Your thoughts on 'mute' protaganists

[Doodlebox]

I understand the "Make your own personality" stuff, but I prefer a character that is deep and that I can connect to.
I think Mass Effect and other games with that kind of 'choice' really works. You choose what you say, you choose who you are.


Nobody says nothing.

 

[WayOutThere]

I really think that games like Bioshock and Half Life would greatly suffer if you gave your characters dialogue options as those titles really need them.

I don't see how you can go from "don't really need them" to "would suffer greatly with their addition". Perhaps these games were in no dire need of dialogue options but that doesn't mean they would not have been improved by their addition.

When it comes to silent protagonist in shooters, I think many players are crafting their hero's personalities during the course of the game but don't realize it.

I don't think any of this counts for much. These differences build up your personality only in a vague manner and have no impact on the story. I'm aware Eli Vance will notice what you're doing and provide a comment accordingly but that never makes a practical difference for either what your personality is or the story. It also comes into question whether the concept of building up your personality makes any sense in the absence of effect on the story. By impacting the story you have to accept the consequences of your action and that is where the immersion really lies.

In the absence of a bendable story I'm not sure where my position will be left. That's something I'll have to think further on.

 

[Crimson King]

I think the HL series is the only one that will ever do the silent protagonist well.

 

[starwarsgeek]

Like most things, it has its place. Bioshock, Half-Life, and Chrono Trigger come to mind in games that use it well. In all three I find myself projecting myself into the silent protagonist. Albeit, usually just jokes interjected with the enemies' dialogue, but despite the lightheartedness of it, I feel an added level of immersion.

 

[kampori]

I'm mixed about silent protaganists..

On the one hand I like them, because they let me speak (at least in my mind) through the character instead of the game writers saying what they want me to say.

However, I also dislike them because it makes me feel really disconnected & uninvolved with my character, which especially for RPGs are a big no-no. For example, the last 2 games I played were Mass Effect & Mass Effect 2. The acting (voice) was superbly orgasmic, loved every line of it, and the writers got it spot on. There was always at least 1-3 dialogue options that reflected almost exactly what I would want to say. Perfect.
Then just yesterday I finally started playing Dragon Age Origins... and its been a few years (since before ME1), that I not only played a game, but played an un-voiced RPG.. and I found it unsettling and really off-putting, being SO spoiled with Mass Effect. However, it takes me getting used to, but I'm into it now.

So yeah, long answer to a short question- apologies.

 

[Papadam]

I tihnk it works very well in HL2 because it makes Gordon Freeman feel like a puppet or a weapon instead of a character (just like he is supposed to be). I dont feel connected to him or care for him. But I care for the world and the other characters thanks to the great storytelling in the game.

And Alyx Vance is by far the most well made female character in gaming.

 

[G-Force]

I really think that games like Bioshock and Half Life would greatly suffer if you gave your characters dialogue options as those titles really need them.

I don't see how you can go from "don't really need them" to "would suffer greatly with their addition". Perhaps these games were in no dire need of dialogue options but that doesn't mean they would not have been improved by their addition.

When it comes to silent protagonist in shooters, I think many players are crafting their hero's personalities during the course of the game but don't realize it.

I don't think any of this counts for much. These differences build up your personality only in a vague manner and have no impact on the story. I'm aware Eli Vance will notice what you're doing and provide a comment accordingly but that never makes a practical difference for either what your personality is or the story. It also comes into question whether the concept of building up your personality makes any sense in the absence of effect on the story. By impacting the story you have to accept the consequences of your action and that is where the immersion really lies.

In the absence of a bendable story I'm not sure where my position will be left. That's something I'll have to think further on.

I would disagree that my actions in game have little consequence. Being reckless might be punished by having low health most of the time or not satisfying curious will forgo me finding critical items and power-ups thus punishing me in the next action scenes. When I first played Half-Life I was new to shooters on the PC so I missed a lot and moved frantically. Already I shaped Gordan Freeman as an action survivor which was somewhat fitting of his character as he never really held a gun before but as I kept playing I adapted to the controls and thus freeman adapted to his environment. In game I was becoming a deadlier force to be reckoned with which justified the G-man's interest in me at the end.

 

[SimuLord]

OK, let me see if I can make this any clearer:

I love love motherfucking LOVE silent protagonists with no preconceived ideas of what some game designer thinks my character in a game should be. I want total control over that bad boy, able to mold and shape him to the game world and allowing nothing but my imagination to determine his interests, hopes, and dreams.

I do not like having my gaming experiences dictated to me by some writer. I AM a writer. I prefer to project my creativity onto the character and strongly dislike when I don't get that freedom.

 

[noctifyre]

I always found Golden Sun amusing because of this - see, first game Isaac is 'mute', with only nodding or shaking his head for any form of communication, and then come The Lost Age.. and he's quite the chatterbox.

I understand WHY he didn't talk-talk at all in the first game, but it doesn't make it any less amusing.

 

[WayOutThere]

I would disagree that my actions in game have little consequence. Being reckless might be punished by having low health most of the time or not satisfying curious will forgo me finding critical items and power-ups thus punishing me in the next action scenes.

OK, there are two ways in which games can be fun. Everything fun about games you can name will fall into one of these two catagores:
1) Games can provide a fun challege
2) Games can immerse you in a different world
What you are talking about are consequences for the challenge but that is not the same thing as consequences for immersion. In Half Life, most of the game is just shooting action. That's great fun as far a challenge is concered but it does little in terms of immersion. To have consequence for one is by no means to have consequence for the other. I'm not saying there is no overlap but I am saying, and especially in the case of Half Life, the two are usually kept very seperate. The kind of consequenses you are talking about are simply not tangible in terms of immersion- for me at least. I remain feeling like a distinct entity from Gordon Freeman.

I hope that made sense.

When I first played Half-Life I was new to shooters on the PC so I missed a lot and moved frantically.

+

In game I was becoming a deadlier force to be reckoned with which justified the G-man's interest in me at the end.

But what if you came into Half Life already experienced with first person shooters? Even if I accept your above argument this remains far to dependent on the particular player to count as a favorable trait of the game.

 

[S-Unleashed]

The only mute protagonist I like is Link. The rest feel lazy.

 

[Abbyrose07]

I like the silent protagonist but they at least have to talk sometimes during the game. What I can't stand though is the annoying talkative ones who never shut up.

 

[Christopher Waldron]

I like the silent protagonist but they at least have to talk sometimes during the game. What I can't stand though is the annoying talkative ones who never shut up.

Mr Fenix springs instantly to mind.

 

[Zepren]

My current thoughts are-

"Zepren's beard brings all the girls to the yard, and they're like, it's better then yours, they're like, it's better then yours, you could grow one but i'd have to charge... COPYRIGHT!"

 

[Big Max]

I generally tend to like them. I loved Halo 3: ODST's 'The Rookie' and also most of my characters from Bioware games like KOTOR are great. I suppose you could argue that those characters aren't truly mute though...

 

[Ehra]

Honestly, it really just depends on the genre and how it's handled. In a FPS like Half Life I'm fine with Freeman not talking because we literally are him. In a JRPG like Chrono Cross, where the main character really isn't "you" and he's just the character you happen to control, silent protagonists just feel lazy to me.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

I like the 'mute' or silent protagonist. It allows me to insert my own dialogue for whatever he might be saying or have said.

 

[tirsden]

My protagonists are never mute... 'course, if they're a guy, they also tend to be gay. xP This is quite often the case even with a non-mute protagonist (Sam Fisher, anyone?).

*wanders off to weirden up something else*

 

[Helios_(DEL)]

aparentally it works well eg Half life series