I love how much of a misnomer "silent protagonist" is.
As I said, I think Link is the exception to the rule, mostly due to how Nintendo has established the character through actions, not words.Link has as much of a personality as a voiced protagonist does, Nintendo just did it another way.
But make no mistake, he is still an established character because of it, and the avatar of the player despite it.
A lot of the frustration RE the dialogue wheel - at least in the discussions I've been around - is because the paraphrase provided bears little resemblance to what actually comes out of the PC's mouth. In DA2,
In DAI they seem to be doing this a lot better.
I'm stuck on the fence with this one, I think that the silent and voiced protag's both have significant pros and cons.
I liked the roleplaying aspect of Origins, a lot friendlier to everyone's headcannons. I also liked the large amount of dialogue options that were presented for the player and I felt less pigeon holed into one of three personalities. I struggled needing to fit a personality, I don't need to be a schizophrenic character but not everyone is going to always be good/bad/sarcastic. I felt that it left no room for shades of grey, there was no room for a morally ambiguous character. Especially in Mass Effect if you weren't always good or always bad you were heavily penalized for that at times.
However, it was nice to see emotions while your character is delivering dialogue. There was more depth added to the character, which I believe, at times, had a much greater impact on atmosphere and overall mood. I quite enjoyed playing a sarcastic Hawke, I personally felt that Jo Wyatt did a great job hitting all the right notes for fem!Hawke.
But then there is Inquisition... I really did not connect to Alix or Sumalee's voices, in fact I really struggled with them. My first character playthrough was with Alix's voice (because hello, Traynor 
) but I just couldn't immerse myself with the character. There were lines that I just cringed when I heard them and it made me a sad panda, lol. I think with a silent protag the game could have come across as quite awkward simply because all the other vo's were so lively and animated and it would have made a silent protag quite inadequate. But, in saying that I may have been able to immerse myself as the Inquisitor if there were silent.
I feel its like this those who like to use that imaginative rp aspect in our brains like sp those who do not like vp.
I feel its like this those who like to use that imaginative rp aspect in our brains like sp those who do not like vp.
I miss stuff like this
If a voice Protag is what it takes for RPGs to get more head way, then I have little problem with it. The only real problem is that Hipsters will capitalize on this fact and go "Voiced characters are too mainstream. Since is where it is truly at."
Not to forget that the voices honestly seem suited only for humans to me. Voiced characters are for realism if you are looking for that, for a truly roleplaying game where you use your own "imagination" I guess, having the most dialogue options is just enough. If you mix both you get a bad combo.
If a voice Protag is what it takes for RPGs to get more head way, then I have little problem with it. The only real problem is that Hipsters will capitalize on this fact and go "Voiced characters are too mainstream. Since is where it is truly at."
Only the auto-dialogue.
I also liked the large amount of dialogue options that were presented for the player and I felt less pigeon holed into one of three personalities. I struggled needing to fit a personality, I don't need to be a schizophrenic character but not everyone is going to always be good/bad/sarcastic. I felt that it left no room for shades of grey, there was no room for a morally ambiguous character. Especially in Mass Effect if you weren't always good or always bad you were heavily penalized for that at times.
If a voice Protag is what it takes for RPGs to get more head way, then I have little problem with it. The only real problem is that Hipsters will capitalize on this fact and go "Voiced characters are too mainstream. Since is where it is truly at."
They remove a lot of RPG thingies with a voiced protagonist.. Like the murder knife or the many different persuasion/stat/race/class check. They removed the stealing abilities.
There's some other rpg thing they did in DAO.. Like watching a spirit in a medallion I think and how it was described to you in a text format and you gained some power out of it depending of your action. All of this was removed in DAI. So yes. They removed a lot of RPG thing for a more mainstream approach. There's some bad and good.
They remove a lot of RPG thingies with a voiced protagonist.. Like the murder knife or the many different persuasion/stat/race/class check. They removed the stealing abilities.
There's some other rpg thing they did in DAO.. Like watching a spirit in a medallion I think and how it was described to you in a text format and you gained some power out of it depending of your action. All of this was removed in DAI. So yes. They removed a lot of RPG thing for a more mainstream approach. There's some bad and good.
No thanks, can't stand the silent protag. I thought that it was by far the weakest aspect of of DA:O, someone posted earlier that they can barely remember anything about the warden because they were basically a mute lump and I completely agree.
I think if you really want to role play a character then you're better off playing a mmo on a rp server and finding like minded people. With single player rpg's you're really being told a story with some illusion of choice, and honestly I wish Bioware would just completely embrace that because being constantly referred to by title makes for some clunky writing.
They remove a lot of RPG thingies with a voiced protagonist.. Like the murder knife or the many different persuasion/stat/race/class check. They removed the stealing abilities.
There's some other rpg thing they did in DAO.. Like watching a spirit in a medallion I think and how it was described to you in a text format and you gained some power out of it depending of your action. All of this was removed in DAI. So yes. They removed a lot of RPG thing for a more mainstream approach. There's some bad and good.
First, murder knife was 'alive and well' in Kirkwall. There were several people in game you could just whip out the knife and off. And while there were a few people in Inquisition I would have happily murderknifed, I got to sit on judgement on them and make far more interesting fates for them instead of just killing them.
Second, what has picking pockets got to do with silent protagonist? I thought that was a gameplay aspect that just got ignored/dropped from the game. Being silent didn't mean you could pick pockets vs not being able to because your character had a voice to speak. The two are not mutually exclusive.
Thirdly, that quest you refer to was a lot of boring text to get Arcane Warrior spec. Once done, you never had to go back to that thing beyond placing it on the altar if you wanted, going into as little or as much detail as possible. Boring because your warden had no emotional response at all, just staring blankly while you read a bunch of lines in your head, no compassion or sneakiness or anything, just bleh...slug-face.
Silent protagonist works better in lower-fidelity games like Baldur's Gate. When my character is more abstract, just a photo and a sprite, then don't bother shoehorning in a voice.
But when everyone else is talking and the world is a big, beautiful environment you can explore, it feels really jarring to only hear half of a conversation. In my opinion, of course.
First, murder knife was 'alive and well' in Kirkwall. There were several people in game you could just whip out the knife and off. And while there were a few people in Inquisition I would have happily murderknifed, I got to sit on judgement on them and make far more interesting fates for them instead of just killing them.
Second, what has picking pockets got to do with silent protagonist? I thought that was a gameplay aspect that just got ignored/dropped from the game. Being silent didn't mean you could pick pockets vs not being able to because your character had a voice to speak. The two are not mutually exclusive.
Thirdly, that quest you refer to was a lot of boring text to get Arcane Warrior spec. Once done, you never had to go back to that thing beyond placing it on the altar if you wanted, going into as little or as much detail as possible. Boring because your warden had no emotional response at all, just staring blankly while you read a bunch of lines in your head, no compassion or sneakiness or anything, just bleh...slug-face.
If your protagonist isn't silent, he will never succeed at pickpocketing
I feel its like this those who like to use that imaginative rp aspect in our brains like sp those who do not like vp.
Not entirely. Outside of video games I use the imaginative aspect quite a bit as I rp on forums, on Skype with friends, tabletop, etc. With video games it really depends. If the dialogue for everyone were in text then I wouldn't mind a silent protagonist, much like in Morrowind or some of the older rpgs.
However, with games like Dragon Age or Mass Effect I have a preference for the voiced protagonist. To me they just seem to blend into the world better and I find it a bit more immersive. That's just my take on it.
They remove a lot of RPG thingies with a voiced protagonist.. Like the murder knife or the many different persuasion/stat/race/class check. They removed the stealing abilities.
There's some other rpg thing they did in DAO.. Like watching a spirit in a medallion I think and how it was described to you in a text format and you gained some power out of it depending of your action. All of this was removed in DAI. So yes. They removed a lot of RPG thing for a more mainstream approach. There's some bad and good.
If your protagonist isn't silent, he will never succeed at pickpocketing
Not so, con artists do it all the time, they either bump into you, confuse you with apologies while they shake you down or have a partner who does the whole bump/excuse/distraction technique while they pick your pocket, meet up with their buddy after and divvy up the take. Yes, silent protagonist can also pick pockets but its not mutually exclusive to silent protagonist.
For that matter, a voiced protagonist doesn't need to speak to pick a pocket. He just does it. Just because he's voiced doesn't mean he's going to open up a line of dialogue with his mark.
And I realize what you said was probably meant sarcastically with the little smiley face icon, but lines of silent text are hard to interpret.
If your protagonist isn't silent, he will never succeed at pickpocketing
Not so, con artists do it all the time, they either bump into you, confuse you with apologies while they shake you down or have a partner who does the whole bump/excuse/distraction technique while they pick your pocket, meet up with their buddy after and divvy up the take. Yes, silent protagonist can also pick pockets but its not mutually exclusive to silent protagonist.
For that matter, a voiced protagonist doesn't need to speak to pick a pocket. He just does it. Just because he's voiced doesn't mean he's going to open up a line of dialogue with his mark.
And I realize what you said was probably meant sarcastically with the little smiley face icon, but lines of silent text are hard to interpret.
Was meant as a joke, yes. But not always easy to convey it in text.
And I realize what you said was probably meant sarcastically with the little smiley face icon, but lines of silent text are hard to interpret.
Guest_Israfel_*
I actually don't find lines of silent text difficult to interpret, but I do have some trouble with the paraphrases. Not as often in Inquisition, but noticeable when I do. I like the voiced protagonist, especially the effort that was put into the variety this time around, but I'd much, much rather have the full line of dialogue before I select it as an available option. There's no downside to it at all.
Fallout 3 + Las Vegas, Skyrim, Pillars of Eternity, Dragon's Dogma.....No market for games with a silent protagonist?
In dragons dogma you don't really have conversations though. if it wasn't for the voice selection at the start of the game. I would think the protagonist was actually suppose to be a mute character.
I feel its like this those who like to use that imaginative rp aspect in our brains like sp those who do not like vp.
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