I sure like silent protagonists better than lousy main characters with an attitude like Tidus, Vaan, etc.
And writing a likeable main character is a form of typecasting if you think about it, you don't want it to sob and think too much so you can only go down one, two... max three routes. All the other paths suck.
Specially considering you can't really touch that main characters age bracket. He's 16, always.
They might as well be silent. If you ask me, I like silent, doesn't break the pacing and the empathy with the player in ways "attitudes" do.
What I dislike the most is when a game doesn't have a suggested character name, like Shin Megami Tensei games. I don't want to give him my name for christ sake. I go to google, google that characters real name, and hence Persona 3 MC is Minato Arisato and Persona 4 MC is Souji Seta. So much better.
I've actually not started two games yet, Fantasy Life and Shovel Knight because I'm stuck in the naming screen. Well, fuck.