Silent Characters

[Professor James]

What's your opinion on silent characters, mainly protagonists. Personally, I'm fine with them but I find it a little weird how people never notice how Gordon freeman never talks, and I wonder how he can tell people where to go by just looking at a location. Plus with non-protagonists, you usually find them strange and hard to get attached to, unless they have a decent backstory. And nobody say "so you can project your personality into the character" because if that was the truth then why give the character any backstory in the first place.

Edit: I also like to add that I hate it when people act like you talked to them when you really didn't. Case in point LOZ:OOT. and when I said silent I mean don't communicate in any way.

 

[Cheery Lunatic]

I think it's a cop out.

They say it's cuz the gamer gets to project their personality or whatnot through them, but I think that's a load of bull.

 

[Radeonx]

I don't mind them, normally.
I despise Gordon Freeman, but that isn't because of him being silent. It is for other reasons.
On the other side, I love Link, and feel that him being silent (For the most part) was a great choice for the franchise.

 

[The Man With the Soap]

Silent protagonists are fine, but you have to handle it well. The most blaring example of a bad silent protagonist I can think of is the Rookie from ODST.

 

[Sp3ratus]

I'm fine with them, in fact my favourite game of all time features one, namely Half-life 2 and the whole series really. I like the idea of that you're always totally in character, you're never yanked out of the experience and being forced to watch something that you didn't intend for the character(with cutscenes, I mean).

I can see why some people don't like it that way, because there's no real character progression, only your progress through the game. That's their choice and their preference though, nothing at all wrong with that. As said, HL2 is one of my favourite games, but I another game in my top three is Planescape: Torment, a game with lots and lots of character progressions, and though all his "speech" is done through dialog, I would still say it counts as a speaking character.

Anyway, to sum up, both silent and speaking characters are nice, they work for different kinds of games if implemented well.

 

[Jenneh]

I think they are fine as long as the blank spots that not speaking creates are filled in with back stories and other characters helping whoever is playing. I think Link is a great example because though he is silent apart from yelling when he jumps or swings his sword or whatever, you can still find him an intriguing character.

 

[Soxafloppin]

It doesn't stop me from buying a game but i prefer games where the characters have..character.

 

[Sovereignty]

The solution to your dislike of times when the main character is silent and just performs actions in cutscenes? Talk in his place. The computers will respond. I promise.

 

[BENZOOKA]

Silent protagonist is the best protagonist. You can relate to them a lot better than to ones that say or do stuff that you haven't given the command nor initiated.

I can't relate to protagonists all that well, unless they are silent. HL, HL2, DA:O, Bioshock's 1 & 2, Fallout 3, New Vegas... are good examples of this.

 

[-Drifter-]

I don't mind them, normally.
I despise Gordon Freeman, but that isn't because of him being silent. It is for other reasons

Considering Gordan's only defining trait is "never talks," I'm left wondering what else you could possibly hate about him. Do you just despise goatees?

But on the subject of Gordan Freeman; I'm paraphrasing Yahtzee here, but in the first game it made sense for him to be silent because the game had an event driven, fairly basic story, with the only characters being random scientists and guards you usually only saw once. In Half-Life 2, though, the story is heavily character based, so Gordan's continued silence comes across as a little odd. Still though, I don't mind. Some may disagree, but I find it creates a level of one-ness with the character that wouldn't be possible if he had spoken dialogue. It lets put implant your own personality and thought process into him.

The solution to your dislike of times when the main character is silent and just performs actions in cutscenes? Talk in his place. The computers will respond. I promise.

Relevant: http://www.youtube.com/show/freemansmind

 

[Radeonx]

I don't mind them, normally.
I despise Gordon Freeman, but that isn't because of him being silent. It is for other reasons

Considering Gordan's only defining trait is "never talks," I'm left wondering what else you could possibly hate about him. Do you just despise goatees?

I have an incredible sense of disdain for the entire series, so I dislike pretty much everything about it, including Freeman.

 

[Professor James]

Silent protagonist is the best protagonist. You can relate to them a lot better than to ones that say or do stuff that you haven't given the command nor initiated.

I can't relate to protagonists all that well, unless they are silent. HL, HL2, DA:O, Bioshock's 1 & 2, Fallout 3, New Vegas... are good examples of this.

In the beginning of bioshock, the character talks. And I thought the protagonist in DA:O did talk.

 

[GiantRaven]

In the beginning of bioshock, the character talks. And I thought the protagonist in DA:O did talk.

He/she talks but only in the form of text (no voice acting).

 

[Canadamus Prime]

I don't mind a silent protagonist. Usually in those cases I like to supplement my own dialogue for him. Actually, I'll probably just do that anyway.

 

[hecticpicnic]

I would prefer to play as a silent character be it either an RP choice drive character or an first person than a badly written character.

 

[-Drifter-]

I don't mind them, normally.
I despise Gordon Freeman, but that isn't because of him being silent. It is for other reasons

Considering Gordan's only defining trait is "never talks," I'm left wondering what else you could possibly hate about him. Do you just despise goatees?

I have an incredible sense of disdain for the entire series, so I dislike pretty much everything about it, including Freeman.

Incredible disdain, you say? Did the game do something to upset you? Kick you in the groin, perhaps?

Spoiler

 

[Radeonx]

I don't mind them, normally.
I despise Gordon Freeman, but that isn't because of him being silent. It is for other reasons

Considering Gordan's only defining trait is "never talks," I'm left wondering what else you could possibly hate about him. Do you just despise goatees?

I have an incredible sense of disdain for the entire series, so I dislike pretty much everything about it, including Freeman.

Incredible disdain, you say? Did the game do something to upset you? Kick you in the groin, perhaps?

Spoiler

There are a lot of factors that play into me not liking the series.
Part of it is the overrated-ness, part of it is a big part of the fanbase, part of it is the company, and part of it is just me not liking it.

 

[TriggerHappyAngel]

I like games where you are the voice of the silent protagonist.

(example: Golden Sun's "Yes/No system")

 

[Sixcess]

Once I started really noticing that Freeman never speaks I couldn't stop noticing it, which makes everyone seem a little nuts. That said I've now got it into my head that Half Life is a story about a scientist going postal. Those aren't aliens he's shooting at, he's just hallucinating. Seriously, the guy gets used to gunning down people way too quick - he had this planned.

 

[-Drifter-]

I don't mind them, normally.
I despise Gordon Freeman, but that isn't because of him being silent. It is for other reasons

Considering Gordan's only defining trait is "never talks," I'm left wondering what else you could possibly hate about him. Do you just despise goatees?

I have an incredible sense of disdain for the entire series, so I dislike pretty much everything about it, including Freeman.

Incredible disdain, you say? Did the game do something to upset you? Kick you in the groin, perhaps?

Spoiler

There are a lot of factors that play into me not liking the series.
Part of it is the overrated-ness, part of it is a big part of the fanbase, part of it is the company, and part of it is just me not liking it.

You don't have to justify yourself to me, I was only joking. People can like or dislike what they choose. I would suggest you dislike the game on its own merits (or lack there of,) though, not because of fans or perceived overrated-ness.