The Silent Hero

[TwistedEllipses]

In a running tradition with its poster child in the form of Dr.Gordon Freeman, the player character in some games refuses to speak.

I know this is meant to make the hero look more mysterious and to not alienate players with accents and hammy dialogue. Sometimes this blanket ban of speech doesn't seem to work - There's this one scene near the end of deadspace where Isaac is told some really bad personal news and the way he reacts is by doing some bizarre mime act. That just doesn't seem to work for me.

Anyway, that's just my opinion. What do you lot think - do you prefer a speaking or non-speaking role for a player-character?

 

[Pandalisk]

Hmm, speaking is prefered, but only for the reasons such as deadspace, i loved hale because he never said a word generaly.

 

[jim_doki]

The ultimate Silent Protagonist is, of course, Link. The reason they exist, outside of techological reasons, is that it effectively makes them into a Mary Sue or Marty Stu type character, essentially printing the players' personality onto them. This allows a more "natural" reaction to events in game and adds to immersion. I personally love the Silent Protagonist for this reason

 

[ZeroMachine]

It works sometimes. Link, Crono, Freeman, Samus (up until Fusion).

The silent hero works in certain situations. Sometimes it just doesn't. How would a game like Tales of Symphonia work out if Lloyd never spoke a word? Or what about Mass Effect? For overly obvious reasons, this would actually ruin the game.

 

[Chips the Magic Dragon]

The ultimate Silent Protagonist is, of course, Link. The reason they exist, outside of techological reasons, is that it effectively makes them into a Mary Sue or Marty Stu type character, essentially printing the players' personality onto them. This allows a more "natural" reaction to events in game and adds to immersion. I personally love the Silent Protagonist for this reason

I think you mean Mario.
Cough cough

 

[Chips the Magic Dragon]

The ultimate Silent Protagonist is, of course, Link. The reason they exist, outside of techological reasons, is that it effectively makes them into a Mary Sue or Marty Stu type character, essentially printing the players' personality onto them. This allows a more "natural" reaction to events in game and adds to immersion. I personally love the Silent Protagonist for this reason

I think you mean Mario.
Cough cough

Pfft, Mario talks.

"Let's a-go." indeed.

Lies.
and besides. Link talked too.
Hiya bitches

 

[high_castle]

I personally don't care for silent protagonists. Half Life managed it decently, but even then I found it rather improbable in certain situations. The biggest annoyance though had to be Fable II (and, I assume, Fable, though I never played it myself). The character doesn't even scream when his sister is shot or he's thrown through a building. Seriously? It kills immersion for me, rather than adding to it.