Your thoughts on 'mute' protaganists

[Ian Caronia]

My opinion?

Half-Life franchise = Well done

Dead Space = shit

-So long as your main character (MC) remains a blank slate (like Freeman), then you've got yourself a kind of RPG hybrid going on. It works. However, if your MC has a girlfriend who he "desperately" yearns to see again, then finds out she committed suicide, we're gonna need more than a few grunts and a face-palm animation from him.

*You can't make a blank slate emotional, only the gamers playing them.*

 

[Good morning blues]

I generally don't like it. I want to have an actual character in the story; it's especially poor in a game like Crono Trigger where the nominal leader of the party has no personality whatsoever and never makes any decision more complex than "yes" or "no."

That said, Half-Life is my favorite video game franchise, and I love the hell out of the story. I'm not sure what Valve does differently, but they make it work.

 

[Normalgamer]

Sometimes it fits, like on HL, and sometimes it sucks horribly, like on Dragon age: Origins

Um, the protaginist does "Speak" they just don't let you hear it since the character is you .

 

[Daniel Cygnus]

I don't honestly care unless your character is directly addressed. Dead Space is the perfect example of this. Every single conversation is completely one-sided, and it ends up sounding ridiculously silly because of it.

 

[Beero]

A silent protaganist allowes you experience a game the way you want it to be. In dead space this didn't work well, because the main character already had a personality, which you saw the entire game.
In for example bioshock you almost never see the main character. He never talks because it makes sense. Where someone could be scared to death, you could think the situation was predictable. That and the fact that the character in bioshock 2 really can't talk.

 

[Captain Schpack]

Recently I did something which for some reason I never thought I would do, played Half-life. Quite why I thought I would never do this I had no idea, but it got me thinking. Gordon Freeman is possibly the most famous of the 'mute' protagnists in games and manages to remain silent even when facing off against *possible spoiler!* a 30 foot flying alien with a head that evolution obviously ignored.

However, I liked this as it allowed me to project my thoughts and feelings into Gordon's emotional blank canvas. Granted, others may not share this view but I'd love to find out what the feelings are of other Escapists on this matter.

Gordon Freeman
Jack Ryan
Delta (no, his grunts do not count)
Master Chief

All great protagonists. Even better when they leave their mute world to provide deep thoughtful insight.

 

[Vianyte]

If it is a game designed to be really immersive like Fallout 3, Bioshock, Mass Effect or Modern Warfare 2, I would want my character to say things that I want to say or just not talk at all because I sometimes feel that I am that character.

 

[Slavik_91]

Sometimes it fits, like on HL, and sometimes it sucks horribly, like on Dragon age: Origins

Um, the protaginist does "Speak" they just don't let you hear it since the character is you .

You're always the protagonist Einstein, and that didn't stopped Shepard on ME from talking

 

[e2density]

I'm fine with mute protagonists. Especially Gordon Freeman.

Keeps him from saying stupid cheesy lines. And he seems REALLY smart when he doesn't talk, versus someone who does talk a lot.

 

[HandfulofWolf]

I really hate it. It makes it impossible to care about the character you're controlling. Like in Modern Warfare

Spoiler

When you finish the No Russian mission and then the guy shoots you, I just felt like 'So what? I never even learned this guys name. For all I know, this guy might just be the soldier nobody likes and who sits in the corner alone eating glue'

You made me laugh. Thanks.

OT- I dislike mute protagonists. I very rarely project my own feelings onto them, because mostly the games just have no atmosphere and it severely limits your characters emotional attachment to anyone. I'd rather be told a story with a character with a name and flaws and strengths and emotions. Think about going through a day in your life without talking. It's impossible, half the time people can't shut me up. The other half I'm trying to shut other people up. Of course some games do it very well. Best example Bioshock where the atmosphere was so good that I never noticed that my character didn't talk until I just now thought about it.

 

[Normalgamer]

Sometimes it fits, like on HL, and sometimes it sucks horribly, like on Dragon age: Origins

Um, the protaginist does "Speak" they just don't let you hear it since the character is you .

You're always the protagonist Einstein, and that didn't stopped Shepard on ME from talking

Little fiesty for someone who's posted so little I can count your posts on my fingers. Yes, I have that many fingers.

 

[Angelic-Dragon]

I can understand the character being quite, so then you get to know what they sound like at least. But mute characters can work, if for games that let you build the character. As for set characters it's not so great, makes them seem ignorant of the situation.

 

[Cosmic Naginata]

I find it most annoying when the main character is acknowledged by the NPC's as if he's been in dialogue with them the whole time. The hero in Dragon Quest 8, and Link in Twilight Princess are two that come to mind.

 

[Katana314]

It really only works sometimes. There have been plenty of games in which the mental exchange goes like this.
Sarge: Nameless marine! I want you to go into the teleport chamber and shut off that damn machine! It's gotta be what's causing this mess!
Me: (silent) What? No! That's utterly retarded!
Sarge: Glad to have you on our side. Now get going.
Me: (silent) I don't even agree with this stupid war we've gotten ourselves into!

This situation should sort of reflect that the player is making all his own decisions; though at times there are few decisions to make. (50 guys shooting at you. A. Shoot back? or B. Die.)

 

[G-Force]

My opinion?

Half-Life franchise = Well done

Dead Space = shit

-So long as your main character (MC) remains a blank slate (like Freeman), then you've got yourself a kind of RPG hybrid going on. It works. However, if your MC has a girlfriend who he "desperately" yearns to see again, then finds out she committed suicide, we're gonna need more than a few grunts and a face-palm animation from him.

*You can't make a blank slate emotional, only the gamers playing them.*

I thought Issac was handled well. Dead Space he's pretty much alone so he really has no one to talk to. The fact that he's trying save his wife and is keeping quite gave off the impression that he's a very serious individual and instead of saying how worried he is, he's using that nervous energy and aggression as to help him survive. Issac's animations show a very angry man fighting for his survival, his stomps are heavy, when he swings his weapons for melee he's putting his entire body into the strike, sacrificing technique for power, and when monsters get close he prefers to rip them apart with his bare hands or brutally pulverize them with his feet. In all I think Dead Space did you a great job showing Issac's character with them resorting to using spoken dialogue.

 

[Lord Beautiful]

That depends on what kind of silent protagonist you mean. Some silent protagonists have definite personalities, like Link (whose character is very simple, but present) and Crono, and some have no personality, like Gordon Freeman. I despise the latter, and here's why.

I've grown rather tired of hearing how brilliant Gordon Freeman is as a character because he is pretty much a house for the player's own personality. This argument is bullshit because your personality is meaningless to the experience. When one player feels angry in the same situation as another feels sad, does that reflect in-game? Hell no.

If the look on your face is one of confusion, does Alyx ask you, "What's wrong?" No. If the player's personality actually made some sort of impact on the way the game unfolded, then I'd change my tune. As it stands, Gordon may be a house for the player's personality, but that house happens to have no windows. And it's condemned. And overpriced.

 

[Jack and Calumon]

My thoughts are:


I repeat, They are:

 

[Nazz3]

Recently I did something which for some reason I never thought I would do, played Half-life. Quite why I thought I would never do this I had no idea, but it got me thinking. Gordon Freeman is possibly the most famous of the 'mute' protagnists in games and manages to remain silent even when facing off against *possible spoiler!* a 30 foot flying alien with a head that evolution obviously ignored.

However, I liked this as it allowed me to project my thoughts and feelings into Gordon's emotional blank canvas. Granted, others may not share this view but I'd love to find out what the feelings are of other Escapists on this matter.

 

[MurderousToaster]

I kind of like how Halo does it. The soldier sometimes talks. Not like that whiny brat, Fenix.

I really, really would advise you against calling a 6-foot tall man with a chainsaw gun a whiny brat.


I have no problem with mute protagonists. I found it odd in MW2, though, how Soap, after talking through the whole game, as soon as you play as him, he shuts up and doesn't talk outside of cutscenes. It doesn't make sense.

 

[duchaked]

I kind of like how Halo does it. The soldier sometimes talks. Not like that whiny brat, Fenix.

lol I've always liked how Halo does it
but with the Rookie and seemingly the new protagonist in Halo Reach (who really don't ever talk)...idk I'd just really prefer they'd have SOME personality injected

guess I'm not a huge Half-Life fan, but Gordon Freeman never speaks (true silent protagonist), but he has the face and that somewhat gives him a personality? idk

maybe it's starting to get old, but so far it's alright