Silent or Talkie? The endless protagonist debate.

[tooktook]

A silent protagonist is a safe approach. It's not offensive but it doesn't add anything.
Making a protagonist that has a personality is risky because it can be done badly or irritate people.

Game devs are a nervous bunch. They like to be safe.

I like a protagonist with a good personality but nothing will make me hate a game more than an irritating main character so I can understand where they're coming from.

 

[shatnershaman]

in Halo you get the sense of someone who likes to act cool with little actions or story to merit it.

He blows up a ship with its own bomb!
Single handily does everything (Buddies are fucking retards)
And girls just wanna have fun!

 

[ElArabDeMagnifico]

Half-Life: He's got that H.E.V. Suit - that might make a huge difference.

Master chief can talk in his tin can so I think Freeman can through the orange spandex.

Oh sorry, I forgot to mention that I was talking about the "screaming in pain" thing. The H.E.V. suit administers painkillers and antidotes as you get hurt. Hell, I guess you could say Gordon is high most of the time when he is whacking things with crowbars and sending sawblades flying with his Gravity Gun.

 

[shatnershaman]

Half-Life: He's got that H.E.V. Suit - that might make a huge difference.

Master chief can talk in his tin can so I think Freeman can through the orange spandex.

Oh sorry, I forgot to mention that I was talking about the "screaming in pain" thing. The H.E.V. suit administers painkillers and antidotes as you get hurt. Hell, I guess you could say Gordon is high most of the time when he is whacking things with crowbars and sending sawblades flying with his Gravity Gun.

Sounds like the HAZE marines and we know how "smart" they are. BOOSH!!!

 

[Batadon]

I do like silent protagonists, when done right. They don't say stupid things, whine, flex, angst, etc. But you need emotional attachment...

I feel that the best silent protagonist is one like Serge from Chrono Cross. He doesn't say a word, but you still understand his fears, confusion (a lot of that ), and desires...

 

[TheIceface]

He blows up a ship with its own bomb!
Single handily does everything (Buddies are fucking retards)
And girls just wanna have fun!

Yeah, he does that in the most reckless (reckless stupid not reckless cool there is a difference) way possible. Seriously, jumping out a ship holding onto the bomb? I realize he has a suit so he can breathe in space, but I didn't think he had any jet pack or anything to help aim the bomb. Why not just throw the bomb out the ship without climbing on? On top of that the only reason he talks is to say one-liners, if his speech made a major contribution to the story or character development of some sort I wouldn't mind, but its a bit irritating just to here someone saying things and hoping they'll catch on as "quotable game moments." I dunno, Masterchief strikes me as someone who took the dialog from movies like Lethal Weapon and Army of Darkness too seriously. Nobody talks like that, just cut it out. (That black commander guy pissed me off, he had the same speech impediment. "Let's rock and roll! Let's take it to 'em! I've got a bad feeling about this.")

You also bring up another good part of the debate. Buddies, do you think they should have personalities, or just be quiet, nameless, and help out?

 

[ElArabDeMagnifico]

I never have and never will like the silent character approach. Doom, Halflife, Quake... If I was in any of those games I'd spend half my time screaming my lungs out, the other half insanely mumbling and talking too myself. People don't get shot with multiple bullets and just take it, they cry, they scream, they swear, and they utter vile obscenities to the one firing.

Actually I don't know why I didn't think of this before, maybe I just jumped the gun too quickly because I focused on the examples. Anyway, it just came to me, but is a protagonist yelling "Fuck you!" to the enemies in a shooter like "Doom" - where you're just a camera, a floating gun, and an occassional screaming sound effect, - is even neccessary? In games like that (basically "strictly First Person" games) I tend to yell obscenities while playing, I don't need the character to do it for me.

Yet in Gears of War, the "scratch one grub!" and "eat shit and die!" are just fine, since we're around a squad of people, and then you, are controlling Fenix (or Dom) - but if you are in Quake, you seem to be the only one who doesn't say anything, but everyone else is screaming obscenities.

Basically, a silent character could give you the option to "provide your own real time script" - yet Marcus is always going to say "Scratch one Grub!"

 

[TheIceface]

Yet in Gears of War, the "scratch one grub!" and "eat shit and die!" are just fine, since we're around a squad of people, and then you, are controlling Fenix (or Dom) - but if you are in Quake, you seem to be the only one who doesn't say anything, but everyone else is screaming obscenities.

Then theres Unreal tournament, there is the option to turn on "Auto-taunt" that way your character automatically insults people every time he gets a kill.

 

[Same River New Water]

Chatty protagonists can be done well (cf. GTAIV, Bioware games, Deus Ex, Planescape Torment OMG) or they can be done painfully badly (cf. most games). If a game isn't going to have a fully-realised chatty protagonist with well-written, well-delivered lines, it shouldn't go there at all. It'd be tough to do a good talking Link.

 

[SargentToughie]

I think it all depends on the type of person the character is

If it's someone we can sympathise with like Kratos in god of war than yammer away,

But if the character takes you out of the gaming experiance because you don't want to play as them, such as Vaan from Final Fantasy XII or Naruto... from Naruto, then they should keep their traps shut (Which is impossable for either Vaan of Naruto)

 

[salamifart]

Yet in Gears of War, the "scratch one grub!" and "eat shit and die!" are just fine, since we're around a squad of people, and then you, are controlling Fenix (or Dom) - but if you are in Quake, you seem to be the only one who doesn't say anything, but everyone else is screaming obscenities.

Then theres Unreal tournament, there is the option to turn on "Auto-taunt" that way your character automatically insults people every time he gets a kill.

Great feature may I add. Either way, I feel all games deserve a talking protagonist even if it doesn't fit. As long as they don't talk endlessly for the entire game, but enough to get their memo across.

 

[Jumplion]

*YAWN* hey guys what did i mi- whoa, a whole conversation at 2 in the morning (in my time)? Oy vey.

Well, usually if i like the voice of the character i'd prefer the voiced protagonist. Such examples would be Solid Snake, if he didn't have his voice then i'd have to fill in the blanks and when Otacon would say something confusing i'd have to day "Whatchutalkinabout foo;?".

If i hate the voice (Tidus, the guy from Haze, Mario gets annoying to) then i'd prefer him silent but when i think about people like Gordon Freeman i think of the cover art of him sneering and angry, then i see some gameplay and he doesn't seem to really give of any care about anything or any emotion (granted, i have NEVER played a HL game, so don't shoot me)

But it obviously depends on the game.

 

[Fusi0n.be]

Gordon Freeman is a robot.

srsly.

He is.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

OK then, if Gordon Freeman has a voice:

What accent does he have and how does he speak?

 

[_Serendipity_]

Silent protagonists only occasionally annoy me, but Gordon Freeman does. I love the half-life games with a passion, and the story is great, but Gordon just sits there and says nothing. Ok, this was fine in HL1, where you were just trying to escape, but is pretty annoying in the sequels.
Anyway, what annoys me infinately more than silent characers are motovation-less characters.
Vaan from FFXII was chatty as hell, but 30 hours in to the game I still had no idea why he was hanging around other than simple curiousity, which seems a pretty lame reason to constantly risk your life. Same for your Oblivion dude/dudette.

 

[SomeBritishDude]

It honestly depends entirely apoun what your playing. Most FPS and RPGs I feel like the main charcter should stay quiet. Mostly because you have to feel like that charcter, or you want to fill in the blanks yourself.

If the Fable hero had asked "Are you okey?" to a wounded charcter, then that'd destroy the idea you had in your head of a vicious bastard in one stroke. Simple actions, and the odd word or 2 are all he needs. (in case your wondering, your right, i didn't petically enjoy mass effect.)

There are times when you feel like they NEED to talk. In HL2 ep2 I was screaming at Gordon to ask "What the hell is that?" (you guys who've played will know what I'm talking about). But then I thought about it, and realised that Gordons lack of speach is a plot device. If he had asked then all the mystery, all the forum speculation, all the suspence that will probley lead us though ep3 would be gone.

But obviously in a action game, 3rd person shooter ect the protagonist needs a voice and a fleshed out charcter. He becomes a central part of the story. But in RPGs or FPS your an observer, a plot device or yourself. A voice can destroy that.

 

[Samuel71]

Walkie talkie.

 

[Easykill]

Gordon Freeman has a voice, he sounds like House.

But it really doesn't matter to me, as long as it's done well. I don't want hours of pointless dialogue, but it can be hard to make a game flow as well with absolutely none from the main character. Half-life did well though.

 

[tobyornottoby]

i think the idea that a silent protagonist adds immersion is bullshit. solid writing and fleshed out characters you can personify creates empathy, which is an immersive element.

depends on what you want. I know a lot that want to play the character, just as you I think, and then having a fleshed out personality with a voice is the best. However, I want to be the character and then sometimes a silent one works.

the single most annoying thing that breaks my immersion is when the avatar says something that I wouldn't have said (usually something with an emotional stance). Best solution would be dialog choices in such cases, which are immersion-heightening.

I love link, which is just like freeman a blank slate. But there's no audio there, only text, maybe that works better? Maybe if there's spoken text, it feels so real that a silent avatar breaks immersion, whereas in text-only like zelda your mind has enough gaps to fill

But obviously in a action game, 3rd person shooter ect the protagonist needs a voice and a fleshed out charcter. He becomes a central part of the story. But in RPGs or FPS your an observer, a plot device or yourself. A voice can destroy that.

interesting one. First person silent, third person voice.... but Link begs to differ ^^;

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Freeman as House...

"I take risks, sometimes people die, but not taking risks causes more people to die - so I guess my biggest problem is I've been cursed with the ability to do the math."

I can see that. Valve, sign up Hugh Laurie!