Support NeoGAF

[Sub_Level]

You can be an atmospheric game and still have the protag say a few lines. See Tomb Raider 1996 one of the most isolating games ever made.

 

[Northeastmonk]

She doesn't need to talk. I grew up with not talking. She gets the job done. I do like seeing her in the visor when you shoot the wall.

 

[taylor34]

Like I said in the other thread, this game is using the Jak and Daxter thing without the sidekick actually being funny. It's really annoying and off putting. Especially when she screams in the game proving she can make noise, lol.

These characters were originally mute because the technology didn't really exist to make them talk. We don't have to carry on into infinity as if they can't talk just because of 80's tech.

Movies didn't originally have sound. According to hardcore Nintendo fans, that policy should continue for Nintendo characters forever because, like silent movies, the tech didn't exist yet to have voice.

I think most people thought that the best part of the Mario Movie was Jack Black's Bowser. There's no reason that good voice acting couldn't enhance the game.

Take Uncharted, the Witcher 3, God of War, etc...would these games be enhanced if the characters never talked? The Witcher 3 in particular would not be as good without the voices.

 

[Dacvak]

really sucks that prime 4 sucks.

It's pretty great, aside from the NPCs. I'm about 5 or 6 hours in and it's awesome.

I turned down all of the dialog, though, so that's helping.

 

[Sebastian1295]

So i'm going to respond to people saying 'we don't need her talking cause she's always been mute etc'. When you have a silent protagonist beside other characters talking to her and asking her things it makes no sense, especially because said silent protagonist has been shown to know how to speak in previous entries of said series 'fusion she has dialog, other m, she talked insanely briefly in dread etc'. When you establish that your protagonist can talk and does talk but then don't implement it in a game which has other characters talking to her it makes 0 sense lore wise nor cannon wise and it's lazy writing period.



It'd be the equivalent of not having master chief talk at all in the next Halo game even though they've established in previous entries that he talks. You can't open that can of worms and then put it back because it's too late and wouldn't make any sense whatsoever.

 

[Dirk Benedict]

Lil bit offtopic, but can we think of a likeable protagonist that talks that was featured in a recent game? Someone 100% new, spawned during this generation. Someone like captain Shepard from ME, or Drake from Uncharted if you are into movies. Someone charismatic and iconic.

I can't. Well maybe Jack from Stranger of Paradise or Henry from KCD, but aside from those? None. And that's fucked up.


Hell yeah. I recently played Thief for the first time and man, it's clear that good level design and good sound design is all you need to make the player feel immersed. Add some enviroment details and "passive story telling" along the way, like finding some notes on Thief or scanning some interesting data in Metroid Prime and bam, the world is believable and the player is 100% into it.

Add some retard yappin' about Phil and his cubicule and all of that goes out the window. Subtlety is key, I believe.


Yeah me neither. Must be cool but at least back then I had the feel like they were trying to do more story telling via characters and dialogue, which isn't what I want from a Metroid game

Yeah.. the somewhat quiet tracks like Crateria/Brinstar SM that spring to life, once you get the morph ball. The erie, but serene sounds of Meridia... where in some parts of the music, dead silence and you can hear an air bubble emit from Samus's suit from time to time. Then, you got great boss music and a memorable track from Ridley's lair; Norfair. This game was so fucking awesome... I ended up buying it from the video store. I told them I lost it and just ponied up the full 66 bucks. LOL.

 

[Indyblue]

I agree. Nintendo refusing to give Samus and link any kind of personality is really weird at this point.

 

[Unknown Soldier]

So i'm going to respond to people saying 'we don't need her talking cause she's always been mute etc'. When you have a silent protagonist beside other characters talking to her and asking her things it makes no sense, especially because said silent protagonist has been shown to know how to speak in previous entries of said series 'fusion she has dialog, other m, she talked insanely briefly in dread etc'. When you establish that your protagonist can talk and does talk but then don't implement it in a game which has other characters talking to her it makes 0 sense lore wise nor cannon wise and it's lazy writing period.



It'd be the equivalent of not having master chief talk at all in the next Halo game even though they've established in previous entries that he talks. You can't open that can of worms and then put it back because it's too late and wouldn't make any sense whatsoever.

It's perfectly fine to have a silent protagonist in a game where the NPC all talk to you but you have to do it right

The greatest examples of this are Half-Life and Half-Life 2

 

[xanaum]

Nintendo expects you to relate to Myles MacKenzie.

 

[L*][*N*K]

You people complain if she talks, you people complain if she doesn't talk.

The bottom line is you people complain nothing more, it is yapping it is like girls's night.

 

[Jesb]

She's probably one of those insecure awkward girls that just scrolls endlessly and doesn't socialize.

 

[Enzo88]

Guy with code geass in the avatar talking about writing....aight..

 

[Unknown Soldier]

Guy with code geass in the avatar talking about writing....aight..

Quietly, the writing for Code Geass was incredibly brilliant in terms of accomplishing what it set out to do. Almost every episode somehow was able to end with either a random plot twist or a gut-wrenching cliffhanger which dragged you back kicking and screaming the next week for the next episode. I can't think of any other show off the top of my head more brilliant than that one at this particular technique

 

[Touch fuzZy. get BizZay]

rather every npc that needs to be mute

 

[Zacfoldor]

I'm in mourning over this game's reception.

Be gentle for you tread on my dreams.

I've never minded a silent protag.

 

[ZoukGalaxy]

Precisely, what the OP is saying is that having a bunch of characters speaking and the MC remaining mute without a lore reason is immersion breaking. How this is so hard to understand is beyond me.

Fallout 1/2/3, New Vegas, Morrowind, Oblivion, Skyrim, Starfield, Dark Souls 1/2/3, Bloodborne, Elden Ring, Metroid Prime 1/2/3, Metro Trilogy, etc... had always every "others" characters speaking except yourself and it was never "immersion breaking" because it's actually ALWAYS the total opposite:
These games are true masterpieces for the most and extremely immersive because of their unmatched atmosphere thanks to this brilliant decision to mute "you" giving to the players also a very high "replayability". How can you role playing if your character is voice acted, YOU are the voice of the main character. Nobody wants random cringe and chatty useless comments from the "YOU" voice acted and, worst, the "YOU" speaking to yourself and constantly giving clues to solve in game puzzles, that's terribly immersion breaking. People recently seems to be really lazy to read anything, it's like a plague and this trend it's terrible.

How this is so hard to understand is beyond me.

 

[Sebastian1295]

Fallout 1/2/3, New Vegas, Morrowind, Oblivion, Skyrim, Starfield, Dark Souls 1/2/3, Bloodborne, Elden Ring, Metroid Prime 1/2/3, Metro Trilogy, etc... had always every "others" characters speaking except yourself and it was never "immersion breaking" because it's actually ALWAYS the total opposite:
These games are true masterpieces for the most and extremely immersive because of their unmatched atmosphere thanks to this brilliant decision to mute "you" giving to the players also a very high "replayability". How can you role playing if your character is voice acted, YOU are the voice of the main character. Nobody wants random cringe and chatty useless comments from the "YOU" voice acted and, worst, the "YOU" speaking to yourself and constantly giving clues to solve in game puzzles, that's terribly immersion breaking. People recently seems to be really lazy to read anything, it's like a plague and this trend it's terrible.

How this is so hard to understand is beyond me.

Except those games had dialog options and dialog for the character and prime 4 dosen't have that meaning the comparison isn't the same. Samus has no voice acting and no dialog.

 

[MMaRsu]

I've been watching walk-throughs of prime 4 on YouTube

As a gamer it's impossible to relate to a character who is essentially blank with nothing going on because the game gives you 0 to latch onto and sink your teeth into.

Gamer? You said you're just a watcher

 

[Dr Bass]

Fallout 1/2/3, New Vegas, Morrowind, Oblivion, Skyrim, Starfield, Dark Souls 1/2/3, Bloodborne, Elden Ring, Metroid Prime 1/2/3, Metro Trilogy, etc... had always every "others" characters speaking except yourself and it was never "immersion breaking" because it's actually ALWAYS the total opposite:
These games are true masterpieces for the most and extremely immersive because of their unmatched atmosphere thanks to this brilliant decision to mute "you" giving to the players also a very high "replayability". How can you role playing if your character is voice acted, YOU are the voice of the main character. Nobody wants random cringe and chatty useless comments from the "YOU" voice acted and, worst, the "YOU" speaking to yourself and constantly giving clues to solve in game puzzles, that's terribly immersion breaking. People recently seems to be really lazy to read anything, it's like a plague and this trend it's terrible.

How this is so hard to understand is beyond me.

Yeah I agree with this. The silent protag is not a problem at all, and is actually very effective in games because of the nature of the player relationship.

I am not that far in the game and right now my impression is really great art direction, maybe the best in the prime series, but the NPC dialogue is weird, and the game is very straightforward so far.

I actually felt relieved that Samus was not talking in the cutscenes. Almost comes across as knowing the chatty Federation guy is a clown.

 

[MMaRsu]

Except those games had dialog options and dialog for the character and prime 4 dosen't have that meaning the comparison isn't the same. Samus has no voice acting and no dialog.

Ahh yes the famous dialogue options in Mario Galaxy and Dark Souls

 

[Sebastian1295]

Gamer? You said you're just a watcher

I play games and different genres of games. Just because I didn't play prime 4 and I've seen what it has to offer on walk-throughs on YouTube doesn't make my opinion invalid. You can watch a game and know the dialog is bad or that it's awkward that the main protagonist dosen't speak when spoken too and has no dialog at all in terms of options etc. And samus isn't a self insert character cause she's an established character with a background, not customizable in terms of hair, face etc, and has spoken and had dialog in previous entries of the series such as fusion 'she had dialog in that game'.

 

[Sebastian1295]

Ahh yes the famous dialogue options in Mario Galaxy and Dark Souls

He didn't even listen mario galaxy on his list man and that's a completely different genre with a completely different character so i don't see the relevance. And dark souls games are self insert and samus isn't which isn't the same thing at all.

 

[MMaRsu]

He didn't even listen mario galaxy on his list man and that's a completely different genre with a completely different character so i don't see the relevance. And dark souls games are self insert and samus isn't which isn't the same thing at all.

Thats alright, not every game needs a talking protag. Never bothered me in other Metroids. Who cares.

 

[Sebastian1295]

I agree. Nintendo refusing to give Samus and link any kind of personality is really weird at this point.

Especially cause they have Zelda speak in legend of zelda games now and yet link says nothing. They give link essentially 0 personality. They're doing the same thing with samus where other people speak but she says nothing and has no dialog. It just dosen't make sense and limits storytelling possibilities.

 

[Sebastian1295]

Thats alright, not every game needs a talking protag. Never bothered me in other Metroids. Who cares.

Having characters speak to Samus and her not responding nor having any dialog doesn't add up lore wise because she's spoken before and had dialog before. It'd be like if microsoft released the next Halo and suddenly master chief didn't speak the entire game nor had dialog even though in previous games he did. It doesn't make alot of sense and would hurt the experience. I fail to see the harm in developing samus the character and actually putting effort into her writing, background, etc.

 

[MMaRsu]

Having characters speak to Samus and her not responding nor having any dialog doesn't add up lore wise because she's spoken before and had dialog before. It'd be like if microsoft released the next Halo and suddenly master chief didn't speak the entire game nor had dialog even though in previous games he did. It doesn't make alot of sense and would hurt the experience. I fail to see the harm in developing samus the character and actually putting effort into her writing, background, etc.

Because she doesnt need it

The story in these games is whatever you want them to make whatever dialogue too just for it to have dialogue my man you are better off without

Most dialogue in games is cringe as fuck