Poll: Silent Protagonist vs. Voiced Protagonist

[manythings]

Ok I was reading the preview for DA2: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/editorials/reviews/previews/8451-Preview-Whats-New-in-Dragon-Age-II.3

On that page in the section marked "The Hero" he says that people hated the silent protagonist but a while back when it was announced he/she would have a voice (a la Shepard) there was much foaming and gnashing. So here is me asking; Voice? No voice? 50/50?

EDIT: I tried to edit to put in an I don't care but I don't know if it is up.

 

[LazerStallion]

Type of game dictates my opinion. Half-Life 2 was beautiful in the way it made you Gordon Freeman, and that wouldn't have worked with a voiced protagonist. But Mass Effect? Shepard definitely needs a voice. BTW, great thread idea, I'd like to see what people think about this.

 

[Lem0nade Inlay]

Depends on the game, definitely.
I liked HL2 and Doom 3 because they were totally silent.

But in my opinion, some games do need a talking protagonist. Like, as you said, Mass Effect.

 

[emeraldrafael]

I think its the type of game. Buts its more then that for me. Its also how the character is carried. One of my all time favorite silent protagonists is the Main character (His "real" name is Minato Arisato) because he carries himself well for it and gets alot of action keys or has the other characters talk for him.

 

[ThatLankyBastard]

Yeah, it definitely depends on the game...

 

[AlternatePFG]

Personally, for a game like the first Dragon Age, where you could pretty much pick the kind of character you play as, the character having a specific voice me seem out of character. Personally, the lack of main character voice didn't bother me at all.

Mass Effect on the other hand, I think the voice acting adds to the game. Shepard is still very much a concrete character, no matter how you act in the game.

 

[Buizel91]

I prefer my character to have a voice and a pre-set name, Simply because i can never think of a good name and i hate my character to be called "Jedi" or "The Grey Warden" or "Ooh it's you" Even when the game can give you pre-set names, can't the game just call me that since yanoo, the name was programmed into it? (i know they would need the voice actor to say the names but it's not hard!)

Although that's just a little nitpick i have with mutes, honestly i can play any game, i just like to know my guy has a little bit of character to him.

 

[Something Amyss]

Ok I was reading the preview for DA2: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/editorials/reviews/previews/8451-Preview-Whats-New-in-Dragon-Age-II.3

On that page in the section marked "The Hero" he says that people hated the silent protagonist but a while back when it was announced he/she would have a voice (a la Shepard) there was much foaming and gnashing. So here is me asking; Voice? No voice? 50/50?

I think the silent protagonist worked for that game. If the sequel has a Shep-style voice option, I'll probably be for it. The type of game dictates it for me, but more and more people demand voiceovers, even if they're bad voiceovers. It amazes me to think people believe jarring, robotic dialogue is more immersive, as it takes me out of the game, but whatever floats their boat.

 

[Buizel91]

No "Don't care either way." option?

If you don't care, why comment?

 

[NeedAUserName]

It definitely depends not only on the game, but the voice actor. If the voice actor is wrong, it can make you wish the protagonist was silent.

But it really does just depends on the game, Gordan Freeman has been immortalized through his underused vocal cords, but then you have much more charismatic characters like Nathan Drake, he just wouldn't be as cool without Nolan Norths voice.

 

[IBlackKiteI]

As alread said, it depends on the game.

But personally I prefer an established, well written and speaking character rather than the game trying to make the player the character, because to me that backfires and fails miserably almost all the time.

So yeah, voiced protagonist all the way if they're done well.

 

[manythings]

Ok I was reading the preview for DA2: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/editorials/reviews/previews/8451-Preview-Whats-New-in-Dragon-Age-II.3

On that page in the section marked "The Hero" he says that people hated the silent protagonist but a while back when it was announced he/she would have a voice (a la Shepard) there was much foaming and gnashing. So here is me asking; Voice? No voice? 50/50?

I think the silent protagonist worked for that game. If the sequel has a Shep-style voice option, I'll probably be for it. The type of game dictates it for me, but more and more people demand voiceovers, even if they're bad voiceovers. It amazes me to think people believe jarring, robotic dialogue is more immersive, as it takes me out of the game, but whatever floats their boat.

Basically the Mass Effect wheel but it has icons in the middle to give you an idea about what you are picking (Angel wings for goody-good, heart for flirty/romantic). It's all there in the article.

 

[Zergadooful]

I do like hearing my protagonist speak in cutscenes, but it pisses me off when they randomly speak during gameplay. Hearing the same taunts over and over gets really annoying.

 

[manythings]

I do like hearing my protagonist speak in cutscenes, but it pisses me off when they randomly speak during gameplay. Hearing the same taunts over and over gets really annoying.

That I agree with. Games should have a "No gameplay talking" option.

 

[mad825]

not too sure...it would depend on how the interaction is implemented in the game for example, DArigins with voice would rather insulting and pointless as I don't want to listen to what I read; this is a good method in which I can understand my choices clearly while feel like there is a part of personality missing but a ME style stops me from re-hearing/reading what I choose however the choices that I choose are not always clear...

I still enjoy the classics such as HL and Doom but caring about the NPCs seems to be lacking in my case, even the linear and completely cosmetic dialogue choices that is featured in Final Fantasy adds some life to it.

 

[Nimcha]

Depends on the game yeah. If you can create your character's story yourself, I prefer a mute. But when you're playing your character's story (ie Shepard) then voice acting certainly improves things.

 

[Sun Flash]

Depends on the game, but in general, I prefer my person to have a voice. Even better if you get to choose what he/she/it says, which was one of things I liked about Mass Effect. I like the game to provide a little character instead of forcing me to project myself on to them.

God I'm lazy.

 

[BlumiereBleck]

Depends on the game

Yup. This is the answer

 

[Ramziez]

I have to say having a voice is better. That's one reason I love the mass effect series much more than dragon age.

 

[RatRace123]

I think the silent protagonist worked for that game. If the sequel has a Shep-style voice option, I'll probably be for it. The type of game dictates it for me, but more and more people demand voiceovers, even if they're bad voiceovers. It amazes me to think people believe jarring, robotic dialogue is more immersive, as it takes me out of the game, but whatever floats their boat.

That problem could be solved by getting, y'know... good voice actors.
But I guess some developers are just so picky about that.

Though, bad voice acting is primarily what made the first Resident Evil game such a gem.

For my opinion on the protagonist's voice... I prefer them voiced, I'd actually prefer it if more games let you choose from a list of voices, like Saints Row 2.
But it worked for that game only because it didn't have a huge script, I don't think there'd be enough room on a disc for developers like Bioware and Bethesda to start doing it.