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[Draugoth]

Deus Ex voice actor Elias Toufexis was initially cast to voice the male protagonist in Bethesda's latest sci-fi RPG Starfield, before the developer decided to follow in the footsteps of previous title like The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim to go with a silent protagonist.

"Yeah it's true," said Toufexis in a post on X.

@cissyspeaks [Cissy Jones] and I were originally the player voices in Starfield. We worked for months. When they decided the player should be voiceless they gave Cissy and me Andreja and Sam Coe.

The voice actor went on to praise the developer for keeping keeping himself and Jones on to voice prominent companions after making the decision to go with a voiceless protagonist. "Games NEVER do this," said Toufexis. "Once you're out, you're out. Good on Bethesda".

Bethesda Initially Cast Deus Ex Voice Actor as Male Lead, Before Settling on a Silent Protagonist - IGN

Deus Ex voice actor Elias Toufexis was initially cast to voice the male protagonist in Starfield, before Bethesda opted to go with a silent protagonist.

www.ign.com

 

[ReBurn]

I'm glad they went with a silent protagonist. Sometimes I wish companions were a bit more silent.

Sarah disliked that.

 

[Punished Miku]

Definitely the right call. Keep it this way in the future.

 

[Zones]

Silent protagonists are always inferior compared to a well-done voiced protagonists (See: Deus Ex).

 

[MidGenRefresh]

Silent protagonists are always inferior compared to a well-done voiced protagonists (See: Deus Ex).

In Deus Ex you play as JC. In Starfield you play as your own character. There's a difference.

 

[adamsapple]

Fallout 4's voiced protagonist was ho-hum at best, so I'm OK with this choice personally. Others may disagree and that's ok too.

 

[roosnam1980]

dont know why people hate a voiced protagonist , it is not a big deal

 

[lughnasadh123]

Having a silent character while everyone else is chatty around you will never set right with me even knowing you're supposed to fill that roll. It just feels so hollow and archaic in design.

 

[Tal Shiar Agent]

One thing they actually got right in Starfield.

 

[FingerBang]

Good thing, Bethesda. I still think the non voiced character breaks immersion a lot for me, but people like making their own character and I don't know, imagine they're the hero of the story of crap like that.

 

[Sleepwalker]

I dislike silent protagonists most of the time. I can't see how cyberpunk would be better with a silent V for example. Or how everyone talks in Zelda except link who's an autistic mute.

 

[PleazureDome]

Lets go boys another Starfield thread!

* I have never played Starfield but I assume there is Alien Races you can interact with and/or have sex with. Todd would never let us down.

 

[Hugare]

One of the (many) reasons why Fallout 4 is worse than Fallout 3, imo

They made the right choice

 

[FoxMcChief]

I dislike silent protagonists most of the time. I can't see how cyberpunk would be better with a silent V for example. Or how everyone talks in Zelda except link who's an autistic mute.

V is the character you are playing as. There's a difference.

 

[Pelta88]

Until the AI script writer suggested otherwise...

 

[Sleepwalker]

V is the character you are playing as. There's a difference.

Don't care.

 

[FoxMcChief]

Don't care.

Ok

 

[R3TRO]

Good choice.

 

[UltimaKilo]

Does it have a silent protagonist? Play the game!

 

[vodka-bull]

…but then Todd was like: nah, what worked for Oblivion works for FO3, Skyrim, FO76, FO4 and Starfield. Bet nobody's gonna notice!

 

[Kurotri]

I don't get the timing of this. Starfield started dev after Fallout 4 and a voiced protag was one of the main complaints of that game. You're telling me they tried again anway and wasted their own time and the voice actor's time for no good reason?

 

[MMaRsu]

Everybody already knew that

 

[MMaRsu]

…but then Todd was like: nah, what worked for Oblivion works for FO3, Skyrim, FO76, FO4 and Starfield. Bet nobody's gonna notice!

Except FO4 had a voiced protag and it was shit. So... ????????????

 

[R6Rider]

Starfield was also originally planned to be good.

 

[Fess]

Good decision. I'm not a fan of voiced protagonists in first person, they always sound wrong and it's immersion-breaking.
Cyberpunk was alright though.

 

[MMaRsu]

Don't care.

I dont care this apple isnt an orange he said as he shrinked into a sobbing corncob

 

[LordBlodgett]

Happy they did not voice your character. I love having a voiced character in games where I am playing a character in a story, but in Bethesda you make your own character and decide who you want to be. I also don't trust Bethesda's writing. I cannot handle having a few of their companions follow me around because they are already written so poorly (Looking at you Sarah and Barret).

 

[JohnnyFootball]

In Deus Ex you play as JC. In Starfield you play as your own character. There's a difference.

You're given the appearance of playing as your own character. The game still plays out exactly the same regardless of dialogue. New Vegas was so good at this.

 

[Saber]

The way npcs act against the mc I would assume he would have a voice of a soycuck.

 

[MidGenRefresh]

You're given the appearance of playing as your own character. The game still plays out exactly the same regardless of dialogue. New Vegas was so good at this.

No lies here. New Vegas is GOAT in this (and many other) aspect.

 

[GymWolf]

He probably refused the role after reading the script.

 

[ahtlas7]

At least we were spared that…