I didn't realize what a great idea silent video game protagonists were until it fell out of fashion.
When will video game protags shut the fuck up? When will quips die? When will writers be hired to write instead of spergy devs with delusions of talent outside of their field?
It's not likely to return except in certain jRPGs, and even those often give the protagonist a voice in the sequel.
Basically, casuals hate it because they wonder why their character is mute, and developers and players who want a "good" story hate it because it's limiting which means you actually have to be a good writer to make it work.
I don't think Link himself will ever talk, but I wouldn't hold my breath that any major games will have silent protagonists for a while yet or, if they do, they'll voice the character in the sequel even if you still play as them.
I will instantly force myself to forget I ever liked Zelda if they make Link talk today.
Goodbye, childhood.
>>341259625
congratulations
you now know how metroid fans felt with other m
The problem isn't that protags talk, it's just when they talk too much and at times when there's no reason to talk. Metal Gear Solid does a talking protagonist just right, even MGSV.
>>341259625
I agree wholeheartedly. I'm sick of people trying to pressure Zelda into voice acting. can't we have one game where voice acting doesn't ruin the series?
>>341259625
It's fine that they talk, but it's very easy for them to talk way too fucking much.
The protagonists of both Scalebound and Horizon really needed to shut their fucking mouths.
I think it worked well enough with Isaac Clark in Dead Space, although I haven't played the sequels yet.
Voice acting is one of the worst thing to happen to video games in my opinion, costly voice acting reduces both the amount and quality of writing in the vast majority of games, but especially in RPGs.
>>341261934
Yea but MGS is pretty much always the outlier exception
>>341261176
What I want to know it why don't they at least "Think aloud" you know the trick where they apply audio processing to the VA's lines to make them sound muffled/echo-y like they are speaking inside their brains.
>>341259625
>Scalebound's presentation
Exactly as annoying as Bubsy, Through the entire demo i just wanted him to shut the fuck up.
>>341261319
But he talks, only in another language
>HEYAAAAAAAAA
>HAAAAAAAAAAAY
>>341264192
the point of silent protagonist is to give the player a fairly empty vassal so the player can insert themselves into the world and create an impression of it.
If the protag just had a monologue going they would be their own character pretty much which defeats the purpose. Only it's worse because the protag would just voice their own opinions but not interact with the world through dialog
I'm so mad they gave Corvo a voice, I hope he doesn't talk and quip at everything while playing. I loved the silent protag in dishonored 1
>open world
>over the shoulder camera
>character talks while walking around
when will this meme end
>>341259625
>implying Link is silent
HAAK
HAAAK
HAAAK
for hours and hours
>>341262313
This
>>341264905
This, fucking sony.
>>341261319
>he forgot "COME ON!"
Wind Waker isn't even obscure
>>341264840
This issue is that devs back in the day understood that protagonist was an avatar that was used for the player to experience the world that they designed (or you could argue that technological limits FORCED devs design this way).
Now you have devs who grew up studying game design who probably could barely pass a English 101 class crafting stories and writing dialogue because they think they have all of these creative talents that they don't. On top of that they now have the technology and their budgets that allow them to make big stories with big characters.
What they don't realize is they're competently destroying the one storytelling innovation video games do posses, the ability for the player to explore a new world through an avatar. This getting traded in for Shitty Aliens / Starship Troopers knockoff plot #462 because some shitty game dev saw those movies too many times and thinks they could write something just as good.
Silence carries far more impact. The guy who directed Vader finally killing the Emperor at the end of Return of the Jedi understood this while plebs like Lucas failed to.
>>341266579
those kind of exclamations are not much different from his usual grunts
>>341261391
Samus didn't quip and constantly narrate during gameplay, it was all relegated to story sequences. These new games are arguably worse because their distracting commentary is ceaseless.
>Huh! Uahh! Hnng!
>Oh fuck oh no oh fuck!
>Ok lets do this
>You can do this
>Choke on that!
When will AAA game protags stop talking to themselves constantly? It's annoying as fuck.
>Game with no voice-acting gets a remake or sequel or something with voice-acting
>The characters sound nothing like what you thought they would.
Voice-acting was a mistake.
>>341264840
when I think voiced internal monologue I think of Thief, and I don't feel that Garret cracking wise every fifteen minutes took away from the immersion at all. It was more of a bonus for finding some really well hidden treasure or some out of the way part of the level.
>Silent protagonist is given a personality in the sequel
>I better go investigate...
