I don't hate mute characters

I think its OK in certain situations and valve seems to be the master of this. However in a game like Crysis 2 to have a silent protagonist is unacceptable simply by the fact that a simple radio message could have cleared up every conflict in the first 6 hours of the game.
 
I generally don't like mute characters. In DA:O it felt out of place if the whole squad is arguing about an important topic but I'm just standing by. Or in HL2 I often felt that Gordon is the lackey of all his companions.

I don't like too much talk either though. Like if I'm planning a stealth/flank attack and my sqads are behaving like they are at a party.
 
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Drkirby said:
Depends on the game, and how much the other members of the game are talking. If my entire party is mute, fine. If there is no VA, fine. But when the main character just does hand movements, while all the other characters are talking out loud, I have an issue.
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But it's so wonderful in the Mario & Luigi series. ;_;
 
Completely depends.

Link does actually speak to other characters in the game but we just hear/see it. And if Nintendo were to ever give him a voice there would be a 95% chance of it being mediocre to awful.

Gordon Freeman, on the other hand, it doesn't really work as well. Since all the other characters are fully voiced and are often times talking directly to Gordon, him not saying anything is a bit off-putting. And any forced romantic feelings from Alyx are just that, forced and unnatural.

Link is more designed to fit the player than Gordon is and that is where the difference lies.
 
I can't agree with OP.

Honestly I hate Silent characters. Thing is I never believe I'm actually in the game or in the world, I'm always aware it's a game so the character being silent doesn't bring me in, it breaks the flow of the game.

When I am playing Dragon Age Origins it or Half Life it is very stupid to me that these characters either believe the Warden or Gorden to be a savior or even worse when Liliana falls in love with a character who doesn't freaking talk.

All it does is make me believe that every other character is insane/stupid and it destroys everything, even more so when they are suppose to be off saving the world and yet they follow the orders of some freak that refuses to talk to them but will say a sentence or two when healed or opening a chest.

The only game that I have played that I have been okay with it was Portal 2.

This issue nearly killed TP for me and I loved TP, as it stands I already decided that Skyward Sword will be my last Zelda because I am sick of the mute lead characters and I know it will piss me off the entire game.
 
I mostly don't like it when the game draws attention that you're mute. In games like Zelda, other character's reactions to you make it clear that you're saying stuff to them that isn't being displayed, so you can imagine it. In games like Half-Life 2 and Portal 2, the other characters in the game make reference to you being mute, so you can't really fill in your own responses your characters might be making.
 
A mute character automatically kills off any immersion I might have had in the game. I can never put my self into someone else's body, so it only serves to constantly distract me. I know that I am playing through someone's personal story, so I like for them to actually 'take place' in it.
 
Sometimes it's the right thing to do

Zelda series, Half Life series, Portal series

I really don't want to hear Link, Gordon or Chell talk. It would hurt the magic feeling
 
There may be an insecurity for having mute characters thinking that is somehow a reminder of the old days when it was a technological limitation, and we think because it's the new or next-gen everybody oughta be able to "talk" with an audible and understandable voice
 
TruePrime said:
When I am playing Dragon Age Origins it or Half Life it is very stupid to me that these characters either believe the Warden or Gorden to be a savior or even worse when Liliana falls in love with a character who doesn't freaking talk.
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But the Warden can talk, he just isn't voiced.
 
Fimbulvetr said:
But the Warden can talk, he just isn't voiced.
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That isn't a valid excuse to me nor does it keep me from being ripped out of the game.

Also I said the Warden could talk later in the post and it's worse because you hear them make certain responses yet not talk to team mates. Imagining it isn't something I want or am willing to do.
 
TruePrime said:
I can't agree with OP.

Honestly I hate Silent characters. Thing is I never believe I'm actually in the game or in the world, I'm always aware it's a game so the character being silent doesn't bring me in, it breaks the flow of the game.

When I am playing Dragon Age Origins it or Half Life it is very stupid to me that these characters either believe the Warden or Gorden to be a savior or even worse when Liliana falls in love with a character who doesn't freaking talk.

All it does is make me believe that every other character is insane/stupid and it destroys everything, even more so when they are suppose to be off saving the world and yet they follow the orders of some freak that refuses to talk to them but will say a sentence or two when healed or opening a chest.

The only game that I have played that I have been okay with it was Portal 2.

This issue nearly killed TP for me and I loved TP, as it stands I already decided that Skyward Sword will be my last Zelda because I am sick of the mute lead characters and I know it will piss me off the entire game.
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But you're making the choices that make Leiliana fall in love with the warden. You decided that the Warden's non-voiced dialogue mattered.
 
I certainly don't mind them.



<--- For example.

ciaossu said:
Sometimes it's the right thing to do

Zelda series, Half Life series, Portal series

I really don't want to hear Link, Gordon or Chell talk. It would hurt the magic feeling
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Yup. I never ever want to hear either of these characters fully talk outside of their very minor vocalizations. Link's "Come on!" in The Wind Waker is a huge exception because it fits and it's just adorable. :3
 
I think it's totally on a case by case basis. I think the most important thing is that if your game has a silent protagonist, you need to be committed to it. The idea of a silent protagonist (as a ton of people have already said) is that he/she is supposed to be an avatar of the player, so the player needs to feel that he/she is in complete control of the character.

The best example I can think of where a silent protagonist kind of hurt the immersion for me is in the first Dead Space, where Isaac is silent the entire game but a revelation near the end of the game makes him respond emotionally. Suddenly, Isaac isn't the player anymore: he's his own character. Thankfully the guys at Visceral realized this and turned him into a fleshed-out speaking character in DS2.
 
ShockingAlberto said:
But you're making the choices that make Leiliana fall in love with the warden. You decided that the Warden's non-voiced dialogue mattered.
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Yes but it I did it simply because it was an option and not because it was character building.

The relationship between Hawke and Merille was way more interesting because they are two characters to me, which sucks because I love Liliana but I can't bring myself to actually take any enjoyment out of it because Warden isn't is a brick that never reacts.
 
I love mute characters too.

Nathan Hale in Resistance: Fall of Man was badass. Killed so many chimera and said maybe 10 words the whole game.

In R2 he suddenly became a leader and talked a lot. I will never understand the change. It makes no sense at all. People don't just become talkers over night.
 
The voice-acting in my head is better than 99.99999% of what I've found in games. When that is the case, mute is the way.
 
So, how about recent Megaten games like p3 p4 and Devil Survivor OC?

Your character 'replies', but that's not voiced.

I think it's just a japanese thing or something.

I don't mind much, but I do find it weird that your guy 'talks' but doesn't talk o_O.

Maybe it's because your guy has a character art/sprite/model/etc. If it was completely in first person, maybe not so much.
 
chickdigger802 said:
So, how about recent Megaten games like p3 p4 and Devil Survivor OC?

Your character 'replies', but that's not voiced.

I think it's just a japanese thing or something.

I don't mind much, but I do find it weird that your guy 'talks' but doesn't talk o_O.

Maybe it's because your guy has a character art/sprite/model/etc. If it was completely in first person, maybe not so much.
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No not just a Japanese thing. This is the exact same thing Dragon Age Origins.
 
TruePrime said:
No not just a Japanese thing. This is the exact same thing Dragon Age Origins.
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but they changed that for 2 and will most likely be the same for 3.

It does seem that pretty much all big budget western rpgs are going down that route of having a talking MC besides Bethesda.
 
chickdigger802 said:
but they changed that for 2 and will most likely be the same for 3.

It does seem that pretty much all big budget western rpgs are going down that route of having a talking MC besides Bethesda.
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God I hope so.
 
chickdigger802 said:
Your character 'replies', but that's not voiced.

I think it's just a japanese thing or something.
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It's also a Peanuts cartoon thing where Charlie Brown's teachers and basically all the other adults say something that all the characters can understand, but the audience only hears "bwaaa bwa bwaaa bwaa."

I'm not sure what the rationale for this was.
 
Depends on the game. For DA:O I absolutely loved playing a mute character. For one there were more dialogue options. Secondly, it let me put "me" per se into that character. When I was having a chat with my party members in camp it was like I was having a conversation with them. In DA2 I just felt kind of detached from Hawke.

Oddly, even though male Shep's VA in Mass Effect is bland and boring, I much prefer having Shepherd having a voice since that game's story is conveyed so much through conversations and facial animations.
 
Nix said:
I love the Ys series like a fat kid loves his cake. Does that answer your question?
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This is so weird to me, because my introduction to the Ys series was actually the anime that came out some time ago, and Adol talks a lot in that. Then when I played the Turbo CD game I just figured he didn't talk because of tech/budget reasons. I did not really have any sense that Adol is supposed to be this "model" for silent protagonists. Though I think they really handled it poorly in Ys 7 where they had this middle ground of not "hearing" what he said to people, but having it described to you ("Adol said something inspiring and well thought out"). It was really the worst way to try and cater to audiences who think of him of silent and others who prefer protagonists with a voice.

Oh, and I love when people fall in love with silent protagonists. I feel like they are trying to play up a "strong, silent type" but it always comes off as they just find the protagonist physically attractive and they really want to jump his/her bones.
 
TruePrime said:
Yes but it I did it simply because it was an option and not because it was character building.
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Which doesn't necessarily have anything to do with being voice acted, Mass Effect has the same problem and Shep is fully VA'd in all the games.
 
The biggest issue is having talkative protagonists. Most game characters are meant to be avatars for the player. I don't mind secondary or tertiary characters with voices, but a voiced protagonists is the easiest way to pull me out of a game world.

I'd say the words I chose so much better than the idiot that plays Shepherd.

So, voiced protagonists are the bane of the videogame industry. They rarely work, and they almost always suck.
 
Fimbulvetr said:
Which doesn't necessarily have anything to do with being voice acted, Mass Effect has the same problem and Shep is fully VA'd in all the games.
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Disagreed. When I had Shep get with Liara I did it because I wanted to see the characters react to one another, same thing with Hawke and Merrile. I didn't have that at all with Liliana and because to me there is no reaction when it's one sided and as I said I don't experience being a character and being told someone is speaking when they are not isn't good enough for me.

If others like this system more power to them, I however don't and at this point I'm just not willing to support it going forward.
 
I like both and don't really have a preference. Voiced characters can be great and non voiced characters like the ones in SMT games or Link in Zelda can also be great.
 
TruePrime said:
Disagreed. When I had Shep get with Liara I did it because I wanted to see the characters react to one another, same thing with Hawke and Merrile. I didn't have that at all with Liliana and because to me there is no reaction when it's one sided and as I said I don't experience being a character and being told someone is speaking when they are not isn't good enough for me.

If others like this system more power to them, I however don't and at this point I'm just not willing to support it going forward.
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That's where imagination is supposed to fill in.

Sorry that yours is busted.

Honestly though, I'll never get this. I read all the time, I make up the voices for all of the characters, if I hear a car go by as I read a sentence, it's because I imagined it. This doesn't take me out of the experience, it reinforces it. I tend to get more immersed into a title the less I have to hear someone else saying what I should be thinking.
 
I prefer mute characters. I like to imagine my voice or something much cooler whenever they speak. Nothing worse than having your character open it's mouth and have something that sounds nothing like you'd want to hear come out of it.
After watching the Deus preview on Giantbomb, I'll be waiting a bit longer to play that now... Didn't care for his voice at all
 
Thunder Monkey said:
That's where imagination is supposed to fill in.

Sorry that yours is busted.

Honestly though, I'll never get this. I read all the time, I make up the voices for all of the characters, if I hear a car go by as I read a sentence, it's because I imagined it. This doesn't take me out of the experience, it reinforces it. I tend to get more immersed into a title the less I have to hear someone else saying what I should be thinking.
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Get that kinda busted comment shit out of here because it's fucking stupid.

I read far more then I ever play games, across all different genres and types. Reading is a completely different experience and I don't have every other character outside the main character jumping out of the pages and telling me their dialog infidelity voices. It's a unifor
Experience that I create the illusion with the words only being a guide.

As t stands that is what I want from games, something where the world seems whole and I'm just an outsider looking in because that is how I view these products.

Also this brings up something, half the time both magazines and gamers cry and bit h about how we are games and shouldn't need to use other media to justify anything and yet this happens alot were the moment we want to defend something it's okY to suddenly draw a parralle between the two mediums.
 
I'm fine with a mute main character in most games, I just don't care for it when it's obvious they should be talking as the others around them act as though they are or they are cheap and do the [... ... ... sound effect ...] for you to add it in yourself/they got lazy. That takes me out of a game more then an actual voice/text.

Half Life 2 was not made better because Freeman didn't speak, it just made moments sound awkward to me, so too for Jak and Daxter and any other title where NPCs directly talk to you and act as though they just said something. If they are actual characters, let them talk. I know I'm not Freeman or Jak, there is no loss of immersion here.
Meanwhile Bioshock's Kind Man (I forgot the main character's name) is never talked to directly. He has no reason to ever speak and thus never does. It works great. Same for Samus in Metroid Prime 1, though here we can see physical reactions to things that happen such as shock with a step back or putting hands in front of the face.

To Thunder Monkey's comment about Mass Effect. I don't believe a silent protagonist would work there because everyone is talking to Shepard. Of course I see Mass Effect as a series more for me directing a character and watching a story rather then Shepard being me.
Now Fallout 3 and other such games where you create the look of the character, the basic stats, and even how you react to everything down to exactly what you say, silence is fine as it's supposed to be me and I'll just say the words outloud/think them in my head.

It's a design issue. Create a world, characters, and events where it makes sense for a character not to speak and adds or at least doesn't take away the experience. We can have great silent characters if given the work to put into it.

As for the Super Mario series. Mario isn't silent, he's just a bastard that never took the time to learn the Mushroom Kingdom language. Luigi did and that's just yet another reason why he's the better brother.
 
TruePrime said:
Get that kinda busted comment shit out of here because it's fucking stupid.

I read far more then I ever play games, across all different genres and types. Reading is a completely different experience and I don't have every other character outside the main character jumping out of the pages and telling me their dialog infidelity voices. It's a unifor
Experience that I create the illusion with the words only being a guide.

As t stands that is what I want from games, something where the world seems whole and I'm just an outsider looking in because that is how I view these products.

Also this brings up something, half the time both magazines and gamers cry and bit h about how we are games and shouldn't need to use other media to justify anything and yet this happens alot were the moment we want to defend something it's okY to suddenly draw a parralle between the two mediums.
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Oh, don't go getting pissy sweety, it was a joke.

I can see where you're coming from, but I really just don't think along the same lines. But I guess I don't completely believe what I just said. I actually really do like Hayters rendition of Solid Snake. I just don't tend to in the vast majority of games I play. I completely disagree with the prior posters outlook on Mass Effect. I think something closer to KotOR's dialog system would be much better than hearing Shepherd speak. I really really hate that voice actor though.
 
I like mute characters. Well, even in games without voice-acting, I like when your character's dialogue is limited to a few choices and most of the time the other characters act as if you just told them something. One thing that Nintendo does throughout most of its franchises that I really like, and I'm glad they kept everyone mute during the Subspace Emissary in Brawl.

Some other related stuff...

* I dislike all of the Zelda manga for the fact that they have Link speak, which just bothers me. I think, in a visual medium such as a manga, they could easily have Link not speak and till tell a decent story and characterize him. The Wind Waker 4-coma manga, and the game itself, have a great Link, and they keep him silent. If they ever make a Zelda movie, it is key that Link does not talk...let his actions speak.

* Metroid Other M messed up by having Samus talk. Metroid Prime 3 had a great balance, as the other characters talked, but Samus was still silent like usual, and I thought it worked quite well. It didn't hurt that Metroid Prime 3 wasn't bogged down with voice acting either, as it was mainly during the prologue and boss fights. Sometimes I went hours without hearing a voice as I explored each planet. If Zelda ever gets voice acting, they should follow MP3...keep Link silent besides for grunts, let everyone else talk.
 
Thunder Monkey said:
Oh, don't go getting pissy sweety, it was a joke.

I can see where you're coming from, but I really just don't think along the same lines. But I guess I don't completely believe what I just said. I actually really do like Hayters rendition of Solid Snake. I just don't tend to in the vast majority of games I play. I completely disagree with the prior posters outlook on Mass Effect. I think something closer to KotOR's dialog system would be much better than hearing Shepherd speak. I really really hate that voice actor though.
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Hmm well I shouldn't get pissy that much is true. Thing is I'm not tying to act like mute leads can't or shouldn't exist so much as my own distaste for them because of the total lack of required creativity asked from the player.

I use to be fine with it, I didn't care in X or even OoT, thing is as we continue to advance and games become bigger, more bearifil and filled with life that he person we interact with that world with isn't a character but just a cypher.

To be completely fair this has everything to do with the fact I don't join the world like many others do but feel as though I am just a simple observer who helps along the way.
 
TruePrime said:
Hmm well I shouldn't get pissy that much is true. Thing is I'm not tying to act like mute leads can't or shouldn't exist so much as my own distaste for them because of the total lack of required creativity asked from the player.

I use to be fine with it, I didn't care in X or even OoT, thing is as we continue to advance and games become bigger, more bearifil and filled with life that he person we interact with that world with isn't a character but just a cypher.

To be completely fair this has everything to do with the fact I don't join the world like many others do but feel as though I am just a simple observer who helps along the way.
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I can respect that.

Good dialog with you sir. Enjoy your day.
 
Mute characters are better in not exactly story driven games .... so if your game wants to be a book or a movie, you might not want to get a mute character

BUT

If your game wants to be A GAME, like zelda, mario, half life, chrono trigger and portal, than a silent protagonist will not hurt
 
Platy said:
If your game wants to be A GAME, like zelda, mario, half life, chrono trigger and portal, than a silent protagonist will not hurt
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Hey, listen: If Navi had been the mute one, Zelda would have been an even better game.
 
Platy said:
Mute characters are better in not exactly story driven games .... so if your game wants to be a book or a movie, you might not want to get a mute character

BUT

If your game wants to be A GAME, like zelda, mario, half life, chrono trigger and portal, than a silent protagonist will not hurt
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Mother 3 is a very story driven game, and manages some how.
 
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