Silence is not always golden

Having just played through Persona 4 Golden on my Vita, and then immediately picked up Final Fantasy X Remastered, I realized something: I can’t stand silent protagonists in RPGs.

Don’t get me wrong, I love silent protagonists in general. Some of my favorite games contain them. Legend of Zelda, Jak and Daxter, Portal. None of these games would have been the same with voiced heroes. The silent hero approach allows us to project our own feelings onto the character; it’s an experience that is unique to video games. I love it.

So what makes RPGs so different? Why is it that I need the protagonist to voice his opinions in these games, but am completely OK with a mute Link?

The difference is in the story

RPGs tell lengthy, dialogue driven stories. As the conversations play out, you become totally immersed in the story that is being told. You feel the emotion. You feel the urgency. You feel what the characters are feeling. It’s beautiful.

Now take the same dialogue and cut out one of the main characters. The experience is immediately lessened. When the protagonist can telepathically communicate his/her thoughts to the other characters, yet everyone else is perfectly capable of speech, it shatters my suspension of disbelief. The experience is just jarring, and it is one that I’d prefer go extinct.

Having just finished Persona 4 Golden, the main character Senpai comes to mind. There are hours of conversations in this game, and the main character’s only input is a slight gesture and three white lines that shoot out of his head. Watch this clip.

As you can see, Dojima san speaks to you clear as day. Nanako chan speaks to you, even though she’s a shy little girl. And what do you do? Wave your hand and move your head.

Persona 4 Golden portrays the main character as a blank slate for the player to cast him or herself into. The theory is that if the main character has a voice, the player will no longer feel as if he/she is that character. The problem is, in a dialogue-driven game like Persona 4, you end up feeling talked to, rather than actually engaging in conversation. This does the opposite of story immersion, and in my humble opinion doesn’t belong in an RPG.

There are moments where you will have one-on-one conversations with another character and that character will say something to which you need to respond. This is nice, because it allows you to interact with the characters, but it feels so incredibly awkward when you respond with silence.

In games like Final Fantasy X, your protagonist and the entire crew are fully voiced, which gives a nice cinematic feel to the game. It is fluid, tells the story nicely, and allows you to fully enjoy all of the characters. You may have issues with the voice acting, or even disagree with the choices your character makes. But as FFX’s Tidus points out numerous times, this is his story. You are simply enjoying it.