I like silent protagonist better too, if not they will just get annoying and say the most obvious things which would make more sense for a sidekick. I think zelda does this well with characters like Navi, Fi, etc.
I think the problem is more about the about the execution. In the Yo-Kai Watch series, you play as Nate who is just an average kid. He’s pretty generic, but this allows him to the bizarre situations he gets himself to. This is also helped by his Yo-Kai companion, Whisper. He is a know-nothing who pretends to be a know-something, using his tablet for most info. However, his advice and quirks allows him to help and bounce off of Nate. And then we have Hailey from Yo-Kai Watch 3. She is an annoying numbskull whose eccentric personality irritates not only the player but also Usapyon, her space-themed companion. In fact, she pisses him off so much, he starts shooting at her just to make her shut up! This is what I’m talking about. The way the character is written can drastically change how the player feels about them because they are forced to play as them throughout the entire game.
Do you think JRPGs like Xenogears, FFVII (and VIII and XVI), Trails in the Sky or Yakuza would have been better with a silent protagonist? Most of the games I mentioned I think would simply NOT work with a silent protagonist due to being pretty much about sentimental drama and introspection. Do you think a silent protagonist could be interesting even a story that is strongly centered around personal relationships and sentimental drama?
I always did like the Stoic, Strong Silent Characters. Funnily enough, I genuinely enjoyed playing as silent CoD protagonists. There's something so admirable about the way they carry themselves. Also, Little Ghost is both adorable and terrifying. Also also, I consider Claude from GTA 3 to be the most interesting character bc he's efficient and I like to think he's death incarnate. Genuinely, he's a psychopath. I enjoyed this video, keep it up. I'd love to see more of your favorite silent characters.
I've always liked the effort put into character reactions when they don't talk. Whilst I appreciate why certain characters need to be voiced I think it says (terrible pun) a lot that some characters don't need to say anything. You also nailed it with why I loved playing Hollow Knight because the character is a blank canvas in lots of ways. Regarding Sonic I'm very on the fence. Depending on writers, voice direction etc Sonic can either be a great and well written character whose dialogue can actually add some good elements to the story. Sonic and the black knight has some great little character moments that it'd be hard to do without a voice. Classic Sonic however is always a refreshing change given how he doesn't talk so he has to let his emotions and actions do it all. Great video man! God bless
I think it really depends on the game and execution. For example, FFX's story wouldn't work as well if Tidus was a silent protagonist imo. Sure you can rename him, he's clearly the character that's "supposed" to represent the player player, but him having a personality makes it difficult in comparison to the likes of Crono, Link, the Hero from Dragon Quest, etc, right? *But* what FFX wants you to do is, actually pay attention to the story. By giving Tidus a personality, you automatically stay focused and try to understand the world of Spira alongside him. There will be times that you'll disagree with him, but also moments that you'll hype him up! Having a protagonist that actually reacts to the world around him gives you a perspective, makes you think more about it, you know? Now I can't really feel connected with Link in BotW and TotK regains/watches memories, but we never actually gets to know how he feels, making me feel detached to everything that's happening, it's like I really just saw a memory and Link stood there like "Oh my god. Anyway." Had BotW/TotK Link be very expressive like Wind Waker or Twilight Princess Link with faces and gestures, and I'd be a lot more willing to connect to Hyrule. (I still loooove both games tho!)
Comparing Tidus to Link is a really good comparison. The plot of FFX, in fact, is very reminiscent of Zelda, the worldbuilding and structure are similar to some Zelda games. Except that FFX intentionally, without any strict need for a speaking protagonist to tell the story, decides to use a speaking protagonist just for the sake of having a very "intrusive" perspective (not only does Tidus talk, he also narrates first-person) as a way to direct player attention through how Tidus himself lives through the events. FFX intentionally doesn't want Tidus to be the player inserted into the game, because it wants to hammer in the player's skull that Tidus has specific emotions and the world (and Yuna) are influencing him in a very specific way.
Do you think Xenogears (or the Trails games, or FFVII or FFVIII or FFXVI, or the Xenoblade and Yakuza games) could have worked well with a silent protagonist? A game such as Xenogears, which is heavy on sentimental drama and is pretty much about introspection, and tends to focus a lot on a specific character arc that happens to the protagonist from specific circumstances and a very specific context, would have benefitted from its protagonist being silent, or not?
The Half Life franchise was famed for putting the player in the game with its silent protagonist, Gordon Freeman. Granted, Half Life Alyx kind of throws that out the window in the way of playing as Alyx Vance who, as shown in the previous games, speaks. However, considering that game is in VR (where immersion in those kind of games is at its peak), I’d say the trade-off is more than worth it. And, me personally… I think Miss Vance is ten billion times easier on the eyes than Forspoken’s constantly yapping, millennial-written ass doughnut of a protagonist!
My fav Link is Botw/Totk Link, not just because of all the charm there is to silent protags, but because silent protags who are ABSOLUTE MENACES just rub me in all the right ways. With all the crackhead shit Botw/Totk Link does with basically being a what-if of an Autistic Florida man being a hero in a fantasy setting, it just makes me super happy. Indeed he is 🩵Baby Boi🤍
Who's Your Favorite Silent Protag?
the dragon quest Heroes!
He's not fully silent, but I love Master Chief. Perfectly laconic, with some of the best one-liners in video games.
I'll go with crash I know he makes noises but he fits the title
I like silent protagonist better too,
if not they will just get annoying and say the most obvious things which would make more sense for a sidekick.
I think zelda does this well with characters like Navi, Fi, etc.
The silent protagonist is the best type of protagonist
The knight is the goat. Good game tastes. Valid
Bro really talked about Sonic and not Mario lol, great video!
*monster hunter protagonists have entered the chat*
I think the problem is more about the about the execution. In the Yo-Kai Watch series, you play as Nate who is just an average kid. He’s pretty generic, but this allows him to the bizarre situations he gets himself to.
This is also helped by his Yo-Kai companion, Whisper. He is a know-nothing who pretends to be a know-something, using his tablet for most info. However, his advice and quirks allows him to help and bounce off of Nate.
And then we have Hailey from Yo-Kai Watch 3. She is an annoying numbskull whose eccentric personality irritates not only the player but also Usapyon, her space-themed companion. In fact, she pisses him off so much, he starts shooting at her just to make her shut up!
This is what I’m talking about. The way the character is written can drastically change how the player feels about them because they are forced to play as them throughout the entire game.
Do you think JRPGs like Xenogears, FFVII (and VIII and XVI), Trails in the Sky or Yakuza would have been better with a silent protagonist? Most of the games I mentioned I think would simply NOT work with a silent protagonist due to being pretty much about sentimental drama and introspection.
Do you think a silent protagonist could be interesting even a story that is strongly centered around personal relationships and sentimental drama?
I always did like the Stoic, Strong Silent Characters. Funnily enough, I genuinely enjoyed playing as silent CoD protagonists. There's something so admirable about the way they carry themselves.
Also, Little Ghost is both adorable and terrifying.
Also also, I consider Claude from GTA 3 to be the most interesting character bc he's efficient and I like to think he's death incarnate. Genuinely, he's a psychopath.
I enjoyed this video, keep it up. I'd love to see more of your favorite silent characters.
Link doesn't have the power to bankrupt a game studio, does he?
8:06 Lookit those eyebrows (?). Genuinely made me laugh
I agree very much!
I've always liked the effort put into character reactions when they don't talk. Whilst I appreciate why certain characters need to be voiced I think it says (terrible pun) a lot that some characters don't need to say anything. You also nailed it with why I loved playing Hollow Knight because the character is a blank canvas in lots of ways. Regarding Sonic I'm very on the fence. Depending on writers, voice direction etc Sonic can either be a great and well written character whose dialogue can actually add some good elements to the story. Sonic and the black knight has some great little character moments that it'd be hard to do without a voice. Classic Sonic however is always a refreshing change given how he doesn't talk so he has to let his emotions and actions do it all. Great video man! God bless
You're based alone for making this vid, dude!
One very enjoyable silent protagonist is Cube from Live a Live
Crash twinsanity and Crash of the titans at the same time pliss
I think it really depends on the game and execution. For example, FFX's story wouldn't work as well if Tidus was a silent protagonist imo.
Sure you can rename him, he's clearly the character that's "supposed" to represent the player player, but him having a personality makes it difficult in comparison to the likes of Crono, Link, the Hero from Dragon Quest, etc, right? *But* what FFX wants you to do is, actually pay attention to the story. By giving Tidus a personality, you automatically stay focused and try to understand the world of Spira alongside him.
There will be times that you'll disagree with him, but also moments that you'll hype him up! Having a protagonist that actually reacts to the world around him gives you a perspective, makes you think more about it, you know?
Now I can't really feel connected with Link in BotW and TotK regains/watches memories, but we never actually gets to know how he feels, making me feel detached to everything that's happening, it's like I really just saw a memory and Link stood there like "Oh my god. Anyway."
Had BotW/TotK Link be very expressive like Wind Waker or Twilight Princess Link with faces and gestures, and I'd be a lot more willing to connect to Hyrule. (I still loooove both games tho!)
Comparing Tidus to Link is a really good comparison.
The plot of FFX, in fact, is very reminiscent of Zelda, the worldbuilding and structure are similar to some Zelda games. Except that FFX intentionally, without any strict need for a speaking protagonist to tell the story, decides to use a speaking protagonist just for the sake of having a very "intrusive" perspective (not only does Tidus talk, he also narrates first-person) as a way to direct player attention through how Tidus himself lives through the events. FFX intentionally doesn't want Tidus to be the player inserted into the game, because it wants to hammer in the player's skull that Tidus has specific emotions and the world (and Yuna) are influencing him in a very specific way.
Do you think Xenogears (or the Trails games, or FFVII or FFVIII or FFXVI, or the Xenoblade and Yakuza games) could have worked well with a silent protagonist?
A game such as Xenogears, which is heavy on sentimental drama and is pretty much about introspection, and tends to focus a lot on a specific character arc that happens to the protagonist from specific circumstances and a very specific context, would have benefitted from its protagonist being silent, or not?
The question is, who's the best Silent Protag ever?
The kight no diff
The Half Life franchise was famed for putting the player in the game with its silent protagonist, Gordon Freeman. Granted, Half Life Alyx kind of throws that out the window in the way of playing as Alyx Vance who, as shown in the previous games, speaks. However, considering that game is in VR (where immersion in those kind of games is at its peak), I’d say the trade-off is more than worth it. And, me personally…
I think Miss Vance is ten billion times easier on the eyes than Forspoken’s constantly yapping, millennial-written ass doughnut of a protagonist!
And, for the record, yes I did just call Frey a doughnut; Chef Ramsay has such an iconic insult 🤣🤣🤣
Where is your audience bruh. Underrated channel for sure 🫡🫡
Thanks so much! And love cyndaquil
My fav Link is Botw/Totk Link, not just because of all the charm there is to silent protags, but because silent protags who are ABSOLUTE MENACES just rub me in all the right ways.
With all the crackhead shit Botw/Totk Link does with basically being a what-if of an Autistic Florida man being a hero in a fantasy setting, it just makes me super happy.
Indeed he is 🩵Baby Boi🤍