Poll: Silent Protagonists.
- Thread starter DoctorSun
- Start date
usually I prefer talking
if not then I at least want the option of choosing their gender..so I can empathise with them more, but then again I would count the "text" in dragon age orrigins and the fallout games as talking
so in other words I want my charachter to be able to express themselfs in some way
HOWEVER there are exceptions..such as issac clake (first deadspace) and gordon freeman
if not then I at least want the option of choosing their gender..so I can empathise with them more, but then again I would count the "text" in dragon age orrigins and the fallout games as talking
so in other words I want my charachter to be able to express themselfs in some way
HOWEVER there are exceptions..such as issac clake (first deadspace) and gordon freeman
he counts as a silent protagonist, but he does have dialogue, you never hear it, though. In Skyward Sword he does pantomime explanations to the NPCs in some story cut-scenes.dragsaw said:
I don't generally like silent protagonists. It makes no sense to me why someone wouldn't say something in reply to the many many times that they are spoken to. But then, I am one of those rare people that doesn't mind cutscenes, so that might have something to do with it. I prefer my protagonist to have some character, not just be an empty shell.
EDIT: To clarify somewhat, I hate silent protagonists when they're in a game where they clearly oughto to be talking, such as a lot of first person shooters; in the majority of those games, I feel that the protagonist should definitely be responding when other people talk. In games where there generally isn't much dialogue anyway, I don't mind. For example, it never bothered me that Chell doesn't talk in Portal, because there doesn't really seem much need for her to be talking anyway.
EDIT: To clarify somewhat, I hate silent protagonists when they're in a game where they clearly oughto to be talking, such as a lot of first person shooters; in the majority of those games, I feel that the protagonist should definitely be responding when other people talk. In games where there generally isn't much dialogue anyway, I don't mind. For example, it never bothered me that Chell doesn't talk in Portal, because there doesn't really seem much need for her to be talking anyway.
I count pseudo voiced to voiced (like in Persona 4)
and so I can say that I HATE silent protagonists except when they are mute, have no characters to talk to (Doom 2) or you just never hear them (like with breath of fire or mario), because Gordon Freeman is an asshole since he can talk but never answers anybody
in every other way (at least in every other way I can picture) it's just stupid and rude
and so I can say that I HATE silent protagonists except when they are mute, have no characters to talk to (Doom 2) or you just never hear them (like with breath of fire or mario), because Gordon Freeman is an asshole since he can talk but never answers anybody
in every other way (at least in every other way I can picture) it's just stupid and rude
Depends on how the game is put together, I mostly prefer them silent because more often then not they are extremely irritating, especially in RPG games where they just go off on their own and do / say shit that I never intended.
I guess the biggest problem is that if the protagonist is voiced it hasto be better quality then anything else in the game, because that is the one thing you will be stuck with for the entire game.
I guess the biggest problem is that if the protagonist is voiced it hasto be better quality then anything else in the game, because that is the one thing you will be stuck with for the entire game.
actually when I heard Issac clarke was going to be talking I was happy (more so than the multiplayer..blegh!), and his voice is fine not badly acted or particually notable....anyway what I ment was I prefer talking, but issac clarks silence didnt bother me...Shawn MacDonald said:
the one time not talking actually DID bother me was in F.E.A.R. 2, basically the big badie of the game is a girl (dont ask me if shes a ghost/zobie/deamon/psychic mindfuck force I have no idea)
there are several times a charachter will say "theres a woman!..Im going after her!" when our main chatachter KNOWS thats not a good Idea and in any other situation would say "dont do that"
its annoying and break suspension of disbelif
I like silent protagonists.DoctorSun said:
Voiced ? It depends on the game/genre, but it must be done in right way.
The way it was done.Shawn MacDonald said:
For example : Isaac was talking with some chick and out of nowhere - bammmm ! - mob of angry necromorphs. Much hilarity and bashing to bloody pulp ensued, but the dialogue didn't stop. It was like listening to other, completely unrelated people while Isaac was fighting for his life, screamed, groaned.
Not cool. Not cool...
Usually i prefer voiced, or at least text dialogue.
But some games dont need voiceovers.. im thinking games like sonic.. where the second he got a voice he stopped being cool.
But some games dont need voiceovers.. im thinking games like sonic.. where the second he got a voice he stopped being cool.
It really depends on the type of game. If its a choose your own adventure styled game with which you can change how you relate to NPCs and change the story as a whole - I prefer silent. Then I can put myself 'onto' the character and make it feel like it's me in their shoes instead of like Im watching it all happen. I kinda do that with the Legend of Zelda as well, because its a big heroic adventure story unfolding by my hands and I can choose to do some things on the side or not.
But when you have Mass Effect games - I'm kinda split since the talking is really cool but I can also see it working if they were silent.
But when you have Mass Effect games - I'm kinda split since the talking is really cool but I can also see it working if they were silent.
Either can work as well as the other depending on the game. What doesn't work is when a character clearly has a defined role and personaility yet the developers try to play the mute card in a completely failed attempt at pretending that you're the character in question.. like in the Half Life games for instance.
