I’m sick of silent protagonist how about you?

[TheGhost]

You know what game would absolutely suck if it had a silent protagonist? Hades.....let that sink in, imagine that game with out Zag talking.

You know what makes me immediately sigh with frustration when starting a new game? Silent protagonist.

For example, I just started Monster Hunter world and my character does not talk, I have a bunch of people talking at me and all I'm doing his reacting with head nods and facial expressions?

Drives me up a wall, we can have voice actors for everyone but our most important character....me

how do you feel about silent protagonist? Does it impact your enjoyment of a game?

I think for example Skyrim or Fallout would be much more enjoyable if you just have us a voice.

 

[Ryuelli]

Not me, I tend to prefer it.

 

[adj_noun]

...

 

[cw_sasuke]

Not really also there arent that many games with silent protags nowadays.

...

Click to shrink...

lol

 

[Bradford]

Makes no difference to me.

 

[RochHoch]

It's completely fine in games that don't need a voiced MC. Like, Zelda or Pokemon

 

[data west]

Depends. Do you mean characters who are actual mutes or ones who are just simply not voiced?

Because the best RPGs almost always have a lead who can pick options but isn't voiced because the level of choices needed to make an impact would be insanely expensive to produce. Also a voice will never fit what you have in your head as your character's voice but your actions and customizations can.

 

[Deleted member 864]

It really depends on the game for me.

 

[Mr.Fletcher]

Depends on the game.

 

[Thiago]

I don't mind it, it can be part of the charm. I don't think series like Zelda or Dragon Quest would benefit from talking protagonists.

 

[ILikeFeet]

they should make an actual mute protagonist for once. like, literal mute. Link in Zelda has never been mute, he just doesn't speak on-screen

 

[Deleted member 48813]

Feels like we have this thread every few months smh. My answer as usual: I don't mind them at all and actually prefer it a lot of the time. Not every game needs a talking protagonist.

 

[Freshmaker]

The magic of playing a RPG is actually being able to PLAY A ROLE. I have an imagination. I can fill in the blanks. Even the DQXI protag is rather sassy.

 

[HardRojo]

Luckily it's a dying trend. Silent protagonists in games like Souls make sense. Silent protagonists in Zelda, Astral Chain and other games are just silly. Astral Chain is a huge offender of this shit because the sibling you don't pick will speak just fine like everyone else.

 

[Admiral Woofington]

SIlent Protagonist works for me in games you talking is implied via dialogue choices. Aka Elder Scrolls titles.

Link by this point is only kept silent by tradition alone. When all other NPCs have a voice besides Link and you have to come with silly reasons as to why he doesn't speak, when he is still clearly speaking in text dialogue choices, then you are being obtuse. Like you seriously can't find a solid voice actor in this day and age.

 

[OberstKrueger]

Depends on the game.

If the game is like Hades, where you're playing a preset character, voice away. If the game is like Monster Hunter World, where the character is a character of your own creation and with a voice in your own head for, then no voice actor is better.

 

[cooldawn]

Dead Space

/thread

 

[Massicot]

Depends on the game for me. A third person party-based RPG like Dragon Quest? I think a voice would go a long way, especially when everyone else has to talk around the protagonist anyway, who is implied to speak but simply doesn't.

Contrary to the last line you have in the OP, I feel like primarily first-person games (or isometric RPGs) with dialogue options don't really need a voice. I don't think it added much to Fallout 4, and I don't think I personally lose much by reading a choice, selecting it, and then not having it read back to me.

 

[JEH]

Non voiced protagonist allow for better dialogue trees in RPGs.

Compare

Fallout New Vegas -> Fallout 4
or
Dragon Age Origins -> Dragon Age 2

 

[Kanann]

I always prefer silent protag.

If you are "me" I don't want you to feel and think what I don't.

 

[Deleted member 2317]

I'm sick of voiced dialogue limiting what's possible to communicate.

 

[Tbm24]

Depending on the game, I'll sometimes strongly prefer the protagonist not talk.

 

[Yuntu]

I really don't care and it doesn't affect me. For example I absolutly do not think my protag in MH needs a voice, would actually pull me out of the experience. I would also be upset if TESVI has voice acting for my protag.

 

[Dekuman]

Depends on game

 

[EggmaniMN]

I play way too many games to care about the few that do this.

 

[Deleted member 68874]

Only times it's acceptable is when it's a custom character in a choice driven game.

 

[Deleted member 6263]

 

[JudgmentJay]

Pretty indifferent personally.

 

[Diogo Arez]

Yeah, especially Link after AoC, Hero in DQXI was also baffling.

 

[Soapbox Killer]

...

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Perfect.

 

[Calvin]

There is almost never a time when I want or like a silent protagonist. It has been done well at times but is typically pretty jarring.

 

[Wein Cruz]

Silent protag is arachic game design that should not be around anymore specifically for a main character surrounded by other characters talking and acting like you are speaking.

 

[nath999]

Yeah I don't really enjoy it too much. In Persona 5 and Dragon Quest XI they want you to feel like the character is custom to you but I just feel disconnected from the character and it puts a lot more pressure on the supporting cast to be good.

 

[PlanetSmasher]

Depends on the game.

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Yup. I generally hate silent protagonists, especially in narrative-heavy games, but in certain games they can be okay.

But I hate games where there are tons of dialogue scenes and the protag just stands around like a goon not saying anything, just staring with dead empty eyes.

 

[TeraDax]

That kinda depend on the games. I don't mind that Link don't speak. He's my childhood hero, really not sure how I would like his voice to sound like.
Though I would like him to express a little more emotions. Wind Waker was great for that.

But it did bother me in DQXI for some reason.

 

[Papercuts]

Depends on the game. I disagree with the OP saying skyrim/fallout should have a voice since that was one of the worst parts of FO4, you can do a lot more with an internal voice that has a lot of potential line responses instead. I think there's a difference between that and the straight up never speaking characters that just nod their head and aren't implied to be saying anything at all.

It really stood out in Dragon Quest XI when the story starting focusing more on the Hero's personal life and would just zoom in on his dumbass unchanging face. It's really, really hard to have a fully mute protagonist while trying to have them have a pivotal story moment relating to their history.

 

[DNAbro]

Actually nah, silent protagonists can really work. I love it in FFXIV where I have a deeper love for my WoL than any FF protagonist, cause they did such a great job of both building up your character's background and mental state while leaving room for you to decide how they are reacting to it in conversations.

Also another game recently OMORI, the silent protagonist thing really worked their due to plot reasons.

 

[BasilZero]

Doesnt bother me one bit.

Years ago I wanted every one of them to be not silent but not anymore.

 

[Deleted member 1003]

Yes but in the case of games like Fallout? No VA please.

 

[Dice]

I hate them. Everyone talks except you--- a strnagely quiet and complient nobody who goes along with anything.

I can appreciate it for custom characters, but otherwise when a game has you play as a silent dude (when Im a girl) it does the opposite of "self-insert".

 

[hey it's that dog]

You did the thing where the title and poll are opposites and I can't stop raging OP please think of my children next time you do this

 

[Phellps]

Are there that many silent protagonist for us to be sick of them? I find them increasingly less common as of late. They work specially well in RPGs where there are many dialogue options that would require way too much voice work (like Divinity OS), and in this case, they're not necessarily silent because they're actively taking part in the dialogue (unlike, say, Gordon Freeman), you just don't get to hear them. It's useful to self-insert into the character as well.

That being said, I prefer voiced protagonists. Bethesda completely dropped the ball in Fallout 4, but BioWare has shown with Dragon Age: Inquisition that you can have a voiced protagonist with plenty of dialogue options and emotional reactions. That game has an insane amount of voice work.

 

[TheGhost]

It's completely fine in games that don't need a voiced MC. Like, Zelda or Pokemon

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If link had the same quality voice actor as say hades it would transform those games for the better

 

[TheGhost]

You did the thing where the title and poll are opposites and I can't stop raging OP please think of my children next time you do this

Click to shrink...

Did I? Well fuck I'm sorry, especially since I too hate that as well.

 

[Elfgore]

Non voiced protagonist allow for better dialogue trees in RPGs.

Compare

Fallout New Vegas -> Fallout 4
or
Dragon Age Origins -> Dragon Age 2

Click to shrink...

Hold on, are you telling me you like dialogue options beyond "yes", "no", "sarcastic yes" and "what is a synth?"

No, I agree completely though. I like other characters to be voiced, but in RPGs I don't need to hear them talk, just know that they do.

 

[HardRojo]

That kinda depend on the games. I don't mind that Link don't speak. He's my childhood hero, really not sure how I would like his voice to sound like.
Though I would like him to express a little more emotions. Wind Waker was great for that.

But it did bother me in DQXI for some reason.

Click to shrink...

Link doesn't need to be a talkative character or anything like that, I'd definitely like him a lot more (I'm neutral about him) if he accompanied his nods and expressions with some short phrases like "yeah...", "I'll do it" or "Let's go!". I'm not expecting him to throw a whole freaking monologue 😂

 

[FluxWaveZ]

Depends entirely on the game. It works for some, like Undertale. What I don't like is when it's an ardent desire to stick to tradition, even when it doesn't make sense. The Persona series is bad at this. Persona 2: Eternal Punishment took one of the series' most energetic and fun characters from Innocent Sin and gutted her because she became the main character. And Joker in Persona 5 depicts so much personality, at least within the Metaverse, that it feels wrong when he's always silent.

 

[Bear]

I don't dislike it but it does sometimes feel like a cheap cop out.

For example, I'm playing Dragon Quest 11 now on Game Pass and the fact that that has a silent protagonist feels so cheap. The game even recognizes that he's silent sometimes, saying something like "Character tells them what happened." It's so weird.

 

[AIan]

I was fine with it at first but so many RPGs are doing it it's becoming tiring.

 

[Lord Fanny]

I prefer voiced protags, but it's not like a massive deal to me one way or another