Silent heroes are terrible. Stop please.Seriously. It's never a good idea. Especially in Japanese RPGs when every other character has an interesting personality and talks their ass off. No one will remember the main character in Persona 4 like they remember the supporting roles.
I can let this slide in some Western RPGs. It would be certainly weird if my character from Oblivion was throwing around snarky comments as I was rolling bears down mountains. But honestly, Mass Effect has proven that a main character can have a voice and a personality while still giving the player complete control over the actions that character takes.
But in most Japanese RPGs, the fate of the characters are usually already planned out. Main characters will interact with their supporting characters the same way every time in most Japanese games. Events in the story will pretty much always play out the same way. In most of these JRPGs with silent heroes, the player is often given dialogue choices as the form of communication. The problem is, most of these dialogue options have no real impact on the story or how the character will turn out in the grand scheme of things. So why not just give this character some lines. After all... they are sort of playing the biggest part.
I'm gonna say it...
Gordon Freeman is a shit character.
Brad
15 comments:
so what if the main caracter doesn't have voice acting,does that make the game any less interesting? no,it doesn't!!! besides every single persona game has been like this,it's developer choice!!! have you ever thought that some people ACTUALLY like the silent hero thing? it makes them feel like there the one's making the choices,and stuff...
I'm going to have to agree with you Brad. I had the same problem with Dead Space as i posted similarly a while back on Nick's review. Especially in that game where Isaac's motives are emotionally charged, having him remain silent hurt the game in my opinion.
I don't think it's developers being lazy, but i don't know how they can genuinely think it's a better approach than having a lively main character. Especially in a linear story theres really no point in having a mute main character.
In addition to this, most western mute characters exist in games without cutscenes, this is more-so a case of personal preference but i enjoy good cutscenes, In Dead Space for example, when *spoiler* died behind the glass, i didn't even notice it at first because i was looking to collect stuff...
Some games execute the absence of cutscenes better than others, I genuinely think Half-Life does a good job in that respect, a mute character however still hurts my involvement and connection with the game.
- Hammad
The brilliance of silent characters are YOU are the one deciding, in your own personal thoughts, what would be said by the hero. If given the lame choices of "Well get them, sir!" or any other generic dialogue you can think of. What ruins games for me is when a npc gets you all fired up in a cutscene and then you hear your hero belt out "Im gonna kick this guys ass!"...all enthusiam dies. Some guys obviously do this better than most. Half life 2 being one of them.
Brad, I love you.
I agree with everything you just said. The choice of words and their outcome was one of the main reasons why I loved Mass Effect.
I hate silent heroes as well, I mean if they talk once in awhile that is fine but not even seeing a word being put in a conversation, I dont know, seems odd. Golden sun was pretty much in the middle, the main character was silent but you could make choices by agreeing or disagreeing to do certain things.
At first I was angered by your Gordon Freeman remark. But you know, the only reason I feel so attached to him is because of his badassedness during half-life 1&2. But in reality, that was MY badassedness.
As a result of him never speaking, I can't really relate to him like i would other characters. I definitely see where you're coming from, Brad.
Matt (MWG)
While I love the Persona series, ultimately I agree with what you've stated. I understand the reason for the silent protagonist. That being that it's supposed to be you (hence the reason you have to name him and etc), but I never really feel that connection. I know it's supposed to be your thoughts and decisions but it's still laid out for you and that severs the feeling of being really personal.
Also it isn't like the player cannot connect to the character if it has a personality and can talk. Ultimately I still love the Persona series, but I know I would personally enjoy it a lot more if the protagonist wasn't a mute.
The charm of the silent character is that you can think of him as how you want him to be. Giving him a voice would damage that somewhat, since the personality or lack of which in the lines are read are bound to influence your own thoughts.
It's hard to imagine someone as a perpetually bored bastard if the voice actor speaks in a hyperactive voice.
I'd rather have a silent character whos personality I can imagine than an annoying one that keeps talking, like Vaan.
It seems to be pretty much down to whether you can stand using your imagination or whether you want a movie-like experience while playing a game.
I was thinking the exact same thing last night when you were playing Persona 4 on the Feed. With all of your other party members talking constantly during fights, the main character was just yelling out the occasional grunt when he attacked. I think games are at a point where the "silent protagonist" cliche needs to die out so that players can feel a connection to their character throughout the story.
I have to agree with you on one point. Silent characters are over used just like some guy throwing up on a U-Boat in a WWII shooter, amnesia, and etc. But that doesn't make a game any less entertaining. I disagree with you on Gordon Freeman, that guy is the shit. I think developers don't use voice actors for certain games so you can relate to the character even more. You enjoy Persona 4 don't you? Even though the character is mostly silent that doesn't make the game any less better.
in fps's like half life and halo it makes sense to have a silent protagonist as you are essentially the protagonist, and having them speak in-game is just weird like in prey. but in other games that don't use the first person perspective its better if they speak
Makes me think of Duke Nukem. Oh how he was definitely not a silent protagonist ....
I honestly could care less about the story these days, so I don't mind if the main character is jabbering on about total nonsense or just standing in the room listening to his friends talk about pure crap
Well I do agree with you Brad.
The silent protagonist works in certain situations, but there are others that they don't. In games like Fallout, it makes sense that your character is "silent", because you are the character. The decisions you make effect how the story is going to turn out. And although that still applies to a lot of games (what ending your going to get, etc) you simply have no effect on the story in JRPGs like Person 3+4.
Those games depend largely on interesting characters to make the story interesting. And they are characters that are planned out, they aren't you. So shouldn't they act like it? Sure, some characters can be silent because some people are. But they should say more than 0 words, because everyone at some point will say something unless they are a mute. And there aren't that many mutes.
Part of an RPG, especially a JRPG, is that they really make you feel attached to the characters. In Fallout3 I'm attached to no one. In an FPS I'm attached to none of the characters. They're actually different in JRPGs. They do things that make you think "why would they do that?" before you remember "oh, its because they're different." They characters have character, if that makes any sense. I just can't feel that for the silent guy you control.
And by the way, this doesn't even mean the game is bad. So calm down, Brad wasn't even saying that. He was saying the character was bad. Two different things.
Yeah.. At first it's cool in games like Oblivion, mass effect and Fallout 3 to make what your char. wanna say and make their personalities. But Really some games do need a Main Character backgrounds like Zelda, Dead Space and Persona... Yet you feel like a stick in the whole game. How can someone remember the main characters? It what makes games good.
I bought Persona 4 today while Christmas shopping, I love it so far. My only complaint about it is the save system. I have to save at Ryotaro Dojima's house, but when I'm in the T.V. world, I have to finish what is happening there to save. I could be wrong though, I'm not far enough in the game to go running around on my own yet. The main character is technically YOU.
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