Author Topic: Silent Protagonists Vs. Voiced Protagonist  (Read 5759 times)

Offline PriomBlazer

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Silent Protagonists Vs. Voiced Protagonist
« on: December 02, 2015, 12:47:28 PM »


So I was watching this video, where the guy talks about how every silent nintendo protagonists lack personality.

I personally think silent protagonists create better personalities by immersing the player with the protagonist.

So,

Thesis: Silent Protagonists are better

Discuss!

Offline Apokura

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Re: Silent Protagonists Vs. Voiced Protagonist
« Reply #1 on: December 02, 2015, 02:23:01 PM »
Honestly, it really depends on opinion. The silent protagonists in Pokémon, for example, might immerse the player, yes, especially the small children who actually think "hey, I'M the Pokémon Master!" or something of the sorts. For other games like LoZ, I can't see how it can aid immersion, however. IMO, an speaking protag is better (unless it's given an stupid personality or voice...I'm looking at you, Tidus) in most situations. This is just my two bits, but for me, making the protagonist silent does not aid immersion by itself.

Offline Kiss x Miz

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Re: Silent Protagonists Vs. Voiced Protagonist
« Reply #2 on: December 02, 2015, 02:30:40 PM »
Silent protagonist and linear voiced protagonist are a lot less work than a decision based voiced protagonist (which is a lot better than either imo) like Fallout or Deus Ex

Many people get annoyed that they can't change the story when a linear character makes all the decisions.
Silent protagonist is probably better since you don't really blame the player character but everyone around you.

Making a few not-so-ordinary decisions in conversations and slightly altering the storyline is more than enough for some people.

Offline PriomBlazer

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Re: Silent Protagonists Vs. Voiced Protagonist
« Reply #3 on: December 02, 2015, 06:18:45 PM »
For other games like LoZ, I can't see how it can aid immersion.
Here's how:


Kindly skip to 1:43 please.

(unless it's given an stupid personality or voice...I'm looking at you, Tidus)
Ya, Jrpg protagonists seem to suffer from having a voice or dialogues the most. Most of my favourite JRPG characters I can think of are either silent or have a lot of dialogue options for the player to choose.

Silent protagonist and linear voiced protagonist are a lot less work than a decision based voiced protagonist (which is a lot better than either imo) like Fallout or Deus Ex

Aha! I was hoping someone would bring that up.
If we're talking about a decision based protagonist, the way I see it not having a voice is still comparatively better.

For example, let's talk about Bioware characters. Commander Shepherd is essentially the poster boy for voiced decision making protagonist. But playing as the Grey Warden from Dragon Age: Origins feels more immersive.

Most Shepherd's dialogue options involve either choosing the Paragon option, the Renegade option, an option to gain more info or the generic normal option.
So basically you're given the option to either be a saint, a douchebag or a soulless being.

Now let's look at the Grey Warden's dialogue options. There's no clear paragon or renegade option. You don't fully know what might be the possible outcome of your action. You can only decide what to choose based on your understanding of your allies and your current situation. Which from my point of view, makes the Grey Warden an easier character to impersonate than Commander Shepherd.

Well there's my part of the discussion, continue discussing!

Offline Apokura

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Re: Silent Protagonists Vs. Voiced Protagonist
« Reply #4 on: December 02, 2015, 06:46:25 PM »
Looking at the video, my point remains. Should Link have a voice in that game, and instead of just grunting saying something like "eeey let me out of here" would it be less immersive? Would you feel less like you were in the game or in the place of the character? Because honestly, I don't think I can say I would...

And in regard to that comparison, I find it...not very good, tbh. OK, so in ME most of the options were Paragon/Renegade and very straightfoward, but...
(click to show/hide)

And that aside, should you compare DA to DA, you can see that in Dragon Age: Inquisition (which has voice acting) the choices remain the same. You don't really know what consequences your choices will have and the same kind of interaction with your allies and whatnot, but the voice acting makes it all feel more "real"; and besides, to me it's kind of a turn-off when the characters don't have voices.

But yeah, that's just my 2 cents on the matter. In the end, I presume it's a matter of opinion.

Offline PriomBlazer

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Re: Silent Protagonists Vs. Voiced Protagonist
« Reply #5 on: December 02, 2015, 07:09:07 PM »
Looking at the video, my point remains. Should Link have a voice in that game, and instead of just grunting saying something like "eeey let me out of here" would it be less immersive? Would you feel less like you were in the game or in the place of the character? Because honestly, I don't think I can say I would...

Then Link'd sound annoying and the entire scene would lose it's humourous tone.

Looking at the video, my point remains. Should Link have a voice in that game, and instead of just grunting saying something like "eeey let me out of here" would it be less immersive? Would you feel less like you were in the game or in the place of the character? Because honestly, I don't think I can say I would...

And in regard to that comparison, I find it...not very good, tbh. OK, so in ME most of the options were Paragon/Renegade and very straightfoward, but...
(click to show/hide)

Umm...doesn't that happen in ME2? Also you don't exactly get to choose what your last words are and Shepherds mental condition remains the same no matter who you left to die or what sort of relation you formed with the character.



And that aside, should you compare DA to DA, you can see that in Dragon Age: Inquisition (which has voice acting) the choices remain the same. You don't really know what consequences your choices will have and the same kind of interaction with your allies and whatnot, but the voice acting makes it all feel more "real"; and besides, to me it's kind of a turn-off when the characters don't have voices.


*cough*hasn'tplayedinquisition*cough*

Offline Swagmaster

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Re: Silent Protagonists Vs. Voiced Protagonist
« Reply #6 on: December 03, 2015, 01:43:09 AM »
I see it in two ways: is it YOUR character, or is it the game's character?

If the character is yours, you created him, you control him, you build him, affect his outcome (or her, of course) then I feel the game should make it a silent character (a la Skyrim, Fallout, etc.) because then the character's thoughts are yours.

If it's a character in a story-driven game like The Last of Us or Assassin's Creed, I feel they should be voiced/not silenced since in games like those you are a only controlling the character, the character isn't actually yours

I feel like Pokemon and TLoZ kept their characters silent as the series progressed only to stick to tradition, while franchises like Final Fantasy opted to voice their characters as they became more story-driven

Offline Kiss x Miz

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Re: Silent Protagonists Vs. Voiced Protagonist
« Reply #7 on: December 03, 2015, 11:55:37 AM »
Yesterday Telltale's Game of Thrones kicked me in the face a couple times when I made decisions. I love it.

You can't really imagine it being a game if you didn't have decision-based characters. Even if the action was more free.

Offline NekoJonez

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Re: Silent Protagonists Vs. Voiced Protagonist
« Reply #8 on: December 06, 2015, 05:34:26 PM »
Depends on what the goal of the game is. When you want the player to immerse in the world... A silent works best. If you want to tell a big/grand story... WHY A SILENT?!

Offline Kiss x Miz

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Re: Silent Protagonists Vs. Voiced Protagonist
« Reply #9 on: December 06, 2015, 10:52:03 PM »
I'd be interested in a voiced decision-based pokemon game

Offline PriomBlazer

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Re: Silent Protagonists Vs. Voiced Protagonist
« Reply #10 on: December 08, 2015, 11:14:08 AM »
I'd be interested in a voiced decision-based pokemon game
A: Cut down tree
B: Ask Bulbasaur to cut down tree
X: (Intimidate) Threaten tree to move away from the road
Y: Ask Old-man whether the tree is actually a Soodowoodo or not

Offline Kiss x Miz

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Re: Silent Protagonists Vs. Voiced Protagonist
« Reply #11 on: December 08, 2015, 01:34:15 PM »
I'd be interested in a voiced decision-based pokemon game
A: Cut down tree
B: Ask Bulbasaur to cut down tree
X: (Intimidate) Threaten tree to move away from the road
Y: Ask Old-man whether the tree is actually a Soodowoodo or not
Exactly what I had in mind.

Offline NekoJonez

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Re: Silent Protagonists Vs. Voiced Protagonist
« Reply #12 on: December 12, 2015, 06:31:36 PM »
I'd be interested in a voiced decision-based pokemon game


Man... Pls no.



In all seriousness... Might be interesting.

Offline PriomBlazer

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Re: Silent Protagonists Vs. Voiced Protagonist
« Reply #13 on: December 12, 2015, 07:09:31 PM »
I'd be interested in a voiced decision-based pokemon game


Man... Pls no.



In all seriousness... Might be interesting.

 

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