jillabender wrote...
As far as how the lack of VO can actually lend itself to stepping into the role of the character - I would say that it depends on how specific you need the NPC reactions to be in order to preserve the illusion that they're reacting to the specific demeanour and personality you've given your PC, and to the way you imagined your PC delivering each line.
I think that's a very insightful point!
It sounds as though your requirements for preserving that illusion are more stringent than mine (which is completely fair), and if that's the case, I can understand why you'd feel that a silent protagonist doesn't offer any particular advantage.
Yes, I think that's exactly right. I hadn't read this part of your post when writing my response above, and it sounds like you hit the nail on the head.
For me, although a voiced protagonist limits the range of personalities my character can have, it also adds something by creating a level of micro-reactivity that creates a tighter illusion of the character being part of the game world. So, a voiced protagonist doesn't necessarily impede my ability to role-play in itself (as I discovered with ME1), it just requires me to adjust my approach a little.
That makes sense. Whereas for me, a character doesn't exist unless there's that tighter boundary to start with, so I never find the voice chafing. Huh. This discussion was great!
I would say, though, that in the case of DA2, it would actually have been easier for me to get into the role of Hawke if he or she had been silent, because I wouldn't have run into the problem of being put off by Hawke's demeanour. My difficulty is that while I can see the NPCs reacting to Hawke's way of expressing him or herself in each situation, Hawke's specific way of expressing him or herself isn't something I can relate to, and that leaves me feeling disconnected.
I can appreciate that. For me, Hawke was very much predictable. Especiallly
That's not to say that I need the game to directly and unambiguously acknowledge everything that I imagine about a voiced protagonist - it's just that what I imagine about a voiced protagonist needs to stay very close to the details actually presented in the game, or it won't feel organic to me. That's why I personally feel that voiced protagonists work best when the character has a fairly firmly established personality, and the player's role is in shaping the expression and development of that personality.
Okay, I have a question. Why don't you feel this about the silent protagonist? Going back to the point about reactvity, I feel this has to be the case for all PCs. So my problem with the Warden is that I'm actually looking for the game to tell me what boundaries there are, but it absolutely refuses until it punches me in the face with one (like making me realize that for 99% of the lines, the writers intended the delivery not to be sarcasic, so I have to realize that I can't play sarcastic PCs).
And that was my difficulty with Hawke - straying too far from what I was presented with didn't feel organic, and I had a hard time connecting with what I was presented with, although I do find Hawke entertaining. Of course, that's very subjective on my part - the kind of character that one relates to and enjoys connecting with is a very individual thing.
That's the problem I had with the Warden. Except for the entertaining part. I found the origins brilliant, and it wouldn't have mattered to me anywhere near as much if the PC was silent if that was what all DA:O was like. But it wasn't.
Retour en haut
). In fact, I think it would be awesome to see BioWare do a series of shorter games that are like expanded versions of DA:O's origin stories - shorter, more personal stories with reactivity on a more personal level.
