The half life series and my problem with it.

[Levitas1234]

I feel more involved that he doesn't say anything, it allows you to fill in the blanks.

 

[Vykrel]

i really do wish the silent protagonist thing would end, even during actual gameplay. i mean, it doesnt bother my THAT much, and i get used to it... but it seems to take away from the story of a game.

except in Portal 2, because the supporting characters are enough to make up for Chell not talking... and they have a sense of humor and actually make fun of her muteness

 

[maturin]

Problem may be an imagination deficit.

 

[Worgen]

Im annoyed by the silent protagonist also, I suppose I would be more accepting of it if there was a reason for it, like dead space could have done this really well, have your char start out by talking but his throat guts cut early on, he gets treatment for it quickly but his voice box is damaged so he cant talk for the rest of the game

That could work. Future surgery could have repaired his vocal chords while he was in the looney bin in the second game.
But, if he got his throat slit, he would have a opening in his Engineering suit, so he couldn't traverse the vacuum areas.

you could easily structure something around it, like have it happen before the rest of his team got killed and have the medic on it fix him or have him find a med bay and be able to do some rudimentary patching up so its not bleeding all over but its not really repaired, I mean the suit would be the easy thing to fix probably, I mean when you change suits it pretty much puts a new one on you

maybe change the healing packs to some kind of suit repair kit and really just be patching that up and as soon as the monsters get tho it thats the end instead of using misc health drink, that way a physical injury really seems dangerous and it makes it obvious that the suit is whats keeping you from dying

 

[Heathrow]

Chell was a good example of the blank slate done right, but according to the expanded universe her reason for being mute is that she doesn't want GLaDOS to know that she is getting to her... so why in the sequel does she never say a word to Wheatley and to respond to his question you jump?
Up until that point I liked the idea.

Obviously she has brain damage, she thinks the whole world is a video game for christ sakes.

With a silent protagonist it's not the back story which defines the player character. That is just window dressing to fit your avatar into the world. The character of any protagonist, silent or otherwise, comes from their actions not their history. Silent protagonists are a mirror for the player: your actions dictate their character, your motivations dictate their personality.

Do you run through the first section of Half Life 2 throwing Breen's talking head televisions out of windows? Do you ignore them? What weapons do you use? How do you engage in combat? Is Freeman a hero or is he just in it for the chaos and fun? Does he actually care about the fate of his compatriots or would he just as readily side with Breen? Perhaps Gman's intimations about your mercenary nature at the end of HL2 really do speak volumes about who Gordon is.

The depth and complexity of a silent protagonist stems directly from how much effort you put into finding their character. If you find Freeman lacking then perhaps it isn't Freeman's shallowness that you are seeing.

Then again not everyone comes up with characters in their free time, so maybe I'm crazy.

 

[Smooth Operator]

Calling a spoon better then a knife is just plain silly, it's a trade off, the silent protagonist is you and nothing else, a non-silent protagonist is actually just another NPC to observe, so the developers haveto decide what's it gonna be.
Someday we will have full interactivity but we aren't there yet, protagonist is either predefined or not.

The floating object is an animation issue, every ingame object would need it's own hand animations(picking up, rotating, holding, throwing,...) and they would haveto be ultra super accurate not to hit the uncanny valley, so you have buckets of work for the minute improvement... this is probably the feature that held up Episode 3

 

[Hagi]

I don't really mind it so much.

For me a silent protagonist is like a constant small drain on immersion.
A good talking protagonist adds to immersion, but a bad talking protagonist drains a LOT from my immersion.

Even in Mass Effect where generally the dialogue is, at least for games, very good there are a few moments where I just go "What the...?" because Shepard says something weird and makes me want to reload a previous save as the dialogue wheel's "I don't like you." made me suddenly say "I'm going to effing kill you!".

So in game like Half-Life where there's tons of factors positively contributing to immersion the small drain by a silent protagonist isn't noticed at all. But a large drain would be noticed.

 

[Outright Villainy]

The idea is that the character is you. If the character did lots and lots of interacting, you'd be more like someone looking out from their eyes than actually being the character. It is subjective how immersive it is, but saying it's inherently bad is just foolish, as I and my others find it more immersive.

But then the problem is that the game doesn't give me absolute freedom to do what I want to do. If it's a silent protagonist meant to allow me to insert myself into the game, why bother when it's a linear shooter where I can't make a choice in how the game progresses? It's an immersion shattering experience because I'm inserted in the game and then have all my freedom stripped away from me.

What value does having a silent protagonist in Half Life add compared to having a voiced one? It's like reading a normal novel and pretending it's a choose your own adventure book.

Plenty of other games send you down a fixed path as well. The act of insertion isn't about choice in this case so much as immersion. For me, my character speaking of doing an action I didn't enact in game just reminds me that I am not that character, and just a camera on their head. Instant immersion breaker. The character's silence means that I can forget I'm not that person more easily and just go with it. You say you don't like being put in and having choice taken away. In games with fully voiced protagonists and cutscenes you have less choice.

The automatic expectation of open world design for any and all silent protagonist is a foolish one, because there's many benefits. There are flaws of course, since without responses dialogue can become difficult, but fully fleshed protagonists have just as many, different faults in terms of fighting player agency, and the unfortunate implications of when your character does or says so stupid you want to punch yourself in the mouth.

It's a stylistic decision. It's like comparing the benefits of jazz vs metal. There is no wrong answer, it's subjective.

 

[Dusk17]

Didnt Extra Credits just do a vid on silent protagonists (well a protagonist that should have stayed quiet)

 

[saxxon.de]

Giving a character that's established as being silent a voice and dialogue is a dangerous thing.

I wish Samus Aran had just shut up. I don't think a mute character is somehow better that one that isn't, but I can get immersed in both worlds. Demon's Souls is a good example for an alternative between both choices. You build you character yourself, but he / she is silent in the game (I don't count something like Fallout 3, since you're talking to the NPC's, even despite having a voice).
I'm not sure if I want a screen full of character stats in a First Person Shooter though..

Anyways, for me a game like Portal 2 or HL2 is fine. The atmosphere builds up for me through the music & sound effects largely. So as long as they're done well, I'm satisfied.

Oh, and when I think about the actual writing of most games at all, there could be less talking in general, since (good!) writing has to be flanked by a good director and a tight connection between the two. Games in general lack this almost always imo.

I'd rather go with games like ICO / SotC that are completely silent and deliver their story through showing instead of telling, or games like Portal 2, which wants to be a game that makes you laugh and succeeds thanks to good direction and really good writing.

 

[JET1971]

Chell is mute, she cannot speak even if she wanted to.

as for Gordon and all silent protagonists... i prefer that because thats where the immersion happens. you are the protagonist. if you lack imagination then yeah it will be a game breaker so just go watch a movie instead. but really all it is is a tool for you the player to get into the game. my first gordon was a chickenshit scientist freaking out over what he encounters while he was trying to get out. it was good fun and was funny as well. my second play through he was a tough guy who insulted everyone. now im kinda in the middle for personalities, sarcastic and generaly annoying to talk to... annoying as you cant shut him up.

protagonists with voice acting breaks immersion for me because half the time they are yapping about whatever and I dont feel the same as they do.