It annoys the hell out of me if they don't talk, and that's the main reason the half life games have never been interesting for me, because if the guy I'm playing is a super smart scientist then why doesn't he ever know people are talking to him and asking him things, eather that or he is stuck up and thinks everyone else is below him.
Your thoughts on 'mute' protaganists
- Thread starter Christopher Waldron
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A while back, Yahtzee mentioned in his Dead Space review that he has no emotional attachment to Issac or any of the characters he comes into contact with. Playing the game, I found myself feeling the same way. That said, I don't feel remotely the same about the characters in Half-Life 2. I find myself caring about them as a player despite the fact that all relationships with Gordon are implied. The same goes for Issac yet I have no sympathy for the characters of Dead Space. I have no clue why. Anyone have an idea?
I'm in favor of it because for every Agent 47 you get to play as, there are a dozen retarded lumps of testosterone-soaked meat. I'll take Gordon Freeman any day over Jack Carver. God I hated that guy. I kind of enjoyed it when I got killed, just because Jack deserved the kiss of lead. However, any game that involves dialogue choices should have a voiced lead. If you don't like the character, you have only yourself to blame. Fallout 3 annoyed me with this. I know you say things, but I wanted to hear it. It's weird that a game can be that immersive yet you never hear your own voice. The best would be if you could pick your own voice. Tracheotomy man all the way!
I can think of two general situations where the "silent protagonist" works well:
1) If the player is able to project their own personality onto the hero.
2) If the game lampshades or plays off of the principle of, "the less you say, the more trouble you get into."
Though, honestly, I never really had too much of a problem with silent protagonists. I hated it in a few games (see: Fable), but in most cases I found that the supporting cast did a good enough job of shuttling the game along.
1) If the player is able to project their own personality onto the hero.
2) If the game lampshades or plays off of the principle of, "the less you say, the more trouble you get into."
Though, honestly, I never really had too much of a problem with silent protagonists. I hated it in a few games (see: Fable), but in most cases I found that the supporting cast did a good enough job of shuttling the game along.
it depends if it's first person i can "dig it".
But if it's in 3rd person then i found myself twitching all over my face.
But if it's in 3rd person then i found myself twitching all over my face.
Silent Protagonists need to be done right. Gordan Freeman is the source of all this debate usually, as he does it quite well. How? Simple.
1. A lot of his conversations with people usually don't require his input.
2. He needs to do things. It really is not much of his choice to run around shooting things. If he doesn't, he's a dead man. And he probably wouldn't want that.
Silent protagonists don't work when you try to give them a personality, and then give you nothing to work with, as well as giving them conversations in which you need to actively need to participate. (Which is probably why people got angry at Dragon Age lack of voice. All that chatter, and you didn't get to hear how he or she said it.)
1. A lot of his conversations with people usually don't require his input.
2. He needs to do things. It really is not much of his choice to run around shooting things. If he doesn't, he's a dead man. And he probably wouldn't want that.
Silent protagonists don't work when you try to give them a personality, and then give you nothing to work with, as well as giving them conversations in which you need to actively need to participate. (Which is probably why people got angry at Dragon Age lack of voice. All that chatter, and you didn't get to hear how he or she said it.)
I'm fine with them as long as the game is first person. In third person perspective it just feels awkward, but I can stomach it.
Now what really gets under my skin is when the writers think it's perfectly natural to have your silent protagonist engage in conversations where the NPCs ask you stuff and the game progresses as if you picked the answer they felt appropriate. I mean, it's fine to make the player project him/herself in their in-game persona, but if you're going to build your game around that, write the script accordingly.
The main offender? Shining Force. I love the series, but all you can say during the game is "yes" or "no", yet the rest of the cast acts like you just recited Shakespeare. In Shining Force 3 this gets even more ridiculous, as you play through the events of the game controlling various characters over the same time period, and only the guy you're playing as gives everyone the silent treatment. So when you change characters, your can see your old guy's dialogue. So it's not even for immersion's sake, it's like watching a movie and this one guy gets all his lines bleeped out.
(I'm not considering the MCs from games such as the Fallout series where you have set dialogue choices as "silent", mind you).
Now what really gets under my skin is when the writers think it's perfectly natural to have your silent protagonist engage in conversations where the NPCs ask you stuff and the game progresses as if you picked the answer they felt appropriate. I mean, it's fine to make the player project him/herself in their in-game persona, but if you're going to build your game around that, write the script accordingly.
The main offender? Shining Force. I love the series, but all you can say during the game is "yes" or "no", yet the rest of the cast acts like you just recited Shakespeare. In Shining Force 3 this gets even more ridiculous, as you play through the events of the game controlling various characters over the same time period, and only the guy you're playing as gives everyone the silent treatment. So when you change characters, your can see your old guy's dialogue. So it's not even for immersion's sake, it's like watching a movie and this one guy gets all his lines bleeped out.
(I'm not considering the MCs from games such as the Fallout series where you have set dialogue choices as "silent", mind you).
Mario and Link, silent as they are, pull this off because they are expressive. Windwaker Link was a prime example of jubilance and and emotion, but Gordon is so under developed. I'd like to know he's emoting pst the posters and box art.
Over all, it's okay, but I like an expressive character.
Over all, it's okay, but I like an expressive character.
i love playing BC2 and hearing the character yell out random shit
"pull over! i can unfuck that!" - engineer, yelling at friendly bradley when i pressed select
"pull over! i can unfuck that!" - engineer, yelling at friendly bradley when i pressed select
It depends how it's done. It works pretty well in Half Life. It's slightly annoying in Legend of Zelda games, and it bugged the hell out of me in Fable.
I tend to enjoy games with a mute protagonist more than I do ones with acting (if that's what you can call it) characters.
It would be funny if he sounded like a big black man, or a 14 year old kid.DoctorNick said:
I do agree that it can be well played and good, like in the Half life series, but can be poorly played, like in KOTOR, (both of them) were you have options to speak, but you don't actually talk.
If they are established well enough they don't need to add to it by talking.
If the game is mostly about the protagonist he may speak. He'd just better not be some whiney arse!
If the game is mostly about the protagonist he may speak. He'd just better not be some whiney arse!