'll fucking kill someone. Episode 3 ain't cutting it.

 

[Marsell]

Yes, he needs not to talk, he is awesome without speech.

 

[Treblaine]

I am sorry to hear this...


Oh well, Gordon himself is a TERRIBLE character. No personality or anything...He is the worst kind of protagonist. A silent one who everyone in-game likes for no reason as though he used to talk to them and they developed a close friendship.

Good games, horrible main character. When a headcrab named Lamarr has more personality then the hero, you've got a shitty hero.

Maybe he should talk Saint's Row 1 style. Like, a single line at the end of every major landmark in the story.

^^^can only describe how i feel about your response.

VIDEO GAMES ARE NOT THE SAME AS MOVIES!!!!!

But why are you holding them to the same standards and expectations as movies? like that the protagonist MUST be well fleshed out and deep, what you are asking for is like more characterisation in a book told from the 2nd person perspective!

WHY oh F***ing why can so many people get the idea through their heads that Gordon Freeman is DELIBERATELY left an empty shell so that he is easier to inhabit.

How films and books do it: develop the character of protagonist to EMPATHISE with them

How games do it: Give the illusion that you ARE the protagonist so you can more deeply immerse in the world

The more voice acting you give your protagonist, the more automatic actions, the LESS CONTROL you give the player, the more if feels like they are just a director ordering an actor around. if you don't FEEL that you ARE the character in the story then the game has failed in doing the one things games can do and that movies/books cannot.

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

I am sorry to hear this...


Oh well, Gordon himself is a TERRIBLE character. No personality or anything...He is the worst kind of protagonist. A silent one who everyone in-game likes for no reason as though he used to talk to them and they developed a close friendship.

Good, if over-rated, games, horrible main character. When a headcrab named Lamarr has more personality then the hero, you've got a shitty hero.

Maybe he should talk Saint's Row 1 style. Like, a single line at the end of every major landmark in the story.

Also, if they did ever give him a voice, hire Nolan North.

... Every major character likes him because he saved all their lives. Therefor since he did something good, they imprint other "good" things upon him. But no one ever references anything he said.

Hes kinda like a dog with high powered weaponry that always shows up whenever shit is bad. He is their deus ex machina.

Thing is...even in the first game, BEFORE THE LIFE SAVING, people acted like he'd spoke to them before.

 

[bad_dog14]

It's only right that he remains mute, cos really, WHO would voice him?

 

[JEBWrench]

Or maybe he is a mute and has always just been doing sign language.

Am I the only one who thinks this needs to be made into a YouTube video?

 

[The Great JT]

Idea for a big, interesting plot twist: Gordon Freeman is a mute that can only communicate in sign language.

 

[e2density]

Well it worked for the first few games. Why not Ep3?

 

[Tzekelkan]

I'm glad they're going to keep him the way he is. I don't think he'd be as memorable as he is now if he talked as much as the other characters. The Half-Life games are great because of their silent storytelling. "Show, don't tell." Would it improve the games greatly if Gordon would grunt when got hit or shouted, "Zombie!" when a zombie jumped at him. There's enough games doing that already.

It never broke my immersion, I always saw him as an actual mute... I know the games never stated that, but if you had a mute character, would the poeple really talk about his muteness at all? No, it'd be normal and that's that. I dislike conversations between characters (in games that take themselves seriously) that are only there to inform the audience about something, like the godawful scene in the recent Unskippable video of Vampire Rain where that chick said, "Oh, you're that famous guy who did that and survived the other thing and then you managed to do that upon which you did the other thing again and were awesome." She's just saying it for the audience, and I find it retarded and lazy.

I'm not saying that Valve wouldn't be able to pull off good characterization of their protagonists through spoken dialog. But they don't need to. I love Gordon Freeman, even if he doesn't speak.

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

I am sorry to hear this...


Oh well, Gordon himself is a TERRIBLE character. No personality or anything...He is the worst kind of protagonist. A silent one who everyone in-game likes for no reason as though he used to talk to them and they developed a close friendship.

Good games, horrible main character. When a headcrab named Lamarr has more personality then the hero, you've got a shitty hero.

Maybe he should talk Saint's Row 1 style. Like, a single line at the end of every major landmark in the story.

VIDEO GAMES ARE NOT THE SAME AS MOVIES!!!!!

But why are you holding them to the same standards and expectations as movies? like that the protagonist MUST be well fleshed out and deep, what you are asking for is like more characterisation in a book told from the 2nd person perspective!

WHY oh F***ing why can so many people get the idea through their heads that Gordon Freeman is DELIBERATELY left an empty shell so that he is easier to inhabit.

How films and books do it: develop the character of protagonist to EMPATHISE with them

How games do it: Give the illusion that you ARE the protagonist so you can more deeply immerse in the world

The more voice acting you give your protagonist, the more automatic actions, the LESS CONTROL you give the player, the more if feels like they are just a director ordering an actor around. if you don't FEEL that you ARE the character in the story then the game has failed in doing the one things games can do and that movies/books cannot.

I DON'T WANT THEM TO BE LIKE FUCKING MOVIES!

Plenty of games let you FEEL like the character in the story, even with speaking protagonists, and also in a linear game series like Half Life, you can't really feel like you have any control, anyway.

 

[SNIPERFOX ft. Harry P.Ness]

if gordon freeman could talk, his voice would be gabe newwell

 

[Hazy]

In a world where action game protagonists are defined by the likes of Nathan Drake and Marcvus Fenix; Half-Life's Gordon Freeman is something of an anomaly.

Who now?

I have to concur with Onyx on this one, I've never cared for Gordon as a protagonist.
It's a little hard to root for somebody with the personality of a bread crumb.

Can't say I support the decision to make him speak, especially not this late in the saga, but it's certainly a missed opportunity to make a good character even better.

Valve continues to pull that whole "You ARE Gordon Freeman. Give him your personality," thing, but I'm starting to feel like it's just lazy on their part.

Then again, anything that would speed up the time they spend on developing a single fucking game, I would support it no matter what it was.

Valve has proven that they can craft a well-rounded set of characters, so I'm not going to dismiss that "You ARE Gordon" approach as false.

What troubles me is, aside from the lack of any character development, his willingness to throw himself in front of danger with little to no resistance. It's just unrealistic, especially for a human.
Granted, he has the HEV suit, but even I would question some of these situations that Alyx so willingly thrusts him into:

"A gun emplacement that can rip you to shreds surrounded by a pit of poisonous, deadly zombies?! Well shit, Gordon will do it!"

Gordon: "O_O"

 

[JEBWrench]

I DON'T WANT THEM TO BE LIKE FUCKING MOVIES!

Plenty of games let you FEEL like the character in the story, even with speaking protagonists, and also in a linear game series like Half Life, you can really FEEL like you have an control, anyway.

Onyx, I have to say, the more voice acting gets involved in protagonists, the less I feel like I'm involved with the game.

Especially in first-person games. It throws me out of the game like a bouncer at a biker bar.