Recommendations for the best games with insignificant dialogue? (3DS and Vita)

[bojackx]

Recently I find myself playing on my 3DS and Vita much more than any other gaming platform. The last few games I've really gotten into recently are Tearaway, Terraria and Bravely Default, all of which I play sprawled out on my sofa when I'm home alone, usually with whatever random films are showing on Sky Movies playing in the background.

The problem is that 90% of the time I'm not home alone, but I still want to sprawl myself out on my sofa and play whilst the rest of the family watch Eggheads or something, breaking from gameplay every so often to converse, which leads me onto my question.

What games (for the 3DS and Vita) can I play with the sound totally off and still get most of the enjoyment out of?

For example, Terraria has no voice acting and very little significant dialogue ,as does Pokemon, so they make the ideal games to play on mute. Tearaway and Bravely Default however, do have voice acting, and are both at least relatively heavy on story, and not the kind of thing I want to play when I'm not entirely focused on it.

Spelunky seems like it might be worth looking at, stuff like that.

 

[Roxas1359]

I think Rayman Legends is a good one, since pretty much it focuses more on the reactions of the characters than anything else when it comes to telling a story, I recommend the Vita versions since it's fixed now. I don't have a Vita sadly so I can't recommend any others, although I do eventually wanna get a Vita.

Pokemon X or Y is good for the 3DS since they have no real voice acting and you can follow it with easy. Another 3DS title good for the sound being of it Luigi's Mansion Dark Moon or Super Mario 3D Land since like Rayman Legends, they don't require sound when telling their stories and rely more on the reactions of the characters.

 

[-Seraph-]

Most games should have an option to turn on subtitles, I know quite a few of my Vita games do. But in any case, looking at my collection:

- Ys: Memories of Celceta is an awesome ARPG and the only thing you'll miss out on by muting it is the excellent sound track.
-Well pretty much ever RPG should be fine seeing as any voiced dialogue in generally just repeating what the text box says.
-Gravity Rush is a great and charming action adventure game, and again the only thing you'll lose out on by muting is the soundtrack.
-Soul Sacrifice' story is told entirely in story book form. You don't need to listen to the narrator as he just reiterates what is written on screen. And once again, muting deprives you to the god damn awesome sound track.
-If you like puzzle platformers, get Dokuro. Utter charming and challenging little puzzle game with no voice acting at all.
-If you don't have the Rayman games already, get them. Every Vita owner should have Rayman.
-Muramasa Rebirth is another really good action platformer. There is voiced dialogue, but it's all in japanese so you'll be following along via text box anyways.
-I don't have it yet, but I've heard lots of good things about Guacamelee. Looks like a real fun game.
-If you like shooters then get Killzone Mercenary. Really awesome game and you don't really need to follow along with the story as you can tap a button to bring up the objective list. Might be a tad difficulty to stealth and track enemies, but it's manageable.
-Special mention to Unit 13 too. Get underrated third person shooter. Perfect portable arcade style shooter, though lack of sound might make the stealth missions a little tedious.
-Of course there is also the multitude of fighting games to choose from if you're interested in those. Lord knows you don't exactly need to pay attention to dialogue while playing those.


Really, unless the game doesn't have subtitles, and you don't mind missing out on the sound track, you should be pretty well off on most games.

 

[bojackx]

I think Rayman Legends is a good one, since pretty much it focuses more on the reactions of the characters than anything else when it comes to telling a story, I recommend the Vita versions since it's fixed now. I don't have a Vita sadly so I can't recommend any others, although I do eventually wanna get a Vita.

Pokemon X or Y is good for the 3DS since they have no real voice acting and you can follow it with easy. Another 3DS title good for the sound being of it Luigi's Mansion Dark Moon or Super Mario 3D Land since like Rayman Legends, they don't require sound when telling their stories and rely more on the reactions of the characters.

I already own Pokemon Y, Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon, Super Mario 3D Land and both Rayman games for the Vita (should have mentioned that before) and loved all of them (Dark Moon could have done without the mini-stages and the time restraints affecting the score though), so games along those lines would be nice.

Although fairly arbitrary, I do like games with levelling up of some kind.

 

[omega 616]

Spelunky seems like it might be worth looking at, stuff like that.

Splunky seems quite a good game, not played it myself but I watch a number of people play it. It is very much a easy to pick up, difficult to master kind of game.

Beating the first boss consistently seems to be a tall order, even to the most seasoned of players.

There is a lot of little hidden touches to the game as well,

Spoiler: such as

you might play the game never realizing that there are 2 bosses (arguably 3) or an egg plant in the game.

 

[mrhappy1489]

I'd advocate for The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds. I had an endless amount of enjoyment while playing that game and have a feeling that I'm going to playing a lot more of it in the future. My brother was also really advocating Steam World Dig and from what I can tell, there isn't a whole lot of dialogue in that game. Fire Emblem Awakening is also pretty good in the regard. While having a number of cut scenes spread through out the game, most of the game consists of the characters simply talking to one another with grunts and gasps so you don't really need the sound for it.

 

[FPLOON]

Well, I'm going to assume you also own Cave Story on 3DS, so other than that, anything else I would recommend has already been recommended in some way shape or form...

However, if it hasn't already been figured out through said applied previous notions, Tales of the Abyss, Fire Emblem: Awakening, Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance, and Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate for the 3DS... (though that last one might require the Circle Pad Pro in order to fully get the true full experience of it, in slight comparison to the Wii U version...)

I can't vouch for the Vita, though... except Rayman, because I'm biased like that...

 

[Mr.Mattress]

Super Mario 3D Land is an obvious one. It's my third favorite Mario of all time (Behind 64 and 3D World for the WiiU). Since no one in Mario really talks and the plot is so "Obvious" that you can have a broken 3DS and still know what's happening, it's the perfect game for you.

 

[Rebel_Raven]

I picked up starship defense with 150 shop coins. It's not bad. Basically a tower defense game. You get "ships" you have to defend by placing guns in turret spots.

Plot is light, there's little in the way of text, and no audio cues that I encountered.

 

[klaynexas3]

Monster Hunter 3, the story is "a village is damaged, you're a monster hunter, do you job." The only dialogue is in those gibberish languages that go along with text boxes, so listening isn't necessary at all(though helpful on some monsters just to understand where the are and such). SMT IV also isn't necessary to have sound on, and is basically Pokemon with fusion and more edge(though the MegaTen series came first, so it is in no way a copy). There's also Strange Journey and the Devil Survivor games(these are all SMT games btw). OH, and Fire Emblem. Get Fire Emblem. Now dammit. Now.

 

[BQE]

Dynasty Warriors Next for the Vita without a doubt.

If you've played one you've played all of them, but the gameplay is extremely fun and non-dependent on dialogue.

 

[Snograt]

Er, I hate to be "that guy," but you know there's a headphone socket, right?

 

[The Wykydtron]

Er, I hate to be "that guy," but you know there's a headphone socket, right?

Too bad it's shit

Unless Nintendo has a grudge against Apple and standard iPod headphones are intentionally not welcome in a 3DS, it's legitimately horrible. The port has no grip on it so moving the handheld even slightly throws it off (why would you move a handheld anyway?) and that's even if you can get it to register the fact that you plugged in headphones in the first place.

Unless mine is like defective or something, though I doubt it.

To answer the OP, I suppose Fire Emblem Awakening? The dialogue isn't voiced properly so there's no problem there, the music isn't super amazing in most situations (the boss battle music is good though, fuck off Walhart, you scumlord) and the only thing I miss is the cool quips the characters say when they get a crit.

Frederick's crit lines should be burned into the brain of everyone who's played the game after the first 5 hours. His early game is legitimately broken.

"Pick a god and pray!"

What even is this, like a massive jumping lance stab while riding a horse? Not to mention his Luna proc is a jousting charge without the wooden gear. Fuckin' Frederick.

 

[Snograt]

Hmm, it might just be you. I don't have any such problems with mine, and with an easily-disturbed wife next to me, it's vital!