Voiceless heroes

[blackdragonbaham]

How you should have noticed the mayority of the nintendo games include protagonists which do not speak once in the whole game, but are just able to groam to theire actions and allowed to use minimalistic gestures. So for example in super mario(in the newer games frequentely babbles the same phrases) metroid and zelda game series:.
nintendo deposits himself again from the generell cult and isn't going to implement this feature in near future, argumenting with the statment that it would be a shock if the familiar game heroes like link or samus suddenly have a voice and perhaps would inhibit or even destroy the atmosphere of the whole game.
what do you think about it, do you exaclty agree/ totally disagree? would it be preferable to implement a voice feature?

 

[Edgedancer]

Meh. I dont overly agree either way as each view point can be jstified. What I believe needs to occur is that NPC's should get voice acting. They managed to get it working fine in MP3: Corruption and keep Samus as a mute so why can they not in other games. That said, some titles will be unfeasible to have a full voice cast implemented, such as Mario titles in which story often takes a back seat to excellent gameplay.

 

[blackdragonbaham]

i think so as well, retro studios first did a great job at adapt the metroid series into 3 dimension, all the games were great, but the last MP3 was best ,not at least because of the voice acting which made it a lil bit more atmospheric. the metroid series, as nintendo has given the next game in the care of team ninja to develope it, will advance for sure(am sold

).
but i am not sure if other series, especially these which are developed directly by nintendo will also develope in that way, ok, in mario galaxy there are also selected passages in which npc's speaks, but for example in zelda tp there still isn't voice acting implemented; do not misunderstand, i like nintendo and games, but some actions are a little bit unknowable:.

 

[Master Mo]

A mute protagonist is not a bad thing but if there is talking they SHOULD incluse voice-acting. ZeldaTP was great and I liked that Link didn`t talk but that doesn`t justify the absence of voices! MP3 is the best example of doing it right (but if a game like Metroid really needs talking at all to unfold a deep Story or make a great admosphere is anotherthing one could argue about...)

 

[Hop2089]

Voice acting in games just makes me want to import the game more instead of waiting for localization because voice acting here is average at best and usually terrible.

 

[Rogue Trader]

Voice acting if done well is ok I suppose. But part of the appeal of not having it is allowing the characters to form their own identity within the imagination of the player. By consigning a voice to the character you take away something from the player, which even in a small way lessens the immersion in the game, and thus the experience.

 

[Edgedancer]

Voice acting if done well is ok I suppose. But part of the appeal of not having it is allowing the characters to form their own identity within the imagination of the player. By consigning a voice to the character you take away something from the player, which even in a small way lessens the immersion in the game, and thus the experience.

And that is the argument that stands for non-voice acting. I know Miyamoto has used this line various times to justify no voice acting but I challenge this agrument with the notion that immersion is unique to the player.
Many others (including myself) agree that voice acting does have a place in todays market. I know I stated that I was indifferent previously but I dont necessarily mean every character.I believe that a more in-depth level of immersion can be approached with voice acting as each character with a voice is spoken to give of a specific persona. If there is no voice acting, is it harder for developers to try to create an in-depth character with a specific purpose.
My greatest axample would have to be this video.



In this scene, we are easily able to observe Jensen as a bit of an idiot. The voice acting is superb as it captures the character perfectly and draws the player in. There is no debate over what he may be atempting to convey as the voice allows us to immediately see Jansen for who he is. Much of the humour would be lost without voices and this creates a character that the developers are able to draw on and elaborate. Imagine that scene by only reading the text at the bottom of the screen rather than listening and watching the clip. I also find that reading the text restrains you a bit as you either have only a limited amount of time to read it or a looping animation until you press a button, thereby impacting upon immersion. Listening allows players to observe the clip more closely as they are not reading. You may not have been able to observe it in youtube quality video but you are able to see Jansen's face going red and other small things. Thus, this gives developers more opportunities to add the little details that make a good game great.

Sorry if I have waffled on for a bit.

 

[toguro_max]

I don't think Samus is a "voiceless" hero(in). She does speak on Metroid Fusion, when se talks to Adam. And she has those "inner thoughts" stuff. Link does not talks, only groans as said ("Hey", "hya", "huff", etc...) and then there is Mario... Although he is not the speech character, he does talk sometimes, but maybe it's a more "advanced groan" ("U-hu", "Ah-ha", "It's-a me, Mario", etc.)... Luigi does speak, though, in the RPG series...

About the voice acting, it does contribute to game immersion if it's well done. Take a look on the Metal Gear series, for example, voice acting basicaly defines the game.

 

[updowners]

Most people I reckon would be outraged if Half Life 2: Episode 3 will include voice acting for Gordon Freeman. Some games just shouldn't voice acting or dialogue for the main character.

 

[Shinryuji]

I personally think that, while you do need to have characters speaking in some games, you don't need characters speaking in ALL games. Seeing Mario or Luigi talk would be entertaining, but there will always be a place in my heart for the voiceless hero that is Link, or the main character in the pokemon games.

 

[razorback78]

game characters who speak gives more identification to the character. what i mean is it gives more individuality to the character...but for games which includes repetitive voice dialogues/sounds from a character throughout the game is really very annoying sometimes.

 

[DeMoN]

Issac from Golden Sun is my favorite silent protagonist. The only time he says anything is at the end of the game where he goes, "!!!!"
Unfortunately, I think he starts talking in the sequel since he's not the main character anymore.

 

[nasune]

Well frankly I wouldn't like it, if they did that to Link for example I doubt that I would buy the game (and that means a lot coming from me, seeing as I am quite the Zelda fan) it just wouldn't be a Zelda game to me anymore. It is fine to do that with new series, but the older ones, who have a history of voiceless heroes should stay that way IMO.

 

[blackdragonbaham]

Well frankly I wouldn't like it, if they did that to Link for example I doubt that I would buy the game (and that means a lot coming from me, seeing as I am quite the Zelda fan) it just wouldn't be a Zelda game to me anymore. It is fine to do that with new series, but the older ones, who have a history of voiceless heroes should stay that way IMO.

i agree, there would be a lot of people out there really disapointed if link would have a voice, or worse scenario, if he would get a voice that do not fit to him; but to only give npc's voices but not the hero would be in some way not authentic, especially in this moments a npc directly speaks to him, but he stays voiceless, and the dialogue continues as if there was nothing:. so though the protagonist has no voice, would it perhaps be an option to let the player, who identifies with the main charecter, choose between an selection of different text-answers, the hero could or would give in that situation

 

[Law]

Oh man, how about voice recognition? That way you could give the characters your voice and talk to the NPCs directly.

 

[nasune]

I don't think that'll work either, 'cause it would still be a script they'd be following. Thus the essence of the character is irrevocably altered (first it is merely an 'avatar' for you in the game, and later it is an actor with your voice if that makes any sense, if not blame the lack of sleep

).

 

[Edgedancer]

Here are a couple of articles about voice acting having a place in Zelda games.
Voice Acting and Zelda: The Perfect Match
The Legend of Half-Life: A Voice for Zelda

 

[updowners]

Oh man, how about voice recognition? That way you could give the characters your voice and talk to the NPCs directly.

Maybe Project Natal will be decent.

 

[Hop2089]

I doubt it will be a success, but Natal would create a new avenue for Youtube poop and abridged series material.

 

[overslept]

Most people I reckon would be outraged if Half Life 2: Episode 3 will include voice acting for Gordon Freeman. Some games just shouldn't voice acting or dialogue for the main character.

Yeah, Gordon Freeman is one the most legendary cyber-mutes EVER.