*"Excu-u-u-use me, Princess!" echoes through Dragmire's head* Noooooooo!
Actually, though I prefer a mute Link, I think voice acting for him could work. It would just change the character. He has a silent, heroic persona. He's not really silent, of course, as he makes all sorts of sounds when fighting. But as a character, he's a listener, much like the player. He communicates mostly through actions, like the player. He can do good, and even a little bad. They often give you the option to try and reject an NPC's mission, or go attacking cuccos, or whatever. His personality is the player's and they give you some level of expression.
So he has a connection with us in that way. Adding dialogue to that same character would take that connection away, but I'm sure they could replace it with some interesting, if not more conventional, things. I'm not sure I'd be comfortable with that kind of character change. That's the thing, it isn't just development of the character, it's a change. Wind Waker was a positive change, but like that, I'd have to see it to welcome it.
The easiest way to do it would be to start with a new Link, like Wind Waker. But this one's different from the rest. Maybe he doesn't want to be the Hero of Time. See, here we get into cliches. They're so much easier to fall into when you're forced to develop a character. I'd rather play with an avatar than a cliche. They'd have to give him a story and relationships with the characters. I could see Nintendo doing some interesting things with that, as there are already lots of interesting relationships in the Zelda series. But hopefully it wouldn't be anything like most RPG's, where character development is shallow as can be (to the point of no development at all). Nintendo's pretty good with it, as they always give you a reason to care about the NPC's you're helping. Now make us care about Link. See, mute Link is us, so we don't need a reason to care about him. Once he talks, the things he says will make him a different person from us. There's simply no way to make the player think that someone else's voice is their own without reading their mind or letting the player speak while affecting the story as if they're in the game.
Now I keep thinking about Link's grunts and yells. Why do they fit in without changing his personality? I think it would be a little jarring without them (in the 3D games), but maybe that's because I'm used to them and I like what they add. They accompany actions, IMO helping to express what Link's doing. Even Link saying "Come on" in Wind Waker didn't invade me with any kind of outside personality (it was more of an action than a vocal expression). Perhaps Link could get away with just a couple quips now and then. Sort of between making him speak dialogue and being mute. I think they could do that without changing the character, but it's still not the more conventional form of story-telling some people want.
Some seem to want conversations between Link and Zelda... that kind of story-telling. It could work, but then it opens up a need for all sorts of backstory. I almost feel like I'd rather they worried about the game than that kind of story-telling, but in theory, they could have both excellent story-telling and excellent gameplay. We'd probably have to wait longer. I already enjoy the stories in Zelda games, so there isn't much need for this kind of change for me. I feel that the way they tell stories in Zelda works well in the interactive medium. Rather than separating the story and the gameplay, a la Metal Gear Solid, it takes part of the story out and sort of compensates for this through the gameplay. Of course for some, the story takes a hit, but for others it allows a better interactive experience. I think that they tell some fantastic stories this way.
