The Mute Protagonist

With such crappy voicing these days, having a mute protagonist is a blessing.

But I like it, I think it adds a someone air of mystery to the guy. And it makes everyone infinitely more likeable when they're not spouting either/or depressing angst, peppy enthusiasm at every moment.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by Kilroy

The way they avoid saying his name was, I dunno, it seemed completely unnatural.

Ditto on that.

Originally Posted by kat

And it makes everyone infinitely more likeable when they're not spouting either/or depressing angst, peppy enthusiasm at every moment.

I don't see how a mute person with absolutely no personalty would be more likable than someone who talks and actually has a personalty.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Well, it depends on what you mean by "mute". In your example where your character simply only says what you can choose, it can work out fine (for example Fallout or KOTOR where you always select your response, although sometimes you're limited to only saying one thing to progress the conversation). If you're supposed to "be" the character, then it makes sense that you'd envision your character saying the lines as you read them instead of needing to hear voice acting for them, even though every other character in the game has a voice (well in KOTOR, anyway). In non-RPG games like Half-life, a totally mute character will usually work as long as the interactions you have with others still flow naturally.

In RPGs with TOTAL mutes like Chrono Trigger or Chrono Cross, hmm, well it does get annoying after a while seeing everyone boss you around and tell you what THEY think without your character ever getting a word in. In that case, they don't really seem like characters as much they are shells, which kinda hurts the whole understanding-the-characters thing. I've never seen a case where it makes me "feel" like my character as it's supposed to, I guess my imagination just isn't wild enough to envision myself as a delivery boy that never talks. They could at least give a REASON for your character not talking though...old war injury, birth defect, whatever. It's a little strange thinking that you're supposed to be a character that simply refuses to talk.

It's even more bizarre when games like Shining Force 3 take the half-way route: your character DOES talk to others, but you can't see what they're saying. While I like it a bit better than mutes (at least they're doing more than just standing around waiting for people to tell them what to do), it still makes it a bit confusing since you have no idea what your character is actually saying at that point. However, in Shining Force 3, it was nice that you could at least see what the characters said in the scenarios that DIDN'T star them. So then you could usually get a good feel for what they were like by playing the other scenarios, and then when you played as them, you'd still have a decent idea of what they'd PROBABLY say in that situation. Sadly, since only Shining Force 3 Scenario 1 was translated and released over here, Synbios will forever be known to me as the character that speaks in dots and Japanese.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

For the most part, I prefer that the protagonist has a voice and personality. But in some instances - it'll work out fine; Half-Life 2 being a fine example.

I was speaking idiomatically.

I'm all for mute characters if the other active members are vocal enough to cover for it. Dragon Quest 8 is a fine example of that. They basically have conversations around the hero, but not always involving the hero. The primary example being when Yangus tells his story of how he met the guv'. Angelo does the same thing, when he'll sort of indirectly talk to the hero.

Angelo - "I can't believe my brother would do something like that!"
Hero - *nods*
Angelo - "We'll just have to stop him."

In DQ8, the conversations involving the hero are often more indirect and more akin to thinking outloud rather than sitting down and having a conversation. The other positive aspect about DQ8's silent hero is that when he IS spoken to directly, it's almost always in way that can end in "Yes" or "No," so he can just nod away. Of course, there are the occassions where he ends up explaining the whole story up to a particular point to an NPC, but hey no one's perfect.

I like having a hero with his own voice as well, but Lloyd from Tales of Symphonia...he could've been mute and the game would've been better for it. I've got nothing against the Teen Titans' Robin, but it just didn't work out for poor Lloyd.

Grandia 3 did, however, have a pretty decent set of voice actors, but namely for the main character Yuki. Johnny Yong Bosch, more commonly known as the black Power Rangeror, maybe IF you've seen it, Vash the Stampede from Trigun, did a good job portraying a teenager.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Originally Posted by Solis

In RPGs with TOTAL mutes like Chrono Trigger or Chrono Cross, hmm, well it does get annoying after a while seeing everyone boss you around and tell you what THEY think without your character ever getting a word in. In that case, they don't really seem like characters as much they are shells, which kinda hurts the whole understanding-the-characters thing. I've never seen a case where it makes me "feel" like my character as it's supposed to, I guess my imagination just isn't wild enough to envision myself as a delivery boy that never talks. They could at least give a REASON for your character not talking though...old war injury, birth defect, whatever. It's a little strange thinking that you're supposed to be a character that simply refuses to talk.

Hmm, I don't think you're really supposed to "understand" mutes like that...I think there has to be an understanding that they're just a vehicle to drive the story forward. It's another storytelling method, which completely de-emphasizes the main character (as you say, they're more "shells") and puts the focus on practically everything else. It's intentional in other words...Explaining it with a birth defect would work against what the scenario writers were trying to accomplish (read: concentrate attention on the overall scenario and other cast members, while having a suitable vehicle to drive the story forward). I mean, mutes are obviously not an accident.

But in most cases, talky main characters aren't saying anything important anyway and their dialogue isn't hard to predict...They're mostly just along for the ride with everyone else. IMO, it slows everything down and, at worst, causes me to lose interest in the game because I get tired of it focusing on someone I'm controlling and hope dies.

FELIPE NO

I'm all for mutes as long as I get to choose my responses. The developers want me to be the character and choose his personality? Fine, I will. Give me the dialouge options and a branching storyline and I'll choose.

If a character speaks to me I want to be able to choose from a multiple amount of answers. So if I want my character to be a bastard he can be one but still technicly be a 'mute' because all his responses are chosen by me.

KOTOR 1/2 was mentioned earlier and I have to also agree that it works better that way. KOTOR uses a system that allows you to choose your responses and works pretty well. If I want to be a caring helpfull force user I can be. If I want to be a snappy bastard force user I can be that too. It's kind of missing the branching storyline but atleast the people around you still react differently depending on how you respond to them.

I think these kind of systems do a better job at making you more a part of the main character than the completely mute ones.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Originally Posted by Freelance Wolf

I don't see how a mute person with absolutely no personalty would be more likable than someone who talks and actually has a personalty.

Only if that personality is fucking annoying, as most protagonists in RPGs are today. With a mute character, you are apatethic at best, which would sum up to "more likeable" to me.

Tell me you would not prefer playing a game with Tidus over Chrono, even if the latter was a mute.

How ya doing, buddy?

I don't mind, and for quite a long while had never realized that characters like Chrono were mute. It's a mixed blessing.


If the character is not mute, then you'll probably like or dislike the character.

Jack in Radiata Stories was definitely shown to be an arrogant boy. I don't like arrogance, so I didn't like Jack very much. Conversely, Lenneth in Valkyrie Profile caught my interest since she wasn't in your face all the time.


If the character is mute, then usually the other characters have enough story to keep me occupied.

Byuu in Bahamut Lagoon is mute, and you see lots of action and backstory with Yoyo and Matelite.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by russ

In some games it works, in some it doesn't. Personally, I prefer the protagonist to be voiced, because it helps me understand him or her more, get a better grasp of his or her motivations. In Knights of the Old Republic, the main character is mute in the sense that s/he does not have any lines of dialog that you do not choose yourself, but there are a lot of dialog choices for you to make, so that works pretty well. But then there are games like Suikoden 4, where the main character never speaks and you really have no idea what's going on inside his head. It gets tiresome having the other characters speak for the protagonist all the time, with the protagonist having little input into what is going on.

I probably agree with you.
KOTOR is one of those that this kind of dialogue works, because you choose what your answer is. But while playing Dragon Quest VIII I was pretty pissed by everyone talking to "the Hero" and he just stands there, looking retarded.

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I honestly don't like mute protagonist. Primarily, as most people would agree, they lack personality. I've never been a big fan of the whole [your personality = the character's personality] equation, its just too awkward. That's what they are to me in a nutshell, awkward. What I really wish developers would stop doing though is letting the players name the character in games with voice overs. These days thats practically every game now, from Final Fantasy X to Suikoden V. It's so annoying when the most important person in the game doesn't have a name. Metaphorically speaking, they don't have a name because the other characters never say it during spoken dialogue. It's like 'Hey you, yeah you, the guy who saved the world last night, help me move this box will ya?' That combined with a character who can't talk creates a protagonist who's still nobody no matter what he does.

How ya doing, buddy?

Mute characters really piss me off. Why are they in the story if they're so freaking indifferent to everything? I want my characters to have stances on different issues and a freaking personality. Having a mute character does not make me feel any closer to the universe of the game. I can't relate to dead weight with nothing to say.

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Originally Posted by kat

Only if that personality is fucking annoying, as most protagonists in RPGs are today. With a mute character, you are apatethic at best, which would sum up to "more likeable" to me.

Tell me you would not prefer playing a game with Tidus over Chrono, even if the latter was a mute.

Honestly? I'd rather play a game with Tidus than Crono. I felt nothing for Crono. Tidus, eh I found him to be an annoying brat, but it was fun. Being apathetic towards a character doesn't make it more likeable. You don't care, so therefore it is neither likeable or dislikeable.

Granted I liked Chrono Trigger more than FFX, but FFX at least had a main character who developed over time.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Originally Posted by guyinrubbersuit

Granted I liked Chrono Trigger more than FFX, but FFX at least had a main character who developed over time.

Crono sort of developed...By the time his death scene rolled around, he had been through enough ingame that it felt like a pretty huge loss. Again, clearly a case where the strength of the events around him helped shape the character. This is probably when mutes are most useful...When the characters and events surround the main character are powerful enough that they don't need to say anything.

If I had to listen to Tidus' whining throughout Chrono Trigger, I'd probably be fast-forwarding the dialogue anyway and the game's events wouldn't have meant as much (unless he got some decent high-spots with the other cast members). I might even have thrown a party to celebrate his death at the hands of Lavos and finished the game without him.

FELIPE NO

Originally Posted by guyinrubbersuit

Honestly? I'd rather play a game with Tidus than Crono. I felt nothing for Crono. Tidus, eh I found him to be an annoying brat, but it was fun. Being apathetic towards a character doesn't make it more likeable. You don't care, so therefore it is neither likeable or dislikeable.

Granted I liked Chrono Trigger more than FFX, but FFX at least had a main character who developed over time.

To each their own, because I'd rather jam forks in my ear than play through any game with Tidus again. The issue with the mute protagonist is that you might be apathetic but usually in those games (such as Chrono Trigger), if it's done right, the focus isn't even on the main character but the overall plot with the supporting cast. Like I found Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross not so much about these certain "main" characters but others around them. It's a more broad world view and plot point, which I enjoy more.

When you have games now that focus so much on the protagonist, especially an annoying one, it pretty much kills the game since the plot is simply him/her. Sure you have character interaction but their personalities and stories take a seat in the back burner, like how does main character feel about this situation or that character. It's a really small perspective on the game in general, and that's why I personally like a mute protagonist better and do find them more likeable, because they help rather than hurt the plot (again, if done right).

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

The Suikoden and Breath of Fire games have made it work, and work well. Especially Suikoden II; even though the main character didn't have a line of dialogue, he still had a unique character because of the way other characters reacted to him.
Honestly, I like the mute hero; it completely does away with the risk of having a main character that you hate.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

I think it really depends. A mute protagonist works better in a story driven game than a character driven one. If the focus of the game is more on the events then you can get away with a mute protagonist. Chrono Trigger for example. The main character wasn't integral to the story. Heck, you get a lot more story relating to the other characters and even those tend to be secondary to stopping Lavos from devouring the world.

On the other hand if the game is more character driven such as Final Fantasy VIII then a mute protagonist can be a problem. I don't like Squall, but imagine his and Rinoa's interaction if he never said a word. It'd completely change the way the story played out. And since FFVIII wasn't exactly strong in story, this made the focus on the characters a lot more important. Really the whole battle against Edea and that sorceress from the future who was possessing her were secondary to Rinoa and Squall's relationship.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

It works very well in all the BOF games... Not to mention Zelda, right?

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

I thought that it worked as long as the other characters didn't have any actual voices. For example, Suikoden IV does a horrible job at this, not only does the hero has the charisma of a potato, his not speaking or showing any significant development is just awful. Suikoden V does a better job at this, but I still feel underwhelmed during some scenes, when the prince calls on your army, and you don't get any voice, just some other character cheering for victory. Also, it annoyed me to no end that you still had to give him a name, so that everyone continues to call him "Prince".

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Originally Posted by Enkidu

Suikoden V does a better job at this, but I still feel underwhelmed during some scenes, when the prince calls on your army, and you don't get any voice, just some other character cheering for victory. Also, it annoyed me to no end that you still had to give him a name, so that everyone continues to call him "Prince".

Wow, I actually thought those moments where you have the single option to pick from before a huge battle were a great touch. I mean, the Prince really didn't have to say anything because everyone was already pumped up. Besides, Boz always chimed in with a burly, "To Victory!" incase anyone missed the message.

Besides, I think it was more of a carryover from earlier games. I know 2 did it and I'm fairly certain 1 did as well.

Suikoden V just played on the whole mute thing really well, by having different mouthpieces carry the load. Sometimes it was Sialeeds, sometimes it was Georg, most of the time it was Lyon and then it was whoever the main group was for a given scenario. The whole cast ended up carrying the load nicely...While I definitely felt for the Prince, any angsty whining he might have done would have really slowed things down (I'd have LOVED to have seen Tidus go through all of the shit he had to endure, though).

I was speaking idiomatically.